In The Sun Beatrice and Solomon Ojehonmon consider at length Why things fell apart at the Nobel Prize in Literature -- i.e. why Chinua Achebe never took the prize (though they're still holding out posthumous hope, too ...).
I always enjoy this kind of speculation -- especially when it's entirely theoretical (i.e. not based on any insider or actual knowledge of the Swedish Academy's deliberations) -- and the Ojehonmons certainly offer an ... entertaining spin on Achebe's most famous novel, Things Fall Apart ("by making Okonkwo to hang himself, the late Professor Chinua Achebe unwittingly played the novel into the hands of our colonial masters") to go along with their explanation.
Of course, things ... well, they start to fall apart as to the thrust of their argument. For one, they keep harping on Achebe being: "denied the Nobel Prize for his novel, Things Fall Apart" -- but, while the Swedish Academy occasionally singles out a specific work by a laureate "for particular recognition" (it's happened nine times, but not since ... Sholokhov's And Quiet Flows the Don in 1965), the Nobel Prize is an author prize (awarded for a life's work), not a book prize. The Ojehonmons seem to fail to understand this, suggesting:
While I imagine the Swedish Academy would have considered Achebe fairly seriously as a candidate if and when he was nominated, I remind you that that first hurdle is not the easiest to clear: you have to be in it to win it, and that means someone has to nominate you. Recall that authors such as Proust, Joyce, and Kafka were never even considered for the prize because no one ever nominated them. (The Nobel nomination database only runs through 1950, so we don't know about later nominations yet, but it can't be taken for granted that he was in the running year in and year out.)
(The Ojehonmons also hold out hope for a posthumous Nobel for Achebe but the Nobel statutes make clear that the dead can't be considered for the prize (and an award will only be awarded posthumously if the prizewinner dies between being selected and the actual awarding of the prize).)
Of course, the Ojehonmons aren't really fixated on the Nobel as much as they are on offering their interpretation of Things Fall Apart, and I suppose this was a reasonably clever way of doing that.
I always enjoy this kind of speculation -- especially when it's entirely theoretical (i.e. not based on any insider or actual knowledge of the Swedish Academy's deliberations) -- and the Ojehonmons certainly offer an ... entertaining spin on Achebe's most famous novel, Things Fall Apart ("by making Okonkwo to hang himself, the late Professor Chinua Achebe unwittingly played the novel into the hands of our colonial masters") to go along with their explanation.
Of course, things ... well, they start to fall apart as to the thrust of their argument. For one, they keep harping on Achebe being: "denied the Nobel Prize for his novel, Things Fall Apart" -- but, while the Swedish Academy occasionally singles out a specific work by a laureate "for particular recognition" (it's happened nine times, but not since ... Sholokhov's And Quiet Flows the Don in 1965), the Nobel Prize is an author prize (awarded for a life's work), not a book prize. The Ojehonmons seem to fail to understand this, suggesting:
our former colonial masters are canvassing the award only for Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, but the Swedish Academy is refusing to be conned into promoting their imperialistic agenda.It'll be interesting to see, once the archives are opened (after fifty years), who -- if anyone -- nominated Achebe, as well as how seriously the Swedish Academy considered his candidacy -- but I doubt he fell short simply because of that one novel (and, in fact, I'm pretty sure even the Swedes thought it was a strong piece of work (i.e. that it worked in his favor, and didn't undermine his candidacy)).
While I imagine the Swedish Academy would have considered Achebe fairly seriously as a candidate if and when he was nominated, I remind you that that first hurdle is not the easiest to clear: you have to be in it to win it, and that means someone has to nominate you. Recall that authors such as Proust, Joyce, and Kafka were never even considered for the prize because no one ever nominated them. (The Nobel nomination database only runs through 1950, so we don't know about later nominations yet, but it can't be taken for granted that he was in the running year in and year out.)
(The Ojehonmons also hold out hope for a posthumous Nobel for Achebe but the Nobel statutes make clear that the dead can't be considered for the prize (and an award will only be awarded posthumously if the prizewinner dies between being selected and the actual awarding of the prize).)
Of course, the Ojehonmons aren't really fixated on the Nobel as much as they are on offering their interpretation of Things Fall Apart, and I suppose this was a reasonably clever way of doing that.