A lot of the Nobel-deciding Swedish Academicians are apparently on international tour -- Göran Malmqvist hit China (see my recent mention) and now Kjell Espmark is in the Gulf, with John Dennehy reporting about his visit in The National, in And the winner is ... the literary prize.
Among the insights on offer: apparently:
Among the insights on offer: apparently:
The 1930s favoured books for the ordinary reader. However, the next generation, in the 1940s, reacted against this by preferring "pioneers" -- those who paved the way for new outlooks and form. This gave way to the "unknown masters" period from the late 1970s, when unnoticed writers, who had not received recognition, were prioritised. Another period developed in the 2000s, when the academy paid attention to exponents of "witness literature".Also interesting:
Prof Espmark also expresses concern about the availability of translated work. "Works in translation constitute only a small percentage (2.7 to 2.8) of book publication in the US, whereas a substantial part of publication in Europe is foreign literature. The international literary dialogue suffers from such inequality."I'm sort of relieved he doesn't cite the silly, unsubstantiated (but endlessly repeated) 'three percent' number -- but "2.7 to 2.8" is almost .... sillier. Where do they come up with this stuff ? (Hard numbers, folks, show me some real, hard numbers.)