Sore loser ?
Annoyed by the annual distraction ?
Whatever the case, Peter Handke thinks it's time to abolish the damn thing -- the Nobel Prize in Literature: that's what he said Thursday, Die Presse reports.
He argues: it brings a brief bit of attention, 'six [!] pages in the newspaper', but that's about it. (Americans meanwhile shake their heads even more -- what newspaper would have six pages of laureate coverage ?)
It can't all be sour grapes: he thinks this year's selection an excellent one -- and you can take his word for it: he's translated two of Modiano's books into German, Une jeunesse (see the Suhrkamp publicity page) and La Petite Bijou.
(A pretty decent stamp of approval, to have been translated by Handke -- and a reminder, yet again, how few prominent English-writing authors also translate, while a world-class author like Handke thinks it's important enough to occupy himself with ....)
I wonder whether he'll take up a petition among his prominent-author-buddies. And whether the Swedish Academy will hold this against him .....
He argues: it brings a brief bit of attention, 'six [!] pages in the newspaper', but that's about it. (Americans meanwhile shake their heads even more -- what newspaper would have six pages of laureate coverage ?)
It can't all be sour grapes: he thinks this year's selection an excellent one -- and you can take his word for it: he's translated two of Modiano's books into German, Une jeunesse (see the Suhrkamp publicity page) and La Petite Bijou.
(A pretty decent stamp of approval, to have been translated by Handke -- and a reminder, yet again, how few prominent English-writing authors also translate, while a world-class author like Handke thinks it's important enough to occupy himself with ....)
I wonder whether he'll take up a petition among his prominent-author-buddies. And whether the Swedish Academy will hold this against him .....