Grass and the Nobel

       I couldn't really be bothered to weigh in on the Günter Grass-poem fallout -- fascinating and entertaining though it has been -- but then you've surely been able to find your fill elsewhere.
       Worth pointing to, however, is Permanent Secretary of the (Nobel-awarding) Swedish Academy Peter Englund's recent blog post, where he officially states (in several languages ...):

Regarding the current debate over Günther [sic] Grass' poem "Was gesagt werden muss" I wish to point out that Mr Grass received his Nobel Prize in 1999 on literary merit and literary merit alone -- this applies to all recipients. There is and will be no discussion in the Swedish Academy on rescinding the award.

       The idea that they should rescind Grass' Nobel is, of course, simply laughable -- but the statement is of interest for its strong claim that literary merit and literary merit alone is the deciding factor regarding Nobel-worthiness. After all, there's lots of discussion every year as to what exactly makes an author Nobel-worthy -- and, as they even quote on the official site, Nobel himself said they should give the prize: "to the person who shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction" -- which suggests there is a bit more than just literary merit to it.
       So should we take Englund's statement as a sign that the Academy has moved away from Nobel's original ideals and now looks more towards the purely literary ? Ah, more tea leaves to read !