Eurocentric, obscure, occasionally controversial, frequently wrong, sometimes tainted by political bias – the Nobel Prize for literature has had all such criticisms and more laid at its door.
The selection this year of a Swede by the Swedish Academy raised many an eyebrow – the eighth since the award was first presented in 1901.
Yet Tomas Tranströmer is no stranger to the international literary world (unlike the last Swedish joint winners Eyvind Johnson and Harry Martinson who, in 1974, beat off challenges from Graham Greene, Saul Bellow and Vladimir Nabakov).
Tranströmer’s first poems were published back in 1954 and his work since has been translated into more than 50 languages. The poet is the recipient of, among others, Canada’s Griffin Poetry Prize, the German Petrarca-Preis and Bellman Prize.
In short, he is regarded as one of the best poets in the world – yet according The Telegraph newspaper '… a poll currently under way at Nobelprize.org reveals that 88 per cent of those who logged on to discover this year's winner had never read his poetry'.
But Tranströmer who, as a result of a stroke in 1990 cannot speak or use his right hand, has for many years been the centre of ‘Nobel speculation’. His Grief Gondola collection, published in 1996, sold 30,000 copies in his native Sweden alone – an extraordinary number for a slim volume of poetry.
Past Controversies Over Nobel Prize for Literature
Awards, competitions, prizes based on subjective selection criteria frequently result in controversy, derision and simple cries of ‘foul play’.
The Nobel Prize for Literature has certainly had more than its fair share, largely to do with its status (and prize money of 10 million kroner – approximately $1.3 million) but also to do with the fact the academy is less than transparent about its decision-making. Nominations are called for, but shortlists are never publicly announced.
Decisions have led to resignations from the academy, the most recent being in 2004 when the award was presented to Austrian Elfriede Jelinek.
Academy member Knut Ahnlund claimed the decision caused ‘irreparable damage’ to the reputation of the award. Interestingly, Jelinek herself voiced whether there were ‘more worthy winners’ than herself.
It’s a sentiment most often cited by critics of the Nobel Prize for Literature. Tolstoy, Zola, Twain, Strindberg are but a few writers missing from the early years; only one writer from the Arab world (Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz in 1988); more Swedish winners than writers from Africa and Asia combined. Wole Soyinka was the first African recipient in 1986 and remains the only black African winner (Mahfouz, Nadine Gordimer in 1991 and J M Coetzee in 2003 are the other Africans on the list). Rabindranath Tagore (1913) is the only Indian writer.
It’s the Eurocentric aspect of the award that draws the most ire, even from Swedish newspapers.
Permanent Secretary of the Academy Peter Englund acknowledged in 2009 '…it is a problem. We tend to relate more easily to literature written in Europe and in the European tradition'.
France leads the way with 14 Nobels from a European total of 81 since first presented in 1901. The US in second place claims 10 out of a total of 17 for the Americas.
2011 Nobel Literature Prize and Tomas Tranströmer
In the interim, debate continues about this year’s award. Tranströmer joins some of the greats (and lesser greats!) of world literature including Prudhomme (the first recipient), Rudyard Kiplng, W B Yeats, Pirandello, Eugene O’Neill, Herman Hesse, Gide, Hemingway, Steinbeck, Llosa and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The Nobel frequently does get it right, but not always immediately (and sometimes it gets it very wrong).
As far as Paul Muldoon is concerned, they got it right this year. Writing in the New Yorker, he writes of the 'truly heartwarming' decision, a sentiment echoed by Sigrid Rausing at Granta.
But the nay-sayers were also out in force - 'who?' being a popular question (albeit not for the first time when the Swedish Academy has made their announcement).
But Tranströmer has been 'on the list' in the past and British bookmakers had placed him as second favourite behind Syrian poet Ali Hamid Saeed (but published as Adonis). Events in the Middle East and the Arab Spring had seen a rise in the expectation that the academy might recognise the champion of democracy and secular thought. Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami (The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Norwegian Wood) was third favourite and arguably the best known of the front-runners.
Keith Lawrence - Published writer of articles in magazines, newspapers and websites, predominantly on culture, alongside ghostwriter/editor/copywriter.
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