४ मे, २०१८

"The Swedish panel that awards the Nobel Prize in Literature said on Friday that it would take the extraordinary step of not naming a laureate this year..."

"... not because of a shortage of deserving writers, but because of the infighting and public outrage that have engulfed the group over a sexual abuse scandal," the NYT reports.

I think they should do something creative, like when Time magazine chose all of us its Person of the Year:



Make all of us writing on the internet the Nobel Laureate this time. Everybody's a winner. Or just all of us women.

But, no. Instead the panel is going to name 2 winners next year! So the experience of being THE Nobel Prize winner will be diluted for 2 writers who are both, presumably, worthy of celebration individually in a year of their own.

What a piss-poor solution to their PR problem! Let's see who they decide to honor next year. I bet they use the occasion to throw a couple awards to writers in countries that are usually ignored. There are 7 countries that have won 6 or more Nobel Literature prizes and more than 150 that haven't won any. Let's see what happens. Mark my finely clear-sightedly realistic, evocatively ambiguous, impassioned, magnificent, luminous, frolicsome words. You know, I am upholding the fragile experience of the individual against the barbaric arbitrariness of history with extraordinary linguistic zeal revelatory of the absurdity of society's clichés and their subjugating power.

४३ टिप्पण्या:

Etienne म्हणाले...

Q: What do you get if you cross a Swede with a Pig?
A: There are some things a Pig just won't do !

Darrell म्हणाले...

Everyone...cool. Just send my the cash prize, though.

madAsHell म्हणाले...

because of the infighting and public outrage that have engulfed the group over a sexual abuse scandal

This is the part where Charlton Heston says "Solyent Green. It's people".

buwaya म्हणाले...

It's a pretty bad series of violations of their rules, all around.
A total lack of responsibility really.
Their King should have read them the riot act, or exiled them to Lapland or something.
Marshal Bernadotte would have.
But I guess the Swedes aren't up to embracing the suck anymore.
As long as they are screwing everything else up, better I think to do a retroactive Nobel to cover all the worthies they missed.
No money, just "honor".

Larry J म्हणाले...

I saw a joke online recently that said Trump will be eligible for the Nobel Peace Prize for ending the war in Korea, the Economics Prize for turning around the US economy, and the Literature Prize for "The Art of the Deal".

Maybe next year for that last one.

Anne in Rockwall, TX म्हणाले...

That was fabulous Althouse! I laughed out loud at the end and now my dogs think I'm crazy.

MadisonMan म्हणाले...

What a dynamite reason for not awarding the prize.

Maybe they should just have women decide in even years, and men in odd. That way the sexes on the committee need never comingle.

Sigivald म्हणाले...

The Nobels outside of the Sciences are all trash anyway.

Tyrone Slothrop म्हणाले...

I don't deserve my 1.31^-10 th share of the Peace Prize. I flipped a guy off on the road yesterday.

MikeR म्हणाले...

Laying the groundwork for not awarding a Peace Prize. Until Trump is out of office.

Achilles म्हणाले...

It is not just the US left that is falling apart.

The globalist left, which is really what is behind the US left, is losing everywhere.

rcocean म्हणाले...

Haha - very funny.

I'm not sure who/what you are satirizing but I enjoyed it.

I agree, lets give the award to some other countries - its not like its based on merit. What about Croatia or Portugal? Or maybe a transgender?

rcocean म्हणाले...

What about Stephen Sondiheim or a screen writer?

Or Bill Bryson.

We've decided "Literature" doesn't mean drama/poetry/Novels. We're beyond that.

rcocean म्हणाले...

What about Tennessee Coats? He's already a "Genius" - why not a Nobel prize for his black body?

Drago म्हणाले...

MikeR: "Laying the groundwork for not awarding a Peace Prize. Until Trump is out of office"

Precisely.

In the same way that the entire #MeToo movement and cleaning out of some media types is simply the narrative foundation necessary for the lefties to go after Trump.

If Hillary had been elected, #MeToo would never have begun nor been supported.

Ever.

buwaya म्हणाले...

Vaxholm Fortress

Where Sweden traditionally imprisoned those convicted of lese-majeste.
The King should have threatened the lot of them (Nobel committee) with a vacation in a historic spot.

n.n म्हणाले...

Coincidentally, the feminine female status and experience was diluted in the same year.

robother म्हणाले...

Should be enough time for Harvey Weinstein and Anthony Weiner to complete their joint effort, an modern take on Augustine's Confessions. Of course, you can't rule out Stormy Daniels, more for her entire body of work than any individual piece.

gadfly म्हणाले...

“The crisis in the Swedish Academy has adversely affected the Nobel Prize. Their decision underscores the seriousness of the situation and will help safeguard the long-term reputation of the Nobel Prize.”

Nobel hasn't done a very good job safeguarding its "reputation" in the past.

In 1990 they awarded the Peace Prize to Mikhail Gorbachev instead of Ronald Reagan - when the loser wins!

The 1993 award was shared between Nelson Mandela and Frederick de Klerk but the killings in South Africa have increased every year since then.

1994 wrought Arafat/Rabin/Peres for advancing the peace project in Israel but the killings will continue as long as the radical Palistinian Arabs do not want peace - they want Israeli annihilation.

The 2007 award to Algore and the U.N. Climate Agency is a laugh-out-loud joke.

Famously, even lauraete Barack Obama has no idea why he received the Peace Prize in 2009.

And finally Colombian president Juan Santos received the prize in 2016 for ending the 50 year civil war in that country but the FARC and ELN rebels continue to fight as we speak.

RI Red म्हणाले...

Bob Dylan. He broke them.

Sebastian म्हणाले...

Look, Althouse, you are no epicist of the female experience who uncovers the precipice under everyday prattle, so forget it.

gadfly म्हणाले...

MikeR said...
Laying the groundwork for not awarding a Peace Prize. Until Trump is out of office.

We are talking The Nobel Peace Prize, not the Nobel Bullshit Prize here. It simply is not designed for encouraging the greatest liar in presidential in history.

tcrosse म्हणाले...

It simply is not designed for encouraging the greatest liar in presidential in history.

But nevertheless he won it.

Rob म्हणाले...

So many 50-cent words, Ann. You'd be a shoo-in for the Nobel, were it not for the inconvenient fact you're American and not a person of color. Check your privilege!

Rob म्हणाले...

In the unlikely event you do win, Ann, would you promise to send Patti Smith to collect your prize, or if she's unavailable, Fred Armisen dressed as the lesbian bookstore lady?

Karen म्हणाले...

Ann Althouse, I just watched a youtube of David Foster Wallace called This is Water to learn why you spend so much time reading his work, and I now see that what he was telling the graduates of Kenyon mirrors very closely what Jordan Peterson is always teaching. They had the same concerns and in many ways the same direction.

The Godfather म्हणाले...

I think Althouse.com would have the inside track for the Nobel in Literature if she could get Bob Zimmerman to set the blog to music.

PackerBronco म्हणाले...

They should just give it to Obama.

What? You say he didn't do anything this year to deserve it?

Well, that didn't stop the committee last time.

bagoh20 म्हणाले...

Pick a name from the phone book. Hey, what about the guy who wrote the phone book? That's good stuff in there.

Trump wrote a book. Has anybody won two Nobels in one year? Trump should get the one for economics too. I mean what good is a bunch of high falootin' academic words on economics compared to results? Would you rather have a book or a fatter paycheck?

Quaestor म्हणाले...

... with extraordinary linguistic zeal revelatory of the absurdity of society's clichés and their subjugating power.

Is society plural or singular?

Henry म्हणाले...

But, no. Instead the panel is going to name 2 winners next year! So the experience of being THE Nobel Prize winner will be diluted for 2 writers who are both, presumably, worthy of celebration individually in a year of their own.

They should pick two writers that each only go by one name.

Like Adele Eminem.

Quaestor म्हणाले...
ही टिप्पणी लेखकाना हलविली आहे.
Kevin म्हणाले...

This year's Nobel Prize in Literature should go to Christopher Steele.

There was no other piece of fiction which has had an equivalent impact.

Quaestor म्हणाले...

What a dynamite reason for not awarding the prize.

You should take a bow for that one, MadisonMan.

Everyone knows what's behind this, do we not? And it has nothing to do with #MeToo; that was just a very lame but convenient excuse. It's battlespace preparation. Nine years ago they gave the newly inaugurated Lord Zero the Peace Prize for NOTHING. Now it looks like they will be compelled to award the Prize to Donald Trump for SOMETHING — a very substantial and consequential something, namely the end of 68 years of vicious and wasteful war. Granted, the last 65 of those years have been somewhat less warlike, though interspersed with murder, kidnapping, artillery duels, airliner bombings, terrorism, starvation, and oppression. Just a few short months ago it looked like the Norks would have to be put down with a preventive conventional invasion in order to avoid a nuclear exchange that would have killed millions, including nearly everyone north of the 38th. Yet thanks, at least in part to Trump's fortitude and inventiveness, it looks like Peace in Our Time on the Korean Peninsula. That's the paradigm of what Alfred Nobel had in mind when he endowed the Prize that bears his name. They gave one to Yasir Arafat, a fucking terrorist, but they won't honor our President.

Mark my words.

Quaestor म्हणाले...
ही टिप्पणी लेखकाना हलविली आहे.
Quaestor म्हणाले...

Etienne wrote: What do you get if you cross a Swede with a Pig?

Calm down, Etienne. The Prize for Literature may be awarded in Stockholm, but the Prize Committee, the weaselly bastards who concocted this dodge, is almost if not entire Norwegian. The give the Peace Prize in Oslo. The give the others in Stockholm, partly because Alfred Nobel was born in Sweden though he did his work as a Norwegian subject, but mostly because Stockholm is a cool fleshpot town compared to the grim and chilly Oslo. (There's no such thing as Norwegian porn for a reason.) It gives the Committee an excuse to party hardy from time to time.

(reposted with more typos corrected, dammit)

Quaestor म्हणाले...

rcocean wrote: What about Tennessee Coats? He's already a "Genius" - why not a Nobel prize for his black body?

I think they already gave out an award for black body.

Drago म्हणाले...

gadfly: "We are talking The Nobel Peace Prize, not the Nobel Bullshit Prize here."

LOL

Yes, gadfly, the "Poor Man's LLR Chuck" actually wrote that, just now, even with the 20-20 hindsight on the Nobel being awarded to obama for literally nothing.

One doesn't need to try and discredit gadfly. Gadfly is discredited by simply reading his/her/xis posts!

Clyde म्हणाले...

For my two picks in the Never-Having-Won Country Lottery, I'll take North Korea and Venezuela, because those folks are going to have some harrowing stories to tell next year. We're talking Solzhenitsyn territory, or perhaps just "Love In the Time of Super-Duper-Hyperinflation."

becauseIdbefired म्हणाले...

> Or just all of us women.

Jeeze, you remind me of my older sister. She too got a law degree, even did some university teaching. I'll tell you what, though. She has never hesitated to do the cat punishment.

William म्हणाले...

Princess Victoria, the heir apparent of the Swedish royal family, was groped by a French photographer at some function. You can't get more lese majeste than that. Wasn't the guy who had the affair with Queen Christina the last person in Europe to be drawn and quartered? Standards have really gone to hell there. ........There should annually be given some kind of booby prize for the world's most egregious sexual offender. Call it the Harvey. I don't think Weinstein will ever be topped but someone who gropes the heir apparent at a public function is up there.

buwaya म्हणाले...

"Princess Victoria, the heir apparent of the Swedish royal family, was groped by a French photographer at some function. "

As it happens, that was in fact the husband of the Swedish lady on the Nobel committee they were exercised about. Its a small world, or rather a small country.

Jean-Claude Arnault

Now, maybe its just me, but this Princess Victoria has a rather grim look to her. That's a brave man or he knows much more about Sweden than I do.

Bad Lieutenant म्हणाले...


buwaya said...
Vaxholm Fortress

Where Sweden traditionally imprisoned those convicted of lese-majeste.
The King should have threatened the lot of them (Nobel committee) with a vacation in a historic spot.

5/4/18, 12:24 PM


Pfui. You're a student of history, Buwaya, you know this imprisonment stuff is for the birds. Kill 'em all.