"How can a bunch of Norwegians be expected to effectively judge world literature?"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nobel_laureates_in_Literature
In fairness, a Norwegian has only won 3 times.
That being said, the French lead the way with 15, and if you count American and British Lit winners together, then the English language has the most Nobel Laureates in Literature by far.
What's more, go outside Europe/America, and no country has won it twice except Chile & South Africa (which you can arguably count as being part of "Team English Literature/Language" anyway.)
...
As much as I love Western Literature and, with Americans and British writers combined, I think the English Language Canon can match up with any on the planet or in history...
That's pretty biased.
Granted I'm not really into Eastern Literature--mostly just because I'd rather explore the Western Canon first and get to the East later, it's not inferior, it's just that the two traditions are wildly different--but come on...
You CAN'T defend the Nobel Prize Committee on that one, Putin.
"Do you have any basis to say that great literature is coming out of China or Indonesia or Nigeria?"
Indonesia and Nigeria I'll punt on...and China...well, I'm sure something good's being written there, I can't imagine Chinese literary tradition's just stopped, even if I don't know much about it, it, like China/the states that make up China are still one of the longest-lasting traditions in terms of the written word...
But how about Latin America, Putin?
Mexico's only won once--there aren't Mexican writers which are deserving?
Ditto Colombia.
Ditto Peru.
Brazil? Nothing.
And Latin American Literature is RICH with deserving candidates.
More telling still?
Except for Egypt and Turkey--no winners from the Middle East.
No Israelis OR Iranians OR Palestinians?
I can give you famed Israeli poets...but whatever side of the political fence you're on, conflict generally brings out great literature, and no region has seen more post-WWII conflict than the Middle East...
No one is worthy of recognition?
But therein lies the problem, and the reason I don't value the Nobels all that much--
They ARE political.
Give it to an Israeli and Iran will howl; give it to a Palestinian or an Iranian or any anti-Israel Arab state and Israel will go nuts. The Nobels want to avoid that little fiasco, so no awards for that region.
Meanwhile, as a coda to this...
A list of great authors who were eligible for a Nobel and never won:
Seamus Heaney, the great poet and translator of a modern translation of "Beowulf."
John Steinbeck, who wrote "The Grapes of Wrath," "East of Eden," "Of Mice and Men," "The Red Pony" and other now-canonized classics.
Toni Morrison, author of arguably the best novel post-"To Kill a Mockingbird" with "Beloved," as well as "The Bluest Eye" and "Song of Solomon."
Philip Roth, arguably (I'd argue for it) the greatest Jewish-American novelist of all-time, with the famed-and-canonized "Portnoy's Complaint" as well as "Operation Shylock" and a huge body of well-respected American literary material.
Henrik Ibsen (oddly enough, a Norwegian) who wrote "A Doll's House," "Hedda Gabler," "The Wild Duck," "Enemy of the People," and other examples of late-19th/early-20th Realism...after Shakespeare, one of the world's most performed, studied and respected playwrights.
Graham Greene, who I've never personally read, but I'll include as he's a pretty famous British author, so perhaps some of our British WebDippers would like to vouch for him.
Thomas Hardy, author of one of the greatest English language novels of all-time, "Tess of the D'Urbervilles," as well as "The Mayor of Casterbridge," "Jude the Obscure," "Far from the Madding Crowd," and other classics.
W.H. Auden, one of the greatest English language poets of the 20th century.
Leo Tolstoy (hated Shakespeare and Chekhov and a Libertarian Socialist, so you might like him, Putin) who I REALLY shouldn't have to say wrote "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina," but I will for completeness's sake...and the man who argued for Shakespeare and against Tolstoy's statement that the Bard was crap...
George Orwell, in his essay "Lear, Tolstoy and the Fool" (oh, and he might also be a bit famous for writing "Animal Farm," "1984," "Shooting an Elephant," and like it or not being one of the most socially-relevant and talked about writers of the last century) was also denied a Nobel Prize.
Anton Chekhov, whom our old friend Tolstoy ALSO hated (I'm starting to doubt his taste in playwrights) and who wrote not only some of the most groundbreaking works of his era such as "Uncle Vanya," "The Seagull," and "The Cherry Orchard" but some of the most famed short stories of all-time such as "Ward No. 6," likewise--no Nobel Prize.
Vladimir Nabokov, who wrote "Lolita," frequently cited as one of the best novels of the last century (and a novel I wish wasn't as expensive at B&N) didn't win one.
Marcel Proust, behind "Swann's Way" and others in his Remembrance of Things Past/In Search of Lost Time (I've seen both translations) series, and considered one of the pre-eminent Modernist stylists? No Prize.
James Joyce, who I again REALLY shouldn't have to say wrote "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man," "Ulysses," "Dubliners," and "Finnegan's Wake" because you all should have read at least one of those by now and either have been blown away by the amazingness of it all or else howling in rage at this man's making everything so damn complicated, stylistically and otherwise, and an internationally-renowned author? No Nobel either.
Jorge Luis Borges, a great Argentine short story writer...who also supported right-wing Latin American dictators, but then, it's not as if the list of those awarded Nobels is exactly clean, either.
Ezra Pound who...I hate as much as I've ever hated any writer ever for being not only arguably one of the most virulently anti-Semitic poets of the last century AND sadly staining the reputations of Eliot and Hemingway by being friends with them (though that's really their fault for choosing that kind of company, of course, and at least Eliot after WWII seemed to figure out he had a good enough reputation on his own and didn't need the baggage that came with Pound) AND wrote speeches for Mussolini and rooted for Axis victory in WWII...yeah...he's possible the modern author I hate MOST as a person, and I'd love to kick him twice in the balls...but yeah...the man's poetry and literary criticism on their own merits DID deserve a Nobel...even if you take out the ones which are tainted with that whole "Fuck the Jews Goddamn! I hate Jews!" vibe.
Mark Twain, whom Hemingway credits as the founder of American Literature and...that's being figurative and I disagree, but if we forget the pesky facts, Twain is where a lot of the IDEA of American Lit starts...that is, when most people think of things that distinguish American Lit--fiercely individualistic characters, examining race with as much intensity as British Lit focuses on class (both cover both topics, of course, but I think it's fair to say Brit Lit is more famous via Austen, Dickens, Hardy, D.H. Lawrence and others for examining class whereas American Lit is famous for examining race relations), embracing an untamed wilderness of possibilities (and possibly committing atrocities to get that untamed wilderness)...while Melville, Poe and other great American writers before shouldn't be overlooked, it's Twain that creates the American ideal of literature, and also contributed some great observations on atheism and other topics...and, of course--no Nobel Prize.
Oh, I quickly mentioned D.H. Lawrence, didn't I? Of "The Rainbow," "Women in Love," "Sons and Lovers" and, maybe most famously, "Lady Chatterley's Lover" fame, the last of which was featured in arguably one of Britain's most important legal cases involving censorship and literature...and, while the man was dead and gone before Penguin Publishing won the case...they and he won the case, striking a huge and tangible blow for literary and public expression. One of the Modernist era's true titan among titans in terms of British authors (he also spent extensive time in America, where his New Mexico Ranch still exists, Australia, and parts of Europe) and, of course...no Nobel Prize.
To break up the sausage-fest and give some ladies the spotlight:
Virginia Woolf, author of "To the Lighthouse," "Mrs. Dalloway," "The Waves," and other ground-breaking works of works focusing on character's psychologies and thoughts and GASP! unlike Austen, not taking the Happiness Begins and Ends with a Man/Marriage stance (Austen doesn't always take that stance, but takes it far, far too often.) Oh, yeah. No Nobel for Mrs. Woolf.
Angela Ansbury, writer of "A Raisin in the Sun" and other great African-American works. No Prize.
Maya Angelou, another great African-American writer and arguably one of our greatest living writers in America today...no Prize.
Look at those names, and look at the list of writers who DID win the Prize.
Some, like T.S. Eliot and George Bernard Shaw (who accepted at the behest of his wife who insisted it'd be an honor to Ireland), are well-deserving and immediately recognizable as being so.
Some, like Winston Churchill, are there because...well, he was Winston Churchill, he could write whatever he wanted post-WWII and get accolades (which isn't to say his writing wasn't good--I haven't read the works that won him the Prize--I'm just saying, like Eisenhower winning the Presidency, both won their awards/stations because they came out as legends-among-men after WWII.)
Aaaaaaand some you've never heard of ever in your life, and you look around at others, and ask them, and THEY haven't heard of them, professors haven't heard of them...
So, yeah.
The Prize is a joke.
I could go on listing writer snubs (or, more nastily, argue some who won their Prize didn't deserve it compared to others) but that's enough.
Shakespeare was one of several popular playwrights in his day...
By the Restoration he was a little more popular...
By the Enlightenment he was more popular for some plays, less popular for others...
From the Romantic era on he's been steadily increasing in popularity until he's the titan he is today.
I guarantee the names I listed will be read and honored long after MANY Nobel winners have long been forgotten (you could argue with some of the earliest not-so-famous or canonized writers, this is already happening.)
Christmas Music: How Soon is too Soon?
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