As described by their website, the Nobel Prize in Literature goes “to the person who shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction.” So far, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded 112 times. In seven years, the prize was not awarded because there was not believed to be anything that met the criteria established above. The prize has also only been shared four times, unlike many other categories. Only 15 of the 116 Nobel Laureates (people who were awarded the prize) were female. The prize has been declined twice and no one has ever won it more than one time. English is the most common language used by Nobel Laureates, although only 29 of the Nobel Laureates wrote in English. Nine of the Nobel Laureates had specific novels or works specifically recognized. These were Theodor Mommsen’s A history of Rome, Carl Spitteler’s Olympian Spring, Knut Hamsun’s Growth of the Soil, Wladyslaw Reymont’s The Peasants, Thomas Mann’s Buddenbrooks, John Galsworthy’s The Forsyte Saga, Roger Martin Du Gard’s Les Thibault, Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, and Mikhail Sholokhov’s And Quiet Flows the Don.
Did any of that information surprise you?
What information was the most interesting to you?
Is there anyone who you think should get a Nobel Prize in Literature?
What do you think of the Nobel Prize in Literature?
Have you read a book written by a Nobel Laureate?
Would you want to win a Nobel Prize in Literature?
not quite, i’ve been keeping track of the literature Nobel prizes for a couple years now dkjfbvd
what does surprise me is the fact that there wasn’t any mention to a highly controversial winner: Bob Dylan (2016), which sparked a lot of discussions as to whether or not songs should be considered literature and what this particular recognition would imply
most definitely, the fact that only 29 Laureates wrote in English
it makes sense, in a way, since Nobel Prizes are not as english centred as they could be (and i mean this in a good way, there’s so much more to explore in different languages), and I, as a non native english speaker, find great joy in the fact that the literature that’s being recognised is not all english-centric
Jorge Luis Borges
yes, i know he’s dead but he has a huge impact on how we perceive Latin American literature nowadays, and marked a significant path on what our literature is and on how writers and readers both wanted it to be like
as any other prize, the fact that it’s chosen and given by a group of human beings makes it biased and because of that it should not be taken as the last word on a discussion on what good literature is
being honest, i disagree with some Laureates, but hey, at least it gives way to interesting discussions
still, i think it’s very neat to see what it is that makes some people and works stand out between all the writers there are and who have worldwide recognition
a couple ones, yeah
the ones that stand out the most to me right now, tho, are The Crescent Moon by Rabindranath Tagore and both One Hundred Years of Solitude and Leaf Storm by Gabriel García Márquez
ngl i’d love to
but that would take a sh*t ton of work and i genuinely don’t think that’d be possible
(but also woah imagine being the first non binary Laureate in literature that’d be so cool lmao)
