Hello Gentle Reader
First and foremost I would like to welcome my fifth follower to the Blog. I would welcome you with a name, but at the moment my blog does not allow me to see any of my followers and so I am afraid you are a mystery to me. That being noted I welcome to this blog and thank-you for following.
With every passing day it gets closer; and as it gets closer the betting becomes more intense. The official date for the announcement of the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature has not been proclaimed and scheduled; however it is susceptible and with in due reason that it will be awarded next Thursday. However this year it has become more restricted and all precautions have been taken to maintain the secrecy of the award, and its integrity. According “The Vancouver Sun,” the additional measures that have been taken this year are: there will be no press release delivered by courier to any news agency, including the associated press; as well as the Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy Peter Englund will not be giving any interviews leading up to the(se) final week(s) towards the announcement date.
In an e-mail to the Associated Press Peter Englund had explained that “we think it is better this way,”—and for all the complaints and outrage about the prize going to the obscure or undeserving (first off that’s not their call) but it follows suit in the integrity of the will of Alfred Nobel, and his wish to keep it secret.
That being said betting is on! Haruki Murakami still is at the forefront followed by another Asian writer; Chinese Mo Yan. However this is where it gets good. William Trevor an octogenarian writer and one of the greatest practitioners alongside Alice Munro of the short story; has taken quite the leap forward via Ladbrokes and is now in third place with odds of 11/100. Past favourites Ko Un and Adonis have taken a step back though – this of course is bittersweet. Both poets are fine poets; and are readable I find as well. An ability to communicate a wealth of idea’s in a simple way and being comprehended by the everyday. Formal experimentation almost appears to be abandoned; or rather it is put aside in regards, to focus on beauty and aesthetics and spiritual enlightenment in a different way; were it is not placing the style and standards of poetry and honing it into a crystalline form and then placed on a pedestal in a intellectual and literary clique. Where it remains. A singular place among a very few groups of people.
English Poetry for myself personally has always been a formal experimenter. One in which it is a code. It is hermetic and reclusive. Punctuation and words are used as dictated by style and form. Interpretation becomes dictated and stale as stagnant water. Whereas I have found the poetry of such poets like: Nobel Laureates Wislawa Szymborska and Tomas Tranströmer; Ko Un and Adonis to be more flowing and freer than that of English poetics of such poets as Byron, Wordsworth and Blake – that speak of romanticism and holy and heavenly moments, but lack the grounded earthly composure as such as the other poets above.
Look at “The Moon,” by Ko Un
“Every time the moon rose, she prayed.
Finally Wol-nam's mother, at forty, bore a son.
In dreams before pregnancy,
she swallowed the moon.
After her son was born, Wol-nam's mother
would lose her mind
without fail
every time the moon rose.
Late at night, washing dishes,
she'd smash one bowl-
the moon then hid in a cloud
and the world grew blind.”
The poetry deals with the miracles of daily life. They deal with the absurdities the trails of life and the individuals that inhabitant life. These poems are precious echoes of laughs; peals of tears; and offer insights into the human spirit.
Adonis may have more difficulty winning the prize; because of the minor outrage that he was not awarded the prize in two-thousand and eleven because of the Arab Spring – of course Peter Englund had retorted that the Nobel for Literature was not awarded for political reasons describing it as “Literature for Dummies,” and he is right. Though it does hurt his chances; for some reasons awarding it again in another year to another poet is always a risky move. The politics of what is going on in Syria can also cause a controversy. Either way this year’s prize is interesting. Admittedly, I hope for Alice Munro; but also Ko Un and Adonis. In a few years Cesair Aira’s will be on the list as well; to really skip the rock across the water it would be really neat to see an author that I have just started to read (and really like) -- Jacques Poulin: a Canadian-Quebecois writer whose inmate and quiet style reminds me of being curled up next to a fire place, when the glowing embers are still warm on the back. – And truly in secret I also hope for a real obscure author whose award will force its way into translation.
For now the Gentle Reader we wait in (im)patience for the award, to see who bet right and who for sure put their money on the wrong candidate.
Thank-you For Reading Gentle Reader
Take Care
And As Always
Stay Well Read
*And Remember: Downloading Books Illegally is Thievery and Wrong.*
M. Mary
