The Birdcage Archives

Monday 10 August 2015

Announcement: Nobel Prize for Literature 2015 Speculation List

 Hello Gentle Reader,

Once again it is that time of year. Nobel Prize for Literature speculation is once again underway. My personalized list will be coming this Friday: August 14th 2015.

Here are a quick set of stats for the upcoming list; which will be reiterated with the list.

A total of 53 writers have been included.
34 of them are men.
19 of them are women.

Writers by geographical area:

Africa – 6 writers
North Africa & Middle East – 6 writers
Europe – 24 writers
Australia & Oceania – 1 writer
Asia & the Indo-Subcontinent – 9
South & Latin America; Including the Caribbean – 7

To see the full list, and included writers, please come back Friday: August 14th 2015, to see the complete list.

Now, I’d like to take the time to discuss some honorable mentions; of writers who have not been included on the list. They may not be well known, but I have had the pleasure of stumbling across these writers before.

Honorable Mentions –

Kaarina Valoaalto – Finland – Her work blends poetry and prose, and often creates some of the most unique works, that I have had the pleasure of sampling. It was thanks to “Books From Finland,” as well “Transcript,” that I was able to discover and read this writer’s work. However, her work is not translated into English – with the exception snippets that can be discovered here and there. Because of this almost exclusiveness of her work not being administered to other languages (from my understanding) it seems Valoaalto (or lightwave) is left to be undiscovered. Still if there is a great writer of almost folk art roots, it is Kaarina Valoaalto.

Romualdas Lankauskas – Lithuania – Lankauskas is Lithuanian’s grand master of letters. He is a painter, playwright, and a productive prose writer. He is well known for his short stories, which are written in his laconic writing style. During Lithuania’s communist Lankauskas was known as an opponent of the system and the ideological restraints placed upon Lithuania’s citizens. This often put him at ends with the then reigning ideology of the time. However Lankauskas has survived, and continues to write. I came across him in “The Dedalus Book of Lithuanian Literature.” The greatest opponent of Lankauskas is most likely a lack of translation, which inevitably leads to a lack of any international or world stage presence on the literary map.

Jacques Poulin – Canada (Québec) – I would have liked to include Jacques Poulin on this speculative list. Unfortunately two aspects work against Poulin. They are the fact that in two-thousand and thirteen, Alice Munro won the Nobel Prize for Literature, and in two-thousand and fourteen, Patrick Modiano, won the Nobel Prize for Literature. One is a Canadian master of the short story; and the other is a French writer who investigates the past and the unreliability of memory. Jacques Poulin is a French-Canadian writer; meaning that the two preceding years work against his favour it were to seem; being as one is a Canadian and the other a French language author. Still Poulin is one of the most wonderful writers, in which I have had the pleasure of reading.

William Trevor – Ireland – William Trevor is now eighty seven years old (the age in which Doris Lessing had received her own Nobel Prize for Literature; and in doing so had become the oldest Nobel Laureate in its history.) William Trevor is often considered another master practitioner of the short story. However his work goes beyond the short story; despite it being his most famous genre, in which he works in. Trevor is also a accomplished novelist; and has written children’s books, plays, and two collections of non-fiction work. Trevor is considered one of the greatest English language writers heralding from Ireland, and has been nominated for the Booker Prize five times; the most recent in two-thousand and nine with “Love and Summer.”

The Nonagenarian Triplets –

Yves Bonnefoy – France – Poet, essayist, and art critic; Bonnefoy is considered France’s greatest poet. Though now at the tender age of ninety two, Bonnefoy has it were to seem passed the age to be considered a Nobel Laureate. Yet his poems are known for their starkness combined with a deeply felt sensuality, with a continual yearning for some ‘other place.’

Friederike Mayröcker – Austria – The Vienna poet is famous for being unable to write outside of her home, and city of Vienna. Mayröcker is known for her hermetic existence, surrounded by piles and mountains of notes and paper in her apartment. Mayröcker is also known for her relationship with fellow poet Ernst Jandl. She often proclaimed as the greatest Austrian poet of her time. Though now ninety, it appears that the Nobel has also passed her by.

Philippe Jaccottet – Switzerland – Jaccottet is a Swiss poet, who writes in French. He is an accomplished poet, and in two-thousand and fourteen was published in the famous and renowned Bibliothèque de la Pléiade – translation: “Pleiades Library.” It is very rare for a living French writer to be published within the library; but Jaccottet is only one of fifteen writers to be published in the library alive, and the fourth Swiss writer to be included. Now though at the tender age of ninety much like Bonnefoy and Mayröcker; Jaccottet’s chances of a Nobel Prize are limited.

Lest We Forget –

There have been numerous writers, who did not receive the Nobel Prize for Literature. Often this is called the: Nobel Snub. Why or why not, is not entirely certain all the time. The list includes hundreds upon thousands of writer’s. Many of those writers where some of biggest names of their time: Leo Tolstoy, , James Joyce, Marcel Proust, Virginia Woolf, Jorge Luis Borges and Vladimir Nabokov. Then there are writes who do not get proclaimed for not being awarded: Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, Jun'ichirō Tanizaki, and Carlos Fuentes. 

 The following is a list of some writers who I have enjoyed, but did not receive the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Clarice Lispector – Brazil – As I write this, the greater world has fallen more and more in love with Clarice Lispector; the witch of Brazilian letters. Her work often puts her in her own category without a rival or competitor in sight. Her work moves between modernism, surrealism, postmodernism, satire, and mystical introspection. Now with the publication of her “Complete Stories,” thanks New Directions, readers are falling under the spell of Brazil’s feline featured writer. She is a writer of almost cult status, and yet she is a writer that continuously worked in her own fashion, never to the fashion of others. She could slip from philosophy to phantasmagoria with sentences of each other. However Lispector unfortunately passed away in nineteen-seventy seven; she was only fifty seven years old. Now however, Lispector is considered one of the greatest writers of Brazil.

Antonio Tabucchi – Italy – I had often hoped before his own untimely death in two-thousand and twelve, that Antonio Tabucchi would take the Nobel Prize for Literature. He always appeared like the perfect writer. He was a great short story writer, and novelist; he was engaged with intellectual ideas, and leaned politically to the left, often opposing fascism and dictatorships (such as Salazar’s). But Tabucchi was more than all that. He was an accomplished scholar of the mystical Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa. His works very rarely disappointed me (with one exception). “Peirra Declares,” remains of my favorite books, which opposes oppression and fascism, without becoming overtly political in nature. However it is Tabucchi’s stories that always continue to be enjoyed.

Ryūnosuke Akutagawa – Japan – One of the greatest literary disasters, is Akutagawa’s suicide. It would have been extraordinary to see what greater works this grandfather of the Japanese short story, could have produced. But unfortunately with a fragile mental state, and a traumatized mind, Akutagawa committed suicide at the age of thirty-five years old. His ability to unite Western sensibilities with Japanese traditions and cultures, in a sense lead the way for other great twentieth century writers like: Yasunari Kawabata and Osamu Dazai.

Vijaydan Detha – India – He was considered India’s equivalent to Shakespeare, and was known for his folk tales. Detha was perhaps the greatest Indian writer, for the Nobel Prize for Literature. However, Detha had passed away at the age of eighty-seven in two-thousand and thirteen. In two-thousand and eleven, Detha was speculated to be a serious contender for the Nobel Prize for Literature. However Detha never did receive the accolade. Still he is considered a colossus of Indian literature and Rajasthani language literature. Still he is immensely popular and beloved by many of his faithful readers.

Mu Xin – China – It was herald in two-thousand and four that when Elfriede Jelinek became that year’s Nobel Laureate, was a disaster; when Mo Yan became the Nobel Laureate for Literature, in two-thousand and twelve, would best be described as a catastrophe. If any Chinese writer should have become a Nobel Laureate, it should have been Mu Xin. Xin was a classically trained writer, and perhaps one of the greatest writers that I have had the pleasure of reading. His work is more akin to the classical texts of Chinese literature, than to that of the contemporary works that are written in the now reformed cultural texts that Mao had implemented with the Cultural Revolution. “An Empty Room,” a selection of stories by Mu Xin, is one of the most enjoyable works I have read, by a writer. The language is poetic and pristine; his subject matter range(d) from the political to the foreign concept of memory and old age, over tea, voiced by a English young lady living with her aunt and uncle. Mu Xin in my opinion was a more then worthy contender for the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Dulce Maria Loynaz – Cuba – One of the three Marias (Maria Zambrano, Anna Maria Matute), Loynaz is perhaps one of the most graceful poets, which I have stumbled upon; with great thanks to online outlets. Her poetry (from what I could read) often depicted natural beauties and wonders; but also discussed an array of subjects. Dulce Maria Loynaz however, was also a solitary individual; though she traveled extensively, as she aged she became more reclusive, and eventually began to lose her sight. However, recognition did come to Loynaz and her life time of work with the Cervantes Prize. She is the grand dame of Cuban poetry; or Cuba’s own Emily Dickinson; and though discussions are held of whether or not she has any influence over younger poets in Cuba, her poetic accomplishments are noteworthy enough.  

FIN –

This, my dear Gentle Reader, is all that I can offer for right now as a taste for this year’s speculative list. Above I offered stats on the list, as well as did my best to honour the writers above. We remember those that did not receive the accolade, but have become great writers without the medal and diploma. Please return Friday for the complete list!

Until then Gentle Reader:

Take Care
And As Always
Stay Well Read

M. Mary

P.S. - The following is a link to the Speculation list:

http://morose-mary.blogspot.ca/2015/08/nobel-speculation-2015.html

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