Sara Stridsberg Officially Leaves the Swedish Academy

Hello Gentle Reader

In the past week there has been speculation and rumour that this year’s Nobel Prize for Literature would be postponed until 2019, whereupon two authors will be awarded jointly, one for this year and the other for 2019. The Swedish Academy as a whole has been fragmented when discussing the issue. Temporary Permanent Secretary Anders Olsson has only eluded that this is in discussions and debates, nothing concrete. Whereas Göran Malmqvist and Horace Engdahl have stated with zeal and spikey contempt: the good work will continue despite the scandal.

Since the scandal had first unsettled the Swedish Academy mid-April, the Swedish Academy has lost its usual and singular voice, when it came to discussing these issues. Since the exodus and dissent against the Academy, there has been a fragmented chorus, offering splintering perspectives of how the Swedish Academy should conduct its business; but nothing has been unified or concrete during these discussions

The Swedish Academy, however, has stated it will release a press release on May 3^rd announcing the fate of the Nobel Prize for Literature. In other words: on May 3^rd, the world will know whether or not the Swedish Academy will announce a Nobel Laureate in Literature for 2018.

Considering the current atmosphere and the weakened ranks of the Swedish Academy, logic suggests that there will be no Nobel Prize for Literature in 2018. The Swedish Academy is already lacking the required twelve members to hold a quorum to make any decisions; and to further add fuel to the fire, Sara Stridsberg has also decided to relinquish her seat from the Swedish Academy. This means, there are now only ten active members of eighteen.

It comes to no surprise that Sara Stridsberg has resigned from the seat. During the uproar and scandal, Stidsberg was a staunched ally of former Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy, Sara Danius. Since Sara Danius was forced in a compromise to step down from her role as Permanent Secretary (she resigned, to my knowledge, from the academy voluntarily), Sara Stidsberg has been a vocal and critical voice within the Academy, who has done battle against the old guard, and who has been repeatedly criticized (from what speculation leads) within the Swedish Academy for her public dissidence.

Now with Sara Stidsberg’s resignation, the Swedish Academy finds itself in a perilous and peculiar position—if it hadn’t already found itself before. All that remains, with a few exceptions, is the old guard of years gone past, who have been accused and blamed for the mishandling the recent allegations of sexual misconduct and misallocation of funds.

The Swedish Academy has a lot to clean up, and a lot of in house work to do. Three members in particular have been more damaging of late, then those who have left:

Chair No. 3 – Sture Allen –Who, when Permanent Secretary was first notified of the alleged sexual assaults, and chose not to act, considering the information unimportant.

Chair No. 5 – Göran Malmqvist – Whose blatant and passive aggressive comments against former members—more specifically, Sara Danius—have done nothing but fuel the media frenzy, and plunge the Swedish Academy further into a public display of discord.

Chair No. 17 – Horace Engdahl – Perhaps the most vocal and vitriolic, often feels he takes the impeachable moral high ground, but instead only makes an ass of himself, as he publicly releases his vexations and disgust openly, only to further move the academy into deeper modes of crisis.

But it should come to no surprise, Gentle Reader, that highly doubt any of the three above plan on resigning from their seats any time soon.

On May 3^rd Gentle Reader, we will learn the fate of this year’s Nobel Prize for Literature; though I wouldn’t be surprised if it is delayed.

Thank-you For Reading Gentle Reader

Take Care

And As Always

Stay Well Read

M. Mary

For Further Reading 

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sweden-academy/swedish-academy-misconduct-crisis-deepens-as-member-stridsberg-leaves-idUSKBN1HZ0E6

https://www.thelocal.se/20180428/six-member-quits-swedish-academy-over-assault

http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report-swedish-academy-member-sara-stridsberg-steps-down-misconduct-crisis-deepens-for-nobel-literature-prize-2609656