Hello
Gentle Reader
The
Swedish is Academy is known for being provocative, thought provoking,
unconventional, controversial, and even shocking—at least with regards to some
of their decisions on who they have chosen as a Nobel Laureate in Literature. Beyond
that the Swedish Academy has always been cloaked in reticence and a sense of
regality do to their concealment and statues of secrecy and silence. No one is
entirely in possession of the facts (at least no one on the outside), with
regards to how the Swedish Academy operates behind closed doors. There has been
speculation with regards to in house disagreements, lobbying, divisions and
divides—though nothing evidentiary has been produced; other than a few members
publicly leaving on grounds that they disagree with a internal decision, such
as when Werner Aspenström, Kerstin Ekman, and Lars Gyllensten symbolically
resigned or stepped away from the Academy in 1989, over the Academy’s decision
not to publicly condemned the fatwa issued against Salman Rushdie, over his
novel “The Satanic Verses.” In 2005 Knut Ahnlund made a similar gesture, when
he stepped away from the academy in protest of Elfriede Jelinek receiving the
Nobel Prize for Literature. Beyond these sporadic moments of dissidence, the
Academy is otherwise tight lipped over its internal operations and workings. However,
over the past few years there have been speculative rumors about internal
strife going on behind those clandestine doors. The speculation arose in 2016
when the announcement for the Nobel Prize for Literature was delayed by a week.
Upon the date of its announcement the decision was met with cheers and jeers;
and controversy would soon erupt with Bob Dylan officially on his way to
becoming a Nobel Laureate in Literature. After the literary world reeled with apocalyptic
malaise and existential questions about its relevancy in a world which could no
longer guarantee it its attention; and the [pop] music industry lit a joint,
snorted some rails, and did its own rendition of the Charleston as it felt it
reached new cultural heights of importance (needless to say every burn out hippie
and forlorn rebellious youth who gravitated towards the folkish music of Dylan
rejoiced with nerve grating enthusiasm). Afterwards, it was back to work for
the Swedish Academy, and in 2017 they announced Kazuo Ishiguro as its most
recent Nobel Laureate; again the decision seemed odd and even underwhelming—but
at least he wrote something, and published in some sense of the word ‘traditional.’
The
festivities of the previous year have since subsided and the Swedish Academy’s
doors are once again closed, where the good academy is hard at work to once
again find and crown a new Nobel Laureate in Literature. The task is daunting,
but for writers it’s the lottery. Yet the good work of the Swedish Academy is
now under scrutiny. As already mentioned there has been speculation with
regards to an in house divide amongst the members of the Academy, though no
evidence has ever been provided, recent occurrences would now begin to show
that the Academy is in the dire straits of a crisis.
Three
members of the Swedish Academy have recently voluntarily left, whereupon they
have become inactive members. Those members are: former Permanent Secretary
Peter Englund, Klas Ostergren, and Kjell Espmark, have all vacated their seats
at this time. Lotta Lotass, though has not left publicly, she considers herself
an inactive member of the academy, as she has not had any contact with the academy
since September of 2016. The most recent inductee into the Academy: Sara
Stridsberg, has also publicly confessed to considering leaving the academy as
well. By these statistics, of eighteen chairs, the Swedish Academy has at the
moment: five (5) inactive members, with the possibility of a sixth member also
choose to dissent. This peculiar for the Swedish Academy as its members are
elected for life, and their seats are not up for election until the member
holding the seat dies. Sara Danius, has confessed she is not working to see if
statutes can be revised or amended to allow members of the academy to voluntarily
leave, and have their seat open for nomination and appointment.
The
question remains: what has caused such a quick exodus of members and dissidence
within the Academy? Was it Bob Dylan’s Nobel Prize for Literature? Is it old
allegiances blocking objectivity? Well the answer is perhaps a more
controversial then either of those two subjects. The matter is the accusation
with regards to the #MeToo movemen which has spawned via social media, where
women accuse their predators (often bypassing general notions of legal and
judicial proceedings). Anyhow, last November, eighteen women accused a well-known
cultural figure of Sweden: Jean-Claude Arnault, of sexually assaulting them.
Naturally and within reason, Mr. Arnault denies the allegations, but the
allegations have spread like a fungus and into the Swedish Academy.
You
see Gentle Reader, Jean-Claude Arnault ran an exclusive cultural and artistic
forum or club in Stockholm. It was called ‘the Forum,’ and hosted numerous
performing artists, musicians, writers and other artistic people in its chic
basement setting. The Swedish Academy as its own separate entity had financial
investments and dealings with the forum. Beyond that: Jean-Claude Arnault is
also married to a member of the Swedish Academy: Katarina Frostenson. Since the
accusations the Swedish Academy has cut its financial commitments to the Forum,
and even hosted a vote on whether or not to exclude (in a sense expel) Katarina
Frostenson from any activities within the Academy. The vote took place and Katarina
Frostenson found it in her favour. Criticism would erupt once again, as many
are asking themselves and the academy, how the cultural and linguistic institution
of Sweden can maintain its integrity with this kind of scandal going on?
Needless to say, after the vote and a perceived weak press release, the three aforementioned
members have resigned out of protest, leaving he current Permanent Secretary of
the Swedish Academy, Sara Danius to right the wrongs, and put on a brave face
for the academy and move forward. But it won’t be easy.
Before
all this unpleasant and public business took place the Swedish Academy had
consulted and hired a law firm to perform an investigation into every member’s
dealings and connections with both the Forum and Jean-Claude Arnault. The
Swedish Academy does admit that though it cannot be held responsible for the accusations
and assaults that may have taken place, members do feel the weight of the
Academy’s reputation was used to facilitate and coerce victims into the sexual
acts. The investigation by the law firm did conclude that Jean-Claude Arnault
had no relevance or influence on the Academy’s decisions or the Nobel Prize for
Literature. However, the investigation did prove that the statute of secrecy
which governs the Swedish Academy with fundamental and fanatic virtue had been
broken on numerous of occasions; and that by offering financial investments or assistance
to the Forum and Jean-Claude Arnault, the Academy was in a sense in conflict of
interest and awarding its own members. Subsequently, the Swedish Academy broke
its own rules according to Sara Danius.
At
the end of the day Gentle Reader, what the future holds for the Swedish Academy
is uncertain. We do know that the departed members left with the following
words:
Peter
Englund: “Decisions were made that I don’t believe in nor can defend, and I
have therefore decided to no longer participate in the Swedish Academy’s work.”
Kjell
Espmark: “leading voices within the academy put friendship and other irrelevant
considerations.”
Klas
Ostergren: “The Swedish Academy has for a long time had serious problems and
has now tried to solve them in a way that puts obscure considerations before
its own rules and which constitute a betrayal to its founders.”
Admittedly,
even Sara Danius had considered removing herself from the Swedish Academy, but
has stayed on. As she put it, the work the Academy does is far bigger then
personal opinion or internal disagreements, and will seek to right wrongs.
Currently, she is seeking to revise the rules to allow members to voluntarily
leave, and have their seats open for nomination and reappointment. Chair of the
Nobel Committee for the Swedish Academy Par Wästberg has stayed strong stating
the Nobel Prize for Literature is by no means at risk.
Still
Gentle Reader, what lies in store for the Swedish Academy and the Nobel Prize
for Literature is up in the air. There are fears the Nobel Prize for Literature
may not be awarded this year due to the internal conflict and controversy. Time
will tell, what will happen; if anything happens. All that one can say for sure
is the Academy is embroiled in scandal and internal strife. Needless to say, I
do not envy the position Sara Danius now finds herself in, as she is left with
fires burning on all sides, and an institutions reputation tarnished and in
ruin—at least for now.
Thank-you
For Reading Gentle Reader
Take
Care
And
As Always
Stay
Well Read
M.
Mary
For Further Reading Please see the Following Links - (Please Note: Some links may be in Swedish)
https://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/a/l1bOoo/sara-danius-jag-ska-fortsatta-sa-lange-jag-orkar
https://www.dn.se/kultur-noje/three-members-leave-the-swedish-academy/
https://www.dn.se/kultur-noje/klas-ostergren-lamnar-svenska-akademien/
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/07/world/europe/swedish-academy-abuse-accusations.html
https://www.sydsvenskan.se/2018-04-07/stridsberg-overvager-att-lamna-akademien
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