Hello
Gentle Reader
The Beginning –
Admittedly,
I was a bit worried this year, when I started composing the following list. It
appeared that speculation this year was not happening. I repeatedly checked numerous
online forums, hoping to see a glimpse of some speculation. However my search
often turned up past speculations. It was not until August 3rd, that
World Literature Forum had begun its own speculation for this year’s Nobel
Prize for Literature. It was thanks to the member: “Daniel del Real,” and a
reminder sent to him, that speculation was underway. Needless to say there was
relief, to see speculation and discussion follow suit. Though it were to seem
that this year’s Nobel Prize for Literature speculation has all been a bit late
or lack luster anyway, than to prior years. Hopefully though the conversations
will begin to increase, and intensify as the date grows nearer, and the Swedish
Academy will release the date in which this year’s Nobel Prize for Literature
will be announced.
For
the first time in its two-hundred and twenty nine years, Sara Danius has become
the first women to hold the position of Permanent Secretary of the Swedish
Academy. She precedes the former Permanent Secretary Peter Englund, and has officially
taken the role and title on June 1st. The fact that this is the
first female Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy; many are wondering
about the criteria in which future Nobel Laureates in Literature will be
chosen; what will be a concurrent theme of the Laureates, the chosen form in
which they write (i.e. prose, poetry or theatre), as well as the gender divide
since the inception of the Nobel Prize for Literature was first created. Out of
the one-hundred and eleven Laureates (from 1901-2014) there are only thirteen
women who have been awarded the prize; the last being Alice Munro in two-thousand
and thirteen. It should also be noted that though Sara Danius is now officially
the Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy, I speculate that she may be
working with a list that has been approved and compiled by the former Permanent
Secretary of the Swedish Academy Peter Englund. Also a quick note: Horace
Engdahl is now the Director of the Swedish Academy. So in a tongue and cheek
way, the fears of an American writer becoming a Nobel Laureate are most likely
put to rest.
What
follows is a personalised list of speculation, which is split into geographical
area, writer, their country of origin, and a brief synopsis of the writer. Some
writers have appeared on past speculative lists, alongside new writers included
in the list. However there is always a sense of regret, of the authors that are
overlooked, and authors that I am oblivious too, who should receive equal
consideration. Please enjoy Gentle Reader!
Africa –
[ There is a lot
discussion that Africa requires recognition for its own startling literary
endeavours that are taking place throughout the continent. Many state that the
last true African writer to become a laureate was Wole Soyinka in
nineteen-eighty six; and that recognition is overdue. This came the forefront,
upon the death of Chinua Achebe. However the Swedish Academy truly has no
debts. Numerous great writers have been overlooked throughout history, when it
comes to the Nobel. One must remember that the Nobel is awarded to individuals
who write great works of literature; not to countries who lobby for them ]
Mia
Couto – Mozambique – Mia Couto is not a native of Africa; his parents came from
Portugal when Portugal had colonized Mozambique. Couto just won this year
Neustadt International Prize for Literature, and has been considered a
contender for the Nobel Prize for Literature. His works detail the African
Experience, in a violent magical realism, and fairytale like manner. It is a
world haunted by spirits, and a bloody history; but also amazing with its
sites, and natural beauty; and untamed brutality of its natural landscapes.
Couto has been called a ‘smuggler writer,’ because of his unique style of
stealing words and meanings to make them available in other languages. All of
this gives birth to Couto’s experience as a writer of foreign origin in a
foreign land that has become home.
Wilma
Stockenström – South Africa – Stockenström is a playwright, poet and casual
novelist. She writes in her native Afrikaans. I have been aware of Stockenström
for a while, but only because of her poetry. The way I always picture the
author is, in a black and white photograph with a cat. She has appearance of
being aloof or distracted by something; yet she sits with a regal and reticent
pose. Whereas the cat, one paw raised; watches the camera with suspicion and
paranoia. My first real introduction with Stockenström besides her poetry was
her recently translated novel “The Expedition to the Baobab Tree.” The prose
was dense, lucid, and lyrical. It has a certain playful manner of being a
fairytale or a poetically shone tale of an African woman who had escaped to
freedom, but finds a more frightening world in her freedom, in the African
wilderness. It’s a beautiful novel filled with lyricism, metaphor, and a
shifting sense of time, influenced by memory. Her poetry is unadorned and not
overtly ornate. Her voice is satirical at times but always compassionate.
Corsino
Fortes – Cape Verde – Cape Verde is considered part of the African continent.
Yet in a global landmass way, it almost appears to engulf its own world
entirely. It is an archipelago and not well known. Yet in a geographers mind it
is as much a part of Africa as Cameroon or Chad are. Fortes is a poet; and like
the great poets before him: Pabulo Neruda, Saint-John Perse, Czeslaw Milosz,
and Octavio Paz; is also a diplomat. Corsino Fortes writes of the odysseys of
the island(s) of Cape Verde that is reminiscent of Derek Walcott. His poems
deal with the islands day to day life, and their hardships: such as droughts.
His poetry also looks to a new and unwritten future for the nation of Cape
Verde after Salazar had been overthrown; and Portuguese colonial rule waned.
His poems also however deal with the emigration of the islanders of the country
to the other corners of the world. But his poetry also gives voice to those who
have stayed and wish to rebuild the independent country.
Nuruddin
Farah – Somalia – The self-imposed exiled Somali writer, who writes in English,
has been an international writer from, the continent. He has won numerous
international awards, which includes the Neustadt International Prize for
Literature. His most famous work is perhaps the “Blood in the Sun,” Trilogy; a
coming of age story, in a post-independent world. It is in fact the first part
of this trilogy “Maps,” that has cemented his reputation as a heavy weight
champion, in contemporary literature. “Maps,” uses the second person narration,
to discuss cultural identity and post-colonialism; set during and around with
the Ogaden Conflict of nineteen-seventy seven. Farah writes about his exiled
homeland, to make it more real to him, and to keep it alive.
Pepetela
– Angola – Pepetela is a writer who has turned his gaze to the past of his
homeland of Angola. Its historical trials – the most significant the Angola war
of Independence or the Colonial Wars. But also of late, his work has become
more socially critical of Angola’s ruling class, and the social problems of the
country. However, as of late, Pepetela’s works have moved away from Angola, for
the setting of his novels, and has since moved on to more international
locations, and themes. His works have turned from their searching of the past,
to the exploration of new horizons.
Ngũgĩ
wa Thiong'o – Kenya – Thiong'o is fascinating because he does not write his
work in well known or easily accessible language. His novels are written in the
tribal language Gikuyu Kikuyu. Linguistically speaking this makes Ngũgĩ wa
Thiong'o a fascinating author in the use of language. His work are written in
the magical realism style; where the horrors of his native Kenya are placed
alongside the spirits of ancestors, and the war lords and dictators that rise
and fall within the world around him. His works are both satirical and
allegorical, but deal with political affairs much like the Latin American Boom
authors such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Carlos Fuentes, and Mario Vargas Llosa
had done so prior.
North
Africa/Middle East –
[ The greatest
issue with the Middle and subsequent writers of this geographical area, will
always be politics. Unfortunately politics has its way of forcing itself upon
the literature of writers. Be it fascism, communism, or authoritarian regimes
or religious fundamentalism. In this sense, writers of these places must decide
which side they are on. Passivism is often criticized for not standing strong
for the human and humane ideals of peace, prosperity and freedom. Politics and
their intricate complexities, often do not translate well and may of over
shadow great writers. ]
Adunis
– Syria – Adunis is the Grandfather in many ways of modern Arabic poetry; and
often seen as a perennial contender for the Nobel Prize for Literature. In
two-thousand and eleven there was criticism, that Adunis was not recognized
because of the Arab Spring. He is a rebellious figure that has broken though
the already established poetic forms and expectations of the already set out
formula for Arabic Poetry. With this Adunis has reshaped the poetic sphere of
throughout the Middle East into something new and bewildering; and all that
more international. His poems are sharp with political criticism; but also
enjoy depicting the beauty of the world, as poetry is a place inhabited,
between dreams and the clouds overhead.
Bahaa
Taher – Egypt – Taher, has been referred to as “Cairo’s greatest literary
secret,” and this may have been true; until recently. Taher is getting
translated into the English language more and more, and is gaining recognition.
Taher’s literary voice is somber and wise. Yet being a writer, has not been a
smooth and easy career for Taher. He was fired in the nineteen-seventies as a
radio journalist; he then worked as a UN translator for fourteen years, lived
in exile – and yet through it all has weather political purges, and regime
changes. Yet despite this Baher is a literary writer, before he is political.
His novels are plagued by the unfortunate fact, that like all fiction from the
Middle East, will have political connotations; yet it is safe to say that
Taher, skirts the overt political for digression into the human condition.
Elias
Khoury – Lebanon – The greatest challenge that faces all writers from the
Middle East is politics. Politics does not always translate well, into fitting
into western held ideologies and thoughts on the continued problems, which
plague the Middle East. Elias Khoury is of no exception to politics and how it
forcibly shapes the literary themes of writers. His novel “Yalo,” depicts
torture in Lebanon’s judicial system. “Little Mountain,” is depicted during
Lebanon’s civil war. Yet for Khoury the facets of truth and discovering the
truth always appear to be at the forefront of his work. This often leaves
Khoury, forced to depict the brutalities of events and their realities without
flinching and without blinking. Yet he is still a storyteller at heart, and
perhaps one of the greatest writers of prose in the Arabic language.
Amos
Oz – Israel – Amos Oz won Franz Kafka Prize in two-thousand and thirteen. Other
authors who have won the prize are Harold Pinter and Elfriede Jelinek. Both
went on to win the Nobel. Politically speaking, Amos Oz in regards to Israel
and the Arabic world has been cited as a left leaning intellectual. He supports
the idea of a two state system between Israel and Palestine. Yet this does not
foreshadow his own literary merit and output. He is known for his realistic
characters, and ironic touch; with the accompanying landscape and life in the
kibbutz. All wrapped up with a slight critical tone.
H.
A. Sayeh – Iran/Germany – Sayeh is considered one of the most eminent Iranian
poets of the twentieth century. His first collection of poetry was published
when he was nineteen, during the open period of Iran’s history following World
War II; and was introduced by the famous poet Mehdi Hamidi Shirazi. During this
time period Sayeh was involved with numerous literary circles and published in
numerous magazines. However like many of his contemporaries Sayeh reframed from
entering into any political discussions of the time, and maintained his own
political integrity and social consciousnesses. However after the Iranian
Revolution, Sayeh’s apolitical stance did not save him; and spent many years in
prison, before leaving to Germany in nineteen-eighty seven. Sayeh’s
productivity is considered very small, because of his attention to phraseology
and exact craftsmanship. H. A. Sayeh is also known as a master of traditional
lyrical formats as well. Though Sayeh’s age may work against, as he is
currently eighty-seven.
Ibrahim
al-Koni – Libya – al-Koni is a prolific writer. He has written over sixty
novels, short stories, poems, essays and aphorisms. Which is quite an
accomplishment for a writer who did not learn to read or write until he was
twelve years old? Al-Koni studied at the Gorky University, and had worked as a
journalist in Moscow and Warsaw. His life and identity often play out in his
work. The writer is a product of traditional nomadic life, and yet
post-colonial circumstances. He was born in the Tuareg Desert, and is known as
a rootless being, who looks to the culture and the world in which he was born,
to which he has since left, and often writes about the strange world in which
he left behind, tinged with imagination and reminisced memories.
Europe –
[ I always must
feel it necessary to apologize for the largest part of my list, is always given
to Europe. However there can be no doubt that Europe is still a literary and
cultural powerhouse of the world, and it produces a great deal of literary
work. Europe continues to be a fascination of literature to me, with its
numerous years of literature produced and its continuation to produce such
work. ]
Ersi
Sotiropoulos – Greece – In her native Greece Ersi Sotiropoulos is considered
part of the avant-garde literary scene. Compared to what is considered
avant-garde in English literature, Sotiropoulos would be considered extremely
accessible. However, the accessibility is only a facade. Sotiropoulos’s
language is sparse and spare, but her prose lacks a concrete beginning, middle
or end. The pillars of plot have been destroyed; and what remains is often a
confusing surreal cul-de-sac that only has traces of déjà vu and nothing more
concrete. Despite this, Ersi Sotiropoulos has written novels, short stories and
poetry, and is considered one of the foremost writers in Greece and the Greek
language. Her work details how modern people often seek connection, and the
relationships that are formed in an ever changing world.
Leonard
Nolens – Belgium – Leonard Nolens was tipped a few years back, as being a
possible future Laureate. Since that tip had come, I never forgot the poet and
diarist; and always watched to see his name pop up again. He is in effect one
of the greatest poets of the Flemish language. His earlier works were barque
inspired and very experimental; yet as he matured his work eventually became
more and more sober, to the point the style became spoke word, but did not lose
its profundity. His works are considered the cream of the crop; and his oeuvre
is astounding and prolific. What interests me most about Nolens is his
journals; where the poet and the individual become intertwined, and his theme
of trying to escape ones identity becomes all that more apparent.
Viivi
Luik – Estonia – Luik arrived on the Estonian literary scene, as a wonder
child, at the age of eighteen with her startling and welcomed collections of
poetry. However Luik has deviated from the path of poetry, a few times. Her
novels are known for the same sensual and musical language; often depicting the
fragility of words and language to truly represent life and the human
condition. Despite this, her works are dense socially and politically engaged;
but also show a certain talent for sensing the changes within the social and
political realms. For this Luik has been compared to a canary in a coal mine.
Luik is regarded as one of Estonia’s greatest literary treasures. She writes
about nature, the dilemmas of human relationships, Estonia’s history and its
place in the present, and its trajectory.
Luik’s poetry may have airy metaphors, a musical language, and often use
fragile words and compositions to discuss
the world, her country, and her own sense of anxiety within a
totalitarian state; she is in an almost blatant and veiled air: a resistance
writer; whose sensual writing overcame the reigning ideological system of the
time.
Mircea
Cartarescu – Romania – Cartarescu is poet and prose writer. In Cartarescu’s
youth he was a rebellious poet of the “Blue Jeans Generation,” writing quick
playful poetry; however after maturation he has become a writer of more
international standard. He is the most well known contemporary Romanian writer,
of its current generation of writers – many of whom he has mentored and taught;
one of them being the Romanian [prose] poet Doina Ioanid. Cartarescu’s work describes the chaos of
life, with absolute confidence and precision. In a way the author is able to
organize the chaotic mess that he writes about into a coherent form; allowing
for the sense of chaos to be seen but not confuse the reader. Like many great
writers before him, Cartarescu has a literary city – and that city is
Bucharest; a city in his work that is described with mythological proportions,
and a place where nightmares and dreams clash and come true. Much like Fernando
Pessoa’s Lisbon, or James Joyce’s Dublin, or the Cairo of Mahfouz; or Kafka’s
Prague.
Jon
Fosse – Norway – Fosse is a name that is continually spotted on all lists, that
speculate about the Nobel Prize for Literature. Fosse is a writer who has
written: novels, short stories, children’s books, essays and most importantly
plays. Fosse is Europe’s most performed playwright, and has been compared to
Beckett and Pinter. However Fosse pares back the human experience in his plays,
to a half banal and half mystical like format, creating almost performance
plays based around sparse language that uses pauses and breaks, to discuss the
human condition. His prose is no different, moving between banal and mystical,
and is equally as sparse, and short, but often moving, poetic, but also
claustrophobic; as well as a bit difficult to grasp upon first reading.
Magdalena
Tulli – Poland – Magdalena Tulli has a small output of books. Four of her books
have been translated into English; where a recently sixth book, published in
Poland back in two-thousand and fourteen titled: “Szum,” which translates
roughly as: “Noise.” With the exception of her most recent output, Tulli’s
novels so far, are inclined towards the idea of creating worlds, and stories,
in a metafictional universe. Tulli’s recent work: “Italian Pumps,” and “Noise,”
are more concerned with the darkest days of the Second World War, and how
history invades the personal; but they deal with memory, and becoming the
master of memory and fate. Tulli herself comes from a family tree that
includes: Italo Calvino, and Borges, as well as the late Marquez. Her earlier
works construct and deconstruct concepts of stories and what a story is.
Despite this postmodernism preoccupation with metafiction, her prose is divine.
Her sentences click with nouns, move with verbs, and are surpassingly
astonishing with metaphors and descriptions. Though her ‘small,’ output maybe a
hindrance. But her novels are well architected cities; whose base materials are
cheap words that are refined and manufactured into great works of achievements.
Sirkka
Turkka – Finland – Finland’s writers often appear to have an affinity for nature.
Natural landscapes and animals are as much characters to the writers, as are
their neighbours or the stranger on the train or the person walking down the
street. Sirkka Turkka is an embodiment of this in her poetry and prose. Dogs
and horses are often held close to her heart; both are empathetic creatures,
which embody more of the ideal form of the human spirit than most human beings.
Ravens, reindeer, elk, fox – these are creatures that are Turkka depicts as,
wiser than human beings, and embody a primeval and primordial wisdom in their
often archaic humane teachings. Turkka’s poetry is precise and lucid. It
references both literary culture (like Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,”) but also
popular culture, with quotes from pop songs, or rock lyrics. By all means a quiet
talent, that writes about nature and animals, as the world appears to enter
greater environmental and climate disaster.
Petr
Král – Czech Republic – If Beckett was the last modernist and the first
postmodernist, Král is then perhaps in the traditional sense of the term: the
last surrealist. In his earlier years, Král was known as a surrealist. He had
immigrated to France in nineteen-sixty eight, and became a student of
surrealism, but later abandoned it. The themes and preoccupations of Král is an
eternal longing. This yearning has become central to his meditations and works.
He searches for the essences of something gone or past. This search becomes a
longing for another time, wrapped in nostalgia, and eventually comes the
individual. Identity and the places we inhabit, become instrumental to the
human experience, and Král is a writer that scourges the past and its lost
shadows, in order to discuss the present and its dilemmas. Yet he is also an
observer of the small inconsequential moments of being; often through objects:
a fresh shirt, the relief of urination, crossing a street, or the time of day.
László
Krasznahorkai – Hungary – It were to appear, that any time that anytime László
Krasznahorkai, is nominated for a literary prize, he swoops in to take it. This
includes two Best Translated Book Awards, and The Man Booker International
Prize. Krasznahorkai is the literary darling of the Hungarian literary scene;
that has found a place not just in his home country, but also is well renowned
in Germany and, in English speaking countries, who read his work. He is a
follower of Samuel Beckett and Thomas Bernhard, in regards to the slight humour
of his prose, and his avoidance of paragraph breaks; and the often long winding
sentences, become slow moving rivers of black texts of lava. This often leads
his work to have a sense of apocalyptic claustrophobia. Krasznahorkai is a
difficult writer; but also a rewarding writer. He is the master of the apocalypse,
and a poet of impending doom. Yet the language itself is a complete contrast
the writers themes and works. It is beautiful winding and poetic.
Kiki
Dimoula – Greece – The two former writers who have won the Nobel Prize for
Literature, that where from Greece, where both poets: Giorgos Seferis and Odysseas
Elytis. Dimoula is the grand dame of contemporary Greek poetry. Her poetry’s
most striking feature is the sparseness of the poems. The amount of white that
lurks around the pages, becomes startling and even frightening; as if somehow
the poems are underdeveloped and in the process of being undeveloped, the paper
is wasted, for a few marks on a page, organized in a line format. However
overtime one comes to see the whiteness of the page, is as instrumental to Kiki
Dimoula’s poetry as the few words presented on the page. Her poetry often deals
with disillusionment, oblivion and faded memory; but also the anxieties and
insecurities of the modern man. Her work is filled with oblique photographs
worn out by time, houses moved out of, and reoccupied, and forgotten or lost
memories. Yet through it all there is always a sense of hope to her work,
however smaller, it is there.
António
Lobo Antunes – Portugal – Antunes is a postmodernist writer; and as it seems to
be with postmodernist writer, he has written rather lengthy novels. His writing
style is best compared to that of Samuel Beckett, Thomas Bernhard, or László
Krasznahorkai. They are large one manic monologue, which are dense and
disorienting. Narrative voices, struggle to find a voice on the page, and
compete to state their lines. Yet beneath the density of his work, there is a
simmering rage. An anger that stems from Antunes own experience as a doctor
during Portugal’s part in the colonial wars. His works often have manic
narrators, recounting their histories, that showcase Portugal’s beauty but also
its dark and brutal past; not only on itself with Salazar the fascist dictator
of the country; but also the colonial brutality. Despite its vitriolic stream-of
consciousness late-modernist experimentation of his work; as one commentator
has stated there’s a sense of poetry to his work.
Javier
Marias – Spain – Marias is a beloved Spanish writer, and is well known in the
English speaking world. Many well grounded and regarded English writes, have
sung praise about his works. Is this perhaps because, Marias has an affinity
with the English language – after studying English Philology – and translating
some of the classics into Spanish; and lecturing at Oxford on translation?
Perhaps; but no. I do think that Marias stands on his own ground, as a writer.
His works deal with betrayal, the nature of time, forgery and translation.
Marias strikes me as the kind of writer, who wishes to supersede and transcend
the barriers and boundaries of culture and language; and write about the human
experience – which could explain why his characters lose their own voice in
favors of others, as they mimic or parrot the views of others. This is why
Marias often calls his characters cousins or literary brothers, in their escape
of their own identities and voices for that of others.
Doris
Kareva – Estonia – Doris Kareva is a poet of the personal. The personal
emotional experience of the individual is one ripple of a drop that reflects
the entire ocean of the human experience, and the universality of the human
experience in the thought of fluid emotions and feelings. Kareva connects the
personal to the natural as well as the metaphysical. Kareva is also noted as
one of Estonia’s global and universal writers. Her work has been translated
into over eighteen languages, and is an accomplished translator herself. However
the poetry of Kareva is also quite, miniaturist in nature. Not economical which
may seem like the poet is attempting to be fiscally responsible with their
words – rather its simple stating what needs to be said with the greatest
impact placed on the words chosen and their phrases in which they work.
Adam
Zagajewski – Poland – A Neustadt International Prize for Literature Laureate;
Zagajewski is one of Poland’s most renowned contemporary poets He is a
compatriot of Czesław Miłosz and Wisława Szymborska. However since the end of
communism, and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the themes of Zagajewski
have since mellowed. However, that does not mean that the poets work has
diminished. Rather than tackling themes of sociopolitical stances, the themes
that Zagajewski now in turns tackles are far more existential and philosophical
in nature. That past is rendered in the present, often in the most mundane and
everyday events.
Gyrðir
Elíasson – Iceland – Poet and prose writer, Elíasson straddles both worlds. In
his short stories or fragments or vignettes or sketches, Elíasson as a poet
comes through. His prose works are known for being very short – be it short
stories in impressionistic vignette forms or his novels condescend into
novellas. Elíasson is a writer, who will attract readers who enjoy their work
condescend and in a miniature format. He is one of Iceland’s most renowned
writers, and has gone on to receive the Nordic Council’s Prize for Literature.
Despite Iceland being known for their Saga’s, Elíasson is a champion of the
minute. Despite this his work is not by any means lightweight that cannot
compete with larger tomes of novels. Rather Elíasson has the ability to write
about the big with the least amount of verbose requirements as other writers.
Irena
Vrkljan – Croatia – Vrkljan is one of those unique writers, who belong more to
language than they do to national states. In the same vein as Nobel Laureate
Herta Müller (German language and Romanian birth), Vrkljan was Yugoslavian (now
Croatian) at birth, but writes in German. However, Vrkljan has not received the
warmest of welcomes in Germany. She writes in German and translates her work
into Croatian. Vrkljan is both poet and prose writer. Her prose is marked by
poetic fragments of memory, imagination, and autobiography. She is often
described as a ‘women writer,’ but Vrkljan is not strictly a feminist writer.
If anything Vrkljan is a writer who chronicles the female experience, simply
because that is her gender. She is not a writer of politics of sex. Her work is
best described as ‘distant writing,’ and a alien experience of writing in a
language which disposes her and detaches her from national borders.
Pierre
Michon – France – Michon is an interesting author. His writing is dense and
intense. It’s not poetic babble though; at the same time Michon is a writer
that requires patience. His writing is filled with a unique blend of language,
which can be a frustrating read. His work is dense, and if you are used to
reading fast, then Michon’s merits would be lost on that reader; as I had
learned from reading his novel: “Small Lives.” Yet Michon is an author
interested in the lives of artists as presented in his novella’s “Masters and
Servants,” but also the artist filling their niche, in regards to their place
in history like “Eleven.” Michon is also interested in history – in the not
well known sense, and writes beautiful passages in regards to the obscure
people he can write about: “Winter Mythologies & Abbots.” Michon explores
the microcosm in its place to the grander macrocosm of not only the world but
also the universe.
Cees
Nooteboom – The Netherlands – Nooteboom is considered the best Dutch contender
for the Nobel Prize for Literature. The authors oeuvre is varied. Nooteboom has
written travel writing and essays, novels, short stories, and poetry. The
author’s novels have been compared to that of Italo Calvino and Vladimir
Nabokov – writing post-modern fables, that engulf the oddities of twentieth
century and the now early twenty first century in its ethereal, whimsical and
cerebral disorganized self. His works painstakingly remind the reader, that all
novels are an inherent self-absorbed act of human validation; but go on to
tackle such themes as wanderlust, in a jet-fueled world. The idea of ‘home,’ becomes
an almost academic thought. His travel writing is often considered his best
pieces of work – coming out in five volumes alone. He is by all means an
international author, one that deals with a sense of displacement in an ever
greater connected and seemingly smaller world.
Svetlana
Aleksijevitj – Belarus – Aleksijevitj is an investigative journalist, and
writer. Her two known works to English readers are: “Voices from Chernobyl,”
and “Zinky Boys.” The first deals with the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of the
late eighties, and “Zinky Boys,” details the accounts of conscripted soviet
soldiers in the Afghanistan. Other than that, not a lot is known about
Aleksijevitj work in English. Her output is small, but is well revered and
regarded by many who have read her work, both in English translation and
Russian. She depicts life during Soviet occupation and post-soviet life, with
the impartial eye of a journalist; but with the sympathetic ear for the emotional
stories, that are told and transcribed in her work.
Tõnu
Õnnepalu – Estonia – Õnnepalu is often considered a ‘eurowriter,’ before he is
considered an Estonian writer. His themes are open to the varied experience of
an individual abroad. Õnnepalu himself had lived as an expat in Paris for some
time. Before he rose to prominence on the literary scene; Õnnepalu was known as
a poet; but it was his debut novel “Border State,” that had won him acclaim.
The novel is lyrically charged, about a expatriate (homosexual) man who had
murdered his lover/partner, and discuss his past of “the other country,” and
his new life in France. Both are juxtaposed; and both are found to be terrible
in their own unique ways: the oppression and paranoia of the other (old) country;
and the materialistic nihilism of a western country. What makes Õnnepalu a
unique writer, is that he has done away with national traditions and
preoccupations, in favour of his own; which has opened up him to the greater
literary world.
Péter
Nadas – Hungary – Nadas has been compared to Proust, for his preoccupation with
the past and memory. Yet perhaps he is
often compared to Proust, because of his absurdly long books. “Parallel
Stories,” for example is extraordinarily large and long novel, at a page count
of one thousand five hundred and twenty pages; and it is no wonder that book
alone took eighteen years to write. There is a certain personal bias to Nadas
and his books. They are large, and take a long time to write; which will always
lead to a sense of preapproved judgement to be passed; this obliviously leaves
a sense of suspicion of his work and what he writes about. Yet Nadas door
stopper books are renowned for their stylistic tendencies. Yet his work is
often called: detailed, innovative, but also demanding
Olga
Tokarczuk – Poland – Tokarczuk is one of Poland’s greatest writers. She is
applauded by both critics and readers. Her works are best described as magical
realism; which often mixes the real world with stranger and eccentric oddities
– be it contemporary or historical periods. Tokarczuk’s most famous novel (at
least to English readers) is “Primeval and Other Times.” The novel recounts a
village where the joys and sorrows of life meet. Yet it is the eccentric
characters of the village, which brings the village and book to life. The novel
contains a woman who loves her dogs and is pursued by the moon; to an
aristocrat that withdraws from the world, and plays a “rabbi games,” to
discover the secrets of the world. The most loving aspect of Tokarczuk’s
writing is her accessibility. In the author’s own words: “To me writing novels
is telling fairy tales to oneself, moved to maturity.”
Drajo
Jančar – Slovenia – Jančar is Slovenia’s most prominent contemporary writer.
The themes of Jančar’s works come from the early modernist traditions. His
novels are characterized by the individuals struggle against oppressive
institutions: prisons, psychiatric hospitals, military barracks and galleys or
ships – or an oppressive society in the form of a dictatorship or a totalitarian
regime. However despite the heaviness of these themes, he is known for his
laconic and highly ironic writing style; often utilizing tragicomic events, to
lighten the mood and twist the novel into different directions. Most of his
novel take place in historical era settings (presumably twentieth century)
Eastern Europe, as a metaphor for the human condition. Even though Jančar is a
novelist and short story writer, he is also known for his essays and political
engagements and civic commentaries.
Lyudmila
Petrushevskaya – Russia –Petrushevskaya is a Russian figure akin to that of
Homer of Ancient Greece. Reading one of her stories often has the sense the
story itself is being transcribed from over hearing someone else gossip or
discuss the said action of the story that unfolds. The stories are like twisted
dark fairytales, or heartbroken tales of love, and romance now rotten.
Petrushevskaya is not a political author; yet she was not able to publish
during the Soviet period; for the sole reason that she did not meet party
approved propaganda standards. She on the other hand displayed and wrote about
the cruel truths of the ‘home,’ of the everyday individual and all their
difficulties. For this she was accused of ‘darkening reality.’ Yet what has,
been accomplished in the end is a witches brew of wisdom, irony and honesty.
Australia &
Oceania –
[ Not much to say;
if the list is supposed attempt to accurately represent writers from all over
the world, then it should do its best to represent all of them equally. ]
Gerald
Murnane – Australia – The dark horse and recluse of Australian letters; Murnane
is no bush writer, or outback poet. Rather, he is the introspective and
contemplative writer of Australian letters. One will be hard pressed to find
one of his novels shortlisted or even mentioned for the Booker Prize. He is the
kind of author, only a few readers speak of in hushed whispers, in order not to
betray the secret of the author and his books. It should be noted Murnane is
not what some would call a: cosmopolitan writer. Murnane has never left
Australia and has in fact secluded himself to the province of Victoria, leaving
to see other parts of Australia only a handful of times. It may sound parochial
but no more than other writes, with their peculiar proclivity to their own
homes. Despite this the fiction of Murnane is far more traveled. The author
taught himself how to read Hungarian. Murnane is just the dark horse of
Australian letters. He is not boisterous or self-promoting. His work finds its
readers, and speaks for itself.
Asia & the
Indo-Sub continent –
[ My greatest
disappointment with this part of this list, first and foremost, is the lack of
writers from India that I do not have a knowledge of. India is a vast country,
with numerous languages. This makes it difficult to find a writer, who can be
considered Nobel worthy. With the death of Vijaydan Detha in two-thousand and
thirteen, it appears that Indian writers may be overlooked for a while yet.
Below I could only include one Indian writer, who I knew of. Whether or not the
fact that she writes in English hinders her or not, I cannot say. – Second
below are three South Korean writers. It should come to no surprise that like
China, South Korea is lobbying for a Nobel Prize for Literature; failing to
understand that the Nobel Prize for Literature is awarded to the individual,
not the country. The Nobel’s are not the Olympics. However it should be noted,
that South Korea, has truly pushed and worked to get many South Korean writers,
into international markets. ]
Anita
Desai – India – Gabriel Garcia Marquez was the man who started the Latin
American Boom, and made magical realism a literary genre; then Desai spear
headed what would become the Lyrical India. She is often compared to Virginia
Woolf, and introduced the psychological novel format into India. Her works are
often considered in the vein of realism; but they often delve into the drifting
hapless and worlds on the brink of extinction. For Desai the future is not at
the top of the later, but rather a back door found in memories. Memories become
attempts at finding something tangible or prosaic to grasp in order to cease a
world from vanish from reality. Three times Desai has been nominated for the
Booker Prize, and has yet to win. Her literal language is English – a fact that
she has proclaimed, was not something decided on in a conscious manner. Her
works are exotic and yet at cosmopolitan at the same time. Her novel “The
Zigzag way,” was set in Mexico – a country that Desai has a particular fondness
for.
Ko
Un – South Korea – Much like Adunis, Ko Un is a perennial favorite. He is a zen
poet, and a very approachable poet. His poetry steps out of the ivory tower;
and is the work of someone who has lived a varied life, and observed the
horrors that have split his country apart. If you can count on anything from Ko
Un, in his poetry it is gentle grace, wisdom, and a truly understood sense of
compassion for everything. There is a lighthearted touch to the poet’s poems;
but also a tangible sense of sorrow of events that have passed. Un is the kind
of poet I turn to on the whims of a moment, for graceful honesty and a
sympathetic ear, and empathetic understanding when needed. He is not a foreboding poet, but an
approachable writer. To read his poems is like walking through a garden with
the poet, and coming to a mutual understanding of the world.
Kazue
Shinkawa – Japan – A chameleon poet, and also one of the great motherly figures
of Japan’s contemporary poetry. Kazue Shinkawa, is one of the poets who reaches
beyond one poetic school or movement. She is both a surrealist describing and
discussing metaphysical concepts, next she has written an ode to water and
memory, then a lyricist master, a epicist of grand story telling feats, and a
earnest confessor. Despite these numerous qualities Shinkawa is a poet nonetheless.
Chameleon or nomad, she is a poet of profound talents. She has written more
than thirty volumes of verse (and that includes her volumes of poetry for
children). Upon discovery of Shinkawa, on the website: poetryinternational;
there is an honesty and clarity to her poetry. No pretentions and no sense of
being locked out of the poetry itself. It is lived, it is welcoming, and it is
enjoyable.
Oh-Jung
Hee – South Korea – Hee is often dubbed the Virginia Woolf of South Korea. She
takes a feminist stance, against South Korea’s prevalent patriarch and male
dominated society. Her earlier work was imagistic, and fragmented; over time
however they have softened, and her work has veered discussions about
domesticity and the lives of women in South Korea. Her works however are
socially and historically aware, of the turbulent past of Korea. They detail the
effects of the war, and eventual crackdown on society, both from children’s
perspectives, and perspectives from the home; and how the war had fragmented
and split up families. In this sense, Oh-Jung Hee is more than just a
chronicler of the home – from the windows of apartments and houses; she views
an arbitrary history, and society, that has infected the homes of many and
destroyed the lives of countless individuals.
Pai
Hsien-yung – Taiwan – Pai Hsien-yung was one of the first Chinese modernists. I
had stumbled across Hisen-yung, while looking into validation, on Mu Xin’s
death. It had turned out that Mu Xin had passed away, and much like Eileen
Chang – without a Nobel. However Mu Xin, was a great writer, and perhaps one of
the last great Chinese writers to embody the traditional (or old) Chinese
education. Hisen-yung is described as a
melancholic pioneer, and his work is known to introduce controversial material
into Chinese literature; such as his novel “Crystal Boys,” which describes
transient homosexual youths in Taipei. Yet his most famous book is a collection
of short stories called: “Taipei People,” which is often compared to James
Joyce “Dubliners.” The short story collection “Taipei People,” recounts and
depicts those who fled Mainland China, during the Resistance War of Japanese
occupation, and the eventual formation of the Peoples Republic of China. Its
sensibility is reminiscent and melancholic, and is considered a groundbreaking
book.
Hwang
Sok-yong – South Korea – Homelessness is a theme of the South Korean author
Hwang Sok-yong; both the home of one’s memory, and the literal loss of a home.
Sok-yong has described Korea, as a homeless nation. His works depict this, as they depict the
divide of the nation in the physical sense and in the ideological sense. The
psychology of home becomes instrumental for Sok-yong’s work. The loss of a
community and the subsequent solidarity foreshadows his books, and the damaging
impact is reverberated throughout an individual’s life. Despite the concepts
and themes of displacement, the work often details the need and the attempts at
building a home up for the ashes and the rubble; and once again creating a
sense of community both literal and symbolic, and once again creating a home.
Can
Xue – China – Xue is best described as China’s Kafka. She is a self-trained
writer, whose work is known for its absurd and surreal qualities. If her name –
a pseudonym; shows a surreal and often duality to reality – it can mean dirty
snow, that refuses to melt; or the purest snow on mountain peaks. Xue’s work is
often noted for his high experiments with prose and form. However Can Xue
describes her work as: “soul literature,” or “life literature.” Her works are
known for their demanding form and style. Her work is often cited as being
imagistic and utilizing stream of consciousness like writing to often delve
into her themes which unexpectedly change between personal and impersonal
frequently; she also plays with the idea of perspective and the flow and
sequence of time. It is often stated that Can Xue has taken the avant-garde as
far as it can go. She has written numerous short stories, four novels, essays
and criticism.
Mieko
Kanai – Japan – Kanai has published short stories, novels and poetry. The
writing of Kanai is often described as: abstract. Her work is surreal and
experimental, with a penchant for the grotesque. Here themes deal with the
complexities of relationships, as well as identity; especially the ‘psychic,’
problem of: “the other self who does not exist.” This other self often comes in
the form of individuals or characters that mimic the actions and even the lives
of other characters, right down to the miniscule details of the other
character. This play of identity is often considered a reflection of the
relationship between: writer, the reader and the characters. One of her
greatest attributes is how her short stories are often compressed to the point
that they can become multifaceted stones or crystals, which offers a new or
perspective to a story; where choices made or the sequence of time or even
events change; creating a dream logic landscape.
Bei
Dao – China – There has always been speculation that if (and when) a Chinese
writer would receive the Nobel Prize for Literature; the best bet would have
been Bei Dao. Dao is the forefront poet of Misty Poets; a group of poets who
wrote ambiguous and obscure poems, that defied the Cultural Revolution and its
restrictive censorship. For this Dao was forced to become a dissident. However
he returned to Hong Kong as its Professor of Humanities in the Centre of East
Asian Studies. However with the recent crackdown and protests in Hong Kong and
the proposed reforms to the education system, one can only wonder. Dao has six
collections of poems to his name, and a collection of new and selected poems
released five years ago. Along with his poetry he has written a collection of
short stories, essays and memoirs.
South America
& Latin America; with the Caribbean –
[ It is an
interesting fact Gentle Reader that the most publications in the Spanish
language, has moved away from Spain, and to the southern equator. South and
Latin America produces now the majority of Spanish language literature, and
also consumes the most Spanish language literature. An interesting feat, which
means South and Latin America are now more predominate on the literary map. ]
Elena
Poniatowska – Mexico – If one were to say: the Grand Dame of Mexican letters,
they are referring to Elena Poniatowska.
Poniatowska is a journalist, whose main has been social and political
issues; especially those concerning the disenfranchised: the poor and women.
Journalism and her firm commitment to contemporary issues and history, won her
the Premio Cervantes prize in two-thousand and thirteen; being the fourth woman
to win the award. However despite this, her main enjoyment has been creative
writing. Much like her journalist writings, her creative work, shows a similar
soft spot for the disenfranchised. Her writing style is colloquial and is
realistic to the details of the individuals its represents, and portrays.
Social issues and human rights as well as dignities. Her work is best described
as writing in an ideal direction.
Ricardo
Piglia – Argentina – Piglia is one of the most critically acclaimed South
American contemporary writers of his generation. He has written novels, short
stories, and criticism. Piglia is a post-boom writer with postmodernist
tendencies. His works take the form of ‘paranoid fiction,’ where everyone and
every character, is a suspect of the novel – which at times take the form of a
detective style novel. However Ricardo Piglia does not fall into the already
set out formula of the detective novel. Much like Pamuk with “The Black Book,”
and “My Name is Red,” – the detective novel, is merely a format or a loose
stylistic characteristic, which formats the novel or story. Piglia’s narratives
mimic the hysteria of life; and the endless bombardment of chaos, and
testimonies that contradict each other.
Circe
Maia – Uruguay – Circe Maia is a national treasure of Uruguay. She has lived
through political upheavals. Once her husband was arrested for his political
involvements, and she was spared only because she had just given birth to her
youngest daughter at the time. The dictatorship and personal tragedy had caused
Maia to become silent. However, upon the fall of the civil-military
dictatorship, Circe Maia began writing verse once again. Maia’s style is
direct, sombre and conversational in nature. She has explained that poetry is
by no means an act of obscuring the language to hide the meaning. Rather poetry
is the blooming of language, to show the meanings of a multitude of subjects.
This allows her poetry to become conversational in tone, as if the poem and the
reader, were conversing as though they were good friends talking over a cup of
coffee in the morning.
Rodrigo
Rey Rosa – Guatemala – Rosa is an author who flies under the radar. His works
are based around myths and folktales of his native Latin America as well as
those of North Africa. His novel “The African Shore,” was shortlisted for the
Best Translated Book Award. He has been praised by the late Roberto Bolano, as
being of the best authors of their generation. His works are international, yet
are grounded in the myths of his homeland and that of North Africa. He is not a
typecast Latin American Boom author; but someone who rejects the term or idea
of Magical Realism of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and instead goes into more
mystical realms, of legend and myth. Rosa is an author whose work stands on its
own; and his obscurity or rather the lack of information on his personal life,
make all that much more difficult to comprehend as a writer. Though I have not
read his work (yet) I have been watching his output closely.
Cesar
Aira – Argentina – Aira is a prolific author – to the point of being a
industrious writing factory, churning out words; like a factory churns out
textile goods. Aira is known to publish between two and four novella length
books a year. However what is unique about Aira is his writing style. Rather
than edit and make revisions, Aira utilizes a technique he calls “flight forward.”
When he begins to see that he is writing himself in a trap, he changes
direction of the book. In a sense it’s a literary improvisation, as Aira’s
style changes, and even using less literary genres like pulp science fiction,
or a soap opera to help keep the story moving. His works are always in a
continual movement never losing momentum.
Maryse
Condé – Guadeloupe – Condé is one of those great writers that have yet to find
their recognition from the rest of the world. It was not until the 2015 “Man
Booker International Prize,” that I had finally learned about Maryse Condé. The
themes of Condé are oppression, race, gender, but most importantly the search
for an identity, and social justice in a post-colonial world. Maryse Condé
writes about the complexities of human destiny, and probes the social
injustices in which we perpetrate upon each other: be it from superiority or from
our own kin. These complexities (usually in a historical setting), become the
grounds in which Condé develops her themes. Yet her work is not blaming any
particular group over another. It is a quest of identity in the African
Diaspora, but also the quest for social justice, that eludes all.
Frankétienne
– Hati – He was rumored to be on the shortlist for the two-thousand and nine
Nobel Prize for Literature, and then once again, on the two-thousand and eleven
award. Frankétienne is Hati’s leading intellectuals and writers. His work is
explosive, and creates a unique use of language; often utilizing neologisms.
This being said, Frankétienne’s work can also be quiet scathing, and almost
vulgar in its depictions of sex and violence. If Wole Soyinka was a writer who
was close to the Yoruba people’s myths and folklore; than Frankétienne is a
writer of voodoo roots. His paintings, poetry, and prose often radiates with a,
certain mysticism.
In The End:
Closing Thoughts –
There
we have it Gentle Reader, the Nobel Speculation list for 2015. Though generally
I give myself a limit of fifty writers, this year there are fifty-three. I am
not accountant, and decided not to play the game of: debits and credits, with
this list. The stats with this year’s list are as follows:
34
– Male writers
19
– Female writers
53
– Writers total
Three
nationalities received three speculated writers: Estonia, Poland, and South
Korea. Both Estonia and Poland have two female writers, and one male writer.
They are respectively listed via appearance on the list below:
Estonia
– Viivi Luik, Doris Kareva, and Tonu Õnnepalu
Poland
– Magdalena Tulli, Adam Zagajewski, and Olga Tokarczuk
South
Korea however is the opposite, with two male writers, and one female writer. They
are respectively listed via appearance on the list:
Ko
Un, Oh-Jung Hee, and Hwang Sok-yong
On
average author and national state represented are one or two writers.
From
my knowledge only two writers on this list write in English, they are as
follows:
Gerald
Murnane, Australia
Anita
Desai, India
In
the end though Gentle Reader, I cannot proclaim any writer will win or will
not. The list attempts to bring to attention numerous authors from a multitude
of countries and languages. These authors may generally be overlooked by other
speculations or betting websites. Though in the end, until the announcement
comes in October, there is no real way of knowing, who this year’s Laureate
will be. Though I suspect it will be an interesting year, and hopefully it’ll
be a writer who deserves the recognition – on literary merit. My advice, don’t
place any bets on this horse race – you won’t see the horses, and you may not
even know if your own horse got out of the gate.
Thank-you
For Reading Gentle Reader
Take
Care
And
As Always
Stay
Well Read
M.
Mary
