Web Hype
Nobel Prize in Literature
I know we are supposed to be talking about ‘indie-lit,’ and that the Nobel Prize in Literature is on the other end of the spectrum, but there is some relation: a new disfranchisement.
The prize was announced today to Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio (what a name! Where’s your hyphen and accent mark Philip Roth?), who most of us haven’t heard of. From this article in The Independent:
The Nobel literary committee today infuriated the bookies, delighted the bookish and thumbed its nose, again, at the American book industry. The 2008 Nobel Prize for literature was awarded to Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio, a half-British French novelist and philosopher, who lives in America and champions the “lost” wisdom of non-Western cultures.
The last American to win the prize was Toni Morrison fifteen years ago in 1993 (it’s odd, and pleasant that our national representative is a black woman). I don’t want to talk about politics. I just have some questions: is the American psyche becoming more obsolete under a global consciousness? Are we being symbolically punished for our foreign policy transgressions by a globally progressive institution? Or do we just suck? (By the collective ‘we’ I mean Americans, even though I’m Canadian.)
Pynchon and Salinger are burying their food in the woods. DFW is dead. John Updike can’t stop writing about his dick. If American lit has something to say, what is it?
Tags: Le Clezio, Nobel Prize 2008
What does “Pynchon and Salinger are burying their food in the woods” mean? I like this line. I think if American lit is saying anything, or has anything to say, it is this. “Burying food in the woods” should be the new slogan for American literature. Whenever someone asks me what I’m doing or asks me what I ‘do’ I’m going to say, “I’m burying food in the woods” (or “I bury food in the woods”).
And actually, this isn’t too far off. I once bought a two-word poem from a pretty prominent poet for two dollars. They had me bury the money. I buried it in a park, under a tree. This was almost like burying food in the woods.
What does “Pynchon and Salinger are burying their food in the woods” mean? I like this line. I think if American lit is saying anything, or has anything to say, it is this. “Burying food in the woods” should be the new slogan for American literature. Whenever someone asks me what I’m doing or asks me what I ‘do’ I’m going to say, “I’m burying food in the woods” (or “I bury food in the woods”).
And actually, this isn’t too far off. I once bought a two-word poem from a pretty prominent poet for two dollars. They had me bury the money. I buried it in a park, under a tree. This was almost like burying food in the woods.
I don’t think the nobel should be like the olympics, where it’s our country vs. your country. It should just be. Probably because that guy made that statement, now the entire United States of America is on the defensive. What are we being defensive of? Delillo is always on the shortlist (??), and Underworld portrayed a rather grim view of the US. Whether a US citizen is winning shouldn’t be the issue, it should be what does the body of work say about the US, or anything.
Citizens of demon countries, I would think, are more likely to be in positions of writing nobel worthy content. I don’t know how to fit the concept of patriotism into artists of different countries, when the entire meaning of art is allowed to be, and often simply is, anti-patriotic.
I don’t think the nobel should be like the olympics, where it’s our country vs. your country. It should just be. Probably because that guy made that statement, now the entire United States of America is on the defensive. What are we being defensive of? Delillo is always on the shortlist (??), and Underworld portrayed a rather grim view of the US. Whether a US citizen is winning shouldn’t be the issue, it should be what does the body of work say about the US, or anything.
Citizens of demon countries, I would think, are more likely to be in positions of writing nobel worthy content. I don’t know how to fit the concept of patriotism into artists of different countries, when the entire meaning of art is allowed to be, and often simply is, anti-patriotic.
Ah, Darby (and I am not stalking you! I promise! Unless you want me to. I just look at the same sites as you, although the other thingy was linked to your blog so that’s why I read it)- finally some sense. Every word you said was right. Although I did like the “Updike can’t stop writing about his dick” line, too.
Ah, Darby (and I am not stalking you! I promise! Unless you want me to. I just look at the same sites as you, although the other thingy was linked to your blog so that’s why I read it)- finally some sense. Every word you said was right. Although I did like the “Updike can’t stop writing about his dick” line, too.
hi darby, i dunno if your comment was directed at the post or the linked article, so i’d like the clarify: i was just bringing attention so a seemingly nationalistic cognizance on the part of the Nobel board. sorta reminded me of Gore’s peace price as retribution for the ‘stolen election,’ like they (the Nobel) are acting as cultural diplomats. as for me, yes i agree with you, it should just be.
hi darby, i dunno if your comment was directed at the post or the linked article, so i’d like the clarify: i was just bringing attention so a seemingly nationalistic cognizance on the part of the Nobel board. sorta reminded me of Gore’s peace price as retribution for the ‘stolen election,’ like they (the Nobel) are acting as cultural diplomats. as for me, yes i agree with you, it should just be.
pr, ‘finally’ some sense? As opposed to my otherwise natural state of senselessness. you are funny.
jimmy, I don’t think I was directly responding to anything in your post, just thinking outloud. Probably I was responding more to sean. I don’t know. I suck at communication.
pr, ‘finally’ some sense? As opposed to my otherwise natural state of senselessness. you are funny.
jimmy, I don’t think I was directly responding to anything in your post, just thinking outloud. Probably I was responding more to sean. I don’t know. I suck at communication.