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Hindustan Times
07-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Review: The Nobel Prize and the Formation of Contemporary World Literature
We might consider the Nobel Prize for Literature to be a holy pulpit that canonises a writer. It ordains the pantheon of all-time greats who have attained literary divinity and is where 'industrial money is gilded with royal glamour, scientific benefits, and cultural sophistication'. But the intimate connection between the 'the cultural capital of high-brow literature… dynamite money from the donor and…the feudally rooted status of the old Swedish monarchy' has meant that the Nobel Prize has always been under scrutiny. However, most of the books on the subject have been rich in myth but poor in scholarship. The process of the selection of laureates and how that has shaped the idea of 'universal' literary values and defined literary quality across languages and cultures has rarely, if ever, been discussed. But what mechanisms made it possible for 18 Swedish intellectuals – 'randomly chosen persons in the remote town of Stockholm' – to become the world's most influential literary critics with a power to exert an almost godlike influence on the literary world? Paul Tenngart's well-researched book The Nobel Prize and the Formation of Contemporary World Literature scours the history and future of the prize to explain the complex alchemy of how the Nobel Prize in Literature has shaped (and continues to shape) the world literary canon. Apart from fame, the Nobel Prize comes with a larger sum of money than most prizes. Alfred Nobel donated more than 30 million Swedish crowns, which is the approximate equivalent of 245 million US dollars in today's currency. Having money makes one earn more money, not only through interest and other capital gains, but also through the social and cultural attraction of economic success. This is how Nobel's generous donation empowered 'an outdated and elitist closed circle of cultural power' to judge the excellence of human endeavour. The cultish effect of the Nobel Prize for Literature has led other well-known prizes with a fundamentally international perspective on literature to be modelled on it – the Formentor, the Neustadt Prize, and the International Booker Prize, a spin-off of the Booker that, from 2005 onward, has awarded literature originally written in any language but available in English translation. That Rabindranath Tagore received the prize in 1913 because of the English translations of his Bengali poetry confirms Heilbron's notion of Anglophone hyper-centrality in literary traffic across markets and languages and accounts for English being the most awarded literary language. The book raises questions about what constitutes world literature that the donor, Nobel himself, probably had no means to answer. Drawing from a wide range of contemporary theories and methods, this multifaceted history of the Nobel Prize questions how the Swedish Academy has managed to uphold the global status of the prize through all the violent international crises of the last 120 years. It also looks at the impact the prize has had on the distribution and significance of particular works, literatures and languages. Over the years, in its strenuous attempt to 'recognize true and durable literary quality', the Swedish Academy has often awarded writers who have soon become outdated. The weighing and ranking of the literary merits of contemporaries is an almost hopeless undertaking. As a result, the Swedish intellectuals have missed the chance to award literary giants like Marcel Proust and James Joyce. Looking at the back list of laureates, in 1951, Henri-René Lenormand concluded that 'it is disturbing to have witnessed the disregard for universal geniuses like Joseph Conrad of England, Ibsen and Strindberg for the Scandinavian countries' and 'Chekhov, Tolstoy, Andreiev and Gorky of Russia'. The subjectivity of the selection process, and its propensity to be run by high-minded literary cabals has raised questions, laying the prize open to criticism of oversight and bias. Admittedly, canonization points readers to authors whom they might not have cared to read without the Nobel tag. Tagore's literature prize sparked the most intense reactions in The New York Times to any single Nobel Prize until the outbreak of the First World War. But it did also lend widespread expediency to the act of reading him. Many writers have been 'discovered' by readers, not on account of the epiphany of their greatness, but because they had been awarded the Nobel. As many deserving writers have been ignored, the Nobel Committee has been accused of holding Eurocentric attitudes toward literatures produced in non-European and non-Western contexts, resulting in authors and texts from such 'remote parts' not being 'consecrated'. 'The academy is often reproached for thus neglecting the literatures of Asia and Afric. Artur Lundkvist, an influential member of the Academy, infamously said in Svenska Dagbladet in 1977, 'But I doubt if there is so far very much to find there.' It was a comment as prejudiced as Thomas Macaulay's statement that 'A single shelf of a good European library was worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia'. Not that the Nobel committee is unaware of this, but diplomacy has a role to play amongst languages, cultures, and nations 'struggling for recognition and dominance'. From 1901 to 2022, of the 119 laureates, more than 80 have been born in or have been long-standing residents in European countries. Thirteen of the awarded authors have been US citizens, and nine of them have been born in Africa or have lived in African countries. Interestingly, sitting on the northern fringes of Europe, Stockholm and Sweden (its language is spoken by only 0.1 percent of the world's population) do not enjoy a central position in the world, either politically, economically, or culturally. Yet, in 'awarding the Nobel Prize in Literature, the semi-peripheral Stockholm is the middle sibling of world literature, a space of compromises between self-sufficient firstborns and defiant lastborns,' writes Tenngart. He believes the Nobel will 'always' be a European prize that will never be able to 'balance out the hierarchy between cultures, languages, and literatures,' reinforced further by its 'international importance'. He adds that the Swedish Academy is fundamentally an 'elitist' and 'undemocratic' assembly. In its zeal to remain politically neutral, in the wake of the death-edict issued by Ayatollah Khomeini against Salman Rushdie, the Swedish Academy decided not to condemn the fatwa and thereby not to officially and univocally support Rushdie. In protest, three Academy members – Kerstin Ekman, Werner Aspenström, and Lars Gyllensten – refused to continue their work in the Academy. It is impossible to officially resign so Aspenström's and Gyllensten's chairs remained empty until their deaths in 1997 and 2006. Kerstin Ekman's chair remained empty until the rules were changed in 2018. Interestingly, an intense political controversy ensued in 2019 when Peter Handke was awarded. The Austrian writer was accused of being sympathetic to Serbian nationalism, and denying the Srebrenica massacre and was strongly criticized for speaking at Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic's funeral in 2006. Over the years, the Academy has also drawn flak over its selections of Gao Xingjian, VS Naipaul, Imre Kertész, Orhan Pamuk, Herta Müller, Mario Vargas Llosa, and Mo Yan – all of whom have been accused of painting a false picture of their home countries. Many believed that their consecration reinforced the authors' assumptions. And that's not all. Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen was disqualified due to his 'negativity' in relation to traditional institutions; Ezra Pound's 'fascist' opinions during the Second World War disqualified him. It is clear that moral and political considerations often gained precedence over merit. Language often has been a barrier. During the first three decades of the prize, no Russian author was awarded, because none of the early twentieth-century members knew Russian. The book tries to prise open an institution that has been overshadowed by its cultish culture of secrecy ('a leftover from the cultural practice of closed circles of power'). One of its rules is that critics and scholars have to wait for 50 years until committee discussions of nominated authors are made public. Tenngart believes the origins of this great secrecy is firmly rooted in 18th-century Freemasonry. While it ushered in Rabindranath Tagore's Bengali, Sinclair Lewis' American, Gabriela Mistral's Chilean, and Yasunari Kawabata's Japanese moorings, besides including politically entrenched writers like Winston Churchill, Boris Pasternak, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, and Gao Xingjian in the World Republic of Letters, the Republic was built, Tenngart reminds us, on western liberal ideology. Prasenjit Chowdhury is an independent writer. He lives in Kolkata.
Local Sweden
22-05-2025
- Lifestyle
- Local Sweden
Swedish word of the day: unken
Today's word of the day sounds about as appealing as the thing it describes. Advertisement Unken is the Swedish word for something that smells a bit stale or otherwise unappetising, for example a room which has not been aired out or a bag of food waste which should have been thrown out a few days ago. It's not clear exactly where the word comes from, although it has existed in Swedish since at least the 1720s, according to the Swedish Academy's dictionary. It appears to have mainly been used to describe stagnant water, stale hay or other crops which have gone mouldy due to water damage. Don't miss any of our Swedish words and expressions of the day by downloading The Local's app (available on Apple and Android) and then selecting the Swedish Word of the Day in your Notification options via the User button It may be related to a Proto-Indo-European word meaning wet or moist, which would explain how it has come to describe something smelling damp, mildewed or stale. If you are worried that your room smells unket, the best solution is to vädra, or air it out, replacing the old, stale air with fresh, new air. Unless the smell is due to mould or mildew, in which case you've got a larger issue on your hands. Swedes often consider it important to get rid of unken air, with good air quality believed to be important for health, so don't be surprised if you see your Swedish friends or family airing out their homes and letting new air in even in the depths of winter. The word unken can also refer to something which is metaphorically stale, like an outdated idea or concept. Advertisement Example sentences: Hotellet låg mitt i stan vilket var bra, men rummet luktade lite unket. The hotel was in the middle of town which was good, but the room smelled a bit musty. Det där är bara en gammal unken tradition. That's just an old outdated tradition. Villa, Volvo, Vovve: The Local's Word Guide to Swedish Life, written by The Local's journalists, is available to order. Head to to read more about it. It is also possible to buy your copy from Amazon US, Amazon UK, Bokus or Adlibris.
News18
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- News18
Rabindranath Tagore Jayanti 2025: Date, History, Significance And Quotes
Last Updated: May 07, 2025, 07:00 IST Rabindranath Tagore Jayanti 2025: The Nobel laureate wrote around 2,230 songs and painted nearly 3,000 paintings. (File Pic) Rabindranath Tagore Jayanti 2025: Rabindra Jayanti is celebrated on May 7 each year to mark the birth anniversary of the world renowned poet, writer and Nobel Prize winner, Rabindranath Tagore. This special day honours his contributions towards Indian literature, music and culture. Tagore's work continues to inspire generations and is remembered with great respect. Rabindra Jayanti is a time for everyone to look back on the Nobel laureate's achievements and the legacy he left behind. In this article, we'll explore the history and significance of the day, along with some key facts and memorable quotes by Tagore. Will Rabindra Jayanti Be Celebrated On May 7 Or May 9? Tagore was born on May 7, 1861, in Kolkata to Debendranath Tagore and Sarada Devi. Rabindranath Jayanti is usually celebrated according to the Bengali calendar, on the 25th day of the month of Boishakh. This year, it will be celebrated on May 9 in West Bengal. However, in other parts of India, people will mark Rabindranath Tagore Jayanti on May 7. Rabindranath Tagore Jayanti 2025: History Rabindranath Tagore was born in a wealthy Bengali family and became one of the most respected figures in literature and politics. His poems, songs, short stories, plays and novels are still admired by many. Tagore also wrote Jana Gana Mana, which became India's national anthem, and composed the national anthems for Bangladesh and Sri Lanka as well. In 1913, Tagore made history by becoming the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. He delivered speeches at the World Parliament for Religions in 1929 and again in 1937. Rabindranath Tagore Jayanti 2025: Significance Tagore was a brilliant poet and artist who wrote around 2,230 songs and painted nearly 3,000 paintings. He also wrote national anthems for several countries. He founded Visva Bharati University at Shantiniketan located in Bolpur, West Bengal. Every year, his birth anniversary is celebrated with a lot of excitement. People remember him by singing his songs and reciting his poetry. These celebrations help inspire the younger generation to learn about his life and achievements. Rabindranath Tagore Jayanti 2025: Key Facts Rabindranath tagore was not only the first Non European but also the first Asian to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. In 2004, his Nobel Prize medal was stolen from Shantiniketan. The Swedish Academy later gave him two replicas, one in silver and one in gold. In 1915, Rabindranath Tagore was awarded a knighthood by King George V for his work in literature. It was found that Tagore was red-green colour blind, which became noticeable in his paintings. Rabindranath Tagore used the money from his Nobel Prize to build the Visva Bharati school, where students could learn with freedom and creativity. View All Kiara Advani FINALLY Debuts Baby Bump At Her First Met Gala In Gaurav Gupta Couture | DECODED Zendaya & Anna Sawai Accidentally Twin In Lookalike Outfits At Met Gala 2025 | N18G SRK, Priyanka Chopra, Kiara Advani & Diljit Dosanjh: What Desi Celebs Might Wear To Met Gala 2025 Shah Rukh Khan Is Coming For Hollywood With His Met Gala Debut & Sabyasachi's Dressing Him | N18G US President Donald Trump's Clumsy Moments At Pope Francis' Funeral Sparks Internet Backlash | N18G View all
Indian Express
28-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
From Margaret Atwood to Alice Munro: 5 must-read authors from the Land of the Maple Leaf
Authors are often called the voice of a nation — chronicling its struggles, its triumphs, and its evolving identity. Today (April 28), as Canadians head to the polls in a high-stakes election that could reshape the country's leadership and future, it is a fitting moment to pause and reflect on the storytellers who have helped define Canada beyond its politics. Across decades of change, Canadian authors have explored questions of belonging, resilience, justice, and imagination — themes that resonate during a pivotal national moments. Whether through poetry, fiction, or historical reflection, these writers offer insights into the forces that have shaped Canada, and into the possibilities that lie ahead. Here are five Canadian authors whose work deserves attention — today and every day. 1. Margaret Atwood No conversation about Canadian literature can begin without Margaret Atwood. For decades, she has examined power, survival, and the environment — subjects that feel especially urgent in a time of political and social flux. From her dystopian masterpiece The Handmaid's Tale to her intimate portraits of Canadian wilderness in Surfacing, Atwood remains a sharp, essential voice both at home and abroad. 2. Alice Munro Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, Alice Munro has spent her career quietly reshaping the possibilities of the short story. Her richly detailed portraits of life in rural Ontario explore small moments of decision, revelation, and resilience. Dear Life is a brilliant entry point into her deeply humane work. The Swedish Academy dubbed her a 'master of the contemporary short story' when it awarded her the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2013. 3. Thomas King A master storyteller, Thomas King brings indigenous history, humor, and activism to the forefront of Canadian literature. His novel Green Grass, Running Water weaves traditional storytelling with contemporary satire, offering a reflection on indigenous identity and resilience. 4. Yann Martel With Life of Pi, Yann Martel captured the world's imagination, blending spiritual exploration with a gripping survival story. His work often grapples with faith, hope, and the power of storytelling itself — ideas that take on heightened significance during uncertain times. 5. Dionne Brand One of Canada's most celebrated poets and novelists, Dionne Brand writes passionately about race, migration, and belonging. Her novel What We All Long For explores the dreams and disillusionments of young people in Toronto, offering an unflinching portrait of urban life.
Korea Herald
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
Han Kang's latest 'Light and Thread' brings meditative reflections on life while tending small garden
The latest books by Han Kang, last year's Nobel Prize in literature winner, will be released today, her first publication since winning the prize. "Light and Thread" is a collection of meditative essays with five poems that takes its name from her Nobel lecture, delivered Dec. 7 at the Swedish Academy in Stockholm. The lecture starts the slim volume. The 172-page collection was available for preorder starting Wednesday and will be released in bookstores beginning Thursday, according to Moonji Publishing. "Light and Thread" brings together 12 pieces, including five poems and several essays, accompanied by photos taken by Han. The book is released as part of the publisher's essay series "Ecrire" (to write in French), which curates the prose of literary writers noted for their distinctive styles. The prose and poetry collection was discussed with the author during the early planning stages of the series in 2019, according to the publisher, with the theme and concept taking final shape by December 2024. "We hope this will be a precious opportunity to meet writer(s), whom readers have only read through their polished literary works, in a more intimate and personal ways," the book's editor said to The Korea Herald. 3 pieces from Nobel Prize ceremony Three of the pieces in the collection are related to the Nobel Prize ceremony: the full text of her Nobel lecture at the Swedish Academy, her banquet speech titled "In the Darkest Night" delivered Dec. 10 and a short message she wrote when donating a teacup to the Nobel Museum, titled "Small Teacup." Regarding the teacup, Han wrote that the teacup was part of her daily routine while she was writing "We Do Not Part." She described her work routine: After getting up at 5:30 a.m. and going for a walk, she would drink a cup of tea. She drank black tea although the cup was designed for drinking green tea. "We Do Not Part" follows two women as they navigate intergenerational trauma and shared mourning for relatives lost to state violence, in the shadow of a massacre that took place on South Korea's Jeju Island in the late 1940s. It took seven years to complete the book. 'As the teacup is so small, I didn't need to take in too much caffeine. It was like very warm medicine for me, which helped me to write on,' said Han. One of the essays, "After Publication," was written in 2022, shortly after the release of "We Do Not Part." It was previously released in "The Essential: Han Kang," a special edition curated by Munhakdongne Publishing that brings together highlights from the author's key works. 5 poems after her first poetry collection It is now well known that before Han made her prose debut in 1995 with the short story collection "Love of Yeosu," she began her literary career in 1993 by publishing several poems in the literary magazine "Literature and Society." The latest collection includes five poems that originally appeared in "Literature and Society" and "Littor" between 2013 and 2024, following the publication of her first and only poetry collection, "I Put the Evening in the Drawer" (2013, Moonji Publishing). The five poems are: "The Coat and I," "North-Facing Room," "(Meditation on Pain)," "Sound(s)" and "Very Small Snowflake." 3 unpublished intimate reflections while tending garden Also included are three previously unpublished essays: "North-Facing Garden," "Garden Diary" and "After Living On." "North-Facing Garden" recounts Han's experience tending to a small garden in the first home she ever purchased under her own name -- a house with a four-pyeong (roughly 13 square meters) yard. Here, she writes about the challenge of growing plants without direct sunlight, and how, in her effort to reflect light into the space using a mirror, she began to grasp the Earth's rotation in a new, embodied way. "Garden Diary" follows in a more meditative, intimate format, chronicling her experiences in the garden day by day. The final piece in the book, "After Living On," is a two-page lyrical essay, where every sentence stands on its own line. The photo on the last page of the book features a poem Han wrote at the age of eight, which she referenced during her "Light and Thread" lecture, describing it as 'suitably innocent and unpolished (lines),' penned by her 8-year-old self. Where is love? It is inside my thump-thumping beating chest. What is love? It is the gold thread connecting between our hearts. Meanwhile, Han is also putting the finishing touches on a long-awaited novel -- the final installment in her so-called 'Winter Trilogy.' The new work is expected to be released later this year and will follow the short stories "While a Single Snowflake Melts" and "Farewell." Together, the three stories form an interconnected narrative. Han had been working on the final volume -- a midlength novel -- before her Nobel win.
