Comments on: London Bookies’ Favorites for the 2008 Nobel Prize in Literature — Odds-Makers Give Edge to Magris and Oz But Also Rate Chances of Roth, Oates, McEwan, and DeLillo

By: Val Kovalin

Val Kovalin — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 04:12:42 +0000

I was just thinking about John Cheever! I remember reading somewhere that the poor guy looked at his contemporary Saul Bellow and felt inadequate because Bellow wrote about these huge themes, and Cheever only wrote about “the American businessman.” Imagine that!

By: 1minutebookreviewswordpresscom

1minutebookreviewswordpresscom — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 22:41:44 +0000

The short story aspect could definitely have been a factor. The short story form is much more popular in America than in, for example, England, where people have always favored novels.

So being known for short stories could well have worked against Welty (and, for that matter, John Cheever) with international judges to a much greater extent than than with the judges for American prizes.

By: Val Kovalin

Val Kovalin — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 22:16:12 +0000

Wow, that’s hard to explain because Eudora Welty was such a genius. Maybe the committee felt that they’d already awarded writing that concerns the American South when they gave the prize to William Faulkner in 1949. Even though they really don’t have much in common, maybe he, also being from Mississippi and also writing about the American South, overshadowed her.

Or maybe the Nobel committee overlooked Eudora Welty because she was known for short stories? Maybe there is a Nobel snobbery not just against Americans — ha, ha! — but against the short story form!

By: 1minutebookreviewswordpresscom

1minutebookreviewswordpresscom — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 21:13:39 +0000

Great link. I did see the article, and my take on it was: He was trying to prepare the U.S. for not getting the Nobel this year. I, too, suspect that Oates won’t get it this year, if only because an English-speaking female novelist got it in 2007.

But the Nobel judges are harder than many others to predict. Eudora Welty, for example never got the award, though she was a strong candidate for years. And I could never figure out why she didn’t. Any thoughts on that one?

By: Val Kovalin

Val Kovalin — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 19:45:18 +0000

That would be very exciting if Joyce Carol Oates won! Unfortunately, I bet that doesn’t happen. Did you see the article in guardian.co.uk where Swedish judge Horace Engdahl put down American writers as being too ignorant and wrapped up in our own culture? He’s probably trying to stir up a little firestorm of publicity before the Nobel ceremony, but it’s still all a bit much! Here’s the link:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/oct/01/us.literature.insular.nobel