I like Murakami a lot, but he doesn't strike me as the kind of author the lit committee usually favors. Feel like a lot of what's kept him in the convo is a sense that East Asia is due for a winner.
― Sandy Denny Real Estate (jaymc), Wednesday, 10 October 2012 03:36 (eleven years ago) link
I've enjoyed some of his work, but he's a real lightweight using a few tired tropes to look more serious/important than he is
― computers are the new "cool tool" (James Morrison), Wednesday, 10 October 2012 23:50 (eleven years ago) link
i can see trevor winning. old. revered. heaney won in the 90's if they actually do think about those kinds of things. the country thing.
still can't see anyone other than roth being the winner in u.s.
would love to see alice munro win, but somehow i doubt it. you know, technically, saul bellow could be considered a canadian win. though i'm guessing he became a u.s. citizen?
― scott seward, Thursday, 11 October 2012 00:51 (eleven years ago) link
Munro wrote no novels, therefore she's not serious enough for the committee.
― the ones that I'm near most: fellow outcasts and ilxors (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 11 October 2012 01:08 (eleven years ago) link
no idea what's embarrassing about dylan that isn't about murakami
― a hauntingly unemployed american (difficult listening hour), Thursday, 11 October 2012 01:10 (eleven years ago) link
prob the harmonica
― zvookster, Thursday, 11 October 2012 01:29 (eleven years ago) link
the empire burles
― a hauntingly unemployed american (difficult listening hour), Thursday, 11 October 2012 01:41 (eleven years ago) link
que jacket
got a lil overexcited there
― a hauntingly unemployed american (difficult listening hour), Thursday, 11 October 2012 01:44 (eleven years ago) link
Murakami looks knocked out loaded on most of his dust jackets.
― the ones that I'm near most: fellow outcasts and ilxors (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 11 October 2012 01:46 (eleven years ago) link
Mo Yan for the win. Good ol' Mo Yan.
― scott seward, Thursday, 11 October 2012 13:09 (eleven years ago) link
where would we be without him?
For English-speaking audiences, Mo Yan should translate his name and try to package a publicity tour with Gwen Stefani.
― lutefish, Thursday, 11 October 2012 16:01 (eleven years ago) link
Why the sarcasm? I'm really looking forward to checking a couple of his novels..
― xyzzzz__, Thursday, 11 October 2012 21:25 (eleven years ago) link
"where would we be without him?"
i thought you appreciate obscure stuff, or is it just in music?
also, he should tour with No Doubt (Don't Speak=Mo Yan)
― nostormo, Thursday, 11 October 2012 21:39 (eleven years ago) link
hey i like hearing about people i don't know about. which is a lot of nobel winners. i never end up reading any of them though. i DO think its funny/cool that i've never heard of the people who win what is arguably the most prestigious world prize in the world until the day they win it. i've heard of the movie red sorghum at least! that's a start.
― scott seward, Thursday, 11 October 2012 21:56 (eleven years ago) link
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oct/11/gripes-of-roth-nobel-prize-literature
― Nilmar Honorato da Silva, Thursday, 11 October 2012 21:58 (eleven years ago) link
HOW MANY OF YOU GUYS CHECKED OUT THE POETRY OF Tomas Tranströmer AFTER HE WON THE NOBEL LAST YEAR, HUH??? HUH????
yeah, that's what i thought. he does write poetry, right?
and none of the winners are "obscure". not in their home countries anyway.
― scott seward, Thursday, 11 October 2012 21:59 (eleven years ago) link
I did! he's really good!!
― thread lock holiday (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 11 October 2012 22:00 (eleven years ago) link
Since 1994, though, the Americans have struck out every year. And as the dry spell wears on, the reactions get angrier. So far, Mo Yan has been getting a tiny bit more respect than usual, perhaps because, while Americans are as clueless about Chinese literature as any other, a Chinese winner does at least make the narrative of American decline more historically piquant.
― Nilmar Honorato da Silva, Thursday, 11 October 2012 22:00 (eleven years ago) link
Mo Yan isn't so popular in china, it seems (at least till today that is).
― nostormo, Thursday, 11 October 2012 22:01 (eleven years ago) link
for a body of work - and for what the nobel crowd goes for - roth is the only american i can think of who actually deserves some sort of medal. not that i read all his stuff, but i think he's probably the only "important" american writer alive. and i don't even know why i think that. i just do.
― scott seward, Thursday, 11 October 2012 22:03 (eleven years ago) link
too controversial i guess
― nostormo, Thursday, 11 October 2012 22:04 (eleven years ago) link
(for the noble jury that is)
― nostormo, Thursday, 11 October 2012 22:05 (eleven years ago) link
i've tried to read some nobel winners and...it doesn't go so well. i get sleepy. i always thought i would like patrick white but i've never finished a book of his. i've read very little nobel lit. i look at the books and i just can't commit. i've never even read andre gide. i liked camus and hesse when i was a boy.
― scott seward, Thursday, 11 October 2012 22:15 (eleven years ago) link
i liked some sartre novels when i was in high school. same with hemingway and sinclair lewis.
― scott seward, Thursday, 11 October 2012 22:16 (eleven years ago) link
bellow the exception to the rule. one of my all-time faves.
― scott seward, Thursday, 11 October 2012 22:17 (eleven years ago) link
i never end up reading any of them though.
Well you should you damn provincial ;-)
Lots of great writers haven't won it, from many countries: Borges is possibly the prime example, so nothing special about Roth not having won it.
Doesn't mean anything, merely another avenue to hear about more writers, albeit a very high profile one.
xp = Patrick White and Sartre aren't all that (ok I haven't read seen the plays). Read Oe (who mines Sartre's existentialism) and Laxness' Under the Glacier and tell me if you've slept through that one.
― xyzzzz__, Thursday, 11 October 2012 22:21 (eleven years ago) link
i am really really anglo-centric. i am the first person to admit that. and this is simply because english is the only language i read and write. and i love it. and if i lived ten lifetimes i would never get a handle on it. because i'm too lazy to learn latin, greek, french, and german. and i can have a problem with translations. i get a nagging feeling that i'm missing a lot. i really feel this way when i'm reading books translated from asian languages. i try to ignore it.
― scott seward, Thursday, 11 October 2012 22:33 (eleven years ago) link
Roth, if any. But probably the next American winner will be in like 2067.
― Mordy, Thursday, 11 October 2012 22:41 (eleven years ago) link
i'm actually reading a Lee Child "Jack Reacher" novel right now that my father gave me for my birthday. i shouldn't be on this thread at all! (hey, there's something to be said for chapters that are a page long.)
― scott seward, Thursday, 11 October 2012 22:49 (eleven years ago) link
I've tried two different White novels and given up. The dude's ponderous.
― the ones that I'm near most: fellow outcasts and ilxors (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 11 October 2012 22:51 (eleven years ago) link
did you try Voss? it's awesome.
― nostormo, Thursday, 11 October 2012 22:57 (eleven years ago) link
my dad loves Lee Child :)
― thread lock holiday (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 11 October 2012 22:58 (eleven years ago) link
my dad loves all those guys. and "gals" as he would say. that's all he reads. james lee burke up the wazoo.
― scott seward, Thursday, 11 October 2012 22:59 (eleven years ago) link
actually not true. he is kinda particular. there are crime dudes he just won't read.
― scott seward, Thursday, 11 October 2012 23:01 (eleven years ago) link
― scott seward, Thursday, 11 October 2012 21:59 (1 hour ago) Permalink
you should
― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Thursday, 11 October 2012 23:02 (eleven years ago) link
I read some Tranströmer, and I thought it was excellent (I'm Danish, though, and that might help in knowing what all the nature-descriptions are about). And good on Mo Yan. Here is a short story of his: http://www.granta.com/New-Writing/Frogs Haven't read it yet, but I'll get to it some time this year.
― Frederik B, Thursday, 11 October 2012 23:04 (eleven years ago) link
Everybody should go and read Octavio Paz, and not just the poems either cos his essays on art & lit are just wonderful too.
― Professor Giff (NickB), Thursday, 11 October 2012 23:05 (eleven years ago) link
The market for global fiction's declined since the fifties and sixties, no?
― the ones that I'm near most: fellow outcasts and ilxors (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 11 October 2012 23:07 (eleven years ago) link
National Insecurity
The Under Secretary leans forward and draws an Xand her ear-drops dangle like swords of Damocles.
As a mottled butterfly is invisible against the groundso the demon merges with the opened newspaper.
A helmet worn by no one has taken power.The mother-turtle flees flying under the water.
― scott seward, Thursday, 11 October 2012 23:11 (eleven years ago) link
read one! i do enjoy turtles...
i'm not sure what an ear-drop is but its evocative.
― scott seward, Thursday, 11 October 2012 23:12 (eleven years ago) link
drop earrings yeah?
― thread lock holiday (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 11 October 2012 23:13 (eleven years ago) link
transtromer translation problems. apparently. buyer beware!
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/books/review/tomas-transtromers-poems-and-the-art-of-translation.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
― scott seward, Thursday, 11 October 2012 23:23 (eleven years ago) link
"drop earrings yeah?"
yeah i mean that's what i guessed but i've never heard anyone use the words ear-drops to describe earrings before. makes me think of medicine.
― scott seward, Thursday, 11 October 2012 23:25 (eleven years ago) link
― scott seward, Thursday, October 11, 2012 6:03 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark
what about pynchon...
― turds (Hungry4Ass), Thursday, 11 October 2012 23:44 (eleven years ago) link
Maya Angelou maybe?
― jim, Thursday, 11 October 2012 23:55 (eleven years ago) link
they will never give it to pynchon in case he doesn't turn up
― Nilmar Honorato da Silva, Thursday, 11 October 2012 23:57 (eleven years ago) link
I read Conjunctions and Disjunctions by Octavio Paz. It was cool, but also seemed quite old-fashioned anthropology. Some good stuff about sex in christianity vs hinduism. I've read stuff by only four of the people who have won the nobel prize this century: Kertesz, Pamuk, Vargas Llosa and Tranströmer. And I've studied comparative literature...
I'm really rooting for Pynchon. They've given it to people who probably wouldn't show up before, though that was mainly dissidents... Also, because they gave it to someone from east asia this year, we won't have to listen to all the people who say that murakami should win for a few years. yay.
― Frederik B, Friday, 12 October 2012 01:23 (eleven years ago) link