Among the dazzling array of world literary awards, the Nobel Prize for Literature is the most influential and authoritative. It makes lesser-known writers instantly famous, their works attract much attention, and their sales explode. .
The 2020 Nobel Prize for Literature has finally been announced, and American poet Louise Glick won.
Before the awards were given, many media speculated on the winners, such as China’s Yu Hua, Japan’s Haruki Murakami, Czech writer Milan Kunder, and Belarusian female journalist Sverana Alexevich. wait.
Over the years, the awarding of the Nobel Prize for Literature has become more and more unexpected. In 2016, the Literature Prize was awarded to the American rock and folk artist Bob Dylan. The reason for his award was: "Creating with traditional American songs" ”
Someone concluded that there are five selection criteria for the Nobel Prize in Literature:
1. The work must tend to be idealistic.
2. Must have made a significant contribution to mankind;
3. Nationality is not considered;
4. Candidates must have attracted worldwide attention in the previous year. Work achievements;
5. Must have made extremely outstanding contributions in literature;
Take stock of the runners-up of previous Nobel Prizes in Literature
Someone will win the prize Sometimes, some unpopular names win this award, such as philosopher Russell, Henry Bergson, Bertrand Russell, the founder of analytic philosophy, existential philosopher Paul Sartre, and politician Wen Ston Churchill.
At the same time, many writers with global influence are ignored, such as Czech-French writer Milan Kundera and American writer Philip Roth. They are always optimistic, but they are always not selected. , became the "runner-up king" for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Philip Roth, the longest-running writer? His representative work is "American Trilogy"
Roth became famous in 1959 with the novel "Goodbye, Columbus". During his long creative career of about 40 years, he was diligent and prolific, publishing 28 works in a row. In addition to the Nobel Prize for Literature, he won many heavyweight literary awards, such as the Faulkner Award, Pulitzer Prize and Man Booker International Prize, etc.
He is considered one of the three greatest American writers in the second half of the 20th century, the other two being Saul Bellow and John Updike. He has the highest odds of winning the Nobel Prize in Literature over the years, and he is also the one who has been running for the longest time.
There are two most promising years for Philip Roth, one is 1993 and the other is 2013, but the Nobel Prize in these two years was awarded to the black American female writer Toni Morrison. and Canadian author Alice Munro.
""Hard Bones" Amos Oates, the representative work "A Story of Love and Darkness"
There have been reports commenting that the Swedish Literature Award has begun to pursue short and fast content, and cannot digest content that is too violent. , Amos Oates provides the indigestible "hard nut" in the work
Oates's autobiographical novel "A Story of Love and Darkness" published in 2002 has always been regarded as the most representative His highly creative work has been translated into more than 20 languages ??in just five years. The English translation by Nicholas Drangs, a professor at the University of Cambridge, was published in 2004, which quickly caused a whirlwind in the English-speaking world. Reading effect.
The main background of this nearly 600-page novel is Jerusalem. The author tells the story of a Jewish family over a hundred years in a melancholy reminiscence tone, and the story has the nature of national history. , family stories intertwined with flashes of national historical memories, forming two threads of mutual support and interpretation, allowing readers to follow the author's seemingly subjective perspective into the ups and downs and honors and disgrace of a family, which is also the ups and downs and honors and disgrace of an ethnic group. History.
This novel has the narrative quality of a classic masterpiece, and brings out a shocking aura and a whirlpool-like power in its calm narration. "I was born and grew up in a small, low room on the bottom floor of a building." After this plain sentence, the atmosphere of memories in the novel began to permeate, and it continued to permeate, spreading out a certain momentary suspicion and erratic reality. Feeling.
A writer without idealism: Milan Kundera, whose representative works are "The Unbearable Lightness of Being", "Immortality" and "Farewell Waltz"
If we talk about the Nobel Prize in Literature The judges prefer to maintain the tradition of idealism and want to find the color of idealism in the writers' texts. Then, Milan Kundera must not be their cup of tea, because he does not meet the soft and fuzzy aesthetic that the judges need. .