Nobel Prize in Literature could reward freedom of expression, according to experts

Will the Swedish Academy dare to make a political statement when it announces on Thursday the Nobel Prize for Literature? Doing so could reward a writer who defends freedom of expressionexperts say.

Among those cited as possible winners are author and Kremlin critic Liudmila Ulitskaya, known for her epic novels often focused on personal relationships, and Britain’s Salman Rushdie, who survived a stabbing last year after living in hiding for years for a death sentence handed down by Iran for his novel “The satanic verses”from 1988.

But the Swedish Academy could also award a lesser-known writer, such as China’s Can Xue, an author of avant-garde fiction.

Awarding Ulitskaya, who lives in self-exile in Germany, would be a way of indicating that “Literature remains free from politics”Lisa Irenius, cultural editor of the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet, told AFP.

An award to Ulitskaya would send “a very political message”, agreed Bjorn Wiman, cultural editor of Sweden’s other major newspaper, Dagens Nyheter.

Rushdie’s turn?

Wiman believes Caribbean-American Jamaica Kincaid, whose novels are based on her family’s life and experiences with colonialism and racial issues, has a chance this year.

But what he would really love is for Rushdie to win. “It’s time for him to win, and if he does, I take my hat off to the Academy” for defending the freedom of expression that Rushdie embodies, Wiman said.

The Academy has been criticized for the predominance of Western, white, male authors among its awardees. Shaken by the #MeToo scandal in 2018, followed by the controversial election of Austrian Peter Handke for the 2019 Nobel Prize, she has sought to change his image.

Last year she awarded the prestigious award to French feminist icon Annie Ernaux.

The previous year it awarded the British novelist of Tanzanian origin Abdulrazak Gurnah for his work exploring the torments of exile, colonialism and racism. “In recent years there is more awareness that you cannot stay with a Eurocentric perspective, there must be more equality and the award has to reflect its time,” Stockholm University literature professor Carin Franzen told AFP.

Winman noted that half of the 18 members of the academy, which has two vacant seats, have been renewed since the prize was awarded to Handke, whose pro-Serbian stances included support for former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic, who died in 2006 while facing a trial for genocide. The academy “has changed”said Wiman.

“Unthinkable”

Several members of the academy, made up of authors, historians, philosophers and linguists, have participated in political and social debates, organized seminars on freedom of expression and equality, and published opinion articles in the Swedish press.

That contrasts sharply with the previous academy, which was more closed.

“That was unthinkable five years ago,” Wiman said. An example is the Iranian-born poet Jila Mossaed, who joined the academy in 2018. Mossaed often expresses her opposition to the Iranian regime and has openly extolled the literary qualities of the Syrian poet Adonis, noted for more than a decade as a Nobel candidate. .

“It is still very difficult to guess” who the academy is considering for the Nobel, emphasized Lina Kalmteg, literary critic for Swedish public radio SR.

The list of nominations and jury deliberations remain sealed for 50 years. Others frequently cited in speculation are the Romanian author Mircea Cartarescu, the Hungarians Peter Nadas and Laszlo Krasznahorkai, the Albanian Ismail Kadare, the Kenyan Ngugi wa Thiong’o and the Canadian Margaret Atwood.

To honor its promise of more diversity, the academy now consults outside experts to better understand the scope of works coming from far-flung places.

“Given the academy’s promise to look at other geographic regions, I fear we will end up without the knowledge necessary to guess the winner, even if you have a doctorate in literature,” admitted Victor Malm, culture editor of the popular daily Expressen. Since the creation of the Nobel Prize in Literature, only 17 women have won it out of a total of 119 laureates.

Source: AFP