--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "John" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > To All: > > This may be an opinion by a one guy. But the opinion is food for > thought as to what Americans are writing about.
Gotta agree with the gentleman. Toni Morrison was a good choice, but name me even one American writing today who is in the same class as Orhan Pamuk or Doris Lessing or Harold Pinter or V.S. Naipaul or Gunter Grass. The Nobel Prize for Literature is a "lifetime achievement" award, and never for a single book. It is also meant to reward "the most outstanding work of an idealistic tendency." I'm sorry, but American writers rarely create a consistently excellent body of work, and their tendency to be self-absorbed and whine tends to render the writers devoid of ideals, compared to writers in other parts of the world. Besides, two of the recent winners listed my favorite author as their favorite author, so that raises them up higher in my estimation than the prize does. :-) > ************ > > Nobel literature chief: US writing too 'insular' 1 hour, 17 minutes > ago > > STOCKHOLM, Sweden - The man who announces the Nobel Prize in > literature says the United States is too "insular" and ignorant to > compete with Europe when it comes to great writing. > > In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, Horace Engdahl > said Tuesday that "Europe still is the center of the literary > world." > > Engdahl is the permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, which > selects the literature prize winner. He is expected to announce the > winner in the coming weeks. > > Engdahl says the U.S. "is too isolated, too insular" and doesn't > really "participate in the big dialogue of literature." > > Since Japanese poet Kenzaburo Oe won in 1994, the selections have > had a distinct European flavor. The last American winner was Toni > Morrison in 1993.
