The Nobel Prize for Literature in Its Second Century

Abstract

The aim of this article is to survey the decisions of the Swedish Academy in awarding Nobel Prizes in Literature in the twenty-first century in an effort to judge whether these decisions represent an improvement over the sometimes peculiar choices made in the first decade, and the first century, of the award. Various criticisms of the Literature Nobel are canvassed, most importantly the question of idealism, as demanded by Alfred Nobel’s will; the omission of major authors and the inclusion of minor ones; the evident bias toward European authors over those from the rest of the globe and (particularly recently) toward writers in English; the article queries whether these objections have been answered by the Nobel procedures of the period 2001-2023. Finally, there is an account of the turmoil produced by a scandal that included accusations of sexual molestation, improper financial self-dealing, and even gambling on the basis of inside information provided by a member of the Swedish Academy, and tries to balance the damage undoubtedly caused to the prestige of the Nobel Prize in Literature with the built-in difficulties of getting such a prize right, as well as the claim from some observers that the Nobel no longer matters.

Keywords

• nobel prize
• idealism
• eurocentrism
• scandal
• swedish academy
• #metoo
• gender