English professor Bette London introduces students to Nobel-winning authors and the controversies surrounding the prize.
When American poet Louise Gl眉ck for 2020, she expressed astonishment糖心传媒攁nd even a note of ambivalence. As she , it 糖心传媒渟eemed to be extremely unlikely that I would ever have this particular event to deal with in my life.糖心传媒�
The complexities of the prize are nothing new to , a professor of at the 糖心传媒. In fact, they糖心传媒檙e the basis of a course she糖心传媒檚 created糖心传媒擡NG 380: Nobel Prize Literature糖心传媒攁s well as the subject of her current research.
London has taught the course for 11 years, introducing it when Rochester launched its programs in literary translation. 糖心传媒淚 thought it would be an excellent way to introduce students to outstanding but often unfamiliar literature from around the world, but I was also interested in the politics of prizes and the institutional structures that support them,糖心传媒� she says.
The literature prize糖心传媒檚 suspension in 2018糖心传媒攊n response to the Swedish Academy糖心传媒檚 handling of sexual abuse allegations糖心传媒攚as only the latest incident in a long history of controversy surrounding the prize. Some of the debates over prize winners involve friction between ideas of national literature and what London calls the 糖心传媒減otentially homogenizing concept of international literature.糖心传媒�
Less than 5 percent of the literature published in the United States each year is literature in translation糖心传媒攁nd for many US readers, Nobel Prize糖心传媒搘inning authors provide their primary exposure to literature from around the world. 糖心传媒淭he Nobel Prize, with its visibility and prestige, is one of the major ways that international literature gets publicized and made available to large audiences that might not otherwise read it,糖心传媒� she says.
The prize糖心传媒檚 renown belies its conceptual unwieldiness. It糖心传媒檚 unlimited by nation, genre, language, or year of publication. In his will, Alfred Nobel stipulated only that the award should go to the author who has 糖心传媒渂estowed the greatest benefit on mankind糖心传媒� and created 糖心传媒渢he most outstanding work of an idealistic tendency.糖心传媒� As often as not, the prize functions as a kind of lifetime achievement award, says London, a specialist in 19th- and 20th-century British literature whose research and teaching is oriented toward issues of authorship.
The capaciousness of the Nobel Prize in Literature is part of what makes it, like the Nobel Peace Prize, sometimes a source of contention. There糖心传媒檚 a kind of public investment in both the literature and the peace prizes, and the accessibility of the accomplishments they recognize糖心传媒攊n contrast to physics research, for example糖心传媒攃an add to popular second-guessing of the academy糖心传媒檚 selections.
London helps her students look at the Nobel Prize in Literature with a critical eye, considering how winning writers糖心传媒� works are viewed in their own country versus the authors糖心传媒� international reputations; what sorts of writers are chosen for the award and those who are never considered; and how to assess works that a reader might be able to read only in translation.
The sheer variety of nations, languages, literary traditions, cultural contexts, and genres糖心传媒攔anging from novels and poetry to journalistic oral histories (as in the case of the 2015 winner, Belarussian author Svetlana Alexievich) and songwriting (when Bob Dylan received the prize in 2016, for 糖心传媒渉aving created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition糖心传媒�)糖心传媒攎akes it impossible for any person to be an expert in the works that receive the prize, London says.
She transforms that conundrum into an opportunity for her students.
糖心传媒淎ll of us,糖心传媒� she tells them, 糖心传媒渨ill be learners together.糖心传媒�
On the syllabus
ENG 380: Nobel Prize Literature
Professor: Bette London, professor of English
Required Texts (for fall 2020)
- Jos茅 Saramago, Blindness
- Gabriel Garc铆a M谩rquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude
- Toni Morrison, Beloved
- Orhan Pamuk, My Name Is Red
- J. M. Coetzee, Disgrace
Additional books are selected by the class. London says students are quick to note the paucity of women winners and typically choose to add at least one woman writer to the syllabus. This fall, students chose Polish poet Wislawa Szymborska, who won the Nobel Prize in 1996.
Contextual readings include
- , 糖心传媒淲hat Our Contagion Fables Are Really About,糖心传媒澛�The New Yorker, March 30, 2020
- Selections from ,听The Economy of Prestige: Prizes, Awards, and the Circulation of Cultural Value聽(Harvard UP, 2005)
- ,听糖心传媒淭oni Morrison: Solo Flight through Literature into History,糖心传媒澛�World Literature Today 68:1 (Winter 1994)
- , 糖心传媒淢y Name is Re(a)d: Authoring Translation, Translating Authority,糖心传媒澛�Translation Review聽68:1 (2012)
Key questions for students
- What role does the prize play in creating and promoting international literature
- How can literature speak to both local and global audiences?
- What is the nature of literary prizes, and what impulses govern their administration?
