Re: JCO: Nobel prize
Here is some information on this year's winner. Lara
Stockholm -- Austrian feminist writer Elfriede Jelinek won the Nobel
Prize in literature, the Swedish Academy said Thursday, citing her
"musical flow of voices and counter-voices in novels and plays."
Ms. Jelinek told reporters in Vienna that she felt "more despair than
peace" about winning the prize.
"It doesn't suit me as a person to be put on public display," she told
the Austria Press Agency. "I feel threatened by it. ... I hope it
doesn't cost me too much. I hope I can enjoy the prize money, because
one can live carefree with it."
Elfriede Jelinek
The decision to award the prize to a woman, and a poet, was the first
since 1996, when Wislawa Szymborska of Poland won. Since the prize first
was handed out in 1901, only 10 women have won it.
Ms. Jelinek, 57, made her literary debut with the collection Lisas
Schatten in 1967. Her writing took a critical turn after her involvement
with the student movements that were prevalent throughout Europe in the
1970s, coming out with her satirical novel We Are Decoys, Baby!
She is unpopular in her native Austria, where she was shunned by some
political leaders, in part because of her vehement opposition to the
rise of the rightist Freedom Party led by Joerg Haider, which became
part of the governing coalition in 2000 on a platform that critics
called anti-Semitic and anti-foreigner.
In recent years, Ms. Jelinek's plays have received an icy reception in
Austria, where screenings have been marred by booing, shouting matches
and patrons abruptly leaving the theatre.
Communist party chairman Walter Baier hailed Ms. Jelinek as "a feminist
and one of the most important voices of the 'other Austria,'" and he
credited the writer for her "unabashed and public attacks" on the
Freedom Party.
Among Ms. Jelinek's fans in Austria is Andreas Kohl, the president of
Parliament, who said he was "pleased for her and for Austria."
A prominent German literary critic, Marcel Reich-Ranicki, told the
Associated Press that the choice was "very pleasing."
Ms. Jelinek is "a very unusual, completely offbeat, radical and extreme
writer, and as a result of that very controversial," he said, adding
that the core issues in her work are the role of women, violence and
power in the consumer society and sexuality.
Those are themes that are evident in some of Ms. Jelinek's better-known
works, including 1988's The Piano Teacher, which was adapted into a 2001
film by director Michael Haneke.
The novel and the film tell the story of a piano instructor, Erika, a
demanding taskmaster who embarks on a dramatic affair with a younger
music student.
Ms. Jelinek's recent work has been politically charged.
Her latest play, Bambiland, written in 2003 and translated into English
in 2004, is a head-on attack against the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
Horace Engdahl, secretary-general of the academy, emphasized that the
prize should not be interpreted as a political comment.
"When that play came out, this decision was -- if not already made --
then well under way," he said. "I don't think that play adds much to her
authorship."
He said Bambiland depicts how "the patriotic enthusiasm turns into
insanity." And, he added, "she's completely right about that."
Mr. Engdahl said many of her works also focus on the entertainment
industry, in Europe and America, which she "believes affects people in a
way that makes them susceptible to the economic elite." Using parody and
satire, Ms. Jelinek tries to tear down the industry's facade, he said.
Mr. Engdahl said the academy may be criticized for choosing a writer
whose works are not readily accessible to average readers, and whom many
will find hard to understand. Many of her books completely lack a
traditional plot, focusing instead on "making voices perceptible that
are not her own. There's no author's voice, in a way."
"She'll be seen as an exclusive writer that perhaps the average person
will have a hard time embracing," he continued. "But I think readers
will get used to her in time."
He said readers who open one of Ms. Jelinek's novels must "shake off the
standard expectations you have when reading a novel, that is that a
story is about to be told."
The 18 lifetime members of the 218-year-old Swedish Academy, of whom
only four are women, made the annual selection in secrecy last week.
Alfred Nobel, the Swedish industrialist and inventor of dynamite who
endowed the awards, left only vague guidance about the prize, saying in
his will that it should go to those who "shall have conferred the
greatest benefit on mankind" and "who shall have produced in the field
of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction."
For any writer, there could hardly be any greater honour than winning
the Nobel Prize. But for an author whose work is not widely translated,
it opens doors to new markets and sales.
The prize also brings a financial security net, too: A cheque for 10
million kronor (more than $1.7-million Canadian).
The academy has given the award to Europeans nine times in the past 10
years.
Since 1980, only three winners have come from Africa, four from South
America, two from the United States and one from Asia. It has been 14
years since someone from the Middle East -- Egyptian Naguib Mahfouz --
was given the nod. A Canadian-born American, Saul Bellow, won in 1976.
Last year's award went to South African writer J.M. Coetzee, whose
fiction drew on his experiences growing up there.
Cyranomish@aol.com wrote:
>Thanks, Bjorn: Which country? A woman? Poet, play or novels?
>Cyrano
>
>In a message dated 10/7/2004 9:39:04 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
>bjorn.hj@mail.com writes:
>
><< Elfriede Jelinek, to bad... Our academy vanted to be "advanced".
>
>Björn >>
>-------------------------------------------------------------------
>Tone Clusters: The Joyce Carol Oates discussion group
>
>To send a message to the group, email jco@usfca.edu
>To subscribe, email majordomo@usfca.edu: subscribe jco
>To unsubscribe, email majordomo@usfca.edu: unsubscribe jco
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>
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Stockholm -- Austrian feminist writer Elfriede Jelinek won the Nobel
Prize in literature, the Swedish Academy said Thursday, citing her
"musical flow of voices and counter-voices in novels and plays."
Ms. Jelinek told reporters in Vienna that she felt "more despair than
peace" about winning the prize.
"It doesn't suit me as a person to be put on public display," she told
the Austria Press Agency. "I feel threatened by it. ... I hope it
doesn't cost me too much. I hope I can enjoy the prize money, because
one can live carefree with it."
Elfriede Jelinek
The decision to award the prize to a woman, and a poet, was the first
since 1996, when Wislawa Szymborska of Poland won. Since the prize first
was handed out in 1901, only 10 women have won it.
Ms. Jelinek, 57, made her literary debut with the collection Lisas
Schatten in 1967. Her writing took a critical turn after her involvement
with the student movements that were prevalent throughout Europe in the
1970s, coming out with her satirical novel We Are Decoys, Baby!
She is unpopular in her native Austria, where she was shunned by some
political leaders, in part because of her vehement opposition to the
rise of the rightist Freedom Party led by Joerg Haider, which became
part of the governing coalition in 2000 on a platform that critics
called anti-Semitic and anti-foreigner.
In recent years, Ms. Jelinek's plays have received an icy reception in
Austria, where screenings have been marred by booing, shouting matches
and patrons abruptly leaving the theatre.
Communist party chairman Walter Baier hailed Ms. Jelinek as "a feminist
and one of the most important voices of the 'other Austria,'" and he
credited the writer for her "unabashed and public attacks" on the
Freedom Party.
Among Ms. Jelinek's fans in Austria is Andreas Kohl, the president of
Parliament, who said he was "pleased for her and for Austria."
A prominent German literary critic, Marcel Reich-Ranicki, told the
Associated Press that the choice was "very pleasing."
Ms. Jelinek is "a very unusual, completely offbeat, radical and extreme
writer, and as a result of that very controversial," he said, adding
that the core issues in her work are the role of women, violence and
power in the consumer society and sexuality.
Those are themes that are evident in some of Ms. Jelinek's better-known
works, including 1988's The Piano Teacher, which was adapted into a 2001
film by director Michael Haneke.
The novel and the film tell the story of a piano instructor, Erika, a
demanding taskmaster who embarks on a dramatic affair with a younger
music student.
Ms. Jelinek's recent work has been politically charged.
Her latest play, Bambiland, written in 2003 and translated into English
in 2004, is a head-on attack against the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
Horace Engdahl, secretary-general of the academy, emphasized that the
prize should not be interpreted as a political comment.
"When that play came out, this decision was -- if not already made --
then well under way," he said. "I don't think that play adds much to her
authorship."
He said Bambiland depicts how "the patriotic enthusiasm turns into
insanity." And, he added, "she's completely right about that."
Mr. Engdahl said many of her works also focus on the entertainment
industry, in Europe and America, which she "believes affects people in a
way that makes them susceptible to the economic elite." Using parody and
satire, Ms. Jelinek tries to tear down the industry's facade, he said.
Mr. Engdahl said the academy may be criticized for choosing a writer
whose works are not readily accessible to average readers, and whom many
will find hard to understand. Many of her books completely lack a
traditional plot, focusing instead on "making voices perceptible that
are not her own. There's no author's voice, in a way."
"She'll be seen as an exclusive writer that perhaps the average person
will have a hard time embracing," he continued. "But I think readers
will get used to her in time."
He said readers who open one of Ms. Jelinek's novels must "shake off the
standard expectations you have when reading a novel, that is that a
story is about to be told."
The 18 lifetime members of the 218-year-old Swedish Academy, of whom
only four are women, made the annual selection in secrecy last week.
Alfred Nobel, the Swedish industrialist and inventor of dynamite who
endowed the awards, left only vague guidance about the prize, saying in
his will that it should go to those who "shall have conferred the
greatest benefit on mankind" and "who shall have produced in the field
of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction."
For any writer, there could hardly be any greater honour than winning
the Nobel Prize. But for an author whose work is not widely translated,
it opens doors to new markets and sales.
The prize also brings a financial security net, too: A cheque for 10
million kronor (more than $1.7-million Canadian).
The academy has given the award to Europeans nine times in the past 10
years.
Since 1980, only three winners have come from Africa, four from South
America, two from the United States and one from Asia. It has been 14
years since someone from the Middle East -- Egyptian Naguib Mahfouz --
was given the nod. A Canadian-born American, Saul Bellow, won in 1976.
Last year's award went to South African writer J.M. Coetzee, whose
fiction drew on his experiences growing up there.
Cyranomish@aol.com wrote:
>Thanks, Bjorn: Which country? A woman? Poet, play or novels?
>Cyrano
>
>In a message dated 10/7/2004 9:39:04 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
>bjorn.hj@mail.com writes:
>
><< Elfriede Jelinek, to bad... Our academy vanted to be "advanced".
>
>Björn >>
>-------------------------------------------------------------------
>Tone Clusters: The Joyce Carol Oates discussion group
>
>To send a message to the group, email jco@usfca.edu
>To subscribe, email majordomo@usfca.edu: subscribe jco
>To unsubscribe, email majordomo@usfca.edu: unsubscribe jco
>
>
>
posted by Admin at
9:24 AM
