Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Nobel Prize In Literature

The Associated Press recently ran a story that featured Horace Engdahl of the Swedish Academy, who select the Nobel Prize in Literature, explaining why no American has won the prize in years, nor will be likely to win one for years. His comments are similar to those I made a few years back when I wrote an article for the Underground Literary Alliance, explaining why American authors shouldn't expect to win a Nobel. I wrote a follow-up article a year later. I was going to make it an annual tradition, but frankly it was too depressing, because nothing changed in the literary world. Maybe now that a member of the Swedish Academy is also pointing such things out, literati will take notice. I'm not optimistic about that though because so far they all appear to be complaining about Engdahl's comments, and claiming he doesn't know enough about American literature. No, my fellow Americans, it's you who don't know enough about American literature. That's the problem. Good books go unnoticed while bad books get awards here. No wonder the Swedes think we're nuts.

6 comments:

  1. "ask wred fright,"
    dear wred fright,
    while we're on the subject of the swedish academy, did you hear that the baa baa is close to firing elisabeth hasselbeck from "the view" for her political beliefs?....i find this interesting in light of the fact that the baa baa has spent much of 2008 cashing in on a memoir in which she boasts of having an affair with a married senator....in wred fright's opinion, is "being a republican" worse than a lifetime of extramarital affairs, divorces, drug use, botox injections, as well as the unwarranted firing of debbie matenopoulos?

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  2. I can't take watching tv anymore due to the commercials. I don't even mind the commercials so much as being caught up in a story, and then the story stops and someone is trying to sell me a car. It's the interruptions I can't stand. So I don't watch The View, and can't help you, dude. At best I turn wrestling or football on in the background sometime while I'm watching dishes, and any tv show i like such as The Office or My Name Is Earl I wait for the DVDs to collect them. But I wouldn't worry about Elizabeth. Even if they kick her off The View, Fox will hook her up with her own show so she can gush about how great Bush and the Iraq War is without Barbara making fun of her.

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  3. That's washing dishes. I don't spend my evenings watching dishes, though that may be better than what's on tv some nights.

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  4. I need to proofread these bloody posts, before I hit "Publish Your Comment". Apologies for the typos, my dear readers.

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  5. the baa baa's a whore/
    so glad we agree/
    you read it here first:/
    blog love omega glee./

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  6. I'm glad we have inspired you to wax poetic! My favorite is definitely Whoopi though.

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