It is that time of year when we all think about who is going to win the Nobel Literature Prize. There is a feeling that in the last few years the prize has alternated between a female and a Male. This has been the case for the last dozen years. Now we can look at the place where winners have come from in rec net years if you count Abdulrzak Gurnah as an African writer. For me there is three options of where the winner could come from –
Latin America
Cesar Aira
The writer from Argentina writes short novellas, mostly set around his hometown. However, they encompass a diverse range of styles and topics. There are reviews on the blog of his books
Juan Gabriel Vasquez
He writes a mix of historical and literary fiction, mainly looking at Colombia’s
dark past. I have also reviewed some books from Vasquez
Wildcard
Andres Neumann
I think it is a bit soon for Andres, but I loved Traveller of the Century by him and the other books I have read, he will be a winner one day
Spain
Enrique Vila Matas
A huge fan of Joyce, a clever writer who has written several novels. I have reviewed a number of his books. My personal favourite is Dublinesque an ode to Dublin, and Joyce uses Bloomsday as a framing device.
Javier Cercas
His non-fiction novel, The Anatomy of a Moment, of the attempted coup in Spain in the 80s, is a great read . His other books have history as a hook there are five books on the blog from him.
Manuel Rivas
A writer who should be better known, The carpenter’s pencil by him was a wonderful account of the Spanish Civil War.
Bernardo Axtaga
Another gem of a writer Obabakok, is an excellent insight into a village that has several books by him on the blog
Portugal
Antonio Lobo Antunes
If Angola is Portugals Vietnam, he has written a lot about the war there and the knock-on effect on his homeland and Angola itself. I have reviewed four of his books
So that is for the places
Then there is the tug of war between two writers from Hungary
Laszlo Krasznahorkai and Peter Nadas
Both have written epic books, Satantango and Parallel Stories.
Laszlo is maybe better known in the last few years.
Nadas for me is maybe the deserving winner, his books tackle his country’s past, and his huge memoir I have on my TBR
But I have reviewed books from both writers.
Wildcards
Ersi Sotiropoulos – I had hope to get to my review of her What’s left of the night.
Amitav Ghosh – He is high on one of the betting sites. I had read The Glass Palace 25 years ago, but I had not read anything else. Any thoughts on him
Fernando Arrabal, an actual wild card, is a much older Spanish writer, mostly of plays, but also 14 novels. I picked him as I have one of his novels and a writer that has maybe been lost over the last few years. Winning would be a shock. I’ll point to Ulrich Holbein, a writer who ran in the betting a decade ago or Bothos Strauss, two German writers.
What are your thoughts ?
What are your thoughts on a winners ?
An interesting post — always such fun to speculate! Afraid I’m nothing to contribute here — I’m a relative late comer to reading international literature (but I’m having fun doing it). I’m quite excited, however, to see who walks away with the prize!
Well, thanks to you, I have read most of these and I agree that they are very fine writers.
I’ve read quite a bit of Ghosh, yes the Glass Palace before blogging, the whole Ibis trilogy which I thought was brilliantly innovative, and thought Gun Island was very good indeed too. But I did not like The Hungry Tide (2004) when I tried reading it recently, but that was an early work so I think it doesn’t count.
Of course I still want Gerald Murnane to win, not because he’s Australian but because I think his writing is different to anything else you’ve listed here and truly deserving of the win. But he’s an old white guy and so there’s not much chance of him getting it.
I think Alexis wright may be the next Aussie winner hard say we could have another Bob Dylan year be interesting see if is a man and they are now doing a male then female thing
Ghosh is a good shout. His wife Deborah Baker’s biographies are fantastic too – Ginzberg and the Beats in India. I loved Dublinesca, read it in Spanish and English and would like to read the French version too. Will be interesting to watch what comes out of Spain in its constituent parts as the right-wing increasingly reasserts itself there.
Some interesting options, Stu – I confess I have no idea who will win!
You have such an impressive overview of world literature, thank you! My favourite here would be Juan Gabriel Vasquez, whose work I know and love.
I’ve no idea who might win but I see The Guardian puts Krasznahorkai as one of the favourites. Margaret Attwood’s name has also been mentioned
Good call in mentioning Laszlo Krasznahorkai! The Nobel winner always seems to catch me by surprise, so I’m impressed that you put together this list of candidates and included the ultimate winner.