Next Thursday, 5 October, at 13:00 CET the Swedish Academy will announce the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature 2017. And as every year since I edit paysages on le Monde.fr I am trying to forecast the winner (see (see here: 1, 2, 3, 4 , 5, 6, 7, 8). Indeed following the “Dylan-Disaster” as Michael A. Orthofer wrote it in one of his last notices in the Literary saloon, this seems to be a very difficult task. Or following Pierre Assouline in his last billet in the Républic de livres, it could be “Haruki Murakami, Claudio Magris, Charles Aznavour, Antonio Munoz Molina, Margaret Atwood, Paul Mc Cartney, Salman Rushdie, Françis Cabrel” and to complete this list, why not Claude Moine alias Eddy Mitchell the French song-writer. But after all entering in the “Bibliothèque de la Pléiade” as a living author, as it is currently the case for Philip Roth, is perhaps a more notable event than being a laureate of the nobel in literature[1]. My personal favorite for this year laureate of the Nobel Price in Literature is Claudio Magris, – and I recently discovered traces of his works when reading Matthias Enards “la Boussole[2]”. Perhaps in some years if Matthias Enard continues to deliver us such fabulous narrations as his did in “la Boussole” perhaps he could also be considered as “nobelisable” to use this old fashioned French word. Following Claudio Magris my favorites are Adonis, António Lobo Antunes, Ismail Kadare and perhaps Margaret Atwood or Don DeLillo. Perhaps I should also add Art Spiegelman to this extended list of potential winner of the Nobel in Literature 2017. M.A Orthofer sees Mahmoud Dowlatabadi as “dark horses” “ major but relatively unknown author and worthy winner”. The Ladbrokes odds currently (03.10.2017 14:00) puts Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o (4:1), as a potential winner for the price, followed by Haruki Murakami (5/1) on the second position, and Margaret Atwood (6/1) on the third position.
Christophe Neff, 03.10.2017
P.S. (05.10.2017 13:20): The Nobel Prize in Literature 2017 was awarded to Kazuo Ishiguro.
[1] Pierre Assouline has dedicated his last notice in the République des livres to the entrance or Philip Roth in “Bibliothèque de la Pléiade” under the title “Les illusions de grandeur de Philip Roth”.
[2] “Compass”, translated by Charlotte Mandell, New Directions Publishing, 2017;
paysages 