Next Thursday, 10 October, at 13:00 CET the Swedish Academy will announce the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature 2018 and 2019. In the years as blogger on le Monde.fr I tried to make a forecast for the annual Nobel Prize in Literature[1], the last in 2017 – under the titel “Paysages forecast for Nobel Prize in Literature 2017”. Since them a long time has passed, – the paysagesblog on le Monde.fr disappeared, because in April 2019 le Monde decided to stop his subscribers blogs, blogs which were called “les blogs abonnées du Monde.fr” in French[2]. In Juin 2019 “paysages” was relaunched with the post “Nouveau départ pour le blog paysages” on wordpress.com. So I relaunch here my “Nobel Prize Forecast in Literature” on paysage, in continuation of what I wrote on paysages when it was hosted and edited on “les Blogs le Monde.fr”.
Concerning the Nobel Prize in Literature 2018/19 it’s very difficult to make a plausible forecast, perhaps we will see the name of Anne Carson or Maryse Condé appear on the scene, as M.A. Orthofer wrote it on the 30 of September 2019 in the Literary saloon. Perhaps one of the prizes could be awarded to Milan Kundera as Bertrand Fitoussi wrote recently in the Express.
But frankly spoken I have no clear idea, – my personal favorite is the Portuguese novelist António Lobo Antunes. Just reading “Até Que as Pedras Se Tornem Mais Leves Que a Água” in the French translation «Jusqu’à ce que les pierres deviennent plus douces que l’eau » of Dominique Nédellec published by Christian Bourgois Éditeur in Paris, I think that Antunes would largely merit to get a Nobel prize in Literature. The book was also recently translated into English by Jeffe Love under the titel “Until Stones Become Lighter Than Water[3]” in the serie “The Margellos World Republic of Letters” published by Yale University Press.
So my list of favorite’s begins with António Lobo Antunes, even if he does not appear on any odd list. Antunes could be followed by Maryse Condé, Claudio Magris, and the following writers I also listed in 2017 – Adonis, Ismail Kadare, Margaret Atwood, Art Spiegelman, Marjane Satrapi, or Don DeLillo. Next Thursday at 13.00 we will know more!
Christophe Neff, 08.10.2019
P.S. (10.10.2019 13:25): Finally Olga Tokarczuk was awarded with the Nobel Prize in Literature 2018 and Peter Handke with the Nobel Price in Literature 2019.
[1] See also, Le Nobel à Herta Müller ? Der Literaturnobelpreis für Herta Müller ? ,Wer wird den Literaturnobelpreis 2010 verliehen bekommen?, Blognotice 5.10.2011 – neiges automnales & prochain lauréat du Prix Nobel de littérature , Paysages forecast for Nobel Prize in Literature 2012, Paysages forecast for Nobel Prize in Literature 2013, Paysages forecast for Nobel Prize in Literature 2014, Paysages forecast for Nobel Prize in Literature 2015, Paysages forecast for Nobel Prize in Literature 2016, Paysages forecast for Nobel Prize in Literature 2017.
[2] See also: «La fin annoncée des blogs abonnées du Monde.fr, la fin du blog paysages sur les blogs leMonde.fr » and « La fin du blog paysages sur les blogs LeMonde.fr – Das Ende des Blog « paysages » auf den Blogs von Le Monde.fr ».
[3] Book description of “Until Stones Become Lighter Than Water” on the Yale University Press Site.
paysages 