Name: Kenzaburō Ōe
Year Won: 1994
Read: The Changeling
Original Language: Japanese
Reason: "who with poetic force creates an imagined world, where life and myth condense to form a disconcerting picture of the human predicament today"
About: The Changeling follows Kogito Choko as he travels around Japan and Germany, trying to figure out why his friend, Goro, killed himself. It dips back and forth between times and places, often barely differentiating one from the other, as the present and future meld together.
What I liked: Lovely, unpretentious writing, interesting characters, and a really fascinating story structure. I found this to be one of the better books on this list.
What I Disliked: Not much. I found this to be a really interesting story about friendship, loss, and memory.
Should it have won a Nobel: Yes. This has been one of my favorites in a while. It's an actually enjoyable book. It does feel a bit un-literary in a lot of ways for a Nobel prize winner, but to me, that's a major advantage. It feels good because it's good rather than good because it used the right length of run on sentence.
Next Up: "Opened Ground" by Seamus Heaney
Tuesday, May 30, 2023
Monday, May 22, 2023
"Beloved" by Toni Morrison
Name: Toni Morrison
Year Won: 1993
Read: Beloved
Original Language: English
Reason: "who in novels characterized by visionary force and poetic import, gives life to an essential aspect of American reality"
About: Beloved is about a group of escaped slaves who have made it to Ohio from Kentucky. It is now post civil war, but they are haunted by their past lives in slavery, particularly Sethe. Things become even more peculiar when a teenaged girl shows up with a mysterious quality around her and the name "Beloved"...the same name that Sethe gave to her baby daughter who she killed rather than see enslaved again during her escape.
What I liked: Beautiful writing, of course. Also horribly, tragically evocative of the lives the characters spent in slavery as well as the way it continues to torment them. It also does a sublime job of weaving the non-real (Biblical allusions, Beloved being clearly not entirely human) and the mundane.
What I Disliked: At times, it felt like I almost had to stop and parse what was happening, at least if I wanted to figure out the plot. I know, typical literary stuff, but I still find it kind of annoying to go, "okay, so what point is the author trying to make here with all of this poetic language"? It's especially weird as I've read other novels by Morrison that are far more straight forward.
Should it have won a Nobel: Yes. Morrison is taught in classrooms precisely because she's a genius writer. She also brilliantly captured the horrors of slavery, both to the slaves as they live it, but the way it continues to haunt them afterward, beautifully.
Next Up: "The Changeling" by Kenzaburō Ōe
Year Won: 1993
Read: Beloved
Original Language: English
Reason: "who in novels characterized by visionary force and poetic import, gives life to an essential aspect of American reality"
About: Beloved is about a group of escaped slaves who have made it to Ohio from Kentucky. It is now post civil war, but they are haunted by their past lives in slavery, particularly Sethe. Things become even more peculiar when a teenaged girl shows up with a mysterious quality around her and the name "Beloved"...the same name that Sethe gave to her baby daughter who she killed rather than see enslaved again during her escape.
What I liked: Beautiful writing, of course. Also horribly, tragically evocative of the lives the characters spent in slavery as well as the way it continues to torment them. It also does a sublime job of weaving the non-real (Biblical allusions, Beloved being clearly not entirely human) and the mundane.
What I Disliked: At times, it felt like I almost had to stop and parse what was happening, at least if I wanted to figure out the plot. I know, typical literary stuff, but I still find it kind of annoying to go, "okay, so what point is the author trying to make here with all of this poetic language"? It's especially weird as I've read other novels by Morrison that are far more straight forward.
Should it have won a Nobel: Yes. Morrison is taught in classrooms precisely because she's a genius writer. She also brilliantly captured the horrors of slavery, both to the slaves as they live it, but the way it continues to haunt them afterward, beautifully.
Next Up: "The Changeling" by Kenzaburō Ōe
Sunday, May 14, 2023
What the Twilight Says by Derek Walcott
Name: Derek Walcott
Year Won: 1992
Read: What the Twilight Says
Original Language: English
Reason: "for a poetic oeuvre of great luminosity, sustained by a historical vision, the outcome of a multicultural commitment"
About: What the Twilight Says is a book of essays. What are they about? All sorts of topics, although an awful lot regard life in the Carribean and the legacy of colonialism.
In particular, Walcott is known for being the artist who really challenged other artists to "de-colonize" their thought process and create works of art that are less imitative of European art.
What I liked: Beautiful writing, of course. Also many of the essays are quite thought provoking. I particularly love how he entails other artists to think of new modes of expression and not to favor, necessarily, a way of doing things just because that's How It's Been Done. (Or to write stories because those are what have been popular in the past/found approval/been in vogue with the elites.
He also casts some shade on V.S. Naipul which, honestly, gotta applaud.
What I Disliked: Most essays are very academic. Not a surprise, but this is (IMO) more a book to be read for insight and education than pleasure.
Should it have won a Nobel: Yes. Many of the ideas that Walcott originated are still being debated. He is a true luminary.
Next Up: "Beloved" by Toni Morrison
Year Won: 1992
Read: What the Twilight Says
Original Language: English
Reason: "for a poetic oeuvre of great luminosity, sustained by a historical vision, the outcome of a multicultural commitment"
About: What the Twilight Says is a book of essays. What are they about? All sorts of topics, although an awful lot regard life in the Carribean and the legacy of colonialism.
In particular, Walcott is known for being the artist who really challenged other artists to "de-colonize" their thought process and create works of art that are less imitative of European art.
What I liked: Beautiful writing, of course. Also many of the essays are quite thought provoking. I particularly love how he entails other artists to think of new modes of expression and not to favor, necessarily, a way of doing things just because that's How It's Been Done. (Or to write stories because those are what have been popular in the past/found approval/been in vogue with the elites.
He also casts some shade on V.S. Naipul which, honestly, gotta applaud.
What I Disliked: Most essays are very academic. Not a surprise, but this is (IMO) more a book to be read for insight and education than pleasure.
Should it have won a Nobel: Yes. Many of the ideas that Walcott originated are still being debated. He is a true luminary.
Next Up: "Beloved" by Toni Morrison
Thursday, May 4, 2023
My Son's Story by Nadine Gordimer
Name: Nadine Gordimer
Year Won: 1991
Read: My Son's Story
Original Language: English
Reason: "who through her magnificent epic writing has – in the words of Alfred Nobel – been of very great benefit to humanity"
About: My Son's Story follows a South African family, in Aparthid, as they realize that their father is...gasp!...dating a white woman. The story veers between each of the family member's lives, as well as how race affects all of them.
What I liked: Beautiful writing, fantastic character building, and and an interesting backdrop. This novel made me think and it was actually pretty enjoyable to read. (I liked seeing how the characters wrapped their minds both around their father's betrayal as well as how it was, in many ways made worse, but the race of the woman he choose to cheat with.)
What I Disliked: Like most books on this list, the plot wasn't praticularly grabby. Also, I wished, at times, that they'd get out of their heads for a bit and do something. Anything. It was like, "argh, enough internal monologue!!!"
Should it have won a Nobel: Yes. It's well written and on an important, contemporary subject.
With that said, it's hard to imagine it winning now as the author is white and was writing about Blacks. I do wonder whether a similar topic would be better (or worse, or just very different) coming from a Black writer. Or maybe it would be exactly the same...
Next Up: "What the Twilight Says" by Derek Walcott
Year Won: 1991
Read: My Son's Story
Original Language: English
Reason: "who through her magnificent epic writing has – in the words of Alfred Nobel – been of very great benefit to humanity"
About: My Son's Story follows a South African family, in Aparthid, as they realize that their father is...gasp!...dating a white woman. The story veers between each of the family member's lives, as well as how race affects all of them.
What I liked: Beautiful writing, fantastic character building, and and an interesting backdrop. This novel made me think and it was actually pretty enjoyable to read. (I liked seeing how the characters wrapped their minds both around their father's betrayal as well as how it was, in many ways made worse, but the race of the woman he choose to cheat with.)
What I Disliked: Like most books on this list, the plot wasn't praticularly grabby. Also, I wished, at times, that they'd get out of their heads for a bit and do something. Anything. It was like, "argh, enough internal monologue!!!"
Should it have won a Nobel: Yes. It's well written and on an important, contemporary subject.
With that said, it's hard to imagine it winning now as the author is white and was writing about Blacks. I do wonder whether a similar topic would be better (or worse, or just very different) coming from a Black writer. Or maybe it would be exactly the same...
Next Up: "What the Twilight Says" by Derek Walcott
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