Your Questions about the Nobel Prize in Literature

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Question: Hello, I am delighted that Doris Lessing has received this year's Prize. Does gender, nationality and political leanings of the proposed candidates influence the decision of the Nobel Committee in any way? Also, are all members thoroughly familiar with the candidates' works before making their decision? Thank you.
Regards, Dharini Parthasarathy

Answer: No, Alfred Nobel's will clearly indicates that the Nobel Prize is an award to an individual writer, not to a nation or a political direction or to any other category of people. And yes, all members of the Swedish Academy are expected to read the collected works of the five candidates on the short list presented by the Nobel Committee in May each year.

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Question: How is it that you gather the persons you will consider for the Prizes. How do you find them? By what criteria do you whittle down the list and finally select one person?

Answer: The writers that we take into account are those nominated by people who are, according to the statutes of the Nobel Foundation, authorized to propose candidates, such as members of the Swedish Academy, members of other comparable academies, professors of literature and language, former Nobel Laureates in literature, presidents of writers' organisations and PEN clubs. The criteria for reducing the original list of about two hundred candidates to the short list of five all have to do with literary quality, nothing else.

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Question: I want to know whether the Committee paid any attention to the Chinese writers and if they ever did, how they know about Chinese literature without any translation.

Answer: We do study Chinese candidates! Most of the members read them in the translated form (Swedish, English, French, German etc.), but one of our members, Mr Malmqvist, being an eminent sinologue, reads them in the original.

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Question: When would Southeast Asian literature be recognized by the decree of the Nobel Prize and be part of world literature?

Answer: We don't consider literatures, we consider individuals. So the question is really irrelevant, I'm afraid.

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Question: Why can't everyday people nominate people for the literature and other Nobel prizes? Why is it just academy members, scientists ...? Was there a time when any type of person could submit a nomination form and what was the process?

Answer: We have to comply with Alfred Nobel's will on this point. There has never been an unlimited right of nomination.

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Question: Why don't children authors win the Nobel Prize in Literature?

Answer: They might, some day. There is no rule against it.

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Question: Don't you think that Nobel Prizes; particularly in Peace and Literature has been since its beginning politically motivated serving a particular political trend which usually serves the Western civilisation, and has nothing to do with innovation and geniosity?

Answer: No, I don't agree. Being part of the Nobel Committee of the Swedish Academy, I can positively state that the decisions of the Academy have no political intention or motivation.

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Question: Dear Professor Engdahl:
What are some common characteristics that you've seen in the works of all recent Nobel Laureates in Literature that have made their works "a very great benefit to humanity"?

Answer: I doubt that you will find many common characteristics. The strength of the list of literary Nobel Laureates lies in its remarkable variety.

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Question: What does it mean that many more influential or better known or 'better-in-all-categories' authors have not received this Prize and other have? Is there playing a role some policy of the Prize Awarding Committee? And what is the reason to not giving this honour to younger writers? I think that all people who are interested can see that the Committee takes account of things that doesn't have to do anything with literature (age, sex, country, political view etc.) - why? May it be I am wrong ...

Answer: I think you are wrong. There are often good explanations why writers who later turned out to rank among the most important of the modern age didn't get the Prize. The most usual reason is that they died too soon, that their work wasn't sufficiently known when they disappeared.

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Question: Dear Mr. Professor Horace Engdahl first I want to thank for the opportunity asking questions. I am from Azerbaijan and I am a master student of Shanghai University in China. What is the best way of popularize the literature of the countries like Azerbaijan that almost forgotten by Europe although some writers or poems of Azerbaijani literature are worth being nominated to Nobel Prize? Thank you for you time. Regards, Agshin Aliyev

Answer: Knowing too little of the cultural conditions of Azerbaijan, I'm afraid I can't answer your question.

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Fråga: Hej Horace!
I mars läste jag en artikel där du intervjuades och påstod att "Nobelpriset är inget bästsäljarpris" och det tyckte jag att det speglade väldigt bra det som Akademien vill arbeta för. Jag har två frågor: - en om Lessing: vad är det mest modernist i hennes verk, tycker du? - en om Svenska Akademien: hur länge tar det att fatta beslutet om vem som ska ta priset? Tack!
Margherita, Italien.

Svar: Hon är mest modernist i den roman som på engelska heter The Golden Notebook (på svenska Den femte sanningen).
Prisbesluten tar egentligen flera år, om man skall räkna den tid då vi fördjupar oss i de viktigaste kandidaterna. De författare som hamnar på korta listan studeras ingående åtminstone två år i följd innan det är möjligt att utse dem till pristagare. Men ofta står de kvar ännu längre eller försvinner från listan för att återvända längre fram. Alltså är Akademiens val av pristagare förberedda under mycket lång tid. Själva diskussionen, när vi skrider till beslut på hösten, tar däremot bara tre-fyra veckor.

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Fråga: Doris Lessing säger att hon redan för 35 år sedan via en "budbärare" fick reda på att hon aldrig skulle få Nobelpriset eftersom hon betraktades som okonventionell. Vem är denne mystiske budbärare?

Svar: Det måste ha varit någon som bedrägligt utgav sig för att representera Akademien, eftersom det inte förekommer att vi sänder budskap till kandidater.

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Interview with Professor Horace Engdahl after the announcement of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature

Articles about the Nobel Prize in Literature

Find out more about nomination and selection of the Nobel Prize Laureates in Literature