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Articles - Literature
History of the Nobel Prize in Literature
The Nobel Prize in Literature
By Kjell Espmark
The history of the Literature Prize appears as a series of attempts to interpret an imprecisely worded will.
Nominations and Reports 1901-1950
By Bo Svensén
Like those who nominated them, the candidates proposed for the Literature Prize varied extensively.
How I Helped Solzhenitsyn Smuggle His Nobel Lecture
By Stig Fredrikson
This story has all the ingredients of a spy thriller. But in contrast to novels, everything is true!
Topping Shakespeare?
By Sture Allén
It has been asked how it may be determined whether one kind of literature is more ideal than another.
Nobel Literature Laureates and Their Work
A Case of Identity: Ernest Hemingway
By Anders Hallengren
Hemingway's style is a compulsive suppression of unbearable and inexpressible feelings in the chaotic world of his time.
A Domestication of Death: The Poetic Universe of Wislawa Szymborska
By Malgorzata Anna Packalén
"Life, however long, will always be short. Too short for anything to be added."
A Single, Homeless, Circling Satelite
By Jöran Mjöberg
A central theme that runs throughout the works of Derek Walcott, 1992 Literature Laureate, is his search for identity.
Elfriede Jelinek: Provocation as the Breath of Life
By Sture Packalén
No Austrian author has excited as much hatred as Elfriede Jelinek, but nor has any other received such a euphoric reception.
German Literature Laureates in Early 20th Century
By Sture Packalén
The work of Mommsen, Eucken and Heyse depicted reality in an explicable, idealised light.
Grazia Deledda: Voice of Sardinia
By Anders Hallengren
Deledda's aim in her art was to picture the life, sentiments, and thoughts of her culture on a broader scale and to write the stories of her island.
Harry Martinson: Catching the Dewdrop
By Ulf Larsson
Martinson opened perspectives into the microcosm and outward to the dizzying reaches of space.
Imre Kertesz: A Medium of Auschwitz
By Madeleine Gustafsson
Kertész' fundamental theme is about the totalitarian experience.
Joseph Brodsky : Virgilian Hero Doomed Never to Return
By Bengt Jangfeldt
Brodsky's belief in the power of the word must be seen against his view of time and space.
Kenzaburo Oe: Laughing Prophet and Soulful Healer
By Michiko Niikuni Wilson
Kenzaburo Oe has delivered modern Japanese literature out of its long isolation and into the heart of world literature.
Nadine Gordimer and the South African Experience
By Per Wästberg
Above her collected experience, the light sweeps, illuminating parts that would otherwise have lain in darkness.
Naguib Mahfouz - The Son of Two Civilizations
By Anders Hallengren
In Manfouz's novels there is a staunch belief in moral right and a constant seeking for Egyptian identity behind the weft of illusion and reality.
Patrick White - Existential Explorer
By Karin Hansson
Patrick White's writing is an entity that consistently explores and communicates his perception of reality.
Tagore and His India
By Amartya Sen
It is in the sovereignty of reasoning that we can find Rabindranath Tagore's lasting voice.
This Is Not a Spade: The Poetry of Seamus Heaney
By Ola Larsmo
Seamus Heaney's poetry bridges the gap between the limits of languages and the margins of the actual world in which we live.
Nobel Prize Authors on Time
By Anders Cullhed
What is time? Is it a circle, a line, or an irreversible process with a unique
beginning and end?
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