Sweden’s Nobel Committee slams “insular” American writers

In an outspoken declaration from Horace Engdahl, the head of the Swedish Nobel Committee, American authors are culturally “ignorant” and lack the clout of their potential contribution to the world’s literary canon.

Now the competition for this year’s Nobel Prize for Literature has come to a close, it always seemed unlikely an American writer would get the vote from Stockholm. Speaking to the Associated Press, Engdahl stated “of course there is powerful literature in all big cultures, but you can’t get away from the fact that Europe still is the centre of the literary world … not the United States.”

Engdahl added that the “US is too isolated, too insular. They don’t translate enough and don’t really participate in the big dialogue of literature. That ignorance is restraining.” These are strong comments coming from the Nobel Committee’s permanent secretary, and the US was quick to rise to its own defence.

It could all just be a case of misinterpretation, Engdahl suggested to The Local newspaper, after the article containing his quotes was printed. “The Nobel Prize is not an international competition but a reward for individual authors. It is important to remember this when feelings of national pride are running high,” he said, hoping to douse the fury of America’s literary contingency. Works of writing are, after all, subjective and open to interpretation.

As many expected, the prize did not eventually go to an American: French novelist JMG Le Clézio was named  the winner of the 2008 Nobel Prize for Literature.