Nobel Prize: the ‘behind story’
Further to my previous post on the Nobel prize for literature, a source gave me some interesting information today. I can’t offer this as anything more than unsubstantiated rumour, but it does come from someone in a position to know something about this business. Anyway, the story goes that the final shortlist for the prize came down to three people, Indonesian author Pramoedya Ananta Toer, outspoken Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk and… Korean writer Hwang Sok-yong (Ko Un, you will note, did not make it that far). However, the committee were unable to come to a decision on who should actually receive the prize, perhaps because of a serious split over Orhan Pamuk. Pamuk was also thought to be a bit young (53) and ‘Pram’ perhaps a bit old (80), Hwang is in the middle there, but perhaps not well enough known internationally? Thus the announcement had to be delayed for a week and Harold Pinter was eventually announced as a sort of neutral choice winner.
Anyway, whatever the case, I’m happy that Pinter won and I hope he finds a good use for the £723,000 prize money. I can think of one or two things already.
Oranckay today links to a rather good profile of Hwang Sok-yong, the man who may have come within a whisker of a Nobel prize.
