Nobel Prize 2011

The Nobel Prize in Literature was announced yesterday, which means it's time for my annual rant about "The subjectivity and poor qualifications of the ... committee." Can anybody tell me what a computational linguist actually does (when not deciding on the Nobel Prize recipient, of course)? Anyway, this year's recipient is Swedish poet Tomas Transtromer. I'm sure the man is a superlative poet (although be honest now: How many of you had read him before the award was announced?), but I'm still upset that the committee passed over Cormac McCarthy last year.

I will take a rare step down from my anti-Literature committee soapbox to admit that the seeming randomness of the selections can be attributed (rightly or wrongly) to a certain literary ethnocentrism in America. My wholly anecdotal perception is that apart from the classics, few of us read outside our own national borders. When was the last time you picked up a book of poems or short stories by an author whose hometown you couldn't even pronounce, just for the fun of expanding your horizons? Without borderless bookshelves, we will naturally be taken by surprise by any foreign recipient.

Having said that, though, many of the committee's recent selections have been inexplicable. (Actually, I think it is perfectly explained by the wholly inadequate qualifications of the committee members.) There are so many talented authors and poets out there ... what were they thinking when they selected Elfriede Jelinek (2004)? I'm not the only person who noticed the unsuitability of that choice, either; Knut Ahnlund resigned from the committee in protest over Jelinek's selection (it should be noted that Ahnlund is a literary historian specializing in nineteenth century Danish literature ... in what way does that qualify him to bestow the Nobel Prize?).

In happier news, I'm about a third of the way through Ernest Hemingway's Islands in the Stream, and I'm really enjoying it so far. It seems like he has essentially relocated A Moveable Feast (which is my favorite book of his) to warmer climes, but that doesn't diminish my enjoyment of the story.