Canadian Alice Munro takes out the 2013 Nobel Prize in Literature

[GOLLUM]

The Nobel Prize in Literature in spite of its problematic nature and the controversies surrounding some of its Prize winners (and non-winners) in past years still remains a significant award for any author.

I'm glad that Canadian short story writer Alice Munro has won it this year. She is the first Canadian to ever receive the Prize and is surely one of the greatest exponents of the short form in the second half of the 20th century and the first part of this century.

At age 82 she has indicated she was going to retire her pen this year. It will be interesting to see what her reaction to wining the Prize is and whether or not it spurs her on to write some further stories.

I have a couple of her collections. If they decide to publish a 'best of' or collected fiction I'll probably want to buy it.

On a personal note I'm a little disappointed to see perennial favourite Murakami miss out once again as well as Kenyan author Ngugi Wa Thiong'o but I'm sure at least one of these gentleman will receive the gong before too long.

 

[Randy M.]

I haven't read anything by Munro, but I do find it encouraging to hear a writer whose primary form is the short story has won. That hasn't happened in a long time, I think.


Randy M.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Yes, it's definitely heartening to see an author of short stories win this Prize. I don't think I've read anything of hers, either, but the name is oddly familiar, so it's possible.

 

[Bick]

Good on her. I tend to feel the Nobel oscillates between being awarded to someone deserving, and someone ludicrous. I would try a good collection of her work though, as I understand she belongs in the former camp. It's a shame Murakami didn't win, as I'm a big fan, but he's probably a bit too popular to ever win it to be honest. Who was the last winner to actually sell very well ? Steinbeck? (I realise that's a rather facetious suggestion).

 

[GOLLUM]

Good on her. I tend to feel the Nobel oscillates between being awarded to someone deserving, and someone ludicrous..

Care to name names?...

Munro's approach is one of exploring human complexity within a localised or regional context. She is most often associated with the sub genre Southern Gothic.

One short story writer who was every bit as significant in the early half of the 20th Century as Munro was to the latter half was one of your compatriots Katherine Mansfield. She is one author (among several others) who was deserving of this Prize.

Actually I should note that Saul Bellow was the first Canadian born writer to win the Prize but was a naturalised American at the time of receiving the award having spent most of his life in the U.S. Munro is the first Canadian born and bred author to win.

As far as previous winners who write in the short form you only need to look to Mo Yan, last year's winner for that. There are more than a dozen short story writers who have won the prize but they have also been predominantly novelists. Munro is certainly the first purely short story writer to have ever been awarded the Prize.

 

[Nerds_feather]

Murakami might have lost out because of 1Q84, which was dazzling at times, but at base a messy and confused novel.

 

[GOLLUM]

Murakami might have lost out because of 1Q84, which was dazzling at times, but at base a messy and confused novel.

Interesting. Some commentators were saying it was because of IQ84 that the scales may have been tipped well and truly in his favour.

I have all of Murakami's translated work but I'm still to sit down and read IQ84. Damn but I've been slack in my reading for this entire year...

 

[Nerds_feather]

Interesting. Some commentators were saying it was because of IQ84 that the scales may have been tipped well and truly in his favour.

I have all of Murakami's translated work but I'm still to sit down and read IQ84. Damn but I've been slack in my reading for this entire year...

Here's my review--flashes of brilliance but ultimately frustrating. I know you're a big Roberto Bolano fan (as am I), and so you'll know what I mean by the (negative) comparisons to 2666.