Sweden’s Leftists Angered by Mario Vargas Llosa’s Nobel Prize in Literature
By Carl Close • Wednesday October 13, 2010 8:46 AM PDT • 3 Comments
Left-wing critics in Sweden are incensed that the Swedish Academy has awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in Literature to an ex-socialist. Jonah Norberg, a classical liberal writer from Sweden, explains in the online magazine spiked. Here’s an excerpt:
People who never voiced any concerns about the politics of other Nobel Prize winners – like Wisława Szymborska, who wrote poetic celebrations of Lenin and Stalin; Günter Grass, who praised Cuba’s dictatorship; Harold Pinter, who supported Slobodan Milošević; José Saramago, who purged anti-Stalinists from the revolutionary newspaper he edited – thought that the Swedish Academy had finally crossed a line. Mario Vargas Llosa’s politics apparently should have disqualified him from any prize considerations. He is after all a classical liberal in the tradition of John Locke and Adam Smith.
Norberg’s article is absorbing, incisive, and worth reading in its entirety.
I’ve been following this Nobel/Mario Vargas Llosa story for a few days. I rarely read fiction and I’m not familiar with any of his work, what titles would you recommend as among his best?
Speedmaster | Oct 13, 2010 | Reply
Speedmaster,
I had the same question. In response, one of my colleagues, who is very familiar with the author’s body of work, said “The Feast of the Goat” might be a good place to start. Another, who is very well read but probably less acquainted with the author’s work, suggested I begin with “Conversation in the Cathedral.” (Addendum: A third colleague says “The War at the End of the World” is one of his favorite novels of all time.)
Carl Close | Oct 13, 2010 | Reply
Thanks, VERY much, Mr. Close! ;-)
Speedmaster | Oct 14, 2010 | Reply