Swiss postmodernist novelist Christian Kracht and Australians Gerald Mornane and Alexis Wright are among the favorites at the Nobel Prize for Literature, experts for AFP said before the long -awaited announcement of the Swedish Academy on Thursday.
Writer Mircea Cărtărescu Photo: Mediafax
The academy made history last year choosing South Korean Han Kang, who became the first Asian woman to win the prize.
This year, however, several experts predicted that the laureate will probably be a man, and especially a European one.
“It is likely that the prize is likely to be awarded to a European man, and the Academy could do this with the clean conscience, considering that last year he chose a non-European woman.”told AFP Lina Kalmteg, a cultural critic at Sveriges Radio.
Kracht, Laszlo Krasznahorkai and Peter Nadas from Hungary and Mircea Cărtărescu in Romania are among those whose names circulate, writes News.
Cărtărescu’s constant presence on the unofficial lists of the favorites is supported by the recent translations of his work in international circulation languages and the appreciation of literary critics in Europe and America.
Kracht, a 58 -year -old Germanophone postmodernist author who writes about pop and consuming culture, is one of the favorites of literary circles, told AFP Bjorn Wiman, cultural editor at the Swedish reference newspaper Dagens Nyheter.
At this year’s Göteborg Book Fair, which is held annually a few weeks before the Nobel Prize, “Many members of the Swedish Academy were present first and foremost during his event“Said Wiman. “And this is usually a safe sign,” a he said, adding that the same thing happened when the Austrian dramaturga ELFRIEDE Jelinek won the prize in 2004.
Since its first award in 1901, the Nobel Prize for Literature has been dominated by western male writers.
Among the 121 laureates are only 18 women, and very few of the winners have works written in Asian or Middle East. No African language is represented.
The 2018 #metoo scandal weakened the Academy, and more than half of its members were replaced.
The institution promised to extend the elections for the prize, both geographically and linguistically, and since then, there has been a greater balance among the sexes among the laureates.
Since 2018, every second laureate has been a woman.
“Authors like Han Kang would have been inconceivable five or six years ago.”said Wiman, mentioning that the Academy tended to honor older men, and she was only 53 when she won.
But, Wiman said, he believes that this year the prize will probably be given to a man “From the Anglo-Saxon world, German or Francophone.”
Kalmteg said that the list of previous laureates shows a kind of print: “It is something like” OK, this year was a European, now we can look a little further. And now we return to Europe. Last year it was a woman, to choose a man this year. “
However, in the absence of a public list with the selected candidates and the deliberations of the premiere committee, which remain secret for 50 years, it is always difficult to foresee in which direction the Swedish Academy, consisting of 18 members, is heading.
Other authors mentioned regularly during the pre -given Nobel Prize award is Anne Carson from Canada, Raul Zurita from Chile, Amitav Ghosh from India and Cesar Air from Argentina.
The last South American to win the Nobel Prize was the Peruvian Mario Vargas Llosa in 2010, and the region could be late, Kalmteg told AFP.
She also mentioned Mexican writer Cristina Rivera Garza as a possible candidate.
The Academy tends to bring to the light of the reflectors relatively unknown to the general public, regardless of their race or sex.
Among the possible winners mentioned frequently this year are Australian Gerald Mornane and his aboriginal colleague Alexis Wright.
Born in 1939 in Melbourne, Morna describes his work as a “literary fiction” which includes “the content of my mind”.
In his first book, “Tamarisk Row” (1974), he wrote about his father’s gambling addiction, his mother’s religion and the cruelty of his school colleagues.
His novel “The Plains” (1982) explores the culture of land owners in Australia, described by The New Yorker as a “bizarre masterpiece” that seems rather a dream than a book.
“The question is whether it will answer the phone (when the Academy will call), I do not know if it has at least one,” joked Josefin de Gregorio, a literary critic at the other important daily in Sweden, SVD.
“He has never left Australia. She lives in the country, she is not very accessible,” she said about her favorite author.
“I hope to win, I want more people to discover his wonderful work,” said Gregorio, adding that he would be happy and if the American writer of George Saunders had chosen.
The 2025 winner, who will leave home with a check worth $ 1.2 million, will be announced on Thursday at 2:00 pm.
