(no subject)

[proximoception]

Murakami's the heavy favorite (over Munro) to win this year's Nobel.

On the strength of 1Q84.

What the fuck?

Seriously - while I'm eternally mad at people who make high claims for There Will Be Blood or Donnie Darko these make perfect sense next to the total madness of even a vaguely positive assessment of that book.

Comments

[grashupfer.livejournal.com]

Sometimes things make you wonder. Truism. I meant to ask you if Bloom always sticks by his statements. Along these same lines. I can see why somebody might not like David Foster Wallace but there's a link from Wallace's Wikipedia entry that has a Bloom interview where he says Stephen King is like Cervantes compared to Wallace. I chuckled but also grew a little concerned.

[karinmollberg.livejournal.com]

So, what´s wrong with Murakami? I´ve read one of his books (I forget the title, it simply didn´t stick to my mind) and was not impressed. From what little I´ve heard about 1Q84 it´s nothing but an Eastern soap-opera, "Kill Bill" made in Japan. But, if someone like Jelinek ("Here come the toilets" as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Reich-Ranicki exclaimed when she was bestowed with Prizzi´s Honour made in Sweden) can go to the golden hall ball in Stadshuset, that´s no reason not to give Murakami the same opportunity. He might meet someone interesting.

Since one single effort is enough to catapult someone into the Nobel Prize position (you can play the Lord of Flies game here http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/ but not here http://www.greatbooksguide.com/altnobel08.html) I´d have proposed someone like Andrzej Szczypiorski based simply on his Beautiful Mrs. Seidenman because I like it but he has gone and died beforehand, though a posthumous prize might be nice (can´t recall if it´s been done).
Generally,
the Swedish Academy has dubious taste not only in literature but also in restaurants. The one in the Old Town of Stockholm they use to meet in regularly is widely overrated http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Den_Gyldene_Freden, they will sell you ikean meatballs for the price (sic) of a ***daube. Therefore, maybe the restaurant should go for a prize in one of these cathegories: http://www.improbable.com/ig/ig-pastwinners.html#ig2005
It used to once upon a time be a nice and unpretentious pub-like bar to have lousy Swedish beer with friends in in my long gone youth but has since deteriorated into becoming a tourist trap. Perhaps it follows that way: Murakami gets the prize to get people to go to Japan. Bad taste = tough luck, like? http://www.svenskaakademien.se/en/news/press_releases/2013