Wednesday, October 31, 2007
« Street Lit Takes a Hit: Urban Lit: Tough... | Main | Microsoft beat out Google for Facebook »
2007 Nobel Laureates Announced

Meet the New Nobel Laureates!

Eleven people and an international organization join the distinguished ranks of Nobel Laureates now numbering 797. The scope of the awarded work ranged from the sub-atomic observations made by the 2007 Physics Laureates to the global risks that the 2007 Peace Laureates are monitoring and publicizing.

Find out more about the 2007 Nobel Laureates before they come to Oslo and Stockholm in December to receive the Nobel Prize


------------
Ted Gioia: The Nobel Prize in Literature from an Alternative Universe
http://www.greatbooksguide.com/nobel2.html
[Linked by Arts & Letters Daily.]

THE ALT-REALITY NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE

"I had a hunch a woman writer living in Britain would win the Nobel Prize in Literature this year.  But I still wasn't prepared for the thrill I experienced when I learned that J.K. Rowling had won the coveted prize. After all, who has done more for the cause of reading in recent decades? The last time a British woman had received this honor was back in 1966 when Dame Agatha Christie shared the award with Jorge Luis Borges.  I expect Rowling's acceptance speech will rank among the most memorable. (Although it's hard to imagine anything topping that moment in 1997, when Dr. Hunter S. Thompson mounted the podium in Stockholm to share his surprising sentiments with the audience.) ..."

No, this is not the real Nobel Prize in Literature, but the way the award might exist in an alternative universe -- a world in which such honors are exempt from pettiness, politics and tokenism.  Imagine a Nobel Prize in which the contributions of Proust, Kafka, Nabokov and Joyce are not forgotten. Imagine a Nobel Prize in Literature in which genre writers have a chance.  Imagine a Nobel Prize in Literature that doesn't bend over backward to exclude native born U.S. writers (only three honored during the last 52 years!).  Ah, don't just imagine . . . read about it here.

For my part, I'm just happy the committee from the alternative universe honored Philip K. Dick three years before his passing.

ACTUAL WINNER (No awards for 1914, 1918, 1935, 1940-43)


2001-2007
* V. S. Naipaul
John le Carré
Mario Vargas Llosa
John Updike
Milan Kundera
+Philip Roth
J.K. Rowling


K12 Newsletters Mailing List | Literacy | NetHappenings Mailing List | Science
Wednesday, October 31, 2007 3:36:13 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Disclaimer  |  Comments [0]  |  Related posts:
Patricia Bruder Director of Research and Grants EIRC
First Women Computers
Multi Processor Computing 1924
OSHA Uncensored
Make Your Power Company Carbon-Free
Palin Republican nominee for VP
Comments are closed.