American Nobel?

[Mark Kohut]

Perhaps this was said 'against the day' that they announce an American writer who transcends parochialism (in their judgment). A writer like Thomas Pynchon.

(But, seriously, I read more about the Committee last year--and I already knew stuff--and it seems they are very paranoid (!) about awarding it to someone who does not show up to get the Prize. Ever since Sartre did that in the 60s.

So, now they send out 'feelers' wanting a response to anyone in serious consideration. (This is one way names on the shortlist are "known").

I say TRP would NEVER go to Stockholm. He has a lifetime of consistency re this. (By the way, when I reread Weber's "Politics as a Vocation" I had this real or projected epiphany: Essay says charisma (and USING IT) is what any leader [politician/religious leader, etc.] must have. And, in using it, one's authentic self inevitably suffers. 

I think this is a deep reason TRP believes in privacy---a value of authenticity; a human value sounded most in AtD and mostly lost in the modern world. 


--- On Tue, 9/30/08, bandwraith at aol.com <bandwraith at aol.com> wrote:

> From: bandwraith at aol.com <bandwraith at aol.com>
> Subject: American Nobel?
> To: pynchon-l at waste.org
> Date: Tuesday, September 30, 2008, 4:23 PM
> Forget about it-
> 
> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/30/nobel-literature-chief-ba_n_130619.html
> 
> Where's the Kieselgur Kid when we need him?