Apologies and retry (Was: Parochial Plea)

[Tore Rye Andersen]

My apologies for a couple of html-encrusted posts: Hotmail added a new
autosave feature which messes with plain text settings. The feature
can't be disabled, of course. Anyway, I'll try reposting a previous 
message:
 
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Page:

> Might this be the reason someone (forget the name) on the Nobel committee
> said that no American writer would receive the Prize for Literature because
> they were too provincial=2C too focused on America?
 
No, Horace Engdahl said that because he is a pompous buffoon who dislikes
America and Americans. And his statement was pretty stupid, since some of
the strongest American contenders for the Nobel (Pynchon and Roth) are
anything but insular: Pynchon because the world is his scene, and Roth
because he has done much to introduce foreign novels to an American
audience. Plus which, as Rich pointed out, much European fiction is just
as provincial and insular as American fiction. And this insularity
is often even more visible in European novels: When an American writes
about America, he's still working on a large tapestry: When a Swede writes
about Sweden or a Dane about Denmark, matters quickly turn very claustrophobic 
indeed.

Fortunately, Horace Engdahl stepped down as the permanent secretary of
the Swedish Academy in June. The man is really quite insufferable.   		 	   		  
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