NOT P(?) Nobel Prize for Literature Canceled for 2018 "Who would really care to accept this award under the current circumstances?"

[Johnny Marr]

In mitigation, I think this implicitly means that in future years it won’t
just be 18 Swedes deciding who wins the Nobel

On Friday, May 4, 2018, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:

> "greater openness toward the outside world"...!!!!!
>
> Moral phrase of the day, heck, the week, hell, the year....
>
> https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/may/04/nobel-prize-
> for-literature-2018-cancelled-after-sexual-assault-scandal
>
>
>
> On Fri, May 4, 2018 at 6:33 AM, Allan Balliett <allan.balliett at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > NYT May 04
> >
> > No 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature, Panel Says Amid Sex Scandal
> >
> > By CHRISTINA ANDERSON and RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑAMAY 4, 2018
> >
> > STOCKHOLM — The Swedish panel that awards the Nobel Prize in Literature
> > said on Friday that it would take the extraordinary step of not naming a
> > laureate this year — not because of a shortage of deserving writers, but
> > because of the infighting and public outrage that have engulfed the group
> > over a sexual abuse scandal.
> >
> > The Swedish Academy said it would postpone the 2018 award until next
> year,
> > when it will name two winners, making this the first year since World War
> > II that the panel has decided not to bestow one of the world’s most
> revered
> > cultural honors. The academy is involved only in the literature award, so
> > other Nobel Prizes are not affected.
> >
> > Though the prizes should be awarded annually, they can be postponed or
> > skipped “when a situation in a prize-awarding institution arises that is
> so
> > serious that a prize decision will not be perceived as credible,”
> > Carl-Henrik Heldin, chairman of the Nobel Foundation, which governs all
> of
> > the prizes, said in a statement posted online Friday morning. “The crisis
> > in the Swedish Academy has adversely affected the Nobel Prize. Their
> > decision underscores the seriousness of the situation and will help
> > safeguard the long-term reputation of the Nobel Prize.”
> >
> > Peter Englund, a member of the academy, wrote in an email: “I think this
> > was a wise decision, considering both the inner turmoil of the Academy
> and
> > the subsequent bloodletting of people and competence, and the general
> > standing of the prize. Who would really care to accept this award under
> the
> > current circumstances?”
> >
> > The announcement that there will be no 2018 prize is the latest in a
> series
> > of blows to the academy that, occurring in the glare of the #MeToo
> > movement, have drawn worldwide attention.
> >
> >
> > In Nobel Scandal, a Man Is Accused of Sexual Misconduct. A Woman Takes
> the
> > Fall. APRIL 12, 2018
> >
> > In November, a Swedish newspaper reported that 18 women said they had
> been
> > sexually assaulted or harassed by Jean-Claude Arnault, who is closely
> tied
> > to the Swedish Academy and is accused of using his stature in the arts
> > world to try to coerce women into sex. Other allegations against him
> > emerged later, including a report that Mr. Arnault had groped Sweden’s
> > crown princess, Victoria.
> >
> > Through his lawyer, he has denied all of the allegations.
> >
> > Mr. Arnault, a photographer, is married to a member of the academy,
> > Katarina Frostenson; is a close friend to other members; and is co-owner,
> > with Ms. Frostenson, of Forum, a cultural center in Stockholm that
> received
> > funding from the academy. Some events were said to have occurred at
> > academy-owned properties in Stockholm and Paris, and at least one woman’s
> > complaints to the academy about Mr. Arnault more than 20 years ago were
> > rebuffed.
> >
> > The crisis escalated when the academy dismissed another member, Sara
> > Danius, as its permanent secretary, the group’s chief official — the
> first
> > woman to hold that post — though she remained part of the panel. She had
> > severed the group’s ties with Mr. Arnault and Forum, and commissioned an
> > investigation of the academy from a law firm.
> >
> > Her demotion prompted mass protests by critics who said that a woman had
> > suffered for the misdeeds of a man, and that Ms. Danius had been punished
> > for trying to introduce openness and accountability to a group that
> > preferred to close ranks.
> >
> > In practical terms, the academy was prepared to stick to its usual
> > schedule, winnowing potential laureates to a shortlist by summer and
> > anointing a prize winner in October, its acting permanent secretary,
> Anders
> > Olsson, told Swedish Radio on Friday. “But confidence in the academy from
> > the world around us has sunk drastically in the past half year,” he said,
> > “and that is the decisive reason that we are postponing the prize.”
> >
> >
> > The decision not to award the literature prize this year “is a
> sensational
> > piece of news, but it was the only possible decision,” Bjorn Wiman,
> culture
> > editor of the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter, told Swedish Radio. “It
> > wasn’t possible under these conditions to appoint a winner. It would have
> > been an insult to anyone who received it.”
> >
> > Some of the academy’s 18 members resigned over Ms. Frostenson’s continued
> > membership, and several more quit over the treatment of Ms. Danius. That
> > left the group with 10 active members — too few, under its rules, to
> elect
> > new members.
> >
> > But academy appointments are for life, and until this week, the
> > organization’s rules did not provide for resignations; it viewed those
> who
> > quit as members who had become inactive, but could not be replaced.
> >
> > On Wednesday, King Carl XVI Gustaf, the academy’s patron, who said he had
> > followed the matter “with great concern,” announced that he had changed
> the
> > academy’s rules to allow members to leave, and to allow the panel to
> > replace any member who had been inactive for two years. It was a rare
> > intervention by the monarch, whose role is mostly ceremonial.
> >
> > Mr. Olsson said: “We are bringing in legal expertise and we are going to
> > get better at what we do. We must vote in new members, and fast.” He
> > promised increased transparency, and “more and better dialogue” with the
> > royal court and the Nobel Foundation.
> >
> > After meeting on Thursday, members of the academy had voiced optimism
> that
> > the prize could be awarded in October, as usual.
> >
> > “I see it as self-evident that we are still capable of awarding the
> prize,”
> > Kristina Lugn, a panel member, told Dagens Nyheter. “We have a short
> > nomination list with five candidates left. If we can’t do this then I
> think
> > everyone should resign.”
> >
> > Such comments raise the possibility that the Nobel Foundation might have
> > pressured the Swedish Academy to change its position.
> >
> > “The Nobel Foundation presumes that the Swedish Academy will now put all
> > its efforts into the task of restoring its credibility as a
> prize-awarding
> > institution,” Mr. Heldin, the foundation chairman said, “and that the
> > academy will report the concrete actions that are undertaken.”
> > --
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> >
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