Who deserves the next Nobel for Literature in English-speaking countries?

[kuro_muckraker]

I am always wondering why Margaret Atwood and Kurt Vonnegut have missed this wreath of laureal for so many times.

Atwood, the author of "The Blind Assassin" which won the 2000 Booker, should have snatched this title maybe ten years ago. Her dazzling talents for novel and poetry have been widely acknowledged. She is such a great innovator in the fiction world that the reader's mind are refreshed by labyrinth-like novel structure and provocative narrative skill.

Vonnegut has always been accoladed as America's Orwell. His carnivalized sense of space-time and stinging black humor, which mostly targets America and the Americans, have become the real master of American, and World, literature.

[bjortan]

Why limit it to English-speaking countries? After all, it's an international award...

But I agree that Vonnegut would be a deserving winner - especially as he's officially retired. ;-) Haven't read Atwood, but I have the feeling maybe i ought to...

I wouldn't mind seeing Rushdie or Pynchon getting it, but naturally that's out of the question. DeLillo, Oates or Eco would be fine choices too.

Of course, the Nobel history is full of writers who should have gotten it and never did (if "War And Peace" doesn't deserve a Nobel prize, what does?) and quite a few who got it and promptly disappeared. The Academy is far from perfect. This year's winner does seem intriguing though, not as boring as the last few... and personally, I like the idea of the award going to someone who's not as well-known as opposed to just giving it to the writer that most people have read. Quality over quantity.

[Taliesin]

Of course, the Nobel history is full of writers who should have gotten it and never did (if "War And Peace" doesn't deserve a Nobel prize, what does?) and quite a few who got it and promptly disappeared. The Academy is far from perfect. This year's winner does seem intriguing though, not as boring as the last few... and personally, I like the idea of the award going to someone who's not as well-known as opposed to just giving it to the writer that most people have read. Quality over quantity
Pity that Nobel prize cannot be given posthumely. :(
(I am thinking about an author who died a few years ago, but didn't get a Nobel prize although in my opinion she should have got it.)

[den]

If you look at some of the past winners of this Award (http://nobelprize.org/nobel/), I have to say they've done a fine job in `honouring' great writers of literature from a variety of countries.

I would love to see Margaret Atwood win it! I just finished read her book,
Alias Grace (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0385490445/102-4474159-0102526?v=glance)

However there is a lengthy, tiered process in place in order to nominate someone. Of course I'm sure some of it is political too, they look at who is nominating someone, as well as who the nominee is.

I think this year's winner for literature is a good choice, Elfriede Jelinek. There is an interesting article about her here ... (http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=971358637177&c=Article&cid=1097145044172) and also in the International Herald Tribune (http://www.iht.com/articles/542848.html)

[bjortan]

Actually, I'm not sure how much attention is paid to who is being nominated at all. Basically there are thousands of people who can nominate someone, and the Academy (who have very strong personal tastes in literature) never reveal how they work or which nominations are taken seriously... I'm pretty sure most nominees are written off quite quickly. (For instance, I don't think they ever seriously consider giving it to Bob Dylan or Stephen King, both of whom have been nominated...)

[BSturdy]

O.K. Margaret Atwood sounds like a good one for my 'must read more female authors' campaign

Kurt Vonnegut has been mentioned in conversation a couple of times recently, in glowing terms. I haven't read any yet.

[Deep Space Bass]

I would love to see Vonnegut win it, but I think Arthur C. Clarke deserves one too. He was actually nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, but I think he more than deserves one for Literature.