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Old 10-08-2015, 02:44 PM   #38
Hamlet53
Nameless Being
 
I was hoping the choice would be Murakami as I really like his books. However, I am always happy to be introduced to an author that I have never read and in this case never even heard of. I checked my local library system just minutes ago and was pleased to find that Voices from Chernobyl in English translation was available.

Quote:
Originally Posted by poohbear_nc View Post
From the Nobel Prize criteria for the Laureate in Literature:

"...the person who, in the literary field, had produced "the most outstanding work in an ideal direction". The Laureate should be determined by "the Academy in Stockholm", which was specified by the statutes of the Nobel Foundation to mean the Swedish Academy. These statutes defined literature as "not only belles-lettres, but also other writings which, by virtue of their form and style, possess literary value"

It would appear that the Academy has very wide discretion as to their choice, and that journalistic or historic writings are eligible, if they possess literary value.
It has always been very broad. Rudolf Eucken (1908 winner) was a philosopher. Theodor Mommsen(1902 winner) was a historian.
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