I now present to you some choice quotes from Mr. Horace Engdahl, senior member of the awards jury for the Nobel Prize in literature:
Of course there is powerful literature in all big cultures, but you can’t get away from the fact that Europe still is the center of the literary world … not the United States
Well, aren’t we Eurocentric? Hell, even if we cut the bit after the ellipsis, it’s still pretty damn bigoted, condescending and offensive. So, Mr. Engdahl, are you just going to give the finger to the whole third world?
Very many authors who have their roots in other countries work in Europe, because it is only here where you can be left alone and write, without being beaten to death. It is dangerous to be an author in big parts of Asia and Africa.
So, a Chinese author can author great literature if she moves to Paris, but not if she moves to LA, where apparently she’s in danger of being beaten to death. How wonderfully enlightened of you, Mr. Engdahl.
So, from whence comes this horribly corrosive influence that so denigrates U.S. literature and makes it so deserving of scorn? Apparently the writers in the US are “too sensitive to trends in their own mass culture,” so they all just suck.
So how do you say “asshat” in Swedish?
(tx to the Smart Bitches for the link.)
3 Comments
Martin A · October 6, 2008 at 3:41 pm
The Swedish word for “asshat” is “rövhatt” — although the concept as such does not appear in Swedish.
Many Swedes are quite annoyed with Horace’s silly statement, I might add, and would most likely agree that he deserves to wear a “rövhatt”.
What Horace doesn’t mention is that most books sold in Sweden are translations of American and British books, or books originally written in Swedish. Most Swedes don’t read the European writers that Horace has the hots for.
If I may add myself as an example: Of the 65 books I’ve read so far this year, 34 are by American writers; only 5 are by writers of other European background than British. Of those 5, 2 are Swedish, 2 are Spanish, and 1 is Italian. The Italian and Spanish books were, BTW, translated into English, since — surprise! — they haven’t been translated into Swedish (one of the Spanish books), are out of print (the other Spanish book) or have been published only in a horribly mangled and abridged version (the Italian book).
Of the books that I’m planning to buy during the rest of the year, 20 are by Americans and published in the US. 4 are by British and Australian writers but will be published in the US. 3 are by British writers, published in Britain.
The only non-British European books that I’m going to buy are H. P. Lovecraft’s Commonplace Book (translated into Swedish) (hey, an American!) and Nick Perumov’s latest novel (Russian, translated into Swedish).
I guess this makes me one of those barbarians that annoy Horace so much, but if so, I’m damn proud of it! 😀
Yours
Martin the Swede (and yes, I’ve enjoyed your books too, and PROPHETS is high on my “To Buy in 2009” list)
S Andrew Swann · October 7, 2008 at 7:51 pm
Well he just comes across as one of those elitist literati that piss me off so much. Especially since he says “well Europe is so much better and more inclusive cuz we translate more books than the US, so nyahh!” without pointing out the vast majority of those translations are from English commercial fiction from the US and the UK.
Thanks for the translation. “Rövhatt”, cool :p
Genrewonk: thoughts and opinions by author S. Andrew Swann » Blog Archive » 2008 Asshat Countdown #6: No Nobel for you! · December 26, 2008 at 8:37 am
[…] in October, the would of literature was graced by just such an asshat, Mr. Horace Engdahl, a man who […]
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