As soon as the Royal Swedish Academy announced that Norwegian writer Jón Fosse had won the Nobel Prize for Literature for the year 2023, many questions arose in Arab and international cultural circles regarding the implications of this writer winning the prestigious award, and whether there is any suspicion of bias toward Scandinavian literature, which is represented by countries such as Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. ? Was it a surprise considering the names nominated internationally for the award in this session?
An unsurprising choice
The Egyptian critic and academic Dr. Amani Fouad said, “Foussa’s victory does not come as any surprise, as most of his works were shown on European theatres, and therefore there is extensive Western knowledge of his theatrical achievement, in addition to the translation of his works into more than 40 languages.”
Announcing that Fosse has won the Nobel Prize in Literature (Nobel Prize)
Fouad added to Asharq Al-Awsat, saying: “The strange thing is that the world of theater, which is one of the components of his victory, has always been in doubt for him, according to what he previously announced. He wrote his first play in 1992, and he later discovered that theater was his greatest creative achievement, when it was… He presented his first play at the National Theater in Norway in 1994.
Anyone who follows Fossa’s career, according to Fouad, will find that “the Nobel Prize came to him after he was crowned with many prestigious international awards such as the European Prize for Literature, the French National Order of Merit with the rank of Knight, and the Royal Order of St. Olaf,” which is the highest distinction in the world. The Norwegian state, and the King of Norway had previously granted him the honor of living for life in (Groten), a house in the precincts of the Royal Palace in Oslo dedicated to receiving major artists since the nineteenth century.
The award jury said, regarding the reasons for Fosse’s victory, that “Fosse’s plays are innovative, and his prose gives voice to what cannot be said. His literature is devoid of nihilistic contempt for the world, and contains a great deal of warmth and humor.”
The Norwegian writer, born in 1959, who is considered the most important contemporary writer in his country, published more than 30 works. Between theatre, poetry, novels, and children’s literature. Among his most famous books are “The Science of the Seventies,” “The Other Name,” and “I and He is the Other.” Dar Al-Karma in Cairo previously published the novels “Morning and Evening” and “Trilogy,” translated by Sherine Abdel Wahab. And Amal Rawash.
Cover of “Trilogy” (Dar Al Karma, Cairo)
“It’s scary”
Fosse described his victory as “scary,” adding in a statement: “I am overwhelmed with emotions and somewhat afraid, and I see this as an award for literature that aims first and foremost to be literature, without other considerations.”
The Egyptian critic and academic Dr. Reda Attia pointed out that “Fousse’s win has an important significance, which is (fairness to playwrights) in the face of the dominance of the novel, as in the last twenty years only one playwright, the British Harold Pinter, has won the most famous award, amid a majority of novel writers and a few poets.” .
Attia added, telling Asharq Al-Awsat, “This win restores respect to the art of theater, which has witnessed a noticeable decline in the world,” noting that “Fosse is considered the most prominent name in Norwegian theater after the most famous international writer, Henrik Ibsen, and his victory has another important significance.” “It is the combination of different genres in writing. He writes novels, poetry, and children’s literature, in addition to his main specialty, which is theater.”
Focus of attention
According to the Syrian-Kurdish writer residing in Belgium, Hoshang Osi, “Fousse’s victory will place Scandinavian literature in the spotlight globally and in the Arab world, especially since translations from it into Arabic are limited and very few,” ruling out in statements to Asharq Al-Awsat that “his victory involves bias.” From Sweden to Norway.
The award is dogged by repeated accusations of bias toward European and Western writers at the expense of the rest of the world’s writers, according to writers and critics. In this context, in 2018, the Prize Committee issued a statement in which it acknowledged the existence of a “crisis of trust” between the Nobel Prize in Literature and the reader, noting that this crisis requires it to “make strong reforms to restore that trust.” In that year, the award was withheld for the eighth time in its history, having previously been withheld in 1914, 1918, 1935, 1940, 1941, 1942, and 1943. The reasons for blocking are usually due to the outbreak of world wars, or the lack of a candidate who meets the conditions, according to the jury’s statements.
One of the books of Norwegian Jon Fosse, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (Reuters)
The list of world literature includes creative figures who deserved the award, but the jury ignored them for various reasons, such as Russian writers Leo Tolstoy, Maxim Gorky, and Anton Chekhov, the British Somerset Maugham and Virgina Woolf, the Greek Nikos Kazantzakis, the French Marcel Proust, the Norwegian Henrik Ibsen, and the Argentine Jorge Borges.
