Reading Every Nobel Prize Winner! Ep. 1

#booktube #books #reading #bookrecommendations #nobelprize
Intro music by ‪@noirdisco4525‬

[@brenboothjones]

What do you guys think of the Nobel prize? Who are the glaring omissions?

[@shelby5725]

Louise Erdrich for sure

[@brenboothjones]

@@shelby5725 good call. I’d add James Baldwin and Virginia Woolf to that, just off the top of my head!

[@rehsals1989]

J. L. Borges is definitely an omission. Also probably Julio Cortázar is.

[@brenboothjones]

@@rehsals1989 good call

[@Paromita_M]

Some great awards, some big misses. Leo Tolstoy and Virginia Woolf were two crucial omissions. Other than that, Nabokov and Borges perhaps?

[@ToReadersItMayConcern]

This is a phenomenal idea! I would be especially interested in if you discover that some decades stand out over others, or if you notice any trends shifting in terms of the sorts of authors who win the prize. The Nobel Prize has a massive influence on which authors become part of the general zeitgeist (or does it?-perhaps you'll discover extraordinary 'lost' writers), so this project of yours is a great way to connect with recent literary history. Fantastic!

[@brenboothjones]

Thank you, kind sir! It’s very interesting to see how forgotten some of these authors already are. Others seem strangely underrated; I personally think Tomas Tranströmer is undervalued in the world of Anglo-American letters-and yet it seems paradoxical to label him ‘underrated’ with the giant golden medallion of a Nobel prize hovering over his name for posterity! I like your line of thinking and will certainly bring that element into the next episode! Thank you for the ever-engaging comments!

[@strange.lucidity]

Interesting. The reason why I've been sceptical of this price is this: I study literature in Austria and think that Austrian literature has a lot to offer. I really dislike both of the Nobel Price winners from Austria though. I gave them a try and I can't get into either Jelinek or Handke. So the thought of those two representing Austrian literature doesn't sit right with me. I'd much rather direct people to Robert Musil, Thomas Bernhard, Rainer Maria Rilke, Franz Kafka, Ingeborg Bachmann or Stefan Zweig if they want to get into Austrian literature.

[@brenboothjones]

Totally agree with you about those choices! Though some non-Austrian people might try to claim Kafka for a Czech ;) For me it doesn’t matter an iota: he is simply a brilliant writer and definitely a worthy choice! Big fan of your channel by the way :)

[@LiteraryGladiators]

I have been fascinated by the list of Nobel Prize winners, especially the Nobel Prize in Literature winners, since I started pursuing my English degree in college. It provided me with a gateway to discover various writers from across the globe and introduced me to some amazing writers. My first individual book review on this channel was for Voices from Chernobyl by Svetlana Alexievich. I remember that she was the frontrunner and eventually the winner of the 2015 Nobel Prize for Literature and I like how she served as an objective journalist that allowed the victims of the Chernobyl disaster to tell their stories. She just put their stories together. I am familiar with the more familiar works of T.S. Eliot, such as The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock and The Waste-Land, which we covered on our channel. I would like to read more, though, and Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats sounds very intriguing. I agree completely that starting with Ernest Hemingway's short stories is the best way to go. I have enjoyed his short stories, but cannot say the same about the novels I have read by him thus far. I read The Old Man and the Sea and To Have and Have Not and did not care for either. The Samuel Beckett collection that you own is exactly the collection that I own and gravitate toward. I find his work to be fascinating, but on his absurdist exploration of humanity, such as in how he examines their complexities in works like Waiting for Godot and Krapp's Last Tape. Act Without Words II is also a work that I find to be a bit of a gem when you think about it. Not everyone can really enjoy and appreciate what he is trying to touch upon. I have read four books by Saul Bellow and while Seize the Day was my first, it was definitely not my favorite. I thought it was miserable and it was very aggravating, even if that was what it was meant to be. I have seen that The Adventures of Augie March was viewed as a Great American Novel and I have also found acclaim to Herzog. I personally liked Henderson the Rain King the most among what I have read thus far, but I would say that Herzog had the best flow among what he has written. I am waiting for one of his works to really resonate with me in a deep way, for the best rating I have given any of his books thus far is 4 stars out of 5. Chaim Potok, another Jewish writer with a more orthodox, faithful approach, has written books that I preferred. As for Philip Roth, I only read two short books of his thus far. I will need to look into Nadine Gordimer. I saw her name, but am inclined to check her out now that you mentioned her and how good her writing is. The same is J.M. Coetzee. I need to read more by Toni Morrison, particularly Song of Solomon and Beloved. I have only read Sula and her short story Recitatif. I find Recitatif to especially be discussion worthy and her approach in shaping our perspective to Roberta and Twyla was brilliant and thought-provoking! I, too, really like Tomas Transtromer's poetry. I own a few of his collections, some are complete, and others are specific like Half-Finished Heaven, but a different version. I like how straightforward, descriptive, yet modest his writing is. Would you agree with the idea that his writing is cold and wintery the way that Pablo Neruda's writing is hot and summery? I do like Neruda's writing as well. Thank you for sharing and I hope you continue to make your way through and enjoy this fascinating project of yours! -Josh

[@brenboothjones]

Thanks so much for this great in-depth response, Josh! I agree that Recitatif is very interesting re point of view/readerly expectations. Sula is one of Morrison’s weaker novels, imo. Don’t think Philip Roth won a Nobel? My favourite of his is probably The Ghost Writer. You’re very on point about Tranströmer being wintry! Thanks for watching. I’m curious what you think of my latest video. Best wishes, B

[@LiteraryGladiators]

It's my pleasure! I would say that Sula is just okay and it does not shock me that it is not one of her best. Philip Roth did not win the Nobel and neither did Chaim Potok. I just see them in the class of Jewish writers like Saul Bellow. Elie Wiesel won, but for Peace and not Literature. I do need to read more by Roth, especially since he is a New Jersey writer who primarily sets his work in New Jersey. I will have to check out your latest video when I get the opportunity.

[@brenboothjones]

@@LiteraryGladiators thanks so much! Have been enjoying your channel too.

[@MYMOTHERISAFISH-ci2ts]

My favourite nobel winner has to be Faulkner, Yasunari Kawabata, Kazuo Ishiguro and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I also have to give shout out too Tagore because after all, he is the only literature laureate from my country(even though I don't like his work except some of his poetry and stories) I could feel that this is is going to be a fascinating series. I will be completely honest with you I think that people are often too harsh on the Nobel prize but I would say that overall they have done a good job I doubt that some of my favourite writers would be as widely read as they are if they didn't happen to be a Nobel winner. Although I would admit that I am kind of disappointed with the 21st century winners so far especially because of the clearly eurocentric bias of the prize only something like 7-8 winners are non European or non Europe based and I love European lit as much as the other guy but saying that over 70 percent of the nobel prize deserving writers are eurocentric is blatant bias.

[@brenboothjones]

Thank you for the interesting comment! I think we have similar taste because the writers you mention have impacted me too. I totally agree about the Eurocentric bias. And the fact that such a prestigious and career-changing prize is selected by so small a committee. Thanks again for the great feedback!

[@MYMOTHERISAFISH-ci2ts]

​@@brenboothjonesIkr! It is more disappointing considering how much translation and distribution of non European works have increased in number. But it is what it is I guess ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯. Glad to hear that our tastes align. (Btw Faulkner or Hemingway who you prefer more?)

[@brenboothjones]

@@MYMOTHERISAFISH-ci2ts ooh that’s a good one…I’ve read pretty much all of Hemingway whereas I’ve only read about half of Faulkner’s books so it’s an unfair advantage. And while I appreciate the corrugated iron of Faulkner’s prose (like a massive stallion galloping over frozen mud. Like fierce, dense, entwined, brooding storm clouds)-I appreciate it but I find Hemingway less forbidding, less unrelenting. Plus I have a soft spot for the modernists who hung out in Paris. I feel more at home in Hemingway’s continental novels and stories than I do in the oppressive myopia of Faulkner’s American South. What about you?

[@MYMOTHERISAFISH-ci2ts]

@@brenboothjones For me, Faulkner is the philosopher who makes me think about the most uncomfortable questions without any answer and keeps me awake at night while,Hemingway is the poet who makes me feel the most beautiful and strong emotions when I start to feel numb by the weight of the world. But I'd admit that I prefer Faulkner a bit more. I think a lot of Faulkner's obsession just aligns with me a bit more. I think a lot of Faulkner's sensibilities just match with me. We both are more obsessed with how to tell a tale instead of the tale itself which we are telling.

[@brenboothjones]

@@MYMOTHERISAFISH-ci2ts well said! :)

[@rjmalcolm8066]

This is a great idea! I’ve only read Camus, Coetzee and Patrick White from the list of Laureates…hoping to get to Faulkner this year. Would be very interested in your thoughts on White

[@brenboothjones]

Will be discussing Voss-probably in the next one or two episodes!

[@gavleopardi70]

Joao Guimaraes Rosa Jorge Luis Borges Henrik Ibsen CP Cavafy Fernando Pessoa IJ Singer Nazim Hikmet Giuseppe Ungaretti Mikhail Bulgakov Marguerite Yourcenar Juan Rulfo Horacio Quiroga Ernesto Sabato Karl Kraus Leo Tolstoy James Joyce Thomas Hardy Franz Kafka Jaroslav Hasek Italo Svevo Natsume Soseki Anton Chekhov Friedrich Durrenmatt Miguel De Unamuno Emile Verhaeren Hermann Broch Georg Trakl Cesar Vallejo Giuseppe de Lampedusa Machado De Assis James Baldwin Vladimir Nabakov Henry Roth Joseph Roth Mario de Andrade Graciliano Ramos Hans Fallada George Orwell Yevgeny Zamyatin Shalom Aleichem Marcel Proust Miroslav Krleza Cormac McCarthy Shimizaki Toson Luis Cernuda Ruben Dario Antonio Machado Pio Baroja, each and every single one a great writer and each and every single one deserving of the Nobel Prize for literature…

[@nathansnook]

A Moveable Feast is one of my favorite Hemingways too! i love the way he paints Fitzgerald in the book haha i've not heard of Gordimer! will need to pick up some of her work! thanks for putting her name out there!

[@brenboothjones]

Ahaha yeah I actually talked about the way he portrays Fitzgerald (the scene in the museum etc) but ended up cutting it out. It’s such a lush book overall. Re Gordimer-she is so underrated! The Conservationist is probably her most ambitious novel. She goes in hard for the stream of consciousness perspective. She also has one collection of nonfiction essays called Living in Hope and History. Thanks for being here Nathan. I’m honoured!

[@nathansnook]

@@brenboothjones haha i wish you kept it! i just love how wimpy he makes Fitzgerald to be! and thank you for the Gordimer rec! always love discovering new authors through wonderful people like you!

[@brenboothjones]

@@nathansnook they are definitely an interesting clash of personalities. Both with big egos and both always drunk lol

[@adamwelsh9372]

I've read and enjoyed two of Herta Muller's novels, the 2009 winner, about communist Romania. I have a book of short stories by Alice Munro, the 2013 winner, but haven't read yet. She's the only Canadian to win the Nobel in literature and just died last month. I think most Canadians would be more familiar with someone like Margaret Atwood for example than her, myself included.

[@brenboothjones]

Alice Munro is fantastic. Her stories have a deceptively simple surface but are really deep and rewarding and masterfully executed! Thanks for watching.

[@hhah23]

Can't wait until you get to "The bridge on the Drina" by Ivo Andrić. That would be the first time i hear anyone talk about serbian literature.

[@brenboothjones]

Thank you! Going to get hold of it asap:)

[@ingertsvard6731]

Go for it! And yes, Svenska Akademien that decide the prize every year has been and frankly still is a…… institution of Swedish, masculine, sexists, European centric, white, traditions people. Many tried to change over the years but failed, maybe it work a little better after the big scandal some years ago. Needless to say I do recognize the prize and every year trying to guess and hope for a good decision. Yes, I read almost all of the winners except maybe tenish - I have not, so far, been able to get my hands on any of their works. Favorite so far must be Annie Ernaux, Olga Tokarczuk and Imre Kertesz but all of them I had read before they got the prize. W. Szymborska I really like and because of the prize I found her.

[@brenboothjones]

That seems like a balanced perspective: critical without being entirely dismissive. I look forward to discussing those authors you mentioned. Thank you for watching!

[@HkFinn83]

Oh I’m not sure about that. I suspect people who see the Nobel prize this way tend to see…everything this way. It’s a European institution and as such you’d expect it to be more occupied with European culture than say, Nepalese poetry. I’m pretty sure you’re not outraged that Tanzanian literary prizes aren’t recognising talent from around the world. Having said that they’ve given to Alice Munro and Toni Morrison and Bob Dylan…but not Joyce or Tolstoy. I mean, what could they actually do that would make you happy…it’s impossible to that group of people who are committed to seeing everything as evidence of persecution

[@ingertsvard6731]

@@HkFinn83 yes yes yes but in the testament it says the WORD - Not Europe - and soooooo many man and so few women ….. o well it says a lot about Svenska Akademin and less about the literature of the world. I say read the noble prize winners but make sure u read books from all over the world - I guess that is a reason to learn as many languages u can!

[@HkFinn83]

@@ingertsvard6731 and a Europeans view of the world is going to be Eurocentric. As a Chinese view of the world is going to be Chinese centric. This ‘racism/sexism’ silliness is just self flagellation. Do you think people in Africa and Asia are chastising each other for not reading enough Estonian poetry? It’s ridiculous and I hope when it goes out style there are still some people left to appreciate the arts and culture and so on. Not optimistic though.

[@Noortjestortelder]

🤩 exciting new series 🎉

[@brenboothjones]

I’m so happy that you’re excited! ❤️

[@emahassan5195]

I’ll Recommend to you: Naguib Mahfouz He’s an amazing writer …

[@brenboothjones]

Yes he is! Looking forward to discussing his work in this series. Thank you for the recommendation and thank you for watching.

[@mishelly]

I will have to give a moveable feast a try. So far I’ve read 3 of his works. The Sun also rises and the old man and the sea I didnt care for but I get it! They’re just not for me. The other was a farewell to arms. 🙄 i hated it. Sorry so sorry to people who love it but I just could not. I did a rant discussion on my channel. I love this idea to read award winners. There’s so many different veins of literary awards I tend to inadvertently read a lot of booker prize i think. To get familiar with a group is a cool idea. I did visit hemingways house in Florida keys. It’s a museum it was an incredible thing to see!! I picked up a short story collection. I think I’d like his short stories better maybe.

[@brenboothjones]

Hemingway is not everyone’s cup of tea-but A Moveable Feast is definitely worth a try :) so cool that you went to that grand old house of his!

[@JamesRuchala]

This is an ongoing project of mine too. I find that the recent winners im as likely to dislike as to like, but Ill always make space to read them eventually. You'll find that some of the early winners (Sully-Prudhomme) are almost completely unavailable.

[@brenboothjones]

Nice to hear you’re in the thick of the same reading project! Indeed, Good ol Sully is going to take some digging up! Thanks for watching, James.

[@fonburg]

Looking forward to Ivo Andrić review.

[@brenboothjones]

Me too! Thank you for watching.

[@kingkefa7130]

From the start, the Nobel prize doesn't seem to take literary excellence as a main factor in who gets rewarded. They got their act together in the 40s and 50s, rewarding authors that did stand the test of time, like Steinbeck or Bertrand Russell, but after that it once again becomes a list of irrelevant authors, like it is now.

[@brenboothjones]

Interesting take. I think it’s possibly a little soon to laud or disregard contemporary works-need a good 20-30 years (possibly much longer!) to see whether that elusive quality of timelessness emerges! But I agree with you that there is much about their process and choices to be criticised. Thank you for watching and for the stimulating comment!

[@ReadingIDEAS.-uz9xk]

Love A moveable feast. Read it loads of times. So much in it, with all the famous creative people trying to make sense of the post war era, trying to make their mark creatively. Hmm, wonder what I will be reading soon! Fiesta is my second favourite. Best wishes.

[@brenboothjones]

It really is a feast, isn’t it? Fiesta is certainly brilliant! There are not many Hemingway books that don’t reward readerly attention. Thanks for watching and for the thought-provoking feedback as always :)

[@humyrahfatima]

Love the idea!

[@brenboothjones]

Thank you so much!

[@janetclark8606]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cats_(musical)

[@brenboothjones]

🐱