Nobbel

What is a Horace Engdahl? Nitta – it’s a Swedish literary historian and critic that has far more coverage than it should because it helps judge the Nobel Prize for literature.

He (it’s a he) wrote (but did not say) of US literature that “everything is focused around their writers and their language, like a hall of mirrors which reflects a perpetual, infinite image of America.”

There is a theory that this statement has raised the bar for any US hopefuls. He probably has a CIA file now.

His musing could be applied to Australia … let me try … ‘”everything is focused around our politicians, sport stars and celebrities, like a hall of mirrors which reflects a perpetual, infinite cartoon-like image of Australia.”

Yes, that works. I can’t see any Nobel Prizes for literature coming our way. Or for Chemistry, Physics or Peace. Unless the indigenous folk manage to get an anti-establishment peace prize somehow.

But having said all that, let me add that the Nobel Prize for Physics was just awarded to the Japanese that “invented” the blue LED. Interesting choice – LED’s already existed and it wasn’t that much of a stretch to fiddle with the materials used in LEDs to get a blue one. Indeed the more creative part of this work was the Chemistry. In either field, though, you would have to say this was a workmanlike effort and the award is solely due to the commercial value of the eventuating technology.

A Nobel Prize for return on investment in literature would almost universally go to American authors.

Me thinks there should be a Nobel Prize for Hypocrisy which would go to certain Swedes.