Nobel Prize for Literature 2023

What’s in today’s article?

• Why in news?
• What is Nobel Prize?
• Background: Nobel Prize
• Who selects the Nobel Laureates?
• Award Ceremony
• News Summary: Nobel Prize for Literature 2023
• Who is Jon Olav Fosse?

Why in news?

• The Nobel Prize for Literature 2023 has been awarded to Norwegian author Jon Olav Fosse.
• He was awarded the prize for his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable.

In Focus: Nobel Prize

• Nobel Prize is a prestigious prize awarded separately in six different fields “to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind”.
• Originally, the prize was awarded in the fields of Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace.
• Later in 1968, a sixth prize was added in the field of economic sciences.
  • In 1968, Sveriges Riksbank (Sweden's central bank) established the Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Sir Alfred Nobel, founder of the Nobel Prize.

Background: Nobel Prize

• Alfred Nobel was a Swedish chemist, engineer, and industrialist most famously known for the invention of dynamite.
• In his will, he bequeathed all of his "remaining realisable assets" to be used to establish five prizes which became known as "Nobel Prizes.
• Nobel Prizes were first awarded in 1901.
• Nobel Prizes are not awarded posthumously. However, if a person is awarded a prize and dies before receiving it, the prize is presented.

Who selects the Nobel Laureates?

• In his last will and testament, Alfred Nobel specifically designated the institutions responsible for the prizes he wished to be established:
  • The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for the Nobel Prize in Physics and Chemistry,
  • Karolinska Institutet for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine,
  • Swedish Academy for the Nobel Prize in Literature, and
  • a committee of five persons to be elected by the Norwegian Parliament for the Nobel Peace Prize.
• The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences was given the task to select the Laureates in Economic Sciences starting in 1969.

Award Ceremony

• Except for the Peace Prize, the Nobel Prizes are presented in Stockholm, Sweden, at the annual Prize Award Ceremony on 10 December (the anniversary of Nobel's death).
• The Peace Prize is presented at the annual Prize Award Ceremony in Oslo, Norway, usually on 10 December.

News Summary: Nobel Prize for Literature 2023

Who is Jon Olav Fosse?

• About
  • Fosse writes in Norwegian Nynorsk, the least common of the two official versions of Norwegian.
  • Born in 1959, Fosse first started writing novels, switching to plays in his 30s.
  • He went on to become one of Norway’s most-performed dramatists, and is in fact counted among the most performed of living European dramatists.
  • His work has been translated into more than 40 languages.
  • Fosse has written around 40 plays, apart from novels, short stories, children’s books, poetry and essays.
• Notable works
  • His “A New Name: Septology VI-VII” was a finalist for the International Booker Prize last year.
  • Other notable works by Fosse include I Am the Wind, Melancholy, Boathouse, and The Dead Dogs.
• Writing styles
  • His writing style is characterised by simple, minimal, searing dialogue.
  • It is considered similar to Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter, both of whom have won the Nobel earlier.
  • His themes explore:
    • the absurdity, the futility and yet the power of the human condition;
    • everyday confusions and irresolutions; and
    • the difficulty to form actual connections, despite — and sometimes because of — conversation.

Q1) Who was Alfred Nobel?

Alfred Bernhard Nobel (1833-1896) was a Swedish chemist, engineer, inventor, businessman, and philanthropist. He was born in Stockholm on October 21, 1833 and died in San Remo, Italy on December 10, 1896. 

Q2) What is Sveriges Riksbank?

Sveriges Riksbank (Riksbank) is the central bank of Sweden. It was founded in 1668 in Stockholm. The Riksbank is the world's oldest surviving central bank, and the fourth oldest bank in operation.

Source: Nobel Prize for Literature 2023: Meet the winner, the Norwegian author Jon Fosse | Money Control