Post-Millennium Nobel Literature Prizes in the Context of Global Literary Trends
Fethi Demir, Nahide Ece SüslüGlobalization has intensely affected the leading art of literature that has, for centuries, deployed languages to discharge a pivotal role in the construction of national cultures. Currently, literature is a means of transcending the national to achieve a global dimension. The development of technology, especially in the last half-century, has enabled digitalization, made translation possible at a dizzying pace, and introduced publishing techniques. These advances have shaken the paradigm that only positions literature within the ambit of national borders. Goethe’s conception of Weltliteratur in the first half of the 19th century has surpassed his predictions. In particular, the concept has been transmogrified into “global literature” in the current millennium. This reality is most explicitly manifested in the Nobel Prize for literature. The awarding of this most prestigious prize elucidates the preference for literary texts that can achieve recognition in the international arena over prominent works that remain within the scope of national literature. In fact, the Nobel Prizes awarded for literature in the 2000s are increasingly determined by the rules of Weltliteratur, offering opportunities for diverse artists and works to be articulated into international literary networks. This study performed a descriptive analysis of the reasons, genders, countries, languages, genres, and content-related attributes of the artists awarded with the Nobel Prize for literature in the period spanning 2000– 2020. The study also attempted to determine the correlations between global literary theory and the post-2000 Nobel Prize awards for literature. The outcomes of the descriptive analysis elucidated that the number of awarded women writers increased in comparison to the period preceding this millennium. The awarded oeuvres were primarily created in English, French, and German, and the awards predominantly represented the genre of the novel.
Küresel Edebiyat Eğilimi Bağlamında Milenyum Sonrası Dönemdeki Nobel Edebiyat Ödülleri
Fethi Demir, Nahide Ece SüslüKüreselleşmenin yoğun bir biçimde etkilediği sanatların başında edebiyat gelmektedir. Edebiyat, dil aracılığıyla yüzyıllar boyunca ulusal kültürün inşasında önemli rol oynamıştır. Bugün ise büyük oranda, ulusal olanı aşmanın ve küresel boyuta geçmenin aracıdır. Teknolojinin özellikle son yarım asırdaki gelişimi, dijitalleşme, çeviri imkânlarının ve yayımlanma tekniklerinin baş döndürücü bir hızla ilerlemesi, edebiyatı sadece ulusal sınırların içerisinde konumlandıran paradigmayı sarsmıştır. Goethe’nin 19. yüzyılın ilk yarısında ortaya attığı “Dünya Edebiyatı” kavramı, onun öngörülerinin ötesine geçmiştir. Özellikle Milenyum ile birlikte bu kavram, “Küresel Edebiyat”a dönüşmüştür. Bu gerçekliğin kendini en somut biçimde gösterdiği yer ise Nobel Edebiyat Ödülü’dür. Dünyanın bu en prestijli edebiyat ödülü verilirken ulusal edebiyatların öne çıkan kalemlerinden çok, uluslararası platformda yer edinebilmiş edebiyatçıların tercih edildiği gözlemlenmektedir. Nitekim 2000’li yıllarla birlikte Nobel Edebiyat Ödülü, dünya edebiyatının genel geçer yasalarını daha fazla belirlemekte, sanatçılar ve eserler için uluslararası edebiyat ağına eklemlenmenin imkânlarını sunmaktadır. Bu çalışmada; 2000-2020 döneminde Nobel Edebiyat Ödülü’nü kazanan sanatçıların ödülü alma nedenleri, cinsiyetleri, ülkeleri, eserlerinin dili, türü ve içerik özellikleri bağlamında betimsel analiz yapılmıştır. Nobel Edebiyat Ödülü’nün 2000’den sonraki dağılımı ile küresel edebiyat teorisi arasında korelasyon tespit edilmeye çalışılmıştır. Betimsel analiz sonucunda; Milenyum öncesi döneme göre kadın edebiyatçı sayısının arttığı, eserlerin dilinin çoğunlukla İngilizce, Fransızca ve Almanca olduğu, roman türünün başat olarak ön plana çıktığı görülmüştür.
Globalization has intensely affected the leading art of literature that has, for centuries, deployed languages to discharge a pivotal role in the construction of national cultures. Currently, literature is a means of transcending the national to achieve a global dimension. The development of technology, especially in the last half-century, has enabled digitalization, made translation possible at a dizzying pace, and introduced publishing techniques. These advances have shaken the paradigm that only positions literature within the ambit of national borders. The interactions between stakeholders of the literary world have naturally increased because they can now meet within short durations as literature is produced across the globe in almost every country and language. Thus, a global atmosphere is made available to both authors and readers, radically transforming the content, format, and publishing techniques of texts. Goethe’s conception of Weltliteratur in the first half of the 19th century has surpassed his predictions. In particular, the concept has been transmogrified into “global literature” in the current millennium and has become the fundamental notion of the art and culture industry. This reality is most explicitly manifested in the Nobel Prize for literature.
The Nobel Prize has been awarded for many disciplines since the beginning of the 20th century. Despite numerous debates, it is generally regarded as the most prestigious literary award in the world. The awarding of the Nobel Prize after 2000 has generally coincided with trends in global literature. The preference for literati who can claim a place in the international arena is evident over authors prominent in their national literature. Such internationally accessible intellectuals tackle issues that concern all humanity from a universal perspective. They are distanced from ideological bigotry and utilize a moderate, synthesist, and conciliatory style. It is also apparent that such writers live like global citizens and pioneer new literary eras.
This study performed a descriptive analysis of the reasons, genders, countries, languages, genres, and content-related attributes and variables pertaining to writers awarded with the Nobel Prize for literature in the period spanning 2000–2020. The study also attempted to determine the correlations between global literary theory and the post-2000 Nobel Prize awards for literature. Descriptive analysis techniques were deployed for the assessments.
The descriptive analysis of the collected data revealed that 7 (33%) female writers were awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in the last 21 years. Before the beginning of this century, 10% of the Nobel awardees for literature were female; this figure rose to 33% in the current millennium. This increase may be attributed to the general strengthening of the presence of women in all walks of life. That universal themes such as feminism and women’s rights now form a crucial aspect of global literary awareness could also have contributed to the increased recognition of women by the Nobel committee. It was determined that the awarded writers wrote mainly in English, French, and German. The issue of genre is also an essential intersection node for the literary Nobel and global literary trends. The genres of work represented by the awardees included 16 (76%) novels, 3 (14%) poems, 1 (5%) story, and 1 (5%) play. Goethe, posited the idea of Weltliteratur, described poetry as the “universal property of humanity.” However, the genre of poetry must yield to the novel in the process of the globalization of literature. Poetry is confronted with several obstacles in global literature because it must appeal to emotions and intensively encompasses images and metaphors that may not be universally available. The nature of the 21st century is information/informatics, which holds the mind/ thinking at the forefront. The relativity and variability of knowledge have also contributed to the novel becoming the dominant genre of contemporary literature.
Undoubtedly, the recent transformations in technology, transportation, social lives, and economic activities have been pivotal in the evolution of the notion of Weltliteratur to global literature. Literature has been restructured through transnational knowledge, and the Nobel Prize for literature is a palpable indicator of such worldwide familiarity. Any analysis of the dialectical relationship between the Nobel Prize for literature and global literary understanding must make sense of and examine the literary and cultural milieux of the future. An international prize of the stature of the Nobel awarded in the context of global literary trends can only be comprehensively grasped through the argument of global literary appreciation.
