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And the Nobel in ripostes goes to ...
Best line I've read yet about the charge leveled by Horace Engdahl, the permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, which awards the Nobel Prize in Literature, that American writers are too parochial to merit the prize:
When Engdahl declares, "You can't get away from the fact that Europe still is the center of the literary world," there is a poignant echo of Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard insisting that she is still big, it's the pictures that got smaller.
Via Slate.
About brainiac What's happening in the world of ideas.
contributors
Joshua Rothman is a graduate student and Teaching Fellow in the Harvard English department, and an Instructor in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He teaches novels and political writing.
