NOBEL BECOMES IGNOBLE
or
THE POPCORN REPORT
Last fall saw the beginning of the Fall of - or at least serious problems for -
the literary influential Swedish Academy, the body deciding the Nobel Prize in
Literature. This Prize has earlier been awarded to writers of fantastic
literature (at least partly) like Doris Lessing, Jose Saramago, Maria Vargas
Llosa, Elfride Jelinek, Gunther Grass, Harry Martinson and others.
On November 21st 18 women appeared in the big morning daily Dagens Nyheter,
accusing a culture club organiser of serious sexual harassment, a man named
Jean-Claude Arnault. This club had tight connections to the Swedish Academy: it
received grants from it, Mr Arnault is married to Academy member Katarina
Frostenson and Academy members were often appearing on this club. Article
through Google Translate:
https://www.dn.se/kultur-noje/18-kvinnor-kulturprofil-har-utsatt-oss-for-overgrepp/
The Permanent Secretary - the Academy's spokesperson and executive officer -
Sara Danius commissioned a law firm to investigate the situation. The scandal
soon grew. Frostenson was suspected of having leaked Nobel Prize results in
advance, which you can bet money on (strange "movements" of those odds have
been observed). The scandal also got momentum from the so called #Metoo events.
When the law firm report recently arrived last week - things exploded!
The report concluded e g that it was likely that Frostenson had leaked Nobel
Prize winners in advance
and that she was a partner in a company in connection to the culture club
receiving money. Both things are of course against the Academy rules.
The Academy last Thursday (they meet every Thursday) held a vote about
sacking Frostenson due to these breeches, with negative result. Three members
of the Academy - Kjell Espmark, Klas Östergren, Peter Englund - next day
announced they quit in protest. You sit in the Academy "for life" and can't
formally resign, but you can withdraw working for it. Two members already do,
for unconnected old reasons, so the Academy of 18 is now down to 13 working
members. Member Sara Stridsberg says she's considering withdrawing from the
Academy, which would make it only 12 working members.
And if they become less than 12 on their sessions, they can't vote to select
new members!
All according to the Academy statues, written in 1785 by the then king Gustaf
III, who was also the founder. If Stridsberg decides to call it quits and one
more leave it will be extremely serious.
Kjell Espmark for instance motivated his withdrawal with "Integrity is the
very soul of the Academy. When Leading voices within the Academy put friendship
and other irrelevant considerations before this integrity - then I can no
longer take part." Peter Englund bashed the Academy for "decisions taken I
don't believe in and can't defend" and Klas Östergren talks about a "betrayal
towards the Academy, its founder and it's High Protector...I'm leaving the
game, I'm out of the game".
Eight voting against an Exclusion Act (no connection to Nycon 1939...) wrote
in the daily Svenska Dagbladet April 9th (and through Google Translate
https://translate.google.se/translate?hl=en&sl=sv&u=https://www.svd.se/atta-ledamoter-skalen-att-utesluta-inte-starka-nog&prev=search
): "By excluding Katarina Frostenson, the Academy would have issued an
extrajudicial punishment, which in its entirety would have exceeded a
never-so-called legal judgement, a penalty without appeal or grace." Member Per
Wästberg writes in the same newspaper that he voted for exclusion, but unlike
the three quitters he choose to stay in the Academy for the time being.
Permanent Secretary Danius, who has worked for exclusion and has the support
of the renegades, was called to the Swedish king Carl XVI Gustaf Sunday April
8th, since he is High Protector of the academy. On the table is to change the
statutes to allow academy members to resign entirely, so new members can be
elected. (The Swedish constitutional monarch has only ceremonial powers, but
maybe he has the power to approve of changing statutes of what is formally a
Royal academy. He is the successor to the founder, after all.) After the
meeting with Sara Danius the King made a rare appearance for the press and said
they "were working towards a solution and hope to do something that will be for
the best, for all involved". We'll see. What will her supporters do if
Frostenson is sacked?
The law firm's report also concluded that the culture club Frostenson had
interests in had paid wages under the table and broken tax and similar laws.
They recommended to turn this over to the police. As for sexual harassment no
Academy member had personally seen any, but they had heard rumours and stories
about it and seen "unsuitable behaviour".
There are certainly more exciting news to follow. Swedish newspapers are full
of front page headlines, and media abroad also has extensive coverage -
probably more than for the literary Nobel Prize itself! The Nobel Prize could
be in danger when prominent members leave and the work-flow of the institution
becomes poisoned and disrupted. Kjell Espmark was for instance the chairman of
the Academy's Nobel Committee.
As we all enjoy having our popcorn when we sit by the ringside, as the
slugging goes on in the World of Fine Arts, it's interesting to note how the
price of corn has risen. Zoom in Dec 2017 to early April 2018, price is up from
ca USD3.45 to USD3.90 per bushel:
http://www.macrotrends.net/2532/corn-prices-historical-chart-data
Not that we can be certain it has with the turmoil in the Swedish Academy to
do...but grab your popcorn as Nobel becomes ignoble.
--Ahrvid Engholm
The /p/o/p/c/o/r/n /d/i/s/p/e/n/s/e/r Swedish Academy's English home page is at:
http://www.svenskaakademien.se/en
Note: An onging joke from Yours Truly is that the ficticious, fannish poet (a
serious Vogon challenger) Comet-Johan Bensin jr every year believes he'll be
the next Nobel Prize laureate...maybe he stands a chance now!
A fitting Nobel Prize cartoon: https://www.cartoonmovement.com/cartoon/12029
/På engelska för utrikiskt bruk. --AE/
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