Book Board Chat

Poets Look Good For The Nobel Literature

Two poets, one Swedish and the other Syrian, are leading the betting to win the 2011 Nobel Literature prize. British betting firm Ladbrokes have the 81-year-old Syrian poet known as Adonis at odds of 4/1 and Swede Tomas Transtromer, 80, at 7/1 to win the 10 million crown ($1.5 million) prize, to be announced on October6. Japan's Haruki Murakami was third at 8/1. The last poet to win the Nobel Literature prize was Poland's Wislawa Szymborska in 1996.

Khaled Mattawa, who has translated many of Adonis' works into English, said the Syrian -- named Ali Hamid Saeed at birth -- deserved to be recognized for his artistry.
"When I think of Adonis as a poet ... I think of people like Picasso or Matisse, people who opened up a new way of envisioning experience," Mattawa, an associate professor at the University of Michigan, told Reuters. Adonis was awarded Germany's prestigious Goethe Prize for literature in May.

Transtromer, whose subtle, multi-layered work often deals with the relation between man and nature or the conscious and unconscious, is a regular on the list of favourites to win the prize. "Transtromer is the person who stands head and shoulders above anyone else," said Neil Astley, founding editor at Transtromer's publishers Bloodaxe Books in Britain.

The Nobel prize sometimes results in a surprise choice of an artists who is little known outside a small circle of connoisseurs. One figure who would seem to be a very outside bet is Bob Dylan. Even so, his Ladbrokes odds have narrowed to 10/1 from 100/1 last week.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/05/us-books-nobel-idUSTRE7940B320111005