Mine will not be a popular answer among literary critics--and of course most of us American readers don't know writers in many parts of the world (e.g., China, Japan, India, the Middle East, most of Africa, and even some of Latin America)--but I think Salman Rushdie's first major book, Midnight's Children, is alone worthy of consideration for this distinguished award. Furthermore, his Satanic Verses was an earth-shattering book in more ways than one, and the literature he has produced while his life has been in danger and his nonfiction works on current issues and literary criticism are all worthy of awards. Most critics feel that none of his successive work lives up to the standard of Midnight's Children. I agree, but that was a very high standard indeed. He has written a variety of works, and he stands tall for the place of literature in the contemporary world.
No one else is producing the kind of "magic realism" that distinguishes Rushdie's work. But even more important, Rushdie usually writes as an immigrant, an alien in his own culture and his own religion. That's a role important to most of us, to one degree or another, in the 21st century. Though many Muslims are bitterly opposed to his wry, ironic vision of Islamic culture and characters, a close reading of his work reveals his personal faith and commitment. Fundamentalist Christians have likewise been critical of such works as Nikos Kazansakis' The Last Temptation of Christ (not to mention the current brouhaha about the popular novel and movie The Da Vinci Code). But Rushdie's works are more universal. They are not just about Indians or Pakistanis or Muslims; they are about the modern human condition. In the US, John Irving's Prayer for Owen Meany is the only novel I can think of that even deserves to stand in the shadow of Midnight's Children.
The only American contender I can think of for the Nobel Prize would be John Updike because of the great volume and variety of his work. His Rabbit series is certainly one of the significant achievements of 20th century fiction. His numerous novels, as well as his poetry and nonfiction, certainly deserve recognition.
But I think Rushdie should be considered an outstanding contender for the Nobel Prize--because of the superb artistry of Midnight's Children, the courage and originality of Satanic Verses, the magic realism and thematic significance of all his fiction, his articulate stand on contemporary issues, and especially the way his continuing presence among us represents the heroic posture of and need for literature in the current global environment.
His selection would certainly be controversial, but controversy for a good cause is well worth the risk.
2006-07-11 17:49:29
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answer #1
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answered by bfrank 5
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Heard of 32. study 28. maximum Nobel winners do not write in English. many of their books have not been translated. in the journey that they have got been translated, it is close to no longer plausible to get a replica from my library. there's some on the list that I study because they were required for my youthful toddlers, and that i pick to attraction to close what they're learning. Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio - desert Doris Lessing - The Golden pc Orhan Pamuk - My call is pink Elfried Jelinek - The Piano instructor J.M. Coetzee - Dusklands Gunter Grass - Cat and Mouse Jose Saramago - Baltasar and Blimunda Kenzaburo Oe - Nip the Buds, Shoot the toddlers Toni Morrison - loved, The Bluest Eye Naguib Mahfouz - The Thief and the canines William Golding - Lord of the Flies Gabriel Garcia Marquez - one hundred Years of Solitude, Love contained in the time of Cholera Czeslaw Milosz - The Captive suggestions Heinrich Boll - the safe practices internet Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn - faster or later contained in the existence of Ivan Denisovich Samuel Beckett - Murphy, Molloy Jean-Paul Sartre - Nausea John Steinbeck - The Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden Boris Leonidovich Pasternak - health care specialist Zhivago Albert Camus - The Stranger Ernest Hemingway - The solar also Rises Herman Hesse - Siddhartha Pearl dollar - the coolest Earth Sinclair Lewis - Babbitt Thomas Mann - health care specialist Faustus George Bernard Shaw - The Apple Cart William Butler Yeats - The accrued Poems Rudyard Kipling - Kim, Captains courageous, The Jungle e book
2016-12-01 02:18:37
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answer #2
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answered by Anonymous
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I think that Dan Brown should recieve the award for his work on "DaVinci Code." with just a few strokes of his pen, he rocked the religious world more than it had been since the harry Potter books first became popular, created a world so realistic that that countelss Yahoo Answers users have felt the urge to waste valuable sever space asking if it's true, and made the rest of us realize that we realy couldn't care less.
2006-07-12 09:25:56
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answer #3
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answered by scoop_returns 3
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Well, he doesn't have a very large body of work yet, but Neal Stephenson is very worthy for the Baroque Cycle (Quicksiler, The Confusion, The System of the World) and Cryptonomicon
2006-07-11 17:45:38
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answer #4
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answered by Lee R 1
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