Literary Greatness Should Not Be Up to 18 Swedes
The Nobel Academy, now racked by scandal, is ill-equipped to pass judgment.
Pride and prejudice.
Photographer: Olafur Steinar GestssonAFP
To anyone who hasn’t followed the sexual harassment and assault scandal involving French photographer Jean-Claude Arnault, the cancellation of the 2018 Nobel Prize for literature in the wake of that scandal could seem like the mother of non sequiturs. But it isn't: It’s just a stage in the self-destruction of an institution that had the power to confer greatness on a living writer but was also a group of fallible people blessed with oversized powers.
The Nobel laureates in literature are selected by the Swedish Academy, an 18-member body of humanities luminaries established by King Gustaf III in 1786. When a member dies, his or her successor is elected by the remaining 17. Apart from the Nobel Prize, this exclusive club distributes some $3 million a year in grants and stipends.