Lots of interesting comments filing in on Jelinek winning the Nobel Prize this year. I was struck by two passages which demonstrate something about perception or point of view. First, Momus complained of the British press' coverage of the award (this essay is really more RIP Derrida, and it's totally worth reading):
The British coverage of both these events has been much more superficial, focusing on incidentals rather than the actual concerns of their work. Jelinek is seen as a feminist by BBC World Service (a propaganda station which tends to use human rights as a stick to beat muslim, communist and developing nations with) and, between the lines, her prize is presented as a token 'gesture to women writers' on the part of a guilty Stockholm.
Then, this morning in the FR I see that Ina Hartwig has the same concerns:
Während Le Monde die österreichische Schriftstellerin knapp und kundig in die "Tradition der Nestbeschmutzer von Karl Kraus bis Thomas Bernhard" stellte, polemisiert der aktuelle Spiegel gegen die frisch gekürte Nobelpreisträgerin wie ein losgelassener Kampfhund: Quoten-Entscheidung, abgehangene Avantgarde, Belohnung für politische Korrektheit, lauten die von schierem Ressentiment diktierten, billig hingeknallten Urteile.
Anyway, the thing that struck me was that Hartwig thinks that "in einem englischsprachigen Land wäre eine derartige Verletzung der Anstandsregeln, eine solche Umgehung der journalistischen Basics kaum vorstellbar." While it might not be as bad as she describes in the German press, Momus' comments seem to suggest there's a similar perception of quota-filling at the BBC. I'll have to have a look at the other English-language commentary to see how pervasive it is.
Posted by Heather at October 12, 2004 10:41 AM
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