# The Nobel Prize For Literature And The U.S.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nobel-prize-for-literature-and-the-u-s/207043>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [October 12, 2003, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nobel-prize-for-literature-and-the-u-s/207043 "2003-10-12T21:06:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\
**Post date:** [October 15, 2003, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nobel-prize-for-literature-and-the-u-s/207043/41 "2003-10-15T14:38:53Z")

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_on_ly\* Mysterious Stranger since then . . .

Personally, I think _Beloved_ is a “Nobel worthy” work, along with some of Morrison’s early works like _The Bluest Eye._ I don’t count her as high on the list as Beckett and Laxness and Undset, but I don’t rank her anywhere near the Buck basement.

And I’ll agree that Cather’s work stands up to my idea of Nobel standards, but I haven’t yet done the Edith Wharton thing.

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**Author:** ![Jello](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@Jello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jello)\
**Post date:** [October 15, 2003, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nobel-prize-for-literature-and-the-u-s/207043/42 "2003-10-15T20:15:54Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Fatwater Fewl \*  
> \*\*I disagree with at least the Heaney part of this statement (I don’t know the work of the others well enough to have an opinion). Heaney deserved the prize for his body of work. Whether politics played a part in his selection is moot. He is arguably the finest poet of the English language from the 2nd half of the 20th century. \*\*

I agree; I saw Heaney read last month and he was fantastic. I can’t say I’ve read much poetry from the second half of the 20th century outside of what appears in The New Yorker, but I can attest that he deserved the prize.

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**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nobel-prize-for-literature-and-the-u-s/207043/43 "2003-10-17T20:36:51Z")

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An update:

I think I’ve figured out why Buck won the Prize. It appears that it was a early political award (in 1938, the Japanese were invading China, and Buck was of note for her novels set in China.)

Any counter-arguements?

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