Nobel Prize

José Saramago delivering his Nobel Lecture. © Nobel Media AB 1998 Photo: Hans Mehlin English How characters became the masters and the author their apprentice The wisest man I ever knew in my whole life could not read or write. At four o’clock in the morning, when the promise of a new day still lingered…

José Saramago håller sin Nobelföreläsning. © Nobel Media AB 1998 Photo: Hans Mehlin Swedish Om hur den diktade gestalten blev mästare och författaren hans lärling Den klokaste man jag någonsin har känt kunde varken läsa eller skriva. Klockan fyra på morgonen, när löftet om en ny dag fortfarande kom från Frankrike, steg han upp från…

José Saramago. © Nobel Media AB 1998 Photo: Hans Mehlin Portuguese De como a personagem foi mestre e o autor seu aprendiz O homem mais sábio que conheci em toda a minha vida não sabia ler nem escrever. Às quatro da madrugada, quando a promessa de um novo dia ainda vinha em terras de França,…

Dario Fo delivering his Nobel Lecture. English Nobel Lecture, December 7, 1997 Contra Jogulatores Obloquentes Against Jesters Who Defame and Insult “Against jesters who defame and insult”. Law issued by Emperor Frederick II (Messina 1221), declaring that anyone may commit violence against jesters without incurring The drawings I’m showing you are mine. Copies of these,…

Swedish Contra Jogulatores Obloquentes Mot frispråkiga gycklare Lag utfärdad av Fredrik II (1221 Messina) innebärande tillstånd att bruka våld mot gycklare utan påföljd i form av något straff eller någon sanktion De bilder jag visar er här har jag själv tecknat och målat. Ni har fått bilder som är något förminskade jämfört med dessa. Ja,…

Italian Contra Jogulatores Obloquentes Legge emessa da Federico II (1221, Messina) che permetteva di infliggere violenza ai giullari senza incorrere in alcuna pena o sanzione Le tavole che vi sto mostrando sono state disegnate e dipinte da me. A voi sono state distribuite delle immagini leggermente ridotte rispetto a queste. Ecco, io sono abituato da…

Seamus Heaney delivering his Nobel Prize lecture at the Swedish Academy on 7 December 1995. Nobel Lecture, December 7, 1995 Crediting Poetry When I first encountered the name of the city of Stockholm, I little thought that I would ever visit it, never mind end up being welcomed to it as a guest of the…

Kenzaburo Oe delivering his Nobel Prize lecture at the Swedish Academy on 7 December 1994. English* Nobel Lecture, December 7, 1994 Japan, The Ambiguous, and Myself During the last catastrophic World War I was a little boy and lived in a remote, wooded valley on Shikoku Island in the Japanese Archipelago, thousands of miles away…

Nobel Lecture December 7, 1993 “Once upon a time there was an old woman. Blind but wise.” Or was it an old man? A guru, perhaps. Or a griot soothing restless children. I have heard this story, or one exactly like it, in the lore of several cultures. “Once upon a time there was an…

Nobel Lecture, December 7, 1992 The Antilles: Fragments of Epic Memory Felicity is a village in Trinidad on the edge of the Caroni plain, the wide central plain that still grows sugar and to which indentured cane cutters were brought after emancipation, so the small population of Felicity is East Indian, and on the afternoon…