Nobel Prize

more

Excerpt from Aké. The Years of Childhood (Pages 25-28) Mr Olagbaju’s bachelor house behind the school became a second lunch-hour home. His favourite food appeared to be the pounded yam, iyan, at which I soon became his keen accomplice. Through the same iyan, I made my first close school friend, Osiki, simply by discovering that…

8 December 1978 The storyteller and poet of our time, as in any other time, must be an entertainer of the spirit in the full sense of the word, not just a preacher of social or political ideals. There is no paradise for bored readers and no excuse for tedious literature that does not intrigue…

Heinrich Böll’s speech at the Nobel Banquet in Stockholm, December 10, 1972 (in German) Herr Ministerpräsident, meine Damen und Herren, anlässlich eines Besuchs in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland hat Seine Majestät der König von Schweden einen gelehrten Blick in die Schichten der Vergänglichkeit getan, aus der wir kommen und auf der wir wohnen. Vielleicht hat der…

German Auszug von Ansichten eines Clowns I Es war schon dunkel, als ich in Bonn ankam, ich zwang mich, meine Ankunft nicht mit der Automatik ablaufen zu lassen, die sich in fünfjährigem Unterwegssein herausgebildet hat: Bahnsteigtreppe runter, Bahnsteigtreppe rauf, Reisetasche abstellen, Fahrkarte aus der Manteltasche nehmen, Reisetasche aufnehmen, Fahrkarte abgeben, zum Zeitungsstand, Abendzeitungen kaufen, nach…

German Nobelvorlesung am 2. Mai 1973 Versuch über die vernunft der poesie Es wird von denen, die es wissen müssten, gesagt – und von anderen, die es ebenfalls wissen müssten, bestritten – dass bei etwas anscheinend so Rationalem, Berechenbarem, von Architekten, Zeichnern, Ingenieuren, Arbeitern gemeinsam Erbrachtem wie einer Brücke ein paar Millimeter bis Zentimeter Unberechenbarkeit…

English Excerpt from The Clown I It was dark by the time I reached Bonn, and I forced myself not to succumb to the series of mechanical actions which had taken hold of me in five years of traveling back and forth: down the station steps, up the station steps, put down my suitcase, take…

English Nobel Lecture on 2 May, 1973 (Translation) An Essay on the Reason of Poetry It is said by those who ought to know – and by others, who also ought to know, it is disputed – that in matters which to all appearances are rational, calculable and achieved by the combined efforts of architects,…

Artist: Gunnar Brusewitz Calligrapher: Kerstin Anckers

English François Mauriac’s speech at the Nobel Banquet at the City Hall in Stockholm, December 10, 1952. (Translation) The last subject to be touched upon by the man of letters whom you are honouring, I think, is himself and his work. But how could I turn my thoughts away from that work and that man,…