And the Nobel Prize for Literature Goes To...

I always get a little excited in the days before the Nobel Prize for Literature is announced. I am not quite sure what I wish for each year: that one of my favorite authors will win? that a woman author will win? that I will learn about a new author? (I definitely do wish that more women had won the prize over the years.) Every year when the news comes, there is a range of reactions among journalists, critics, and readers, from "Finally! Hurray!" to "Oh no, not him!" to "Who???" I, like many readers, often have not heard of, or have only barely heard of, some of the winners. In a way, this is good, as it stretches my knowledge. But it is also humbling; as much as I read, there are so many great authors around the world that I still don't know. This year's winner, Tomas Transtromer, is a Swedish poet I have heard of but have never read. Because there have been so many European winners, and because the prize is awarded by the Swedish Academy, the Nobel Prize committee is a bit sensitive about having chosen a Swede. But there seems to be a general agreement that the prize is well deserved, and that at 80 years old, Transtromer's turn had come. His poetry is described as accessible and international. According to The New York Times, John Freeman, editor of Granta, said that Transtromer "is to Sweden what Robert Frost was to America." Much of his work has been translated into English by his friend and fellow poet, Robert Bly; his work has also been edited and translated by American poet Robert Hass. I think it is time to find and read some of Transtromer's poetry.