Sharp international criticism following the election of Handke: Outrageous!

Danish Politics Literature Editor Jes Stein Pedersen writes that the Nobel Committee wants to provoke the choice of a "controversial Austrian" in Peter Handke. With a "progressive Polish feminist" and a "politically tone-deaf intellectual", the Swedish Academy has reaffirmed its mandate to award prizes to great literature, he states.

Much of the criticism directed at both the Swedish Academy and Peter Handke is rooted in the fact that during the 1990s the author took a stand for Serbia in the Yugoslav war.

Among other things, he expressed his support for the Serbian politician Slobodan Milošević, and was offered to testify in his favor when he was brought before the UN Criminal Tribunal for Crimes against Humanity. Handke also spoke at Milošević's funeral in 2006.

One of the critics is Serbian author Sasa Ilic:

“The first thing I think about is Slobodan Milošević's funeral and his speech and all the things he did during the war in the former Yugoslavia. I think it has excluded Peter Handke forever as a potential candidate for a literary award of this rank, "he tells Slobodna Europe.

Even Kosovo's ambassador to the United States, Vlora Citaku, is sharply critical of the election of Peter Handke, on Twitter she calls it "outrageous".

In another tweet, she writes: "In a world full of brilliant writers, the Nobel Committee chooses to reward someone who spreads ethnic hatred and violence - something has gone terribly wrong."

At the same time, Serbian author Dragan Velikic believes that both the Nobel Prize ended up in the right hands.

- I am glad that Olga Tokarczuk, who is a really good writer, received the award. This year, the choices are satisfactory for all literary connoisseurs, "Dragan Velikic told Slobodna Europe and continues:

- When it comes to political reactions for Handke, it will surely come. I think it will please him. He is such a man. "

British author Hari Kunzru also responds similarly, writing on twitter:

“I was on the jury deciding to give the Olga Tokarczuk Man Booker Prize. I teach about Handke, but I'm always careful to tell my students that by holding a memorial at the murder of Milošević, he should not be able to win. "

Anne Applebaum, American writer and columnist at the Washington Post, writes on Twitter that Olga Tokarczuk is awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature:

“Just a few years ago, Piotr Gliński, Poland's Minister of Culture - the same man who destroys Polish museums and cultural institutions - boasted never having read Olga Tokarczuk's books. Now she has received the Nobel Prize ”.