The Swedish Academy is investigating a bus ring that should have been made in connection with the announcement of the Nobel Laureate in literature.
"We have ordered logs for our phones so that we know if the call was actually made in the house or if anyone outside has made it look like it was made here," Permanent Secretary Mats Malm writes in an e-mail to Sweden's Radio Culture News .
Banville tells the Irish Times that in about 40 minutes, he thought he had won the Nobel Prize in literature after receiving a phone call from someone who said he was calling from the Swedish Academy. According to Banville, "the conversation seems to have come from the Academy office".
"Thought I'd put on a stage"
After the real Nobel laureates were announced, the same man who called the first time left a message on his answering machine saying that the prize was "withdrawn".
When he called back the number in question, he ended up at the Swedish Academy Office.
- I have a clear impression that I was not the target here. I think he assumed that I would believe him and that I would put up with a big scene in the media and say that this is yet another brawl within the committee, "John Banville told the Irish Times.
Banville says he suspects someone wanted to portray the Swedish Academy in bad days.
According to the Irish Times, John Banville says he can see "the humor of the situation". Banville has previously won the Man Booker Prize.