China News Service, October 6 (Chen Caixia) According to the official website of the Nobel Prize, on October 6, Beijing time, the 2022 Nobel Prize in Literature was announced.

French writer Annie Ernaux won.

　　"With courage and keen insight, she uncovers the roots, estrangements and collective limitations of personal memory," the Swedish Academy's award speech said.

The official website of the Nobel Prize pointed out that in her writing, Ernault always looked at life with huge differences in gender, language and class from different angles, and her creative road was long and arduous.

Image source: Screenshot of the official website of the Nobel Prize

About the Nobel Prize in Literature

　　On November 27, 1895, the famous Swedish chemist Alfred Bernhard Nobel proposed in his will to set up five fields of reward, and he placed literature as the fourth place.

Nobel said in his will that part of the prize should be awarded to "a prize to the person who has produced the best work in the literary world with ideal tendencies".

　　The Nobel Prize in Literature was first awarded on December 10, 1901, the fifth anniversary of Nobel's death.

From the first edition to the French writer Sully Prudhomme until 2021, there are 118 winners.

Famous writers such as Yeats, Romain Rolland, Marquez, Bernard Shaw and Hemingway have all won this award.

　　Because of the war or the lack of suitable candidates, the award has been withheld several times or postponed to the following year.

In 2018, due to a scandal, the Swedish Academy fell into an unprecedented crisis, and was finally forced to cancel because the review work could not continue.

The Nobel Prize in Literature is not just an award

　　The Nobel Prize has always served as a wind vane.

Winning not only makes the writer famous and multiplies the sales of the winning work, but also directs attention to areas or regions that have been overlooked in the past.

　　The works of Abdul Razak Gurna, winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature, were not translated into Chinese at all before his award.

In a test on the Nobel Prize official website, 95% of nearly 2,000 netizens have not read his works.

But Gurner, as "the first African to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in nearly 20 years," has sparked more attention to African literature.

FILE PHOTO: Abdul Razak Gurna.

　　Born in Tanzania in 1948, Gurna arrived in the UK as a refugee in his early 20s and has since settled in the UK to start writing in English.

Reflections on the experience, identity, memory of exile and cultural alienation and identity of refugees are the themes of his literary creation.

　　Gurner's winning novel is Paradise, written in English.

The award given by the Swedish Academy is: "With his uncompromising and compassionate vision, he has seen the impact of colonialism and the fate of refugees in the divide between different cultural continents."

　　Among the 118 Nobel Prize winners in literature so far, European writers account for more than 70%, and very few winners from Asia and Africa.

Ellen Mattson, a 2021 jury member, said the Nobel Prize in Literature "is now increasingly channelled through foreign experts to direct our attention to linguistic or geographic areas that have been overlooked in the past."

The Nobel Prize is also a shackle, creating a luxury

　　For many writers, the Nobel Prize for Literature is like a sudden spotlight, putting their lives in the public eye, bringing attention and trouble at the same time.

　　In 1968, Yasunari Kawabata won the Nobel Prize in Literature for his works "Snow Country", "Thousand Cranes" and "Ancient Capital", becoming the first writer in the history of Japanese literature to win this honor.

When he heard the news of the award, his first reaction was to panic and say to his wife: "It's amazing, hide it somewhere!" "Honor and status are an obstacle, and I hope to get rid of all honors and be free. "The literary giant ended up committing suicide.

　　The same troubles also tormented British writer Doris Lessing. After winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2007, her peaceful writing life was completely disrupted.

Winning the Nobel Prize for Literature "was a disaster," she said, and she may not be able to continue writing.

"Now all I do is give interviews and take pictures."

　　There are people throughout history who refuse to accept awards.

In 1964, the famous French writer Sartre won the Nobel Prize for Literature, and then he immediately wrote a letter asking to cancel the decision, otherwise he would refuse to receive it.

Sartre believed that a writer's political, social, and literary standing should be earned only by his own tools, the words he wrote, and that any credit he might get would put pressure on the reader.

This is what he doesn't want.

On May 3, 2021, readers borrow books at the General Library of the San Francisco Public Library in California, the United States.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Liu Guanguan

After the Nobel Prize fever, is literature still lonely?

　　Every year the Nobel Prize for Literature is a highly anticipated existence. Pure literature gets the most attention and exposure at this moment, but what about after the "highlight moment"?

　　According to a survey by Gallup, an American public opinion consulting agency, in 2021, American adults will read an average of 12.6 books, the lowest since 1990.

Among them, the number of adults reading is 2 to 3 less than the annual average from 2001 to 2016, and 17% of adults will not read a book in 2021.

　　In the era of the Internet, the acquisition of information is only a glimpse, and people need to calm down and read.

Mo Yan once said: "Literary works have no direct effect on social change. It is impossible to prevent wars, and it is impossible to return stolen bags to the owner. But literary works have a subtle influence on people, about the soul, about the soul."

　　As a poetic call and a reminder to read, will you pay more attention to literature after the Nobel Prize for Literature?

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