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Due to its political nature, the Nobel peace prize has often attracted numerous controversies. Now it seems that even the Nobel literature prize award will also ruffle a few feathers and invite criticism. The award this year has been given to Austrian-born author Peter Handke, seen as a controversial figure for his support to former Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic.
Handke has been a staunch denier of the Srebrenica massacre in which more than 8000 Bosnian Muslims were killed by Serb soldiers, making it the worst atrocity on European soil since World War II. Hardke also condemned NATO intervention in Serbia and earned widespread ire when he claimed that Muslims staged their own massacres and then blamed them on the Serbs.
Milosevic died in 2006 while undergoing trial for war crimes and genocide at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Prior to that Handke was summoned to testify in his favour but declined and instead attended as a spectator. He eventually attended Milosevic’s funeral and gave a controversial speech in favour of the notorious Serbian leader.
Ever since, Handke has caused a stir and courted controversy numerous times. In 2005, a literary award based in Dusseldorf was withdrawn, while in 2014 there were calls for the jury to resign after Handke was awarded the Ibsen Award. The writer was met with protests when he went to collect the award in Oslo. It is also surprising to note that Handke himself called for the Nobel literature prize to be abolished but has now accepted.
The Nobel Prize for Literature seems to be garnering criticism every year. Last year, the Swedish Academy overseeing the award suspended it after a sexual assault scandal. This had led to reduced public confidence in the awarding body. Now after surviving the scandal, the academy has invited yet another controversy in awarding Handke.
Alfred Nobel, in whose memory these awards are given, said that the prize in literature should be given to those who have produced the most outstanding work in an ‘ideal direction’. In awarding Handke, the Nobel committee endorsed an apologist of a war criminal. Dissent and difference of opinion should be accepted but sympathizers of brutal atrocities cannot be rewarded.
The Literature award tends to have a more Euro-centric perspective and needs to look around the world. It also appears to favour men as there have only been fifteen women winners so far. The academy must restore its tarnished reputation or it may lose its prestige and credibility.
