The Noble Prize for Lit

Odds posted for 2009.

Awesome. Why do you suppose Oates's odds are better than Roth's? I always assumed Roth was the American front-runner.

Can't believe they're not quoting a price on Nick Hornby.

Awesome. Why do you suppose Oates's odds are better than Roth's? I always assumed Roth was the American front-runner.

my ill informed guess=because she's a woman?

Oates covers a wider swathe of territory?

not really

unless territory you mean plays and stories instead of just novels

I thought it was a "lol you fat" joke.

she's super skinny though--her picture in the NY Times magazine made her look anorexic. but nice try, fatty.

I'm surprised that Mamet and Caryl Churchill aren't on the list. Both pretty much revolutionized their medium, in different ways.

xpost

I know, that was the joke.

I'm a big Caryl Churchill fan but I feel like she's maybe a bit overlooked nowadays?

joyce carol bloates

Eazy, did you know that M@tt Pr13st played Betty in Cloud Nine in college?

Le Clézio, who won last year, was ver low on the odds list.

so maybe Vargas Llosa actually has better chances than Oz,for example.

Bob Dylan 25/1

lol.

Presumably based on mug bets from aging stoners.

Didn't know that, Jaymc -- I would like to have seen that.

Dylan's not the craziest choice.

dan brown 1000/1

Over someone like Achebe? Seems like a pretty crazy choice.

its been a long time since a poet won..

There's no trend or information that can help anyone predict the winner, other than knowing the type of writer who would win a prize like this. Beyond that the decision might as well be random.

heads 2/1
tails 3/1

"the type of writer who would win a prize like this"

with awareness to social problems, and zero offense to anyone on his/her writings

Was Doris Lessing a controversial choice?

Apparently dylan is mentioned every year because there's some guy on the nobel committee who is a huge fan. But he never wins, which is a drag.

"Beyond that the decision might as well be random."

unless the committee who choose the winner also take bets...(conspiracy lol)

"Mary Gordon, fellas! We'll all get rich!"

I'd've thought Rushdie would be a shoo-in eventually, he wins every other critics' poll. Might fall down on offence grounds, granted.

it's been a long time since Rushdie published a really great book

I kind of think it would be interesting for someone to win who not a novelist, poet or dramatist. Like an essayist or a historian or a lyricist or a screenwriter. Just to spice things up a bit. I guess they used to award it to non-fiction writers in ye olden days.

I once got into an argument with an ex because I was adamant that morrissey should win the nobel prize.

What for though?

I'm surprised that Murakami's that high, but perhaps stuff like his writing on the gas attacks (and the as-yet-untranslated work) are making it more plausible.

Orhan Panuk won, and he REALLY offends the Turkish (or at least their govt)

With how many of the writers on that odds list have you been in the same room? (I count only seven.)

There are 61 listed, by my count.

In the unlikely event of a William H Gass win, expect to see the headline "Nobel Gass."

Peter Handke

Had totally forgotten about this guy. Wonder what he's been up to in the last couple of decades.

Hmmm, seems like like he's been making a total douche of himself in Serbia.

And it's Herta Muller.

Don't remember what her odds were -- the Ladbrokes page is no longer online.

Also, I didn't see the typo in this thread title last week!

German novelist Herta Müller wins 2009 Nobel literature prize

Better to pick her than just chucking the money into the dustbin, or giving it to a puppy for a chew toy.

As of yesterday, Muller was tied for 4th place in the odds with Philip Roth at 7/1. Apparently she'd been moving up strongly in the past few days, so perhaps there was some insider betting?

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Countdown-to-Literature-Nobel-Amos-Oz-Mahasweta-Devi-Odds-are/articleshow/5097710.cms

How does the prize actually get picked? How many insiders are there?

Heiner Müller was robbed.

It's picked by the Swedish Academy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_Academy

18 members, but 1 seat is currently vacant. I'm not sure the mechanism of voting, who counts the votes, who would be in a position to know the outcome, etc.

Well one of them must be the mole. It's a bit suspicious that Knut Ahnlund and Kerstin Ekman had already posted their alibis.