My Favourite Woman Nobel Laureate in Literature
ELSA online Meet : Sunday, 28 August 2022
August 28, 2022: Starting without delay, Prof Ghosh called
upon the Anjali to share her thoughts. The first speaker this time chose Alice
Munro as her favourite woman Nobel Laureate. Elaborating on Munro she highlighted
the lesser known facts of Munro’s life. Appreciating it as an excellent
presentation Prof Ghosh remarked on Alice Munro being apt for the award. He
reminded Alfred Nobel’s purpose to encourage ‘idealism’, a state where an
individual worked without any pressures towards the greater good; Alice Munro
fitting this frame as a woman who catered to all of her kind cutting through
intersectionality. Being apolitical, she had a formidable courage to pursue her
goals as a writer without succumbing to any ‘pulls and pushes’ that most
generally fall prey to. Agreeing and remarking on the great woman Laureate,
Saurabh added that Munro was a favourite he suggested Prof Ghosh to ‘speak on’;
however, the latter chose not to hijack anybody else’s choice.
Dr Seema Sinha was the speaker. She shared her belief of
having favourites irrespective of them being Nobel Laureates or within that too
women-ones. Confessing not having read Alice Munro, she mentioned another
‘Alice’, the Pulitzer Prize winner who she absolutely adored. Choosing against
switching her loyalties towards her favourite Toni Morrison, she added that it
is this enigmatic woman Nobel Laureate she wished to know more about. Talking
about the author’s ‘The Bluest Eye’ and its central character Pecola, Dr Sinha
shared her intense thoughts regarding them. Closing her ‘speaking’, she once
again emphasized about her favourites being out of the bubble of Nobel Prize
winners, and mentioned Margaret Atwood and Jane Austen’s writings who she found
much to her liking - Jane Austen would have won the Nobel had the writer been
in the present day and age, quipped Dr. Sinha. She also touched on various
other things one of which is ‘Anti-wokism’ that seems to be engulfing the world
in the west. Remarking on the presentation, Prof Ghosh reminded about how these
women were physically, mentally and emotionally present in the 50’s & 60’s
America; even though it took the Swedish Academy 90+ years to recognize the
Afro-American Toni Morrison, it is nevertheless did - Better late than never!
Prof Ghosh chose to speak next enlightening us as always
with his wisdom and knowledge.
Deviating from the norm of speaking on A woman Nobel
Laureate, he gave a twist to it by highlighting the WomEn Nobel Laureate in
Literature as Activists with an intention of not touching those already have
been spoken on – Selma Lagerlöf (1909), Nelly
Sachs (1966), Herta Müller (2009), Doris Lessing (2007).
Saurabh Agarwal was the next speaker. He shared his thoughts
on the 2015 Nobel Laureate for Literature - Svetlana Alexievich through two of
her books - The Unwomanly Face of
War and The Chernobyl Prayer: the
Chronicles of the Future. He also highlighted the fact that her writing
style was driven by Oral Histories that categorised her books majorly as
non-fiction; thus a rare of a kind to win the coveted Swedish Prize. Remarking
on the presentation, Prof Ghosh added that Svetlana in her acceptance speech
“…described what unfelt pain can be…”... when a woman is able to curb that
aspect of pain, it becomes certainly like a prison…Hats off! To the courage and
writing abilities displayed by anybody not just Nobel Laureate…must show respect
for such womankind…of these woman who deserve our respect.
Taking a detour at this point, Prof Ghosh shared the
attendance numbers that were low on account of several reasons – personal
commitments, health problems, pressing engagements, examinations, and a
simultaneous request to postpone the Meet. Being the special 50th
Meet of ELSA that he realized at the moment, he pointed out the dominant
representation of Women at such an auspicious occasion that had made it very
enlightening for us all – Though, not to disregard the ‘men’ presence in any way!
Jessica Joel was our next speaker and she too took the
‘popular favourite’ Toni Morrison. Highlighting different aspects of the
Author, she aired her intense thoughts on The Woman Nobel Laureate.
Agreeing with Jessica, Dr Sinha remarked about the visibility of authors from the
Afro lineage mentioning names such as the Nigerian, Chimamanda
Ngozi Adichie and the Tanzanian, Abdulrazak Gurnah.
At this point an interesting discussion on ‘Awards and
their significance’: It began with Saurabh asking - why should anybody read the
books of only Nobel Laureates? Dr Sinha added that a recently awarded
book was a difficult read for her. Another one she wondered about the choice
itself as she found it lacking the layers and nuances. Interestingly, Graham
Greene, Vikram Seth, Amitav Ghosh’s names cropped up in the discussion.
Prof Ghosh helped gain clarity on this – If a ‘writing’ can
be appreciated and enjoyed by a reader without the information of the author,
such a ‘writing’ itself would justify if selected for any award. Bringing us
away from the core of the Meet, he reminded us to forget about the politics of
Literary Prizes though it was hard to ignore this painful and shameful phase of
award buying. Sharing his own favourite authors, he said that he enjoys reading
them irrespective of them having received any award at all. And that if a book
drove him to despair of human judgement (Literary Awards) he chooses to stop
talking about it – “One cannot stop them from buying the prizes but one
can prevent oneself from plunging into such a useless discussion.” Closing this talk, Prof Ghosh quoted an
instance of the famous poet Mirza Ghalib: Ghalib goes to a publisher to follow
up on a pending publishing request. Refused by the publisher who cites lack of
market for the ‘type’, Ghalib walks out of this place. Just then he finds a
paper flying about and landing under his feet. Picking it up he realises that
one of his Compositions is written on it; coincidently at that moment he hears
the sound of his Gazal composition from the lips of a courtesan who lives in
the nearby locality. He utters “Kisi shayar ki shayari jab aam adami ke lafzon
mein hoti hai, yeh uss shayar ke liye sabse bade sukoon ki baat hai”. This can
be the learning for us all - If a writing can touch a person’s core then it is
a great writing!
Reminded us about the Meet that had stretched beyond the
two-hours time, Prof Ghosh thanked and Congratulated all - Little Mrigakshi,
Anjali, Saurabh, Dr Seema Sinha and Jessica for one of the most interesting
discussions springing from the presentations. That too on the 50th
of the ELSA Meet! -- Anjali Singh
On 28th August
2022 ELSA conducted a meet on “My Favourite Woman Nobel Laureate”. This meeting
was the special milestone in ELSA’s journey for it became the 50th of
the glorious sessions that have taken place spread over the period of six
years. As Prof. Nibir K Ghosh announced the achievement, congratulatory
messages poured in from all over. ELSA continues to be the forum that provides
the right kind of intellectual stimulation to the members and lets them express
themselves without inhibition.
This meeting was
opened by Dr. Anjali Singh’s presentation on Alice Munro’s works. The Canadian
short story writer was awarded the Nobel prize in 2013 for being “master of
contemporary short stories.” The presentation focused on the growth and
evolution of Munro over the period and how the subjects taken up by the writer
too have changed with time. Dr. Anjali mentioned how the author was focused
more on characters rather than the plot. The justification for the choice of
her favourite author arose from the fact that Munro lets the human spirit be
the center of her stories. Dr Seema Sinha talked about Toni Morrison’s The
Bluest Eye. According to Dr Sinha, Morrison is a writer of Pathos and she
delves into the harsh realities of the lives of African Americans. Comparing
Morrison to another famous author, Alice Walker, she said that the latter seeks
a path of redemption for her characters by going a step ahead of Toni Morrison.
Prof Nibir K Ghosh presented a brief survey of the prominent
figures who have figured in the list of women Nobel Laureates. First Nobel
prize for Literature to a woman author was awarded to Swedish writer Selma Lagerlöf
"in appreciation of the lofty idealism, vivid imagination and
spiritual perception that characterize her writings." Next, he spoke
of The Norwegian novelist, Sigrid Undset who won the 1929 Nobel Prize for
Literature, for "principally for her powerful descriptions of Northern life
during the Middle Ages." Nelly Sachs, a Berlin-born Jewish poet
and playwright was awarded the
Nobel prize in 1966. It was Selma Lagerlöf who was instrumental is escape
of Nelly Sachs from Nazi Germany. Dr Ghosh also mentioned the importance
of Doris Lessing and Herta Müller who won the award in 2007 and 2009
respectively. Here it is worth mentioning that Doris Lessing’s award had come
up coincidentally soon after Re-Markings had brought out a special Section on
Doris Lessing guest-edited by none other than the celebrity writer Jonah Raskin
from California about whom Lessing had endorsed Jonah Raskin’s book Mythology
of Imperialism with the words: “I wish I had a teacher like Jonah Raskin
when I was a student.”
ELSA member, Saurabh Agarwal spoke
on the Belarusian investigative journalist and writer, Svetlana Alexievich, who wrote in Russian. The
Nobel award cited her “polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and
courage in our time" as the basis for the award. Her work Chernobyl Prayers is
still relevant as we as humans have been unable to learn from the wars and the
disasters of great magnitude and those which have the potency to change the
destiny of the human race forever. Toni Morrison’s popularity was evident when
Jessica Joel spoke on the acceptance speech of the Nobel Laureate. Morrison’s
speech used the tale of the bird in hand to shift the “attention away from
assertions of power to the instrument through which that power is exercised.” Towards the end of the
meeting participants had an engaging discussion on the relevance of reading the
award-winning authors and about the pitfalls of the award systems as of the
present times. – Saurabh Agarwal
Nibir K. Ghosh
As one of the
original Nobel Prizes listed in the will of Alfred Nobel, founder of the prize,
the first Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded in 1901. The first woman writer
to receive the prize, Swedish writer Selma Lagerlöf, did so in 1909. The
longest period the Academy has ever gone without awarding a woman was from 1966
to 1991: a whopping quarter of a century. And, although women writers have been awarded the
Nobel Prize in Literature much more frequently — ten of the last 30
laureates have been women — men definitely still dominate the field.
But with the rise of
women’s voices everywhere from politics to popular culture — and given that the
2017 award was postponed specifically because 18 women raised their voices
against assault and harassment — it seemed inevitable that the Swedish Academy would celebrate
one of the numerous women writers worthy of the prize this year.
When Selma Lagerlöf (1858–1940)
became the first woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1909, no one
except her most intimate friends knew she also was making history as the first
lesbian to be given that high honor. Not
only was Selma Lagerlöf the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature,
she was also the first woman admitted into The Swedish Academy, in 1914. A
Swedish teacher and novelist, Lagerlöf’s work was influenced by her early
experiences with children’s literature and by reading the Bible cover-to-cover,
which she did at just 10-years-old. She was awarded the Nobel Prize "in appreciation
of the lofty idealism, vivid imagination and spiritual perception that
characterize her writings." From her newly acquired position of influence, Lagerlöf tried to tackle the hostility
towards female writers by
supporting nominations such as the Italian novelist Grazia Deledda who became a
Nobel winner in 1926.
Nelly Sachs
In 1966 Nelly Sachs was awarded the Nobel
prize for literature (for her “German Jewish” poetry). Growing up as a Jewish child in Germany during the
rise of the Nazis left Nelly Sachs so terrified she was unable to speak at one
point. In 1940, she fled to Sweden, a feat facilitated by another female Nobel
Laureate, Selma Lagerlöf, who is credited with saving Sachs' life. Suffering
from mental illness throughout her life, Sachs' poignant poetry became an
outlet for her paranoia and hallucinations. She was awarded the Nobel for:
"her outstanding lyrical and dramatic writing, which interprets Israel's
destiny with touching strength." Her themes are persecution and death, the
fate of the refugee, the guilt of those who escaped the Holocaust, the
martyr’s death of the beloved, birth, life and survival in spite of the horrors
experienced, living with memories of horror, God and belief. Nelly Sachs speaks
for refugees and victims of oppression and persecution throughout human history:
The
candle I have lit for you
Flickers, speaking flame language with the air,
And water drops from my eye; from the grave
I hear your dust calling to eternal life.
O
high trysting-place where poverty dwells,
If only I knew what the elements mean;
They point to you, for everything always
Points to you; all I can do is weep. - Nelly Sachs
Herta Müller,
recipient of the 2009 Nobel Prize for Literature
Herta Muller
describes the grim story of the travails of a woman writer under the brutal
Communist dictatorship of Nicolae Ceausescu in Romania:
One
day, on the way to the hairdresser, somebody suddenly grabbed me by the arm: it
was a policeman who took me to the basement of a nearby block of flats, where
three men lay in wait for me. The one who seemed to be the boss accused me,
amongst others, of being a prostitute of Arab students and that I was doing it
to be paid for in kind for cosmetics (under communism beauty products
considered inessential were absent from shops). I answered that I knew no Arab
students to which he retorted that if he wanted to he could find twenty Arab
students to testify against me. Then the slender policeman opened the door to
let me out and threw my ID card on the ground. As I bent he kicked me hard in
the back: I fell face down on the grass, behind some bushes.
This writer who
underwent ceaseless persecution and torture for refusing to conform to the
government ideology and diktat, is none other than Herta Müller, the recipient
of the 2009 Nobel Prize for Literature. Notwithstanding the controversy that
often surrounds such prestigious literary prizes, the Swedish Academy’s
decision does help to bring to light the poignant tale of repression of a
writer under Communist dictatorship in Eastern Europe. In The Land of
Green Plums Herta Müller, writes: “I sang without hearing my voice. I
fell from a fear full of doubt into a fear full of absolute certainty. I could
sing the way water sings. Maybe the tune came from my singing grandmother’s
dementia. Perhaps I knew tunes she lost when she lost her reason. Perhaps
things that lay fallow in her brain had to pass to my lips.”
Doris Lessing:
Year won: 2007
Persian-born, Rhodesian-raised
and London-residing novelist, Doris Lessing initially wrote about
politics, feminism, Communism and black-white relations and then moved on to
teach the world to value the inner
lives of those who live life on the margins. Most of her work explores the interior lives of
characters and women, the social pressures and the mental breakdowns. Of her
and her, the Swedish Academy said: "that epicist of the female experience,
who with skepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilization
to scrutiny." In a
characteristic statement, she mentions that “Any human anywhere will
blossom in a hundred unexpected talents and capacities simply by being given
the opportunity to do so.”
In her work Lessing shows how tyrants become benefactors, sadists become saints, war peace, and barbarism progress. She emphasizes the need for positive engagement with the world and prefers a delicate balancing of social responsibility and self-interest. According to her,
The New Jerusalem does not come down from heaven – it is constructed by humanity in whatever geometric shape they want. … What is a hero without love for mankind.
It was an emotional moment for the members of ELSA to celebrate Online the 50th ELSA Meet that witnessed a vibrant and heart-warming discussion on “My Favourite Woman Nobel Laureate in Literature.” Considering the fact that the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to only sixteen female authors in a span of 121 years, the session was a worthy tribute to the warriors of words who represented and articulated the agony and the anguish of struggle of, by, and for women everywhere.
with special reference to Toni Morrison
Jessica
Joel
‘We die. That may be the
meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives.’
Toni Morrison is the
first female author with African American origins who won the Nobel Prize in
literature, a truly deserved feat. In her works, she bequeaths the reader with
not only a story steamed in an enriching background, but stirs it with myriad of
emotions engulfed in multiple mental states, pours in the broth of intense
cultural insights and identities, spices up with contrasting characters
detailed to perfection, with crunchy shallots of epic themes, seasonings of
history, and the salt of her exquisite creative writing. The aroma that arises
from the pot of her story draws and entices a reader to just taste a spoonful,
and enter into the blossom of a new world that each piece of her work is.
It was just so right, for
her to win the Nobel prize in literature, not only for what her works are and
the stories they tell, but more for the voices she gave, the life she induced
into the real life ordeals of the Afro-Americans and the legacy she paved for
the ones she spoke. Her noble prize speech was a ‘fable about the power of
language to elucidate and cloud, to oppress and liberate, to honor and sully,
and to both quantify and be incapable of capturing a human experience’.
The fable is about an old black woman, perhaps a
daughter of slaves, who probably is a griot, and her reputation for wisdom goes
beyond question, she’s the law among her people, a prophet held in honour.
She’s old, blind and wise; some young people bent on exposing her fraud and clairvoyance
visit her and one of them asks, “Old woman, I hold in my hand a bird. Tell me
whether it is living or dead.”
The old woman doesn’t answer, even when the question
is repeated. She cannot see the visitors, their hand, gender, color or their
homeland, all she knows is their motive. Her long silence makes the young
people believe their victory, but she answers softly yet sternly, “I don’t know
whether the bird you are holding is dead or alive, but what I do know is that
it is in your hands. It is in your hands.”
‘Her answer can be taken
to mean: if it is dead, you have either found it that way or you have killed
it. If it is alive, you can still kill it. Whether it is to stay alive, it is
your decision. Whatever the case, it is your responsibility.’ In this statement
she reprimands the power of the young people and shifts the attention from the
assertion of power to the instrument through which that power is exercised.
With this statement, Toni
Morrison signifies the bird as the language and the blind woman as a practiced
writer. Now, being a writer, the old woman is worried how the language she was
given to at birth, the language in which she dreams is put into service or
handled, ‘Being a writer she thinks of language partly as a system, partly as a
living thing over which one has control, but mostly as agency- as an act with consequences.’
And thus, by an effort of will, language is susceptible and salvageable to
death and erasure. She believes that ‘a dead
language is not only one no longer spoken or written, it is unyielding language
content to admire its own paralysis. Like statist language, censored and
censoring. Ruthless in its policing duties, it has no desire or purpose other
than maintaining the free range of its own narcotic narcissism, its own
exclusivity and dominance.’ And, however in the last breaths of it’s journey
this language may be, it thwarts the intellect, stalling conscious and
suppressing human potential in the process, as it cannot question and thus
cannot form new ideas and thoughts to tell another story to fill the baffling
silence. She expresses that the last heaves of a language are not only to
disuse, carelessness and absence of esteem but moreover to the heedlessness of
its users and makers, equally accountable for its demise.
‘Oppressive
language does more than represent violence; it is violence; does more than
represent the limits of knowledge; it limits knowledge.’ In the hands of the
oppressor, the language is stifled and strangled, it is deformed into a sexist
language and racist language, which cannot permit learning, exchange of ideas
or new knowledge. But however moribund a language be, if given palliative care,
it is the measure of lives, of culture, of knowledge, of resources and moreover
of love and fond expressions.
Since I am
touching the first few paragraphs of Toni Morrisons Nobel Speech, I’d like to
end by saying if the bird is freed from the grapples of its oppressors, it has
wings of flight, flight to existence. And, if the shackles of language are
broken, there is new voice, new reflections and new identity in true self.
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My favourite Woman Nobel
Laureate: Alice Munro
Anjali Singh Chauhan
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My favourite Nobel
laureate is a remarkable nonagenarian woman. The detail of her works is there
in the public domain. Rather, I would like to share a bit on her background.
Confessing about self
being a person far from being political, Alice Munro aged 82 won the 2013 Nobel
Prize for Literature, the first Canadian (with the exception of Saul Bellow who
was born in Canada) and the 13th woman. When asked if she thought
she’d get it, Munro exclaims in the negative. Why? “I am a woman!”.
Recalling her earliest
memories of what initiated her into writing; Munro talks about Hans Christian
Anderson’s fairy tale “The Little Mermaid”. As a little girl, she was saddened
by the extremely unhappy and painful ending of the story. Reflecting on it, she
decided to give it a happy ending and rewrote the story. This was strictly
meant for her private self and she was delighted at it. Thereafter, she wrote
stories with happy endings only. Thereafter she read ‘Wuthering Heights’ that made her realise its
very sad and tragic ending. Influenced by it this was the point when she began
to incorporate the tragic ending to her stories as well. The subject matter of
her stories changed with the changing phases of her life – princesses to
housewives with children to old ladies. In her time and in her part of the
country women- writing was more acceptable and common then men-writing she
claims because men went outside for work while women stayed at home. Growing up
in the countryside, Munro depicted the simplicity of daily life. Munro wrote as
an activity that she enjoyed never knowing if it will see the publishing day
too. And when it did, she always intended the reader to enjoy her stories.
Often compared to ‘Chekhov’, Munro’s short stories are focused more on the
characters rather than the plot. It is the human spirit that is central to her
stories with the dilemma faced by young growing up girls living in small towns
and coming to terms with it.
She is my favourite
because I enjoy reading and re-reading her stories. I believe writing a short
story is like compressing a thought into something limited. Despite the
‘limited’, her stories leave a wide impact towards the end of it, always. Starting
it in her teenage and continuing it through the more challenging phases of her
life, including the rejection from publishers, the wall of responsibilities of
marriage and motherhood, she never stopped writing. This aspect of hers has truly
been the inspiration for me over the past years of my hectic life wherein I too
have continued writing, though of a different kind.
