The 2019 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the Austrian writer Peter Handke (born 1942) "for an influential work that with linguistic ingenuity has explored the periphery and the specificity of human experience." The prize was announced by the Swedish Academy on 10 October 2019. Handke is the second Austrian Nobel laureate in Literature after Elfriede Jelinek, who won the prize in 2004.
Laureate
Peter Handke is one of the most influential writers in Europe after the Second World War. His bibliography contains novels, essays, note books, dramatic works and screenplays. Already in the 1960s, Handke set his mark on the literary scene. He distanced himself from prevailing demands on community-oriented and political positions. His works are filled with a strong desire to discover and to bring his discoveries to life by finding new literary expressions for them. One of his books is Wunschloses Unglück ("A Sorrow Beyond Dreams", 1972), written after his mother's suicide. Among his important works are Publikumsbeschimpfung ("Offending the Audience", 1966), Die Angst des Tormanns beim Elfmeter ("The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick, 1970), Die linkshändige Frau ("The Left-Handed Woman", 1976), and Die morawische Nacht ("The Moravian Nights", 2008).
Reactions
Personal reactions
Interviewed by Adam Smith, Chief Scientific Officer of Nobel Media, Handke described a sense of inexplicable freedom on hearing the news, the fact that he felt the need for another metamorphosis and discusses ways in which his writing brought him the most fulfilment. Asked what drives him to write productively and explore many genres, he responded saying:
International reactions
The decision of the Nobel Committee to award Handke a Nobel Prize in literature in 2019 was denounced internationally by a variety of public and academic intellectuals, writers and journalists. Criticism focuses on the writer's view on the breakup of Yugoslavia and Yugoslav Wars, which has been described as pro-Serbian, his support of the late Slobodan Milošević, and Bosnian genocide denial. The high-profile figures who decried the decision of the Swedish Academy include individuals such as Deborah Lipstadt, Holocaust historian, who in her letter published in The New York Times wrote that the Nobel committee has awarded Handke a platform which "he does not deserve and the public does not need him to have", adding that such platform could convince some that his "false claims must have some legitimacy"; Jonathan Littell, who said "he might be a fantastic artist, but as a human being he is my enemy – he’s an asshole"; Miha Mazzini, who said that "some artists sold their human souls for ideologies (Hamsun and Nazism), some for hate (Céline and his rabid antisemitism), some for money and power (Kusturica) but the one that offended me the most was Handke with his naivety for the Milošević regime. ... I found him cruel and totally self-absorbed in his naivety"; Hari Kunzru, who said that Handke is "a troubling choice for a Nobel committee" and that he is "a fine writer, who combines great insight with shocking ethical blindness"; Salman Rushdie, who also criticized Handke's support for wartime Serbia in 1999; and Slavoj Žižek, Aleksandar Hemon, Bora Ćosić, and others.
The award was met with negative criticism in Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Croatia, and Turkey, resulting in public statements of disapproval. Expressing "deep regret", the decision was condemned by PEN America, PEN England and Wales, PEN Norway, PEN Bosnia and Herzegovina, and PEN Croatia. A group of demonstrators protested against the writer when he arrived to receive the prize. Mothers of Srebrenica protested against the award with messages to oppose the "spreading lies", while Women – Victims of War association from Republika Srpska organized a rally in Stockholm in support of Handke, saying that they support all people "who speak accurately and correctly and who think with their head".
PEN International issued the following statement from its President Jennifer Clement in response to the awarding of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Literature: