As the World Goes, So Goes the Nobel

I guess we can't blame the Europeans. They're only saying what I've been thinking for many years. That is, America is provincial when you stack it up against the most sophisticated nations of the world.

Of course, much depends upon the category one is measuring. We fare better on some scores than others. The thing is, the areas where we come off pretty pitifully—and they are growing all the time—color the areas where we are not all that unsophisticated. And, yes, literature would be one of those.

What prompts this line of thought is the recent naming of French writer Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio as the 2008 Nobel literature laureate and the column by David L. Ulin placed in the LA Times, front page and center (Friday, Oct 10). David is the editor of the respected Times' Book Review and he quotes the Swedish Academy's permanent secretary Horace Engdahl as saying American literary culture is "too isolated, too insular." Presumably he means too much of those qualities to qualify for the Nobel.

He is right. We are isolated and insular. Mostly because of our own actions but also because of something we can't help. With the Canadians and Mexicans, we are a continent bordered by two vast oceans. One of those countries that makes up that continent speaks the same language (or very nearly!) that we do. Many of us make an effort to know more about other countries. We travel, or at least we want to. However, when one is physically isolated, travel is expensive. I read not too long ago that fewer than 20% of our population hold passports.

We try to learn foreign languages but our schools don't much cooperate with us on that. Their woeful neglect is probably part of our insularity. We really don't need another language to function, but that attitude further isolates us. I might mention there are pockets of the US where many speak at least one additional language. Our states that border Mexico do pretty well on that count, if only because we have so many Spanish-speaking immigrants living in those areas. Many in Utah speak a second language because of the Mormon church's missionary program. That makes that state a prime target for recruiters from American businesses that do business overseas. It might behoove our school systems to take note of that economic advantage.

Then there's the environment. We elect public officials who are far more interested in protecting businesses that pollute than they are in protecting our health, our future or in joining the rest of the world in their efforts. Obviously, on that short-sighted count we know way more than the rest of the world. And if that isn't an insular attitude, I don't know what is.

And then there's the attitude our government projects regarding most anything from how people plan their families to what government they should embrace. Because we think we know so much about how other people live we tend to get ourselves into a lot of wars we can't afford.

And that, in turn (because we are the economic powerhouse of the world), is now bringing down other economies like dominoes.

So can we blame others for looking askance at us? But here's the thing. Our greatest literature is not written by politicians. It is written by our best and most talented thinkers. They are the ones in charge of what we offer to the world in terms of literature. If the Nobel committee could see past their arguments, arguments like we don't translate enough or write about cultures outside our borders enough, they might discover that we have enough cultural diversity within our borders to satisfy the pickiest of critics on that count. We have Texas, the South, the Quaker and Mormon communities, small towns, border towns, areas that attract Jews and Muslims and so many Little Tokyos, Little Armenias and Chinatowns we could qualify as a small Europe on our own. We even have New Mexico where indigenous Indian tribes still prosper and where Le Clezio himself chooses to spend time.

If there is any organization or committee in the world that should not let prejudices cloud its decision making process, I should think it should be the Nobel. I guess I'd like to see Philip Roth get that prize that he has lobbied for. Or, though Ulin doesn't seem to think she is good enough, Joyce Carol Oates. But for that to happen, the Nobel committee will have to look beyond the brushstrokes our politicians (mostly) have painted us with and take a good hard look at what and who America is—at its heart.

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