"reduced public confidence"
May 4, 2018 9:37 PM Subscribe
"Man with Swedish Academy ties accused of sexual assault." Jean-Claude Arnault, who has been accused of several cases of sexual assault, has now also leaked several Nobel Prize winners in literature.
The Nobel Prize scandal rocking Sweden had led to the 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature being postponed until 2019.
Delar av utredningen mot ”kulturprofilen” läggs ned
7 saker du behöver veta om krisen i Svenska Akademien
The Nobel Prize scandal rocking Sweden had led to the 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature being postponed until 2019.
Delar av utredningen mot ”kulturprofilen” läggs ned
7 saker du behöver veta om krisen i Svenska Akademien
I do feel a bit weird that a dude's wife is essentially being punished for his harrassment. I've read a bit about it, and it still seems to be that she didn't actually do anything wrong?
posted by smoke at 9:50 PM on May 4, 2018
posted by smoke at 9:50 PM on May 4, 2018
Well, if he was leaking winners she must have told him
posted by msalt at 9:51 PM on May 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by msalt at 9:51 PM on May 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
A vote was put to academy members over whether to exclude his wife – notable poet Katarina Frostenson - from the academy, but the majority voted she stay on.
Ah, I understood she had actually resigned.
posted by smoke at 9:58 PM on May 4, 2018
Ah, I understood she had actually resigned.
posted by smoke at 9:58 PM on May 4, 2018
They should just give the prize to whoever should have gotten it last year. It’s like the committee went out drinking and woke up the next day to find they’d chosen Bob Dylan, and nobody could remember why.
They were all like
“But he’s not even in the literatüre büsiness.
I know düde, I can never make out what the fück he is singing. Plus he hasn’t written a new song in like forever.
I’m wondering if his songs even have proper lyrics or if it’s a Cocteau Twins gibberish thing. Tell me we didn’t just hand out the first Nobel Prize for Gibberish. Fück.”
posted by w0mbat at 11:29 PM on May 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
They were all like
“But he’s not even in the literatüre büsiness.
I know düde, I can never make out what the fück he is singing. Plus he hasn’t written a new song in like forever.
I’m wondering if his songs even have proper lyrics or if it’s a Cocteau Twins gibberish thing. Tell me we didn’t just hand out the first Nobel Prize for Gibberish. Fück.”
posted by w0mbat at 11:29 PM on May 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
It's like with Dylan the Academy said "fuck you, books."
And now with the sexo-financial scandal it's like, "No, fuck you, books."
posted by chavenet at 1:02 AM on May 5, 2018
And now with the sexo-financial scandal it's like, "No, fuck you, books."
posted by chavenet at 1:02 AM on May 5, 2018
I believe it’s official that no Nobel will be awarded at all this year?
This is truly the Darkest Timeline
posted by Faintdreams at 2:15 AM on May 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
This is truly the Darkest Timeline
posted by Faintdreams at 2:15 AM on May 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
edeezy: I tried to put an FPP together about this a couple weeks ago when the scandal was breaking, but most of the best sources then and now are in Swedish
When I land on a page that's not in English, Chrome automatically asks me if I'd like the page translated into English. I don't know if other browsers do this, but I have to imagine that they do. I don't think it would hurt the Majority MeFi Membership to read translated pages from time to time; even if the translations aren't perfect, we can probably figure it out. Most of us who would be interested enough in the first place are very likely to be the kind of people who dig checking out how an unfamiliar language works anyway.
and I couldn't figure out how to frame it well.
Can't help you there.
posted by tzikeh at 3:47 AM on May 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
When I land on a page that's not in English, Chrome automatically asks me if I'd like the page translated into English. I don't know if other browsers do this, but I have to imagine that they do. I don't think it would hurt the Majority MeFi Membership to read translated pages from time to time; even if the translations aren't perfect, we can probably figure it out. Most of us who would be interested enough in the first place are very likely to be the kind of people who dig checking out how an unfamiliar language works anyway.
and I couldn't figure out how to frame it well.
Can't help you there.
posted by tzikeh at 3:47 AM on May 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
Of all the things going to shit right now, I wouldn't have expected the Nobels to be one of them.
posted by tommasz at 5:15 AM on May 5, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by tommasz at 5:15 AM on May 5, 2018 [3 favorites]
Of all the things going to shit right now, I wouldn't have expected the Nobels to be one of them.
I mean, it's not that surprising. Small group of privileged people with outsize influence ...in the arts? Those places are usually a rats' nest.
posted by leotrotsky at 5:50 AM on May 5, 2018 [9 favorites]
I mean, it's not that surprising. Small group of privileged people with outsize influence ...in the arts? Those places are usually a rats' nest.
posted by leotrotsky at 5:50 AM on May 5, 2018 [9 favorites]
I bet Junot Diaz is pissed.
posted by Etrigan at 6:02 AM on May 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Etrigan at 6:02 AM on May 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
The protest against the Academy had pretty remarkable turnout (though 1/4 the Swedish population does live in the Stockholm metro area).
Among the incestuous angles to this scandal (unavoidable in a relatively small country, I suppose) is that not only is the King, as patron of the Academy, ruling on its management with his own daughter a cited victim (of a groping at a formal event), but she is herself to be Queen Regnant and take over as patron some day. Also, the law firm handling the review was founded by Peder Hammarskiöld, who is a nephew of the late lamented UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld -- a onetime Academy member himself (not to mention a Peace Prize recipient, but that is determined by a Norwegian committee and thus only incidentally connected through Alfred Nobel and his money).
Note that one of the best stories about Hammarskjöld is that he did not seek nomination as Secretary-General and apparently initially believed that he was the victim of an April Fool's prank.
I do believe the world can live until next year and the sorting out of the going forward, and still don't understand the snark about Dylan's win (which probably says much about the generational age of the Academy, TBH). It's also pretty shocking that a country on the forefront of consent issues, including one of the most finely tuned rape laws on the planet, should have a central institution foundering (if temporarily) like this.
posted by dhartung at 10:13 AM on May 5, 2018 [3 favorites]
Among the incestuous angles to this scandal (unavoidable in a relatively small country, I suppose) is that not only is the King, as patron of the Academy, ruling on its management with his own daughter a cited victim (of a groping at a formal event), but she is herself to be Queen Regnant and take over as patron some day. Also, the law firm handling the review was founded by Peder Hammarskiöld, who is a nephew of the late lamented UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld -- a onetime Academy member himself (not to mention a Peace Prize recipient, but that is determined by a Norwegian committee and thus only incidentally connected through Alfred Nobel and his money).
Note that one of the best stories about Hammarskjöld is that he did not seek nomination as Secretary-General and apparently initially believed that he was the victim of an April Fool's prank.
I do believe the world can live until next year and the sorting out of the going forward, and still don't understand the snark about Dylan's win (which probably says much about the generational age of the Academy, TBH). It's also pretty shocking that a country on the forefront of consent issues, including one of the most finely tuned rape laws on the planet, should have a central institution foundering (if temporarily) like this.
posted by dhartung at 10:13 AM on May 5, 2018 [3 favorites]
This year's prize will be given next year, when there will be two winners.
Heard a Swedish publisher on NPR. Asked who should have won, she had a great suggestion: Margaret Atwood.
posted by msalt at 11:41 AM on May 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
Heard a Swedish publisher on NPR. Asked who should have won, she had a great suggestion: Margaret Atwood.
posted by msalt at 11:41 AM on May 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
The Swedish Academy and the Illusions of the Nobel Prize in Literature
A man manipulating his cultural prestige to sinister ends, a scapegoated woman made to take the fall, literary squabbling and backstabbing galore: the Nobel scandal is truly a story for our times, though details like the flummoxed king and the arcane quorum procedure give it the sheen of fiction.
posted by chavenet at 12:48 PM on May 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
A man manipulating his cultural prestige to sinister ends, a scapegoated woman made to take the fall, literary squabbling and backstabbing galore: the Nobel scandal is truly a story for our times, though details like the flummoxed king and the arcane quorum procedure give it the sheen of fiction.
posted by chavenet at 12:48 PM on May 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
Junot Diaz has other problems.
thatsthejoke.gif
posted by Etrigan at 1:41 PM on May 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
thatsthejoke.gif
posted by Etrigan at 1:41 PM on May 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
This particular scandal has been a long time coming. Arnault's sexual harassment first became public knowledge in 1997. It was brought up again last year and Sara Danius, who was permanent secretary, had the matter investigated by a law firm. She seems to have resisted having Arnault's wife, Katarina Frostensson, expelled from the Academy. That triggered the first set of withdrawals. Many of the remaining Academicians blamed the whole thing on Danius and she saw no option other than to resign her position as permanent secretary and withdraw. Her closest ally, Sara Stridsberg, withdrew as well, as well as Frostensson. By then there was no longer quorum within the Academy and the jig was up, though it seems like the remaining Academicians were trying to keep things going as if nothing had happened but the Nobel Foundation, which is the umbrella organization for all the Nobel prizes, told them to postpone it a year.
My read on this is that what turned it from a major but local scandal into an absolute catastrophy for the Swedish Academy was that there was already tension between an old guard and a those who wanted things to change. Danius was the leader of that second group. The old guard saw their opportunity to take control of the Academy but seem to have completely miscalculated how it would be received by the wider public. Danius was widely seen as a victim and people all over Sweden, including the culture minister, wore her trademark knytblus (pussy-bow blouse) in protest.
Whatever it is that the old guard wanted, they're probably not going to get it as it is now probably necessary to replace eight out of the eighteen members of the Swedish Academy. This will inevitably cause significant changes to the Academy. The group that remains is old, with an average age of 72. And that includes two members who are 44 and 58. Take them out and the average age is 77. The average age of the group that has left is 60 (that includes one 87 year old, without him it's 56). The eight new members of the Academy will be made up of people who will probably be a lot like the group that left, and won't be steeped in the ways of the Academy.
It's always difficult to predict what the ultimate outcome of an institutional shakeup will be, but unless the double award next year turns out to be a disaster (e.g. both laureates refuse the prize) it will probably hold its place as the preeminent global literary award and in a few years the scandal will probably be largely forgotten. Hopefully the new Academicians will make good decisions. Throughout its history, the Swedish Academy has gotten a lot more choices right than wrong, but it has had some major blind spots, most notably only giving it to fourteen women since 1901. I'm hoping that the Swedish Academy will, in the future, have fewer blind spots while continuing its excellent track record.
posted by Kattullus at 2:02 PM on May 5, 2018 [11 favorites]
My read on this is that what turned it from a major but local scandal into an absolute catastrophy for the Swedish Academy was that there was already tension between an old guard and a those who wanted things to change. Danius was the leader of that second group. The old guard saw their opportunity to take control of the Academy but seem to have completely miscalculated how it would be received by the wider public. Danius was widely seen as a victim and people all over Sweden, including the culture minister, wore her trademark knytblus (pussy-bow blouse) in protest.
Whatever it is that the old guard wanted, they're probably not going to get it as it is now probably necessary to replace eight out of the eighteen members of the Swedish Academy. This will inevitably cause significant changes to the Academy. The group that remains is old, with an average age of 72. And that includes two members who are 44 and 58. Take them out and the average age is 77. The average age of the group that has left is 60 (that includes one 87 year old, without him it's 56). The eight new members of the Academy will be made up of people who will probably be a lot like the group that left, and won't be steeped in the ways of the Academy.
It's always difficult to predict what the ultimate outcome of an institutional shakeup will be, but unless the double award next year turns out to be a disaster (e.g. both laureates refuse the prize) it will probably hold its place as the preeminent global literary award and in a few years the scandal will probably be largely forgotten. Hopefully the new Academicians will make good decisions. Throughout its history, the Swedish Academy has gotten a lot more choices right than wrong, but it has had some major blind spots, most notably only giving it to fourteen women since 1901. I'm hoping that the Swedish Academy will, in the future, have fewer blind spots while continuing its excellent track record.
posted by Kattullus at 2:02 PM on May 5, 2018 [11 favorites]
Okay, perhaps I am particularly dense, but why would the fact that Junot Diaz is being accused of sexual harassment, and the fact that a guy who's leaked winner names and is married to a member of the Academy is being accused of sexual harassment, make Diaz angry?
posted by tzikeh at 2:02 PM on May 5, 2018
posted by tzikeh at 2:02 PM on May 5, 2018
The first link never names him, just refers to him as the Artistic Director. Why?
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 4:27 PM on May 5, 2018
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 4:27 PM on May 5, 2018
It pisses me the hell off that they’ve been paeudonyming him as “cultural profile”, why not call him “cultural scumbag” or “cultural sleaze” or “cultural dirty old man”. Cultural profile is pretty much a fucking compliment.
posted by Iteki at 6:29 AM on May 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Iteki at 6:29 AM on May 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
What the hell is a "cultural profile" when it means some kind of person? A cultural profile might be something a person has, not something a person is.
How am I so lost in a very simple thread?
posted by tzikeh at 7:51 AM on May 6, 2018
How am I so lost in a very simple thread?
posted by tzikeh at 7:51 AM on May 6, 2018
It’s a bad translation on my annoyed behalf. It’s a noun you can use about a person in Swedish. “High profile person within the cultural establishment” would be the more accurate but less bite-sized translation I suppose.
posted by Iteki at 8:58 AM on May 6, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Iteki at 8:58 AM on May 6, 2018 [2 favorites]
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posted by msalt at 9:48 PM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]