At UNILAG, scholars question validity of Nobel Prize for Literature

The award of the Nobel Prize for Literature to American songwriter and singer, Bob Dylan has continued to raise a lot of questions world over. Last week, the Department of English, University of Lagos, hosted a debate on the issue.

A Book, Bob Dylan As The Very Best, published in 1993 about his songs, put to music, underscores the fact that he is a musician not a poet, though his music has a lot of poetic qualities.

Adam Kirsch, a poet and critic, elaborating on the above point wrote, to be a Nobel Laureate, however, is to allow ‘people’ to define who one is, to become an object and a public figure rather than a free individual. The Nobel Prize is, in fact, the ultimate example of bad faith: A small group of Swedish critics pretend to be the voice of God, and the public pretends that the Nobel winner is Literature incarnate. All this pretending is the opposite of the true spirit of literature, which lives only in personal encounters between the reader and the writer.

Head of English Department University of Lagos, Prof. Hope Eghagha argued that there was a great deal of politics in the award. Prior to Dylan’s acceptance of the award on Saturday, October 29, Eghagha had said that some awardees in the past rejected the award. In 1958, Russian writer, Morris Pascal rejected it saying, “Considering the meaning of the award in the society, which I belong, I must reject this Nobel Prize, which has been given to me.”

Many argued that Dylan may not have been the winner of the prize, thus the debate posed the question, ‘was the Swedish Academy reacting to the allegation and accusation of conservatism? Or were they returning to the original root of poetry? “To give a lyricist a literary prize is to radically confirm what we know as literature. We ask, should there be a Nobel Prize for song writing?”

The don argued that it might be improper to stick to the traditional meaning of literature. On gender, he said many have argued that there are many female writers who deserve the prize, why a songwriter?

“As we interrogate the politics of the Nobel Prize to think of it, as reflecting the consciousness and challenges of the African continent and the black race, that reduces the value of such awards.”

He said if writing is poetry, what are the implications of awarding the prize to a musician when there are leading authors that deserve the award. “In a world where we have such writers as Ngugi wa Thiong’o and others, giving the award to Dylan is an abnormality,” he argued.

Another speaker, Dr. Chris Anyokwu argued that Dylan was not the first musician to be awarded a Nobel Prize, pointing to the Indian musician, Sir Chandrasekhar Venkata Raman, who won one in 1930.

Anyokwu likened the works of Dylan to the Indian poet, Rabindranath Tagore, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913, saying, ‘like Bob Dylan, Tagore was associated with non-violent social change in his community, both are multi-talented; they were writers, visual artists and film composers.”

He, however, said Dylan was supposed to have been awarded the prize in 1996, but the Nobel Academy didn’t deem it fit at the time. According to Anyokwu, “Is the Nobel Academy doing a lot of soul searching in trying to radically interrogate and broaden the frontiers of literature qua literature? Is that why it has taken them over two decades to finally come to this position to say, ‘now we want to bring together pop culture and high culture.’”

He argued that the Nobel committee emphasised that Dylan’s award was all about his music. “Herein lies the controversy because Dylan is a pop culture icon not a literary icon. We were told that when Alfred Bernhard Nobel whom the yearly prize was named after was about to die, he gave the committee two criteria for awarding the prize: ‘award the prize to the writer that has the most outstanding work and the work that will take society in an ideal direction.’”

He said the academy understands the historic position of the prize, yet there are likes of wa’ Thiong’o, Femi Osofisan, Chinua Achebe and other African writers who are worthy potential winners of the award.

“It is obvious that some geo-political considerations the award. Is the Nobel committee trying to redirect our attention to the need to focus on the younger generations? Are we as teachers going to be teaching non-fiction, memoirs, biography and popular culture to prepare the students for the labour market? Is this award about bridging the gap between popular culture and high culture, or is literature in the way we conceive it losing relevance?

Prof. Adebayo Lamikanra argued that no criteria could be set for literature, as the boundaries are wide. He said many fine writers have died without being recognised by the Nobel committee. “The point is, the award has to be subjective. I have not been impressed by Dylan’s works.

Lamikanra said that other Nobel Prizes such as science and economic were much more direct. But that literature cannot be defined.On his part, Dr. Adetokunbo Pearse said Dylan’s lyrics have always helped him in teaching literature in the United States and Nigeria. According to him, “whether poetry is turned into songs or not, it doesn’t matter to me, as poetry is poetry. The outstanding work Nobel talked about is outstanding by artistic standard, profound and universal. For Ngugi to win the Nobel, we need to have our own Nobel Academy.”

Prof. Chimde Maduagwe said the controversy is about the Nobel Foundation and the American literature. “When Toni Morrison won the award in 1993, Americans were happy that the Nobel Foundation was beginning to see that American literature was serious.

He asked, “Is Dylan going to reject the prize or does he not recognise the existence of the Nobel Foundation?
Still from American perspective, Madaugwe recalled when an American writer, Adrienne Cecile Rich, rejected Bill Clinton’s honour, saying she cannot be at the same table with those who hold art hostage in order to celebrate art. Could this be a suggestion that the Nobel foundation actually holds art hostage.

Dr. Tunde Opeibi on the other hand stated that if Dylan had been pacified as a creative writer, perhaps, the foundation is beginning to look at the direction that once a particular work of art is creative and profound then it should be recognised.

Dr. Austin Nzoma Nwagbara posed a question: “What makes a piece of work literature, is it the language or ideology? He argued that the contention between boundaries and territories needed to be identified; construct boundaries, identify territories.

He said, “every prize is subjective, the Nobel Prize to a large extend is subjective. What is significant to us is to begin to see close up boundaries, where we can reach inapproachable territories. I see this as the opportunity for humanity, the need to begin to extend our works.

Prof. Eghagha asked, “Are we saying that there should not be boundaries or that the boundaries should be flexible? He said the Nobel seems to tilt to one direction; asking, “should persons outside the field dictate to us what should constitute literature? Literature has a definition; it is broad. We can define literature within the context of what we are doing here; we are referring to creative work, either in prose, drama or poetry.”