Nobel literature prize: Honoring the elusive ‘ideal’
STOCKHOLM — When Alfred Nobel established the literature prize in his name, he perhaps could have benefited from an editor. The terms of his will leave the prize’s exact intentions tantalizingly vague — making the literature award one of the most debated and entertaining of the Nobel Prizes.
The Swedish industrialist said he wanted the prize to recognize “the person who shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction.”
On Thursday, the Swedish Academy will announce whom it considers to have met the criterion of “ideal” for the 2017 laurels.
A look at some aspects of the Nobel Prize in Literature: