AMERICAN LOUISE GLUCK

NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE

Exit the favorites Joyce Carol Oates, Margaret Atwood or Annie Ernaux, it was Louise Glück, a rather discreet poet, not translated into French except for reviews, who was chosen. The Nobel for Literature goes to the American poet Louise Glück. She is crowned "for her characteristic poetic voice, which with its austere beauty makes individual existence universal", announced the Swedish Academy by awarding the prize.

The American poet Louise Glück, 77, won the coveted Nobel Prize for Literature on Thursday, a surprise award crowning her work, which began at the end of the 1960s.

Louise Glück, 77, has published 12 collections as well as essays on poetry. Born in New York, she is an English professor at Yale University.

Louise Glück is "a poet of radical change and renaissance", welcomed the chairman of the committee, Anders Olsson. The childhood and family life of this native of New York, the close relationship between parents and brothers and sisters, constitute a central theme of her work. Louise Glück is considered by many to be one of America's most talented contemporary poets. Poet Robert Hass described Louise Glück as "one of the purest and most accomplished lyric poets who write today".

She said she was "surprised and happy" when she learned of the award very early in the morning in the United States, Swedish Academy Perpetual Secretary Mats Malm reported.

After publishing her first collection in 1968 (“Firstborn”), she has become a figure in contemporary American poetry and has already received numerous awards, such as the Pulitzer in 1993 for “The Wild Iris.” In this collection, she describes notably the miraculous return to life after winter in the poem "Snowdrops", explains the Swedish Academy. She is also the recipient of the National Book Critics Circle Award (The Triumph of Achilles) as well as the Academy of American Poets award, of which she is a member. In 2008, she received the Wallace Stevens Award, and in 2015, she received the Gold Medal for Poetry from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

His work "is characterized by a search for clarity", emphasizes the Academy.

Averno (2006) is his masterful collection, a visionary interpretation of the myth of the descent into hell of Persephone in captivity from Hades, the god of death. Another spectacular achievement is his latest collection, “Nuit fidèle et virteuse”.

In French, the translation of this poet has so far remained confidential, due to lack of publication in volume. It is limited to specialized journals. She dedicated one of her poems to Joan of Arc in 1976.

Very feminine Nobel 2020s

Two years after the Polish Olga Tokarczuk, Louise Glück is the 16th woman to be awarded the prize for a very feminine Nobel 2020 vintage.

With three laureates at the Nobel Scientific, this season could break the record for female laureates (five in 2009), while peace on Friday and the economy on Monday remain to be awarded.

After a series of scandals or controversies that have tarnished the world's most famous literary prize for three years, the direction this year's Nobel would take was particularly unpredictable, critics said.

Last year, the 2019 prize was awarded to the Austrian writer Peter Handke, with the sulphurous pro-Milosevic positions, causing a very lively controversy, adding to a sex scandal that had torn the Academy three years ago. , causing the historic postponement of the 2018 price.

This prize sends the Nobel Prize for Literature outside Europe, which had monopolized five of the last six prizes.

This 113th Nobel Prize for Literature was to be one of appeasement after the last tumultuous years, and the 2017 and 2019 prizes awarded to Peter Handke and OlgaTokarczuk.