2002 Nobel Prize in Literature

2002 Nobel Prize in Literature
Imre Kertész
"for writing that upholds the fragile experience of the individual against the barbaric arbitrariness of history."
Date	10 October 2002 (2002-10-10) (announcement) 10 December 2002 (ceremony)
Location	Stockholm, Sweden
Presented by	Swedish Academy
First awarded	1901
Website	Official website

The 2002 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the Hungarian novelist Imre Kertész (1929–2016) "for writing that upholds the fragile experience of the individual against the barbaric arbitrariness of history."^[1] He is the only Nobel Prize recipient from Hungary.^[2][3]

Laureate

Main article: Imre Kertész

Before it was released in 1975, Imre Kertész worked on his first book, Sorstalanság ("Fatelessness"), for a long time. The novel is about a young György Köves, who is detained and sent to concentration camps but survives. Kertész wrote on what it means to live with an intellectual death sentence and how to cope with living in a world where so many people have perished. With his books, he identifies with the literary genre known as "witness fiction," in which a trauma is described from personal experience by the author.^[4] His other celebrated prose include A nyomkereső ("The Pathseeker", 1977) and Kaddis a meg nem született gyermekért ("Kaddish for an Unborn Child", 1990).^[4][2]

Reactions

Kertész was a controversial figure within Hungary, especially since being Hungary's first and only Nobel Laureate in Literature, he still lived in Germany. This tension was exacerbated by a 2009 interview with Die Welt, in which Kertész vowed himself a "Berliner" and called Budapest "completely balkanized."^[5][6] Many Hungarian newspapers reacted negatively to this statement, claiming it to be hypocritical. Other critics viewed the Budapest comment ironically, saying it represented "a grudge policy that is painfully and unmistakably, characteristically Hungarian."^[7] Kertész later clarified in a Duna TV interview that he had intended his comment to be "constructive" and called Hungary "his homeland".^[7]

References

1. The Nobel Prize in Literature 2002 nobelprize.org
2. Imre Kertész britannica.com
3. Alan Riding (10 October 2002). "Hungarian Novelist Wins Nobel Prize in Literature". New York Times. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
4. Imre Kertész – Facts nobelprize.org
5. "Kertészkedés". Retrieved 11 May 2014.
6. Krause, Tilman (7 November 2009). "Ich schreibe keine Holocaust-Literatur, ich schreibe Romane". Die Welt (in German). Retrieved 31 March 2016.
7. "Kertész birthday interview causes controversy". Hungarian Literature Online. Retrieved 11 May 2014.

External links

• 2002 Press release nobelprize.org
• Award ceremony speech nobelprize.org