Dispatches from the Republic of Letters: 50 Years of the Neustadt International Prize for Literature

by Daniel Simon (Editor)

Overview

“The centrifugal pull of great literature, as embodied by the work of these twenty-five writers, draws us into a fuller realization of our humanity.” – Daniel Simon, editor-in-chief of World Literature Today

For the last fifty years, The Neustadt Prize has been one of the most prestigious literary prizes in the world, second only to the Nobel. Poets, novelists, and playwrights from Gabriel Garcia Marquez to Czeslaw Milosz and Dubravka Ugresic are listed among the ranks of laureate. Now, in honor of the fiftieth anniversary, Dispatches from the Republic of Letters gathers the acceptance speeches of these twenty-five pioneering writers into one volume, edited and with an introduction by World Literature Today editor-in-chief Daniel Simon.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781646050338
Publisher:	Deep Vellum Publishing
Publication date:	10/20/2020
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Daniel Simon serves as World Literature Today’s assistant director and editor in chief. He teaches for the Department of English at the University of Oklahoma. In addition, he is a poet, translator, and member of the Academy of American poets; his poetry collections have been translated into multiple languages.

Table of Contents

The Neustadt Prizes and World Literature Today vii

Laureates of the Neustadt International Prize for Literature, 1970-2020 ix

Preface Robert Con Davis-Undiano xi

Introduction: The Neustadt Prize on the World Stage Daniel Simon 1

Giuseppe Ungaretti 17

Gabriel García Márquez 39

Francis Ponge 47

Elizabeth Bishop 53

Czeslaw Milosz 63

Josef Škvorecký 69

Octavio Paz 81

Paavo Haavikko 97

Max Frisch 107

Raja Rao 113

Tomas Tranströmer 127

João Cabral de Melo Neto 135

Kamau Brathwaite 147

Assia Djebar 159

Nuruddin Farah 175

David Malouf 193

Álvaro Mutis 205

Adam Zagajewski 215

Clarihel Alegría 223

Patricia Grace 233

Duo Duo 245

Rohinton Mistry 255

Mia Couto 271

Dubravka Ugrešic 287

Edwidge Danticat 299

Acknowledgments 315

The 1969 Charter 319

About the Neustadt Family 323

The Neustadt Silver Eagle Feather Mike Dirham 327

Laureates by Country and Their Nominating Jurors 328

Recommended Reading 329

Contributors' Index 335

Editorial Reviews

LONGLISTED for Reading the West Book Award

“Like the prize itself, this volume is a tribute and a testament to literature, and a reward for readers.” —Publishers Weekly

"Honorees have included Gabriel García Márquez, Elizabeth Bishop, Tomas Tranströmer, David Malouf, Claribel Alegría, and Dubravka Ugrešić, with obvious attention to a diverse body of writers from many traditions and ethnicities. Many of those writers have faced political repression at home... The enchanters gathered in this volume all merit our attention. A welcome anthology for readers of world letters." —Kirkus Reviews

"If there is a single mode that operates across all the Dispatches, it is praise: praise for the authors; praise for the Neustadt family; praise for Norman, Oklahoma, where the prize is based; praise for the University of Oklahoma and WLT, the auspices under which the prize is awarded; and praise for the world of letters as such, frequently cast as an oppositional force to more political world affairs, even for this most 'apolitical' of prizes." —Jan Steyn, professor of Literary Translation and French at The University of Iowa

"Like the prize itself, this volume is a tribute and a testament to literature, and a reward for readers.”—Lit Hub

"We are happy that, from a place so distant from the major cultural metropoles as Norman, Oklahoma, a place that exists not only in Kafka's America, renowned authors have been recognized and awarded a literary prize that has attained such consolidated and well-deserved international standing. As we know, few literary awards in the world have kept their prestige intact. The Neustadt Prize is undoubtedly one of them, hence its value and significance.” —Latin American Literature Today

“[Dispatches from the Republic of Letters] is conversation of the highest order… If we hope to gain some insight about the true state of the nation’s soul, we might consider how these writers stared into different abysses in their own countries and produced imaginative works that see all too clearly.” — Christopher Merrill, Los Angeles Review of Books

From the Publisher

2020-07-07
Speeches and writings by the winners of a literary prize that should be more widely known.

Norman, Oklahoma, though the site of the state’s premier university, is an unlikely center for writing from around the globe. In the words of the executive editor of World Literature Today, it “does not obviously have a cosmopolitan culture that can sponsor the celebration of world literature and internationalism.” Nonetheless, for 50 years, the journal has been a primary vehicle for delivering works by international authors to American readers as well as the awarding of the annual Neustadt Prize, named for a family of donors. The first honoree was the Italian poet Giuseppe Ungaretti, who accepted with gracious words: “I am very moved by this ceremony in this distant land. It was exhausting to get here: it was far away, it was farther than I ever would have imagined” and yet emanated from a university that was “a model for encouraging studies, but also for the diffusion of poetry.” Other honorees have included Gabriel García Márquez, Elizabeth Bishop, Tomas Tranströmer, David Malouf, Claribel Alegría, and Dubravka Ugrešić, with obvious attention to a diverse body of writers from many traditions and ethnicities. Many of those writers have faced political repression at home. As the editor notes, for instance, “in 1991, when war broke out in the former Yugoslavia, Ugrešić took a firm antiwar stance and became a target for nationalist journalists, politicians, and fellow writers. Subjected to ostracism and persistent media harassment, she left Croatia in 1993.” In her warm, wide-ranging acceptance speech, she recalls Vladimir Nabokov, who remarked, “There are three points of view from which a writer can be considered: he may be considered as a storyteller, as a teacher, and as an enchanter. A major writer combines all three—storyteller, teacher, enchanter—but it is the enchanter in him that predominates.” The enchanters gathered in this volume all merit our attention.

A welcome anthology for readers of world letters.

Kirkus Reviews