{"id":1012,"date":"2016-10-24T12:24:39","date_gmt":"2016-10-24T16:24:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/?p=1012"},"modified":"2016-10-24T12:24:39","modified_gmt":"2016-10-24T16:24:39","slug":"nobel-thoughts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/2016\/10\/nobel-thoughts.html","title":{"rendered":"Nobel Thoughts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1013 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/nobel-prize-1356450__340-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"nobel-prize-1356450__340\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/nobel-prize-1356450__340-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/nobel-prize-1356450__340-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/nobel-prize-1356450__340-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/nobel-prize-1356450__340-200x200.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/nobel-prize-1356450__340.jpg 340w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize for Literature this year, and discussions ensued: why him?\u00a0 These discussions are understandable and mostly reasonable, and they are good discussions to have.\u00a0 But at the same time, it\u2019s important to note that these discussions happen every year with every winner, whether it\u2019s Nobel or Pulitzer or any number of lesser known awards.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe we should shorten this annual question from \u201cwhy was s\/he the one?\u201d to \u201cwhy one?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\nIn any given year, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of writers who deserve recognition for their extraordinary work.\u00a0 Hearts and minds are transfigured every day by literary accomplishments from all over the globe.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t it arbitrary to single out one voice every 365.25 days for a prize?\u00a0 Why not 43 winners a year, or a winner every 43 days?\u00a0 In what way does the earth\u2019s position in relation to the sun indicate that it\u2019s time for one person to be selected for this recognition?<\/p>\n<p>We know the answer to that last question: ancient civilizations relied on specific nodes in the earth\u2019s revolution for their survival, and marked these nodes with festivals: solstice, equinox, etc.\u00a0 The habit of finding significance in the passage of 365.25 days is so deeply ingrained at this point, we celebrate some annual event pretty much every day of the year.\u00a0 So choosing one artist per year makes sense, at least temporally.<\/p>\n<p>But why not choose ten?\u00a0 We know the answer to this as well: Ten winners aren\u2019t special; one is.\u00a0 Why can\u2019t ten be special?\u00a0 Or a thousand, for that matter?\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure I can articulate the answer to that one without sounding a tad foolish.\u00a0 After all, is it more meaningful to single out one outstanding artist, or to annually acknowledge the sheer volume of wonderful artistic achievements ready to enchant us, whoever and wherever we are?<\/p>\n<p>Okay, I know there is cash involved, and not enough to split among a thousand winners.\u00a0 I suppose money is a secret driving force behind all artistic evaluations on some level, but it still important to bear in mind the arbitrariness of one artist per year. \u00a0We may be stuck with it, and it may be, in many ways, a good thing.\u00a0 But it\u2019s still worth questioning.<\/p>\n<p>On a side-note, I can\u2019t understand the Nobel authorities\u2019 outcry over Dylan\u2019s response to the prize: as far as I know, it\u2019s not called the Nobel Prize for Politeness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize for Literature this year, and discussions ensued: why him?\u00a0 These discussions are understandable and mostly reasonable, and they are good discussions to have.\u00a0 But at the same time, it\u2019s important to note that these discussions happen every year with every winner, whether it\u2019s Nobel or Pulitzer or any number [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1012","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1012"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1012\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1015,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1012\/revisions\/1015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}