Found in French newspaper Le Monde, a profile of Horace Engdahl, the standing secretary of the Swedish Academy, where he says:
On nous reproche de négliger la littérature des Etats-Unis, dit. Nous sommes tellement américanisés que les critiques lisent Philip Roth et Joyce Carol Oates, et que c'est tout ce qu'ils connaissent. Pour eux, c'est l'incarnation de la grande littérature. Pour moi, c'est de l'ignorance. Je ne trouve pas que les Etats-Unis soient le centre du monde littéraire. L'anglais est une langue importante, mais ce n'est pas la langue universelle. La seule langue universelle de la littérature, c'est la traduction.

We are criticized for neglecting the literature of the United States. We are so Americanized that reviewer read Philip Roth and Joyce Carol Oates, and that's all they know. For them, it is the incarnation of great literature. I think it's ignorance. I don't think the United States are the center of the literary word. English is an important language, but it is not a universal language. The only universal language in literature is translation.

Comments

Johannes said…
He's actually not the kind of old professor dude you might expect of a person in his position. he played a large part in bringing poststructuralism to Sweden and he's written an excellent piece of Gunnar Bjorling. Plus he's married to a very excellent feminist scholar.
François Luong said…
His wife is mentioned in the article, as well as his fascination for Wittgenstein and Barthes.

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