No Nobel for Jakarta, Unless…

In this perceptive essay originally published in the inaugural November 2018 issue of MAJAS magazine, the late author and cultural observer Anton Kurnia explored the labyrinthine politics of the Nobel Prize in Literature and posed a poignant question: why has the world’s most prestigious literary accolade never “stopped by Jakarta”—save for Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s historic candidacy? In examining the Nobel selection process and Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s widely discussed candidacy, Anton acknowledged that the Nobel Prize is by no means the ultimate measure of literary achievement, citing influential writers such as Jorge Luis Borges, James Joyce, and Franz Kafka, who never received the award. Yet he also recognised its considerable prestige in the international literary landscape. Beyond examining the mechanics and archive secrets of the Swedish Academy, Anton argued that international literary recognition is never a mere accident, but the natural outgrowth of a robust literary tradition built on active translation, rigorous cross-cultural reading, and institutional support.

Revisiting Anton’s insights today—eight years later, and prompted by Anne Carson’s recent win—invites us to address a central question: has Indonesian literature finally found its way to the world? With contemporary works increasingly reaching international audiences through authors like Intan Paramaditha, translators like Tiffany Tsao, and collaborations between independent publishers and international literary magazines such as Marjin Kiri and khōréō, we find ourselves at a critical crossroads. We must consider whether these developments represent a true structural shift in our literary ecosystem, or whether we still largely depend on the isolated efforts of a dedicated few. Anton already identified promising international successes eight years ago, but have we built the sustained structures he argued were necessary?

The full English translation of Anton Kurnia’s essay follows below, offering valuable context on how active translation, publishing, and international promotion can help shape a sustainable literary future.

The Nobel Prize in Literature will not be awarded this year.

What is the reason? It is due to the sexual harassment scandal involving the husband of one of the members of the Swedish Academy—the selection committee of the Nobel Prize in Literature—which ended in the resignation of several members of the academy board. Because of the appalling case, it was officially announced that this year’s Nobel Prize in Literature will be postponed and awarded next year.

Throughout history, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually since 1901, though there have been a few occasions when it was not awarded due to the two World Wars. Each winner receives a gold medal and diploma, as well as a monetary prize that is currently valued at 10 million krona or equivalent to about 14 billion rupiah. The amount of this prize money depends on its investment income from the available funds each year.

The Nobel Prize is the testament of Alfred Bernhard Nobel (1833-1896), a Swedish scientist who granted his inheritance to humanitarian funds. This prize is awarded to individuals who are considered to have contributed to humankind in literature, physics, chemistry, medicine, peace, and economic sciences—a field that was established later on.

In his will, Alfred Nobel stated that the Nobel Prize in Literature is to be awarded to “the person who, in the field of literature, produced the most outstanding work,” and its management was delegated to the Swedish Academy.

The Swedish Academy filters nominees from around the world submitted by people invited and approved by the committee: members of the Swedish Academy and other esteemed institutions alike, professors of selected universities in various parts of the world, previous winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature, as well as heads of specific writers’ associations. The winner must be someone who is still alive at the time of the announcement.

The laureate selection process each year is confidential and takes quite a while, spanning a year from September to the next September. In early October, the laureate is chosen and then announced. The prize is awarded on the 10th of December in Stockholm. At the award ceremony, each laureate is requested to give a lecture or a written lecture delivered by a representative if they are unable to attend.

Throughout its history, the awarding of the Nobel Prize in Literature was suspended several times due to war (1914, 1918, 1940-1943). Although the Nobel Prize in Literature is considered the most prestigious literary award in the world, two winners had refused the award: Boris Pasternak (1958), who declined it due to pressure from the Soviet Union, and Jean-Paul Sartre (1964), who did not want to receive it due to ideological reasons.

Controversies have also erupted because the laureate is not regarded as a literary figure, such as when Winston Churchill, who was better known as a politician, received the prize in 1953, and when musician Bob Dylan was announced as a laureate in 2016.

Who Wins and Who Loses?

How can somebody win this prize? Certainly, there are many factors. A few dominant ones are political reasons and the board’s preferences. Although the reasoning behind a winner is announced each year, the other nominees are never publicly disclosed. Furthermore, the board’s decision cannot be contested.

As to reasons why someone might win, according to the committee’s official statement, Bob Dylan was awarded “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition” through his song lyrics, deeming him worthy of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2016. However, we cannot know the “real litterateurs” who were “forcefully” set aside by a ballad singer that year.

People can only speculate, such as through mass media and prediction markets. At the end of 2011, for example, ahead of the Nobel Prize in Literature laureate announcement, the famous London-based bookmaker Ladbrokes favored Bob Dylan as their top candidate. Astonishingly, he surpassed renowned literary figures such as Adonis (Syrian poet, top pick number 2) and Haruki Murakami (Japanese novelist, top pick number 3) in prediction markets. In the end, however, the person nominated as the winner was Tomas Transtromer (Swedish poet, top pick number 4 according to the gambling operator).

Since that incident, the names of the actual nominees will remain confidential until 50 years later. Right now, we can only publicly know nominees from 1901 to 1966. The names can be seen on the Nobel Committee’s official website. From the open archive, we can know, among other things, that the acclaimed Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges, who had never won a Nobel Prize in Literature his whole life, was in fact a candidate, at least between 1962 and 1966. The person who submitted his name was Henry Olsson, a professor of literature at Stockholm University and a member of the Swedish Academy from 1952 to 1985. It is said that Borges’ failure to receive the prestigious prize was because he was considered politically flawed, having visited and praised the famously ruthless and corrupt Chilean dictator, Augusto Pinochet.

From the archives, we can also know there were 99 nominees in 1966, including Miguel Angel Asturias (who won a year later), Gunter Grass (who won 33 years later, specifically in 1999), poet Anna Akhmatova (nominated by three people), Samuel Beckett (nominated by 4 people, won in 1969), and two laureates of that year: Shmuel Yosef Agnon (nominated by one person) and Nelly Sachs (nominated by three people).

By going over this archive, we have also come to know that the Nobel Prize in Literature is not an issue of who is the favorite or who has the most votes. In 1961, 8 people nominated the prominent American poet Robert Frost, but the winner was Ivo Andric, a Yugoslav novelist who was nominated by only four parties.

Aside from Borges, several names were also repeatedly nominated, but never won. One of them was the famous Egyptian writer, Taha Hussein. Historically, the only Arabic-language literary figure who has ever won the prize was Naguib Mahfouz in 1988.

No Nobel for Jakarta, Unless…

Since the first time the Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to French poet Sully Prudhomme until now, the only Indonesian who has ever been a candidate for the prestigious literary prize is Pramoedya Ananta Toer, our distinguished literary figure who was imprisoned and exiled to Buru Island for over a decade (1965-1979) without trial by the New Order regime. After his release, he published brilliant novels that propelled his name to the global literary scene.

The Nobel Prize in Literature is certainly not everything. Many celebrated and influential literary figures have never received the prestigious award, including Jorge Luis Borges, James Joyce, or Franz Kafka, to name a few. Conversely, there are also laureates whose names slowly disappeared from discourse. However, the Nobel Prize in Literature is a milestone that must be acknowledged within the map of world literature, whether we like it or not.

What I see behind the individual success of the winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature is a nation’s long-standing literary tradition, rooted and flourishing over the course of centuries. Simply put, this tradition comprises a passion for reading, writing, and publishing literary works, as well as an act of passing down literary collections–a legacy that is continuously reinterpreted and evolved into literary masterpieces. It also entails a willingness to learn from major works in the global literature canon.

Look at fellow Asian nations like India, Japan, and China. Not only does India have Rabindranath Tagore, the first Asian to win the Nobel Prize in Literature (1913), but the country also produced major champions of the contemporary literary scene celebrated globally, such as Salman Rushdie and Arundhati Roy.

Japan has two Nobel laureates in Literature: Yasunari Kawabata (1968) and Kenzaburo Oe (1994). Way before Kawabata and Oe were awarded the Nobel Prize, outstanding works from the treasury of world literature were translated on a large scale there since the Meiji Restoration. The works of Shakespeare were even translated many times into different versions.

Haruki Murakami, the current leading Japanese novelist who is often said to be a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature, has diligently translated the works of Franz Kafka, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and J.D. Salinger before producing his best novels. In the past, Japan has contributed one of the first novels in history: Genji Monogatari by Murasaki Shikibu, written in the eleventh century. Japan’s structures of traditional poetry are also used globally today, such as haiku. And now, China has also stepped into the Nobel-caliber world literature circles via Gao Xingjian, the winner of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Literature who currently lives in France, and novelist Mo Yan, the winner of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Indeed, they have a strong and long history of literary tradition. They have translated foreign works from the treasury of world literature into their languages, publishing them in the form of books, analyzing them and acquiring benefits from them. And in time, they produce substantial works equal to other best works of world literature.

Then, what about us? Do we have a strong and long history of “literary tradition”?

Long ago, we created classical works that are just as impressive as the literary heritage of other nations. For example, La Galigo or Serat Centhini. However, to create great works again, we must want to expose ourselves. Our literary audience must read more major works from the global literary scene, including translated works, either from traditional book publishing or publications in mass media.

We need to read high-quality works from the treasury of world literature for our own advancement, compare said works with our own, and learn from these world-class writers. Furthermore, translating our literary works into other languages is a must. The more our literary creations are translated into other languages, the bigger our chances of being appreciated more seriously by a larger audience, including being considered for a Nobel Prize in Literature.

Maybe to some, this is just a fantasy too out of reach, but it’s not, really. In the past, we thought that a world-class achievement was merely an illusion. However, in the last few years, several of our writers have showcased their skills on the world stage. Eka Kurniawan was nominated for the Man Booker International Prize for the translation of his novel Man Tiger and received a number of international awards for his novels. Meanwhile, not long ago, poet Norman Erikson Pasaribu won the English PEN Translation Award.

This means that, truly, the works of our writers can compete on the world stage. What we need is commitment and long-term efforts that are more systematic and sustainable to translate our best works into other languages and promote them properly.•