Haupz Blog

... still a totally disordered mix

Nobel Prize Literature

2020-09-20 — Michael Haupt

There are two authors books of whom I had read before they received the Nobel Prize. Günter Grass is one of them, and I really didn't enjoy his books too much. Sir Kazuo Ishiguro is a different case. I first came across his work watching the movie "Never Let Me Go", which touched me deeply, so I read the book, only to find that the movie was congenial, and the book, even more touching, deep, and thought-provoking than the film adaption. That caused appetite for more, and I read "The Remains of the Day" (there is an equally congenial movie including such excellent actors as Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson). By now, I've read most of Sir Kazuo's books, and haven't regretted a single one of them. He has a knack for describing characters with considerable depth, and for devising plots that surprise, sometimes in heartbreaking ways. I've found something to take away from absolutely every single one of his books. This, friends, is literature at its best, without the Hirnschwurbel-inducing gluttony found in Grass.

Addendum 1: Sorry, Grass fans. Maybe it's me.

Addendum 2: "Hirnschwurbel" is not easily translated. Imagine receiving cognitive input that makes your brain spin and tangle up on itself. That sensation is a Hirnschwurbel.

Tags: books