A controversial Nobel rewarded a writer’s noble failure
Nobel prize winner for literature Peter Handke widely considered to be an apologist for former Yugoslav strongman Slobodan Milosevic
The 2019 Nobel prize for literature awarded to Austrian author Peter Handke has, predictably, caused a storm of protest, both in countries that used to be part of Yugoslavia and also the global literary community. Handke is widely considered to be an apologist for the former Yugoslav strongman Slobodan Milosevic. But here’s why I think the Swedish Academy’s decision deserves a more nuanced reaction than indignation: Handke wandered into that ugly territory while on a legitimate quest that writers need, and often lack, the courage to embark on.
First things first: Milosevic was a blood-soaked dictator. Handke’s writings about him, and about what happened during the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s — such as this article in the French daily Liberation — attempted to establish a balance of condemnation between the war crimes of the Serbs, led by Milosevic, and those of their enemies, mostly Croats and Muslims. That’s a deeply misguided exercise, because each war crime stands alone in i...
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