Canadian poet Anne Carson wins Nobel in Literature

Canadian poet and writer Anne Carson yesterday won the Nobel Prize in Literature “for her bold and inventive oeuvre that, in playful dialogue with the classical tradition, has created new forms for contemporary literature,” the Swedish Academy said.

“She was very taken by surprise,” said Ingrid Carlberg, permanent secretary of the academy, which awards the 12 million kronor (US$1.2 million) prize.

“We didn’t have so much time to speak, and all she had time to tell me was that she is for the moment in Iceland, where she’s listening to the wind,” she said.

Canadian poet Anne Carson performs Antigonick at the Moderna Museet art gallery in Stockholm, Sweden, on May 8, 2015.

Photo: TT News Agency, Pontus Lundahl via Reuters

Carson’s work often blends verse, prose, dialogue and translation in a genre-defying mix. Born in Toronto, the 76-year-old has also held Icelandic citizenship since 2022 and has spent considerable time on the arctic nation in the past few years.

She is widely known for her translations of classical Greek literature, which heavily influences her work that ranges from opera libretti to literary criticism and verse novels such as Autobiography of Red from 1998.

“Almost all her literary production has centered upon the intersection between the philologist’s obsession with words and the poet’s desire for new meaning,” the academy said.

“She has herself identified the etymology of words as the starting point for all her work. Her translations from Classical Greek may be regarded as independent works in their own right,” it said.

Her style is exemplified in Norma Jeane Baker of Troy from 2019, a performance piece that mixes the stories of Helen of Troy in Euripides’ play Helen and Marilyn Monroe.

The academy also praised her ability to explore “the possibilities of writing, a process by which the literary sketch has become of particular value to her.”

“Bearing witness to this is Float, a work consisting of 22 chapbooks on different subjects, capable of being read in any order,” it said.

Often heralded as her greatest work, Autobiography of Red demonstrates Carson’s ability to “actualize the classical literary tradition,” the academy said.

In the book, she re-examines age-old questions such as “what happens when you love someone who will ultimately destroy you?”