海角大神

Amid all the flurry over Nobel Prize announcements this week, the two awards for literature went nearly unnoticed by the general reading public 鈥� at least in the United States. In an unusual twist, there are two winners: Polish author Olga Tokarczuk for 2018, and Austrian writer Peter Handke for 2019. That鈥檚 because, as you may recall, the literature prize was not given out last year. The reason: A scandal involving the husband of a Swedish Academy member undermined the integrity of the award.聽

Who are these writers, and why haven鈥檛 many Americans heard of them?聽

Unlike the Pulitzer prizes in the U.S., which are awarded for a single work of fiction or nonfiction, the Nobel Prize in Literature recognizes a body of work. European readers would be familiar with both writers鈥� work over the years, and both are bestselling authors in their respective languages.

Ms. Tokarczuk, a staunch critic of nationalism who has run afoul of her government, writes about Polish topics with universal themes. Her third novel 鈥淧rawiek i inne czasy鈥� (鈥淧rimeval and Other Times鈥�), published in 1996, is considered to be her breakthrough work. It follows several generations of a Polish family, beginning on the eve of World War I and continuing through the rise of the Polish labor union Solidarity in the 1980s. She鈥檚 also a beloved poet.

Mr. Handke, who has drawn condemnation for his right-leaning views, 鈥渉as spent his career exploring both the natural world and the world of human consciousness,鈥� according to his U.S. publisher. Along with novels, Mr. Handke has published essays and plays. His accomplishments extend to screenplays, including 鈥淲ings of Desire,鈥� the 1987 Wim Wenders film. (In the Monitor鈥檚 archives, I found a review of a film that Mr. Handke wrote and directed, based on his novel, 鈥淭he Left-Handed Woman.鈥�)

Both writers have numerous works translated into English. Now, with the prestige of the award backing them, their work is likely to reach a wider audience outside Europe.聽聽