{"id":449,"date":"2020-10-12T08:50:14","date_gmt":"2020-10-12T06:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/?p=449"},"modified":"2020-10-12T09:01:45","modified_gmt":"2020-10-12T07:01:45","slug":"the-prize-and-the-presidency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/?p=449","title":{"rendered":"The Prize and the Presidency"},"content":{"rendered":"

Albus McInerney edits a literary magazine.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2018It isn\u2019t Gluck,\u2019 Patrice pointed out. \u2018It\u2019s somewhere between Glick and Glook.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018I had wondered,\u2019 I said \u2013 untruthfully. For twenty years I\u2019ve been referring to this year\u2019s Nobel Prize winner as though her name rhymed with luck.<\/p>\n

\u2018That\u2019s what the umlaut is for,\u2019 Rami said.<\/p>\n

\u2018Of course,\u2019 I replied, perhaps a little peevishly, \u2018I see that.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018We should have something about her in the next issue,\u2019 Rami continued.<\/p>\n

\u2018Certainly!\u2019 This swift agreement no doubt matched a desire to mask my ungracious response to being corrected in the matter of pronunciation.<\/p>\n

\u2018Really?\u2019 Dimitri asked.<\/p>\n

\u2018You don\u2019t think that\u2019s a good idea?\u2019 I had assumed everybody would approve.<\/p>\n

\u2018It would be a good idea if we were the only poetry magazine on the planet,\u2019 Dimitri said, \u2018but by the time our next issue appears, Ms Gl\u00fcck and her opus will have been well covered \u2013 which means taking attention away from other voices.\u2019 Dimitri, naturally, pronounced Gl\u00fcck with the deft and absolutely inimitable panache of Mitteleuropa.<\/p>\n

\u2018No, Dimitri,\u2019 Kim said, with some feeling. \u2018This is important for everyone: Gl\u00fcck\u2019s celebrity will help other poets.\u2019<\/p>\n

There was a pause, as the rest of us waited to see if Dimitri would argue the case.<\/p>\n

Then Kim continued, \u2018And she\u2019s worth discussing quite apart from new-found Nobel celebrity. Her work merits the attention it will get \u2013 including attention from our humble magazine.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018You are quite right,\u2019 Dimitri said (more gracious when corrected than I had been). \u2018And there\u2019s another angle we might look at.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018What\u2019s that?\u2019 I asked.<\/p>\n

\u2018The rehabilitation of the Prize,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n

\u2018Rehabilitation?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018You haven\u2019t forgotten what happened last year!\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018I certainly haven\u2019t,\u2019 I said, \u2018but what\u2019s last year got to do with this year?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018The notion that art can have integrity when it is wilfully disengaged from manifest truth,\u2019 Dimitri said. \u2018It seemed to get some traction in 2019. This is the beginning of a response.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Taking a nuanced view of atrocities isn\u2019t the same as condoning them,\u2019 Patrice said.<\/p>\n

\u2018That\u2019s not just disingenuous, it\u2019s impudent,\u2019 Dimitri replied, more than a little fiercely, \u2018In my part of the world we are still living with the legacy of that sort of nonsense.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018I was referring to the argument,\u2019 Patrice replied evenly, \u2018not subscribing to it. Like you, I see the essential truthfulness in Gl\u00fcck\u2019s work as an antidote to ethical myopia.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018She is accused of being bleak,\u2019 Kim pointed out, \u2018but I think that misses the point. Confronting reality doesn\u2019t mean capitulating to it. There is a search for significance; there are glimpses of redemption.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Whatever \/ returns from oblivion returns \/ to find a voice<\/em>,\u2019 Rami quoted.<\/p>\n

\u2018That\u2019s it!\u2019 Kim said. \u2018I am trying to remember the rest.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018I have it here,\u2019 Rami said. \u2018From the center of my life came \/ a great fountain, deep blue \/<\/em><\/p>\n

shadows on azure seawater<\/em>.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018You might describe that as optimism not wished, but observed,\u2019 Kim said<\/p>\n

\u2018That\u2019s an intelligent reflection of life,\u2019 Dimitri said. \u2018And, Patrice, I know you were referring to the argument, not subscribing to it.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Well,\u2019 I said, \u2018We seem at least to be in the business of precise debate.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018One could take the view, then, that this year\u2019s Prize is already having a positive effect,\u2019 Kim remarked cheerfully, \u2018It would be nice if that spread into other areas.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018You mean politics?\u2019 Rami asked.<\/p>\n

\u2018Well, our<\/em> politics in particular,\u2019 Kim said.<\/p>\n

\u2018You could write about that,\u2019 I said. \u2018The Prize and the Presidency \u2013 two institutions mired in ethical uncertainty.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018I hadn\u2019t made that comparison,\u2019 Kim said, \u2018but it\u2019s a good one.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018The omens are positive,\u2019 Dimitri said, \u2018There\u2019s a tipping point when a charlatan\u2019s antics simply expose him for a charlatan \u2013 though there will always be those who prefer to carry on believing in myths even after they\u2019ve been exposed as myths.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Gl\u00fcck speaks in one of her poems about \u201cthe abstract tide of fortune\u201d,\u2019 Kim said, \u2018and about how \u201cgood will come of simply trying\u201d.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018I like that,\u2019 Patrice said.<\/p>\n

\u2018Perhaps the Nobel people are trying,\u2019 Rami said.<\/p>\n

\u2018To make amends?\u2019 I asked.<\/p>\n

\u2018Yes,\u2019 Dimitri said, \u2018and so they should.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018We\u2019ll have our chance to do the same in November,\u2019 Kim said.<\/p>\n

And there was another pause.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Albus McInerney edits a literary magazine.   \u2018It isn\u2019t Gluck,\u2019 Patrice pointed out. \u2018It\u2019s somewhere between Glick and Glook.\u2019 \u2018I had wondered,\u2019 I said \u2013 untruthfully. For twenty years I\u2019ve been referring to this year\u2019s Nobel Prize winner as though her name rhymed with luck. \u2018That\u2019s what the umlaut is for,\u2019 Rami said. \u2018Of course,\u2019 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":374,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[114,115],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/cropped-banner-K1-1.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=449"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":452,"href":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449\/revisions\/452"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}