Experts differ on the “innovation” of the Nobel laureate
Canadian writer Anne Carson has won the Nobel Prize in Literature for “bold and innovative creativity” that combines images and motifs of mythology, as well as ancient and modern literature
Canadian writer Anne Carson, who became a Nobel laureate in literature in 2026, is a good poet, who received the award deservedly, said RBC writer, philologist, professor of St. Petersburg State University (SPbU) Andrei Astvatsaturov, noting the combination of lyrics and epics in her work.
According to him, it is very important that the prize was awarded to the poet, because it means that the Nobel Committee does not forget that “poetry is a more important art in literature than prose, because it prevents the aging of language.”.
And, secondly, it is very important that Anne Carson updates not only the classical English-language tradition of verlibrists, but also integrates the discoveries of Greek poets into her texts. She has a lot of Greek myths, all this is retold by verlibras, all this is lyrical and epic at the same time, says Astvatsaturov.
He added that he saw no policy in the Nobel Committee's decision. “That is, for the first time in many years, indeed, the Nobel Committee did what is necessary, that is, to find out the value of the writer’s language,” he said.
The founder and director of the school “Good text”, philologist and translator Maria Golovanivskaya, in turn, in a conversation with RBC indicated that in the work of Carson there is a game “with an ancient metaphor, which is placed in a modern innovative form”, but there is a lot of such in literature and in painting.
“Yes, the texts can be read, but no one, I don’t think, will read them. Not a single quote, some apt image, some piercing thought, she said.
“This does not mean that it is bad literature. It's good literature. Such literature, oddly enough, a lot, added Golovanivskaya.
The Nobel committee attributed Carson's choice to her "bold and innovative creativity," which combines images and motifs of mythology, as well as ancient and modern literature, which breaks down time boundaries.
Carson is not only a writer, but also a poet, teacher of classical languages and literature, translator of Simonides, Sappho, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Catulla. He is the author of more than 18 books, two of which were published in Russian: a novel in verse “Autobiography of Red” and an essay on the nature of love “Bittersweet Eros”.
