- Title: Handke praises "courageous" Nobel academy after literature win
- Date: 10th October 2019
- Summary: CHAVILLE, FRANCE (OCTOBER 10, 2019) (REUTERS) 2019 NOBEL LITERATURE PRIZE WINNER PETER HANDKE LETTING JOURNALISTS INTO HOUSE JOURNALISTS FILMING HANDKE SEATED HANDKE ARRANGING APPLES JOURNALISTS FILMING HANDKE SEATED HANDKE SEATED HANDKE STANDING APPROACHING JOURNALISTS HANDKE GREETING JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) 2019 NOBEL LITERATURE PRIZE WINNER PETER HANDKE SAYING: "I was astonished yes. It was very courageous by the Swedish Academy this kind of decision. And really, these are good people." HANDKE TALKING (SOUNDBITE) (English) 2019 NOBEL LITERATURE PRIZE WINNER PETER HANDKE SAYING: "For what happened with me when I was writing in another way about the civil war in Yugoslavia. There was a lot of noise and I could understand it. So I repeat for this it was really a courageous decision by the Academy in Stockholm." JOURNALISTS SURROUNDING HANDKE (SOUNDBITE) (English) 2019 NOBEL LITERATURE PRIZE WINNER PETER HANDKE SAYING (IN REACTION TO A QUESTION ABOUT HIM ONCE CALLING FOR THE NOBEL PRIZE TO BE ABOLISHED): "I'm not a winner. They chose my work but my nature is not the nature of a winner. Or as they say 'He won the Nobel Prize' I don't like this expression. (JOURNALIST ASKING: WHAT IS THE MEANING OF IT THEN TO YOU?) I feel a strange kind of freedom, I don't know. A freedom as if I were -- which is not the truth -- as if I were innocent." HANDKE TALKING TO JOURNALIST (SOUNDBITE) (French) 2019 NOBEL LITERATURE PRIZE WINNER PETER HANDKE SAYING: "I don't know if I'm happy, but I'm moved. But I can't show you that with the cameras and the photographers. You'd have to be an actor to be moved." HANDKE POSING FOR JOURNALIST HANDKE GREETING NEIGHBOUR VARIOUS OF WINDOWS OF HANDKE'S HOUSE HANDKE CLOSING GATE AND WAVING GOODBYE
- Embargoed: 24th October 2019 16:21
- Keywords: Nobel Prize literature Peter Handke reaction
- Location: CHAVILLE, FRANCE
- City: CHAVILLE, FRANCE
- Country: France
- Topics: Books,Arts / Culture / Entertainment
- Reuters ID: LVA001B0IN22V
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Peter Handke praised the "courageous" decision by the Swedish Academy to award him the 2019 Nobel Prize for Literature on Thursday (October 10) despite controversy surrounding his portrayal of Serbia as a victim during the Balkan wars and attending its leader's funeral.
The Austrian writer was named as this year's winner in a double announcement which also gave the 2018 award to Polish author Olga Tokarczuk after a sexual assault scandal led to last year's award being postponed.
The Swedish Academy said it had recognised Handke, 76, for a body of work including novels, essays and drama "that with linguistic ingenuity has explored the periphery and the specificity of human experience."
A native of the Austrian province of Carinthia, which borders Slovenia, Handke established himself as one of the most influential writers in Europe after World War Two, the Academy said. He also co-wrote the script of the critically-acclaimed 1987 film "Wings of Desire".
The author of books such as "The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick" and "Slow Homecoming", he attracted widespread criticism attending the funeral of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic in 2006.
A perennial candidate for the world's top literary prize, Handke appeared to have given up the idea of winning, telling the New York Times in 2006 he no longer cared.
Speaking on Thursday from his home in the Paris suburb of Chaville, Handke said he was "astonished".
"It was very courageous by the Swedish Academy this kind of decision. And these are good people," he told journalists at an impromptu news conference in his garden.
(Production: Clotaire Achi, Johnny Cotton) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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