Daniel Simon - Dispatches from the Republic of Letters: 50 Years of the Neustadt International Prize for Literature

Since the prestigious Neustadt International Prize for Literature was first bestowed on Giuseppe Ungaretti in 1970, the award has charted the high-water marks of late twentieth- and early twenty-first-century world literature. Sponsored by World Literature Today, the University of Oklahomas award-winning magazine of international literature and culture, the Neustadt Prize solidified Norman, Oklahomas place on the map as one of the undeclared capitals of modernity, in the words of 2004 laureate Adam Zagajewski.

Dispatches from the Republic of Letters gathers the prize lectures of the first twenty-five Neustadt laureates (19702018) as well as the essaysin the form of nominating statements or celebratory encomiaby the twenty-five jurors who championed each writers work. WLTs executive director, RC Davis-Undiano, and editor in chief, Daniel Simon, frame the anthology by situating the prize in the broader landscape of international letters and within the unique history of its association with the University of Oklahoma and WLT.

Since 1970, the Neustadt Prize has come to symbolize unimpeachable literary excellence. The hallmark of the prize has been its insistence on honoring literary merit over any consideration of geopolitics, sales figures, or publisher lobbying; the jury deliberations and voting process are also world renowned for their fairness and integrity. Dispatches from the Republic of Letters offers readers a front-row seat from which to witness the pageant of world literature as it has flourished in the past fifty years.

ABOUT WORLD LITERATURE TODAY

Founded at the University of Oklahoma in 1927, World Literature Today, now in its ninth decade of continuous publication, keeps a finger on the pulse of contemporary international literature. The magazine has been recognized by the Swedish Academy as one of the best edited and most informative literary publications anywhere, and the Utne Reader called WLT an excellent source of writings from around the globe by authors who write as if their lives depend on it.

Daniel Simon is assistant director and editor in chief of World Literature Today, where he also teaches for the Department of English and serves on the affiliate faculty of the Department of International & Area Studies and Schusterman Center for Judaic & Israel Studies. His verse collections include Cast Off (2015) and After Reading Everything (2016), and he won a Nebraska Book Award for Nebraska Poetry: A Sesquicentennial Anthology, 18672017, which he edited. He is also a translator and essayist. A Nebraska native, Daniel lives in Norman, Oklahoma, with his wife and three daughters.

DISPATCHES
FROM
THE
REPUBLIC
OF
LETTERS

IN MEMORIAM

Doris Westheimer Neustadt
(18971991)

Walter Neustadt Jr.
(19192010)

We recognize that the power of the written word is one answer to a broader understanding between the peoples of the world and thence to a more peaceful and cooperative life together in this ever-narrowing universe.

Walter Neustadt Jr., Address at the 1972 Neustadt Banquet

Royalties from the first edition will be donated to the Walter Jr. and Dolores K. Neustadt Scholarship fund for University of Oklahoma students.

DISPATCHES
FROM THE
REPUBLIC
OF
LETTERS

FIFTY YEARS OF THE
NEUSTADT INTERNATIONAL PRIZE FOR LITERATURE
19702020

EDITED AND WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY DANIEL SIMON

PREFACE BY ROBERT CON DAVIS-UNDIANO

Phoneme Media, an imprint of Deep Vellum
3000 Commerce St., Dallas, Texas 75226
deepvellum.org @deepvellum

Deep Vellum is a 501c3 nonprofit literary arts organization founded in 2013 with the mission to bring the world into conversation through literature.

FIRST EDITION, 2020

Copyright 2020 by World Literature Today and the Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma

Introduction and compilation copyright 2020 by Daniel Simon

Illustrations by Yinan Wang copyright 2020 by World Literature Today

Tomas Transtrmers poem Oklahoma is reprinted by permission of the University of Pittsburgh Press. Assia Djebars The Power of Solidarity in the Solitude of Exile (1996) is reprinted by permission of Andrew Nurnberg Associates. Nuruddin Farahs Celebrating Differences (1998) is reprinted by permission of Nuruddin Farah and Aragi, Inc. (for a full credit line, see page 329). David Maloufs A Writing Life (2000) is reprinted by permission of the Jane Novak Literary Agency. Edwidge Danticats All Geography Is Within Me is reprinted by permission of Aragi, Inc.

ISBN: 978-1-64605-033-8 (hardcover) | 978-1-64605-034-5 (ebook)

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA

Names: Simon, Daniel, (Professor of English) editor author of introduction. | Davis, Robert Con, 1948- author of preface.

Title: Dispatches from the republic of letters : fifty years of the Neustadt International Prize for Literature, 1970-2020 / edited and with an introduction by Daniel Simon ; preface by Robert Con Davis-Undiano.

Other titles: World literature today.

Description: First edition. | Dallas : Phoneme Media, Deep Vellum Publishing, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020010120 (print) | LCCN 2020010121 (ebook) | ISBN 9781646050338 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781646050345 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Literature, Modern20th centuryHistory and criticism. | Literature, Modern21st centuryHistory and criticism. | Authors21st centuryBiography. | Authors20th centuryBiography. | Neustadt International Prize for Literature. | Authorship.

Classification: LCC PN771 .D63 2020 (print) | LCC PN771 (ebook) | DDC 807.9dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020010120

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020010121

Distributed by Consortium Book Sales & Distribution

Cover design by Jen Rickard Blair

Interior layout by Kirby Gann

Printed in the United States of America

All rights reserved. Except for brief passages quoted for review purposes, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the Publisher.

CONTENTS

, Robert Con Davis-Undiano

, Daniel Simon

, Mike Dirham

The Neustadt Prizes and World Literature Today

Norman, Oklahoma, sounded to many a European ear as Persepolis or Samarkand once may have done to Marlowe or to Keats: the name of a remote, half fairy-like city from which the broadest-minded review in the world of letters radiated information, disseminated ideas, and appraised trends of taste.

Henri Peyre, Books Abroad, Autumn 1976

The Neustadt International Prize for Literature

The Neustadt International Prize for Literature is sponsored by World Literature Today