Oct 9, 2008, 15:32 GMT
Berlin - Top German literary critic Sigrid Loeffler called Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio 'a fairly bizarre choice' for the Nobel literature prize, dismissing his work Thursday as 'boring.'
2008 Nobel Prize winner in Literature, French novelist Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio arrives to his press conference at the Gallimar Publishing House in Paris, France, 09 October 2008, the same day the award was announced by the Nobel Committee in Sweden. EPA/LUCAS DOLEGA
Speaking on MDR Info radio, she declared herself surprised and shocked at the award, and suggested Le Clezio may have won simply because no other French author had been picked for so long.
Loeffler has a German-wide reputation as a sharp-tongued reviewer of contemporary books on television.
She said the 'monotony and boringness' of Le Clezio's novels had always put her and most readers off.
Terming him an 'anachronistic romantic,' she said, 'His way of thought tends to nature mysticism: quietly contemplating nature rather than any kind of sensitivity to society.
'In our times, in our literature, that is a bit off-putting.'
Noting that no one from France had won a literature Nobel since 1985, she added, 'I can only imagine this choice has something to do with French literature.'
She said that though Le Clezio had been an author for 40 years, 'each of his books came from a different publishing house. That means publishers are not terribly happy about him or the sales.'
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