Nobel Laureate calls for more diverse for better literature
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E-mail Xinhua, December 8, 2017
Nobel Prize Laureate in Literature 2017 Kazuo Ishiguro appealed on Thursday that diversity is needed for better literature.
"If we are to play an important role in this uncertain future, if we are to get the best from the writers of today and tomorrow, I believe we must become more diverse," said Kazuo Ishiguro, in the end of his Nobel Lecture at the Swedish Academy on Thursday.
In the end of his lecture titled "My Twentieth Century Evening -- and Other Small Breakthroughs", Ishiguro emphasized that the "diversity" he appealed was in "two particular senses".
"Firstly, we must widen our common literary world to include many more voices from beyond our comfort zones of the elite first world cultures. We must search more energetically to discover the gems from what remain today unknown literary cultures, whether the writers live in far away countries or within our own communities," he said.
"Secondly, we must take great care not to set too narrowly or conservatively our definitions of what constitutes good literature. The next generation will come with all sorts of new, sometimes bewildering ways to tell important and wonderful stories." he added.
"We must keep our minds open to them, especially regarding genre and form, so that we can nurture and celebrate the best of them. In a time of dangerously increasing division, we must listen," Ishiguro emphasized.
"Good writing and good reading will break down barriers. We may even find a new idea, a great humane vision, around which to rally," he added.
The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2017 is awarded to Kazuo Ishiguro "who, in novels of great emotional force, has uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world", the Swedish Academy announced in early October.
Nobel Laureates in Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Literature and Economics gathered in Stockholm this week attending a series of events during the annual Nobel Week, which culminates on Dec. 10, when the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony will be held at the Stockholm Concert Hall and the Nobel Banquet held at Stockholm City Hall.
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