Nobel Politics and Free Speech
A hilarious account of a Toronto writer's trip to a local bookstore seeking titles by this year's Nobel Prizewinner, Elfriede Jelinek. To his astonishment, the clerk has some definite opinions about literature's Nobel laureates: “I used to have a list up here somewhere,” the clerk continues, “of the Nobel Prize winners going way back. I checked them off. Commie, Commie, Commie. Now what was the name of the winner this year?” Listening to the clerk's diatribe, the writer asks himself: "Was this a small, independent bookstore in downtown Toronto, or a Christian bookstore in Kansas?" And no, the store had no Jelinek titles.