Jelinek Collects Nobel Literature Prize
Elfriede Jelinek, the Austrian writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature amid much controversy, finally collected the prize at a small ceremony at the Swedish Embassy in Vienna, reports ABC News Online. Jelinek videotaped an acceptance speech for the official ceremony which took place on December 7 in Stockholm. "Jelinek is renowned and often reviled in Austria for denouncing the country's Nazi past, its present-day politics and women's subjugation by society," reports ABC News. "Austria is built on the lie that it was the first country to fall to Hitler. We were the first who exported Hitler as a finished persona. It is always the writers who point this out," Jelinek said. Nevertheless, her publisher reports that 200,000 copies of her books have been sold since Jelinek won the award on October 7.