nobel prize

This has nothing to do with being in prague.

I was reading the BBC article on Orhan Pamuk, the man who just won the Nobel prize for literature, and at the end they said this:

"The prize is awarded to "the person who shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work of an idealistic tendency".


An idealistic tendency? This is a very interesting tenent of the prize, I think. Does it mean that only innately hopeful works are eligible to win? (And, if this is true, how did Harold Pinter win last year?) There are some great books out there, ones that say very important things, that I would never describe as "idealistic." Are they automatically excluded?
In a way, I find it rather comforting. The most commonly recognized prize for literature has, written into it, a plea for idealism. That's kind of a lovely sentiment, when you think about it.

On another note, a correction on the Budapest blogs: my dear aunt Susan is correct, the term is "righteous gentile," not "righteous jew." A slip of the pen/key. Apologies.