Nobel Lectures in Literature 1996-2000

Equally important to our understanding of history and humanity are the great works of literature. The Nobel Prize for literature recognizes modern classics and the efforts of authors to bridge gaps between different cultures, time-periods and styles.

Below is a list of the prizewinners during the period 1996 -- 2000.

(1996) W Szymborska -- for poetry that with ironic precision allows the historical and biological context to come to light in fragments of human reality, (1997) D Fo -- who emulates the jesters of the Middle Ages in scourging authority and upholding the dignity of the down-trodden; (1998) J Saramago -- who with parables sustained by imagination, compassion and irony continually enables us once again to apprehend an elusory reality; (1999) G Grass -- whose frolicsome black fables portray the forgotten face of history; (2000) X-J Gao -- for an oeuvre of universal validity, bitter insights and linguistic ingenuity, which has opened new paths for the Chinese novel and drama.