Léon l'Africain and the Nobel prize of literature

I got the question of which winner of the Nobel prize in literature I wanted if I thought in terms of Christianity and authors concerned with religion. Then  I mentioned Léon l'Africain by Amin Maalouf a Libanese author who writes in a beautiful French.

I don't know to which denomination or religion Amin Maalouf considers himself to belong, but the novel promotes tolerance, peace and understanding between people of different creeds and ethnicity in a heart warming manner. Furthermore the novel gives me un urge to travel in the narrator's foot steps from Grenade to Timbuctoo, from Fez to Cairo, from Tripoli to Rome.

The novel takes place during the end of the 15th C and the beginning of the 16th and it starts when the Moresque kingdom in Spain , Andalucia, is lost to the Catholic king of Spain with the following burning of jews and moslems at the stake.

What gave me the strongest impression in this novel was to  get to know the tragic history of the jews both in Europe and in Africa, but you also get an insight into the rich culture they have left for us to enjoy up to our day.

Léon l'African would probably give Maalouf the Nobel prize in literature if the prize comittee  would be daring enough to just read the criteria stated by Alfred Nobel about literature which promotes peace and understanding. For some reason the prize committe has interpreted the criteria in a way which prevents them from selecting authors who write in an accessible manner. For obscure reasons they only choose literature that is hard to understand or even read, if it is not from distant cultures or poetry.

For even more vague reasons they feel ashamed of authors like Pearl Buck, who once was awarded, even though the criteria applies on the dot to her work, whereas you really have to try hard to understand how the criteria applies to Elfriede Jelinek's work.

As long as the inaccessability seems to be one un-written criterion for the Nobel prize in literature Maalouf will not even be short-listed for the prize, unless here.


Other authors that would be worthy of the prize, if we omit the fact that you can't award authors that are generally read and liked and that you can't award anyone posthumously according to the rules:

First of all: George Eliot for Middlemarch. This novel is self evident!

St. Paul's letters to the Corinthians and the Galatians.

The Gospel of John's and his letters to the parishes around the Mediterranean.

Harriet Beecher Stowe for Uncle Tom's Cabin, because it really made a difference.

 JRR Tolkien for The Lord of the Rings because the real hero here is a very short gardener and for his description of  peaceful people as the most admirable people in the universe. In fact I think few, if any, works of literature has managed to describe peace as vividly and desireably as Tolkien.

Victor Hugo for Les Misérables because he evokes compassion and dignity throughout history and the story still captures an audience. It also reminds us of the fact that peace and economic justice go together like a horse and carriage.

Buchi Emecheta for all her work but especially for Biafra because it shows the naked insanity of war and what it does to the civilians who doesn't even understand what the war is all about and she also brings into daylight the necessity of equality between men and women for creating a durable peace.

Lina Sandell for poetry which makes people trust in a caring Heavenly Parent that brings a sound sence of self esteem to people which eradicates the need for oppression or violence to get "respect".  

What is your short list?