Nobel Prize winners are a natural focus for world literature courses — they represent the Swedish Academy's ongoing judgment about which writers have produced work of "outstanding literary merit" with "benefit to humanity." Here's how to make the most recent laureates work in the classroom.
Teaching Recent Nobel Laureates
Han Kang (2024) — Best entry point: The Vegetarian. At under 200 pages, it's perfect for a classroom unit. Discussion focus: How does Han Kang use the body as a site of political resistance? Compare with Sylvia Plath's use of anorexia in The Bell Jar. Annie Ernaux (2022) — Best entry point: A Simple Passion or The Years. A Simple Passion is only 75 pages — ideal for one week. The Years is a collective autobiography of postwar France. Olga Tokarczuk (2019) — Best entry point: Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead. A philosophical murder mystery. Accessible and immediately engaging. Peter Handke (2019, controversial) — The Offending. Use the controversy itself as a discussion point about the relationship between a writer's life and their work.
Track all Nobel laureates on the Genesis of Literary world map.