Global circulation of literature and Nobel Prize consecration: A comparative study of Yaşar Kemal and Orhan Pamuk

Abstract

This study offers an account of the interrelated literary and non-literary factors that influence an author's receipt of a Nobel Prize, focusing on the cases of one Nobel Prize winner and one contender from the same country: Orhan Pamuk and Yaşar Kemal. My approach considers three interrelated layers of factors that influence the consecration of an author: textual, paratextual, and contextual factors. In the context of the global literary sphere, where cultural and literary flows extend beyond national and linguistic barriers, authors and texts perform roles differently than they do in their immediate local contexts. Focusing on the dynamic relationship between sites of cultural production and institutionalization, this study asks the following questions: Which authors and which texts circulate globally, and what are the material and discursive conditions for global recognition and consecration, including the Nobel Prize? Authorial interviews and essays are utilized as paratextual elements framing the reception of literary texts together with semi-structured in-depth interviews with national and international literary intermediaries constituting the contextual framework of the circulation of these authors and their texts.