NOBEL Austrian wins literature prize

With the prize, she receives a check for $1.3 million.
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) -- Austrian novelist, playwright and poet Elfriede Jelinek, 57, won the Nobel Prize in literature, the Swedish Academy said today, citing her ability to reveal "the absurdity of society's clich & eacute;s and their subjugating power."
The decision to award the prize to a woman -- and a poet -- was the first since 1996, when Polish poet Wislawa Szymborska won. Since the prize was first handed out in 1901, only nine women have won it.
Born in the Austrian town of Murzzuschlag in 1946, she made her literary debut with the collection "Lisas Schatten" in 1967. Her writing took a critical turn after her involvement with the student movements that were prevalent throughout Europe in the 1970s, coming out with her satirical novel "We Are Decoys, Baby!"
That was followed by other works, including "Wonderful, Wonderful Times" in 1990 and "The Piano Teacher" in 1988.
With special fervor, Jelinek has castigated Austria, depicting it as a realm of death in her phantasmagorical novel "Die Kinder der Toten," the academy noted, adding that she remains a controversial figure in her homeland.
Academy's view
"Her writing builds on a lengthy Austrian tradition of linguistically sophisticated social criticism, with precursors such as Johann Nepomuk Nestroy, Karl Kraus, Odon von Horv & aacute;th, Elias Canetti, Thomas Bernhard and the Wiener Group," the academy said in its citation.
"The nature of Jelinek's texts is often hard to define. They shift between prose and poetry, incantation and hymn. They contain theatrical scenes and filmic sequences."
Her recent works are variations on one of her basic themes: the seemingly inability of women to fully find themselves, and live out their lives in a world where they are glossed over by and as stereotypes.
The 18 lifetime members of the 218-year-old Swedish Academy, of whom only four are women, made the annual selection in deep secrecy last week.
For any writer, there could hardly be any greater honor than winning the Nobel Prize. But for an author whose work isn't widely translated, it opens doors to new markets and sales.
The prize also brings a financial safety net, too: A check for $1.3 million.
Other winners
Last year's award went to South African writer J.M. Coetzee, whose fiction drew on his experiences growing up there. In 2002, the prize went to Hungarian writer Imre Kertesz, whose work was based on his experience as a teenager in the Auschwitz concentration camp.
This year's award announcements began Monday with the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine going to Americans Richard Axel and Linda B. Buck for their work on the sense of smell.
On Tuesday, Americans David J. Gross, H. David Politzer and Frank Wilczek won the physics prize for their explanation of the force that binds particles inside the atomic nucleus. Their work has helped science get closer to "a theory for everything," the academy said in awarding the prize.
The chemistry prize was awarded Wednesday to Israelis Aaron Ciechanover and Avram Hershko and American Irwin Rose for their work in discovering a process that lets cells destroy unwanted proteins.
The Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel will be announced Monday.
The winner of the coveted peace prize -- the only one not awarded in Sweden -- will be announced Friday in Oslo, Norway.