As you may have read , the Nobel Prize in Literature for 2019 was awarded to Austrian writer Peter Handke with the motivation "the influential work that linguistically has explored the specifics of human experience".
But who is Peter Handke?
Handke has taken a pro-Serbian stance on the Yugoslav War and the NATO bombing that brought independence to Kosovo and other countries under Serbian leadership, which has led to his image being criticized as being representative of extreme Serbian nationalism.
In the past, Handke has attacked the Western media accusing him of misrepresenting the causes and consequences of the war. In the same vein, he also wrote against the NATO bombing in the former Yugoslavia.
Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic demanded that Handke be summoned as his defense witness at the former Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal, but the writer refused. He went to court as a spectator.
However, suffice it to mention his speech at Milosevic's funeral to understand that Handke actually supported his figure. The speech was delivered in Serbian and caused controversy.
?The world, the so-called World, knows everything about Yugoslavia, Serbia. The world, the so-called World, knows everything about Slobodan Milosevic. The so-called World knows the truth. That is why the so-called World is missing today, and not only today, and not only here. I don't know the truth. Yes I see. I listen. I feel. I remember things. That is why I am here today, close to Yugoslavia, close to Serbia, close to Slobodan Milosevic, ?he said.
Milosevic, the former president of Yugoslavia, was charged with genocide (complete or partial extermination of a population) and other war crimes from 1991 to 1995 by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia before he died in 2006- n.
Handke's position in the Yugoslav war has been opposed by Slovenian scholar and essayist Drago Jancar and other scholars. It is not the first time he has won an award, which is followed by controversy.
Handke has previously won the International Ibsen Award , where he was described by Oslo protesters as a fascist linked to war crimes. Critics have ironic that giving Handke the Ibsen Prize is like giving the Nazi politician Goebbels the award of the philosopher Immanuel Kant . In 2006, he was nominated for the Heinrich Heine Prize , but the award was dropped based on his political views.
The mixing of political views with aesthetic achievements remains an open debate. Some are of the opinion that a good writer does not necessarily have to be a good person. While others think that despite aesthetic achievements, artists who have supported criminal policies against humanity should not be appreciated.
