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Tom Nissley at Omnivoracious writes that Horace Engdahl, permanent secretary of the literature jury for the Nobel Prize, thinks Americans aren’t part of the “big dialogue “. Quoting Engdahl:

Of course there is powerful literature in all big cultures, but you can’t get away from the fact that Europe still is the center of the literary world … not the United States…. The U.S. is too isolated, too insular. They don’t translate enough and don’t really participate in the big dialogue of literature. That ignorance is restraining.

Ouch.

And yes he does sound a little old school — maybe 19th century old school.

Anyway, I’ve been looking for that big dialogue. Having a hard time finding it that’s for sure. But I can say one thing though, I don’t think it’s in Europe. No, I believe it’s moved lock, stock and barrel to China. Unfortunately, good literature comes from hard times. And they seem to have enough of that to fuel any literary aspiration.

The problem is that Europe is simply not translating enough, and THAT ignorance is restraining indeed.