ALICE MUNRO WINS NOBEL PRIZE FOR LITERATURE: THE REACTION OF UKRAINIAN AND CANADIAN COMMUNITIES

Abstract

The article reflects the analysis of print and online publications about the art work of Alice Munro, the presentation of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2013, and the reaction of Ukrainian, Canadian communities and famous people from around the world. Alice Munro (or Alice Munro in some Ukrainian editions) became the thirteenth female winner in the history of the literary prize and the only writer from Canada who received the Nobel Prize. “The Master of Modern Story”, “The Patriarch of Canadian Literature”, “The Legend of Short Stories”, “The Canadian Chekhov”, or even the “Housewife of Literature”, etc., as soon as they did not name Alice Munro, the author of one novel and fourteen collections of short stories. Her works are translated into twenty languages of the world. Even before the Nobel Prize, the writer received a number of prestigious awards, namely the International Booker Prize, the Governor-General’s Award of Canada, the Hiller Award, and so on. Despite the world-wide popularity of Alice Munro, her readers in Ukraine almost don’t know anything about her short stories: none of her collections has been translated into Ukrainian at the time of awarding the prize. In 2016 the Ukrainian version of Alice Munro’s “Fiction”, translated by Victoria Zengva, was published. In 2017 the collection of short stories “Too Much Happiness” in the translation of Eugeniia Kononenko came out of print. The analysis of printed and online publications on the presentation of Alice Munro Nobel Prize in Literature showed a generally positive perception of the award. The stories by Alice Munro attract the readers by their originality, special style of writing, a gift of sympathy and compassion, a skillful and close description, instructive conclusions, depth, wisdom, and so on. In 2013, Alice Munro claimed to leave literature. However, awarding her a Nobel Prize can have an impact on changing her decision. Whatever may happen, we can only hope that translations of stories by Alice Munro will not get lost, and Ukrainian readers will be able to join many admirers of the art work of the famous Canadian writer from around the world. The study of Alice Munro is necessary in the context of the research of the development of world short prose, as well as attracting the attention of researchers and translators to the work of a popular author from Canada.