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  3. [A]Whatever fragile harmony we may have been able to achieve within ourselves is exposed every day to dangerous challenges and t

[A]Whatever fragile harmony we may have been able to achieve within ourselves is exposed every day to dangerous challenges and t

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问题 [A]Whatever fragile harmony we may have been able to achieve within ourselves is exposed every day to dangerous challenges and to ferocious batterings, and the issue of our struggle remains forever uncertain. A character in a novel by Mario Vargas Llosa gave the best image for this common predicament of ours: "Life is a shitstorm, in which art is our only umbrella. "This observation, in turn, brings us to the very meaning of literary awards. Any well-ordered state must naturally provide for public education, public health, public transports, public order, the administration of justice, the collection of garbage, etc. Beyond these essential services and responsibilities, a truly civilized state also ensures that, in the pungent squalls of their daily lives, citizens are not left without umbrellas—and therefore, it encourages and supports the arts.
[B]Practical-minded people and men of action are often inclined to disapprove of literary fiction. They consider reading creative literature as a frivolous and debilitating activity. In this respect, it is quite revealing that, for example, the great polar explorer Mawson—one of our national heroes—gave to his children the stern advice to not waste their time reading novels; instead, he instructed them to read only works of history and biography, in order to grow into healthy individuals.
[C]Do psychotherapists multiply when novelists and poets become scarce? There may well be a connection between the development of clinical psychology on the one hand, and the withering of the inspired imagination on the other—at least, this was the belief of some eminent practitioners. Rainer Marie Rilke once begged Lou Andreas Salome to psychoanalyse him. She refused, explaining, "If the analysis is successful, you may never write poetry again. "
[D]The beauty of all literary awards is that they produce only winners—there can be no losers here, for this is not a competition and, in this respect, actually resembles more a lottery. Without doubting the quality of his work, a writer who receives a literary award is perfectly aware that he is being very lucky indeed. Not only he knows that this honour could have gone to any other writer on the shortlist, but he also knows that there are many writers not on the shortlist, who may have deserved it equally well; and furthermore, it is quite conceivable that the writer who should have deserved it most did not even succeed in having his manuscript accepted for publication.
[E]Half a century earlier, the great psychologist Carl Jung developed the other side of this same observation. He phrased it in more technical terms: "Man’s estrangement from the mythical realm and the subsequent shrinking of his existence to the mere factual—that is the major cause of mental illness. "In other words, people who do not read fiction or poetry are in permanent danger of crashing against facts and being crushed by reality. And then, in turn, it is left to Dr. Jung and his colleagues to rush to the rescue and attempt mending the broken pieces.
[F]Some time ago, the English actor Hugh Grant was arrested by the police in Los Angeles. He was performing a rather private activity in a public place, with a lady of the night. For less famous mortals, such a mishap would have been merely embarrassing, but for such a famous film star the incident proved quite shattering. In this distressing circumstance, he was interviewed by an American journalist, who asked him a very American question, "Are you receiving any therapy or counselling?"Grant replied,"No. In England, we read novels. "
[G]Yet these considerations should not tarnish in the least the happiness of the winners. Ultimately, lotteries are designed to benefit not their winners, but handicapped children, or guide dogs for the blind, or whatever good cause is sponsoring them. And it is the same with the literary awards: year after year, they have only one true and permanent winner, always the same—and it is literature itself, our common love.
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