Women take fall in Nobel scandal for man’s misdeeds
STOCKHOLM — An internal fight among members of the secretive academy that awards the Nobel Prize in Literature is spilling on to the streets of Sweden as outrage grows after a sex-abuse scandal linked to the body resulted in the ouster of the woman who ran it.
The ugly internal feud at the prestigious Swedish institution has already reached the top levels of public life in the Scandinavian nation known for its promotion of gender equality, with the prime minister, the king and the Nobel board weighing in.
On Thursday evening, people are expected to rally on Stockholm’s picturesque Stortorget square outside the headquarters of the Swedish Academy, which has awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature since 1901, to demand all of its members resign. Parallel demonstrations are planned in Goteborg, Helsingborg, Eskilstuna, Vasteras, and Borgholm.
The national protests have grown out of what began as Sweden’s own #MeToo moment in November when the country saw thousands of sexual misconduct allegations surfacing from all walks of life. It hit the academy when 18 women came forward with accusations against Jean-Claude Arnault, a major cultural figure in Sweden who is married to Katarina Frostenson, a poet who is a member of the academy.
Police are investigating the allegations, which Arnault denies, but the case has exposed bitter divisions within the academy and given rise to accusations of patriarchal leanings among some members.
After a closed-door vote failed to oust Frostenson, three male cultural figures behind the push — Klas Ostergren, Kjell Espmark and Peter Englund — resigned. That prompted Horace Engdahl, a committee member who has supported Arnault, to label them a “clique of sore losers.”He also lashed out at the academy’s former head, Sara Danius.
Supporters of Danius — the first woman to lead the Swedish Academy — have described her as progressive leader who pushed reforms that riled the old guard.
Last week, Frostenson said she was leaving the academy, at the same time as Danius stepped down.
On Thursday, a sixth member, writer Lotta Lotass, announced that she, too, was stepping down, citing dissatisfied reactions to her membership from the board.
Despite the resignations the academy, founded by King Gustav III in 1786, does not currently have a mechanism for board members, who are appointed for life, to step down.