Women take fall in Nobel scandal for man’s alleged 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.
That turmoil started when some of the committee’s 18 members pushed for the removal of Frostenson after the allegations were levied against her husband, who runs a cultural club that has received money from the academy. In additional to sexual misconduct, Arnault is also accused of leaking Nobel winners’ names for years.
After a closed-door vote failed to oust her, three male cultural figures behind the push — Klas Ostergren, Kjell Espmark and Peter Englund — themselves resigned. That prompted Horace Engdahl, a committee member who has supported Arnault, to label them a “clique of sore losers” and criticize the three for airing their case in public. He also lashed out at the academy’s former head, Sara Danius, accusing her of being the worst permanent secretary ever and reportedly rallying others to go against her.
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.
Danius, a Swedish literature historian at Stockholm University, had cut the academy’s ties with Arnault and also hired investigators to examine its ties with the club he ran with Frostenson and their report is expected soon.
Last week, Frostenson said she was leaving the academy, at the same time as Danius stepped down amid internal pressure from other members over how she responded to the allegations against Arnault.
On Thursday, a sixth member, writer Lotta Lotass, announced that she, too, was stepping down, citing dissatisfied reactions to her membership from the board and saying she felt she lacked needed social skills, the Dagens Nyheter newspaper reported.
The departure of the highly respected women gave rise to immediate protests on social media.