http://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/3738

In addition to the presentation speeches and the Nobel lectures, these volumes also provide brief biographies and the Nobel laureates' own accounts of their many years of preparation and effort that led to their achievements.Equally important to our understanding of history and humanity are the great works of literature. The Nobel Prize for literature recognizes modern classics and the efforts of authors to bridge gaps between different cultures, time-periods and styles.Below is a list of the prizewinners during the period 1996 ? 2000.(1996) WISLAWA SZYMBORSKA ? for poetry that with ironic precision allows the historical and biological context to come to light in fragments of human reality; (1997) DARIO FO ? who emulates the jesters of the Middle Ages in scourging authority and upholding the dignity of the down-trodden; (1998) JOS SARAMAGO ? who with parables sustained by imagination, compassion and irony continually enables us once again to apprehend an elusory reality; (1999) GšNTER GRASS ? whose frolicsome black fables portray the forgotten face of history; (2000) GAO XINGJIAN ? for an oeuvre of universal validity, bitter insights and linguistic ingenuity, which has opened new paths for the Chinese novel and drama.

Equally important to our understanding of history and humanity are the great works of literature. The Nobel Prize for literature recognises modern classics and the efforts of authors to bridge gaps between different cultures, time-periods and styles; the prizewinners between 1968 and 1995 are from four continents. These volumes are collections of the Nobel lectures delivered by the prizewinners, together with their biographies, portraits and presentation speeches for the period 1968 - 1995. Each Nobel lecture is based on the work that won the laureate his prize. New biographical data of the laureates, since they were awarded the Nobel prize, are also included. These volumes of inspiring lectures by outstanding individuals should be on everyone's bookshelf. Literature: (1981) E Canetti -- for writings marked by a broad outlook, a wealth of ideas and artistic power; (1982) G G Marquez -- for his novels and short stories, in which the fantastic and the realistic are combined in a richly composedworld of imagination, reflecting a continent's life and conflicts; (1983) W Golding -- for his novels which, with the perspicuity of realistic narrative art and the diversity and universality of myth, illuminate the human condition in the world of today; (1984) J Seifert -- for his poetry which endowed with freshness, sensuality and rich inventiveness provides a liberating image of the indomitable spirit and versatility of man; (1985) C Simon -- who in his novel combines the poet's and the painter's creativeness with a deepened awareness of time in the depiction of the human condition; (1986) W Soyinka -- who in a wide cultural perspective and with poetic overtones fashions the drama ofexistence; (1987) J Brodsky -- for an all-embracing authorship imbued with clarity of thought and poetic intensity; (1988) N Mahfouz -- who, through works rich in nuance -- now clearsightedly realistic, now evocatively ambiguous --

"Of Literature and Knowledge looks ... like an important advance in this new and very important subject... literature is about to become even more interesting." – Edward O. Wilson, Pellegrino University Professor, Harvard University. Framed by the theory of evolution, this colourful and engaging volume presents a new understanding of the mechanisms by which we transfer information from narrative make-believe to real life. Ranging across game theory and philosophy of science, as well as poetics and aesthetics, Peter Swirski explains how literary fictions perform as a systematic tool of enquiry, driven by thought experiments. Crucially, he argues for a continuum between the cognitive tools employed by scientists, philosophers and scholars or writers of fiction. The result is a provocative study of our talent and propensity for creating imaginary worlds, different from the world we know yet invaluable to our understanding of it. Of Literature and Knowledge is a noteworthy challenge to contemporary critical theory, arguing that by bridging the gap between literature and science we might not only reinvigorate literary studies but, above all, further our understanding of literature.