Alex Shephard
@alexshephard.bsky.social
7K followers 1.2K following 1.4K posts
senior editor at the new republic
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
Pinned
alexshephard.bsky.social
the best animal character in all of literature is Mouse the horse in Lonesome Dove
alexshephard.bsky.social
(Alice Munro also appeared remotely but because she was too ill to travel—she recorded a video interview which is.... also probably not an option for our guy! Shadow Ticket is great though, he should win!)
Reposted by Alex Shephard
lopatto.bsky.social
ok I forgive the new republic for not doing their preview as this is very good. JCO is one of the all-time posters and I am only sorry her poison ivy hiking-in-sandals feet tweet wasn't mentioned.) newrepublic.com/article/2015...
Jens Liljestrand, Nobel watcher, novelist, and longtime friend of this column, had this to say about Krasznahorkai: “Very expected. Very popular name among critics. Also very typical Academy choice: serious, epic, dark-but-humanistic narrator of the apocalyptic European 20th century.” Not only that, but Liljestrand already knows who next year’s winner will be: The new Swedish Academy has reliably rotated between awarding men and women, which means we can get started on next year’s column right now, a piece in celebration of 2026 Nobel Prize–winner Joyce Carol Oates. (The 2026 prize will be specifically awarded for Oates’s tweets about ISIS and dinosaur hunting and “wan little husks,” masterpieces of deadpan humor that were, like all great art, misunderstood upon first appearance. There will be no mention of any of her 157 books—or the fact that she is the greatest boxing writer ever.)
alexshephard.bsky.social
It's Bob Dylan's fault (as most things are). After he won in 2016, he basically refused to give a lecture and caused a real headache (and a fair bit of embarrassment) for the SA. They relented and let him give a pre-recorded talk but that's clearly not an option for Pynchon
alexshephard.bsky.social
thank you! also to answer your earlier question about Pynchon, I think it's pretty unlikely (sadly!). I think he's a bit too goofy and out there for the current Academy but mostly I think the Prize's rules—which require the laureate to deliver a "talk" to receive the Prize—would give them cold feet
alexshephard.bsky.social
i'm a political reporter lol
Reposted by Alex Shephard
ilfu.com
“That’s right—for the first time in history, a man has won the Nobel Prize. That sound you hear? It’s a graduate student sobbing with joy. Big, manly sobs.”

Best thing about the Nobel Prize: Alex & Mark approaching, lurking, striking. @alexshephard.bsky.social @markkrotov.bsky.social
The Nobel Prize in Literature Is Boring Now
László Krasznahorkai, who was awarded the prize on Thursday, is a brilliant novelist and consummate laureate. But has the Swedish Academy lost its sense of fun?
newrepublic.com
alexshephard.bsky.social
her book On Boxing is one of the greatest sports books ever imo
Reposted by Alex Shephard
davidjroth.bsky.social
This went up last Friday around The Appointed Time, albeit not at Defector. I really liked the movie, and appreciated the opportunity to write some descriptive language about 1970s Gene Hackman movies.
alexshephard.bsky.social
a humiliating error! thanks for catching!
Reposted by Alex Shephard
john-self.bsky.social
"The best way to read him would be with all your devices on the other side of a locked door."

Me on Nobel literature laureate László Krasznahorkai, a writer who "fits into the Nobel mould so fully that if he didn’t exist, the committee would have had to make him up."
Who is Laszlo Krasznahorkai, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature?
Everything you need to know about this year’s winner and his apocalyptically gloomy novels
www.thetimes.com
alexshephard.bsky.social
a full narrative arc! (your piece was great btw)
alexshephard.bsky.social
hey, he's no Miroslav Holub but Seifert is still pretty good!
Reposted by Alex Shephard
alexshephard.bsky.social
Thank you, as always! (And more importantly, thank you for producing the only actually meaningful reporting about the Nobel in its history, as enraging as it was!)
alexshephard.bsky.social
god I was so focused on Ivan Klima's recent death that I totally forgot he died too!