The article in Sunday’s New York Times Book Review on the Nobel Prize for Literature – which is not being given this year because of a sex abuse scandal within the Swedish Academy – cited Clive James as a worthy if unlikely recipient. Unlikely because he’s very funny. (The members of the academy may be into sex but – judging from past awardees – they’re not into humor.) Then this passage of James' was cited:
“Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing. Those who lack humor are without judgment and should be trusted with nothing.”
Which makes one wonder if it’s worth bringing the prize back at all.
