Nobel

And the winner of the Nobel prize for Literature 2008 is: Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio!
- qui?

I mean its embarrassing when someone gets the Nobel and you haven't read anything by them (hasn't actually happened to me until now), but how is it when you have never even heard of them. I mean has anyone heard of him? I'm sure he's great an all, but who is he?

And anyway, if they wanted to award a grand old man they should obviously have gone for William Trevor, he bloody well deserves it as do numerous US writers I can think of, or if they wanted to reward a Frenchman merely because it was the turn of the French, then naturally it should have gone to Michel Houellebecq who is the only French writer currently of any account and the only one who is at least read outside of their native tongue.

Update: see this article which responds to my question and obviously others http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7677013.stm