Re: Meh. I guess they were under pressure to produce a Swedish winner again. - Edit 1
Before modification by ursidae at 08/10/2011 05:33:10 PM
The previous time a Swede won it was 1974, i.e. it was quite some time ago. But maybe that was what you meant, it was "time" to have a Swedish winner.
I haven't read him (I'm not a fan of poetry either), but there seems to be a lot of Swedes who reacted with "At last!" when the announcement was made, so he seems to be very popular (among those who read poetry).
Still. If the members of the academy said he should win it, he should win it. After all, they are the sole people tasked with awarding said prize.
While Tranströmer has been quite big in the speculations for the last 10-15 years, and is supposedly translated to some 60 different languages, I have a hard time taking it seriously. It's probably because he writes about death. From a light perspective. In poetry form. God, I hate poetry. 
I haven't read him (I'm not a fan of poetry either), but there seems to be a lot of Swedes who reacted with "At last!" when the announcement was made, so he seems to be very popular (among those who read poetry).
Still. If the members of the academy said he should win it, he should win it. After all, they are the sole people tasked with awarding said prize.