“There are many who are ready to step in,” he said.
But addressing the idea of finding another institution to take over administering the literary prize, Per Wastberg, a member, said, “That is not possible, according to Alfred Nobel’s will and the law.”
The back-and-forth comments came at the end of a week of public squabbling among academy members and months of tortured drama prompted by a sexual misconduct scandal that has decimated the Swedish Academy.
In November, the newspaper Dagens Nyheter reported that 18 women had accused Claude Arnault, a cultural impresario with close ties to the academy, of abuse and sexual harassment.
Together with his wife, Katarina Frostenson, a poet and a member of the Swedish Academy, Mr. Arnault ran Forum, a successful cultural club that featured literary readings, concerts and exhibits and that had received financial support from the academy for decades.
Mr. Arnault, a photographer, was accused of using his close ties to the cultural elite to commit sexual misconduct, particularly against aspiring writers and artists. Much of the alleged abuse is said to have taken place at academy-owned apartments in Stockholm and Paris.
Through his lawyer, Mr. Arnault has denied all charges, some of which are still under police investigation.
In response to these revelations, Ms. Danius, then the academy’s permanent secretary, cut all ties with Mr. Arnault and Forum and convened an independent investigation into the academy’s ties to the club.
Source : Nytimes
