According to Horace Engdahl, a member of the group who selects the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, “the United States is too insular and ignorant to compete with Europe when it comes to great writing." He adds, “Of course, there is powerful literature in all big cultures, but you can’t get away from the fact that Europe is still the center of the literary world . . . not the United States.” American writers are "too sensitive to trends in their own mass culture." They "don't translate enough and don't really participate in the big dialogue of literature. That ignorance is restraining."
Oh, really?
As the Washington Post asks, "Where's Mark Twain when we need him?"
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