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The Nobel Prize in Literature always draws great interest， but the organization behind the prestigious award finds itself in the throes of a high-profile crisis so severe that it has decided not to pick a winner this year.1
The award will be postponed until next year， when the academy will name laureates2.
The Swedish Academy， the Stockholm-based organization that awards the prize， is struggling to cope with a situation completely at odds with its reputation as a distinguished advocate of literary excellence.
With its echoes of the #MeToo movement， the scandal has prompted the intervention of the Swedish king to deal with its multifaceted nature—allegations of sexual harassment， the suggestion that women were taking the fall for the misdeeds of men， and the departure of several board members.3
This will be the first time since World War II that the prize is withheld.（The decision will not affect the other Nobel Prizes， which are chosen by other institutions.）
How did a scandal grow to overshadow4 the academy and postpone the prize？
How did the crisis start？
The Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter reported last November that 18 women had accused the French photographer Jean-Claude Arnault of sexual assault or harassment. Mr. Arnault also ran Forum， a popular cultural venue in Stockholm that received support from the academy.
Mr. Arnault co-owns the club with his wife， Katarina Frostenson， a poet and a member of the academy.
The paper reported that Mr. Arnault had been accused over more than 20 years of mistreating women in properties that the academy owns in Paris and Stockholm.
According to news reports in Sweden， the victims included the Crown Princess Victoria， who said she was inappropriately touched by Mr. Arnault at an academy event.
Why did members start quitting？
Sara Danius， a literary scholar and the first woman to lead the Swedish Academy， was forced out in mid-April after she severed5 the ties between the organization and Mr. Arnault and Forum. She also hired a law firm late last year to investigate the academy’s ties with Mr. Arnault. That came a week after three other members of the academy had walked out over the handling of the allegations of assault and harassment as well as the law firm’s findings， creating a Nobel-related crisis without precedent.
The ouster6 of Ms. Danius prompted an outpouring of support， regarded by many as a case example of a woman taking the fall for a man’s bad behavior.
The day after her removal， several public figures—including Sweden’s minister for enterprise and innovation， Mikael Damberg—dressed in Ms. Danius’s signature pussy-bow7 blouse and posted selfies on social media in a show of support.
Who’s left in the academy？
The Academy now has 10 active members instead of the full 18.
Members are elected for life， and there is no provision that allows them to resign. Under the current rules， the seats of members who quit will remain unfilled until their deaths.
King Carl XVI Gustaf， the patron of the Swedish Academy， has proposed changing the rules to allow members to leave voluntarily.
The board now finds itself in a curious predicament： Even if it could vote in new members to replace those who quit， it is short of the 12-member quorum required for their approval.8
Could the academy have picked a Nobel Prize winner？
Eight voting members are needed to pick a laureate with a simple majority. But the Nobel goes beyond the numbers.
“They need to also convince the world that they are actually doing hard， serious work on picking a suitable candidate for the prize，” Mads Rosendahl Thomsen， a professor of comparative literature at the University of Aarhus in Denmark， said before the announcement.
In other words， the credibility of the prize is at stake. The literature prize， which is awarded to one of around 200 nominees， often baffles and provokes， but it confers instant status on the recipient.
“The Nobel Foundation presumes that the Swedish Academy will now put all its efforts into the task of restoring its credibility as a prizeawarding institution，” the foundation working on executing Alfred Nobel’s will said in a statement.
Members of the academy usually decide on a shortlist of five finalists in May， and then have all summer to dive deep into9 the authors’ works.
To many observers， like Bj？rn Wiman， culture editor of Dagens Nyheter， which broke the news of allegations against Mr. Arnault， taking a break is the right thing to do. “This is a sensational piece of news. But it was the only possible decision，” he said on Radio Sweden. “It wasn’t possible under these conditions to appoint a winner. It would have been an insult to anyone who received it.”
作为一项负有盛誉的奖项，诺贝尔文学奖总能引起人们的极大兴趣，但其背后的组织机构却正在遭受一场备受瞩目的严重危机，因而，才有了取消今年此奖项评选的决议。
该奖项相关事宜将推迟到明年，届时学院将为获奖者提名。
瑞典文学院总部位于斯德哥尔摩，该机构负责诺贝尔文学奖的颁发事宜，它正疲于应对目前的处境，这与其作为“杰出文学的卓越倡导者”的名声完全相悖。
这一丑闻与MeToo运动有着相似之处，因而瑞典国王不得不介入，以处理其面临的复杂局面——性骚扰指控、疑似女性为男性的不当行为充当替罪羊，以及几名评审会成员的离职。
这将是自第二次世界大战以来此奖项首次停颁。（该决定不会影响其他机构对其他诺贝尔奖项的颁发。）
一桩丑闻是如何使瑞典皇家文学院蒙上阴影并推迟颁奖的？
危机是怎样开始的？
瑞典日报《每日新闻报》在去年11月的报道中称，有18名女性指控法国摄影师让-克劳德·阿尔诺有性侵犯或性骚扰行为。阿尔诺还经营着由学院资助的“论坛”俱乐部，这是斯德哥尔摩一家很受欢迎的文化场所。
阿尔诺先生和他的妻子卡塔琳娜·弗罗斯滕松共同拥有这家俱乐部，他的妻子是一位诗人，也是学院的成员之一。
报道称，阿尔诺先生被指控在隶属于学院的巴黎以及斯德哥尔摩的房产内对女性实施侵犯长达二十多年之久。
据瑞典媒体报道，受害人也包括维多利亚公主。维多利亚公主说，在一次学院的晚会上，阿尔诺对她有“不恰当的触摸行为”。
为何学院成员陆续辞职？
文学学者萨拉·丹尼乌斯是瑞典文学院的第一位女性院长。4月中旬她被迫离职，原因是她切断了学院与阿尔诺以及“论坛”俱乐部之间的联系。去年年底，她还请了一家法律事务所对学院与阿尔诺之间的关系进行调查。
就在一周前，该学院的另外三名成员因学院对性侵犯和骚扰指控的处理以及事务所的调查结果而相继辞职，这导致了一场史无前例的与诺贝尔奖有关的危机。
丹尼乌斯的离职引发了大量的支持，许多人认为这是一个女性替男性的不良行为承担责任的事例。
在她卸任后的第二天，包括瑞典的工商和创新部长米卡尔·丹贝里在内的几位公众人物都穿着丹尼乌斯标志性的蝴蝶结衬衣，并在社交媒体上发布了自拍照，以示支持。
学院里还剩谁？
学院全体成员应有18名，而目前仅有10名成员在任。
瑞典文学院所选举出的成员享受终身制，而且没有任何条款允许他们辞职。在现行规定下，在他们离世之前，离职成员所空出的席位将一直保持空缺。
瑞典文学院的资助人，国王卡尔十六世·古斯塔夫，提议修改规定，允许学院成员自愿离开。
目前，文学院意识到自己陷入了一种奇怪的困境：即使它可以投票选出新成员，以取代辞职的成员，但投票通过所需的12名成员的法定人数却无法达到。
学院是否已经选出了诺贝尔（文学）奖得主？
为选出诺贝尔奖得主，需要八位成员进行投票，根据简单的以少胜多原则选出桂冠得主。但诺贝尔奖的分量远远不是这些数字能够衡量的。
丹麦奥尔胡斯大学的比较文学教授马兹·罗森达尔·汤姆森在文学院发表声明之前说道：“他们还需要让全世界相信，他们正在付出实实在在的努力，认真严谨地挑选出合适的诺贝尔奖文学奖候选人。”
换句话说，这个奖项的可信度已经岌岌可危。从大约两百位提名者中选出一人授予诺贝尔文学奖，通常会让人感到困惑和不满，但是它会使获奖者的地位迅速提升。
“诺贝尔基金会认为，瑞典文学院如今将竭尽全力恢复其作为颁奖机构的可信度，”负责执行阿尔弗雷德·诺贝尔遗志的诺贝尔基金会在其发表的一份声明中如是说。
学院成员通常会在5月决选出五位最终候选人，然后用整个夏天深入研究他们的作品。
比约恩·威曼是对阿尔诺的指控进行报道的《每日新闻报》的文化编辑。对于像他这样的一些观察人士来说，延缓颁奖是才正确的做法。
“这个新闻曾经轰动一时。但这是唯一可以做出的决定，”他在瑞典电台上说。“在这样的条件下，选出一个获奖者是不可能的。这对于任何获奖者来说都是一种侮辱。”
1. in the throes of： 处于……的困境中；high-profile： 高调的，备受瞩目的。
2. laureate： // 获得荣誉者，获奖者。
3. echo： 相似之处；#MeToo movement：去年有好莱坞女星爆出多起遭受性侵及性骚扰的事件，之后有越来越多的人站出来说出类似经历，呼吁不再哑忍，并提议加强对受害者的支援，这就是轰动全球的“#MeToo”事件；multifaceted： 多方面的，包羅万象的；take the fall for sb.： 替人受过。
4. overshadow： 给……蒙上阴影，使……黯然失色。
5. sever： 割断，使分离。
6. ouster： 撤职，罢免。
7. pussy-bow blouse： 蝴蝶结衬衫。
8. predicament： 困境；quorum： // 法定人数。
9. dive into： 钻研，探究。