will it be philip roth? there hasn't been an american for 20 years. toni morrison, 1993. a long time ago. always on that list for many years has been alice monroe. this is her year. >> finally, you say an american has not won it. what does it take? any pattern one can establish? talking about the look roth -- what a body of work. >> a lot of interesting people. there are a lot of interesting people. churchill won it. >> where did that come from? >> communicate using the written word. that is really what the prizes for, what great literature is. someone who can open our eyes to the world or see the familiar differently, just by using words. it sounds easy. it is remarkably difficult. and for me, alice monroe is one of the best in the world doing it. does it mean her books will fly off the shelves? >> it is not the same thing -- i think it probably won't make a huge commercial difference, but it makes a huge difference in how her work will be viewed in historical terms, i think. there are great omissions. but the idea that she would die and not have won the prize would be a

. >> a viewer says, "i have been hearing complaints that philip roth has not won for a decade. roth as a candidate and if you had the power to crown roth or bob dylan, who would you choose? ". >> that's a good question. a couple of things - nobody deserves a nobel prize. they are not things that everyone who deserves one gets one. some get them, some don't. don updyke died without getting one, james joyce. >> mark twain. >> bob dylan, though, is a chance for the academy to recognise this form of writer, and while i respect what eric is saying, i'm not saying he's not a great performing artist. he's possibly the greatest or second greatest, but the words - they are from high literature. he combines symbolist poetry. the beat, the beats go back through ginsberg - there are few with claims to high culture. finally, if you don't let bob dylan have one on the grounds his words were written for another purpose, you have to take it from george bernard shaw, eugene o'neil and pinto who wrote for the stage. >> when i discussed doing this topic tonight, eric, i was on the fence about it.