Pleasure lies not just in getting what you want, but in the longing that propels you toward it.

When Anne Carson learned she had won the Nobel Prize in literature, she was in Iceland, where, according to the Swedish Academy, she was “listening to the wind.”

Carson didn’t answer her phone right away, silencing it until her husband persuaded her to call back. Her verdict on the academy’s choice: “I think you’re all insane.”

Originally published on theconversation.com, part of the BLOX Digital Content Exchange.