In this episode, we welcome Dr. Eric Sandberg, Associate Professor at City University of Hong Kong and Docent at the University of Oulu, Finland. Dr. Sandberg's research interests range from modernism to the contemporary novel, with a particular interest in the borderlands between literary and popular fiction. He co-edited Adaptation, Awards Culture, and the Value of Prestige with Colleen Kennedy-Karpat in 2017 (Palgrave), and edited 100 Greatest Literary Detectives in 2018 (Rowman & Littlefield). His monograph on Virginia Woolf appeared in 2014, and he published a companion to the work of Dorothy L. Sayers in 2021 (McFarland). He has published essays in numerous edited collections and journals, and his latest monographs, Studying Crime in Fiction(Routledge) and Crime Fiction and the Holocaust (Palgrave Macmillan) came out in 2024 and 2025.

We discuss the broader cultural significance of the Nobel Prize in Literature, focusing on how literary awards, as explored in Dr. Sandberg’s research, facilitate adaptations and shape cultural prestige. Drawing on Sara Danius’ rationale for awarding Bob Dylan the Nobel for his poetic fusion of high and low literary traditions, we explore how Thomas Pynchon’s integration of pop culture mirrors this approach. Finally, we examine Pynchon’s novel Inherent Vice as a prime example of his ability to bridge high and low culture, blending detective fiction with literary depth.