The 71-year-old Fo, whose work was banned from Italy's state-run TV and radio for years and who was prosecuted repeatedly for his searing critiques of the government, was a surprise choice, absent from most critics' lists of contenders. Fo himself seemed stunned.
"I'm amazed," he said on hearing he had won the $1 million prize.
"It will pay him back for the many, many humiliations he has suffered in his life," wife and collaborator Franca Rame said. "I believe that today many critics, when they hear this news, will have a heart attack."
In honoring Fo, the Swedish Academy called the Italian the modern equivalent of a court jester, citing his "scourging authority and upholding the dignity of the downtrodden."
The Vatican's official newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, was quick to register its disapproval of the academy's choice.
10-10-97
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