Nobel Prize for “Literature”

I am always surprised by the excitement that the Nobel Prize for “Literature” generates in some people considering how unrelated to literature it is (and has always been).

The List of winners reads not as a Who’s who of 20th century literature, but rather as a Who’s He?. As far as I know, this is not true of any of the other Nobel Prizes (even the by-nature highly political Peace Prize is awarded to people who an informed audience has at least heard of). Also, as far as I know, no other Nobel Prize has ever been awarded to the members of the Jury who was deciding the Nobel Prize.