Author refuses stamp of approval

Elfriede Jelinek, the reclusive winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize in literature, has turned down an offer by Austria’s post office to feature her image on a stamp.

Jelinek told postal officials she sought “no personal honors” and was uncomfortable with the idea of her face on a stamp, the newspaper Die Presse said. The $1.30 stamp would have featured her likeness and a reference to the Nobel Prize.

She didn’t attend the Dec. 10 Nobel festivities in Stockholm because of what she describes as “a social phobia.” She received the award in a small ceremony at the residence of the Swedish ambassador in Vienna.

Jelinek, 57, was the first literature laureate not to attend the Stockholm prize ceremony and the banquet since Patrick White in 1973. Her most famous novel, “The Piano Teacher,” was adapted into a 2001 film.