It is not hard to see why such a scandal would attract so much attention. Of the many #MeToo revelations, the most shocking have been those in which abusive behavior was concealed and enabled by a facade of decorum and decency. The Swedish Academy, whose patron is the Swedish king and whose 18 members are chosen for life (the king recently changed the rules to let members resign), epitomizes such propriety.

Yet it is often the very respectability of the aggressor or the institution that discourages women from reporting sexual assaults, as was the case in Sweden. By the same token, the greater the reputation, the deeper the fall once the truth is revealed.

The Swedish Academy faces a tough task cleaning up the mess, but it will survive. The greater question is whether this self-perpetuating academic elite can recover the credibility that gave its Nobel Prize its standing.

There has long been some doubt whether 18 Swedes, no matter how erudite, can comb through the literature of so many cultures and so many languages and select the best. But so long as the academy maintained an image of integrity and neutrality, the award maintained its luster. How much of that will survive will not become clear until 2019, when the academy plans to name two winners, and by which time it will have to provide a full accounting of what happened.