Since the delivery of the first Nobel Prize 112 years have passed. Among Russians worthy of this most prestigious award in the field literature, physics, chemistry, medicine, physiology, peace and economics there were only 20 people. As for the Nobel Prize in Literature, Russians have their own personal history in this area, not always with a positive ending.
First awarded in 1901, it bypassed the most important writer in history. Russian and world literature - Leo Tolstoy. In their 1901 address, the members of the Royal Swedish Academy formally expressed their respect for Tolstoy, calling him “the deeply revered patriarch of modern literature” and “one of those powerful, soulful poets who should be remembered first of all on this occasion,” but referred to the fact that that, due to his convictions, the great writer himself “never aspired to this kind of reward.” In his response letter, Tolstoy wrote that he was glad that he was spared the difficulties associated with the disposal of so much money and that he was pleased to receive notes of sympathy from so many respected persons. Things were different in 1906, when Tolstoy, preempting his nomination for the Nobel Prize, asked Arvid Järnefeld to use all kinds of connections so as not to be put in an unpleasant position and refuse this prestigious award.
Likewise Nobel Prize in Literature surpassed several other outstanding Russian writers, among whom was also the genius of Russian literature - Anton Pavlovich Chekhov. The first writer admitted to the “Nobel Club” was someone disliked by the Soviet government who emigrated to France Ivan Alekseevich Bunin.
In 1933, the Swedish Academy nominated Bunin for an award “for the rigorous skill with which he develops the traditions of Russian classical prose.” Among the nominees this year were also Merezhkovsky and Gorky. Bunin received Nobel Prize in Literature largely thanks to the 4 books about Arsenyev’s life that had been published by that time. During the ceremony, Per Hallström, a representative of the Academy who presented the prize, expressed admiration for Bunin’s ability to “describe real life with extraordinary expressiveness and accuracy.” In his response speech, the laureate thanked the Swedish Academy for the courage and honor it showed to the emigrant writer.
A difficult story full of disappointment and bitterness accompanies the receipt of the Nobel Prize in Literature Boris Pasternak. Nominated annually from 1946 to 1958 and awarded this high award in 1958, Pasternak was forced to refuse it. Almost becoming the second Russian writer to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, the writer was persecuted in his homeland, receiving stomach cancer as a result of nervous shocks, from which he died. Justice triumphed only in 1989, when his son Evgeniy Pasternak received an honorary award for him “for significant achievements in modern lyric poetry, as well as for continuing the traditions of the great Russian epic novel.”
Sholokhov Mikhail Alexandrovich received the Nobel Prize in Literature "for his novel Quiet Don" in 1965. It is worth noting that the authorship of this profound epic work, despite the fact that the manuscript of the work was found and a computer match was established with the printed edition, there are opponents who claim the impossibility of creating a novel, indicating deep knowledge of the events of the First World War and the Civil War at such a young age . The writer himself, summing up the results of his work, said: “I would like my books to help people become better, become purer in soul... If I succeeded in this to some extent, I am happy.”
Solzhenitsyn Alexander Isaevich, winner of the 1918 Nobel Prize in Literature "for the moral strength with which he followed the immutable traditions of Russian literature." Having spent most of his life in exile and exile, the writer created deep historical works that were frightening in their authenticity. Upon learning of the Nobel Prize award, Solzhenitsyn expressed his desire to personally attend the ceremony. The Soviet government prevented the writer from receiving this prestigious award, calling it “politically hostile.” Thus, Solzhenitsyn never got to the desired ceremony, fearing that he would not be able to return from Sweden back to Russia.
In 1987 Brodsky Joseph Alexandrovich awarded Nobel Prize for Literature"for comprehensive creativity, imbued with clarity of thought and passion of poetry." In Russia, the poet never received lifelong recognition. He created while in exile in the USA, most of his works were written in impeccable English. In his speech as a Nobel laureate, Brodsky spoke about what was most dear to him - language, books and poetry...
The Nobel Prize in Literature is the most prestigious international award. Established from the fund of the Swedish chemical engineer and millionaire Alfred Bernhard Nobel (1833-96); according to his will, it is awarded annually to the person who has created an outstanding work of “ideal direction.” The selection of the candidate is carried out by the Royal Swedish Academy in Stockholm; a new laureate is determined at the end of October each year, and on December 10 (the day of Nobel’s death) the Gold Medal is awarded; At the same time, the laureate makes a speech, usually of a programmatic nature. Laureates also have the right to give a Nobel lecture. The amount of the premium varies. Usually awarded for the entire work of the writer, less often - for individual works. The Nobel Prize began to be awarded in 1901; in some years it was not awarded (1914, 1918, 1935, 194043, 1950).
Nobel Prize Laureates in Literature:
The Nobel Prize laureates are the following writers: A. Sully-Prudhomme (1901), B. Bjornson (1903), F. Mistral, H. Echegaray (1904), G. Sienkiewicz (1905), G. Carducci (1906), R. Kipling (1906), S. Lagerlöf (1909), P. Heise (1910), M. Maeterlinck (1911), G. Hauptmann (1912), R. Tagore (1913), R. Rolland (1915), K.G.V. von Heydenstam (1916), K. Gjellerup and H. Pontoppidan (1917), K. Spitteler (1919), K. Hamsun (1920), A. France (1921), J. Benavente y Martinez (1922), U B. Yeats (1923), B. Reymont (1924), J. B. Shaw (1925), G. Deledza (1926), S. Unseg (1928), T. Mann (1929), S. Lewis (1930 ), E.A.Karlfeldt (1931), J.Galsworthy (1932), I.A.Bunin (1933), L.Pirandello (1934), Y.O'Neill (1936), R.Martin du Gard (1937 ), P. Back (1938), F. Sillanpää (1939), I.V. Jensen (1944), G. Mistral (1945), G. Hesse (1946), A. Zhid (1947), T.S. Eliot (1948), W. Faulkner (1949), P. Lagerquist (1951), F. Mauriac (1952), E. Hemingway (1954), H. Laxness (1955), H. R. Jimenez (1956), A .Camus (1957), B.L. Pasternak (1958), S. Quasimodo (1959), Saint-John Perse (1960), I. Andrich (1961), J. Steinbeck (1962), G. Seferiadis (1963) , J.P. Sartre (1964), M.A. Sholokhov (1965), S.I. Agnon and Nellie Zaks (1966), M.A. Asturias (1967), Y. Kawabata (1968), S. Beckett (1969), A.I. Solzhenitsyn (1970), P. Neruda (1971), G. Böll (1972), P. White (1973), H. E. Martinson, E. Ionson (1974), E. Montale (1975), S. Bellow (1976), V. Alexandre (1977), I. B. Singer (1978), O. Elitis (1979), C. Milos (1980), E. Canetti (1981), G. Garcia Marquez (1982), W. Golding (1983), Y. Seifersh (1984), K. Simon (1985), V. Soyinka (1986), I. A. Brodsky (1987), N. Mahfuz (1988), K.H.Sela (1989), O.Paz (1990), N.Gordimer (1991), D.Walcott (1992), T.Morrison (1993), K.Oe (1994), S.Heaney (1995) , V. Shimbarskaya (1996), D. Fo (1997), J. Saramagu (1998), G. Grass (1999), Gao Sinjiang (2000).
Among the Nobel Prize laureates in literature are the German historian T. Mommsen (1902), the German philosopher R. Eiken (1908), the French philosopher A. Bergson (1927), the English philosopher, political scientist, publicist B. Russell (1950), the English politician activist and historian W. Churchill (1953).
The following people refused the Nobel Prize: B. Pasternak (1958), J. P. Sartre (1964). At the same time, L. Tolstoy, M. Gorky, J. Joyce, B. Brecht were not awarded the prize.
In Alfred Nobel's will, the prize for the creation of the most outstanding literary work was mentioned fourth among five prizes. The will was announced in 1897, and the first laureate in this category in 1901 was the Frenchman Sully-Prudhomme. 32 years later, a native of Russia received this honor. Let's look through the history of presenting the prestigious world award, and in our review there are Russian writers who are laureates of the Nobel Prize in Literature. So who are they, Russian Nobel laureates in literature?
Ivan Alekseevich Bunin
An aesthetically subtle and talented Russian writer, a native of the city of Voronezh, began his literary career with poetry. In 1887 he published his first poem, and in 1902 he was awarded the Pushkin Prize for the book “Falling Leaves.”
In 1909 he again became a laureate of the prestigious Russian prize. He did not accept the changes that occurred in Russia after October 1917 and emigrated to France. The separation from his homeland was hard for him, and during the first years of his life in Paris he practically did not write.
In 1923, Romain Rolland proposed to the Nobel Committee the candidacy of an emigrant from Russia for the Nobel Prize, but the award went to a Scottish poet. But 10 years later, in 1933, the Russian emigrant writer entered the list of literary figures, becoming the first Russian writer to receive the Nobel Prize.
The boy was brought up in an intelligent, creative family. Boris's father was a talented artist, for which he was awarded the title of academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, and the poet's mother was a pianist.
At the age of 23, the gifted young man had already published his first poems, and in 1916 the first collection of his works was published. After the revolution, the poet’s family left for Berlin, and he remained to live and work in the USSR. In the late 20s and early 30s he was called the best poet of the Soviet state, and he takes an active part in the literary life of the country.
In 1955, one of Pasternak’s best works, Doctor Zhivago, was published. In 1958, the Nobel Committee awarded him the Nobel Prize, but under pressure from the Soviet leadership, Leonid Pasternak refused it. Real persecution began, and in 1960, having become seriously ill, Leonid Pasternak died in Peredelkino near Moscow.
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Mikhail Alexandrovich Sholokhov
The village of Veshenskaya is famous for the fact that the legendary Cossack writer Mikhail Sholokhov was born here in 1905, who glorified it throughout the world.
As a boy, he learned to read and write, but the war and revolutionary events interrupted the young man’s education. In 1922, he was almost shot by a revolutionary tribunal for abuse of power. But the father bought his son and sent him to Moscow. In 1923 he began publishing his first works, and in 1940 his most famous and widely read work, Quiet Don, was published.
In 1964, Jean-Paul Sartre made a grand gesture and refused the prize, saying that it was awarded only to Western writers, ignoring the great masters of words from Soviet Russia. The following year, members of the Royal Committee unanimously voted for Mikhail Sholokhov.
A native of Kislovodsk became famous not only for his literary works, but also for his sharp journalistic articles on the history of Russia.
Already at school, a rebellious character appeared when Alexander, despite the ridicule of his peers, wore a cross and did not want to join the pioneers. Under pressure from the Soviet school, he accepted the Marxist-Leninist ideology, became a member of the Komsomol and was active in social work.
Even before the war, he became interested in history and began literary activity. He fought heroically and was awarded the highest orders and military medals. After the war, he began to criticize the Soviet system, and in 1970 he became a Nobel Prize laureate. After the publication of the resonant work “The Gulag Archipelago,” Solzhenitsyn was deprived of citizenship in 1974 and forcibly expelled from the USSR. Only in 1990 will the writer be able to restore his citizenship.
Joseph Alexandrovich Brodsky
The Russian prose writer and poet received the Nobel Prize in 1987 as a citizen of the United States of America, because he was expelled from the USSR with the wording “for parasitism.”
Joseph was born in Leningrad, and his childhood occurred during the war years. Together with their mother, they survived the blockade winter of 1941-1942, and then were evacuated to Cherepovets. He dreamed of becoming a submariner, a doctor, worked on geological expeditions, and in the early 60s he became famous as a poet.
The aspiring poet did not work anywhere, and cases were repeatedly brought against him for parasitism. Working as a translator, he managed to temporarily subdue the agility of the authorities, but in the end, in 1972, Brodsky left the USSR. The prize was awarded to him in November 1987 as a Russian writer with a US passport.
Ivan Bunin received 170,331 Swedish crowns, and upon returning from Sweden to Paris, he began to organize dinner parties, distributed money to Russian emigrants without counting, and donated to various emigrant organizations and unions. Then he got involved in a financial scam, losing the remaining money.
Leonid Pasternak refused the prize, sending a telegram to the Royal Committee with a refusal, and so that they would not consider it an insult. In 1989, the medal and diploma of the laureate were solemnly presented to the writer’s son Evgeniy. In the same year, Pasternak's works appeared in the school curriculum of Soviet schools.
Mikhail Sholokhov donated two Soviet prizes to the state. In 1941, he donated the highest Stalin Prize in the USSR to the defense fund, and donated the Lenin Prize to the restoration of his native school. Using the funds from the world's highest literary award, the writer showed his children the world. They traveled all over Europe by car, and then visited Japan with their children. By the way, we have a useful article on the most popular ones on our website.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn received the prize only after he was expelled from the USSR. With this money he bought a house in the American state of Vermont. There were even two houses, one of which the writer used only for work.
Joseph Brodsky used the prize he received to open a restaurant in the Manhattan area with the poetic name “Russian Samovar”, which became a kind of center of Russian culture. The restaurant still operates in New York.
Curiosities
Mikhail Sholokhov, receiving his diploma and medal, pointedly did not bow to the Swedish monarch Gustav Adolf VI. Some media outlets indicated that he did this with the words “I bow to the people, but we Cossacks have never bowed our heads before kings.”
Alexander Solzhenitsyn wanted to go on stage to receive his medal and diploma not in a tailcoat, but in his prison uniform. The Soviet authorities did not allow the writer to leave the country, and he was not present at the ceremony. For well-known reasons, Boris Pasternak was not at the ceremony.
Leo Tolstoy could become the first Russian writer to receive the prestigious award. In 1901, the Committee sent an apology to the writer that they had not chosen him, to which the writer thanked them for saving him from the difficulties of spending money, which undoubtedly constitutes an evil. In 1906, having learned that he was on the list of candidates, Tolstoy wrote to his friend, a writer from Finland, not to vote for him. Everyone considered this to be just another count’s quirk of an outstanding writer, and the “block of Russian literature” was no longer nominated as a candidate.
In a whirlwind of anti-Soviet propaganda, the Committee wanted to present an award to the Soviet defector Igor Guzenko, who worked as the head of the encryption department at the Soviet embassy in Ottawa. In the West, he unexpectedly took up literature and actively criticized the Soviet system. But his opuses did not reach the level of literary masterpieces.
Candidates from the USSR and Russia for the literary prize
Only 5 Russian writers were awarded the high award, but other equally famous and talented figures of Russian and Soviet literature also had this opportunity.
The Russian and Soviet literary and public figure was nominated five times as a candidate for the prestigious award. The first time this happened was in 1918, and the last time in 1933, but that year the author of the “Garnet Bracelet” was awarded. Dmitry Merezhkovsky was nominated along with them. They didn’t give “Petrel” an award with the wording “collaborating with the Bolsheviks.”
Anna Akhmatova
Along with Boris Pasternak, the name of the famous Russian poetess Anna Akhmatova was also on the list of nominees for the Royal Award. The committee, choosing between prose and poetry, chose prose.
In 1963, the notorious Vladimir Nabokov, whose “Lolita” is admired by the whole world, was nominated for the prize. But the Committee considered it too immoral. In 1974, at the instigation of Solzhenitsyn, he was again on the list, but the prize was given to two Swedes, whose names no one will remember. Outraged by this circumstance, one of the American critics wittily declared that it was not Nabokov who did not deserve the prize, but the prize that Nabokov did not deserve.
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Let's sum it up
Russian literature is distinguished by the aesthetic content of its works and its moral core. And if European culture quickly reoriented itself towards a mass, entertaining nature, true Russian writers remained faithful to the established traditions that were laid down by recognized world classics, Russian poets and writers of the 19th century. Russian Nobel laureates in literature have made a significant contribution to the development of world culture. This concludes the article. The editors of TopCafe are waiting for your comments!
The Nobel Prize in Literature is an award for achievements in the field of literature, awarded annually by the Nobel Committee in Stockholm. Contents 1 Requirements for nominating candidates 2 List of laureates 2.1 1900s ... Wikipedia
Medal awarded to a Nobel Prize laureate The Nobel Prizes (Swedish: Nobelpriset, English: Nobel Prize) are one of the most prestigious international prizes, awarded annually for outstanding scientific research, revolutionary inventions or... ... Wikipedia
Medal of the USSR State Prize Laureate The USSR State Prize (1966 1991) is one of the most important prizes in the USSR along with the Lenin Prize (1925 1935, 1957 1991). Established in 1966 as a successor to the Stalin Prize, awarded in 1941-1954; laureates... ...Wikipedia
Swedish Academy Building The Nobel Prize in Literature is an award for achievements in the field of literature, awarded annually by the Nobel Committee in Stockholm. Contents... Wikipedia
Medal of the USSR State Prize Laureate The USSR State Prize (1966 1991) is one of the most important prizes in the USSR along with the Lenin Prize (1925 1935, 1957 1991). Established in 1966 as a successor to the Stalin Prize, awarded in 1941-1954; laureates... ...Wikipedia
Medal of the USSR State Prize Laureate The USSR State Prize (1966 1991) is one of the most important prizes in the USSR along with the Lenin Prize (1925 1935, 1957 1991). Established in 1966 as a successor to the Stalin Prize, awarded in 1941-1954; laureates... ...Wikipedia
Medal of the USSR State Prize Laureate The USSR State Prize (1966 1991) is one of the most important prizes in the USSR along with the Lenin Prize (1925 1935, 1957 1991). Established in 1966 as a successor to the Stalin Prize, awarded in 1941-1954; laureates... ...Wikipedia
Books
- According to the will. Notes on the laureates of the Nobel Prize in Literature, Ilyukovich A.. The basis of the publication consists of biographical sketches about all laureates of the Nobel Prize in Literature over 90 years, from the moment it was first awarded in 1901 to 1991, supplemented by...
What is the Nobel Prize?
Since 1901, the Nobel Prize for Literature (Swedish: Nobelpriset i litteratur) has been awarded annually to an author from any country who, according to Alfred Nobel's will, has produced "the most outstanding literary work of an idealistic tendency" (Swedish original source: den som inom litteraturen har producerat det mest framstående verket i en idealisk riktning). Although individual works are sometimes singled out as particularly noteworthy, the term "work" here refers to the author's legacy as a whole. The Swedish Academy decides each year who will receive the prize, if anyone is awarded it at all. The Academy announces the selected laureate in early October. The Nobel Prize for Literature is one of five established by Alfred Nobel in his will in 1895. Other awards: Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Peace Prize and Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Although the Nobel Prize for Literature has become the most prestigious literary prize in the world, the Swedish Academy has attracted considerable criticism for the way the prize is awarded. Many authors who received the prize have retired from writing, while others who were rejected by the jury remain widely studied and read. The prize "has come to be widely regarded as political - a peace prize in literary guise." Judges are biased against authors with political views different from their own. Tim Parkes noted skeptically that "Swedish professors... allow themselves to compare a poet from Indonesia, perhaps translated into English, with a novelist from Cameroon, whose work is probably only available in French, and another who writes in Afrikaans, but is published in German and Dutch... ". As of 2016, 16 of the 113 laureates were of Scandinavian origin. The Academy was often accused of favoring European, and in particular Swedish, authors. Some significant figures, such as the Indian academic Sabari Mitra, have noted that although the Nobel Prize in Literature is significant, and tends to outshine other awards, it "is not the only standard of literary excellence."
The “vague” wording that Nobel gave to the criteria for assessing the award leads to ongoing controversy. Originally in Swedish, the word idealisk is translated either as “idealistic” or “ideal”. The Nobel committee's interpretation has changed over the years. In recent years there has been a kind of idealism in defending human rights on a large scale.
History of the Nobel Prize
Alfred Nobel stipulated in his will that his money should be used to establish a series of prizes for those who bring "the greatest benefit to humanity" in the fields of physics, chemistry, peace, physiology or medicine, and literature. Although Nobel wrote several wills during of his life, the latter was written just over a year before his death, and signed at the Swedish-Norwegian Club in Paris on November 27, 1895, Nobel bequeathed 94% of his total assets, that is, 31 million Swedish kronor (198 million US dollars). or €176 million as of 2016), to establish and award five Nobel Prizes Due to the high level of skepticism surrounding his will, it was not put into effect until April 26, 1897, when the Storting (Norwegian Parliament) approved it by the Executors. his bequests were Ragnar Sulman and Rudolf Liljequist, who established the Nobel Foundation to take care of Nobel's estate and organize the prizes.
The members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee who were to award the Peace Prize were appointed shortly after the will was approved. Following these, the awarding organizations were appointed: the Karolinska Institute on June 7, the Swedish Academy on June 9, and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on June 11. The Nobel Foundation then reached agreement on the basic principles according to which the Nobel Prize should be awarded. In 1900, King Oscar II promulgated the newly established statutes of the Nobel Foundation. According to Nobel's will, the Royal Swedish Academy was to award a prize in literature.
Candidates for the Nobel Prize in Literature
Every year, the Swedish Academy sends out requests for nominations for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Members of the Academy, members of literary academies and societies, professors of literature and language, former Nobel Prize winners in literature, and presidents of writers' organizations are all eligible to nominate a candidate. You are not allowed to nominate yourself.
Thousands of requests are submitted each year, and as of 2011, approximately 220 proposals have been rejected. These proposals must be received by the Academy by February 1, after which they are considered by the Nobel Committee. Until April, the Academy reduces the number of candidates to about twenty. By May, the Committee approves a final list of five names. The next four months are spent reading and reviewing the work of these five candidates. In October, Academy members vote and the candidate who receives more than half the votes is declared the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. No one can win the award without being on the list at least twice, so many authors are considered repeatedly over several years. The Academy speaks thirteen languages, but if a shortlisted candidate works in an unfamiliar language, they hire translators and sworn experts to provide samples of that writer's work. The remaining elements of the process are similar to those for other Nobel Prizes.
Nobel Prize amount
The winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature receives a gold medal, a diploma with a citation, and a sum of money. The amount of the prize awarded depends on the income of the Nobel Foundation that year. If the prize is awarded to more than one laureate, the money is either divided in half between them, or, if there are three laureates, divided in half and the other half divided into two quarters of the amount. If a prize is awarded jointly to two or more laureates, the money is divided between them.
The Nobel Prize prize fund has fluctuated since its inception, but as of 2012 it was 8,000,000 kroner (about US$1,100,000), having previously been 10,000,000 kroner. This was not the first time the prize amount was reduced. Starting from a face value of 150,782 kronor in 1901 (equivalent to 8,123,951 Swedish kronor in 2011), the face value was only 121,333 kroner (equivalent to 2,370,660 Swedish kronor in 2011) in 1945. But since then the amount has risen or been stable, peaking at SEK 11,659,016 in 2001.
Nobel Prize medals
Nobel Prize medals struck by the Swedish and Norwegian mints since 1902 are registered trademarks of the Nobel Foundation. The obverse (front side) of each medal depicts the left profile of Alfred Nobel. The Nobel Prize medals in physics, chemistry, physiology and medicine, literature have the same obverses with the image of Alfred Nobel and the years of his birth and death (1833-1896). Nobel's portrait is also featured on the obverse of the Nobel Peace Prize medal and the Economic Prize medal, but the design is slightly different. The image on the reverse side of the medal varies depending on the awarding institution. The reverse sides of the Nobel Prize medals in chemistry and physics have the same design. The Nobel Prize in Literature medal was designed by Eric Lindbergh.
Nobel Prize diplomas
Nobel laureates receive their diploma directly from the King of Sweden. The design of each diploma is specially designed by the institution that presents the award to the laureate. The diploma contains an image and text that indicates the name of the laureate, and usually states why he received the award.
Nobel Prize Laureates in Literature
Selection of candidates for the Nobel Prize
Potential recipients of the Nobel Prize in Literature are difficult to predict because nominations are kept secret for fifty years until a database of nominees for the Nobel Prize in Literature is made publicly available. Currently, only nominations submitted between 1901 and 1965 are available for public viewing. Such secrecy leads to speculation about the next Nobel Prize winner.
What about the rumors spreading around the world regarding certain people who are supposedly nominated for the Nobel Prize this year? - Well, either these are just rumors, or one of the invited persons proposing the nominees leaked the information. Since nominations are kept secret for 50 years, you'll have to wait until you know for sure.
According to Professor Göran Malmqvist of the Swedish Academy, Chinese writer Shen Congwen should have been awarded the 1988 Nobel Prize in Literature if he had not died suddenly this year.
Criticism of the Nobel Prize
Controversy over the selection of Nobel laureates
From 1901 to 1912, a committee headed by the conservative Carl David af Wiersen assessed the literary value of the work against its contribution to humanity's quest for the "ideal". Tolstoy, Ibsen, Zola and Mark Twain were rejected in favor of authors few read today. In addition, many believe that Sweden's historical antipathy towards Russia is the reason why neither Tolstoy nor Chekhov were awarded the prize. During and immediately after World War I, the Committee adopted a policy of neutrality, giving preference to authors from non-combatant countries. The committee repeatedly passed over August Strindberg. However, he received the special honor of being awarded the Anti-Nobel Prize, which was awarded to him following the stormy national recognition in 1912 by the future Prime Minister Karl Hjalmar Branting. James Joyce wrote books that took 1st and 3rd places in the list of the 100 best novels of our time - Ulysses and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, but Joyce was never awarded the Nobel Prize. As his biographer Gordon Bowker wrote, "The prize was simply beyond Joyce's reach."
The Academy found Czech writer Karel Capek's novel "War with the Newts" too offensive for the German government. In addition, he refused to provide any non-controversial publication of his that could be cited in evaluating his work, stating: “Thank you for your favor, but I have already written my doctoral dissertation.” Thus, he was left without a bonus.
The first woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature only in 1909 was Selma Lagerlöf (Sweden 1858-1940) for “the high idealism, vivid imagination and spiritual penetration that distinguish all her works.”
French novelist and intellectual Andre Malraux was seriously considered for the prize in the 1950s, according to Swedish Academy archives reviewed by Le Monde after its opening in 2008. Malraux competed with Camus, but was turned down several times, notably in 1954 and 1955, "until he returned to the novel." Thus Camus was awarded the prize in 1957.
Some believe that W. H. Auden was not awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature because of errors in his 1961 translation of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dag Hammarskjöld's book Vägmärken /Markings, and statements Auden made during his lecture tour of Scandinavia, suggesting that Hammarskjöld, like Auden himself, was homosexual.
In 1962, John Steinbeck received the Nobel Prize for Literature. The choice was heavily criticized, and was called "one of the Academy's biggest mistakes" by one Swedish newspaper. The New York Times wondered why the Nobel Committee gave the prize to an author whose "limited talent, even in his best books, is diluted by the most base philosophizing," adding: "We find it curious that the honor was not given to a writer... whose importance, influence and perfect literary heritage have already had a deeper impact on the literature of our time." Steinbeck himself, when asked on the day the results were announced whether he deserved the Nobel Prize, replied: “Honestly, no.” In 2012 (50 years later), the Nobel Committee opened its archives and found that Steinbeck was a "compromise option" among shortlisted nominees such as Steinbeck himself, British authors Robert Graves and Lawrence Durrell, French playwright Jean Anouilh, and also Danish writer Karen Blixen. Declassified documents indicate that he was chosen as the lesser evil. "There are no clear candidates for the Nobel Prize, and the prize committee is in an unenviable position," writes committee member Henry Olson.
In 1964, Jean-Paul Sartre was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, but refused it, stating that "There is a difference between signing 'Jean-Paul Sartre' or 'Jean-Paul Sartre, Nobel Prize Laureate.'" A writer should not allow transform oneself into an institution, even if it takes the most honorable forms."
Soviet dissident writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn, a 1970 laureate, did not attend the Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm for fear that the USSR would prevent his return after his trip (his work there was distributed through samizdat, an underground form of press). After the Swedish government refused to honor Solzhenitsyn with a formal award ceremony as well as a lecture at the Swedish Embassy in Moscow, Solzhenitsyn refused the prize altogether, noting that the conditions set by the Swedes (who preferred a private ceremony) were "an insult to the Nobel Prize itself." Solzhenitsyn accepted the award and cash prize only on December 10, 1974, when he was deported from the Soviet Union.
In 1974, Graham Greene, Vladimir Nabokov, and Saul Bellow were considered for the prize but were rejected in favor of a joint prize given to Swedish authors Eivind Jonson and Harry Martinson, then members of the Swedish Academy and unknown outside their country. Bellow received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1976. Neither Greene nor Nabokov were awarded the prize.
Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges was nominated for the prize several times, but according to Edwin Williamson, Borges' biographer, the Academy did not give him the award, most likely because of his support for some Argentine and Chilean right-wing military dictators, including Augusto Pinochet. whose social and personal connections were quite intricate, according to Colm Tóibín's review of Williamson's Borges in Life. Denying Borges a Nobel Prize for supporting these right-wing dictators contrasts with the Committee's recognition of writers who openly supported controversial left-wing dictatorships, including Joseph Stalin in the cases of Sartre and Pablo Neruda. In addition, the support of Gabriel García Márquez for the Cuban revolutionary and President Fidel Castro was controversial.
The honoring of Italian playwright Dario Fo in 1997 was initially considered "rather superficial" by some critics, as he was primarily seen as a performer, and Catholic organizations found Fo's award controversial since he had previously been denounced by the Roman Catholic Church. The Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano expressed surprise at Fo's choice, noting that "Giving a prize to someone who is also the author of dubious works is unthinkable." Salman Rushdie and Arthur Miller were clear candidates for the prize, but Nobel organizers later was quoted as saying that doing so would be "too predictable, too popular."
Camilo José Cela willingly offered his services as an informant for the Franco regime and voluntarily moved from Madrid to Galicia during the Spanish Civil War to join the rebel forces there. Miguel Angel Villena's article "Between Fear and Impunity", which collected comments from Spanish novelists on the remarkable silence of the older generation of Spanish novelists regarding the past of public intellectuals under the Franco dictatorship, appeared under a photograph of Sela during his Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm in 1989 .
The choice of the 2004 laureate, Elfriede Jelinek, was protested by Swedish Academy member Knut Anlund, who has not been active at the Academy since 1996. Anlund resigned, claiming that Jelinek's selection caused "irreparable damage" to the reputation of the prize.
The announcement of Harold Pinter as the 2005 winner was delayed for several days, apparently due to Ahnlund's resignation, leading to renewed speculation that there was a "political element" to the Swedish Academy's awarding of the Prize. Although Pinter was unable to deliver his controversial Nobel lecture in person due to ill health, he broadcast it from a television studio and it was transmitted via video to screens in front of an audience at the Swedish Academy in Stockholm. His comments have been the source of much interpretation and debate. The question of their "political stance" was also raised in response to the Nobel Prize in Literature being awarded to Orhan Pamuk and Doris Lessing in 2006 and 2007, respectively.
The 2016 choice was Bob Dylan, marking the first time in history that a musician and songwriter has won the Nobel Prize in Literature. The award sparked some controversy, particularly among writers who argued that Dylan's literary work was not equal to that of some of his colleagues. Lebanese novelist Rabih Alameddine tweeted that "Bob Dylan winning the Nobel Prize in Literature is like Mrs. Fields' cookies getting 3 Michelin stars." French-Moroccan writer Pierre Assouline called this decision “contempt for writers.” In a live webchat hosted by The Guardian, Norwegian writer Karl Ove Knausgaard said: "I'm very discouraged. I like that the novel committee is opening up to other types of literature - song lyrics and so on, I think it's great. But knowing that Dylan is from the same generation as Thomas Pynchon, Philip Roth, Cormac McCarthy, I find it very difficult to accept." Scottish writer Irvine Welsh said: "I'm a Dylan fan, but this award is just ill-weighted nostalgia spewed out by the senile, rancid prostates of mumbling hippies." Dylan's fellow songwriter and friend Leonard Cohen said no awards were needed to recognize the greatness of the man who transformed pop music with records like Highway 61 Revisited. "To me," Cohen said, "[awarding the Nobel Prize] is like putting a medal on Mount Everest for being the tallest mountain." Writer and columnist Will Self wrote that the award "devalued" Dylan, while he hoped the winner would "follow Sartre's example and reject the award."
Controversial Nobel Prize awards
The prize's focus on Europeans, and Swedes in particular, has been the subject of criticism, even in Swedish newspapers. Most of the laureates were European, and Sweden received more prizes than all of Asia plus Latin America. In 2009, Horace Engdahl, later Permanent Secretary of the Academy, said that “Europe is still the center of the literary world,” and that “the United States is too isolated, too insular. They don't translate enough works, and they don't participate very actively in the larger literary dialogue."
In 2009, Peter Englund, Engdahl's replacement, rejected this view (“In most linguistic fields... there are authors who truly deserve and could receive a Nobel Prize, and this applies both to the United States and to the Americas in in general") and acknowledged the Eurocentric nature of the prize, saying: "I think that's a problem. We tend to respond more readily to literature written in Europe and in the European tradition." American critics famously objected that their compatriots such as Philip Roth, Thomas Pynchon and Cormac McCarthy had been overlooked, as had Latin Americans such as Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortázar, and Carlos Fuentes, while Europeans less known on this continent were victorious. The 2009 award to Herta Müller, previously little known outside Germany but many times cited as a Nobel favorite, renewed the view that the Swedish Academy was biased and Eurocentric.
However, the 2010 prize was awarded to Mario Vargas Llosa, who was originally from Peru in South America. When the prize was awarded to the distinguished Swedish poet Tumas Tranströmer in 2011, Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy Peter Englund said that the prize was not awarded on a political basis, describing it as "literature for dummies." The next two awards were given by the Swedish Academy to non-Europeans, Chinese author Mo Yan, and Canadian writer Alice Munro. The victory of the French writer Modiano in 2014 renewed the issue of Eurocentrism. Asked by The Wall Street Journal, "So no Americans again this year? Why?", Englund reminded Americans of last year's winner's Canadian origins, the Academy's commitment to literary excellence and the impossibility of awarding everyone who deserves the prize.
Undeserved Nobel Prizes
In the history of the Nobel Prize for Literature, many literary achievements have been missed. Literary historian Kjell Espmark admitted that when “it comes to early prizes, poor choices and glaring omissions are often justified. For example, instead of Sully Prudhomme, Aiken, and Heise, Tolstoy, Ibsea, and Henry James should have been awarded." There are omissions that are beyond the control of the Nobel Committee, for example due to the premature death of the author, as was the case with Marcel Proust, Italo Calvino, and Roberto Bolaño. According to Kjell Espmark, “the main works of Kafka, Cavafy and Pessoa were published only after their deaths, and the world learned about the true greatness of Mandelstam’s poetry primarily from unpublished poems that his wife saved from oblivion long after his death in Siberian exile.” British novelist Tim Parkes attributed the endless controversy surrounding the Nobel committee's decisions to "the fundamental frivolity of the prize and our own stupidity in taking it seriously," and also noted that "eighteen (or sixteen) Swedish citizens will have a certain authority in judging the works of Swedish literature , but what group could ever truly embrace in their minds the infinitely varied work of dozens of different traditions? And why should we ask them to do this?"
Equivalents to the Nobel Prize in Literature
The Nobel Prize for Literature is not the only literary prize for which authors of all nationalities are eligible. Other notable international literary awards include the Neustadt Literary Prize, the Franz Kafka Prize, and the Man Booker International Prize. Unlike the Nobel Prize for Literature, the Franz Kafka Prize, the Man Booker International Prize, and the Neustadt Prize for Literature are awarded every two years. Journalist Hepzibah Anderson noted that the International Booker Prize "is rapidly becoming a more significant award, serving as an increasingly competent alternative to the Nobel." The Booker International Prize "emphasizes one writer's overall contribution to fiction on the world stage" and "focuses only on literary excellence." Since it was only established in 2005, it is not yet possible to analyze the importance of its influence on potential future Nobel Prize winners in literature. Only Alice Munro (2009) has been awarded both. However, some Man Booker International Prize winners, such as Ismail Kadare (2005) and Philip Roth (2011), are considered candidates for the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Neustadt Literary Prize is considered one of the most prestigious international literary prizes, and is often referred to as the American equivalent of the Nobel Prize. Like the Nobel or Man Booker Prize, it is awarded not for any one work, but for the entire work of the author. The award is often seen as an indication that a particular author may be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1972 - Neustadt, 1982 - Nobel), Czeslaw Milosz (1978 - Neustadt, 1980 - Nobel), Octavio Paz (1982 - Neustadt, 1990 - Nobel), Tranströmer (1990 - Neustadt, 2011 - Nobel) were initially awarded Neustadt International Literary Prize before they were awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Another award worth considering is the Princess of Asturias Prize (formerly the Irinian Asturias Prize) for Literature. In its early years, it was awarded almost exclusively to writers who wrote in Spanish, but later the prize was also awarded to writers working in other languages. Writers who have received both the Princess of Asturias Prize for Literature and the Nobel Prize for Literature include Camilo José Cela, Günter Grass, Doris Lessing, and Mario Vargas Llosa.
The American Literature Prize, which does not include a cash prize, is an alternative to the Nobel Prize in Literature. To date, Harold Pinter and José Saramago are the only writers to have received both literary prizes.
There are also prizes that recognize the lifetime achievements of writers in specific languages, such as the Miguel de Cervantes Prize (for authors writing in Spanish, established in 1976), and the Camões Prize (for Portuguese-language authors, established in 1989). Nobel laureates who have also been awarded the Cervantes Prize: Octavio Paz (1981 - Cervantes, 1990 - Nobel), Mario Vargas Llosa (1994 - Cervantes, 2010 - Nobel), and Camilo José Cela (1995 - Cervantes, 1989 - Nobel). José Saramago is to date the only author to have received both the Camões Prize (1995) and the Nobel Prize (1998).
The Hans Christian Andersen Prize is sometimes called the "Little Nobel". The award deserves its name because, like the Nobel Prize in Literature, it takes into account the lifetime achievements of writers, although the Andersen Prize focuses on one category of literary works (children's literature).