Nobel Prize in Literature: History and Statistics. Russian writers - Nobel Prize laureates German Nobel Prize laureates in literature
“In works of great emotional power, he revealed the abyss that lies beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world,” says the official release published on the website announcing the new Nobel laureate in literature, British writer of Japanese origin Kazuo Ishiguro.
A native of Nagasaki, he moved with his family to Britain in 1960. The writer’s first novel, “Where the Hills Are in the Haze,” was published in 1982 and was dedicated specifically to his hometown and new homeland. The novel tells the story of a Japanese woman who, after the suicide of her daughter and moving to England, cannot shake off haunting dreams of the destruction of Nagasaki.
Great success came to Ishiguro with the novel The Remains of the Day (1989),
dedicated to the fate of the former butler, who served one noble house all his life. For this novel, Ishiguro received the Booker Prize, and the jury voted unanimously, which is unprecedented for this award. In 1993, an American director filmed this book with and starring.
The writer's fame was greatly supported by the release in 2010 of the dystopian film Never Let Me Go, which takes place in an alternative Britain at the end of the twentieth century, where children who donate organs for cloning are raised in a special boarding school. The film stars Keira Knightley and others.
In 2005, this novel was included in the list of the hundred best according to the version.
Kazuo's latest novel, The Buried Giant, published in 2015, is considered one of his strangest and most daring works. This is a medieval fantasy novel in which the journey of an elderly couple to a neighboring village to visit their son becomes a road to their own memories. Along the way, the couple defends themselves from dragons, ogres and other mythological monsters. You can read more about the book.
This year's award amount is $1.12 million. The award ceremony will take place at the Stockholm Philharmonic on December 10, the day of the death of the founder of the award.
Literary rate
Every year, it is the Nobel Prize in Literature that arouses particular interest among bookmakers - in no other discipline in which the award is given does such a stir occur. The list of this year's favorites, according to the bookmaker companies Ladbrokes and Unibet, included the Kenyan Ngugi Wa Thiong'o (5.50), the Canadian writer and critic (6.60), and the Japanese writer (odds 2.30). The current laureate’s fellow countryman, the author of “The Sheep Hunt” and “After Dark,” however, has been promised a Nobel for many years, just like another “eternal” literary Nobel nominee, the famous Syrian poet Adonis. However, both of them remain without a reward year after year, and the bookmakers are slightly perplexed.
Other candidates this year included: Chinese Ian Leanke, Israeli, Italian Claudio Magris, Spaniard, American singer and poetess Patti Smith, from Austria, South Korean poet and prose writer Ko Eun, Nina Buraoui from France, Peter Nadas from Hungary, American rapper Kanye West and others.
In the entire history of the award, bookmakers have made no mistakes only three times:
In 2003, when the victory was awarded to the South African writer John Coetzee, in 2006 with the famous Turk, and in 2008 with the Frenchman.
“It is unknown what the bookmakers are guided by when determining the favorites,” says the literary expert, editor-in-chief of the Gorky Media resource, “we only know that a few hours before the announcement, the odds for whoever turns out to be the winner then drop sharply to unfavorable values.” Whether this means that someone is supplying bookmakers with information several hours before the announcement of the winners, the expert refused to confirm. According to Milchin,
Bob Dylan was at the bottom of the list last year, as was Svetlana Alexievich in 2015.
According to the expert, a few days before the announcement of the current winner, bets on Canadian Margaret Atwood and Korean Ko Eun dropped sharply.
The name of the future laureate is traditionally kept in the strictest confidence until the announcement. The list of candidates compiled by the Swedish Academy is also classified and will only become known after 50 years.
The Swedish Academy was founded in 1786 by King Gustav III to support and develop the Swedish language and literature. It consists of 18 academicians who are elected to their posts for life by other members of the academy.
Dedicated to the great Russian writers.
From October 21 to November 21, 2015, the Library and Information Complex invites you to an exhibition dedicated to the works of Nobel laureates in literature from Russia and the USSR.
A Belarusian writer received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2015. The award was awarded to Svetlana Alexievich with the following wording: “For her polyphonic creativity - a monument to suffering and courage in our time.” At the exhibition we also presented works by Svetlana Alexandrovna.
The exhibition can be viewed at the address: Leningradsky Prospekt, 49, 1st floor, room. 100.
The prizes, established by the Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, are considered the most honorable in the world. They are awarded annually (since 1901) for outstanding work in the field of medicine or physiology, physics, chemistry, for literary works, for contributions to strengthening peace, economics (since 1969).
The Nobel Prize in Literature is an award for achievements in the field of literature, awarded annually by the Nobel Committee in Stockholm on December 10. According to the statutes of the Nobel Foundation, the following persons can nominate candidates: members of the Swedish Academy, other academies, institutes and societies with similar tasks and goals; university professors of literary history and linguistics; Nobel Prize laureates in literature; chairmen of authors' unions representing literary creativity in the respective countries.
Unlike laureates of other prizes (for example, physics and chemistry), the decision to award the Nobel Prize in Literature is made by members of the Swedish Academy. The Swedish Academy unites 18 Swedish figures. The Academy includes historians, linguists, writers and one lawyer. They are known in society as "Eighteen". Membership in the academy is for life. After the death of one of the members, the academicians elect a new academician by secret vote. The Academy selects a Nobel Committee from among its members. It is he who deals with the issue of awarding the prize.
Nobel laureates in literature from Russia and the USSR :
- I. A. Bunin(1933 "For the strict skill with which he develops the traditions of Russian classical prose")
- B.L. Parsnip(1958 "For significant achievements in modern lyric poetry, as well as for continuing the traditions of the great Russian epic novel")
- M. A. Sholokhov(1965 “For the artistic strength and honesty with which he depicted the historical era in the life of the Russian people in his Don epic”)
- A. I. Solzhenitsyn(1970 "For the moral strength with which he followed the immutable traditions of Russian literature")
- I. A. Brodsky(1987 "For comprehensive creativity, imbued with clarity of thought and passion of poetry")
Russian literature laureates are people with different, sometimes opposing, views. I. A. Bunin and A. I. Solzhenitsyn are staunch opponents of Soviet power, and M. A. Sholokhov, on the contrary, is a communist. However, the main thing they have in common is their undoubted talent, for which they were awarded Nobel Prizes.
Ivan Alekseevich Bunin is a famous Russian writer and poet, an outstanding master of realistic prose, an honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. In 1920, Bunin emigrated to France.
The most difficult thing for a writer in exile is to remain himself. It happens that, having left his homeland due to the need to make dubious compromises, he is again forced to kill his spirit in order to survive. Fortunately, Bunin escaped this fate. Despite any trials, Bunin always remained true to himself.
In 1922, Ivan Alekseevich’s wife, Vera Nikolaevna Muromtseva, wrote in her diary that Romain Rolland nominated Bunin for the Nobel Prize. From then on, Ivan Alekseevich lived with hopes that someday he would be awarded this prize. 1933 All newspapers in Paris came out on November 10 with large headlines: “Bunin - Nobel laureate.” Every Russian in Paris, even the loader at the Renault plant, who had never read Bunin, took this as a personal holiday. Because my compatriot turned out to be the best, the most talented! In the Parisian taverns and restaurants that evening there were Russians, who sometimes drank for “one of their own” with their last pennies.
On the day the prize was awarded, November 9, Ivan Alekseevich Bunin watched the “cheerful stupidity” “Baby” in the cinema. Suddenly the darkness of the hall was cut through by a narrow beam of a flashlight. They were looking for Bunin. He was called by telephone from Stockholm.
“And immediately my whole old life ends. I go home quite quickly, but without feeling anything other than regret that I was not able to watch the film. But no. I can’t help but believe: the whole house is glowing with lights. And my heart squeezes with some kind of sadness ... Some kind of turning point in my life,” recalled I. A. Bunin.
Exciting days in Sweden. In the concert hall, in the presence of the king, after the report of the writer, member of the Swedish Academy Peter Hallström on the work of Bunin, he was presented with a folder with a Nobel diploma, a medal and a check for 715 thousand French francs.
When presenting the award, Bunin noted that the Swedish Academy acted very bravely by awarding the emigrant writer. Among the contenders for this year’s prize was another Russian writer, M. Gorky, however, largely thanks to the publication of the book “The Life of Arsenyev” by that time, the scales nevertheless tipped in the direction of Ivan Alekseevich.
Returning to France, Bunin feels rich and, sparing no expense, distributes “benefits” to emigrants and donates funds to support various societies. Finally, on the advice of well-wishers, he invests the remaining amount in a “win-win business” and is left with nothing.
Bunin’s friend, poet and prose writer Zinaida Shakhovskaya, in her memoir book “Reflection,” noted: “With skill and a small amount of practicality, the prize should have been enough to last. But the Bunins did not buy either an apartment or a villa...”
Unlike M. Gorky, A. I. Kuprin, A. N. Tolstoy, Ivan Alekseevich did not return to Russia, despite the admonitions of the Moscow “messengers”. I never came to my homeland, not even as a tourist.
Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (1890-1960) was born in Moscow in the family of the famous artist Leonid Osipovich Pasternak. Mother, Rosalia Isidorovna, was a talented pianist. Maybe that’s why, as a child, the future poet dreamed of becoming a composer and even studied music with Alexander Nikolaevich Scriabin. However, the love of poetry won out. B. L. Pasternak's fame was brought by his poetry, and his bitter trials by "Doctor Zhivago", a novel about the fate of the Russian intelligentsia.
The editors of the literary magazine, to which Pasternak offered the manuscript, considered the work anti-Soviet and refused to publish it. Then the writer transferred the novel abroad, to Italy, where it was published in 1957. The very fact of publication in the West was sharply condemned by Soviet creative colleagues, and Pasternak was expelled from the Writers' Union. However, it was Doctor Zhivago that made Boris Pasternak a Nobel laureate. The writer was nominated for the Nobel Prize starting in 1946, but was awarded it only in 1958, after the release of the novel. The conclusion of the Nobel Committee says: "... for significant achievements both in modern lyric poetry and in the field of the great Russian epic tradition."
At home, the award of such an honorary prize to an “anti-Soviet novel” aroused the indignation of the authorities, and under the threat of deportation from the country, the writer was forced to refuse the award. Only 30 years later, his son, Evgeniy Borisovich Pasternak, received a diploma and a Nobel laureate medal for his father.
The fate of another Nobel laureate, Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn, is no less dramatic. He was born in 1918 in Kislovodsk, and his childhood and youth were spent in Novocherkassk and Rostov-on-Don. After graduating from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Rostov University, A.I. Solzhenitsyn taught and at the same time studied by correspondence at the Literary Institute in Moscow. When the Great Patriotic War began, the future writer went to the front.
Shortly before the end of the war, Solzhenitsyn was arrested. The reason for the arrest was critical remarks against Stalin, found by military censorship in Solzhenitsyn's letters. He was released after Stalin's death (1953). In 1962, the magazine "New World" published the first story - "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich", telling about the life of prisoners in the camp. Literary magazines refused to publish most of the subsequent works. There was only one explanation: anti-Soviet orientation. However, the writer did not give up and sent the manuscripts abroad, where they were published. Alexander Isaevich did not limit himself to literary activities - he fought for the freedom of political prisoners in the USSR, and sharply criticized the Soviet system.
The literary works and political position of A. I. Solzhenitsyn were well known abroad, and in 1970 he was awarded the Nobel Prize. The writer did not go to Stockholm for the award ceremony: he was not allowed to leave the country. Representatives of the Nobel Committee, who wanted to present the prize to the laureate at home, were not allowed into the USSR.
In 1974, A.I. Solzhenitsyn was expelled from the country. First he lived in Switzerland, then moved to the USA, where, with a significant delay, he was awarded the Nobel Prize. Such works as “In the First Circle”, “The Gulag Archipelago”, “August 1914”, “Cancer Ward” were published in the West. In 1994, A. Solzhenitsyn returned to his homeland, traveling across all of Russia, from Vladivostok to Moscow.
The fate of Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov, the only Russian Nobel Prize laureate in literature, who was supported by government agencies, turned out differently. M. A. Sholokhov (1905-1980) was born in the south of Russia, on the Don - in the center of the Russian Cossacks. He later described his small homeland - the village of Kruzhilin in the village of Veshenskaya - in many works. Sholokhov graduated from only four classes of the gymnasium. He actively participated in the events of the civil war, led a food detachment that took away the so-called surplus grain from rich Cossacks.
Already in his youth, the future writer felt a penchant for literary creativity. In 1922, Sholokhov came to Moscow, and in 1923 he began publishing his first stories in newspapers and magazines. In 1926, the collections “Don Stories” and “Azure Steppe” were published. Work on “The Quiet Don” - a novel about the life of the Don Cossacks during the Great Turning Point (the First World War, revolutions and civil war) - began in 1925. The first part of the novel was published in 1928, and Sholokhov completed it in the 30s . “Quiet Don” became the pinnacle of the writer’s creativity, and in 1965 he was awarded the Nobel Prize “for the artistic strength and completeness with which he depicted the historical phase in the life of the Russian people in his epic work about the Don.” "Quiet Don" has been translated in 45 countries into several dozen languages.
By the time he received the Nobel Prize, Joseph Brodsky’s bibliography included six collections of poems, the poem “Gorbunov and Gorchakov,” the play “Marble,” and many essays (written mainly in English). However, in the USSR, from where the poet was expelled in 1972, his works were distributed mainly in samizdat, and he received the prize while already a citizen of the United States of America.
A spiritual connection with his homeland was important to him. He kept Boris Pasternak's tie as a relic and even wanted to wear it to the Nobel Prize ceremony, but protocol rules did not allow it. Nevertheless, Brodsky still came with Pasternak’s tie in his pocket. After perestroika, Brodsky was invited to Russia more than once, but he never came to his homeland, which rejected him. “You can’t step into the same river twice, even if it’s the Neva,” he said.
From Brodsky’s Nobel Lecture: “A person with taste, particularly literary taste, is less susceptible to repetition and rhythmic incantations inherent in any form of political demagoguery. The point is not so much that virtue is no guarantee of a masterpiece, but that evil, especially political evil, is always a poor stylist. The richer the aesthetic experience of an individual, the firmer his taste, the clearer his moral choice, the freer he is - although perhaps not happier. It is in this applied rather than platonic sense that one should understand Dostoevsky’s remark that “beauty will save the world,” or Matthew Arnold’s statement that “poetry will save us.” The world probably won’t be able to be saved, but an individual can always be saved.”
The Nobel Committee has remained silent for a long time about its work, and only 50 years later it reveals information about how the prize was awarded. On January 2, 2018, it became known that Konstantin Paustovsky was among the 70 candidates for the 1967 Nobel Prize in Literature.
The company chosen was very worthy: Samuel Beckett, Louis Aragon, Alberto Moravia, Jorge Luis Borges, Pablo Neruda, Yasunari Kawabata, Graham Greene, Wysten Hugh Auden. The Academy awarded the prize that year to Guatemalan writer Miguel Angel Asturias "for his living literary achievements, deeply rooted in the national characteristics and traditions of the indigenous peoples of Latin America." 
The name of Konstantin Paustovsky was proposed by a member of the Swedish Academy, Eivind Jonsson, but the Nobel Committee rejected his candidacy with the wording: “The Committee would like to emphasize its interest in this proposal for a Russian writer, but for natural reasons it should be put aside for now.” It is difficult to say what “natural causes” we are talking about. All that remains is to cite the known facts.
In 1965, Paustovsky was already nominated for the Nobel Prize. This was an unusual year, because among the nominees for the award were four Russian writers - Anna Akhmatova, Mikhail Sholokhov, Konstantin Paustovsky, Vladimir Nabokov. The prize was eventually awarded to Mikhail Sholokhov, so as not to irritate the Soviet authorities too much after the previous Nobel laureate Boris Pasternak, whose award caused a huge scandal.
The first prize for literature was awarded in 1901. Since then, six authors writing in Russian have received it. Some of them cannot be attributed to either the USSR or Russia due to citizenship issues. However, their tool was the Russian language, and this is the main thing.
Ivan Bunin becomes the first Russian winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1933, taking the top on his fifth attempt. As subsequent history will show, this will not be the longest path to the Nobel. 
The award was presented with the wording “for the strict skill with which he develops the traditions of Russian classical prose.”
In 1958, the Nobel Prize went to a representative of Russian literature for the second time. Boris Pasternak was honored "for significant achievements in modern lyric poetry, as well as for continuing the traditions of the great Russian epic novel." 
For Pasternak himself, the prize brought nothing but problems and a campaign under the slogan “I haven’t read it, but I condemn it!” We were talking about the novel “Doctor Zhivago,” which was published abroad, which at that time was equated with betrayal of the homeland. The situation was not saved even by the fact that the novel was published in Italy by a communist publishing house. The writer was forced to refuse the prize under threat of expulsion from the country and threats against his family and loved ones. The Swedish Academy recognized Pasternak's refusal of the prize as forced and in 1989 awarded a diploma and medal to his son. This time there were no incidents.
In 1965, Mikhail Sholokhov became the third laureate of the Nobel Prize in Literature “for the artistic strength and integrity of the epic about the Don Cossacks at a turning point for Russia.” 
This was the “correct” prize from the point of view of the USSR, especially since the writer’s candidacy was directly supported by the state.
In 1970, the Nobel Prize in Literature went to Alexander Solzhenitsyn “for the moral strength with which he followed the immutable traditions of Russian literature.” 
The Nobel Committee spent a long time justifying itself by saying that its decision was not political, as the Soviet authorities claimed. Supporters of the version about the political nature of the award note two things: only eight years passed from the moment of Solzhenitsyn’s first publication to the presentation of the award, which cannot be compared with other laureates. Moreover, by the time the prize was awarded, neither “The Gulag Archipelago” nor “The Red Wheel” had been published.
The fifth winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1987 was the émigré poet Joseph Brodsky, awarded “for his comprehensive creativity, imbued with clarity of thought and poetic intensity.” 
The poet was forcibly sent into exile in 1972 and had American citizenship at the time of the award.
Already in the 21st century, in 2015, that is, 28 years later, Svetlana Alexievich received the Nobel Prize as a representative of Belarus. And again there was some scandal. Many writers, public figures and politicians were rejected by Alexievich’s ideological position; others believed that her works were ordinary journalism and had nothing to do with artistic creativity. 
In any case, a new page has opened in the history of the Nobel Prize. For the first time, the prize was awarded not to a writer, but to a journalist.
Thus, almost all decisions of the Nobel Committee concerning writers from Russia had political or ideological background. This began back in 1901, when Swedish academics wrote a letter to Tolstoy, calling him “the deeply revered patriarch of modern literature” and “one of those powerful, soulful poets who should be remembered first of all in this case.”
The main message of the letter was the desire of the academicians to justify their decision not to award the prize to Leo Tolstoy. Academicians wrote that the great writer himself “never aspired to this kind of award.” Leo Tolstoy thanked him in response: “I was very pleased that the Nobel Prize was not awarded to me... This saved me from a great difficulty - managing this money, which, like all money, in my opinion, can only bring evil.”
Forty-nine Swedish writers, led by August Strindberg and Selma Lagerlöf, wrote a letter of protest to the Nobel academicians. In total, the great Russian writer was nominated for the prize for five years in a row, the last time being in 1906, four years before his death. It was then that the writer turned to the committee with a request not to award him the prize, so that he would not have to refuse later. 
Today, the opinions of those experts who excommunicated Tolstoy from the prize have become the property of history. Among them is Professor Alfred Jensen, who believed that the philosophy of the late Tolstoy contradicted the will of Alfred Nobel, who dreamed of an “idealistic orientation” in his works. And “War and Peace” is completely “devoid of understanding of history.” Secretary of the Swedish Academy Karl Wirsen formulated his point of view even more categorically about the impossibility of awarding the prize to Tolstoy: “This writer condemned all forms of civilization and insisted in their place to accept a primitive way of life, divorced from all the establishments of high culture.”
Among those who became nominees, but were not given the honor of giving a Nobel lecture, there are many big names.
This is Dmitry Merezhkovsky (1914, 1915, 1930-1937) 
Maxim Gorky (1918, 1923, 1928, 1933) 
Konstantin Balmont (1923) 
Pyotr Krasnov (1926) 
Ivan Shmelev (1931) 
Mark Aldanov (1938, 1939) 
Nikolai Berdyaev (1944, 1945, 1947) 
As you can see, the list of nominees includes mainly those Russian writers who were in exile at the time of nomination. This series has been replenished with new names.
This is Boris Zaitsev (1962) 
Vladimir Nabokov (1962) 
Of the Soviet Russian writers, only Leonid Leonov (1950) was included in the list. 
Anna Akhmatova, of course, can only be considered a Soviet writer conditionally, because she had USSR citizenship. The only time she was nominated for a Nobel Prize was in 1965. 
If you wish, you can name more than one Russian writer who has earned the title of Nobel Prize laureate for his work. For example, Joseph Brodsky, in his Nobel lecture, mentioned three Russian poets who would be worthy of being on the Nobel podium. These are Osip Mandelstam, Marina Tsvetaeva and Anna Akhmatova.
The further history of the Nobel nominations will certainly reveal many more interesting things to us.
Only five Russian writers have received the prestigious international Nobel Prize. For three of them, this brought not only worldwide fame, but also widespread persecution, repression and expulsion. Only one of them was approved by the Soviet government, and its last owner was “forgiven” and invited to return to his homeland.
Nobel Prize- one of the most prestigious awards, which is awarded annually for outstanding scientific research, significant inventions and significant contributions to culture and the development of society. There is one comical, but not accidental story connected with its establishment. It is known that the founder of the prize, Alfred Nobel, is also famous for the fact that it was he who invented dynamite (pursuing, however, pacifist goals, since he believed that opponents armed to the teeth would understand the stupidity and senselessness of the war and stop the conflict). When his brother Ludwig Nobel died in 1888, and newspapers erroneously “buried” Alfred Nobel, calling him a “merchant of death,” the latter seriously wondered how society would remember him. As a result of these thoughts, Alfred Nobel changed his will in 1895. And it said the following:
“All my movable and immovable property must be converted by my executors into liquid assets, and the capital thus collected must be placed in a reliable bank. The income from the investments should belong to a fund, which will distribute them annually in the form of bonuses to those who, during the previous year, have brought the greatest benefit to humanity ... The specified interest must be divided into five equal parts, which are intended: one part - to the one who makes the most important discovery or invention in the field of physics; the other - to the one who makes the most important discovery or improvement in the field of chemistry; the third - to the one who makes the most important discovery in the field of physiology or medicine; the fourth - to the one who creates the most outstanding literary work of an idealistic direction; fifth - to the one who will make the most significant contribution to the unity of nations, the abolition of slavery or the reduction of the strength of existing armies and the promotion of peaceful congresses ... It is my special desire that in the awarding of prizes the nationality of the candidates will not be taken into account ... ".
Medal awarded to a Nobel laureate
After conflicts with Nobel’s “deprived” relatives, the executors of his will - his secretary and lawyer - established the Nobel Foundation, whose responsibilities included organizing the presentation of bequeathed prizes. A separate institution was created to award each of the five prizes. So, Nobel Prize in literature came under the purview of the Swedish Academy. Since then, the Nobel Prize for Literature has been awarded annually since 1901, except for 1914, 1918, 1935 and 1940-1943. It is interesting that upon delivery Nobel Prize Only the names of the laureates are announced; all other nominations are kept secret for 50 years.
Swedish Academy building
Despite the apparent disinterest Nobel Prize, dictated by the philanthropic instructions of Nobel himself, many “left” political forces still see obvious politicization and some Western cultural chauvinism in the awarding of the prize. It is difficult not to notice that the vast majority of Nobel laureates come from the USA and European countries (more than 700 laureates), while the number of laureates from the USSR and Russia is much smaller. Moreover, there is a point of view that the majority of Soviet laureates were awarded the prize only for criticism of the USSR.
Nevertheless, these five Russian writers are laureates Nobel Prize on literature:
Ivan Alekseevich Bunin- laureate of 1933. The prize was awarded “for the strict mastery with which he develops the traditions of Russian classical prose.” Bunin received the prize while in exile.
Boris Leonidovich Pasternak- laureate of 1958. The prize was awarded “for significant achievements in modern lyric poetry, as well as for continuing the traditions of the great Russian epic novel.” This prize is associated with the anti-Soviet novel “Doctor Zhivago”, therefore, in conditions of severe persecution, Pasternak is forced to refuse it. The medal and diploma were awarded to the writer’s son Evgeniy only in 1988 (the writer died in 1960). It is interesting that in 1958 this was the seventh attempt to present Pasternak with the prestigious prize.
Mikhail Alexandrovich Sholokhov- laureate of 1965. The prize was awarded “For the artistic strength and integrity of the epic about the Don Cossacks at a turning point for Russia.” This award has a long history. Back in 1958, a delegation of the USSR Writers' Union that visited Sweden contrasted the European popularity of Pasternak with the international popularity of Sholokhov, and in a telegram to the Soviet ambassador in Sweden dated April 7, 1958 it was said:
“It would be desirable to make it clear to the Swedish public through cultural figures close to us that the Soviet Union would highly appreciate the award Nobel Prize Sholokhov... It is also important to make it clear that Pasternak as a writer is not recognized by Soviet writers and progressive writers of other countries.”
Contrary to this recommendation, Nobel Prize in 1958, it was nevertheless awarded to Pasternak, which resulted in severe disapproval of the Soviet government. But in 1964 from Nobel Prize Jean-Paul Sartre refused, explaining, among other things, his personal regret that Sholokhov was not awarded the prize. It was this gesture of Sartre that predetermined the choice of the laureate in 1965. Thus, Mikhail Sholokhov became the only Soviet writer to receive Nobel Prize with the consent of the top leadership of the USSR.
Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn- laureate of 1970. The prize was awarded “for the moral strength with which he followed the immutable traditions of Russian literature.” Only 7 years passed from the beginning of Solzhenitsyn’s career to the award of the prize - this is the only such case in the history of the Nobel Committee. Solzhenitsyn himself spoke about the political aspect of awarding him the prize, but the Nobel Committee denied this. However, after Solzhenitsyn received the prize, a propaganda campaign was organized against him in the USSR, and in 1971, an attempt was made to physically destroy him when he was injected with a toxic substance, after which the writer survived, but was ill for a long time.
Joseph Alexandrovich Brodsky- laureate of 1987. The prize was awarded “for comprehensive creativity, imbued with clarity of thought and passion of poetry.” Awarding the prize to Brodsky no longer caused such controversy as many other decisions of the Nobel Committee, since Brodsky by that time was known in many countries. In his first interview after he was awarded the prize, he himself said: “It was received by Russian literature, and it was received by an American citizen.” And even the weakened Soviet government, shaken by perestroika, began to establish contacts with the famous exile.
Nobel Prize in Literature
Awarded: writers for achievements in the field of literature.
Significance in the field of literature: the most prestigious literary prize.
The prize was established: by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895. Awarded since 1901.
Candidates are nominated: members of the Swedish Academy, other academies, institutes and societies with similar tasks and goals; professors of literature and linguistics; Nobel Prize laureates in literature; chairmen of copyright unions representing literary creativity in the respective countries.
The selection of candidates is carried out by the Nobel Committee for Literature.
Winners are selected: Swedish Academy.
The prize is awarded: once a year.
Laureates are awarded: a medal with the image of Nobel, a diploma and a cash prize, the amount of which varies.
Prize winners and justification for the award:
1901 - Sully-Prudhomme, France. For outstanding literary virtues, especially for high idealism, artistic perfection, as well as for the extraordinary combination of soul and talent, as evidenced by his books
1902 - Theodor Mommsen, Germany. One of the outstanding historical writers, who penned such a monumental work as “Roman History”
1903 - Bjornstjerne Bjornson, Norway. For noble, high and versatile poetry, which has always been marked by the freshness of inspiration and the rarest purity of spirit
1904 - Frederic Mistral, France. For the freshness and originality of poetic works that truly reflect the spirit of the people
Jose Echegaray y Eizaguirre, Spain. For numerous services to the revival of the traditions of Spanish drama
1905 - Henryk Sienkiewicz, Poland. For outstanding services in the field of epic
1906 - Giosue Carducci, Italy. Not only for his deep knowledge and critical mind, but above all for the creative energy, freshness of style and lyrical power characteristic of his poetic masterpieces
1907 - Rudyard Kipling, Great Britain. For observation, vivid imagination, maturity of ideas and outstanding talent as a storyteller
1908 - Rudolf Eiken, Germany. For his serious search for truth, the all-penetrating power of thought, broad outlook, liveliness and persuasiveness with which he defended and developed idealistic philosophy
1909 - Selma Lagerlöf, Sweden. As a tribute to the high idealism, vivid imagination and spiritual penetration that distinguish all her works
1910 - Paul Heise, Germany. For the artistry and idealism that he demonstrated throughout his long and productive career as a lyric poet, playwright, novelist, and author of world-famous short stories.
1911 - Maurice Maeterlinck, Belgium. For his multifaceted literary activity, and especially for his dramatic works, which are noted for their richness of imagination and poetic fantasy
1912 - Gerhart Hauptmann, Germany. First of all, in recognition of fruitful, varied and outstanding activity in the field of dramatic art
1913 - Rabindranath Tagore, India. For deeply sensitive, original and beautiful poems, in which his poetic thinking was expressed with exceptional skill, which, in his words, became part of the literature of the West
1915 - Romain Rolland, France. For the high idealism of artistic works, for the sympathy and love of truth with which he describes various human types
1916 - Karl Heidenstam, Sweden. In recognition of his importance as the most prominent representative of the new era in world literature
1917 - Karl Gjellerup, Denmark. For diverse poetic creativity and lofty ideals
Henrik Pontoppidan, Denmark. For a truthful description of modern life in Denmark
1919 - Karl Spitteler, Switzerland. For the incomparable epic "Olympic Spring"
1920 - Knut Hamsun, Norway. For the monumental work “The Juices of the Earth” about the life of Norwegian peasants who retained their centuries-old attachment to the land and loyalty to patriarchal traditions
1921 - Anatole France, France. For brilliant literary achievements, marked by sophistication of style, deeply suffered humanism and truly Gallic temperament
1922 - Jacinto Benavente y Martinez, Spain. For the brilliant skill with which he continued the glorious traditions of Spanish drama
1923 - William Yates, Ireland. For inspired poetic creativity that conveys the national spirit in highly artistic form
1924 - Wladislaw Reymont, Poland. For the outstanding national epic - the novel "Men"
1925 - Bernard Shaw, Great Britain. For creativity marked by idealism and humanism, for sparkling satire, which is often combined with exceptional poetic beauty
1926 - Grazia Deledda, Italy. For poetic works that describe with plastic clarity the life of her native island, as well as for the depth of her approach to human problems in general
1927 - Henri Bergson, France. In recognition of his bright and life-affirming ideas, as well as for the exceptional skill with which these ideas were embodied
1928 - Sigrid Undset, Norway. For a memorable description of the Scandinavian Middle Ages
1929 - Thomas Mann, Germany. First of all, for the great novel "Buddenbrooks", which has become a classic of modern literature, and whose popularity is steadily growing
1930 - Sinclair Lewis, USA. For the powerful and expressive art of storytelling and for the rare ability to create new types and characters with satire and humor
1931 - Erik Karlfeldt, Sweden. For his poetry
1932 - John Galsworthy, UK. For the high art of storytelling, the pinnacle of which is The Forsyte Saga
1933 - Ivan Bunin. For the strict mastery with which he develops the traditions of Russian classical prose
1934 - Luigi Pirandello, Italy. For creative courage and ingenuity in the revival of dramatic and performing arts
1936 - Eugene O'Neill, USA. For the power of impact, truthfulness and depth of dramatic works that interpret the tragedy genre in a new way
1937 - Roger Martin du Gard, France. For artistic strength and truth in the depiction of man and the most significant aspects of modern life
1938 - Pearl Buck, USA. For a multifaceted, truly epic description of the life of Chinese peasants and for biographical masterpieces
1939 - Frans Sillanpää, Finland. For his deep insight into the lives of Finnish peasants and his excellent description of their customs and connection with nature
1944 - Vilhelm Jensen, Denmark. For the rare strength and richness of poetic imagination combined with intellectual curiosity and originality of creative style
1945 - Gabriela Mistral, Chile. For the poetry of true feeling, which made her name a symbol of idealistic aspiration for all of Latin America
1946 - Hermann Hesse, Switzerland. For inspired creativity, in which classical ideals of humanism are manifested, as well as for brilliant style
1947 - Andre Gide, France. For profound and artistically significant works in which human problems are presented with a fearless love of truth and deep psychological insight
1948 - Thomas Eliot, UK. For outstanding innovative contribution to modern poetry
1949 - William Faulkner, USA. For his significant and artistically unique contributions to the development of the modern American novel
1950 - Bertrand Russell, UK. To one of the most brilliant representatives of rationalism and humanism, a fearless fighter for freedom of speech and freedom of thought
1951 - Per Lagerkvist, Sweden. For the artistic power and absolute independence of judgment of the writer, who sought answers to the eternal questions facing humanity
1952 - Francois Mauriac, France. For the deep spiritual insight and artistic power with which he reflected the drama of human life in his novels
1953 - Winston Churchill, Great Britain. For the high skill of works of a historical and biographical nature, as well as for brilliant oratory, with the help of which the highest human values were defended
1954 - Ernest Hemingway, USA. For his narrative prowess once again demonstrated in The Old Man and the Sea
1955 - Halldor Laxness, Iceland. For the vibrant epic force that has revived the great narrative art of Iceland
1956 - Juan Jimenez, Spain. For lyric poetry, an example of high spirit and artistic purity in Spanish poetry
1957 - Albert Camus, France. For his enormous contribution to literature, highlighting the importance of human conscience
1958 - Boris Pasternak, USSR. For significant achievements in modern lyric poetry, as well as for continuing the traditions of the great Russian epic novel
1959 - Salvatore Quasimodo, Italy. For lyrical poetry that expresses with classical vividness the tragic experience of our time
1960 - Saint-John Perse, France. For sublimity and imagery, which through the means of poetry reflect the circumstances of our time
1961 - Ivo Andric, Yugoslavia. For the power of epic talent, which made it possible to fully reveal human destinies and problems associated with the history of his country
1962 - John Steinbeck, USA. For his realistic and poetic gift, combined with gentle humor and keen social vision
1963 - Giorgos Seferis, Greece. For outstanding lyrical works filled with admiration for the world of the ancient Hellenes
1964 - Jean-Paul Sartre, France. For creativity rich in ideas, imbued with the spirit of freedom and the search for truth, which has had a huge impact on our time
1965 - Mikhail Sholokhov, USSR. For the artistic strength and integrity of the epic about the Don Cossacks at a turning point for Russia
1966 - Shmuel Agnon, Israel. For deeply original art of storytelling inspired by Jewish folk motifs
Nelly Sachs, Sweden. For outstanding lyrical and dramatic works exploring the fate of the Jewish people
1967 - Miguel Asturias, Guatemala. For outstanding creative achievement based on interest in the customs and traditions of the Indians of Latin America
1968 - Yasunari Kawabata, Japan. For writing that captures the essence of Japanese consciousness
1969 - Samuel Beckett, Ireland. For innovative works in prose and drama, in which the tragedy of modern man becomes his triumph
1970 - Alexander Solzhenitsyn, USSR. For the moral strength with which he followed the immutable traditions of Russian literature
1971 - Pablo Neruda, Chile. For poetry that with supernatural power embodied the fate of an entire continent
1972 - Heinrich Böll, Germany. For creativity that combines a wide scope of reality with the high art of creating characters and which has become a significant contribution to the revival of German literature
1973 - Patrick White, Australia. For epic and psychological mastery, thanks to which a new literary continent was discovered
1974 - Eivind Jonson, Sweden. For narrative art that illuminates space and time and serves freedom
Harry Martinson, Sweden. For creativity that contains everything - from a drop of dew to space
1975 - Eugenio Montale, Italy. For outstanding achievements in poetry, marked by enormous insight and illumination of a truthful, without illusions, view of life
1976 - Saul Bellow, USA. For humanism and subtle analysis of modern culture, combined in his work
1977 - Vicente Aleisandre, Spain. For outstanding poetic work that reflects the position of man in space and modern society and at the same time represents a magnificent testimony to the revival of the traditions of Spanish poetry during the period between the world wars
1978 - Isaac Bashevis-Singer, USA. For the emotional art of storytelling, which, rooted in Polish-Jewish cultural traditions, raises eternal questions
1979 - Odyseas Elytis, Greece. For poetic creativity, which, in line with the Greek tradition, with sensual strength and intellectual insight, depicts the struggle of modern man for freedom and independence
1980 - Czeslaw Milosz Poland. For showing with fearless clairvoyance the vulnerability of man in a world torn by conflict
1981 - Elias Canetti, UK. For his enormous contribution to literature, highlighting the importance of human conscience
1982 - Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Colombia. For novels and stories in which fantasy and reality, combined, reflect the life and conflicts of an entire continent
1983 - William Golding, UK. For novels that address the essence of human nature and the problem of evil, all of them are united by the idea of the struggle for survival
1984 - Jaroslav Seifert, Czechoslovakia. For poetry which is fresh, sensual and imaginative and which demonstrates the independence of spirit and versatility of man.
1985 - Claude Simon, France. For the combination of poetic and pictorial principles in his work
1986 - Wole Soyinka, Nigeria. For creating a theater of enormous cultural perspective and poetry
1987 - Joseph Brodsky, USA. For comprehensive creativity, imbued with clarity of thought and passion of poetry
1988 - Naguib Mahfouz, Egypt. For the realism and richness of the Arabic story, which has meaning for all humanity
1989 - Camilo Sela, Spain. For expressive and powerful prose that compassionately and movingly describes human frailty
1990 - Octavio Paz, Mexico. For biased, comprehensive writings marked by sensitive intelligence and humanistic integrity
1991 - Nadine Gordimer, South Africa. For bringing great benefit to humanity with her magnificent epic
1992 - Derek Walcott, Saint Lucia. For vibrant poetic creativity, full of historicism and the result of devotion to culture in all its diversity
1993 - Toni Morrison, USA. For bringing to life an important aspect of American reality in her novels of dream and poetry.
1994 - Kenzaburo Oe, Japan. For having created with poetic force an imaginary world in which reality and myth combine to present a disturbing picture of today's human misfortunes
1995 - Seamus Heaney, Ireland. For the lyrical beauty and ethical depth of poetry, which reveals to us amazing everyday life and the living past
1996 - Wislawa Szymborska, Poland. For poetry that describes with extreme accuracy historical and biological phenomena in the context of human reality
1997 - Dario Fo, Italy. Because he, inheriting the medieval jesters, condemns power and authority and defends the dignity of the oppressed
1998 - Jose Saramago, Portugal. For works that, using parables, supported by imagination, compassion and irony, make it possible to understand the illusory reality
1999 - Gunther Grass, Germany. Because his playful and dark parables illuminate a forgotten image of history
2000 - Gao Xingjian, France. For works of universal significance, marked by bitterness for the position of man in the modern world
2001 - Vidiadhar Naipaul, UK. For unwavering honesty, which makes us think about facts that are usually not discussed
2002 - Imre Kertesz, Hungary. For the fact that in his work Kertesz gives an answer to the question of how an individual can continue to live and think in an era when society is increasingly subjugating the individual.
2003 - John Coetzee, South Africa. For creating countless guises of amazing situations involving outsiders
2004 - Elfriede Jelinek, Austria. For musical voices and echoes in novels and plays that, with extraordinary linguistic zeal, reveal the absurdity of social clichés and their enslaving power
2005 - Harold Pinter, UK. For the fact that in his plays he reveals the abyss that lies under the bustle of everyday life and invades the dungeons of oppression
2006 - Orhan Pamuk, Türkiye. For the fact that in search of the melancholy soul of his hometown he found new symbols for the clash and interweaving of cultures
2007 - Doris Lessing, UK. For his insight into women's experiences filled with skepticism, passion and visionary power.
2008 - Gustave Leclezio, France, Mauritius. Because Leclezio writes “about new directions, poetic adventures, sensual delights,” he is “an explorer of humanity beyond the boundaries of the ruling civilization.”
2009 - Herta Müller, Germany. With concentration in poetry and sincerity in prose, he describes the life of the disadvantaged
2010 - Mario Vargas Llosa, Spain. For his cartography of power structures and his vivid images of resistance, rebellion and defeat of the individual
2011 - Tumas Tranströmer, Sweden. For accurate and rich images that gave readers a new look at the real world
2012 - Mo Yan, China. For its mind-blowing realism that combines folk tales with modernity
2013 - Alice Munr, Canada. To the Master of the Modern Short Story
