1902 Nobel Prize in Literature
A History of Rome ." | |
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Date |
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Location | Stockholm, Sweden |
Presented by | Swedish Academy |
First awarded | 1901 |
Website | Official website |
The 1902 Nobel Prize in Literature was the second prestigious literary award based upon
Laureate
Theodor Mommsen was a writer expert both in history and law, and this combination was important for his research career. His Nobel Prize was motivated primarily by his pioneering three-volume work about Roman history,
A History of Rome
When Mommsen was awarded the prize, the world recognition was given him with "special reference" to the
The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, a well-regarded reference yet nonetheless "a source unsparingly critical", summarizes: "Equally great as antiquary, jurist, political and social historian, Mommsen lived to see the time when among students of Roman history he had pupils, followers, critics, but no rivals. He combined the power of minute investigation with a singular faculty for bold generalization and the capacity for tracing out the effects of thought on political and social life."[8]
The British historian
Deliberations
Nominations
Mommsen had not been nominated for the prize in 1901, making it the first rare occasion when an author have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature the same year they were first nominated.[11] In total, the Swedish Academy received 44 nominations for 34 writers, including the Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy (four nominations), British philosopher Herbert Spencer (one nomination), and Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen (one nomination).[12]
The authors
No. | Nominee | Country | Genre(s) | Nominator(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Juhani Aho[a] (1861–1921) | Russia ( Finland) |
novel, short story |
|
2 | Marcel Barrière[b] (1860–1954) | France | novel, essays | Émile Faguet (1847–1916) |
3 | Alexander Baumgartner, S.J.[c] (1841–1910) | Switzerland | poetry, history | Knud Karl Krogh-Tonning (1842–1911) |
4 | Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson[d] (1832–1910) | Norway | poetry, novel, drama, short story |
|
5 | Bernard Bosanquet (1848–1923) | Great Britain | philosophy | William Macneile Dixon (1866–1946) |
6 | Giosuè Carducci (1835–1907) | Italy | poetry, literary criticism, biography, essays |
|
7 | Houston Stewart Chamberlain[e] (1855–1927) | Great Britain Germany |
philosophy | Wolfgang Golther (1863–1945) |
8 | José Echegaray Eizaguirre[f] (1832–1916) | Spain | drama | 12 members of the Royal Spanish Academy |
9 | Gustav Falke[g] (1853–1916) | Germany | novel, poetry | August Sauer (1855–1926) |
10 | Antonio Fogazzaro (1842–1911) | Italy | novel, poetry, short story | Per Geijer (1886–1976) |
11 | Arne Garborg[h] (1851–1921) | Norway | novel, poetry, drama, essays | Kristian Birch-Reichenwald Aars (1868–1917) |
12 | Hartmann Grisar, S.J.[i] (1845–1932) | Germany | history, theology | Knud Karl Krogh-Tonning (1842–1911) |
13 | Gerhart Hauptmann[j] (1862–1946) | Germany | drama, novel |
|
14 | Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906) | Norway | drama | Axel Erdmann (1873–1954) |
15 | Ferenc Kemény (1860–1944) | Austria–Hungary ( Hungary) |
essays | Gusztáv Heinrich (1845–1922) |
16 | Anatoly Koni[k] (1844–1927) | Russia | poetry, literary criticism, memoir, law | Anton Woulfert (1877–1927) |
17 | Ventura López Fernández[l] (1866–1944) | Spain | poetry, drama, literary criticism | Emmanuel Casado Salas (?) |
18 | George Meredith (1828–1909) | Great Britain | novel, poetry |
|
19 | Frédéric Mistral[m] (1830–1914) | France | poetry, philology |
|
20 | Theodor Mommsen (1817–1903) | Germany | history, law | 18 members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences |
21 | John Morley[n] (1838–1923) | Great Britain | biography, literary criticism, essays | Alice Stopford Green (1847–1929) |
22 | Lewis Morris[o] (1833–1907) | Great Britain | poetry, songwriting, essays |
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23 | Gaspar Núñez de Arce (1832–1903) | Spain | poetry, drama, law |
|
24 | Gaston Paris[p] (1839–1903) | France | history, poetry, essays | Fredrik Wulff (1845–1930) |
25 | Archibald Robertson[q] (1853–1931) | Great Britain | theology, history | John Wesley Hales (1836–1914) |
26 | Paul Sabatier[r] (1858–1928) | France | history, theology, biography | Carl Bildt (1850–1931) |
27 | Henryk Sienkiewicz[s] (1846–1916) | Russia ( Poland) |
novel | Hans Hildebrand (1842–1913) |
28 | Herbert Spencer (1820–1903) | Great Britain | philosophy, essays | 49 members of The Nobel Prize Committee of the Society of Authors[t] |
29 | Leo Tolstoy[u] (1828–1910) | Russia | novel, short story, drama, poetry |
|
30 | Charles Wagner[v] (1852–1918) | France | theology, philosophy | Waldemar Rudin (1833–1921) |
31 | Carl Weitbrecht (1847–1904) | Germany | history, poetry, short story, essays | Hermann Fischer (1884–1936) |
32 | William Butler Yeats[w]
|
Ireland | poetry, drama, essays | William Edward Lecky (1838–1903) |
33 | Theodor Zahn[x] (1838–1933) | German Empire | theology, essays | Lars Dahle (1843–1925) |
34 | Émile Zola[y] (1839–1907) | France | novel, drama, short story | Marcellin Berthelot (1827–1907) |
Prize decision
In 1902, the Nobel committee considered the authors Leo Tolstoy, Henrik Ibsen and Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson for the prize.[14] Tolstoy was praised for his prominent literary work, but dismissed for his anarchistic ideology;[14] Ibsen was dismissed for similar reasons, his radical style was considered completely against the ideal direction required by Alfred Nobel's will;[14] while Bjørnson was pushed for the next year considering a shared prize with Ibsen.[14] Because the Academy's permanent secretary Carl David af Wirsén was a fierce opponent of the idea of awarding Tolstoy and Ibsen, as a compromise, the historian Theodor Mommsen was launched as an alternative candidate that could be agreed upon.[14]
Reactions
The decision to award the second Nobel Prize in Literature to a non-fiction writer was criticised by some. While praising Mommsen's work in a 1902 article in
Notes
- ^ Aho: Enris ("Juniper Twigs", 1899–1900)[13]
- ^ Barrière: Le nouveau Don Juan ("The New Don Juan", 1900)[13]
- ^ Baumgartner: Geschichte der Weltliteratur ("The History of World Literature", 1897—1901)[13]
- ^ Bjørnson: Paul Lange og Tora Parsberg, 1898
- ^ Chamberlain: Richard Wagner (1895), Die Grundlagen des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts ("The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century", 1899), Die Worte Christi ("The Word of Christ, 1901), and Immanuel Kant. Die Persönlichkeit als Einführung in das Werk ("Immanuel Kant: The Personality as an Introduction to the Work", 1905)[13]
- ^ Echegaray: for his 62 dramatical works.
- ^ Falke: Mynheer der Tod ("My Lord, the Death", 1891), Tanz und Andacht ("Dance and Prayer", 1894), Zwischen zwei Nächten ("Between Two Nights", 1894), Neue Fahrt ("New Journey", 1897), and Mit dem Leben ("With Life", 1899)[13]
- ^ Garborg: I Helheim ("In Helheim", 1901)[13]
- ^ Grisar: Storia di Roma ("Roman History", 1899), Analecta Romana. I ("Roman Analecta I", 1899), and Geschichte Roms und der Päpste im Mittelalter. I ("History of Rome and the Popes in the Middle Ages", 1901)[13]
- ^ Hauptmann: Die Weber ("The Weavers", 1892), Hanneles Himmelfahrt ("The Assumption of Hannele", 1893), Florian Geyer (1896), and Einsame Menschen ("Lonely lives", 1891)[13]
- ^ Koni: Doktor Friedrich Haass. Lebensskizze eines deutschen Philantropen in Russland ("Friedrich Joseph Haass: Biography of a German Philanthropist in Russia", 1899)[13]
- ^ Fernández López: La Rota (Canto épico) ("Broken: Epic Song", 1901)[13]
- ^ Mistral: Mirèio and La Respelido (1900).
- ^ Morley: The Life of William Ewart Gladstone (1903)[13]
- ^ Morris: The Epic of Hades (1877), The Works (1901), and Harvest Tide: A Book of Verse (1901)[13]
- ^ Paris: La poésie du moyen âge ("The Poetry of the Middle Ages", 1885–95) Discours de réception ("Reception Speech", 1897), Penseurs et poètes ("Thinkers and Poets", 1896), Poèmes et légendes du moyen âge ("Poems and Legends of the Middle Ages", 1900), and François Villon (1901)[13]
- ^ Robertson: Regnum Dei: Eight Lectures on the Kingdom of God in the History of Christian Thought (1901)[13]
- ^ P. Sabatier: Vie de S. François d'Assise ("The Life of St. Francis of Assisi", 1894)[13]
- ^ Sienkiewicz: Quo Vadis? (1896) and Ogniem i mieczem ("With Fire and Sword", 1884)
- ^ Nomination was made by 49 separate letters sent in by "The Nobel Prize Committee of the Society of Authors".
- ^ Tolstoy: Voskreséniye ("Resurrection", 1899)[13]
- ^ Wagner: Justice. Huit discours ("Justice: Eight Speeches", 1889), Sois un homme! Simples causeries sur la conduite de la vie ("Be a Man! Simple Discussions on How to Lead Life", 1889), Jeunesse ("Youth", 1895), Vie Simple ("Simple Life", 1895), L'âme des choses ("The Soul of Things", 1901), and Le long du chemin ("Along the Path", 1901)[13]
- ^ Yeats:The Wanderings of Oisin (1889), The Countess Kathleen and Various Legends and Lyrics (1892), and The Land of Heart's Desire (1894).
- ^ Zahn: Forschungen zur Geschichte des neutestamentlichen Kanons und der altkirchlichen Litteratur ("Research on the History of the New Testament's Canon and Early Church Literature", 1881–1908), Geschichte des neutestamentlichen Kanons ("History of the New Testament's Canon", 1889–92), and Einleitung in das neue Testament ("Introduction to the New Testament", 1900)[13]
- ^ Zola: "for his works in general."[13]
References
- ^ The Nobel Prize in Literature 1902 nobelprize.org
- ^ Theodor Mommsen nobelprize.org
- ^ The Nobel Prize in Literature 1902 nobelprize.org
- ^ Cf., Alexander Demandt, "Introduction" 1–35, at 1 (502 n.2), to Mommsen's A History of Rome under the Emperors (Munich 1992; London 1996). Demandt also mentions Winston Churchill.
- Nobel Prize for Literature. In the award presentation his then recent work A History of Western Philosophy(1946) was mentioned first along with a few other books, 35 of his titles being referenced in all.
- History of the English Speaking Peoples(1956–1958).
- Robert W. Fogel and to Douglass North, both of whom separately wrote economic histories, each employing their discipline's analytic structures in order to better understand major events of the past.
- ^ Encyclopædia Britannica, cited by Saunders and Collins, "Introduction" at 2, to Mommsen, History of Rome (1958). Cf., "Theodor Mommsen" in the 11th edition, published in 1911.
- ^ G. P. Gooch, History and Historians (1913, 1928) at 456 and 458.
- ^ Arnold J. Toynbee, A Study of History, volume one (Oxford University 1934, 2d ed. 1935, 1962) at I: 3.
- ^ Facts on the Nobel Prize in Literature nobelprize.org
- ^ Nomination archive – 1902 nobelprize.org
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Svensén, Bo. "Nobelpriset i litteratur. Nomineringar och utlåtanden 1901–1950". Swedish Academy. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
- ^ a b c d e Gustav Källstrand Andens Olympiska Spel: Nobelprisets historia, Fri Tanke 2021, p. 186-187
- ^ a b Helmer Lång, Hundra nobelpris i litteratur 1901-2001, Symposion 2001, p.25 (in Swedish)
External links
- Award ceremony speech by C.D. af Wirsén nobelprize.org