1954 Nobel Prize in Literature
1954 Nobel Prize in Literature | |
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Ernest Hemingway | |
Date |
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Location | Stockholm, Sweden |
Presented by | Swedish Academy |
Hosted by | Anders Österling |
First awarded | 1901 |
Website | Official website |
The 1954 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the American author Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) "for his mastery of the art of narrative, most recently demonstrated in The Old Man and the Sea, and for the influence that he has exerted on contemporary style."[1]
Following William Faulkner in 1949, Hemingway is the fifth American to be a recipient of the prize.
Laureate
Ernest Hemingway is known for his succinct and lucid prose had a powerful influence on 20th century fiction. His works explore love, war, wilderness, and loss. The theme of emasculation is also prevalent in his works, most notably in The Sun Also Rises (1926). In 1952, he published The Old Man and the Sea, a work that was praised by the Swedish Academy when awarding the Nobel Prize.[2] Among his other famous works are A Farewell to Arms (1929) and For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940).
The Old Man and the Sea
Hemingway's short novel The Old Man and the Sea was specifically referred to in his Nobel citation. Drawing on his personal experiences as a fisherman in crafting the novella, it tells the tragic story of a Cuban fisherman in the Gulf Stream and the giant Marlin he kills and loses. It won the 1953 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.[2]
Deliberations
Nominations
Ernest Hemingway was nominated for the prize on four occasions between 1947 and 1954, the first three times by members of the Swedish Academy and in 1954 by an Austrian professor of English linguistics.[3]
In total, the Nobel committee received 35 nominations for 27 writers. The most number of nominations were for
The authors Sait Faik Abasıyanık, Frederick Lewis Allen, Juan Álvarez, Vitaliano Brancati, Frans G. Bengtsson, Maxwell Bodenheim, Ludovic Dauș, Stig Dagerman, Oswald de Andrade, Winnifred Eaton, Miles Franklin, Boris Gorbatov, Joseph Hergesheimer, James Hilton, Édouard Le Roy, Zofia Nałkowska, Mikhail Prishvin, Sokotsu Samukawa, Hella Wuolijoki and Francis Brett Young died in 1954 without having been nominated for the prize.
No. | Nominee | Country | Genre(s) | Nominator(s) |
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1 | Mark Aldanov (1886–1957) | Soviet Union ( Ukraine) France |
biography, novel, essays, literary criticism | Samson Soloveitchik (1887–1974) |
2 | Riccardo Bacchelli (1891–1985) | Italy | novel, drama, essays | Accademia dei Lincei |
3 | Julien Benda (1867–1956) | France | novel, philosophy, essays, literary criticism | Holger Sten (1907–1971) |
4 | Gottfried Benn (1886–1956) | Germany | poetry, essays |
|
5 | Martin Buber (1878–1965) | Austria Israel |
philosophy | Fritz Strich (1882–1963) |
6 | Albert Camus (1913–1960) | France ( Algeria) |
novel, short story, essays, philosophy, drama |
|
7 | Henriette Charasson (1884–1972) | France | poetry, essays, drama, novel, literary criticism, biography | Pierre Moreau (1895–1972) |
8 | Concha Espina de la Serna (1869–1955) | Spain | novel, short story | Jacinto Benavente (1866–1954) |
9 | Johan Falkberget (1879–1967) | Norway | novel, short story, essays | Hans Heiberg (1904–1978) |
10 | Edward Morgan Forster (1879–1970)
|
United Kingdom | novel, short story, drama, essays, biography, literary criticism |
|
11 | Robert Frost (1874–1963) | United States | poetry, drama | Sten Selander (1891–1957) |
12 | Franz Hellens (1881–1972) | Belgium | novel, poetry, literary criticism | Émilie Carner-Noulet (1892–1978) |
13 | Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) | United States | novel, short story, screenplay | Leo von Hibler-Lebmannsport (1884–1956) |
14 | Juan Ramón Jiménez (1881–1958) | Spain | poetry, novel | Harry Martinson (1904–1978) |
15 | Carl Jung (1875–1961) | Switzerland | philosophy, essays | Ernst Alker (1895–1972) |
16 | Rudolf Kassner (1873–1959) | Austria | philosophy, essays, translation | Ernst Alker (1895–1972) |
17 | Nikos Kazantzakis (1883–1957) | Greece | novel, philosophy, essays, drama, memoir, translation | Henry Olsson (1896–1985) |
18 | Halldór Laxness (1902–1998) | Iceland | novel, short story, drama, poetry |
|
19 | André Malraux (1901–1976) | France | novel, essays, literary criticism | Georges Blin (1917–2015) |
20 | Max Mell (1882–1971) | Austria | drama, novel, screenplay | Austrian Academy of Sciences |
21 | Ramón Menéndez Pidal (1869–1968) | Spain | philology, history | Gunnar Tilander (1894–1973) |
22 | Ricardo Rojas Sosa (1882–1957) | Argentina | poetry, history, drama, pedagogy, essays | Ramón Menéndez Pidal (1869–1968) and a number of learned societies and individuals |
23 | Jaroslav Seifert (1901–1986) | Czechoslovakia | poetry | Albert Prazák (1880–1956) |
24 | Herman Teirlinck (1879–1967) | Belgium | novel, poetry, essays, drama | Royal Academy of Dutch Language and Literature |
25 | Gustave Vanzype (1869–1955) | Belgium | novel, drama, short story | Gustave Charlier (1885–1959) |
26 | Tarjei Vesaas (1897–1970) | Norway | poetry, novel | Sigmund Skard (1903–1995) |
27 | Georges Vouyouklatis (1903–1956) | Greece | poetry, essays | Writers Association of the Hellenes |
Prize decision
Hemingway's candidacy in 1947 was rejected by committee member
Nominated again in 1953, Hemingway was a serious contender for the prize in that year according to The New York Times, but his candidacy was postponed as members of the Academy thought that Hemingway and his wife may have perished in an air crash in Africa.[6] Hemingway was included in the shortlisted nominees for the prize together with Albert Camus and Halldór Laxness – both authors were eventually awarded.
Reactions
Hemingway was a favourite to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954 along with
Writing, at its best, is a lonely life. Organizations for writers palliate the writer's loneliness but I doubt if they improve his writing. He grows in public stature as he sheds his loneliness and often his work deteriorates. For he does his work alone and if he is a good enough writer he must face eternity, or the lack of it, each day.[11]
References
- ^ Nobel Prize in Literature 1954 nobelprize.org
- ^ a b Ernest Hemingway nobelprize.org
- ^ Ernest Hemingway Nomination archive nobelprize.org
- ^ Nomination archive nobelprize.org
- ^ "För rik, för berömd, för dålig. Hemingway fick vänta på sitt Nobelpris" (in Swedish). Dagens Nyheter. 23 January 2005.
- ^ a b Hemingway Is the Winner Of Nobel Literature Prize The New York Times 29 October 1954
- ^ Kenneth S. Lynn. Hemingway (1987), 574
- ^ Carlos Baker. Ernest Hemingway: The Writer as Artist (1972), 38
- ^ James R. Mellow. Hemingway: A Life Without Consequences (1992), 588–589
- ^ Jeffrey Meyers. Ernest Hemingway (1985), 509
- ^ "Ernest Hemingway The Nobel Prize in Literature 1954 Banquet Speech". The Nobel Foundation. Archived from the original on August 2, 2018. Retrieved December 10, 2009.
External links
- Award Ceremony speech nobelprize.org
- List of all nominations for the 1954 Nobel Prize in literature nobelprize.org