1959 Nobel Prize in Literature

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1959 Nobel Prize in Literature
Salvatore Quasimodo
"for his lyrical poetry, which with classical fire expresses the tragic experience of life in our own times."
Date
  • 21 October 1959 (announcement)
  • 10 December 1959
    (ceremony)
LocationStockholm, Sweden
Presented bySwedish Academy
First awarded1901
WebsiteOfficial website
← 1958 · Nobel Prize in Literature · 1960 →

The 1959 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the Italian poet Salvatore Quasimodo (1901–1968) "for his lyrical poetry, which with classical fire expresses the tragic experience of life in our own times"[1] He is the fourth Italian recipient of the said prize.[2]

Laureate

Main article: Salvatore Quasimodo

Salvatore Quasimodo was an Italian poet, critic and translator. He published his first poetry in Nuovo giornale letterario ("New Literary Journal"), which he created in 1917. His first collection of poems, Acque e terre ("Waters and Lands"), appeared in 1930, and beginning in 1938, he devoted himself entirely to writing. The two schools of poetry that are typically used to categorize his work are hermetic and post-hermetic. World War II caused a shift in the poet's style. Hermetic poetry rejected the use of words as a means of verbal coercion and believed that words have a subjective meaning that is determined more by their sound than by their actual meaning.[3] Along with Giuseppe Ungaretti and Eugenio Montale, he was one of the foremost Italian poets of the 20th century.[3][4]

Nominations

Salvatore Quasimodo was nominated for the Nobel prize in literature twice, in 1958 (by 3 different nominators), and in 1959.[5]

In total, the

Gertrud von le Fort and María Raquel Adler.[6]

The authors Maxwell Anderson, Emil František Burian, Raymond Chandler, G. D. H. Cole, Laxmi Prasad Devkota, Laurence Housman, Hans Henny Jahnn, Edwin Muir, Luis Palés Matos, Benjamin Péret, Marta Rădulescu, Alfred Schütz, Galaktion Tabidze, José Vasconcelos, Boris Vian, Arthur Henry Ward (known as Sax Rohmer) and Percy F. Westerman died in 1959 without having been nominated for the prize.

Official list of nominees and their nominators for the prize
No. Nominee Country Genre(s) Nominator(s)
1 María Raquel Adler (c. 1900–1974)  Argentina poetry, essays Consejo del Escritor
2 Stefan Andres (1906–1970)  Germany novel, short story Josef Quint (1898–1976)
3 Ivo Andrić (1892–1975)  Yugoslavia novel, short story, poetry
4 Louis Aragon (1897–1982)  France novel, short story, poetry, essays
5 Werner Bergengruen (1892–1964)  Germany novel, short story, poetry Josef Quint (1898–1976)
6 Karen Blixen (1885–1962)  Denmark novel, short story, memoir Hjalmar Gullberg (1898–1961)
7 Martin Buber (1878–1965)  Austria
 Israel 		philosophy Simon Halkin (1899–1987)
8 Ernest Claes (1885–1968)  Belgium novel, short story, drama W. F. Mainland (?)
9 Maria Dąbrowska (1889–1965)  Poland novel, short story, essays, drama, literary criticism
  • Several professors
  • Rachmiel Brandwajn (1913–1990)
  • Gunnar Gunnarsson (1889–1975)
  • Jan Reychman (1910–1975)
  • Mieczysław Brahmer (1899–1984)
  • Kazimierz Feliks Kumaniecki (1905–1977)
  • Stanisław Helsztyński (1891–1986)
10 Gonzague de Reynold (1880–1970)   Switzerland history, essays, biography, memoir
11
Edward Morgan Forster
(1879–1970) 		 United Kingdom novel, short story, drama, essays, biography, literary criticism
12 Max Frisch (1911–1991)   Switzerland novel, drama Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities
13 Christopher Fry (1907–2005)  United Kingdom poetry, drama, screenplay Werner Kohlschmidt (1904–1983)
14 Rómulo Gallegos (1884–1969)  Venezuela novel, short story
  • José Manuel Núñez Ponte (1870–1965)
  • Rafael Yepes Trujillo (1898–1972)
  • Luis Yépez (?)
  • Edgar Sanabria (1911–1989)
  • Nicolás Eugenio Navarro (1867–1960)
  • José Ramón Ayala Duarte (1878–1966)
  • Simón Planas Suárez (1879–1967)
  • Guillermo Trujillo Durán (1878–1967)
  • Ramón Díaz Sánchez (1903–1968)
  • Pedro Pablo Barnola (1908–1986)
  • Rafael Angarita Arvelo (1898–1971)
  • Luis Barrios Cruz (1898–1968)
  • Jorge Schmidke (1890–1985)
  • Arturo Uslar Pietri (1906–2001)
15 Étienne Gilson (1884–1978)  France philosophy Fritz Schalk (1902–1980)
16 Jean Giono (1895–1970)  France novel, short story, essays, poetry, drama Henrik Cornell (1890–1981)
17 Julien Gracq (1910–2007)  France novel, poetry, drama, literary criticism André Lebois (1915–1978)
18 Graham Greene (1904–1991)  United Kingdom novel, short story, autobiography, essays
19 Elizabeth Goudge (1900–1984)  United Kingdom novel, short story, biography, autobiography Edmond Privat (1889–1962)
20 Martin Heidegger (1889–1976)  Germany philosophy, essays Josef Quint (1898–1976)
21 Hans Egon Holthusen (1913–1997)  Germany poetry, literary criticism, essays Helmut Viebrock (1912–1997)
22 Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)  United Kingdom novel, short story, essays, poetry, screenplay, drama, philosophy
23 Juana de Ibarbourou (1892–1979)  Uruguay poetry, essays
24 Rudolf Kassner (1873–1959)  Austria philosophy, essays, translation
  • Eudo Mason (1901–1969)
  • Herbert Huscher (1933–2010)
25 Miroslav Krleža (1893–1981)  Yugoslavoa
 Croatia 		poetry, drama, short story, novel, essays Association of Writers of Yugoslavia
26
Frank Raymond Leavis
(1895–1978) 		 United Kingdom literary criticism, essays Cecil Arthur Hackett (1908–2000)
27 André Malraux (1901–1976)  France novel, essays, literary criticism
  • Georges Matoré (1908–1998)
  • Armand Caraccio (1895–1969)
  • Cuthbert Girdlestone (1895–1975)
  • Knud Togeby (1918–1974)
  • Claude Digeon (1920–2008)
  • John McCormick (1918–2010)
28
William Somerset Maugham
(1874–1965) 		 United Kingdom novel, short story, drama, essays Robert Niklaus (1910–2001)
29 Charles Mauron (1899–1966)  France essays, literary criticism, translation Charles Rostaing (1904–1999)
30 Ramón Menéndez Pidal (1869–1968)  Spain philology, history
  • Hans Rheinfelder (1898–1971)
  • Gunnar Tilander (1894–1973)
31 Alberto Moravia (1907–1990)  Italy novel, literary criticism, essays, drama Hjalmar Gullberg (1898–1961)
32 Seán O'Casey (1880–1964)  Ireland drama, memoir Geoffrey Tillotson (1905–1969)
33 Marcel Pagnol (1895–1974)  France novel, memoir, drama, screenplay Marcel Clavel (1894–1976)
34 Jan Parandowski (1895–1978)  Poland essays, translation Ananiasz Zajączkowski (1903–1970)
35 Saint-John Perse (1887–1975)  France poetry
  • Marcel Ruff (1896–1993)
  • Jean-Jacques Mayoux (1901–1987)
  • Léon Cellier (1911–1976)
  • Harry Martinson (1904–1978)
36 Ezra Pound (1885–1972)  United States poetry, essays Johannes Edfelt (1904–1997)
37 John Cowper Powys (1872–1963)  United Kingdom philosophy, novel, literary criticism, poetry, essays, short story G. Wilson Knight (1897–1985)
38 Vasco Pratolini (1931–1991)  Italy novel, short story Paul Renucci (1915–1976)
39 Salvatore Quasimodo (1901–1968)  Italy poetry, translation Carlo Bo (1911–2001)
40 Mario Roques (1875–1961)  Peru
 France 		history, philology, essays Ida-Marie Frandon (1907–1997)
41 Sochi Raut Roy (1916–2004)  India poetry, novel, short story Radhakamal Mukerjee (1889–1968)
42 Carl Sandburg (1878–1967)  United States poetry, essays, biography Roger Asselineau (1915–2002)
43 Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980)  France philosophy, novel, drama, essays, screenplay
44 Jean Schlumberger (1877–1968)  France poetry, essays Pierre Legouis (1891–1973)
45 Anna Seghers (1900–1983)  Germany novel, short story Erich Kühne (1917–2016)
46 Ignazio Silone (1900–1978)  Italy novel, short story, essays, drama Hjalmar Gullberg (1898–1961)
47 Edith Sitwell (1887–1964)  United Kingdom poetry, essays, memoir Alexander Gillies (1907–1982)
48 Osbert Sitwell (1892–1969)  United Kingdom novel, short story, essays, autobiography
49 Sacheverell Sitwell (1897–1988)  United Kingdom poetry, essays
50 John Steinbeck (1902–1968)  United States novel, short story, screenplay Eugène Vinaver (1899–1979)
51 Miguel Torga (1907–1995)  Portugal poetry, short story, novel, drama, autobiography Jean-Baptiste Aquarone (1903–1989)
52 Tarjei Vesaas (1897–1970)  Norway poetry, novel
53 Heimito von Doderer (1896–1966)  Austria novel, short story, poetry, essays Hans Neumann (1903–1990)
54 Gertrud von Le Fort (1876–1971)  Germany novel, short story, essays, poetry Friedrich von der Leyen (1873–1966)
55 Thornton Wilder (1897–1975)  United States drama, novel, short story Josef Quint (1898–1976)
56 Arnold Zweig (1887–1968)  Germany novel, short story Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities

Prize decision

The Nobel committee was almost unanimous to propose that the Danish author Karen Blixen should be awarded the 1959 Nobel Prize in Literature. But committee member Eyvind Johnson (who himself fifteen years later accepted the 1974 Nobel Prize in Literature) opposed a prize to Blixen arguing that Scandinavians were overrepresentated among the Nobel laureates in literature. Johnson instead proposed an Italian laureate, Salvatore Quasimodo being his main candidate, followed by Alberto Moravia and Ignazio Silone. Unconventionally, the members of the Swedish Academy did not follow the Nobel committees recommendation to award Blixen, but was convinced about Quasimodo's candidacy and surprisingly awarded him the prize.[7]

References

  1. ^ The Nobel Prize in Literature 1960 nobelprize.org
  2. ^ "Italian Poet Wins Nobel Writing Prize". The New York Times. 22 October 1959.
  3. ^ a b "Salvatore Quasimodo". britannica.com.
  4. ^ C. M. Bowra (15 November 1959). "Quasimodo Literary Appreciation of a Prize Winner; Quasimodo: Prize Winner". The New York Times.
  5. ^ "Nomination archive Salvatore Qouasimodo". nobelprize.org.
  6. ^ "Nomination archive 1959". nobelprize.org.
  7. ^ Espmark, Kjell (1 January 2010). "Spelet bakom Blixens förlorade Nobelpris" (in Swedish). Svenska Dagbladet.

External links

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