The Nobel Prize in Literature began to be awarded in 1901. Several times the awards were not held - in 1914, 1918, 1935, 1940-1943. Current laureates, chairmen of authors' unions, professors of literature and members of scientific academies can nominate other writers for the award. Until 1950, information about the nominees was public, and then they began to name only the names of the winners.
For five consecutive years, from 1902 to 1906, Leo Tolstoy was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
In 1906, Tolstoy wrote a letter to the Finnish writer and translator Arvid Järnefelt, in which he asked him to convince his Swedish colleagues “to try to make sure that they don’t award me this prize,” because “if this happened, it would be very unpleasant for me to refuse.”
As a result, the prize was awarded in 1906 to the Italian poet Giosue Carducci. Tolstoy was glad that he was spared the prize: “Firstly, it saved me from a great difficulty - to manage this money, which, like any money, in my opinion, can only bring evil; and secondly, it gave me the honor and great pleasure to receive expressions of sympathy from so many persons, although not familiar to me, but nevertheless deeply respected by me.
In 1902, another Russian, a lawyer, judge, orator and writer Anatoly Koni, also ran for the award. By the way, Koni had been friends with Tolstoy since 1887, he corresponded with the count and met him many times in Moscow. On the basis of Koni's memoirs about one of Tolstov's cases, "Resurrection" was written. And Koni himself wrote the work "Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy".
Koni himself was nominated for an award for biographical sketch about Dr. Haase, who devoted his life to the struggle to improve the lives of prisoners and exiles. Subsequently, some literary critics spoke of Koni's nomination as a "curiosity".
In 1914, the writer and poet Dmitry Merezhkovsky, the husband of the poetess Zinaida Gippius, was nominated for the award for the first time. In total, Merezhkovsky was nominated 10 times.
In 1914, Merezhkovsky was nominated for the prize after the release of his 24-volume collected works. However, this year the prize was not awarded due to the outbreak of the World War.
Later, Merezhkovsky was nominated as an émigré writer. In 1930 he was again nominated for the Nobel Prize. But here Merezhkovsky finds himself in competition with another outstanding Russian émigré literature, Ivan Bunin.
According to one of the legends, Merezhkovsky offered Bunin to conclude a pact. “If I get the Nobel Prize, I will give you half, if you - you give me. Let's split it in half. Let's insure each other." Bunin refused. Merezhkovsky was never awarded the prize.
In 1916, Ivan Franko became a nominee - Ukrainian writer and a poet. He died before the award could be considered. With rare exceptions, Nobel Prizes are not awarded posthumously.
In 1918, Maxim Gorky was nominated for the prize, but again it was decided not to present the award.
The year 1923 becomes "fruitful" for Russian and Soviet writers. Ivan Bunin (for the first time), Konstantin Balmont (pictured) and again Maxim Gorky were nominated for the award. Thanks for this to the writer Romain Rolland, who nominated all three. But the award is given to the Irishman William Gates.
In 1926, a Russian émigré, Tsarist Cossack General Pyotr Krasnov, became the nominee. After the revolution, he fought with the Bolsheviks, created the state of the Great Don Army, but later was forced to join Denikin's army, and then retire. In 1920 he emigrated, until 1923 he lived in Germany, then in Paris.
Since 1936, Krasnov lived in Nazi Germany. He did not recognize the Bolsheviks, he helped anti-Bolshevik organizations. During the war years, he collaborated with the Nazis, considered their aggression against the USSR as a war exclusively with the Communists, and not with the people. In 1945 he was captured by the British, handed over by the Soviets and in 1947 hanged in the Lefortovo prison.
Among other things, Krasnov was a prolific writer, he published 41 books. His most popular novel was the epic From the Double-Headed Eagle to the Red Banner. Slavic philologist Vladimir Frantsev nominated Krasnov for the Nobel Prize. Can you imagine if in 1926 he miraculously won the prize? How would you argue now about this person and this award?
In 1931 and 1932, in addition to the already familiar nominees Merezhkovsky and Bunin, Ivan Shmelev was nominated for the award. In 1931, his novel Praying Man was published.
In 1933, the first Russian-speaking writer, Ivan Bunin, received the Nobel Prize. Wording - "For the strict skill with which he develops the traditions of Russian classical prose". Bunin did not really like the wording, he wanted more to be awarded for poetry.
On YouTube, you can find a very murky video in which Ivan Bunin reads out his address on the Nobel Prize.
After the news of the award, Bunin stopped by to visit Merezhkovsky and Gippius. “Congratulations,” the poetess told him, “and I envy you.” Not everyone agreed with the decision of the Nobel Committee. Marina Tsvetaeva, for example, wrote that Gorky deserved much more.
Bonus, 170331 kroons, Bunin actually squandered. Poet and literary critic Zinaida Shakhovskaya recalled: “Having returned to France, Ivan Alekseevich ... apart from money, he began to arrange feasts, distribute “allowances” to emigrants, and donate funds to support various societies. Finally, on the advice of well-wishers, he invested the remaining amount in some kind of “win-win business” and was left with nothing.
In 1949, emigrant Mark Aldanov (pictured) and three Soviet writers at once were nominated for the award - Boris Pasternak, Mikhail Sholokhov and Leonid Leonov. The award was given to William Faulkner.
In 1958, Boris Pasternak received the Nobel Prize "for significant achievements in modern lyric poetry, as well as for continuing the traditions of the great Russian epic novel."
Pasternak received the award, having previously been nominated six times. AT last time nominated him Albert Camus.
In the Soviet Union, the persecution of the writer immediately began. At the initiative of Suslov (pictured), the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU adopts a resolution labeled "Top Secret" "On B. Pasternak's slanderous novel."
“Recognize that the award of the Nobel Prize to Pasternak’s novel, which slanderously depicts Oktyabrskaya socialist revolution, Soviet people who made this revolution, and the construction of socialism in the USSR, is an act hostile to our country and an instrument of international reaction aimed at fomenting a cold war, ”the resolution said.
From a note by Suslov on the day the prize was awarded: "Organize and publish a collective performance by the most prominent Soviet writers, in which they evaluate the award of the prize to Pasternak as a desire to ignite the Cold War."
The persecution of the writer began in the newspapers and at numerous meetings. From the transcript of the all-Moscow meeting of writers: “There is no poet more distant from the people than B. Pasternak, a poet more aesthetic, in whose work the pre-revolutionary decadence preserved in its original purity would sound like this. Everybody poetic creativity B. Pasternak lay outside the real traditions of Russian poetry, which always warmly responded to all events in the life of its people.
Writer Sergei Smirnov: “Finally, I was offended by this novel, as a soldier of the Patriotic War, as a man who had to cry over the graves of his dead comrades during the war, as a man who now has to write about the heroes of the war, about the heroes Brest Fortress, about other remarkable war heroes who revealed the heroism of our people with amazing power.
"Thus, comrades, the novel Doctor Zhivago, in my deep conviction, is an apology for betrayal."
Critic Kornely Zelinsky: “I have a very heavy feeling from reading this novel. I felt literally spat upon. My whole life seemed spat upon in this novel. Everything that I have invested in for 40 years, creative energy, hopes, hopes - all this was spat on.
Unfortunately, Pasternak was smashed not only by mediocrity. Poet Boris Slutsky (pictured): “A poet must seek recognition from his people, and not from his enemies. The poet must seek fame on native land, and not from an overseas uncle. Gentlemen, the Swedish academicians know about the Soviet land only that the Battle of Poltava, hated by them, and even more hated by them, took place there. October Revolution(noise in the hall). What is our literature to them?
Writers' meetings were held throughout the country, at which Pasternak's novel was denounced as slanderous, hostile, mediocre, and so on. Rallies were held at the factories against Pasternak and his novel.
From a letter from Pasternak to the Presidium of the Board of the Union of Writers of the USSR: “I thought that my joy at the award of the Nobel Prize to me would not remain alone, that it would touch the society of which I am a part. In my eyes the honor done to me modern writer living in Russia and, consequently, Soviet, rendered at the same time to all Soviet literature. I am sorry that I was so blind and deluded.”
Under enormous pressure, Pasternak decided to withdraw the prize. “Because of the significance that the award awarded to me has received in the society to which I belong, I must refuse it. Don't take my offense voluntary refusal”, he wrote in a telegram to the Nobel Committee. Until his death in 1960, Pasternak remained in disgrace, although he was not arrested or expelled.
It is now Pasternak is being erected monuments, his talent is recognized. Then the hunted writer was on the verge of suicide. In the poem "Nobel Prize" Pasternak wrote: "What did I do for dirty tricks, / I am a murderer and a villain? / I made the whole world cry / Over the beauty of my land." After the publication of the poem abroad, the Prosecutor General of the USSR Roman Rudenko promised to bring Pasternak under the article "Treason to the Motherland." But not attracted.
In 1965 he received the award Soviet writer Mikhail Sholokhov - "For artistic power and the integrity of the epic about the Don Cossacks at a turning point for Russia.
The Soviet authorities viewed Sholokhov as a "counterweight" to Pasternak in the fight for the Nobel Prize. In the 1950s, lists of nominees were not yet published, but the USSR knew that Sholokhov was being considered as a possible contender. Through diplomatic channels, the Swedes were hinted that the USSR would highly appreciate the presentation of the award to this Soviet writer.
In 1964, the prize was awarded to Jean-Paul Sartre, but he refused it and expressed regret (among other things) that the prize was not awarded to Mikhail Sholokhov. This predetermined the decision of the Nobel Committee next year.
During the presentation, Mikhail Sholokhov did not bow to King Gustav Adolf VI, who presented the award. According to one version, this was done on purpose, and Sholokhov said: “We, the Cossacks, do not bow to anyone. Here in front of the people - please, but I will not be in front of the king and that's it ... "
1970 - a new blow to the image Soviet state. The prize was awarded to the dissident writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
Solzhenitsyn holds the record for the speed of literary recognition. From the moment of the first publication to the award of the last prize, only eight years. Nobody has been able to do this.
As in the case of Pasternak, Solzhenitsyn immediately began to persecute. A letter from a popular in the USSR appeared in the Ogonyok magazine American singer Dean Reed, who convinced Solzhenitsyn that everything was in order in the USSR, and in the USA - complete seams.
Dean Reed: “After all, it is America, and not Soviet Union, waging wars and creating a tense environment possible wars in order to enable our economy to operate, and our dictators, the military-industrial complex to gain even more wealth and power from the blood of the Vietnamese people, our own American soldiers and all the freedom-loving peoples of the world! A sick society is in my homeland, and not in yours, Mr. Solzhenitsyn!
However, Solzhenitsyn, who went through prison, camps and exile, was not too frightened by the censure in the press. He continued literary creativity, dissident work. The authorities hinted to him that it would be better to leave the country, but he refused. Only in 1974, after the release of the Gulag Archipelago, Solzhenitsyn was deprived of Soviet citizenship and forcibly expelled from the country.
In 1987, the award was received by Joseph Brodsky, at that time a US citizen. The prize was awarded "For comprehensive creativity, saturated with clarity of thought and passion of poetry."
US citizen Joseph Brodsky wrote the Nobel speech in Russian. She became part of his literary manifesto. Brodsky spoke more about literature, but there was also a place for historical and political remarks. The poet, for example, put the regimes of Hitler and Stalin on the same level.
Brodsky: “This generation - the generation that was born just when the Auschwitz crematoria were operating at full capacity, when Stalin was at the zenith of god-like, absolute, by nature itself, it seemed, sanctioned power, appeared in the world, apparently to continue what theoretically, it should have been interrupted in these crematoria and in the unmarked common graves of the Stalinist archipelago.
Since 1987, the Nobel Prize has not been awarded to Russian writers. Among the contenders, Vladimir Sorokin (pictured), Lyudmila Ulitskaya, Mikhail Shishkin, as well as Zakhar Prilepin and Viktor Pelevin are usually named.
In 2015, the award sensationally receives Belarusian writer and journalist Svetlana Aleksievich. She wrote such works as "War has no female face”,“ Zinc Boys ”,“ Enchanted by Death ”,“ Chernobyl Prayer ”,“ Second Hand Time ”and others. A rather rare event in recent years when an award was given to a person who writes in Russian.
Vladimir Nabokov
The Nobel Prize in Literature is the most prestigious award given annually by the Nobel Foundation for achievements in literature since 1901. An award-winning writer appears in the eyes of millions of people as an incomparable talent or genius who, with his work, has managed to win the hearts of readers from all over the world.
However, there are a number of famous writers whom the Nobel Prize for different reasons bypassed, but they were worthy of it no less than their fellow laureates, and sometimes even more. Who are they?
LEV TOLSTOY
It is generally accepted that Leo Tolstoy himself refused the prize. In 1901, the first Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to French poet Sully-Prudhomme - although, it would seem, how can you get around the author of "Anna Karenina", "War and Peace"?
Understanding the embarrassment, the Swedish academicians shyly turned to Tolstoy, calling him "the highly esteemed patriarch modern literature"and" one of those powerful soulful poets, which in this case should be remembered first of all. However, they wrote great writer after all, he himself “never aspired to such an award.” Tolstoy thanked: “I was very pleased that the Nobel Prize was not awarded to me,” he wrote. "This saved me from a great difficulty - to dispose of this money, which, like all money, in my opinion, can only bring evil."
49 Swedish writers, led by August Strindberg and Selma Lagerlöf, wrote a letter of protest to the Nobel academics. The opinion of the expert of the Nobel Committee, Professor Alfred Jensen, was left behind the scenes: the philosophy of the late Tolstoy contradicts the testament of Alfred Nobel, who dreamed of an “idealistic orientation” of his works. And "War and Peace" is completely "devoid of understanding of history." The secretary of the Swedish Academy Karl Virsen agreed with this:
»This writer condemned all forms of civilization and insisted on accepting them instead. primitive image life, divorced from all the institutions of high culture.
Whether Lev Nikolayevich heard about it or not, but in 1906, anticipating another nomination, he asked the academicians to do everything so that he would not have to refuse the prestigious award. They happily agreed, and Tolstoy did not appear on the list of Nobel laureates.
VLADIMIR NABOKOV
One of the contenders for the award in 1963 was famous writer Vladimir Nabokov, author of the acclaimed novel Lolita. This circumstance was a pleasant surprise for fans of the writer's work.
The scandalous novel, the theme of which was unthinkable for that time, was published in 1955 by the Parisian publishing house Olympia Press. In the 60s, rumors about Vladimir Nabokov's nomination for the Nobel Prize appeared more than once, but nothing was really clear. A little later it will become known that Nabokov will never receive the Nobel Prize for excessive immorality.
Anders Esterling, a permanent member of the Swedish Academy, opposed Nabokov's candidacy. “The author of the immoral and successful novel Lolita cannot under any circumstances be considered as a candidate for the prize,” Esterling wrote in 1963.
In 1972, the prize winner Alexander Solzhenitsyn approached the Swedish committee with a recommendation to consider Nabokov's candidacy. Subsequently, the authors of many publications (in particular, the London Times, The Guardian, New York Times) ranked Nabokov among those writers who were undeservedly not included in the lists of nominees.
The writer was nominated in 1974 but lost to two Swedish authors who are now forgotten. But they turned out to be members of the Nobel Committee. One American critic wittily said: "Nabokov did not receive the Nobel Prize, not because he did not deserve it, but because the Nobel Prize did not deserve Nabokov."
MAKSIM GORKY
Since 1918, Maxim Gorky was nominated 5 times for the Nobel Prize in Literature - in 1918, 1923, 1928, 1930 and finally in 1933.
But even in 1933, the Nobel bypassed the writer. Among the nominees that year, together with him, were again Bunin and Merezhkovsky. For Bunin, this was the fifth attempt to take the Nobel. It turned out to be successful, in contrast to the five-time nominees. The award to Ivan Alekseevich Bunin was presented with the wording "For the strict skill with which he develops the traditions of Russian classical prose."
Until the forties, the Russian emigration had a concern - to do everything so that the prize would not fall to Gorky and the myth that there would be no culture left on the territory of Russia without emigrants. Both Balmont and Shmelev were put forward as candidates, but Merezhkovsky was especially nervous. The fuss was accompanied by intrigues, Aldanov urged Bunin to agree to a "group" nomination, the three of us, Merezhkovsky persuaded Bunin to agree to an amicable agreement - whoever wins will divide the prize in half. Bunin did not agree, and he did the right thing - Merezhkovsky, a fighter against the "coming boor", will soon be soiled by fraternization with Hitler and Mussolini.
And Bunin, by the way, gave part of the award without any contracts to needy Russian writers (they fought anyway), part was lost in the war, but Bunin bought a radio receiver for the award, on which he listened to reports of battles on the eastern front - he was worried.
However, the fact is that even here the Swedish newspapers were perplexed. Gorky has much more merit in Russian and world literature, Bunin is known only to fellow writers and rare connoisseurs. And Marina Tsvetaeva was indignant, by the way, sincerely: “I don’t protest, I just don’t agree, because Bunin is incomparably bigger: more, and more humane, and more original, and more necessary - Gorky. Gorky is an era, and Bunin is the end of an era. But - since this is politics, since the king of Sweden cannot pin an order on the communist Gorky ... "
Behind the scenes were the malicious opinions of experts. Having listened to them, back in 1918, academicians considered that Gorky, nominated by Romain Rolland, was an anarchist and "without a doubt, does not fit into the framework of the Nobel Prize in any way." The Dane H. Pontoppidan was preferred to Gorky (don't remember who it is - and it doesn't matter). In the 1930s, academicians hesitated and came up with - "collaborating with the Bolsheviks", the award "will be misinterpreted."
ANTON CHEKHOV
Anton Pavlovich, who died in 1904 (the award has been awarded since 1901), most likely simply did not have time to receive it. By the day of his death, he was known in Russia, but not yet very well in the West. In addition, there he is better known as a playwright. More precisely, in general, only as a playwright, he is known there. And the Nobel Committee does not favor playwrights.
…WHO ELSE?
In addition to the aforementioned Russian writers, among the Russian nominees for the prize in different years were Anatoly Koni, Konstantin Balmont, Pyotr Krasnov, Ivan Shmelev, Nikolai Berdyaev, Mark Aldanov, Leonid Leonov, Boris Zaitsev, Roman Yakobson and Yevgeny Yevtushenko.
How many geniuses Russian literature Bulgakov, Akhmatova, Tsvetaeva, Mandelstam were not even announced among the nominees ... Everyone can continue this brilliant series with the names of their favorite writers and poets.
Is it a coincidence that four out of five Russian writers who became Nobel laureates were in one way or another in conflict with the Soviet authorities? Bunin and Brodsky were emigrants, Solzhenitsyn was a dissident, Pasternak received an award for a novel published abroad. Yes, and quite loyal to Soviet power Sholokhov was awarded the Nobel "for the artistic strength and integrity of the epic about the Don Cossacks at a turning point for Russia."
Is it any wonder that in 1955 even the infamous Soviet cryptographer-defector Igor Gouzenko, who took up literature in the West, was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
And in 1970, the Nobel Committee had to prove for a long time that the prize was awarded to Alexander Solzhenitsyn not for political reasons, but "for the moral strength with which he followed the immutable traditions of Russian literature." Indeed, by that time only eight years had passed from the moment of the first publication of the writer, and his main works “The Gulag Archipelago” and “The Red Wheel” had not yet been published.
That's the way it is, brethren...
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The Nobel Prize was founded and named after Swedish industrialist, inventor and chemical engineer Alfred Nobel. It is considered the most prestigious in the world. Laureates receive a gold medal, which depicts A. B. Nobel, a diploma, as well as a check for a large sum. The latter is made up of the amount of profits received by the Nobel Foundation. In 1895, he made a will, according to which his capital was placed in bonds, shares and loans. The income that this money brings is divided equally into five parts every year and becomes a prize for achievements in five areas: in chemistry, physics, physiology or medicine, literature, and also for peace-building activities.
The first Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded on December 10, 1901, and has since been awarded annually on that date, which is the anniversary of Nobel's death. The winners are awarded in Stockholm by the Swedish king himself. After receiving the award, the winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature must give a lecture on the topic of their work within 6 months. This is a prerequisite for receiving an award.
The decision on who to award the Nobel Prize in Literature is made by the Swedish Academy, located in Stockholm, as well as the Nobel Committee itself, which announces only the number of applicants, without naming their names. The selection procedure itself is classified, which sometimes causes angry reviews from critics and ill-wishers, who claim that the award is given for political reasons, and not for literary achievements. The main argument cited as proof is Nabokov, Tolstoy, Bokhres, Joyce, who were not awarded the prize. However, the list of authors who received it still remains impressive. From Russia, the Nobel Prize winners in literature are five writers. Read more about each of them below.
The 2014 Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded for the 107th time, to Patrick Modiano, and screenwriter. That is, since 1901, 111 writers have become the owners of the award (since it was awarded four times to two authors at the same time).
To list all the winners and get acquainted with each of them is quite a long time. The most famous and widely read Nobel Prize winners in literature and their works are brought to your attention.
1. William Golding, 1983
William Golding received the award for his famous novels, of which there are 12 in his work. The most famous, "Lord of the Flies" and "The Heirs", are among the best-selling books written by Nobel laureates. The novel "Lord of the Flies", published in 1954, brought the writer world fame. Critics often compare it to Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye in terms of its significance for the development of literature and modern thought in general.
2. Toni Morrison, 1993
Winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature are not only men, but also women. Toni Morrison is one of them. This American writer was born into a working-class family in Ohio. Enrolling at Howard University, where she studied literature and English, she began to write her own works. First novel, "The Most Blue eyes(1970), was based on a short story she wrote for the university literary circle. It is one of Toni Morrison's most popular works. Another of her novels, Sula, published in 1975, was nominated for the US National.
3. 1962
Steinbeck's most famous works are "East of Paradise", "The Grapes of Wrath", "Of Mice and Men". In 1939, The Grapes of Wrath became a bestseller, with more than 50,000 copies sold, and today their number is more than 75 million. Until 1962, the writer was nominated for the award 8 times, and he himself believed that he was not worthy of such an award. Yes, and many American critics noted that his later novels are much weaker than the previous ones, and responded negatively to this award. In 2013, when some documents from the Swedish Academy (which have been kept in strict secrecy for 50 years) were declassified, it became clear that the writer was awarded because this year he turned out to be "the best in bad company."
4. Ernest Hemingway, 1954
This writer became one of nine winners of the Literature Prize, to whom it was awarded not for creativity in general, but for specific work, namely for the story "The Old Man and the Sea". The same work, first published in 1952, brought the writer the following year, 1953, and another prestigious award - the Pulitzer Prize.
In the same year, the Nobel Committee included Hemingway in the list of candidates, but Winston Churchill, who by that time was already 79 years old, became the owner of the award, and therefore it was decided not to delay the award. And Ernest Hemingway became a well-deserved winner of the award the following year, 1954.
5. Marquez, 1982
Winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982 included Gabriel García Márquez in their ranks. He became the first writer from Colombia to receive an award from the Swedish Academy. His books, among which the Chronicle of a Declared Death, The Autumn of the Patriarch, and Love in the Time of Cholera should be noted, became the best-selling works written in Spanish throughout its history. The novel One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967), which another Nobel laureate, Pablo Neruda, called the greatest creation in Spanish after Cervantes' novel Don Quixote, was translated into more than 25 languages of the world, and the total circulation of the work was more than 50 million copies.
6. Samuel Beckett, 1969
The Nobel Prize in Literature in 1969 was awarded to Samuel Beckett. This Irish writer is one of the most famous representatives of modernism. It was he, together with Eugene Ionescu, who founded the famous "theater of the absurd". Samuel Beckett wrote his works in two languages - English and French. The most famous brainchild of his pen was the play "Waiting for Godot", written in French. The plot of the work is as follows. The main characters throughout the play are waiting for a certain Godot, who should bring some meaning to their existence. However, he never appears, so the reader or viewer has to decide for himself what kind of image it was.
Beckett was fond of playing chess, enjoyed success with women, but led a rather secluded life. He did not even agree to come to the Nobel Prize ceremony, sending instead his publisher, Jerome Lindon.
7. 1949
The Nobel Prize in Literature in 1949 went to William Faulkner. He also initially refused to go to Stockholm for the award, but was eventually persuaded to do so by his daughter. John Kennedy sent him an invitation to a dinner hosted in honor of Nobel laureates. However, Faulkner, who all his life considered himself "not a writer, but a farmer", in his own words, refused to accept the invitation, citing old age.
The author's most famous and popular novels are The Sound and the Fury and When I Was Dying. However, success for these works did not come immediately, long time they hardly ever sold. The Noise and Fury, published in 1929, sold only 3,000 copies in the first 16 years after publication. However, in 1949, by the time the author received the Nobel Prize, this novel was already a model of classic American literature.
In 2012, a special edition of this work was published in the UK, in which the text was printed in 14 different colors, which was done at the request of the writer so that the reader could notice different time planes. The limited edition of the novel was only 1480 copies and sold out immediately after the release. Now the cost of the book of this rare edition is estimated at about 115 thousand rubles.
8. 2007
The Nobel Prize in Literature in 2007 was awarded to Doris Lessing. This British writer and poet received the award at the age of 88, making her the oldest recipient of the award. She also became the eleventh woman (out of 13) to receive the Nobel Prize.
Lessing was not very popular with critics, as she rarely wrote on topics devoted to pressing social issues, she was even often called a propagandist of Sufism, a doctrine that preaches the rejection of worldly fuss. However, according to The Times magazine, this writer is ranked fifth in the list of the 50 greatest British authors published since 1945.
Doris Lessing's most popular work is The Golden Notebook, published in 1962. Some critics refer to it as a model of classical feminist prose, but the writer herself categorically disagrees with this opinion.
9. Albert Camus, 1957
The Nobel Prize in Literature was also awarded to French writers. One of them, a writer, journalist, essayist of Algerian origin, Albert Camus, is the "conscience of the West." His most famous work is the story "The Outsider" published in France in 1942. Made in 1946 English translation, sales began, and in a few years the number of copies sold amounted to more than 3.5 million.
Albert Camus is often referred to as representatives of existentialism, but he himself did not agree with this and in every possible way denied such a definition. So, in a speech given at the Nobel Prize, he noted that in his work he sought to "avoid outright lies and resist oppression."
10. Alice Munro, 2013
In 2013, nominees for the Nobel Prize in Literature included Alice Munro in their list. Representative of Canada, this novelist has become famous in the genre short story. She began to write them early, from adolescence, but the first collection of her works entitled "Dance of Happy Shadows" was published only in 1968, when the author was already 37 years old. In 1971, the next collection, The Lives of Girls and Women, appeared, which critics called "a novel of education." Others of her literary works include books: "And who are you, actually, such?", "Runaway", "Too Much Happiness". One of her collections, "Hate, Friendship, Courtship, Love, Marriage", published in 2001, even released a Canadian film called "Away from Her", directed by Sarah Polley. most popular book the author is considered Dear life, released in 2012.
Munro is often referred to as the "Canadian Chekhov" because the styles of these writers are similar. Like the Russian writer, he is characterized by psychological realism and clarity.
Winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature from Russia
To date, five Russian writers have won the award. The first of them was I. A. Bunin.
1. Ivan Alekseevich Bunin, 1933
This is a famous Russian writer and poet, an outstanding master realistic prose, who is an honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. In 1920, Ivan Alekseevich emigrated to France, and when presenting the award, he noted that the Swedish Academy acted very boldly by awarding the émigré writer. Among the contenders for this year's prize was another Russian writer, M. Gorky, however, largely due to the publication of the book "The Life of Arseniev" by that time, the scales still tipped in the direction of Ivan Alekseevich.
Bunin began writing his first poems at the age of 7-8 years. Later, his well-known works were published: the story "The Village", the collection "Dry Valley", the books "John Rydalets", "The Gentleman from San Francisco", etc. In the 20s he wrote (1924) and " Sunstroke"(1927). And in 1943, the pinnacle of Ivan Alexandrovich's work, a collection of stories" Dark alleys". This book was devoted to only one topic - love, its "dark" and gloomy sides, as the author wrote in one of his letters.
2. Boris Leonidovich Pasternak, 1958
Nobel Prize winners in literature from Russia in 1958 included Boris Leonidovich Pasternak in their list. The poet was awarded the prize at a difficult time. He was forced to abandon it under the threat of exile from Russia. However, the Nobel Committee regarded the refusal of Boris Leonidovich as forced, in 1989 he handed over the medal and diploma after the death of the writer to his son. famous novel"Doctor Zhivago" is Pasternak's true artistic testament. This work was written in 1955. Albert Camus, laureate of 1957, praised this novel with admiration.
3. Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov, 1965
In 1965, M. A. Sholokhov was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Russia in once more proved to the whole world that she has talented writers. Having begun his literary activity as a representative of realism, depicting the deep contradictions of life, Sholokhov, however, in some works is captured by the socialist trend. During the presentation of the Nobel Prize, Mikhail Alexandrovich delivered a speech in which he noted that in his works he sought to praise "a nation of workers, builders and heroes."
In 1926 he started his main novel, "Quiet Don", and completed it in 1940, long before he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Sholokhov's works were published in parts, including Quiet Flows the Don. In 1928, largely thanks to the assistance of A. S. Serafimovich, friend Mikhail Alexandrovich, the first part appeared in print. The second volume was published the following year. The third was published in 1932-1933, already with the assistance and support of M. Gorky. The last, fourth, volume was published in 1940. This romance had great importance for both Russian and world literature. It was translated into many languages of the world, became the basis famous opera Ivan Dzerzhinsky, as well as numerous theatrical productions and films.
Some, however, accused Sholokhov of plagiarism (including A. I. Solzhenitsyn), believing that most of the work was copied from the manuscripts of F. D. Kryukov, a Cossack writer. Other researchers confirmed the authorship of Sholokhov.
In addition to this work, in 1932 Sholokhov created Virgin Soil Upturned, a work that tells about the history of collectivization among the Cossacks. In 1955 the first chapters of the second volume were published, and in early 1960 the last ones were completed.
At the end of 1942, the third novel, "They Fought for the Motherland", was published.
4. Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn, 1970
The Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970 was awarded to A. I. Solzhenitsyn. Alexander Isaevich accepted it, but did not dare to attend the award ceremony, because he was afraid of the Soviet government, which regarded the decision of the Nobel Committee as "politically hostile." Solzhenitsyn was afraid that he would not be able to return to his homeland after this trip, although the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970, which he received, increased the prestige of our country. In his work, he touched on acute socio-political problems, actively fought against communism, its ideas and the policies of the Soviet government.
The main works of Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn include: "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" (1962), story " Matrenin yard", the novel "In the First Circle" (written from 1955 to 1968), "The Gulag Archipelago" (1964-1970). The first published work was the story "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich", which appeared in the magazine " New world". This publication caused big interest and numerous responses from readers, which inspired the writer to create the Gulag Archipelago. In 1964, the first story of Alexander Isaevich received the Lenin Prize.
However, a year later, he loses the favor of the Soviet authorities, and his works are forbidden to be printed. His novels "The Gulag Archipelago", "In the First Circle" and " cancer corps"were published abroad, for which in 1974 the writer was deprived of citizenship, and he was forced to emigrate. Only 20 years later he managed to return to his homeland. In 2001-2002, Solzhenitsyn's great work "Two Hundred Years Together" appeared. Alexander Isaevich died in 2008.
5. Joseph Alexandrovich Brodsky, 1987
The winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1987 were joined by I. A. Brodsky. In 1972, the writer was forced to emigrate to the United States, so world encyclopedia even calls it American. Among all the writers who received the Nobel Prize, he is the youngest. With his lyrics, he comprehended the world as a single cultural and metaphysical whole, and also pointed out the limited perception of a person as a subject of knowledge.
Joseph Alexandrovich wrote not only in Russian, but also in English language poems, essays, literary criticism. Immediately after the publication in the West of his first collection, in 1965, international fame came to Brodsky. The author's best books include: "Embankment of the Incurable", "Part of Speech", "Landscape with Flood", "The End belle epoch"," Stop in the desert "and others.
Briton Kazuo Ishiguro.
According to the testament of Alfred Nobel, the award is awarded to "who created the most significant literary work of an idealistic orientation."
The editors of TASS-DOSIER have prepared material on the procedure for awarding this award and its laureates.
Awarding and nominating candidates
The prize is awarded by the Swedish Academy in Stockholm. It includes 18 academicians who hold this post for life. The preparatory work is carried out by the Nobel Committee, whose members (four to five people) are elected by the Academy from among its members for a three-year period. Candidates may be nominated by members of the Academy and similar institutions in other countries, professors of literature and linguistics, award winners and chairmen of writers' organizations who have received special invitations from the committee.
The nomination process runs from September to January 31 of the following year. In April, the committee draws up a list of the 20 most worthy writers, then reduces it to five candidates. The winner is determined by academicians in early October by a majority vote. The award is announced to the writer half an hour before the announcement of his name. In 2017, 195 people were nominated.
The five Nobel Prize winners are announced during Nobel Week, which begins on the first Monday in October. Their names are announced in the following order: physiology and medicine; physics; chemistry; literature; peace prize. The winner of the Swedish State Bank Prize in Economics in memory of Alfred Nobel will be named next Monday. In 2016, the order was violated, the name of the awarded writer was made public in last turn. According to the Swedish media, despite the delay in the start of the laureate election procedure, there were no disagreements within the Swedish Academy.
Laureates
During the entire existence of the award, 113 writers have become its laureates, including 14 women. Among the awardees are such worldwide famous authors like Rabindranath Tagore (1913), Anatole France (1921), Bernard Shaw (1925), Thomas Mann (1929), Hermann Hesse (1946), William Faulkner (1949), Ernest Hemingway (1954), Pablo Neruda (1971), Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1982).
In 1953, this award "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"was marked by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Churchill was repeatedly nominated for this award, in addition, he was twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, but never became its owner.
As a rule, writers receive an award based on the totality of achievements in the field of literature. However, nine people were awarded for a particular piece. For example, Thomas Mann was noted for the novel "Buddenbrooks"; John Galsworthy for The Forsyte Saga (1932); Ernest Hemingway - for the story "The Old Man and the Sea"; Mikhail Sholokhov - in 1965 for the novel "Quiet Don" ("for the artistic power and integrity of the epic about the Don Cossacks at a turning point for Russia").
In addition to Sholokhov, there are other our compatriots among the laureates. So, in 1933, Ivan Bunin received the prize "for the strict skill with which he develops the traditions of Russian classical prose", and in 1958 - Boris Pasternak "for outstanding achievements in modern lyric poetry and in the field of great Russian prose."
However, Pasternak, who was criticized in the USSR for his novel Doctor Zhivago, published abroad, refused the award under pressure from the authorities. The medal and diploma were presented to his son in Stockholm in December 1989. In 1970, Alexander Solzhenitsyn became the laureate of the award ("for the moral strength with which he followed the immutable traditions of Russian literature"). In 1987, the prize was awarded to Joseph Brodsky "for a comprehensive work, saturated with clarity of thought and passion for poetry" (he emigrated to the United States in 1972).
In 2015, the Belarusian writer Svetlana Aleksievich was awarded for "polyphonic compositions, a monument to suffering and courage in our time."
In 2016, American poet, composer and performer Bob Dylan was honored for "creating poetic imagery in the great American song tradition."
Statistics
The Nobel website notes that of the 113 laureates, 12 wrote under pseudonyms. This list includes French writer and literary critic Anatole France (real name François Anatole Thibault) and a Chilean poet and political figure Pablo Neruda (Ricardo Eliezer Neftali Reyes Basoalto).
The relative majority of awards (28) were awarded to writers who wrote in English. 14 writers were awarded for books in French, 13 in German, 11 in Spanish, 7 in Swedish, 6 in Italian, 6 in Russian (including Svetlana Aleksievich), 4 in Polish, 4 in Norwegian and Danish three people, and in Greek, Japanese and Chinese two each. Authors of works in Arabic, Bengali, Hungarian, Icelandic, Portuguese, Serbo-Croatian, Turkish, Occitan (Provençal French), Finnish, Czech, and Hebrew were awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature once each.
Most often awarded were writers who worked in the genre of prose (77), in second place - poetry (34), in third - dramaturgy (14). For works in the field of history, three writers received the prize, in philosophy - two. At the same time, one author can be awarded for works in several genres. For example, Boris Pasternak received the prize as a prose writer and as a poet, and Maurice Maeterlinck (Belgium; 1911) as a prose writer and playwright.
In 1901-2016, the prize was awarded 109 times (in 1914, 1918, 1935, 1940-1943, academicians could not determine the best writer). Only four times the award was divided between two writers.
The average age of laureates is 65 years old, the youngest is Rudyard Kipling, who received the prize at 42 (1907), and the oldest is 88-year-old Doris Lessing (2007).
The second writer (after Boris Pasternak) who refused the prize was in 1964 French novelist and philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre. He stated that he "does not want to be turned into a public institution," and expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that when awarding the prize, academicians "ignore the merits of the revolutionary writers of the 20th century."
Notable writer-nominees who did not win the award
Many great writers who were nominated for the award never received it. Among them is Leo Tolstoy. Our writers such as Dmitry Merezhkovsky, Maxim Gorky, Konstantin Balmont, Ivan Shmelev, Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Vladimir Nabokov were not awarded either. The outstanding prose writers of other countries - Jorge Luis Borges (Argentina), Mark Twain (USA), Henrik Ibsen (Norway) - did not become laureates either.
Dedicated to the great Russian writers.
From October 21 to November 21, 2015, the Library and Information Complex invites you to the exhibition, dedicated to creativity Nobel laureates in literature from Russia and the USSR.
The Nobel Prize in Literature in 2015 was awarded to a Belarusian writer. The award was given to Svetlana Aleksievich with the following wording: "For her many-voiced work - a monument to suffering and courage in our time." At the exhibition, we also presented the works of Svetlana Alexandrovna.
The exposition can be found 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, literary works, for his contribution to the strengthening of peace, the economy (since 1969).
The Nobel Prize in Literature is an award for literary achievement presented annually by the Nobel Committee in Stockholm on 10 December. According to the statute of the Nobel Foundation, the following persons can nominate candidates: members of the Swedish Academy, other academies, institutions and societies with similar tasks and goals; professors of the history of literature and linguistics of universities; laureates of the Nobel Prize in Literature; chairmen of authors' unions representing literary creativity in the respective countries.
Unlike the winners of other prizes (for example, in physics and chemistry), the decision to award the Nobel Prize in Literature is made by members of the Swedish Academy. The Swedish Academy brings together 18 figures from Sweden. The Academy is composed of historians, linguists, writers and one lawyer. They are known in the community as "The Eighteen". Membership in the academy is for life. After the death of one of the members, the academicians choose a new academician by secret ballot. The Academy elects from among its members the Nobel Committee. 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 rigorous 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 power and honesty with which he displayed in his Don epic historical era in the life of the Russian people")
- A. I. Solzhenitsyn(1970 "For the moral strength with which he followed the immutable traditions of Russian literature")
- I. A. Brodsky(1987 "For a comprehensive work imbued with the clarity of thought and the passion of poetry")
Russian laureates in literature 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 the 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 the Motherland because of the need to make dubious compromises, he is again forced to kill the spirit in order to survive. Fortunately, this fate passed Bunin. 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. Since then, Ivan Alekseevich lived in hopes that someday he would be awarded this prize. 1933 All newspapers in Paris on November 10 came out with large headlines: "Bunin - Nobel laureate." Every Russian in Paris, even a loader at the Renault factory, who had never read Bunin, took this as a personal holiday. For the compatriot turned out to be the best, the most talented! In Parisian taverns and restaurants that evening there were Russians who sometimes drank for "their own" for their last pennies.
On the day of awarding the prize on November 9, Ivan Alekseevich Bunin watched "merry stupidity" - "Baby" in the "cinema". Suddenly, a narrow beam of a flashlight cut through the darkness of the hall. They were looking for Bunin. He was called by phone from Stockholm.
And immediately all my former life. I walk home rather quickly, but feeling nothing but regret that I didn't get to see the movie. But no. You can’t believe it: the whole house is lit up with lights. And my heart shrinks with some kind of sadness ... Some kind of turning point in my life, "I. A. Bunin recalled.
Exciting days in Sweden. AT concert hall in the presence of the king, after the report of the writer, member of the Swedish Academy Peter Galstrem on the work of Bunin, he was handed a folder with Nobel diploma, a medal and a check for 715,000 French francs.
When presenting the award, Bunin noted that the Swedish Academy acted very boldly by awarding the émigré writer. Among the contenders for this year's prize was another Russian writer, M. Gorky, however, largely due to the publication of the book "The Life of Arseniev" by that time, the scales still tipped in the direction of Ivan Alekseevich.
Returning to France, Bunin feels rich and, sparing no money, distributes "allowances" to emigrants, 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, poetess 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 the end. 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 exhortations of the Moscow "messengers". He never came to his homeland, even as a tourist.
Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (1890-1960) was born in Moscow into a family famous artist Leonid Osipovich Pasternak. Mother, Rosalia Isidorovna, was a talented pianist. Maybe that's why in childhood the future poet dreamed of becoming a composer and even studied music with Alexander Nikolaevich Scriabin. However, the love of poetry won. Glory to B. L. Pasternak was brought by his poetry, and bitter trials - "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 sent the novel abroad, to Italy, where in 1957 it was published. The very fact of publication in the West was sharply condemned by Soviet colleagues in the creative workshop, 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."
In his homeland, the award of such an honorary prize to an "anti-Soviet novel" aroused the indignation of the authorities, and under the threat of expulsion from the country, the writer was forced to refuse the award. Only 30 years later, his son, Yevgeny Borisovich Pasternak, received a diploma and a medal for his father. Nobel laureate.
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 the Rostov University, A. I. Solzhenitsyn taught and at the same time studied in absentia at the Literary Institute in Moscow. When did the Great Patriotic War, future writer went to the front.
Shortly before the end of the war, Solzhenitsyn was arrested. The reason for the arrest was the critical remarks about Stalin found by military censorship in Solzhenitsyn's letters. He was released after Stalin's death (1953). In 1962, the Novy Mir magazine published the first story, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, which tells about the life of prisoners in the camp. Literary magazines refused to print most of the subsequent works. There was only one explanation: anti-Soviet orientation. However, the writer did not back down and sent the manuscripts abroad, where they were published. Alexander Isaevich was not limited literary activity- he fought for the freedom of political prisoners in the USSR, spoke out with sharp criticism of the Soviet system.
Literary works and political position AI 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. He first lived in Switzerland, then moved to the United States, where he was, with a considerable delay, awarded the Nobel Prize. In the West, such works as "In the First Circle", "The Gulag Archipelago", "August 1914", "The Cancer Ward" were printed. In 1994, A. Solzhenitsyn returned to his homeland, having traveled through all of Russia, from Vladivostok to Moscow.
The fate of Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov, the only one of Russian laureates Nobel Prize in Literature, who supported government bodies. M. A. Sholokhov (1905-1980) was born in the south of Russia, on the Don - in the center Russian Cossacks. My small homeland- the farm Kruzhilin of the village of Vyoshenskaya - he later described in many works. Sholokhov graduated from only four classes of the gymnasium. He actively participated in the events of the civil war, led the food detachment, which selected the so-called surplus grain from wealthy Cossacks.
Already in his youth, the future writer felt a penchant for literary creativity. In 1922, Sholokhov arrived in Moscow, and in 1923 he began to publish his first stories in newspapers and magazines. In 1926, the collections "Don Stories" and "Azure Steppe" were published. Work on "Quiet Don" - a novel about the life of the Don Cossacks in the era of the Great Break (First World War, revolutions and Civil War) - began in 1925. In 1928, the first part of the novel was published, and Sholokhov completed it in the 30s. "Quiet Don" became the pinnacle of the writer's work, and in 1965 he was awarded the Nobel Prize "for the artistic strength and completeness with which he in his epic work about the Don reflected a historical phase in the life of the Russian people." "Quiet Don" was translated in 45 countries of the world into several dozen languages.
By the time of receiving the Nobel Prize in the bibliography of Joseph Brodsky, there were six collections of poems, the poem "Gorbunov and Gorchakov", the play "Marble", 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 award, already being a citizen of the United States of America.
For him, the spiritual connection with the homeland was important. As a relic, he kept the tie of Boris Pasternak, he even wanted to wear it to the Nobel Prize, but the rules of the protocol did not allow it. Nevertheless, Brodsky still came with Pasternak's tie in his pocket. After perestroika, Brodsky was repeatedly invited to Russia, 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, in particular literary, is less susceptible to repetition and rhythmic incantations, characteristic of any form of political demagoguery. It's not so much that virtue is no guarantee of a masterpiece, but that evil, especially political evil, is always a bad stylist. The richer the aesthetic experience of the individual, the firmer his taste, the clearer his moral choice, the freer he is - although perhaps not happier. It is in this rather applied than Platonic sense that Dostoyevsky's remark that "beauty will save the world" or Matthew Arnold's saying that "poetry will save us" should be understood. The world will probably not be saved, but individual person always possible."
