Briton Kazuo Ishiguro.
According to Alfred Nobel's will, the award is awarded to "the creator of the most significant literary work of an idealistic orientation."
The editors of TASS-DOSSIER have prepared material about the procedure for awarding this prize and its laureates.
Awarding the Prize 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 lasts from September until January 31 of the following year. In April, the committee draws up a list of 20 most worthy writers, then narrows it down to five candidates. The laureate is determined by academicians in early October by majority vote. The writer is notified of the award half an hour before his name is announced. In 2017, 195 people were nominated.
The winners of the five Nobel Prizes 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 State Bank of Sweden Prize in Economics in Memory of Alfred Nobel will be announced next Monday. In 2016, the order was violated; the name of the awarded writer was made public last. According to Swedish media, despite the delay in the start of the laureate election procedure, there were no disagreements within the Swedish Academy.
Laureates
Over the entire existence of the prize, 113 writers have become its laureates, including 14 women. Among the awardees are such worldwide famous authors as 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 excellence of works of a historical and biographical nature, as well as for the brilliant art of oratory with which the highest human values were defended,” was awarded to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Churchill was repeatedly nominated for this prize, in addition, he was twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, but never won it.
As a rule, writers receive a prize based on their total achievements in the field of literature. However, nine people were awarded for a specific piece. For example, Thomas Mann was recognized for his 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 strength and integrity of the epic about the Don Cossacks at a turning point for Russia").
In addition to Sholokhov, our other compatriots are among the laureates. Thus, 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 services in modern lyric poetry and in the field of great Russian prose."
However, Pasternak, who was criticized in the USSR for the 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 prize (“for the moral strength with which he followed the immutable traditions of Russian literature”). In 1987, the prize was awarded to Joseph Brodsky “for his comprehensive creativity, imbued with clarity of thought and passion of poetry” (he emigrated to the USA in 1972).
In 2015 the award was given to Belarusian writer Svetlana Alexievich for "polyphonic compositions, a monument to suffering and courage in our time."
In 2016, the winner was the American poet, composer and performer Bob Dylan for “creating poetic images 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 Chilean poet and political activist Pablo Neruda (Ricardo Eliezer Neftali Reyes Basoalto).
The relative majority of awards (28) were awarded to writers who wrote in English. For books in French, 14 writers were awarded, in German - 13, in Spanish - 11, in Swedish - seven, in Italian - six, in Russian - six (including Svetlana Alexievich), in Polish - four, in Norwegian and Danish - each 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 have each been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature once.
Most often, writers working in the genre of prose were awarded (77), poetry was in second place (34), and drama was in third place (14). Three writers received the prize for works in the field of history, and two for philosophy. Moreover, one author can be awarded for works in several genres. For example, Boris Pasternak received a 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 were unable to determine the best writer). Only four times the award was shared between two writers.
The average age of the laureates is 65 years old, the youngest is Rudyard Kipling, who received the prize at 42 years old (1907), and the oldest is 88-year-old Doris Lessing (2007).
The second writer (after Boris Pasternak) to refuse the prize was the French novelist and philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre in 1964. 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 revolutionary writers of the 20th century.”
Notable candidate writers who did not receive the prize
Many great writers who were nominated for the prize never received it. Among them is Leo Tolstoy. Our writers such as Dmitry Merezhkovsky, Maxim Gorky, Konstantin Balmont, Ivan Shmelev, Evgeny Yevtushenko, Vladimir Nabokov were not awarded either. Outstanding prose writers from other countries - Jorge Luis Borges (Argentina), Mark Twain (USA), Henrik Ibsen (Norway) - also did not become laureates.
The Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded for the 107th time - the 2014 winner was the French writer and screenwriter Patrick Modiano. Thus, since 1901, 111 authors have already received the literature prize (four times the award was awarded to two writers at the same time).
Alfred Nobel bequeathed that the prize be awarded for “the most outstanding literary work in an ideal direction,” and not for circulation and popularity. But the concept of a “bestselling book” already existed at the beginning of the 20th century, and sales volumes can at least partially speak about the skill and literary significance of the writer.
RBC has compiled a conditional rating of Nobel laureates in literature based on the commercial success of their works. The source was data from the world's largest book retailer Barnes & Noble on the best-selling books of Nobel laureates.
William Golding
Winner of the 1983 Nobel Prize in Literature
"For novels that, with the clarity of realistic narrative art combined with the diversity and universality of myth, help to comprehend the existence of man in the modern world"
Over a nearly forty-year literary career English writer published 12 novels. Golding's novels Lord of the Flies and The Descendants are among the Nobel laureates' best-selling books according to Barnes & Noble. The first, released in 1954, brought him worldwide fame. In terms of the significance of the novel for the development of modern thought and literature, critics often compared it with Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye.”
The best-selling book at Barnes & Noble is Lord of the Flies (1954).
Toni Morrison
Winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Literature
« A writer who brought to life an important aspect of American reality in her dreamy and poetic novels.”
American writer Toni Morrison was born in Ohio into a working-class family. She began pursuing creative writing while attending Howard University, where she studied English Language and Literature. The basis for Morrison's first novel, The Most Blue eyes"was inspired by a story she wrote for a university circle of writers and poets. In 1975, her novel “Sula” was nominated for the National book prize USA.
Best selling book at Barnes & Noble - The Bluest Eye (1970)
John Steinbeck
Winner of the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature
"For his realistic and poetic gift, combined with gentle humor and keen social vision"
Among the most famous novels Steinbeck - The Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden, Of Mice and Men. All of them are included in the top dozen bestsellers according to the American store Barnes & Noble.
By 1962, Steinbeck had already been nominated for the prize eight times, and he himself believed that he did not deserve it. Critics in the United States greeted the award with hostility, believing that his later novels were much weaker than his subsequent ones. In 2013, when documents from the Swedish Academy were revealed (they had been kept secret for 50 years), it turned out that Steinbeck was a recognized classic American literature- awarded because he was "the best in a bad crowd" of candidates for that year's award.
The first edition of the novel “The Grapes of Wrath,” with a circulation of 50 thousand copies, was illustrated and cost $2.75. In 1939, the book became a bestseller. To date, the book has sold more than 75 million copies, and a first edition in good condition costs more than $24,000.
Ernest Hemingway
Winner of the 1954 Nobel Prize in Literature
"For the narrative mastery once again demonstrated in The Old Man and the Sea, and for the influence it has had on modern style"
Hemingway became one of nine literary laureates to whom the Nobel Prize was awarded for a specific work (the story “The Old Man and the Sea”), and not for literary activity in general. In addition to the Nobel Prize, The Old Man and the Sea brought the author a Pulitzer Prize in 1953. The story was first published in Life magazine in September 1952, and in just two days, 5.3 million copies of the magazine were purchased in the United States.
Interestingly, the Nobel Committee seriously considered awarding the prize to Hemingway in 1953, but then chose Winston Churchill, who wrote more than a dozen books of a historical and biographical nature during his life. One of the main reasons for not delaying the awarding of the former British Prime Minister was his venerable age (Churchill was 79 years old at that time).
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Winner of the 1982 Nobel Prize in Literature
"For novels and stories in which fantasy and reality combine to reflect the life and conflicts of an entire continent"
Márquez became the first Colombian to receive a prize from the Swedish Academy. His books, including Chronicle of a Death Proclaimed, Love in the Time of Cholera, and The Autumn of the Patriarch, outsold all books ever published in Spanish except the Bible. Described by Chilean poet and Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda as “the greatest work in the Spanish language since Cervantes’ Don Quixote,” One Hundred Years of Solitude has been translated into more than 25 languages and has sold more than 50 million copies worldwide.
The best-selling book at Barnes & Noble is One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967).
Samuel Beckett
Winner of the 1969 Nobel Prize in Literature
"For innovative works in prose and drama, in which tragedy modern man becomes his triumph"
A native of Ireland, Samuel Beckett is considered one of the most prominent representatives of modernism; Along with Eugene Ionescu, he founded the “theater of the absurd.” Beckett wrote in English and French, and his most famous work - the play "Waiting for Godot" - was written in French. The main characters of the play throughout the entire play are waiting for a certain Godot, meeting with whom can bring meaning to their meaningless existence. There is practically no dynamics in the play, Godot never appears, and the viewer is left to interpret for himself what kind of image he is.
Beckett loved chess, attracted women, but led a secluded life. He agreed to accept the Nobel Prize only on the condition that he would not attend the presentation ceremony. Instead, his publisher, Jérôme Lindon, received the prize.
William Faulkner
Winner of the 1949 Nobel Prize in Literature
"For his significant and artistic point view as a unique contribution to the development of the modern American novel"
Faulkner initially refused to go to Stockholm to receive the prize, but his daughter persuaded him. When asked by US President John F. Kennedy to attend a dinner in honor of Nobel Prize winners, Faulkner, who said to himself “I’m not a writer, but a farmer,” replied that he was “too old to travel so far for a dinner with strangers.”
According to Barnes & Noble, Faulkner's best-selling book is his novel As I Lay Dying. “The Sound and the Fury,” which the author himself considered his most successful work, did not have commercial success for a long time. In the 16 years after its publication (in 1929), the novel sold only three thousand copies. However, at the time of receiving the Nobel Prize, The Sound and the Fury was already considered a classic of American literature.
In 2012, the British publishing house The Folio Society released Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, where the text of the novel is printed in 14 colors, as the author himself wanted (so that the reader could see different time planes). The publisher's recommended price for such a copy is $375, but the circulation was limited to only 1,480 copies, and a thousand of them were already pre-ordered at the time of the book's release. On at the moment on eBay you can buy a limited edition of “The Sound and the Fury” for 115 thousand rubles.
Doris Lessing
Winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature
"For his insight into women's experiences with skepticism, passion and visionary power"
British poet and writer Doris Lessing became the oldest laureate literary prize Swedish Academy, in 2007 she was 88 years old. Lessing also became the eleventh woman to win this prize (out of thirteen).
Lessing was not popular among the masses literary critics, since her works were often devoted to pressing social issues (in particular, she was called a propagandist of Sufism). However, The Times magazine places Lessing fifth on its list of the "50 greatest British authors since 1945".
The most popular book at Barnes & Noble is Lessing's 1962 novel The Golden Notebook. Some commentators rank it among the classics of feminist fiction. Lessing herself categorically disagreed with this label.
Winner of the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature
"For his enormous contribution to literature, highlighting the importance of human conscience"
Algerian-born French essayist, journalist and writer Albert Camus has been called the “conscience of the West.” One of his most popular works, the novel “The Outsider,” was published in 1942, and sales began in the United States in 1946. English translation, and in just a few years more than 3.5 million copies were sold.
When presenting the prize to the writer, member of the Swedish Academy Anders Exterling said that “ philosophical views Camus were born in an acute contradiction between the acceptance of earthly existence and the awareness of the reality of death." Despite Camus's frequent association with the philosophy of existentialism, he himself denied his involvement in this movement. In a speech in Stockholm, he said his work was built on the desire to "avoid outright lies and resist oppression."
Alice Munro
Winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Literature
The prize was awarded with the wording “ to the master modern genre short story"
Canadian short story writer Alice Munro has been writing short stories since she was a teenager, but her first collection (Dance of the Happy Shadows) was published only in 1968, when Munro was already 37. In 1971, the writer published a collection of interconnected stories, Lives of Girls and Women, which was praised by critics as a “novel of education” (Bildungsroman). Among other literary works are the collections “Who are you, exactly?” (1978), “The Moons of Jupiter” (1982), “The Fugitive” (2004), “Too Much Happiness” (2009). The 2001 collection “The Hate Me, Friendship, Courtship, Love, Marriage” served as the basis for the Canadian feature film Away from Her directed by Sarah Polley.
Critics have called Munro "the Canadian Chekhov" for his narrative style, characterized by clarity and psychological realism.
The best selling book at Barnes & Noble is “ Dear Life"(2012).
Nobel Prize– one of the world's most prestigious prizes, awarded annually for outstanding scientific research, revolutionary inventions or major contributions to culture or society.
On November 27, 1895, A. Nobel drew up a will, which provided for the allocation of certain funds for the award awards in five areas: physics, chemistry, physiology and medicine, literature and contributions to world peace. And in 1900, the Nobel Foundation was created - a private, independent, non-governmental organization with an initial capital of 31 million Swedish crowns. Since 1969, on the initiative of the Swedish Bank, awards have also been given prizes in economics.
Since the establishment of the awards, strict rules for selecting laureates have been in place. Intellectuals from all over the world participate in the process. Thousands of minds work to ensure that the most worthy candidate receives the Nobel Prize.
In total, to date, five Russian-speaking writers have received this award.
Ivan Alekseevich Bunin(1870-1953), Russian writer, poet, honorary academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1933 “for the strict skill with which he develops the traditions of Russian classical prose.” In his speech when presenting the prize, Bunin noted the courage of the Swedish Academy, which honored the emigrant writer (he emigrated to France in 1920). Ivan Alekseevich Bunin is the greatest master of Russian realistic prose.
Boris Leonidovich Pasternak(1890-1960), Russian poet, laureate of the 1958 Nobel Prize in Literature “for outstanding services to modern lyric poetry and to the field of great Russian prose.” He was forced to refuse the award under threat of expulsion from the country. The Swedish Academy recognized Pasternak's refusal of the prize as forced and in 1989 awarded a diploma and medal to his son.
Mikhail Alexandrovich Sholokhov(1905-1984), Russian writer, winner of the 1965 Nobel Prize in Literature “for the artistic strength and integrity of the epic about the Don Cossacks at a turning point for Russia.” In his speech during the awards ceremony, Sholokhov said his goal was to “extol the nation of workers, builders and heroes.” Having started out as a realistic writer who was not afraid to show deep life contradictions, Sholokhov in some of his works found himself captive of socialist realism.
Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn(1918-2008), Russian writer, winner of the 1970 Nobel Prize in Literature "for the moral strength derived from the tradition of great Russian literature." The Soviet government considered the decision of the Nobel Committee to be “politically hostile,” and Solzhenitsyn, fearing that after his trip it would be impossible to return to his homeland, accepted the award, but did not attend the award ceremony. In his artistic literary works, he, as a rule, touched upon acute socio-political issues, actively opposing communist ideas, the political system of the USSR and the policies of its authorities.
Joseph Alexandrovich Brodsky(1940-1996), poet, laureate of the 1987 Nobel Prize in Literature “for his multifaceted creativity, marked by acuteness of thought and deep poetry.” In 1972 he was forced to emigrate from the USSR and lived in the USA ( world encyclopedia calls it American). I.A. Brodsky is the youngest writer to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. The peculiarities of the poet's lyrics are the understanding of the world as a single metaphysical and cultural whole, the identification of the limitations of man as a subject of consciousness.
If you want to get more specific information about the life and work of Russian poets and writers, to get to know their works better, online tutors We are always happy to help you. Online teachers will help you analyze a poem or write a review about the work of the selected author. Training is based on specially developed software. Qualified teachers provide assistance in completing homework and explaining incomprehensible material; help prepare for the State Exam and the Unified State Exam. The student chooses for himself whether to conduct classes with the chosen tutor for a long time, or to use the teacher’s help only in specific situations when difficulties arise with a certain task.
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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 freshness and originality 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 creative path as a lyric poet, playwright, novelist, author of world-famous short stories
1911 - Maurice Maeterlinck, Belgium. For his multifaceted literary activity, and especially for dramatic works, which are marked by a wealth of imagination and poetic fantasy
1912 - Gerhart Hauptmann, Germany. First of all, as a sign of recognition of the fruitful, diverse and outstanding performance in Dramatic Arts
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 high idealism works of art, for the sympathy and love of truth with which he describes various human types
1916 - Karl Heidenstam, Sweden. In recognition of his importance as a leading representative new era in world literature
1917 - Karl Gjellerup, Denmark. For diverse poetic creativity and lofty ideals
Henrik Pontoppidan, Denmark. For a truthful description modern life 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 - Wladyslaw 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 great novel Buddenbrooks, which became a classic modern literature, and whose popularity is steadily growing
1930 - Sinclair Lewis, USA. For powerful and expressive art 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 life 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 poetry true feeling, making 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 deep and artistic significant works, in which human problems 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 allowed us to fully reveal human destinies and problems related to 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 deep original art narratives 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 the bright creative achievement, which is based on an 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 high art creation of characters and which became 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 modern culture, combined in his work
1977 - Vicente Aleisandre, Spain. For outstanding poetic creativity 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 the fact that with poetic power he created an imaginary world in which reality and myth, united, represent alarming picture 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 illusory reality
1999 - Gunter 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 being in search of a melancholic soul hometown 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 cartography of power structures and vivid images 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 breathtaking realism, which unites folk tales with modernity
2013 - Alice Munr, Canada. To the Master of the Modern Short Story
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.
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 works in the field of medicine or physiology, physics, chemistry, for literary works, for his contribution to strengthening peace and 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, candidates can be nominated the following persons: 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 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 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 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 - famous Russian writer and poet, outstanding master of realistic prose, honorary member St. Petersburg Academy Sci. 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 On November 10, all newspapers in Paris came out 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 concert hall in the presence of the king, after the report of the writer, member of the Swedish Academy Peter Hallström about the work of Bunin, he was given a folder with Nobel diploma, medal and 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 into a family 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, Evgeny Borisovich Pasternak, received a diploma and 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 Rostov University, A.I. Solzhenitsyn taught and at the same time studied by correspondence at the Literary Institute in Moscow. When did the Great Patriotic War, 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 his first story - "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich", which tells about the life of prisoners in the camp. Most of the subsequent works literary magazines refused to print. 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 literary activity- he fought for the freedom of political prisoners in the USSR, and sharply criticized the Soviet system.
Literary works and political position 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 Alexandrovich Sholokhov, the only one Russian laureates Nobel Prize in Literature, who was 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 village of Kruzhilin of the village of Veshenskaya - he later described it 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 an inclination to 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 "Quiet Don" - a novel about life Don Cossacks during the era of the Great Reversal (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 creativity, and in 1965 he was awarded the Nobel Prize "for the artistic strength and completeness with which he epic work about the Don reflected a historical phase in the life of the Russian people." "Quiet Don" has been translated in 45 countries around the world 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 characteristic of any form of political demagoguery. The point is not so much that virtue is no guarantee of a masterpiece as 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 individual It’s always possible.”
