Ben Jackson
Well-known member
The Nobel Prizes for 1937, 1938 and 1939 were awarded to Roger Martin Du Gard, Pearl Buck and Frans Emil Silanpaa. The writers shortlisted for the Nobel in 1937 were Du Gard, Paul Claudel and Stijn Streuvels, the 1938 prize shortlist consisted of Johannes Jensen, Stijn Streuvels and Pearl Buck, while 1939 Nobel Prize shortlist consisted of Silanpaa, Hesse and Johan Huizinga.
Paul Claudel was dismissed for his esoteric poetry. The Committee, despite praising Du Gard for his work, the roman fleuve masterpiece The Thibaults, opted instead for Flemish novelist Stijn Streuvels. Streuvels candidature was dismissed by the Swedish Academy, who instead awarded Roger Martin Du Gard. It was one of those choices that Academy established a discord with the Committee. In 1966, the committee voted Yasunari Kawabata, but the Academy instead opted for Sachs/Agnon Yosef.
The Committee in 1938, upon reading the recent published Collected Poems of Johannes Jensen, heaped praises on the volume, highlighting the imaginative style, and classical diction, which recalls the beautiful poems of Scandinivian Golden Age. The committee also praised The Jutland, a novel with fascinating qualities, richness of colour and radiance, but his earlier works, which demonstrated Darwinian influences, wasn't able to convince the committee. The committee was split over giving the Nobel to Streuvels and Buck. Selma Lagerolf, Nobel Laureate and Academy Member, was reluctant to vote at first, but later on changed her mind and voted for Buck. Swiertz, another Academy member, believed that Buck didn't possess the qualities deserving of the Nobel, but ten out of eighteen members of Academy, including Lagerolf, voted in favour of Buck.
The 1939 Prize was a compromise choice. Hesse, according to Hallstrom, was a dignified and unconventional representationve of hard-pressed but tenacious humanism. Hesse status as a Swiss citizen was already confirmed by this time (as the wind of World War ll was blowing across Europe), but Hallstrom felt his work wasn't idealistic. He opted instead for Huizinga or Silanpaa. The other members of the Academy divided into the camp of Huizinga and Hesse, with praises heaped on Huizinga's Waning of the Middle Ages as one of the finest "historical records of our time." At the end, the committee came to agreement with deciding to award Silanpaa, which is interpreted according to critics as a political decision (Soviet Union invaded Finland few weeks before the Nobel committee's decision). There wasn't Nobel Prize until 1944.
Paul Claudel was dismissed for his esoteric poetry. The Committee, despite praising Du Gard for his work, the roman fleuve masterpiece The Thibaults, opted instead for Flemish novelist Stijn Streuvels. Streuvels candidature was dismissed by the Swedish Academy, who instead awarded Roger Martin Du Gard. It was one of those choices that Academy established a discord with the Committee. In 1966, the committee voted Yasunari Kawabata, but the Academy instead opted for Sachs/Agnon Yosef.
The Committee in 1938, upon reading the recent published Collected Poems of Johannes Jensen, heaped praises on the volume, highlighting the imaginative style, and classical diction, which recalls the beautiful poems of Scandinivian Golden Age. The committee also praised The Jutland, a novel with fascinating qualities, richness of colour and radiance, but his earlier works, which demonstrated Darwinian influences, wasn't able to convince the committee. The committee was split over giving the Nobel to Streuvels and Buck. Selma Lagerolf, Nobel Laureate and Academy Member, was reluctant to vote at first, but later on changed her mind and voted for Buck. Swiertz, another Academy member, believed that Buck didn't possess the qualities deserving of the Nobel, but ten out of eighteen members of Academy, including Lagerolf, voted in favour of Buck.
The 1939 Prize was a compromise choice. Hesse, according to Hallstrom, was a dignified and unconventional representationve of hard-pressed but tenacious humanism. Hesse status as a Swiss citizen was already confirmed by this time (as the wind of World War ll was blowing across Europe), but Hallstrom felt his work wasn't idealistic. He opted instead for Huizinga or Silanpaa. The other members of the Academy divided into the camp of Huizinga and Hesse, with praises heaped on Huizinga's Waning of the Middle Ages as one of the finest "historical records of our time." At the end, the committee came to agreement with deciding to award Silanpaa, which is interpreted according to critics as a political decision (Soviet Union invaded Finland few weeks before the Nobel committee's decision). There wasn't Nobel Prize until 1944.