Nobel Prize candidates 1963

[Daniel del Real]

Like every year, early in January the Nobel Academy unveils their records of 50 years ago. This time it was time for the 1963 Prize awarded to Georgios Seferis.

Neruda, Beckett, Auden & Mishima in the short list. It must have been a really hard decision to make. Here's the link:

http://www.nobelprize.org/nominatio...&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=twitter_tweet

 

[pesahson]

Thanks for the link, Daniel. Looking back at the shortlist from today's perspective, it looks excellent! Such great names.

 

[redhead]

1963 Nobel Prize nominees

http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/201401a.htm#kn8

So Charles de Gaulle got nominated...not quite sure what to make of that. At least Churchill had a reputation as a historian, was de Gaulle known for his writings at all?

Mishima also jumps out at me. It's pretty amazing he made it on to the shortlist, he would've been only 37 or 38 at the time, I thought his age alone would've kept him from being a serious contender.

Can't say I've read a lot of Auden, but from the little I know I can't call myself a fan of his work, and it was good to get some recognition for Greek literature so it seems like the academy, to me at least, made the right choice here, considering Neruda and Beckett would win it later.

Edit: It appears the 3 other Japanese contenders were most likely novelists Yasunari Kawabata, who would go on to win it in '68, Junchiro Tanizaki, and the poet Junzaburo Nishiwaki, all of whom were well along into their careers in '63. So if the academy decided they wouldn't give preference to Mishima over these 3, why did he make it to the shortlist over them?

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/people/AJ201401040053

 

[Bernd]

Re: 1963 Nobel Prize nominees

The Dutch thought Jan Rudeness was a candidate too, apparently not.

 

[Bernd]

Re: 1963 Nobel Prize nominees

The Dutch thought Jan Rudeness was a candidate too, apparently not.

OK, Jan Rudeness isn't a Dutch author. I couldn't help it to make fun of the Dutch.

 

[liehtzu]

Re: 1963 Nobel Prize nominees

The Nobel website lists the nominees up to 1950 without any real details... I'd like to know who the finalists were from 1950-62.

 

[Ben Jackson]

According to articles:

There were 81 writers nominated that year, and eight writers were shortlisted:

Beckett, who was dismissed by Osterling for his negative and nihilistic works which could have been "absurdity in his style," Nabokov, dismissed for "immoral and obscene work in Lolita," Aksel Sandemose, whose works of Norweigan novelist was "uneven," Yukio Mishima, considered "too young but outstanding," Neruda, who was dismissed for "odes to Stalin," Sachs, whose works Osterling felt wasn't the strongest or better than poets of German origin, Auden's major works was far behind, a phrase that was echoed throughout the time Auden was shortlisted. About Seferis, Osterling felt "it was about time to pay tribute to Modern Hellas, a language area that so far had been waiting too long to be honored in this context," this was after the Committee missed out on three candidates: poet Kostas Palamas, shortlisted in 1926, another poet Angelos Sikelianos, shortlisted in 1948 and Nikos Kazantzakis, shortlisted in 1956 & 1957. Hence, Seferis' victory.

I have read his Collected Poems, I feel he's deserving. I felt that every writer shortlisted, just like 1968, was deserving. Surprsied that Mishima was shortlisted at such a young age. Impressed with the novel of his I read last year Confessions of a Mask. A tough, strong list of shortlisted candidates.

 

[Ben Jackson]

George Seferis was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1963 "for his eminent lyrical writing, inspired by deep feeling for Hellenic world of culture."

Some Facts

First time nominees
Nelly Sachs
Ingeborg Bachmanb
Emilio Cecchi
Ingemar During
Rene Etiemble
Yevgeny Yevtushenko
Rudolf Pfeiffer
Kate Roberts
Andre Breton
Ramon Jose Sender
Jean Cocteau
Jean Guehenino
Karl Lowith
Charles De Gaulle
Yukio Mishima
Erico Verissimmo
Gustave Thibon
Marcel Jouhandeau
Vladimir Nabokov
Henry Queffelec
Leopold Sedar Senghor
Michel Butor

Nominations from Swedish Academy
Jean Anouilh, Yasunari Kawabata, Jorge Luis Borges and W H Auden (Henry Olsson)
Ramon Jose Sender, Vainno Linna (Erik Lindegren)
Vaino Linna, Alberto Moravia, Ignazio Silone (Elias Wessen)
Samuel Beckett--- Johannes Edfelt
Pablo Neruda, Aksel Sandemose, George Seferis--- Eyvnid Johnson

Nominees that would become Laureates:
Samuel Beckett (Nobel Laureate 1969)
Nelly Sachs (Nobel Laureate 1966)
Heinrich Boll (Nobel Laureate 1972)
Eyvnid Johnson (Nobel Laureate 1974)
Pablo Neruda (Nobel Laureate 1971)
Jean Paul Sartre (Nobel Laureate 1964)
Mikhail Sholohkov (Nobel Laureate 1965)

Nominated Women

Nelly Sachs
Kate Roberts
Gertrude Von Le Fort
Juana de Ibarbourou
Ingeborg Bachmann

Famous Names nominated (some of these writers were finalists formerly)
Robert Graves
Louis Aragon
Jean Giono
Romulo Gallegos
Robert Frost
Martin Buber
Rene Char
Lawrence Durrell
E M Forster
Friederich Durrenmatt
Max Frisch
Graham Greene
Aldous Huxley
Miroslav Krleza
Andre Malraux
Ramon Menedez Pidal
Henri Montherlant
Sean Casey
Ezra Pound
Vasco Pratolini
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
George Simenon
Junichiro Tanizaki
Tarjel Vessas
Thornton Wilder
Edmund Wilson
Lionel Trilling

Books highlighted by the Nobel Committee
Pablo Neruda (Residence on Earth, 20 Love Poems, Canto General, 100 Love Sonnets)

The sequence of poems praising Communism was a let-down for Neruda's chances, as he was considered "too political and controversial" by Anders Osterling. This year also marked the first time famed member Artur Lundkvist made his debut concerning the proceedings for the prize. He was called upon to write on Neruda's authorship, as an expert on Spanish and Latin America literatures. His comment on the impressive oeuvre of Neruda (an impressive oeuvre from the beginning to the end), almost convinced the committee, but Osterling's remarked proved crucial.
George Seferis: Mythical Tales, Turing Point, Logbooks
Aksel Sandemose: The Werewolf, Felicia's Wedding, Fugitive Crossing His Tracks, Past's a Dream
Vladimir Nabokov: Lolita, Pale Fire, Invitation to a Beheading, Pnin, Real Life of Sebastian Kinght
Yukio Mishima: Confessions of a Mask, Thirst for Love, Sound of Waves, Temple of Golden Pavillon, Sailor Who Fell From Grace to the Sea
Samuel Beckett: Trilogy, Waiting for Godot, Krapp's Last Tape, Endgame, Happy Days, Murphy
Mikhail Sholokhov: And Quiet Flows the Don (rejected in the words of Anders Osterling for "affiliation with communist state").
W H Auden: For the Time Being, Another Time, Age of Anxiety, Poems
Nelly Sachs: Eli, Poems

Committee Members
Karl Ragner Gierow
Henry Olsson
Eyvnid Johnson
Anders Osterling