Nobel Prize in Literature 1954

[Ben Jackson]

27 writers were nominated for this year's Nobel Literature Prize, which went to Ernest Hemingway. Among the writers shortlisted for the Nobel that year was Hemingway, Camus, Swiss writers Hans Carossa and Carl Jung and Laxness.

Hemingway's publication of Old Man and the Sea confirmed Hemingway's status as one of the leading writers of his generation, according to Committee's Chairman Per Hallstrom, who is known in the Academy as having a huge interest in American Literature. Camus was believed to be too young and was push aside due to the recent victory of his compatriot Francois Mauriac two years before, while Laxnesa was hailed as an accomplished observer of Iceland in works like Independent People and Great Weaver of Kashmir. Jung was dismissed for the usual lack of interest expressed in the Academy about giving the Nobel to non-fiction writers, while Carossa's works was reasoned as minor and not distinguished.

A New York Times article suggested that the committee was worried that Hemingway had perished in Kenya, and when news of him reached Sweden that he was alive, they wasted no more time and, with the acclaim Old Man and the Sea was receiving, it turned out as an opportunity to reward Hemingway the Nobel.

In as much as Hemingway's works has been viewed as possessing misogyny, at least since his death over sixty years ago, I still think he was deserving.

 

[Ben Jackson]

Ernest Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Literature Prize "for his mastery of art of narrative most recently demonstrated in Old Man and the Sea and for influence that he had exerted on contemporary style." Announced on 28th October, 27 names were suggested.

Some Facts:

First Time Nominees
Jaroslav Seifert
Ricardo Rojas
Gustave Vanzype
Georgios Vouyouklatis
Carl Jung

Nominated Women:
Henriette Charasson
Concha Espina de la Serna

Nominations from Swedish Academy:
Juan Ramon Jimenez, Albert Camus (Harry Martinson)
Nikos Kazantzakis (Henry Olsson)

Nominees that would later become Laureates:
Jaroslav Seifert
Albert Camus
Juan Ramon Jimenez
Hall D'or Laxness

Nominees from Nobel Laureate:
Concha Espina De la Serna (Jacinto Benevente)

Famous Names (some of these writers were finalists):
Mark Aldanov
Ricardo Bacchelli
Gottfried Benn
Andre Malraux
Robert Frost
Johan Falkberget
E M Forster
Tarjel Vessas
Ramon Menedez Pidal
Gottfried Benn

Books highlighted by the Nobel Committee:
Ernest Hemingway: Old Man and the Sea, A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bells Tolls, Sun Also Rises, Green Hills of Africa
Hall Dor Laxness: Salka Valka, Iceland's Bell, Independent People, Great Weaver of Kashmir, World's Light, Wayward Heroes
Albert Camus: Summer in Algiers, The Stranger, The Fall, The Plague, The Rebel, Caligula and Other Plays
Nikos Kazantzakis: The Odyssey, Last Temptations of Christ, Zorba the Greek
Carl Jung: Synchronicity, Anima and Animae, Four Archeytpes, Memories, Dreams, Reflections.
Hans Carossa: Autobiography

On Ernest Hemingway's authorship:
The Nobel Committee noted Hemingway's masterful, cinematic style, but the Committee was puzzled by strange elusive Across the River and Into Trees "impossible to summarize because it doesn't reveal anything directly." Publication of Old Man and the Sea "a real tour de force achieved through Hemingway's firm grasp of subject and through his close observation of sea and sky natural beauty has never become part of his inexhaustible expertise, a novella's novella of uncommon strength and clarity." Green Hills of Africa revealed Hemingway's originality as storyteller and stylist, with believe that the writer must depict what he directly perceive with his senses.

Sigrfried Siwertz initially beloved that Hemingway and Laxness were both impossible as candidates. Siwertz wasn't pleased with Laxness depiction of his characters in Wayward Heroes (polemical and rancourous portrayal of Olav Haraldsson). While Albert Camus' Summer of Algiers, in the words of Anders Osterling, was praised for "classic beauty." On Nikos Kazantzakis, the Committee was "cautious, If not dismissive," demonstrated in Last Temptations of Christ. Hans Carossa's captivating autobiography was praised by Per Hallstrom "will be one of the classical novels in literary canon in Modern Germany," but the Nobel Committee was looking for more promising candidates. The Nobel Committee initially wanted to postpone the Nobel Prize this year, but Anders Osterling, an expert in international literature "believed that Hemingway's recent work showed his full strength with calm mastery can be considred as inventive prose poem and that his dramatic dialogue has been difficult to equal. It would be appropriate to acknowledge his writings at a time when a fresh masterpiece exists and can be recognized." Sigfried Siwertz, who initially wasn't pleased with Laxness and Hemingway, voted in Hemingway's favour.

Nobel Committee Members:
Anders Osterling
Per Hallstrom
Sigfried Siwertz
Hjalmar Gullberg