Nobel Prize in Literature 1955

[Ben Jackson]

46 writers we're nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature this which was awarded to Hall Laxness. Writers that was shortlisted for the Nobel this year were Somerset Maugham, Gunnar Gunnarson, Juan Ramon Jimenez, Eugene Baie and Laxness.

Committee wrote that Somerset Maugham's works were undistinguished, despite his extreme popularity. The Committe held the first two volumes of his short stories, Summing Up and Cake and Ale in high regard, but found Of Human Bondage and The Razor's Edge unsatisfying. Hence the committee's concluding statement after been divided over his works. The committee initially proposed Gunnarson/Laxness for their work in rejuvenating Icelandic Literature, but it was later rejected and instead proposed Laxness as the sole candidate from Iceland. Jimenez, on the other hand, was hailed for his innovation in Spanish poetry. Jimenez and Laxness were later proposed as the two main candidates. The Academy voted thrice to determine the winner. Jimenez won the first time but wasn't able to get the majority, the second time ended in a draw, and the third time Laxness won, defeating Jimenez by ten votes, the majority against Jimenez seven.

I have only read Jimenez and Maugham from the short list, so I can't say if Laxness is more deserving.

 

[Leseratte]

46 writers we're nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature this which was awarded to Hall Laxness. Writers that was shortlisted for the Nobel this year were Somerset Maugham, Gunnar Gunnarson, Juan Ramon Jimenez, Eugene Baie and Laxness.

Committee wrote that Somerset Maugham's works were undistinguished, despite his extreme popularity. The Committe held the first two volumes of his short stories, Summing Up and Cake and Ale in high regard, but found Of Human Bondage and The Razor's Edge unsatisfying. Hence the committee's concluding statement after been divided over his works. The committee initially proposed Gunnarson/Laxness for their work in rejuvenating Icelandic Literature, but it was later rejected and instead proposed Laxness as the sole candidate from Iceland. Jimenez, on the other hand, was hailed for his innovation in Spanish poetry. Jimenez and Laxness were later proposed as the two main candidates. The Academy voted thrice to determine the winner. Jimenez won the first time but wasn't able to get the majority, the second time ended in a draw, and the third time Laxness won, defeating Jimenez by ten votes, the majority against Jimenez seven.

I have only read Jimenez and Maugham from the short list, so I can't say if Laxness is more deserving.

Seems you are researching the past history of the Nobel Prize, with nominees, decisions of the committee, etc. Wouldn´t it be a good idea to put them all under a same heading ( Something like the Nobel award in the decades of x, y, z...), starting with the most recent so that people can compare data?

 

[Ben Jackson]

Seems you are researching the past history of the Nobel Prize, with nominees, decisions of the committee, etc. Wouldn´t it be a good idea to put them all under a same heading ( Something like the Nobel award in the decades of x, y, z...), starting with the most recent so that people can compare data?

I plan to do that after the 50s decade. I still have four years left to finish the 50s. Thanks for your thought.

 

[Ben Jackson]

Hall Dor Laxness was awarded the Nobel prize for Literature "for his vivid epic power which has renewed the great narrative art of Iceland." Announced on 6th October, 46 names were suggested.

Some Facts:

First Time Nominees:
Igor Gouzenko
St John Perse
George Seferis
Eugenie Montale
Giuseppe Ungaretti
Gustav Suits
Reinhold Schnieder
Ernest Robert Curtius
Carlos Vaz Ferriera
Arthur Bryant
Giovanni Papini
Edith Sitwell
Adrian Roland Holst
William Somerset Maugham
Leslie Poles Hartley
Henry Bosco
Ezra Pound

Nominated Women:
Karen Blixen
Marie Under
Edith Sitwell

Nominations from Academy Members:
Karen Blixen (Nils Ahnlund)
Gottfried Benn (Bertil Malmberg)
Albert Camus (Henrik Samuel Nyberg)
Gunnar Gunnarson (Henry Olsson, Harry Martinson)
Juan Ramon Jimenez (Hjalmar Gullberg)
Hall Dor Laxness (Elias Wessen)
St John Perse (Dag Hammarskjold)

Nominations from Former Nobel Laureates:
Eugenio Montale, George Seferis, Giuseppe Ungaretti, St John Perse (T S Eliot)
George M Trevelyan (Winston Churchill)
Nominees that would become Nobel Laureate:

Mikhail Sholokhov
George Seferis
Eugenio Montale
Juan Ramon Jimenez
Albert Camus

Books highlighted by the Nobel Committee:
Laxness: Iceland's Bell, Great Weaver from Kashmir, Wayward Heroes, World's Light, Salka Valka
Gunnar Gunnarson: Church on the Mountain, Sonata on the Sea, Night and the Dream, Heath Laments
Somerset Maugham: Razor's Edge, Of Human Bondage, Summing-Up, Cake and Ale
Paul Claudel: Poems, Satin Slipper
Juan Ramon Jimenez: Stones and Sky, Diary of Recently Married Poet
Andre Malraux: Man's Fate, Man's Hope, Walnut of Altenburg, Voices of Silence,

Famous names (some of them former finalists):

Albert Moravia
Tarjel Vessas
Nikos Kazantzakis
Aldous Huxley
Ramon Menedez Pidal
E M Forster
Lion Feuchtwanger
Georges Duhamel
Hans Carossa
Mark Aldanov
Johan Falkberget


Nobel Committee Members:
Hjalmar Gullberg
Anders Osterling
Sigfried Siwertz
Gustaf Hellstrom Co-opt member

 

[alik-vit]

Indeed, Igor Gouzenko was one of the most hilarious contenders in the history of the prize. When people complain about Dilan, just think about this possibility.

 

[Leseratte]

Indeed, Igor Gouzenko was one of the most hilarious contenders in the history of the prize. When people complain about Dilan, just think about this possibility.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_Gouzenko
What ever was literary about this guy?

 

[alik-vit]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_Gouzenko
What ever was literary about this guy?

Good question. But his only novel won major Canadian literary prize.

 

[Leseratte]

Good question. But his only novel won major Canadian literary prize.

I see: "Gouzenko remained in the public eye, writing two books, This Was My Choice, a non-fiction account of his defection, and the novel The Fall of a Titan, which won a Governor General's Award in 1954. In 1955 professor Eugene Hudson Long and writer Gerald Warner Brace nominated the novel for the Nobel Prize in Literature."

Igor Gouzenko - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Phil D]

Indeed, Igor Gouzenko was one of the most hilarious contenders in the history of the prize. When people complain about Dilan, just think about this possibility.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_Gouzenko
What ever was literary about this guy?

Looks like he was more of a character than a writer.