1966 Nobel Prize in Literature
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Shmuel Yosef Agnon and Nelly Sachs | |
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Date |
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Location | Stockholm, Sweden |
Presented by | Swedish Academy |
First awarded | 1901 |
Website | Official website |
The 1966 Nobel Prize in Literature was divided equally between Shmuel Yosef Agnon (1888–1970) "for his profoundly characteristic narrative art with motifs from the life of the Jewish people" and Nelly Sachs (1891–1970) "for her outstanding lyrical and dramatic writing, which interprets Israel's destiny with touching strength."[1]
It is one of four occasions (1904, 1917, and 1974) when the Nobel Prize in Literature has been shared between two individuals.[2]
Laureates
[edit]![](http://178.128.105.246/content-http-upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/87/Nelly-Sachs-Samuel-Agnon.jpg/250px-Nelly-Sachs-Samuel-Agnon.jpg)
Shmuel Yosef Agnon
[edit]Shmuel Agnon was one of the central figures of modern Hebrew literature. His works deal with the conflict of Jewish tradition and language and the modern world. His first works were published when he was a teenager and he immediately gained a reputation. His breakthrough novel was Hakhnāsat kallāh ("The Bridal Cannopy", 1931). After World War II, under the impact of the holocaust, Agnon wrote Ir Umeloah ("A City in its Fullness", 1973), which is a collection of folktales, legends, and chronicles portraying his birth town, Buczacz.[3][4]
Nelly Sachs
[edit]Nelly Sachs was a German poet and dramatist whose works deal with the dark fate of the Jewish people in the 20th century. She borrows subjects for her poetry from the Jewish beliefs and mysticism, but her authorship is also strongly colored by Nazi persecution of the Jews, with the horrors of the death camps as its ultimate expression. Sachs' poetry combines echoes from the poetry of ancient religious texts with modernist language. Besides poetry, her writings also include a couple of plays.[5][6] Her best-known collections include In den Wohnungen des Todes ("In the Houses of Death", 1947), Sternverdunkelung ("Eclipse of Stars", 1949), and Flucht und Verwandlung ("Flight and Metamorphosis", 1959).
Deliberations
[edit]Nominations
[edit]In 1966, the Nobel committee for literature received 99 nominations for 72 writers including Jean Anouilh, Louis Aragon, W. H. Auden, Samuel Beckett (awarded in 1969), Jorge Luis Borges, Heinrich Böll (awarded in 1972), Alejo Carpentier, René Char, Lawrence Durrell, E. M. Forster, Max Frisch, Robert Graves, Graham Greene, Jorge Guillén, Yasunari Kawabata (awarded in 1968), André Malraux, Harry Martinson (awarded in 1974), Alberto Moravia, Vladimir Nabokov, Pablo Neruda (awarded in 1971), Ezra Pound, Mika Waltari, Tarjei Vesaas and Simon Vestdijk. Ten of the nominees were nominated first-time, among them Pierre-Henri Simon, Witold Gombrowicz, Arnold Wesker, Carlo Emilio Gadda and Günter Grass (awarded in 1999). Three of the nominees were women: Anna Achmatova, Katherine Anne Porter and Nelly Sachs.[7]
The authors Margery Allingham, Hans Christian Branner, Dimitar Dimov, Helga Eng, Svend Fleuron, C. S. Forester, Jean Galtier-Boissière, Mina Loy, Lao She, Kathleen Norris, Frank O'Connor, Frank O'Hara, Brian O'Nolan, Delmore Schwartz, Cordwainer Smith, Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki, Yórgos Theotokás, Henry Treece, and Marja-Liisa Vartio died in 1966 without having been nominated for the prize. Russian poet Anna Akhmatova died months before the announcement.
No. | Nominee | Country | Genre(s) | Nominator(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Anna Akhmatova (1889–1966) | ![]() |
poetry |
|
2 | Shmuel Yosef Agnon (1887–1970) | ![]() |
novel, short story | Eyvind Johnson (1900–1976) |
3 | Jean Anouilh (1910–1987) | ![]() |
drama, screenplay, translation |
|
4 | Louis Aragon (1897–1982) | ![]() |
novel, short story, poetry, essays | Robert Ricatte (1913–1995) |
5 | Alexandre Arnoux (1884–1973) | ![]() |
screenplay | François Bar (?) |
6 | Miguel Ángel Asturias (1899–1974) | ![]() |
novel, short story, poetry, essays, drama | Charles Vincent Aubrun (1906–1993) |
7 | Wystan Hugh Auden (1907–1973) | ![]() ![]() |
poetry, essays, screenplay |
|
8 | Samuel Beckett (1906–1989) | ![]() |
novel, drama, poetry |
|
9 | Johan Borgen (1902–1979) | ![]() |
novel, literary criticism | Harry Martinson (1904–1978) |
10 | Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986) | ![]() |
poetry, essays, translation, short story |
|
11 | Henri Bosco (1888–1976) | ![]() |
novel, short story | Louis Guinet (1911–1993) |
12 | Heinrich Böll (1917–1985) | ![]() |
novel, short story | René Wellek (1903–1995) |
13 | Alejo Carpentier (1904–1980) | ![]() |
novel, short story, essays | Henri Peyre (1901–1988) |
14 | René Char (1907–1988) | ![]() |
poetry | Georges Blin (1917–2015) |
15 | Lawrence Durrell (1912–1990) | ![]() |
novel, short story, poetry, drama, essays | Henry Olsson (1896–1985) |
16 | Pierre Emmanuel (1916–1984) | ![]() |
poetry, autobiography | Jacqueline Duchemin (1910–1988) |
17 | Edward Morgan Forster (1879–1970) | ![]() |
novel, short story, drama, essays, biography, literary criticism |
|
18 | Max Frisch (1911–1991) | ![]() |
novel, drama |
|
19 | Carlo Emilio Gadda (1893–1973) | ![]() |
novel, short story, poetry | Mario Pei (1901–1978) |
20 | Rómulo Gallegos (1884–1969) | ![]() |
novel, short story | Andrés Iduarte Foucher (1907–1984) |
21 | Hossein Ghods-Nakhai (1911–1977) | ![]() |
poetry, essays | Arthur John Arberry (1905–1969) |
22 | Jean Giono (1895–1970) | ![]() |
novel, short story, essays, poetry, drama | Jean-Jacques Leveque (1931–2012) |
23 | Witold Gombrowicz (1904–1969) | ![]() |
short story, novel, drama | Gunnar Jacobsson (1918–2001) |
24 | Günter Grass (1927–2015) | ![]() |
novel, drama, poetry, essays | Erwin Wolff (1924–2007) |
25 | Robert Graves (1895–1985) | ![]() |
history, novel, poetry, literary criticism, essays |
|
26 | Graham Greene (1904–1991) | ![]() |
novel, short story, autobiography, essays | Kristian Smidt (1916–2013) |
27 | Jorge Guillén (1893–1984) | ![]() |
poetry, literary criticism | Henri Peyre (1901–1988) |
28 | Leslie Poles Hartley (1895–1972) | ![]() |
novel, short story, essays | Geoffrey Tillotson (1905–1969) |
29 | Gyula Illyés (1902–1983) | ![]() |
poetry, novel, drama, essays | János Lotz (1913–1973) |
30 | Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz (1894–1980) | ![]() |
poetry, essays, drama, translation, short story, novel | Jean Fabre (1904–1975) |
31 | Marcel Jouhandeau (1888–1979) | ![]() |
short story, novel | Jean Gaulmier (1905–1997) |
32 | Ernst Jünger (1895–1998) | ![]() |
philosophy, novel, memoir | Rudolf Till (1911–1979) |
33 | Yasunari Kawabata (1899–1972) | ![]() |
novel, short story | Karl Ragnar Gierow (1904–1982) |
34 | Miroslav Krleža (1893–1981) | ![]() ![]() |
poetry, drama, short story, novel, essays | Gunnar Jacobsson (1918–2001) |
35 | Erich Kästner (1899–1974) | ![]() |
poetry, screenplay, autobiography | Werner Betz (1912–1980) |
36 | Carlo Levi (1902–1975) | ![]() |
memoir, novel, short story | Maria Bellonci (1902–1986) |
37 | Robert Lowell (1917–1977) | ![]() |
poetry, translation | Eric Bentley (1916–2020) |
38 | André Malraux (1901–1976) | ![]() |
novel, essays, literary criticism |
|
39 | Harry Martinson (1904–1978) | ![]() |
poetry, novel, drama, essays | Alf Önnerfors (1925–2019) |
40 | Thierry Maulnier (1909–1988) | ![]() |
drama, essays, literary criticism | Félix Carrère (1911–1991) |
41 | Ramón Menéndez Pidal (1869–1968) | ![]() |
philology, history |
|
42 | Vilhelm Moberg (1898–1973) | ![]() |
novel, drama, history | Gösta Bergman (1894–1984) |
43 | Eugenio Montale (1896–1981) | ![]() |
poetry, translation | Uberto Limentani (1913–1989) |
44 | Henry de Montherlant (1895–1972) | ![]() |
essays, novel, drama | Barthélémy-Antonin Taladoire (1907–1976) |
45 | Alberto Moravia (1907–1990) | ![]() |
novel, literary criticism, essays, drama |
|
46 | Henri Muller (1902–1980) | ![]() |
novel, memoir, essays | Pierre Lyautey (1893–1976) |
47 | Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977) | ![]() ![]() |
novel, short story, poetry, drama, translation, literary criticism, memoir | Jacques Guicharnaud (1924–2005) |
48 | Pablo Neruda (1904–1973) | ![]() |
poetry |
|
49 | Junzaburō Nishiwaki (1894–1982) | ![]() |
poetry, literary criticism | Naoshirō Tsuji (1899–1979) |
50 | Walter Pabst (1907–1992) | ![]() |
essays, literary criticism | Günther Reichenkron (1907–1966) |
51 | Marcel Pagnol (1895–1974) | ![]() |
novel, memoir, drama, screenplay | Jean Ricci (1933–2011) |
52 | Konstantin Paustovsky (1892–1968) | ![]() |
novel, poetry, drama | Karl Ragnar Gierow (1904–1982) |
53 | José María Pemán (1897–1981) | ![]() |
poetry, drama, novel, essays, screenplay |
|
54 | Katherine Anne Porter (1890–1980) | ![]() |
short story, essays | Cleanth Brooks (1906–1994) |
55 | Ezra Pound (1885–1972) | ![]() |
poetry, essays |
|
56 | John Boynton Priestley (1894–1984) | ![]() |
novel, drama, screenplay, literary criticism, essays | Archibald Tucker (1904–1980) |
57 | Jules Romains (1885–1972) | ![]() |
poetry, drama, screenplay | Yves Gandon (1899–1975) |
58 | Nelly Sachs (1891–1970) | ![]() ![]() |
poetry, drama |
|
59 | Paul Celan (1920–1970) | ![]() ![]() |
poetry, translation | Henry Olsson (1896–1985) |
60 | Pierre-Henri Simon (1903–1972) | ![]() |
essays, novel, literary criticism, poetry | Pierre Jonin (1912–1997) |
61 | Gustave Thibon (1903–2001) | ![]() |
philosophy | Édouard Delebecque (1910–1990) |
62 | Miguel Torga (1907–1995) | ![]() |
poetry, short story, novel, drama, autobiography | Jean-Baptiste Aquarone (1903–1989) |
63 | Pietro Ubaldi (1886–1972) | ![]() |
philosophy, essays | Academia Santista de Letras |
64 | Mika Waltari (1908–1979) | ![]() |
short story, novel, poetry, drama, essays, screenplay | Manfred Mayrhofer (1926–2011) |
65 | Tarjei Vesaas (1897–1970) | ![]() |
poetry, novel |
|
66 | Arnold Wesker (1932–2016) | ![]() |
drama, novel, essays | Alistair Campbell (1907–1974) |
67 | Simon Vestdijk (1898–1971) | ![]() |
novel, poetry, essays, translation |
|
68 | Thornton Wilder (1897–1975) | ![]() |
drama, novel, short story | Morton Wilfred Bloomfield (1913–1987) |
69 | Edmund Wilson (1895–1972) | ![]() |
essays, literary criticism, short story, drama | Leon Samuel Roudiez (1917–2004) |
70 | Arnold Zweig (1887–1968) | ![]() |
novel, short story | Heinz Mettke (1924–2007) |
71 | Arnulf Øverland (1889–1968) | ![]() |
poetry, essays | Eyvind Johnson (1900–1976) |
72 | Alberto Hidalgo Lobato (1897–1967) | ![]() |
poetry, essays | Peruvian Writers Association |
Prize decision
[edit]The Nobel committee, a working group within the Swedish Academy, proposed that the 1966 Nobel Prize in Literature should be awarded to the Japanese writer Yasunari Kawabata, but, unconventionally, the 18 members of the Academy did not follow the recommendation and voted for a prize to Agnon and Sachs.[8] A shared prize to the Latin American writers Jorge Luis Borges and Miguel Angel Asturias,[9] and to Nelly Sachs and Paul Celan were proposed.[7]
Award ceremony
[edit]In his award ceremony speech on 10 December 1966 Anders Österling of the Swedish Academy said:
This year’s Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to two outstanding Jewish authors – Shmuel Yosef Agnon and Nelly Sachs – each of whom represents Israel’s message to our time. Agnon’s home is in Jerusalem, and Miss Sachs has been an immigrant in Sweden since 1940, and is now a Swedish subject. The purpose of combining these two prizewinners is to do justice to the individual achievements of each, and the sharing of the prize has its special justification: to honour two writers who, although they write in different languages, are united in a spiritual kinship and complement each other in a superb effort to present the cultural heritage of the Jewish people through the written word. Their common source of inspiration has been, for both of them, a vital power.[10]
References
[edit]- ^ The Nobel Prize in Literature 1966 nobelprize.org
- ^ Facts on the Nobel Prize in Literature nobelprize.org
- ^ S.Y. Agnon Britannica.com
- ^ Shmuel Agnon – Facts nobelprize.org
- ^ Nelly Sachs Britannica.com
- ^ Nelly Sachs – Facts nobelprize.org
- ^ a b Nomination archive 1966 nobelprize.org
- ^ Kaj Schueler Svenska Akademien körde över Nobelkommittén Svenska Dagbladet 2 January 2017 (in Swedish)
- ^ Nabokov, Neruda and Borges revealed as losers of 1965 Nobel prize The Guardian 6 January 2016
- ^ Award Ceremony speech nobelprize.org
External links
[edit]- Award Ceremony speech nobelprize.org
- List of all nominations nobelprize.org