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1959 Nobel Prize in Literature

The 1959 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the Italian poet Salvatore Quasimodo (1901–1968) "for his lyrical poetry, which with classical fire expresses the tragic experience of life in our own times"[1] He is the fourth Italian recipient of the said prize.[2]

1959 Nobel Prize in Literature
Salvatore Quasimodo
"for his lyrical poetry, which with classical fire expresses the tragic experience of life in our own times."
Date
  • 21 October 1959 (announcement)
  • 10 December 1959
    (ceremony)
LocationStockholm, Sweden
Presented bySwedish Academy
First awarded1901
WebsiteOfficial website
← 1958 · Nobel Prize in Literature · 1960 →

Laureate

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Main article: Salvatore Quasimodo

Salvatore Quasimodo was an Italian poet, critic and translator. He published his first poetry in Nuovo giornale letterario ("New Literary Journal"), which he created in 1917. His first collection of poems, Acque e terre ("Waters and Lands"), appeared in 1930, and beginning in 1938, he devoted himself entirely to writing. The two schools of poetry that are typically used to categorize his work are hermetic and post-hermetic. World War II caused a shift in the poet's style. Hermetic poetry rejected the use of words as a means of verbal coercion and believed that words have a subjective meaning that is determined more by their sound than by their actual meaning.[3] Along with Giuseppe Ungaretti and Eugenio Montale, he was one of the foremost Italian poets of the 20th century.[3][4]

Deliberations

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Nominations

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Salvatore Quasimodo was nominated for the Nobel prize in literature twice, in 1958 (by 3 different nominators), and in 1959.[5]

In total, the Nobel committee received 83 nominations for 56 authors, including nominations for Saint-John Perse (awarded in 1960), Ivo Andric (awarded in 1961), John Steinbeck (awarded in 1962), Jean-Paul Sartre (awarded in 1964), Karen Blixen, André Malraux, Romulo Gallegos, Carl Sandburg, Graham Greene, Aldous Huxley, John Cowper Powys, Alberto Moravia, Ignazio Silone, Ezra Pound, E. M. Forster, Ramón Menéndez Pidal, Martin Buber, William Somerset Maugham, Thornton Wilder and Tarjei Vesaas. Twenty of the nominees were new recommendations, including Ernest Claes, Osbert Sitwell, Sacheverell Sitwell, Martin Heidegger, Juana de Ibarbourou, Heimito von Doderer, María Raquel Adler, Miguel Torga, Arnold Zweig, Étienne Gilson, Louis Aragon, Anna Seghers, Frank Raymond Leavis, Max Frisch and Julien Gracq. Most nominations, seven, were submitted for the Polish author Maria Dabrowska. There were women nominated namely: Elizabeth Goudge, Maria Dabrowska, Juana de Ibarbourou, Karen Blixen, Anna Seghers, Edith Sitwell, Gertrud von le Fort and María Raquel Adler.[6]

The authors Maxwell Anderson, Emil František Burian, Raymond Chandler, G. D. H. Cole, Laxmi Prasad Devkota, Laurence Housman, Hans Henny Jahnn, Edwin Muir, Luis Palés Matos, Benjamin Péret, Marta Rădulescu, Alfred Schütz, Galaktion Tabidze, José Vasconcelos, Boris Vian, Arthur Henry Ward (known as Sax Rohmer) and Percy F. Westerman died in 1959 without having been nominated for the prize.

Official list of nominees and their nominators for the prize
No. Nominee Country Genre(s) Nominator(s)
1 María Raquel Adler (c. 1900–1974)   Argentina poetry, essays Consejo del Escritor
2 Stefan Andres (1906–1970)   West Germany novel, short story Josef Quint (1898–1976)
3 Ivo Andrić (1892–1975)   Yugoslavia novel, short story, poetry
4 Louis Aragon (1897–1982)   France novel, short story, poetry, essays
5 Werner Bergengruen (1892–1964)   West Germany novel, short story, poetry Josef Quint (1898–1976)
6 Karen Blixen (1885–1962)   Denmark novel, short story, memoir Hjalmar Gullberg (1898–1961)
7 Martin Buber (1878–1965)   Austria
  Israel 		philosophy Simon Halkin (1899–1987)
8 Ernest Claes (1885–1968)   Belgium novel, short story, drama W. F. Mainland (?)
9 Maria Dąbrowska (1889–1965)   Poland novel, short story, essays, drama, literary criticism
  • Several professors
  • Rachmiel Brandwajn (1913–1990)
  • Gunnar Gunnarsson (1889–1975)
  • Jan Reychman (1910–1975)
  • Mieczysław Brahmer (1899–1984)
  • Kazimierz Feliks Kumaniecki (1905–1977)
  • Stanisław Helsztyński (1891–1986)
10 Gonzague de Reynold (1880–1970)    Switzerland history, essays, biography, memoir
11 Edward Morgan Forster (1879–1970)   United Kingdom novel, short story, drama, essays, biography, literary criticism
12 Max Frisch (1911–1991)    Switzerland novel, drama Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities
13 Christopher Fry (1907–2005)   United Kingdom poetry, drama, screenplay Werner Kohlschmidt (1904–1983)
14 Rómulo Gallegos (1884–1969)   Venezuela novel, short story
  • José Manuel Núñez Ponte (1870–1965)
  • Rafael Yepes Trujillo (1898–1972)
  • Luis Yépez (?)
  • Edgar Sanabria (1911–1989)
  • Nicolás Eugenio Navarro (1867–1960)
  • José Ramón Ayala Duarte (1878–1966)
  • Simón Planas Suárez (1879–1967)
  • Guillermo Trujillo Durán (1878–1967)
  • Ramón Díaz Sánchez (1903–1968)
  • Pedro Pablo Barnola (1908–1986)
  • Rafael Angarita Arvelo (1898–1971)
  • Luis Barrios Cruz (1898–1968)
  • Jorge Schmidke (1890–1985)
  • Arturo Uslar Pietri (1906–2001)
15 Étienne Gilson (1884–1978)   France philosophy Fritz Schalk (1902–1980)
16 Jean Giono (1895–1970)   France novel, short story, essays, poetry, drama Henrik Cornell (1890–1981)
17 Julien Gracq (1910–2007)   France novel, poetry, drama, literary criticism André Lebois (1915–1978)
18 Graham Greene (1904–1991)   United Kingdom novel, short story, autobiography, essays
19 Elizabeth Goudge (1900–1984)   United Kingdom novel, short story, biography, autobiography Edmond Privat (1889–1962)
20 Martin Heidegger (1889–1976)   West Germany philosophy, essays Josef Quint (1898–1976)
21 Hans Egon Holthusen (1913–1997)   West Germany poetry, literary criticism, essays Helmut Viebrock (1912–1997)
22 Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)   United Kingdom novel, short story, essays, poetry, screenplay, drama, philosophy
23 Juana de Ibarbourou (1892–1979)   Uruguay poetry, essays
24 Rudolf Kassner (1873–1959)   Austria philosophy, essays, translation
  • Eudo Mason (1901–1969)
  • Herbert Huscher (1933–2010)
25 Miroslav Krleža (1893–1981)   Yugoslavia poetry, drama, short story, novel, essays Association of Writers of Yugoslavia
26 Frank Raymond Leavis (1895–1978)   United Kingdom literary criticism, essays Cecil Arthur Hackett (1908–2000)
27 André Malraux (1901–1976)   France novel, essays, literary criticism
  • Georges Matoré (1908–1998)
  • Armand Caraccio (1895–1969)
  • Cuthbert Girdlestone (1895–1975)
  • Knud Togeby (1918–1974)
  • Claude Digeon (1920–2008)
  • John McCormick (1918–2010)
28 William Somerset Maugham (1874–1965)   United Kingdom novel, short story, drama, essays Robert Niklaus (1910–2001)
29 Charles Mauron (1899–1966)   France essays, literary criticism, translation Charles Rostaing (1904–1999)
30 Ramón Menéndez Pidal (1869–1968)   Spain philology, history
  • Hans Rheinfelder (1898–1971)
  • Gunnar Tilander (1894–1973)
31 Alberto Moravia (1907–1990)   Italy novel, literary criticism, essays, drama Hjalmar Gullberg (1898–1961)
32 Seán O'Casey (1880–1964)   Ireland drama, memoir Geoffrey Tillotson (1905–1969)
33 Marcel Pagnol (1895–1974)   France novel, memoir, drama, screenplay Marcel Clavel (1894–1976)
34 Jan Parandowski (1895–1978)   Poland essays, translation Ananiasz Zajączkowski (1903–1970)
35 Saint-John Perse (1887–1975)   France poetry
  • Marcel Ruff (1896–1993)
  • Jean-Jacques Mayoux (1901–1987)
  • Léon Cellier (1911–1976)
  • Harry Martinson (1904–1978)
36 Ezra Pound (1885–1972)   United States poetry, essays Johannes Edfelt (1904–1997)
37 John Cowper Powys (1872–1963)   United Kingdom philosophy, novel, literary criticism, poetry, essays, short story G. Wilson Knight (1897–1985)
38 Vasco Pratolini (1931–1991)   Italy novel, short story Paul Renucci (1915–1976)
39 Salvatore Quasimodo (1901–1968)   Italy poetry, translation Carlo Bo (1911–2001)
40 Mario Roques (1875–1961)   Peru
  France 		history, philology, essays Ida-Marie Frandon (1907–1997)
41 Sochi Raut Roy (1916–2004)   India poetry, novel, short story Radhakamal Mukerjee (1889–1968)
42 Carl Sandburg (1878–1967)   United States poetry, essays, biography Roger Asselineau (1915–2002)
43 Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980)   France philosophy, novel, drama, essays, screenplay
44 Jean Schlumberger (1877–1968)   France poetry, essays Pierre Legouis (1891–1973)
45 Anna Seghers (1900–1983)   East Germany novel, short story Erich Kühne (1917–2016)
46 Ignazio Silone (1900–1978)   Italy novel, short story, essays, drama Hjalmar Gullberg (1898–1961)
47 Edith Sitwell (1887–1964)   United Kingdom poetry, essays, memoir Alexander Gillies (1907–1982)
48 Osbert Sitwell (1892–1969)   United Kingdom novel, short story, essays, autobiography
49 Sacheverell Sitwell (1897–1988)   United Kingdom poetry, essays
50 John Steinbeck (1902–1968)   United States novel, short story, screenplay Eugène Vinaver (1899–1979)
51 Miguel Torga (1907–1995)   Portugal poetry, short story, novel, drama, autobiography Jean-Baptiste Aquarone (1903–1989)
52 Tarjei Vesaas (1897–1970)   Norway poetry, novel
53 Heimito von Doderer (1896–1966)   Austria novel, short story, poetry, essays Hans Neumann (1903–1990)
54 Gertrud von Le Fort (1876–1971)   West Germany novel, short story, essays, poetry Friedrich von der Leyen (1873–1966)
55 Thornton Wilder (1897–1975)   United States drama, novel, short story Josef Quint (1898–1976)
56 Arnold Zweig (1887–1968)   East Germany novel, short story Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities

Prize decision

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The Nobel committee proposed that the 1959 Nobel Prize in Literature should be awarded to the Danish author Karen Blixen.

The Nobel committee was almost unanimous to propose that the Danish author Karen Blixen should be awarded the 1959 Nobel Prize in Literature. Committee chairman Anders Österling advocated a prize for Blixen and was supported by two other committee members. But the fourth member Eyvind Johnson (who himself fifteen years later accepted the 1974 Nobel Prize in Literature) opposed a prize to Blixen arguing that Scandinavians were overrepresentated among the Nobel laureates in literature. Johnson instead proposed an Italian laureate, arguing that the Italian literature had been neglected. Salvatore Quasimodo being his main candidate, followed by Ignazio Silone and Alberto Moravia. Unconventionally, the members of the Swedish Academy did not follow the Nobel committees recommendation to award Blixen, but was convinced about Quasimodo's candidacy and surprisingly awarded him the prize.[7]

Reactions

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The choice of Quasimodo was largely met with negative reactions. The Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet criticized the Swedish Academy for "rewarding mediocrity" and many Italian critics agreed.[8] Commentators have argued that there were other Italian poets such as Giuseppe Ungaretti and Eugenio Montale (awarded in 1975) who would have been more worthy of the prize.[7][9] Nonetheless, C.M. Bowra of the New York Times said upon the prize announcement that "The Swedish Academy has shown a wise judgment and a welcome courage in giving the Nobel Prize for Literature to the Italian poet, Salvatore Quasimodo."[10]

References

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  1. ^ The Nobel Prize in Literature 1960 nobelprize.org
  2. ^ "Italian Poet Wins Nobel Writing Prize". The New York Times. 22 October 1959.
  3. ^ a b "Salvatore Quasimodo". britannica.com.
  4. ^ C. M. Bowra (15 November 1959). "Quasimodo Literary Appreciation of a Prize Winner; Quasimodo: Prize Winner". The New York Times.
  5. ^ "Nomination archive Salvatore Qouasimodo". nobelprize.org.
  6. ^ "Nomination archive 1959". nobelprize.org.
  7. ^ a b Espmark, Kjell (1 January 2010). "Spelet bakom Blixens förlorade Nobelpris" (in Swedish). Svenska Dagbladet.
  8. ^ "Books: A Poet to the Swedes". Time. 13 June 1960.
  9. ^ Gardner, James (June 1985). "The eternal note of Salvatore Quasimodo". New Criterion.
  10. ^ Bowra, C.M. (15 November 1959). "Quasimodo Literary Appreciation of a Prize Winner; Quasimodo: Prize Winner". New York Times.
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