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1946 Nobel Prize in Literature

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1946 Nobel Prize in Literature
Hermann Hesse
"for his inspired writings which, while growing in boldness and penetration, exemplify the classical humanitarian ideals and high qualities of style"
Date
  • November 1946 (announcement)
  • 10 December 1946
    (ceremony)
LocationStockholm, Sweden
Presented bySwedish Academy
First award1901
WebsiteOfficial website
← 1945 · Nobel Prize in Literature · 1947 →

The 1946 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the German author Hermann Hesse "for his inspired writings which, while growing in boldness and penetration, exemplify the classical humanitarian ideals and high qualities of style".[1]

Laureate

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Main article: Hermann Hesse

Hermann Hesse was a novelist and a poet whose writings are influenced by the likes of Francis of Assisi, Buddha, Nietzsche and Dostoyevsky. His best known works – Demian (1919), Siddhartha (1922), Der Steppenwolf (1927), and Das Glasperlenspiel ("The Glass Bead Game", 1943) – deals with the individual's search for self-knowledge and spirituality, often through mysticism.[2]

Der Steppenwolf was wildly popular and has been a perpetual success across the decades, but Hesse later asserted that the book was largely misunderstood.

Deliberations

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Nominations

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Hermann Hesse was nominated for the prize eight times, first in 1931 by the 1929 Nobel Prize laureate Thomas Mann. In 1946 the Nobel committee received one nomination for Hesse by the Swiss literature professor and author Robert Faesi, and one nomination by Anders Österling of the Swedish Academy.[3]

In total, the Nobel committee received 32 nominations for 22 writers including Nikolai Berdyaev, T. S. Eliot (awarded in 1948), E. M. Forster, H. G. Wells, Arnulf Øverland, Georges Duhamel, and Marie Under. Nine of the authors were first-time nominated namely André Gide (awarded in 1947), François Mauriac (awarded in 1952), Winston Churchill (awarded in 1953), Boris Pasternak (awarded in 1958), Sholem Asch, Tarjei Vesaas, Angelos Sikelianos and Ignazio Silone. The Swiss author Charles Ferdinand Ramuz was the most nominated with four nominations. Marie Under and Maria Madalena de Martel Patrício were the only women nominated.[4]

The authors Marion Angus, Octave Aubry, Eduard Bass, John Langalibalele Dube, Ronald Fangen, Constance Garnett, Harley Granville-Barker, Amir Hamzah, Pedro Henríquez Ureña, Violet Jacob, Orrick Glenday Johns, Nikolai Alexandrovich Morozov, Ernest Rhys, Alfred Rosenberg, Damon Runyon, Thomas Scott-Ellis, Edward Sheldon, Mary Amelia St. Clair (known as May Sinclair), Gertrude Stein, Booth Tarkington and Ibn Zaydan died in 1946 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 Sholem Asch (1880–1957)  Poland
 United States 		novel, short story, drama, essays Walter Arthur Berendsohn (1884–1984)
2 Nikolai Berdyaev (1874–1948)  Soviet Union
( Ukraine) 		philosophy, theology Alf Nyman (1884–1968)
3 Winston Churchill (1874–1965)  United Kingdom history, essays, memoir Axel Romdahl (1880–1951)
4 Maria Madalena de Martel Patrício (1884–1947)  Portugal poetry, essays António Baião (1878–1961)
5 Georges Duhamel (1884–1966)  France novel, short story, poetry, drama, literary criticism Hjalmar Hammarskjöld (1862–1953)
6 Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888–1965)  United States
 United Kingdom 		poetry, essays, drama
7 Edward Morgan Forster (1879–1970)  United Kingdom novel, short story, drama, essays, biography, literary criticism Gustaf Hellström (1882–1953)
8 André Gide (1869–1951)  France novel, short story, poetry, drama, memoir, essays Giuseppe Antonio Borgese (1882–1952)
9 Herbert J. C. Grierson (1866–1960)  United Kingdom essays, literary criticism William James Entwistle (1895–1952)
10 Hermann Hesse (1877–1962)  Germany
  Switzerland 		novel, poetry, essays, short story
11 Ricarda Huch (1864–1947)  Germany history, essays, novel, poetry Fritz Strich (1882–1963)
12 François Mauriac (1885–1970)  France novel, short story
13 Charles Langbridge Morgan (1894–1958)  United Kingdom drama, novel, essays, poetry
14 Arvid Mörne (1876–1946)  Finland poetry, drama, novel, essays
  • Rolf Pipping (1889–1963)
  • Olaf Homén (1879–1949)
15 Arnulf Øverland (1889–1968)  Norway poetry, essays
16 Boris Pasternak (1890–1960)  Soviet Union poetry, novel, translation Maurice Bowra (1898–1971)
17 Charles Ferdinand Ramuz (1878–1947)   Switzerland novel, poetry, short story
18 Angelos Sikelianos (1884–1951)  Greece poetry, drama Anders Österling (1884–1981)
19 Ignazio Silone (1900–1978)  Italy novel, short story, essays, drama Hjalmar Gullberg (1898–1961)
20 Marie Under (1883–1980)  Soviet Union
( Estonia) 		poetry Hjalmar Hammarskjöld (1862–1953)
21 Tarjei Vesaas (1897–1970)  Norway poetry, novel Olav Midttun (1883–1972)
22 Herbert George Wells (1866–1946)  United Kingdom novel, short story, essays, history, biography Carl Adolf Bodelsen (1894–1978)

Award ceremony

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The Nobel diploma awarded to Hermann Hesse.

At the award ceremony in Stockholm on 10 December 1946, Anders Österling, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, said:

This year’s Nobel Prize in literature has been awarded to a writer of German origin who has had wide critical acclaim and who has created his work regardless of public favour. The sixty-nine-year-old Hermann Hesse can look back on a considerable achievement consisting of novels, short stories, and poems, partly available in Swedish translation. (...) at present Hesse, together with Mann, is the best representative of the German cultural heritage in contemporary literature. (...)

Hesse’s award is more than the confirmation of his fame. It honours a poetic achievement which presents throughout the image of a good man in his struggle, following his calling with rare faithfulness, who in a tragic epoch succeeded in bearing the arms of true humanism.[5]

Reasons of health prevented Hermann Hesse to travel to Stockholm for the award ceremony. In his stead, the prize was accepted by the envoy of the Swiss republic.[5]

References

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  1. ^ "The Nobel Prize in Literature 1946". nobelprize.org.
  2. ^ "Hermann Hesse". Encyclopedia Britannica.
  3. ^ "Nomination archive – Hermann Hesse". nobelprize.org.
  4. ^ "Nomination archive". nobelprize.org. April 2020.
  5. ^ a b "Award ceremony speech". nobelprize.org.
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