1936 Nobel Prize in Literature

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Nobel prize medal.svg 1936 Nobel Prize in Literature
Eugene O'Neill
Eugene O'Neill 1936.jpg
"for the power, honesty and deep-felt emotions of his dramatic works, which embody an original concept of tragedy"
Date
  • 12 November 1937 (announcement)
  • 10 December 1937
    (ceremony)
Location Stockholm, Sweden
Presented by Swedish Academy
First awarded1901
Website Official website
  1935  · Nobel Prize in Literature ·  1937  

The 1936 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the American playwright Eugene O'Neill "for the power, honesty and deep-felt emotions of his dramatic works, which embody an original concept of tragedy". The prize was awarded in 1937. [1] He is the second American to become a literature laureate after Sinclair Lewis in 1930.

Contents

Laureate

Influenced by the realist playwrights Chekhov, Strindberg and Ibsen, Eugene O'Neill is regarded as the foremost American dramatist of the 20th century. His plays were among the first to include speeches in American English vernacular and involve characters on the fringes of society who struggle to maintain their hopes and aspirations, but ultimately slide into disillusion and despair. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize three times, first for Beyond the Horizon (1920), his debut play, followed by Anna Christie in 1922 and Strange Interlude in 1928. Mourning Becomes Electra (1931) and the posthumous Long Day's Journey into Night is regarded as two masterpieces in a long string of plays. [2] [3]

In a writing career that revolves around human tragedies, Ah, Wilderness! is O'Neill's only well-known comedy. Ah Wilderness poster.jpg
In a writing career that revolves around human tragedies, Ah, Wilderness! is O'Neill's only well-known comedy.

Deliberations

Nominations

Eugene O'Neill was nominated for the prize three times (1934, 1935, and 1936. [4] In 1936 the Nobel committee received 47 nominations for 27 writers including Paul Valéry, António Correia de Oliveira, Miguel Unamuno, Kostis Palamas, Olav Duun, Jarl Hemmer, Karel Capek, Benedetto Croce, Roger Martin du Gard (awarded in 1937) and Johannes V. Jensen (awarded in 1944). Ten were newly nominated such as Georges Duhamel, Ludwig Klages, Sigmund Freud, Cécile Tormay, Enrica von Handel-Mazzetti and Arvid Mörne. Most nominations were submitted for the Finnish author Frans Emil Sillanpää (awarded in 1939) with five nominations, including two nominations suggesting a shared prize with Jarl Hemmer and Arvid Mörne respectively. Only two women were nominated namely Cécile Tormay Tormay and Enrica von Handel-Mazzetti. [5]

The authors Juliette Adam, Jacques Bainville, Mateiu Caragiale, James Churchward, Eugène Dabit, Adolf de Herz, Teresa de la Parra, Ramón del Valle-Inclán, Stefan Grabiński, Federico García Lorca, A. E. Housman, M. R. James, Kitty Lee Jenner, Dezső Kosztolányi, Mikhail Kuzmin, Mourning Dove, Elizabeth Robins Pennell, Kristína Royová, Moritz Schlick, Jan Jacob Slauerhoff, Oswald Spengler, Dhanpat Rai Srivastava (known as Premchand), Heinrich Rickert, Ferdinand Tönnies, Lidia Veselitskaya and Zhou Shuren (known as Lu Xun) died in 1936 without having been nominated for the prize.

Official list of nominees and their nominators for the prize
No.NomineeCountryGenre(s)Nominator(s)
1Hari Mohan Banerjee (d. 1960)British Raj Red Ensign.svg  India essays Devadatta R. Bhandarkar (1875–1950)
2 António Correia de Oliveira (1878–1960)Flag of Portugal.svg  Portugal poetryLuís da Cunha Gonçalvez (1875–1956)
3 Benedetto Croce (1866–1952)Flag of Italy (1861-1946) crowned.svg  Italy history, philosophy, law Julius von Schlosser (1866–1938)
4 Karel Čapek (1890–1938)Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czechoslovakia drama, novel, short story, essays, literary criticismseveral professors [lower-alpha 1]
5 Miguel de Unamuno (1864–1936)Flag of Spain 1931 1939.svg  Spain novel, poetry, philosophy, essays, drama
  • Manuel García Blanco (1902–1966) [lower-alpha 2]
  • José Camón Aznar (1898–1979)
  • Francisco Maldonado de Guevara (1891–1985)
  • José María Ramos Loscertales (1890–1956)
6Asis Domet (1890–1943)Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Mandatory Palestine essays, translationG. E. Khoury (?)
7 Roger Martin du Gard (1881–1958)Flag of France (1794-1958).svg  France novel, drama, memoirTorsten Fogelqvist (1880–1941)
8 Georges Duhamel (1884–1966)Flag of France.svg  France novel, short story, poetry, drama, literary criticism Hjalmar Hammarskjöld (1862–1953)
9 Olav Duun (1876–1939)Flag of Norway.svg  Norway novel, short story
10Alfred Edward Evershed (1870–1941)Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia essays, pedagogyElias Edward Miller (1878–1937)
11 Hans Fallada (1893–1947)Flag of Germany (1935-1945).svg  Germany novel, short story Martin Lamm (1880–1950)
12 Sigmund Freud (1856–1939)State flag of Austria (1934-1938).svg  Austria essays Nobel prize winner.svg Romain Rolland (1866–944)
13 Jarl Hemmer (1893–1944)Flag of Finland.svg  Finland poetry, novel
14 Johannes Vilhelm Jensen (1873–1950)Flag of Denmark.svg  Denmark novel, short story, essays
  • Johannes Brøndum-Nielsen (1881–1977)
  • Frithiof Brandt (1892–1968)
  • Carl Adolf Bodelsen (1894–1978)
  • Vilhelm Andersen (1864–1953)
15 Ludwig Klages (1872–1956)Flag of Germany (1935-1945).svg  Germany philosophy, poetry, essaysWilhelm Pinder (1878–1947)
16 Erwin Guido Kolbenheyer (1878–1962)State flag of Austria (1934-1938).svg  Austria novel, short story, poetry, dramaHans-Friedrich Rosenfeld (1899–1993)
17 Dmitry Merezhkovsky (1865–1941)Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union novel, essays, poetry, drama Sigurd Agrell (1881–1937)
18 Arvid Mörne (1876–1946)Flag of Finland.svg  Finland poetry, drama, novel, essays Gunnar Landtman (1878–1940) [lower-alpha 3]
19 Eugene O'Neill (1888–1953)Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg  United States drama Henrik Schück (1855–1947)
20 Kostis Palamas (1859–1943)Flag of Greece (1822-1978).svg  Greece poetry, essays
21 Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1888–1975)British Raj Red Ensign.svg  India philosophy, essays, law Hjalmar Hammarskjöld (1862–1953)
22 Frans Eemil Sillanpää (1888–1964)Flag of Finland.svg  Finland novel, short story, poetry
23 Hermann Stehr (1864–1940)Flag of Germany (1935-1945).svg  Germany novel, short story, poetry, dramaHermann August Korff (1882–1963)
24 Cécile Tormay (1875–1937)Flag of Hungary (1915-1918, 1919-1946).svg  Hungary novel, short story, essays, translation
  • Jenö Pintér (1921–1988)
  • János Horváth (1878–1961)
  • Károly Pap (1897–1945)
  • János Hankiss (1893–1959)
25 Paul Valéry (1871–1945)Flag of France (1794-1958).svg  France poetry, philosophy, essays, drama
26 Edvarts Virza (1883–1940)Flag of Latvia (physical).svg  Latvia poetry, essays, translation
27 Enrica von Handel-Mazzetti (1871–1955)State flag of Austria (1934-1938).svg  Austria novel, poetry, essays

Prize decision

In 1936, the Nobel Committee decided that none of this year's nominations met the criteria as outlined in the will of Alfred Nobel. According to the Nobel Foundation's statutes, the Nobel Prize can in such a case be reserved until the following year, and this statute was then applied, and the 1936 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded the following year. [1]

Banquet speech

Because of the state of his health, Eugene O'Neill was unable to travel to Stockholm to receive the prize. But he delivered a speech that was read by the American chargé d'affaires at the banquet in Stockholm City Hall. In the speech, O'Neill paid tribute to the Swedish dramatist August Strindberg and the great influence Strindberg had on his work. [6]

Notes

  1. Several professors of history and history of literature from the Prague, Czech Republic.
  2. Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo was nominated by J. Ramos Loscertales, F. Maldonado, J. Camón Aznar and M. Garcia Blanco, with approval from 6 other professors, all from Salamanca University.
  3. 1 2 3 G. Landtman suggested the Nobel Committee to award F. Sillanpää alone. His second suggestion, to share the prize with Sillanpää, was J. Hemmer or A. Mörne.
  4. 1 2 Valéry was nominated jointly by J. Bidez and J. Salverda de Grave, both member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
  5. 1 2 E. Virza was nominated by L. Bērziņš and F. Balodis
  6. 1 2 E. von Handel-Mazzetti was jointly nominated by J. Nadler and M. Enzinger

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References

  1. 1 2 "The Nobel Prize in Literature 1936". nobelprize.org.
  2. "Eugene O'Neill". britannica.com.
  3. Eugene O'Neill – Facts nobelprize.org
  4. "Nomination archive - Eugene O'Neill". nobelprize.org.
  5. "Nomination archive - Literature 1936". nobelprize.org. April 2020.
  6. "Banquet speech". nobelprize.org.