1955 Nobel Prize in Literature

The 1955 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the Icelandic writer Halldór Kiljan Laxness (1902–1998) "for his vivid epic power which has renewed the great narrative art of Iceland."Nobel Prize in Literature 1955 nobelprize.org He is the first and only Icelandic recipient of the Nobel prize in all categories. The literary critic Sveinn Hoskuldsson described him, saying: "His chief literary works belong to the genre... [of] narrative prose fiction. In the history of our literature Laxness is mentioned beside Snorri Sturluson, the author of "Njals saga", and his place in world literature is among writers such as Cervantes, Zola, Tolstoy, and Hamsun... He is the most prolific and skillful essayist in Icelandic literature both old and new..."Sveinn Hoskuldsson, "Scandinavica", 1972 supplement, pp. 1–2

Laureate

Halldór Laxness wrote novels, poetry, journalism, essays and plays. The conventional Icelandic saga influenced Laxness, best known for three series of books that are set in Iceland and in some way incorporate social realism and were written in the 1930s. Salka Valka: A Novel of Iceland (1931–1932), a two part series that describes life in an Icelandic fishing village; Sjálfstaett fólk: Hetjusaga ("Independent People: An Epic", 1934–35), a two part series about crofters on the moor; and Heimsljós ("World Light", 1937–1940), a four-part series based on the life of poet Magnus Hjaltason Magnusson. His other famous works include The Great Weaver from Kashmir ("Vefarinn mikli frá Kasmír", 1927), Atómstöðin ("The Atom Station", 1948), Brekkukotsannáll ("The Fish Can Sing", 1957), and Kristnihald undir Jökli ("Christianity at Glacier", 1968).Halldór Laxness – Facts nobelprize.orgHalldór Laxness britannica.com

Deliberations Nominations In total, the Nobel Committee received 59 nominations for 46 writers. 17 of the nominees were newly nominated including Ezra Pound, Edith Sitwell, Adriaan Roland Holst, William Somerset Maugham, Eugenio Montale (awarded in 1975), Henri Bosco, Ernst Robert Curtius, Giorgos Seferis (awarded in 1963), Saint-John Perse (awarded in 1960), Carlos Vaz Ferreira, and Giovanni Papini. Three of the nominees were women namely the British critic Edith Sitwell, the Estonian poet Marie Under, and the Danish author Karen Blixen.Nomination archive – 1955 nobelprize.org The Colombian writer Fernando González Ochoa was purportedly nominated in 1955, but is not included in the archives.

The authors James Agee, Ruby Mildred Ayres, Gilbert Cannan, Dale Carnegie, Beatrice Chase, Robert P. Tristram Coffin, Lawrence Pearsall Jacks, Joseph Jefferson Farjeon, Constance Holme, Hong Shen, Mariano Latorre, Roger Mais, Saadat Hasan Manto, Adrienne Monnier, Robert Riskin, Robert E. Sherwood, Alexandru Teodor Stamatiad, Wallace Stevens, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, and Augustin Josip Ujević died in 1955 without having been nominated for the prize.

Official list of nominees and their nominators for the prize No. Nominee Country Genre(s) Nominator(s)1Mark Aldanov (1886–1957)()biography, novel, essays, literary criticism Samson Soloveitchik (1887–1974)2Eugène Baie (1874–1964) law, essaysRoyal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium3Julien Benda (1867–1956) novel, philosophy, essays, literary criticismHolger Sten (1907–1971)4Gottfried Benn (1886–1956) poetry, essaysBertil Malmberg (1889–1958)5Karen Blixen (1885–1962) novel, short story, memoirNils Ahnlund (1889–1957)6Henri Bosco (1888–1976) novel, short storyRaymond Las Vergnas (1902–1994)7Arthur Bryant (1899–1985)historyEric Reginald Vincent (1894–1978)8Albert Camus (1913–1960) ()novel, short story, essays, philosophy, drama9Hans Carossa (1878–1956) poetry, autobiography, essaysMaurice Le Boucher (1882–1964)10Paul Claudel (1868–1955) poetry, drama, essays, memoirErik Hjalmar Linder (1906–1994)11Ernst Robert Curtius (1886–1956)philology, literary criticismMax Vasmer (1886–1962)12Georges Duhamel (1884–1966) novel, short story, poetry, drama, literary criticism13Johan Falkberget (1879–1967) novel, short story, essays14Lion Feuchtwanger (1884–1958) novel, dramaVictor Klemperer (1881–1960)15Edward Morgan Forster (1879–1970) novel, short story, drama, essays, biography, literary criticismDenys Page (1908–1978)16Robert Frost (1874–1963) poetry, dramaCecil Day-Lewis (1904–1972)17Igor Gouzenko (1919–1982)novel, essays18Gunnar Gunnarsson (1889–1975) novel, short story, poetry19Leslie Poles Hartley (1895–1972) novel, short story, essaysGeoffrey Tillotson (1905–1969)20Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) novel, short story, essays, poetry, screenplay, drama, philosophyGeoffrey Bullough (1901–1982)21Juan Ramón Jiménez (1881–1958) poetry, novelHjalmar Gullberg (1898–1961)22Rudolf Kassner (1873–1959) philosophy, essays, translationThe Austrian PEN-Club23Nikos Kazantzakis (1883–1957) novel, philosophy, essays, drama, memoir, translation24Halldór Laxness (1902–1998) novel, short story, drama, poetry25André Malraux (1901–1976) novel, essays, literary criticismGladys Turquet-Milnes (1887–1977)26William Somerset Maugham (1874–1965) novel, short story, drama, essaysGeoffrey Bullough (1901–1982)27Ramón Menéndez Pidal (1869–1968) philology, history28Eugenio Montale (1896–1981) poetry, translationThomas Stearns Eliot (1888–1965)29Alberto Moravia (1907–1990) novel, literary criticism, essays, dramaCarlo Dionisotti (1908–1998)30Seán O'Casey (1880–1964) drama, memoirUna Ellis-Fermor (1894–1958)31Giovanni Papini (1881–1956)essays, novel, short story, poetry, literary criticism, philosophyHenri de Ziégler (1885–1970)32Saint-John Perse (1887–1975) poetry33Ezra Pound (1885–1972) poetry, essaysConstantine Athanasius Trypanis (1909–1993)34Adriaan Roland Holst (1888–1976)poetryJan Kamerbeek Jr. (1905–1977)35Jules Romains (1885–1972) poetry, drama, screenplay Alfred Jolivet (1885–1966)36Reinhold Schneider (1903–1958)poetry, novel, drama, essaysEduard von Jan (1885–1971)37Giorgos Seferis (1900–1971) poetry, memoir, essaysRomilly Jenkins (1907–1969)38Mikhail Sholokhov (1905–1984) novelSergei Sergeyev-Tsensky (1875–1958)39Edith Sitwell (1887–1964)poetry, essays, memoirGladys Doidge Willcock (–)40Gustav Suits (1883–1956)()poetry, essaysWilliam Kleesmann Matthews (1901–1958)41George Macauley Trevelyan (1876–1962) biography, autobiography, essays, historyWinston Churchill (1874–1965)42Marie Under (1883–1980) ()poetryWilliam Kleesmann Matthews (1901–1958)43Giuseppe Ungaretti (1888–1970) poetry, essays, literary criticism44Carlos Vaz Ferreira (1872–1958)philosophy, law, essaysAcademia Nacional de Letras 45Tarjei Vesaas (1897–1970) poetry, novelSigmund Skard (1903–1995)46Simon Vestdijk (1898–1971) novel, poetry, essays, translationJan Kamerbeek Jr. (1905–1977)

Prize decision Laxness had been a candidate for the prize since 1948. In 1955 he was shortlisted along with Juan Ramón Jiménez (awarded in 1956) and Ramón Menéndez Pidal. A shared prize between Laxness and his countryman Gunnar Gunnarsson was proposed but rejected by the Nobel committee.

The members of the Swedish Academy were divided in support of the final three candidates. Three rounds of voting were required to decide the laureate. On the first voting Jiménez received the highest number of votes, but not the required majority of the votes. On the third voting Laxness received a majority of the votes, 10 votes, and could be declared the winner of the 1955 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Award Ceremony In the presentation address for the Nobel prize Elias Wessén stated:"He is an excellent painter of Icelandic scenery and settings. Yet this is not what he has conceived of as his chief mission. 'Compassion is the source of the highest poetry. Compassion with Asta Sollilja on earth,' he says in one of his best books... And a social passion underlies everything Halldór Laxness has written. His personal championship of contemporary social and political questions is always very strong, sometimes so strong that it threatens to hamper the artistic side of his work. His safeguard then is the astringent humour which enables him to see even people he dislikes in a redeeming light, and which also permits him to gaze far down into the labyrinths of the human soul."

References

External links Award Ceremony speech nobelprize.org The Nobel Prize Award Ceremony 1955 nobelprize.org