1975 Nobel Prize in Literature
Eugenio Montale
"for his distinctive poetry which, with great artistic sensitivity, has interpreted human values under the sign of an outlook on life with no illusions"
Date	23 October 1975 (1975-10-23) (announcement) 10 December 1975 (ceremony)
Location	Stockholm, Sweden
Presented by	Swedish Academy
First award	1901
Website	Official website
← 1974 · Nobel Prize in Literature · 1976 →

The1975Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the Italian poetEugenio Montale (1896–1981) "for his distinctive poetry which, with great artistic sensitivity, has interpreted human values under the sign of an outlook on life with no illusions".^[1] He is thefifth Italian laureate for the literature prize.

Along withGiuseppe Ungaretti andSalvatore Quasimodo, Eugenio Montale is associated with the poetic school ofhermeticsm, the Italian variant of the Frenchsymbolism movement, although Montale himself did not consider himself to be part of the hermetic school. His poetry is often compared toT. S. Eliot. When theSwedish Academy awarded him with the Nobel Prize in 1975, they called him “one of the most important poets of the contemporary West”.^[2] His notable oeuvres includeOssi di seppia ("Cuttlefish Bones", 1925),Le occasioni ("The Occasions", 1939),La bufera e altro ("The Storm and Other Things", 1956),Satura (1962–1970) (1971) andDiario del '71 e del '72 (1973).^[3]

Montale was first nominated for the prize in1955 by Nobel laureateT. S. Eliot. It was followed in1961 and from 1966 he became a regular nominee. By 1973, the Nobel committee had received 23 nominations in total before Montale was eventually awarded.^[4]

In 1975, theSwedish Academy received nominations for 114 writers with 22 being from theNobel Committee itself. Twenty-eight of the nominees were new recommendations suchChinua Achebe,Fernand Braudel,Dobrica Ćosić,Miloš Crnjanski,Mohammed Dib,Gabriel García Márquez (awarded in1982),Wilson Harris,Masuji Ibuse,Tove Jansson,Naguib Mahfouz (awarded in1988),Desanka Maksimović,Vasko Popa,Chaim Potok andMary Renault. The oldest nominee was Estonian poet Marie Under (aged 92) and the youngest was the Irish poetBrendan Kennelly (aged 39). Since the establishment of the awarded, 1975 became the highest number of female contenders in a year with 13 nominees:Anna Banti,Simone de Beauvoir,Doris Lessing (awarded in2007),Nadine Gordimer (awarded in1991),Tove Jansson,Rina Lasnier,Desanka Maksimović,Kamala Markandaya,Victoria Ocampo,Mary Renault,Nathalie Sarraute,Anna Seghers andMarie Under.^[5]

The authorsPeter Anson,Hannah Arendt,Mikhail Bakhtin,Kersti Bergroth,Arthur Herbert Dodd,Julian Huxley,Edward Hyams,Murray Leinster,Constance Malleson,Thomas H. Parry-Williams,Kate Seredy,Robert Cedric Sherriff,Sydney Goodsir Smith,Ivan Sokolov-Mikitov,Elizabeth Taylor andP. G. Wodehouse died in 1975 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	Chinua Achebe (1930-2013)	Nigeria	novel, poetry, literary criticism	Clifford Hanley (1922-1999)
2	Rafael Alberti (1902-1999)	Spain	poetry, drama, memoir	Nobel Committee
3	Vicente Aleixandre (1898–1984)	Spain	poetry	Damaso Alonso (1898-1990) Samuel Jackson Cartledge (1935–2006) 7 professors fromCalifornia State University John Dowling (1920–2009) and 6 other professors fromUniversity of Georgia Herb B. Jones (–)[who?] and 4 other professors fromWestern Michigan University Philip Warnock Silver (1932–2020) and 14 other professors ofColumbia University Juan Villegas Morales (1934–) and 11 other professors ofUniversity of California, Irvine
4	Louis Aragon (1897–1982)	France	novel, short story, poetry, essays	Michel Cadot (1926–2022)
5	Riccardo Bacchelli (1891–1985)	Italy	novel, drama, essays	Giovanni Nencioni (1911–2008) Enrico Cerulli (1898–1988)
6	Anna Banti (1895-1985)	Italy	novel, short story, literary criticism, translation	Gustavo Costa (1930–2012)
7	Saul Bellow (1915–2005)	Canada United States	novel, short story, memoir, essays	Nobel Committee
8	Louis Paul Boon (1912–1979)	Belgium	novel, essays, short story, poetry	A. Backx (–)[who?] Albert Bontridder (1921–2015) Gerrit Borgers (1917–1987) Wim Hazeu (1940–2024) Bernard Kemp (1926–1980)
9	Johan Borgen (1902–1979)	Norway	novel, literary criticism	Eyvind Johnson (1900–1976)
10	Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986)	Argentina	poetry, essays, translation, short story	Luis Droguett Alfaro (1922–2014) Michel Cadot (1926–2022) Jónas Kristjánsson (1924–2014) Aatos Ojala (1919–1987)
11	Fernand Braudel (1902–1985)	France	history, essays	John Harold Plumb (1911–2001)
12	Elias Canetti (1905–1994)	Bulgaria United Kingdom	novel, drama, memoir, essays	Manfred Durzak (1938–)
13	Camilo José Cela (1916–2002)	Spain	novel, short story, essay, poetry, drama, memoir	Nobel Committee
14	Aimé Césaire (1913–2008)	Martinique	poetry, drama, essays	Jeanne-Lydie Goré (1924–2017)
15	André Chamson (1900–1983)	France	novel, essays	Armand Lunel (1892–1977) Giannēs Koutsocheras (1904–1994) Henri Guiter (1909–1994) Guy Nairay (1914–1999)
16	René Char (1907–1988)	France	poetry	Henri Peyre (1901–1988)
17	Nirad Chandra Chaudhuri (1897–1999)	India England	novel, essays, autobiography, biography, literary criticism	Y. K. Punj (–)[who?]
18	Sri Chinmoy (1931–2007)	India United States	poetry, drama, short story, essays, songwriting	Willard Abraham (1938–1994) Karl Kroeber (1926–2009) Peter Pitzele (1942–)
19	Dobrica Ćosić (1921–2014)	Serbia	novel, history, essays	Pavle Ivić (1924–1999)
20	Miloš Crnjanski (1893–1977)	Hungary Serbia	novel, short story, drama, poetry, essays	Miroslav Pantić (1926–2011) Pavle Ivić (1924–1999) Nikola Milošević (1929–2007) Miloslava Stojnić (–)[who?]
21	Fazıl Hüsnü Dağlarca (1914–2008)	Türkiye	poetry	Nobel Committee
22	Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986)	France	novel, drama, memoir, philosophy, essays, short story	Per Wastberg (1933–)
23	Malcolm de Chazal (1902–1981)	Mauritius	aphorisms, essays	Camille de Rauville (1910–1986)
24	Mohammed Dib (1920–2003)	Algeria France	novel, short story, poetry	Jeanne-Lydie Goré (1924–2017)
25	Lawrence Durrell (1912–1990)	England	novel, short story, poetry, drama, essays	Jacques Schwartz (1914–1992)
26	Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921–1990)	Switzerland	drama, novel, short story, essays	Werner Betz (1912–1980) Keijo Holsti (1932–1989) Herbert Penzl (1910–1995) Holger Frykenstedt (1911–2003)
27	Odysseas Elytis (1911–1996)	Greece	poetry, essays, translation	Nobel Committee
28	Salvador Espriu (1913–1985)	Spain	drama, novel, poetry	Antoni Comas i Pujol (1931–1981)
29	James Thomas Farrell (1904–1979)	United States	novel, short story, poetry	Edgar Marquess Branch (1913–2006) Duane Schneider (1937–2012)
30	Max Frisch (1911–1991)	Switzerland	novel, drama	Manfred Durzak (1938–) Karl Hyldgaard-Jensen (1917–1995) Holger Frykenstedt (1911–2003)
31	Gabriel García Márquez (1927–2014)	Colombia	novel, short story, essays, autobiography	Walter Ralph Johnson (1933–2024)
32	William Golding (1911–1993)	United Kingdom	novel, poetry, drama, essays	Irma Koskenniemi (1936–)
33	Nadine Gordimer (1923–2014)	South Africa	novel, short story, essay, drama	Nobel Committee
34	Günter Grass (1927–2015)	West Germany	novel, drama, poetry, essays	Brian Rowley (1923–2013) Manfred Windfuhr (1930–)
35	Julien Green (1900–1998)	France	novel, autobiography, essays	Nobel Committee
36	Graham Greene (1904–1991)	United Kingdom	novel, short story, autobiography, essays	Walter Ralph Johnson (1933–2024) Esko Pennanen (1912–1990) Victor Sawdon Pritchett (1900–1997) Mary Renault (1905–1983) Hugh Macrae Richmond (1932–) Herbert Morgan Waidson (1916–1988) Wolfgang Weiss (1932–2019)
37	Jean Guitton (1901–1999)	France	philosophy, theology	Charles Dédéyan (1910–2003)
38	Okiuyama Gwyn (1920–1977)	India	poetry, literary criticism	Indra Bahadur Rai (1927–2018)
39	Paavo Haavikko (1931–2008)	Finland	poetry, drama, essays	Eeva Kilpi (1928–) Rauno Toivonen (1924–1999)
40	Wilson Harris (1921–2018)	Guyana	novel, short story, poetry, essays	Joyce Sparer Adler (1915–1999) Jeanne Delbaere-Garant (–)[who?] Michel Fabre (1933–2007) Robert Merle Farnsworth (1929–2022) Alexander Norman Jeffares (1920–2005) Arthur Ravenscroft (1924–1989) R. T. Robertson (–)[who?] Anna Rutherford (1932–2001) Ivan Van Sertima (1935–2009)
41	William Heinesen (1900–1991)	Faroe Islands	poetry, short story, novel	Hans Bekker-Nielsen (1933–2007) Peter Foote (1924–2009) Walton Glyn Jones (1928–2014) Jákup Jákupsstovu (1922–1976) Duncan Mennie (1909–1998)
42	Joseph Heller (1923–1999)	United States	novel, short story, drama, screenplay	Nobel Committee
43	Vladimír Holan (1905–1980)	Czechoslovakia	poetry, essays	Nobel Committee
44	Hans Henrik Holm (1896–1980)	Norway	poetry, essays	Olav Bø (1918–1998) Kåre Langvik-Johannessen (1919–2014)
45	Masuji Ibuse (1898–1993)	Japan	novel, short story, essays	Michel Cadot (1926–2022)
46	Gyula Illyés (1902–1983)	Hungary	poetry, novel, drama, essays	Nobel Committee
47	Eugène Ionesco (1909–1994)	Romania France	drama, essays	Nobel Committee
48	Mohammad-Ali Jamalzadeh (1892–1997)	Iran	short story, translation	Ehsan Yarshater (1920–2018)
49	Tove Jansson (1914–2001)	Finland	novel, short story, memoir, essays	Eeva Kilpi (1928–) Kerstin Nyqvist (–)[who?]
50	Eugen Jebeleanu (1911–1991)	Romania	poetry, essays, translation	Miron Nicolescu (1903–1975) Alexandru A. Philippide (1900–1979) Șerban Cioculescu (1902–1988) Alexandru Dima (1905–1979) Laurențiu Fulga (1916–1984)
51	Ferenc Juhász (1928–2015)	Hungary	poetry	Nobel Committee
52	Yaşar Kemal (1923–2015)	Türkiye	novel, essays	Raymond Williams (1921–1988) professors from theUniversity of Strasbourg
53	Brendan Kennelly (1936–2021)	Ireland	novel, poetry, essays, translation	John Brendan Keane (1928–2002)
54	Wolfgang Koeppen (1906–1996)	West Germany	novel, essays	Hermann Kesten (1900–1996)
55	Arthur Koestler (1905–1983)	Hungary England	novel, autobiography, essays	George Mikes (1912–1987)
56	Miroslav Krleža (1893–1981)	Croatia	poetry, drama, short story, novel, essays	Mira Mihelič (1912–1985) Miodrag Popović (1920–2005) Dušan Puhalo (1919–2006) Saša Vereš (1928–1992) Nikola Milošević (1929–2007) Miloslava Stojnić (–)[who?]
57	Mihailo Lalić (1914–1992)	Montenegro Serbia	novel, poetry, essays	Pavle Ivić (1924–1999) Vida Marković (1916–2001)
58	Rina Lasnier (1915–1997)	Canada	poetry	Andrée-Anne Charbonneau (–)[who?] Robert Choquette (1905–1991)
59	Siegfried Lenz (1926–2014)	West Germany	novel, short story, essays, drama	Klaus Doderer (1925–2023)
60	Doris Lessing (1919–2013)	Zimbabwe England	novel, short story, memoirs, drama, poetry, essays	Richard Murphey Goodwin (1913–1996)
61	Väinö Linna (1920–1992)	Finland	novel	Åke Hansson (–)[who?] Eeva Kilpi (1928–)
62	Robert Lowell (1917–1977)	United States	poetry, translation	Hans Galinsky (1909–1991)
63	Hugh MacDiarmid (1892–1978)	Scotland	poetry, essays	David Daiches (1912–2005)
64	Józef Mackiewicz (1902–1985)	Poland	novel, short story, essays	Jadwiga Maurer (1930–2012)
65	Naguib Mahfouz (1911–2006)	Egypt	novel, short story, screenplay, essays	Michel Cadot (1926–2022)
66	Norman Mailer (1923–2007)	United States	novel, short story, poetry, essays, biography, drama, screenplay	Nobel Committee
67	Desanka Maksimović (1898–1993)	Serbia	poetry, novel, short story, essays	Miljan Mojašević (1918–2002)
68	Bernard Malamud (1914–1986)	United States	novel, short story	Nobel Committee
69	André Malraux (1901–1976)	France	novel, essays, literary criticism	Inge Jonsson (1928–2020) Jan Kott (1914–2001) Maija Lehtonen (1924–2015) Georges Matoré (1908–1998) Henri Peyre (1901–1988) Laurent Versini (1932–2021) Michel Cadot (1926–2022)
70	Kamala Markandaya (1924–2004)	India England	novel, short story, essays	Horacio Serrano (1904–1980)
71	Segismundo Masel (1895–1985)	Argentina	essays	Antonio de Tornes Ballesteros (–)[who?]
72	Henri Michaux (1899–1984)	Belgium France	poetry, essays	Andri Peer (1921–1985) Kazimir Geza Werner (1900–1985)
73	Eugenio Montale (1896–1981)	Italy	poetry, translation	Umberto Limentani (1913–1989) Henri Peyre (1901–1988)
74	Giuseppe Morabito (1900–1997)	Italy	poetry, translation	Giovanni Giraldi (1915–2014)
75	Federico Morador Otero (1897–1977)	Uruguay	poetry, essays, literary criticism	Eduardo Payssé Reyes (1902–1986)
76	Alberto Moravia (1907–1990)	Italy	novel, literary criticism, essays, drama	Per Wästberg (1933–) Jacques Robichez (1914–1999)
77	Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)	Russia United States	novel, short story, poetry, drama, translation, literary criticism, memoir	Robert Alter (1935–) Hans Bielenstein (1920–2015) Harry Levin (1912–1994) Franz Norbert Mennemeier (1924–2021) Kirstin Michalski (–)[who?] John Henry Raleigh (1920–2001) Hans Rothe (1894–1977) Bernard Tervoort (1920–2006)
78	Mikhail Naimy (1889–1988)	Lebanon	poetry, drama, short story, novel, autobiography, literary criticism	Toufic Fahd (1923–2009)
79	V. S. Naipaul (1932–2018)	Trinidad and Tobago England	novel, short story, essays	Nobel Committee
80	R. K. Narayan (1906–2001)	India	novel, short story, essays	Suniti Kumar Chatterji (1890–1977) K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar (1908–1999)
81	Victoria Ocampo (1890–1979)	Argentina	essays, literary criticism, biography	Fryda Schultz de Mantovani (1912–1978)
82	Kenzaburō Ōe (1935–2023)	Japan	novel, short story, essays	Nobel Committee
83	Germán Pardo García (1902–1991)	Colombia Mexico	poetry	Eduardo Guzmán Esponda (1889–1988) James Willis Robb (1918–2010) Estelle Irizarry (1937–2017) Oscar Abel Ligaluppi (1927–2000)
84	Octavio Paz (1914–1998)	Mexico	poetry, essays	Nobel Committee
85	José María Pemán (1897–1981)	Spain	poetry, drama, novel, essays, screenplay	Manuel Halcón (1900–1989) Antonio Iraizoz (1890–1976) Emeterio Barcelon Barcelo-Soriano (1897–1978)
86	Harold Pinter (1930–2008)	England	drama, screenplay	Nobel Committee
87	Vasko Popa (1922–1991)	Serbia	poetry, essays	Nils Åke Nilsson (1917–1995)
88	Chaim Potok (1929–2002)	United States	novel, short story, essays	Nobel Committee
89	Zayn al-ʻĀbidīn Rahnamā (1894–1990)	Iran	history, essays, translation	Abbas Aryanpur-Kashani (1906–1985) Manouchehr Eghbal (1909–1977)
90	Mary Renault (1905–1983)	England South Africa	novel, history, essays	Hugh Finn (1925–)
91	Yannis Ritsos (1909–1990)	Greece	poetry, songwriting	Minas Savvas (1937–2025)
92	Philip Roth (1933–2018)	United States	novel, short story, memoirs, essays	Nobel Committee
93	Tadeusz Rózewicz (1921–2014)	Poland	poetry, drama, translation	Nils Åke Nilsson (1917–1995) Józef Trypućko (1910–1983)
94	Nathalie Sarraute (1900–1999)	Russia France	novel, drama, essays	Franz Norbert Mennemeier (1924–2021)
95	Anna Seghers (1900–1983)	East Germany	novel, short story	Heinz Kamnitzer (1917–2001)
96	Jaroslav Seifert (1901–1986)	Czechoslovakia	poetry, memoir, translation	Ľubomír Ďurovič (1925–2022) Roman Jakobson (1896–1982)
97	Meša Selimović (1910–1982)	Bosnia and Herzegovina Serbia	novel, short story, essays, screenplay	Milosav Babović (1921–1997) Ivan Dimić (1921–2004)
98	Léopold Sédar Senghor (1906–2001)	Senegal	poetry, essays	Roger Asselineau (1915–2002) Alphonse Dupront (1905–1990) Jeanne-Lydie Goré (1924–2017)
99	Ignazio Silone (1900–1978)	Italy	novel, short story, essays, drama	Denis de Rougemont (1906–1985)
100	Claude Simon (1913–2005)	France	novel, essays	Tom Bishop (1929–2022) Malcolm Bradbury (1932–2000) John Fletcher (1937–2025) Haydn Trevor Mason (1929–2018)
101	Isaac Bashevis Singer (1902–1991)	Poland United States	novel, short story, autobiography, essays	Lothar Kahn (1922–1990) Harry Levin (1912–1994) John Henry Raleigh (1920–2001)
102	Manès Sperber (1905–1984)	Austria France	novel, essays, autobiography	Hermann Kesten (1900–1996)
103	Abraham Sutzkever (1913–2010)	Belarus Israel	poetry	Nobel Committee
104	Pratap Narayan Tandon (1935–)	India	novel, essays	Kesari Narayan Shukla (–)[who?]
105	Miguel Torga (1907–1995)	Portugal	poetry, short story, novel, drama, autobiography	Hernâni Cidade (1887–1975)
106	Marie Under (1883–1980)	Estonia	poetry	Asta Willmann (1916–1984) Ants Oras (1900–1982)
107	Erico Verissimo (1905–1975)	Brazil	novel, short story, autobiography, essays, translation	José Augusto César Salgado (1894–1979)
108	Gerard Walschap (1898–1989)	Belgium	novel, drama, essays	Maurice Gilliams (1900–1982) Willem Pée (1903–1986)
109	Mika Waltari (1908–1979)	Finland	short story, novel, poetry, drama, essays, screenplay	Keijo Holsti (1932–1989)
110	Sándor Weöres (1913–1989)	Hungary	poetry, translation	Áron Kibédi Varga (1930–2018)
111	John Hall Wheelock (1886–1978)	United States	poetry, essays	Charles Abraham Wagner (1898–1986
112	Elie Wiesel (1928–2016)	Romania United States	memoir, essays, novel, drama	Irving Abrahamson (1925–2022) Marver Bernstein (1919–1990) Albert H. Bowker (1919–2008) Jules Brody (1928–2021) Wolfgang B. Fleischmann (1928–) Maurice Stanley Friedman (1921–2016) Irving Greenberg (1933–) Irving Halperin (1922–2000) James McNaughton Hester (1924–2014) Gerd Høst-Heyerdahl (1915–2007) Hans Juergensen (1919–2000) Louis L. Kaplan (1902–2001) Jack Kolbert (1927–2005) Rosette C. Lamont (1927–2012) Franklin Littell (1917–2009) Robert Marshak (1916–1992) André Neher (1914–1988) David Patterson (1922–2005) Robert L. Payton (1926–2011) John Silber (1926–2012) David Weinstein (1908–1993) Charles E. Young (1931–2023)
113	Angus Wilson (1913–1991)	England	novel, short story, essays	Nicholas Brooke (1924–1998)
114	Carl Zuckmayer (1896–1977)	West Germany	drama, screenplay	Erich Ruprecht (1906–1997)

The members of the Nobel committee variously proposedGraham Greene,Saul Bellow (awarded in1976),Doris Lessing (awarded in2007) andNadine Gordimer (awarded in1991) as the recipients of the 1975 Nobel Prize in Literature, but struggled to agree on one candidate. A speech by Academy member and former Nobel committee memberHenry Olsson on 25 September appears to have convinced the members of the Swedish Academy to agree on awarding the fifth shortlisted candidate, Eugenio Montale. As none of the committee members had placed him as their first proposal, Montale is said being a compromise second choice by the Swedish Academy.^[6]

According to theAssociated Press, Montale said that award had overwhelmed him and made his life, "which was always unhappy, less unhappy."^[3]

In Italy, the awarding of the Nobel Prize to Montale was positively received. Their Prime Minister,Aldo Moro, congratulated him, said that the award "consecrates the validity of your poetical and human message, and, in you, honors the Italian culture,"^[3] and PresidentGiovanni Leone commented that his work's contained "tormented and lucid singling‐out of the anxieties and the aspirations of modern man."^[3]

At the award ceremony on 10 December 1975,Anders Österling of the Swedish Academy said:

"at his best Montale, with strict discipline, has attained a refined artistry, at once personal and objective, in which every word fills its place as precisely as the glass cube in a coloured mosaic. The linguistic laconicism cannot be carried any further; every trace of embellishment and jingle has been cleared away. When, for instance, in the remarkable portrait-poem of the Jewes Dora Markus, he wants to indicate the current background of time, he does so in five words: Distilla veleno una fede feroce (“A fierce faith distils poison”). In such masterpieces both the fateful perspective and the ingeniously concentrated structure are reminiscent of T.S. Eliot and “The Waste Land”, but Montale is unlikely to have received impulses from this quarter and his development has, if anything, followed a parallel path"^[7]

Eugenio Montale delivered hisNobel lecture on 12 December 1975. Entitled "Is Poetry Still Possible?", he spoke about the art ofpoetry and poetry's place in the modern world ofmass communication.^[8]

• Award ceremony speech nobelprize.org
• Eugenio Montale Nobel lecture nobelprize.org

• Nobel Prize in Literature by year
• 1975 literary awards

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