 1909 Nobel Prize in Literature | |
|---|---|
| Selma Lagerlöf | |
 "in appreciation of the lofty idealism, vivid imagination and spiritual perception that characterize her writings." | |
| Date |
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| Location | Stockholm, Sweden |
| Presented by | Swedish Academy |
| First award | 1901 |
| Website | Official website |
The1909 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the Swedish authorSelma Lagerlöf (1858–1940) "in appreciation of the lofty idealism, vivid imagination and spiritual perception that characterize her writings."[2] She became the first woman and first Swede to be awarded the prize.
Selma Lagerlöf's authorship is deeply rooted infolk tales,legends, and stories from her home district inVärmland County, Sweden. Her début novel,Gösta Berling's Saga (1891), broke away from the then-prevailing realism and naturalism and is characterized by a vivid imagination. Even so, her works provide realistic depictions of people's circumstances, ideas, and social lives during the 19th-century religious revival. Lagerlöf wrote in prose and her stories characterized by a captivating descriptive power and their language by purity and clarity.[3] Among her significant novels includeJerusalem (1901–02),Nils Holgerssons underbara resa genom Sverige ("The Wonderful Adventures of Nil", 1907),Körkarlen ("Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness!", 1912), andThe Ring of the Löwenskölds (1925–28).[4]
In 1914, Lagerlöf became a member of theSwedish Academy, the first woman to be so honored.[5] She nominatedGeorg Brandes for the 1920 and 1922 Nobel prize.[6]
Selma Lagerlöf received 28 nominations since1904. Her highest number of nominations (11 nominations) were for the 1909 prize with which she was awarded eventually.[6] In total, the Nobel committee received 38 nominations for 21 writers includingAngelo de Gubernatis,Maurice Maeterlinck (awarded in1911),Iwan Gilkin, andJaroslav Vrchlický. Seven of the nominees were nominated for the first time includingErnest Lavisse,Verner von Heidenstam (awarded in1916),Martin Greif, andÉmile Verhaeren.[7]
The authorsGustaf af Geijerstam,Innokenty Annensky,Jakub Bart-Ćišinski,Rosa Nouchette Carey,Euclides da Cunha,John Davidson,Amalia Domingo Soler,George Manville Fenn,Clyde Fitch,Jacob Gordin,Sarah Orne Jewett,Cesare Lombroso,Luis Alfredo Martínez,Clorinda Matto de Turner,Catulle Mendès,Alfredo Oriani,Signe Rink,John Millington Synge,Renée Vivien,Rudolf von Gottschall,Detlev von Liliencron,Ernst von Wildenbruch, andEgerton Ryerson Young died in 1909 without having been nominated for the prize.
| No. | Nominee | Country | Genre(s) | Nominator(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paul Bourget (1852–1935) |  France | novel, short story, literary criticism, essays | René Bazin (1853–1932) |
| 2 | Borden Parker Bowne (1847–1910) |  United States | philosophy, theology, essays | Henry MacCracken (1840–1918) |
| 3 | Francesco D'Ovidio (1849–1925) |  Italy | philology, literary criticism | Ernesto Monaci (1844–1918) |
| 4 | Angelo de Gubernatis (1840–1913) | Italy | drama, essays, philology, poetry |
|
| 5 | Eugène-Melchior de Vogüé (1848–1910) | France | essays, literary criticism | Albert Vandal (1853–1910) |
| 6 | Anatole France (1844–1924) | France | poetry, essays, drama, novel, literary criticism | Paul Hervieu (1857–1915) |
| 7 | Iwan Gilkin[a] (1858–1924) |  Belgium | poetry | Ernest Discailles (1837–1914) |
| 8 | Martin Greif (1839–1911) |  Germany | poetry, drama | 20 professors fromBreslau,Prague,Leipzig,Liège,Innsbruck, etc. |
| 9 | Ángel Guimerá Jorge (1845–1924) |  Spain | drama, poetry | 18 members of theReial Acadèmia de Bones Lletres de Barcelona |
| 10 | Selma Lagerlöf (1858–1940) |  Sweden | novel, short story |
|
| 11 | Ernest Lavisse (1842–1922) | France | history | Frédéric Masson (1847–1923) |
| 12 | Salvador Rueda Santos (1857–1933) | Spain | poetry, essays | 4 professors of theComplutense University of Madrid |
| 13 | Maurice Maeterlinck (1862–1949) | Belgium | drama, poetry, essays |
|
| 14 | John Morley (1838–1923) |  Great Britain | biography, literary criticism, essays | 8 members of theBritish Society of Authors |
| 15 | Georgios Souris (1853–1919) |  Greece | poetry, songwriting |
|
| 16 | Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909) | Great Britain | poetry, drama, literary criticism, novel |
|
| 17 | Émile Verhaeren (1855–1916) | Belgium | poetry, essays |
|
| 18 | Charles Wagner[c] (1852–1918) | France | theology, philosophy | Bernard Bouvier (1861–1941) |
| 19 | Verner von Heidenstam (1859–1940) | Sweden | novel, short story, poetry | Carl Carlson Bonde (1850–1913) |
| 20 | Jaroslav Vrchlický (1853–1912) |  Austria-Hungary(  Czechoslovakia) | poetry, drama, translation | Arnošt Kraus (1859–1943) |
| 21 | Alexandru Dimitrie Xenopol (1847–1920) |  Romania | history, philosophy, essays | Ion Găvănescu (1859–1949) |
Nobel committee chairCarl David af Wirsén had for years fiercely opposed the proposals to award Selma Lagerlöf the Nobel Prize in Literature. Wirsén advocatedAlgernon Swinburne who competed against Lagerlöf as the main candidate for the 1908 prize, but following Swinburne's death Lagerlöf received a strong support from the other members of theSwedish Academy in 1909. In addition to a joint nomination from eight members of the Swedish Academy, the Nobel committee received ten nominations for Lagerlöf from prominent professors in Sweden and Denmark, including one proposal of a shared prize to Lagerlöf andVerner von Heidenstam. On 11 November 1909 a large majority of the members of the Swedish Academy voted to award Lagerlöf the Nobel Prize in Literature as the first Swedish and first female recipient of the award.[8][9]
The choice of Swedish writerSelma Lagerlöf as Nobel laureate in 1909 (for the "lofty idealism, vivid imagination and spiritual perception that characterizes her writings") followed fierce debate because of her writing style and subject matter, which broke literary decorums of the time.[10][11][12] In the French newspaperLe Figaro the award to Lagerlöf was enthusiastically received. "All of her work", reporter Marc Hélys wrote, "bears the mark of her nobel soul; all of it, all the way to the shortest of her stories, all the way to the delicious volume composed for children:The Wonderful Adventures of Nils". The positive recognition was complemented by a short story by Lagerlöf published in the paper'sSupplément littéraire the same day.[13]
In his award ceremony speech on 10 December 1909,Claes Annerstedt of theSwedish Academy said:
"Geijer,Tegnér, orRuneberg, to mention only them, could justly have laid claim to the Nobel Prize, and the development which these great men have started has grown to fuller bloom. But among the writers of the younger generation who have contributed so much to our literature, there is one name that enjoys the special splendour of a star of the first magnitude. In the works of Selma Lagerlöf we seem to recognize the purest and best features of our Great Swedish Mother."[14]
During Lagerlöf's acceptance speech, she remained humble and told a fantastic story of her father, as she 'visited him in heaven'. In the story, she asks her father for help with the debt she owes and her father explains the debt is from all the people who supported her throughout her career.[15][16] Lagerlöf explains that she remembered her father the moment she received the prize, saying:
"But then I thought of my father and felt a deep sorrow that he should no longer be alive, and that I could not go to him and tell him that I had been awarded the Nobel Prize. I knew that no one would have been happier than he to hear this. Never have I met anyone with his love and respect for the written word and its creators, and I wished that he could have known that the Swedish Academy had bestowed on me this great Prize. Yes, it was a deep sorrow to me that I could not tell him."[16]
