 1959 Nobel Prize in Literature | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salvatore Quasimodo | ||||
 "for his lyrical poetry, which with classical fire expresses the tragic experience of life in our own times." | ||||
| Date |
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| Location | Stockholm, Sweden | |||
| Presented by | Swedish Academy | |||
| First award | 1901 | |||
| Website | Official website | |||
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The1959Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the Italian poetSalvatore Quasimodo (1901–1968) "for his lyrical poetry, which with classical fire expresses the tragic experience of life in our own times"[1] He is the fourth Italian recipient of the said prize.[2]
Salvatore Quasimodo was an Italian poet, critic and translator. He published his first poetry inNuovo giornale letterario ("New Literary Journal"), which he created in 1917. His first collection of poems,Acque e terre ("Waters and Lands"), appeared in 1930, and beginning in 1938, he devoted himself entirely to writing. The two schools of poetry that are typically used to categorize his work arehermetic andpost-hermetic.World War II caused a shift in the poet's style. Hermetic poetry rejected the use of words as a means of verbal coercion and believed that words have a subjective meaning that is determined more by their sound than by their actual meaning.[3] Along withGiuseppe Ungaretti andEugenio Montale, he was one of the foremost Italian poets of the 20th century.[3][4]
Salvatore Quasimodo was nominated for the Nobel prize in literature twice, in 1958 (by 3 different nominators), and in 1959.[5]
In total, theNobel committee received 83 nominations for 56 authors, including nominations forSaint-John Perse (awarded in1960),Ivo Andrić (awarded in1961),John Steinbeck (awarded in1962),Jean-Paul Sartre (awarded in1964),Karen Blixen,André Malraux,Romulo Gallegos,Carl Sandburg,Graham Greene,Aldous Huxley,John Cowper Powys,Alberto Moravia,Ignazio Silone,Ezra Pound,E. M. Forster,Ramón Menéndez Pidal,Martin Buber,William Somerset Maugham,Thornton Wilder andTarjei Vesaas. Twenty of the nominees were new recommendations, includingErnest Claes,Osbert Sitwell,Sacheverell Sitwell,Martin Heidegger,Juana de Ibarbourou,Heimito von Doderer,María Raquel Adler,Miguel Torga,Arnold Zweig,Étienne Gilson,Louis Aragon,Anna Seghers,Frank Raymond Leavis,Max Frisch andJulien Gracq. Most nominations, seven, were submitted for the Polish authorMaria Dabrowska. There were women nominated namely:Elizabeth Goudge, Maria Dabrowska, Juana de Ibarbourou, Karen Blixen, Anna Seghers,Edith Sitwell,Gertrud von le Fort and María Raquel Adler.[6]
The authorsMaxwell Anderson,Emil František Burian,Raymond Chandler,G. D. H. Cole,Laxmi Prasad Devkota,Laurence Housman,Hans Henny Jahnn,Edwin Muir,Luis Palés Matos,Benjamin Péret,Marta Rădulescu,Alfred Schütz,Galaktion Tabidze,José Vasconcelos,Boris Vian,Arthur Henry Ward (known as Sax Rohmer) andPercy F. Westerman died in 1959 without having been nominated for the prize.
| No. | Nominee | Country | Genre(s) | Nominator(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | María Raquel Adler (c. 1900–1974) |  Argentina | poetry, essays | Consejo del Escritor |
| 2 | Stefan Andres (1906–1970) |  West Germany | novel, short story | Josef Quint (1898–1976) |
| 3 | Ivo Andrić (1892–1975) |  Yugoslavia | novel, short story, poetry |
|
| 4 | Louis Aragon (1897–1982) |  France | novel, short story, poetry, essays |
|
| 5 | Werner Bergengruen (1892–1964) | West Germany | novel, short story, poetry | Josef Quint (1898–1976) |
| 6 | Karen Blixen (1885–1962) |  Denmark | novel, short story, memoir | Hjalmar Gullberg (1898–1961) |
| 7 | Martin Buber (1878–1965) |  Austria Israel | philosophy | Simon Halkin (1899–1987) |
| 8 | Ernest Claes (1885–1968) |  Belgium | novel, short story, drama | W. F. Mainland (?) |
| 9 | Maria Dąbrowska (1889–1965) |  Poland | novel, short story, essays, drama, literary criticism |
|
| 10 | Gonzague de Reynold (1880–1970) |  Switzerland | history, essays, biography, memoir |
|
| 11 | Edward Morgan Forster (1879–1970) |  United Kingdom | novel, short story, drama, essays, biography, literary criticism |
|
| 12 | Max Frisch (1911–1991) | Switzerland | novel, drama | Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities |
| 13 | Christopher Fry (1907–2005) | United Kingdom | poetry, drama, screenplay | Werner Kohlschmidt (1904–1983) |
| 14 | Rómulo Gallegos (1884–1969) |  Venezuela | novel, short story |
|
| 15 | Étienne Gilson (1884–1978) | France | philosophy | Fritz Schalk (1902–1980) |
| 16 | Jean Giono (1895–1970) | France | novel, short story, essays, poetry, drama | Henrik Cornell (1890–1981) |
| 17 | Julien Gracq (1910–2007) | France | novel, poetry, drama, literary criticism | André Lebois (1915–1978) |
| 18 | Graham Greene (1904–1991) | United Kingdom | novel, short story, autobiography, essays |
|
| 19 | Elizabeth Goudge (1900–1984) | United Kingdom | novel, short story, biography, autobiography | Edmond Privat (1889–1962) |
| 20 | Martin Heidegger (1889–1976) | West Germany | philosophy, essays | Josef Quint (1898–1976) |
| 21 | Hans Egon Holthusen (1913–1997) | West Germany | poetry, literary criticism, essays | Helmut Viebrock (1912–1997) |
| 22 | Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) | United Kingdom | novel, short story, essays, poetry, screenplay, drama, philosophy |
|
| 23 | Juana de Ibarbourou (1892–1979) |  Uruguay | poetry, essays |
|
| 24 | Rudolf Kassner (1873–1959) | Austria | philosophy, essays, translation |
|
| 25 | Miroslav Krleža (1893–1981) | Yugoslavia | poetry, drama, short story, novel, essays | Association of Writers of Yugoslavia |
| 26 | Frank Raymond Leavis (1895–1978) | United Kingdom | literary criticism, essays | Cecil Arthur Hackett (1908–2000) |
| 27 | André Malraux (1901–1976) | France | novel, essays, literary criticism |
|
| 28 | William Somerset Maugham (1874–1965) | United Kingdom | novel, short story, drama, essays | Robert Niklaus (1910–2001) |
| 29 | Charles Mauron (1899–1966) | France | essays, literary criticism, translation | Charles Rostaing (1904–1999) |
| 30 | Ramón Menéndez Pidal (1869–1968) |  Spain | philology, history |
|
| 31 | Alberto Moravia (1907–1990) |  Italy | novel, literary criticism, essays, drama | Hjalmar Gullberg (1898–1961) |
| 32 | Seán O'Casey (1880–1964) |  Ireland | drama, memoir | Geoffrey Tillotson (1905–1969) |
| 33 | Marcel Pagnol (1895–1974) | France | novel, memoir, drama, screenplay | Marcel Clavel (1894–1976) |
| 34 | Jan Parandowski (1895–1978) | Poland | essays, translation | Ananiasz Zajączkowski (1903–1970) |
| 35 | Saint-John Perse (1887–1975) | France | poetry |
|
| 36 | Ezra Pound (1885–1972) |  United States | poetry, essays | Johannes Edfelt (1904–1997) |
| 37 | John Cowper Powys (1872–1963) | United Kingdom | philosophy, novel, literary criticism, poetry, essays, short story | G. Wilson Knight (1897–1985) |
| 38 | Vasco Pratolini (1913–1991) | Italy | novel, short story | Paul Renucci (1915–1976) |
| 39 | Salvatore Quasimodo (1901–1968) | Italy | poetry, translation | Carlo Bo (1911–2001) |
| 40 | Mario Roques (1875–1961) |  PeruFrance | history, philology, essays | Ida-Marie Frandon (1907–1997) |
| 41 | Sochi Raut Roy (1916–2004) |  India | poetry, novel, short story | Radhakamal Mukerjee (1889–1968) |
| 42 | Carl Sandburg (1878–1967) | United States | poetry, essays, biography | Roger Asselineau (1915–2002) |
| 43 | Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980) | France | philosophy, novel, drama, essays, screenplay |
|
| 44 | Jean Schlumberger (1877–1968) | France | poetry, essays | Pierre Legouis (1891–1973) |
| 45 | Anna Seghers (1900–1983) |  East Germany | novel, short story | Erich Kühne (1917–2016) |
| 46 | Ignazio Silone (1900–1978) | Italy | novel, short story, essays, drama | Hjalmar Gullberg (1898–1961) |
| 47 | Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) | United Kingdom | poetry, essays, memoir | Alexander Gillies (1907–1982) |
| 48 | Osbert Sitwell (1892–1969) | United Kingdom | novel, short story, essays, autobiography | |
| 49 | Sacheverell Sitwell (1897–1988) | United Kingdom | poetry, essays | |
| 50 | John Steinbeck (1902–1968) | United States | novel, short story, screenplay | Eugène Vinaver (1899–1979) |
| 51 | Miguel Torga (1907–1995) |  Portugal | poetry, short story, novel, drama, autobiography | Jean-Baptiste Aquarone (1903–1989) |
| 52 | Tarjei Vesaas (1897–1970) |  Norway | poetry, novel |
|
| 53 | Heimito von Doderer (1896–1966) | Austria | novel, short story, poetry, essays | Hans Neumann (1903–1990) |
| 54 | Gertrud von Le Fort (1876–1971) | West Germany | novel, short story, essays, poetry | Friedrich von der Leyen (1873–1966) |
| 55 | Thornton Wilder (1897–1975) | United States | drama, novel, short story | Josef Quint (1898–1976) |
| 56 | Arnold Zweig (1887–1968) | East Germany | novel, short story | Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities |
The Nobel committee was almost unanimous to propose that the Danish authorKaren Blixen should be awarded the 1959 Nobel Prize in Literature. Committee chairmanAnders Österling advocated a prize for Blixen, citing her "undubitable masterpiece"Out of Africa, and her short stories in which "she has created her own genre," that "at the high points are shining with ingenious fantasy and spiritual human knowledge". Two other members of the Nobel committee also supported a prize to Blixen.[7]
But the fourth committee memberEyvind Johnson (who himself fifteen years later would accept the1974 Nobel Prize in Literature) opposed a prize to Blixen arguing that Scandinavians were overrepresentated among the Nobel laureates in literature. Johnson instead proposed a prize to a representative of the "rich, modern Italian literature", arguing that the Italian literature had been neglected and such a decision "would everywhere be perceived as a testification of the Academy's vigilance and be appreciated all over the literary world". Salvatore Quasimodo was Johnson's first proposal, followed byIgnazio Silone andAlberto Moravia.[7]
Unconventionally, the members of theSwedish Academy did not follow the Nobel committees recommendation to award Blixen, but was convinced about Quasimodo's candidacy and surprisingly awarded him the prize.[7]
The choice of Quasimodo was largely met with negative reactions. The Swedish newspaperAftonbladet criticized the Swedish Academy for "rewarding mediocrity" and many Italian critics agreed.[8] Commentators have argued that there were other Italian poets such asGiuseppe Ungaretti andEugenio Montale (awarded in 1975) who would have been more worthy of the prize.[7][9] Nonetheless, C.M. Bowra of theNew York Times said upon the prize announcement that "The Swedish Academy has shown a wise judgment and a welcome courage in giving the Nobel Prize for Literature to the Italian poet, Salvatore Quasimodo."[10]
Retrospectively, the decision to deny Karen Blixen the prize in favour of Quasimodo was called "reverse provincialism" by a Danish commentator when the Nobel records were opened after fifty years in 2010.[11] The same year,Kjell Espmark of theSwedish Academy described the Academy's rejection of Blixen as a mistake, saying that Blixen would likely have been better accepted internationally than other Scandinavian Nobel laureates and that an opportunity to correct the underrepresention of female laureates was regrettably missed.[12]
In 1985, American culture critic James Gardner noted: "Even the Italians seem to feel that the bestowal upon Quasimodo of the 1959 Nobel Prize for Literature was vastly in excess of his artistic attainments. For not only was it disputed that he possessed that Olympian stature implicit in the conferring of this last dignity upon a living author, it was also unclear why he should have been preferred before his two fellow Hermeticists Eugenio Montale and Giuseppe Ungaretti, or a dozen other Italian poets who were felt to be not only more melodious and more profound, but also much more easily understood. One solution to this mystery, which in its way is as peculiar and intractable as many of his poems, might be Quasimodo’s role in the Resistance, which would have cleared him of any taint of fascism, and then his sympathies with the Left, which in poets is always construed as a positive virtue."[13]
