 1968 Nobel Prize in Literature | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yasunari Kawabata | ||||
 "for his narrative mastery, which with great sensibility expresses the essence of the Japanese mind." | ||||
| Date |
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| Location | Stockholm, Sweden | |||
| Presented by | Swedish Academy | |||
| First award | 1901 | |||
| Website | Official website | |||
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The1968Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the Japanese writerYasunari Kawabata (1899–1972) "for his narrative mastery, which with great sensibility expresses the essence of the Japanese mind."[1] He is the first Japanese recipient of the prize.
Yasunari Kawabata's short storyIzu no odoriko ("The Dancing Girl of Izu"), first published in 1926, served as his literary debut. After producing a number of noteworthy works, Kawabata's 1937 novelYukiguni ("Snow Country") established him as one of Japan's most renowned writers. In 1949, he published two serial novelsSenbazuru ("Thousand Cranes") andYama no Oto. His later works includeMizuumi ("The Lake", 1955) andKoto ("The Old Capital", 1962). Both in the author's home country and abroad, The Old Capital left the biggest impression.[2][3]
Kawabata was nominated on 8 occasions starting in1961. He was annually nominated with single nominations made by members of theSwedish Academy. In 1968, his nomination was made byEyvind Johnson, member of the said academy.[4]
In total, theNobel Committee received 112 nominations for 76 writers from various academics, literary critics and societies. Among the repeated nominees wereEzra Pound andE. M. Forster – both dismissed on account of their advancing ages[5] –Max Frisch,Louis Aragon,Charles de Gaulle,Graham Greene,Vladimir Nabokov andEugène Ionesco – the latter two authors were set aside because of their controversial works.[5] Nineteen of the nominees were newly nominated such asPatrick White (awarded in1973),Luis Buñuel,Claude Lévi-Strauss,Friedebert Tuglas,Tadeusz Różewicz,Vladimír Holan,Angus Wilson,Zbigniew Herbert, andSławomir Mrożek. The oldest nominee was the Spanish philologistRamón Menéndez Pidal (aged 99) and the youngest wasSławomir Mrożek (aged 38). Five of the nominees were women namelyMarie Under,Anna Seghers,Marianne Moore,Mildred Breedlove, andKatherine Anne Porter.[6]
The authorsKarl Barth,Charles Bean,Joaquín Edwards Bello,Enid Mary Blyton,Max Brod,Abel Bonnard,Anthony Boucher,Helen Cam,León Felipe Camino,Jacques Chardonne,Donald Davidson,Pablo de Rokha,Margaret Duley,Edna Ferber,Romano Guardini,Germaine Guèvremont,D. Gwenallt Jones,Fannie Hurst,Anna Kavan,Helen Keller,Alexandre Kojève,Zofia Kossak-Szczucka,Donagh MacDonagh,Dorothea Mackellar,Thomas Merton,Harold Nicolson,Mervyn Peake,Sixto Pondal Ríos,Conrad Richter,Marah Roesli, andTian Han died in 1968 without having been nominated for the prize.
| No. | Nominee | Country | Genre(s) | Nominator(s)[a] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jorge Amado (1912–2001) |  Brazil | novel, short story |
|
| 2 | Jean Anouilh (1910–1987) |  France | drama, screenplay, translation |
|
| 3 | Louis Aragon (1897–1982) | France | novel, short story, poetry, essays |
|
| 4 | Alexandre Arnoux (1884–1973) | France | screenplay | François Bar (?) |
| 5 | Wystan Hugh Auden (1907–1973) |  United Kingdom United States | poetry, essays, screenplay | |
| 6 | Agustí Bartra (1908–1982) |  Spain | poetry, songwriting, translation | |
| 7 | Samuel Beckett (1906–1989) |  Ireland | novel, drama, poetry |
|
| 8 | Henri Bosco (1888–1976) | France | novel, short story | |
| 9 | Mildred Breedlove (1904–1994) | United States | poetry | United Poets Laureate International |
| 10 | Luis Buñuel (1900–1983) | Spain | screenplay | |
| 11 | Heinrich Böll (1917–1985) |  West Germany | novel, short story | Gustav Korlén (1915–2014) |
| 12 | Paul Celan (1920–1970) |  RomaniaFrance | poetry, translation | |
| 13 | André Chamson (1900–1983) | France | novel, essays |
|
| 14 | René Char (1907–1988) | France | poetry | |
| 15 | Charles de Gaulle (1890–1970) | France | memoir, essays | |
| 16 | Joseph Delteil (1894–1978) | France | poetry, novel, short story, essays | |
| 17 | Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921–1990) |  Switzerland | drama, novel, short story, essays | Gustav Siebenmann (born 1923) |
| 18 | Gunnar Ekelöf (1907–1968) |  Sweden | poetry, essays |
|
| 19 | Mircea Eliade (1907–1986) | RomaniaUnited States | history, philosophy, essays, autobiography, novel, short story | Stig Wikander (1908–1983) |
| 20 | Konstantin Fedin (1892–1977) |  Soviet Union | novel, poetry, essays | Union of Soviet Writers |
| 21 | Edward Morgan Forster (1879–1970) | United Kingdom | novel, short story, drama, essays, biography, literary criticism | Georg Roppen (1919–1983) |
| 21 | Max Frisch (1911–1991) | Switzerland | novel, drama | |
| 22 | Jean Giono (1895–1970) | France | novel, short story, essays, poetry, drama | |
| 23 | Witold Gombrowicz (1904–1969) |  Poland | short story, novel, drama | |
| 24 | Robert Graves (1895–1985) | United Kingdom | history, novel, poetry, literary criticism, essays | |
| 25 | Graham Greene (1904–1991) | United Kingdom | novel, short story, autobiography, essays | Karl Ragnar Gierow (1904–1982) |
| 26 | Jorge Guillén (1893–1984) | Spain | poetry, literary criticism | |
| 27 | Zbigniew Herbert (1924–1998) | Poland | poetry, essays, short story, drama | Karl Ragnar Gierow (1904–1982) |
| 28 | Alberto Hidalgo Lobato (1897–1967) |  Peru | poetry, essays | |
| 29 | Vladimír Holan (1905–1980) |  Czechoslovakia | poetry, essays | Gunnar Jakobsson (1886–1972) |
| 30 | Hans Egon Holthusen (1913–1997) | West Germany | poetry, literary criticism, essays | |
| 31 | Taha Hussein (1889–1973) |  Egypt | novel, short story, poetry, translation | |
| 32 | Eugène Ionesco (1909–1994) | RomaniaFrance | drama, essays |
|
| 33 | Marcel Jouhandeau (1888–1979) | France | short story, novel | |
| 34 | Pierre Jean Jouve (1887–1976) | France | poetry, novel, literary criticism | |
| 35 | Yasunari Kawabata (1899–1972) |  Japan | novel, short story | Eyvind Johnson (1900–1976) |
| 36 | Miroslav Krleža (1893–1981) |  Yugoslavia | poetry, drama, short story, novel, essays | |
| 37 | Erich Kästner (1899–1974) | West Germany | poetry, screenplay, autobiography | PEN Centre Germany |
| 38 | Claude Lévi-Strauss (1908–2008) |  BelgiumFrance | philosophy, essays | |
| 39 | Robert Lowell (1917–1977) | United States | poetry, translation |
|
| 40 | Hugh MacDiarmid (1892–1978) | United Kingdom | poetry, essays | David Daiches (1912–2005) |
| 41 | Compton Mackenzie (1883–1972) | United Kingdom | novel, short story, drama, poetry, history, biography, essays, literary criticism, memoir |
|
| 42 | André Malraux (1901–1976) | France | novel, essays, literary criticism | |
| 43 | Gustave Lucien Martin-Saint-René (1888–1973) | France | poetry, novel, essays, literary criticism, drama, songwriting, short story | |
| 44 | Segismundo Masel (1895–1985) |  Argentina | essays | Antonio de Tornes Ballesteros (?) |
| 45 | Ramón Menéndez Pidal (1869–1968) | Spain | philology, history | |
| 46 | Yukio Mishima (1925–1970) | Japan | novel, short story, drama, literary criticism | Henry Olsson (1896–1985) |
| 47 | Eugenio Montale (1896–1981) |  Italy | poetry, translation | |
| 48 | Henry de Montherlant (1895–1972) | France | essays, novel, drama |
|
| 49 | Marianne Moore (1887–1972) | United States | poetry, literary criticism, essays, translation | Erik Lindegren (1910–1968) |
| 50 | Alberto Moravia (1907–1990) | Italy | novel, literary criticism, essays, drama | |
| 51 | Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977) |  RussiaUnited States | novel, short story, poetry, drama, translation, literary criticism, memoir |
|
| 52 | Pablo Neruda (1904–1973) |  Chile | poetry | |
| 53 | Junzaburō Nishiwaki (1894–1982) | Japan | poetry, literary criticism | |
| 54 | Germán Pardo García (1902–1991) |  Colombia Mexico | poetry |
|
| 55 | Konstantin Paustovsky (1892–1968) | Soviet Union | novel, poetry, drama | |
| 56 | Katherine Anne Porter (1890–1980) | United States | short story, essays | |
| 57 | Ezra Pound (1885–1972) | United States | poetry, essays | |
| 58 | Tadeusz Rózewicz (1921–2014) | Poland | poetry, drama, translation | |
| 59 | Anna Seghers (1900–1983) |  East Germany | novel, short story | |
| 60 | Jaroslav Seifert (1901–1986) | Czechoslovakia | poetry, memoir, translation | |
| 61 | Claude Simon (1913–2005) | France | novel, essays | Lars Gyllensten (1921–2006) |
| 62 | Pierre-Henri Simon (1903–1972) | France | essays, novel, literary criticism, poetry | |
| 63 | Gustave Thibon (1903–2001) | France | philosophy | Édouard Delebecque (1910–1990) |
| 64 | Friedebert Tuglas (1886–1971) |  Estonia | short story, literary criticism | The Finnish PEN Club |
| 65 | Pietro Ubaldi (1886–1972) | Italy | philosophy, essays | |
| 66 | Marie Under (1883–1980) | Estonia | poetry | The Finnish PEN Club |
| 67 | Mika Waltari (1908–1979) |  Finland | short story, novel, poetry, drama, essays, screenplay | Esko Pennanen (1912–1990) |
| 68 | Peter Vansittart (1920–2008) | United Kingdom | novel, essays, memoir | Herbert Howarth (1900–1971) |
| 69 | Erico Verissimo (1905–1975) | Brazil | novel, short story, autobiography, essays, translation | |
| 70 | Tarjei Vesaas (1897–1970) |  Norway | poetry, novel |
|
| 71 | Simon Vestdijk (1898–1971) |  Netherlands | novel, poetry, essays, translation |
|
| 72 | Patrick White (1912–1990) |  Australia | novel, short story, drama, poetry, autobiography | Muriel Clara Bradbrook (1909–1993) |
| 72 | Kazimierz Wierzyński (1894–1969) | Poland | poetry, essays | |
| 73 | Thornton Wilder (1897–1975) | United States | drama, novel, short story |
|
| 74 | Angus Wilson (1913–1991) | United Kingdom | novel, short story, essays | Nicholas Brooke (1924–1998) |
| 75 | Edmund Wilson (1895–1972) | United States | essays, literary criticism, short story, drama | Wiktor Weintraub (1908–1988) |
| 76 | Sławomir Mrożek (1930–2013) | Poland | drama, essays | Karl Ragnar Gierow (1904–1982) |
The leading contenders for the prize in 1968 were the French novelistAndré Malraux and the Irish playwrightSamuel Beckett (awarded in1969). The third proposal by the Nobel Committee was the British poetW. H. Auden and Kawabata was the fourth.Anders Österling, chair of the committee, and committee memberEyvind Johnson pushed for the choice of Malraux, while the other three members of the committee supported a prize for Beckett. Eventually Kawabata was the candidate that could be agreed upon, following theSwedish Academy's ambition in the 1960s to award authors from different language areas and parts of the world.[8] The committee had deliberated the Japanese authorsJun'ichirō Tanizaki and Yasunari Kawabata since 1960 and even sent a representative to Japan to survey who was the most popular writer.[8] A shared prize to Tanizaki and Kawabata had been proposed before Tanizaki's death in 1965.[8] In 1968, the committee also consideredYukio Mishima, a Japanese author of a younger generation.[8] While supporting a prize for Malraux, Österling admitted that a prize for Kawabata "should prove justified and welcome."[5]
Donald Keene, aJapanese literature scholar and professor, was surprised that the Swedish Academy had not awardedYukio Mishima the prize, but said that Kawabata "certainly deserved the recognition". According to Keene, the prize decision was "greeted with something approaching national delirium" in Japan, but that the Japanese at the same time were puzzled how Kawabata could be understood in the Western world: "Of all contemporary Japanese writers Kawabata is most closely concerned with the objects and landscapes of traditional Japan, and he employs an allusive, indirect style stemming from the old literature, rather than the straightforward expression other Japanese novelists have borrowed from the West. Certainly Kawabata's best novels are not considered easy reading even by the Japanese, and it puzzles them that the Committee in Stockholm should have chosen so intensely Japanese a writer."[9]
In 1970,Artur Lundkvist, a member of theSwedish Academy and its Nobel committee expressed dissatisfaction with the choice of Kawabata: "Sure he is a representative of the Japanese tea drinking traditions and cherryflowers and that. But he says nothing about the Japanese reality", Lundkvist said, "In that sense I think Mikima [Yukio Mishima] in his writing has a better grip on the realities in Japan."[10]
Kawabata's Nobel Lecture was titledJapan, The Beautiful and Myself (美しい日本の私―その序説).Zen Buddhism was a key focal point of the speech; much was devoted to practitioners and the general practices of Zen Buddhism and how it differed from other types of Buddhism. He presented a severe picture of Zen Buddhism, where disciples can enter salvation only through their efforts, where they are isolated for several hours at a time, and how from this isolation there can come beauty. He noted that Zen practices focus on simplicity and it is this simplicity that proves to be the beauty. "The heart of the ink painting is in space, abbreviation, what is left undrawn." From painting he moved on to talk aboutikebana andbonsai as art forms that emphasize the elegance and beauty that arises from the simplicity. "TheJapanese garden, too, of course symbolizes the vastness of nature."[11]
In addition to the numerous mentions of Zen and nature, one topic that was briefly mentioned in Kawabata's lecture was that of suicide. Kawabata reminisced of other famous Japanese authors who committed suicide, in particularRyūnosuke Akutagawa. He contradicted the custom of suicide as being a form of enlightenment, mentioning the priestIkkyū, who also thought of suicide twice. He quoted Ikkyū, "Among those who give thoughts to things, is there one who does not think of suicide?" There was much speculation about this quote being a clue to Kawabata's suicide in 1972, a year and a half afterMishima had committed suicide.[12]
