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1960 Nobel Prize in Literature

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1960 Nobel Prize in Literature
Saint-John Perse
"for the soaring flight and the evocative imagery of his poetry which in a visionary fashion reflects the conditions of our time."
Date
  • 26 October 1960 (announcement)
  • 10 December 1960
    (ceremony)
LocationStockholm, Sweden
Presented bySwedish Academy
First awarded1901
WebsiteOfficial website
← 1959 · Nobel Prize in Literature · 1961 →

The 1960 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the French poet Saint-John Perse (1887–1975) "for the soaring flight and the evocative imagery of his poetry which in a visionary fashion reflects the conditions of our time" [1][2]

Laureate

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Main article: Saint-John Perse

Sain-John Perse, pseudonym for Alexis Leger, was born in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, where his family owned two plantations: a coffee and a sugar plantation. His family went back to France in 1899 and settled in Pau. In 1911, he published his first poetry collection Éloges and Other Poems which was almost completely ignored at the time, and one of the few writers who paid it any attention was Marcel Proust, who praised him as a creative young poet, but afterwards, in 1912, he started earning steady success with the help of Valery Larbaud and André Gide. His poetry, admired especially by literary circles, has been compared to that of Arthur Rimbaud. In 1914, he joined the French diplomatic service and spent many years abroad in various countries. While working as a consul in China, he wrote Anabase ("Anabasis", 1924), an epic poem that puzzled many critics. In 1940, he began a long exile in the U.S. in Washington, D.C. wherein much of his poetry has a profoundly personal tone, as in Exil (1942; "Exile"), Vents (1946; "Winds") and Amers (1957; "Seamarks").[3]

Nominations

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Saint-John Perse was nominated for the prize 15 times, including one nomination by 1937 Nobel laureate Roger Martin du Gard in 1956 and three nominations by the 1948 Nobel Prize laureate T. S. Eliot in 1955, 1958 and 1960.[4]

In total, the Nobel committee received 70 nominations including nominations for 58 authors, including Ivo Andric (awarded in 1961), John Steinbeck (awarded in 1962), Jean-Paul Sartre (awarded in 1964), Robert Frost, André Malraux, Romulo Gallegos, Aldous Huxley, Louis Aragon, Johan Falkberget, Karl Jaspers, Martin Heidegger, Alberto Moravia, Ignazio Silone, Ezra Pound, Julien Gracq, E. M. Forster, Ramón Menéndez Pidal, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Junichiro Tanizaki, Miguel Torga and Tarjei Vesaas.[5] Fourteen of the nominees were newly nominated namely Heinrich Böll (awarded in 1972), Wesley LaViolette, Aquilino Ribeiro, Marie Noël, Jean Price-Mars, James Thurber, Franz Theodor Csokor, Stratis Myrivilis, Elias Venezis, Aksel Sandemose, John Boyton Priestley and René Char. There were only four women nominated namely Maria Dąbrowska, Marie Noël, Juana de Ibarbourou and Karen Blixen.[5]

The authors Sibilla Aleramo, Vicki Baum, Ya'akov Cahan, Ralph Chubb, Hjalmar Dahl, Harold Lenoir Davis, Leonora Eyles, Paul Fort, Ethel Voynich, Ferdynand Goetel, Sigurd Hoel, Zora Neale Hurston, Raïssa Maritain, Elsie J. Oxenham, Pierre Reverdy, Nevil Shute, Tetsuro Watsuji and Richard Wright died in 1960 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 Ivo Andrić (1892–1975)  Yugoslavia novel, short story, poetry
2 Louis Aragon (1897–1982)  France novel, short story, poetry, essays Henry Olsson (1896–1985)
3 Werner Bergengruen (1892–1964)  West Germany novel, short story, poetry Wolfgang Stammler (1886–1965)
4 Karen Blixen (1885–1962)  Denmark novel, short story, memoir Günther Jungbluth (1912–1976)
5 Heinrich Böll (1917–1985)  West Germany novel, short story Gustav Korlén (1915–2014)
6 René Char (1907–1988)  France poetry Georges Blin (1917–2005)
7 Franz Theodor Csokor (1885–1969)  Austria drama, essays, poetry, autobiography The Austrian PEN-Club
8 Maria Dąbrowska (1889–1965)  Poland novel, short story, essays, drama, literary criticism The Polish PEN-Club
9 Henry de Montherlant (1895–1972)  France essays, novel, drama Henri Morier (1910–2004)
10 Gonzague de Reynold (1880–1970)   Switzerland history, essays, biography, memoir Swiss Writers Association
11 Johan Falkberget (1879–1967)  Norway novel, short story, essays
12 Edward Morgan Forster (1879–1970)  United Kingdom novel, short story, drama, essays, biography, literary criticism Eyvind Johnson (1900–1976)
13 Robert Frost (1874–1963)  United States poetry, drama
14 Christopher Fry (1907–2005)  United Kingdom poetry, drama, screenplay Arthur Henkel (1915–2005)
15 Rómulo Gallegos (1884–1969)  Venezuela novel, short story
  • Several South American proposers
  • The Brazilian PEN-Club
16 Armand Godoy (1880–1964)  Cuba
 France 		poetry, translation Anna Hyatt Huntington (1876–1973)
17 Julien Gracq (1910–2007)  France novel, poetry, drama, literary criticism Eyvind Johnson (1900–1976)
18 Robert Graves (1895–1985)  United Kingdom history, novel, poetry, literary criticism, essays
19 Graham Greene (1904–1991)  United Kingdom novel, short story, autobiography, essays Kristian Smidt (1916–2013)
20 Gunnar Gunnarsson (1889–1975)  Iceland novel, short story, poetry Stellan Arvidson (1902–1997)
21 Martin Heidegger (1889–1976)  West Germany philosophy, essays Paul Böckmann (1899–1987)
22 Taha Hussein (1889–1973)  Egypt novel, short story, poetry, translation Olle Hedberg (1899–1974)
23 Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)  United Kingdom novel, short story, essays, poetry, screenplay, drama, philosophy R. Fricker (?)
24 Juana de Ibarbourou (1892–1979)  Uruguay poetry, essays Academia Cubana de la Lengua
25 Karl Jaspers (1883–1969)  West Germany
  Switzerland 		philosophy
26 Miroslav Krleža (1893–1981)  Yugoslavia poetry, drama, short story, novel, essays Association of Writers of Yugoslavia
27 Wesley LaViolette (1894–1978)  United States poetry, essays Vinayaka Krishna Gokak (1909–1992)
28 Wilhelm Lehmann (1882–1968)  Venezuela
 West Germany 		novel, short story, poetry, essays Friedrich Sengle (1909–1994)
29 André Malraux (1901–1976)  France novel, essays, literary criticism Claude Digeon (1920–2008)
30 Max Mell (1882–1971)  Austria drama, novel, screenplay
31 Ramón Menéndez Pidal (1869–1968)  Spain philology, history
32 Alberto Moravia (1907–1990)  Italy novel, literary criticism, essays, drama Eyvind Johnson (1900–1976)
33 Stratis Myrivilis (1890–1969)  Greece novel, short story The Greek Authors' Union
34 Junzaburō Nishiwaki (1894–1982)  Japan poetry, literary criticism Naoshirō Tsuji (1899–1979)
35 Marie Noël (1883–1967)  France poetry, autobiography Maurice Bémol (1900–1961)
36 Saint-John Perse (1887–1975)  France poetry
37 Ezra Pound (1885–1972)  United States poetry, essays Ingvar Andersson (1899–1974)
38 Jean Price-Mars (1876–1969)  Haiti essays, philosophy
39 John Boynton Priestley (1894–1984)  United Kingdom novel, drama, screenplay, literary criticism, essays G. Wilson Knight (1897–1985)
40 Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1888–1975)  India philosophy, essays, law Nirmal Kumar Sidhanta (1929–2014)
41 Aquilino Ribeiro (1885–1963)  Portugal novel, short story, biography, literary criticism, memoir, translation Sociedade Portuguesa de Autores
42 Mario Roques (1875–1961)  Peru
 France 		history, philology, essays Ida-Marie Frandon (1907–1997)
43 Aksel Sandemose (1899–1965)  Denmark
 Norway 		novel, essays Eyvind Johnson (1900–1976)
44 Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980)  France philosophy, novel, drama, essays, screenplay Kristian Smidt (1916–2013)
45 Rudolf Alexander Schröder (1878–1962)  West Germany poetry, songwriting, translation Erich Kästner (1899–1974)
46 Ignazio Silone (1900–1978)  Italy novel, short story, essays, drama Eyvind Johnson (1900–1976)
47 John Steinbeck (1902–1968)  United States novel, short story, screenplay Henry Olsson (1896–1985)
48 Jules Supervielle (1884–1960)  France
 Uruguay 		poetry, novel, short story Jean Fabre (1904–1974)
49 Jun'ichirō Tanizaki (1886–1965)  Japan novel, short story Sigfrid Siwertz (1882–1970)
50 Herman Teirlinck (1879–1967)  Belgium novel, poetry, essays, drama Theodor Frings (1886–1968)
51 James Thurber (1894–1961)  United States essays, short story, drama
  • Robert Henry Elias (1914–2008)
  • Arthur Mizener (1907–1988)
  • Stephen Emerson Whicher (1915–1961)
52 Miguel Torga (1907–1995)  Portugal poetry, short story, novel, drama, autobiography
  • Several professors
  • Émile Planchard (1905–1990)
53 George Macauley Trevelyan (1876–1962)  United Kingdom biography, autobiography, essays, history Harry Martinson (1904–1978)
54 Elias Venezis (1904–1973)  Greece novel, short story
  • Stylianos Kapsomenos (1907–1978)
  • Nikolaos Andriōtēs (1906–1976)
  • Emmanuel Kriaras (1906–2014)
  • The Greek Authors' Union
55 Tarjei Vesaas (1897–1970)  Norway poetry, novel Sigmund Skard (1903–1995)
56 Simon Vestdijk (1898–1971)  Netherlands novel, poetry, essays, translation Sigfrid Siwertz (1882–1970)
57 Heimito von Doderer (1896–1966)  Austria novel, short story, poetry, essays Ernst Alker (1895–1972)
58 Karl Heinrich Waggerl (1897–1973)  Austria novel, short story, poetry, essays Friedrich Wild (1888–1966)

Award ceremony speech

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At the award ceremony in Stockholm on 10 December 1960, Anders Österling, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, said:

One can only admire the integrity of his poetic attitude, the lofty insistence with which he perseveres in the only mode of expression that allows him to realize his intentions, an exclusive but always pertinent form. The inexhaustible luxuriance of the picturesque style of his rhapsodies is intellectually demanding and may weary the reader of whom the poet demands such efforts of concentration. He takes his metaphors from all disciplines, from all eras, from all mythologies, from all regions; his cycles of poems call to mind those great sea shells from which a cosmic music seems to emanate. This expansive imagination is his strength. Exile, separation – evocations whose voiceless murmur gives his poetry its general tonality; and through the double theme of man’s strength and helplessness a heroic appeal can be perceived, an appeal which is perhaps expressed more distinctly than before in the poet’s latest work, Chronique (Chronicle), 1960, filled with a breath of grandeur, in which the poet recapitulates everything, at the end of the day, while making veiled allusions to the present state of the world. And he even makes a prophetic appeal to Europe to have it consider this fateful moment, this turning point in the course of history. The poem ends with these words: “Great age, here we are. Take measure of the heart of man”.[6]

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References

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  1. ^ The Nobel Prize in Literature 1960 nobelprize.org
  2. ^ Werner Wiskari (27 October 1960). "Saint-John Perse, French Poet, Wins Nobel Prize for Literature". The New York Times.
  3. ^ "Saint-John Perse". britannica.com.
  4. ^ "Nomination archive Saint-John Perse". nobelprize.org.
  5. ^ a b "Nomination archive 1960". nobelprize.org.
  6. ^ "Award ceremony speech". nobelprize.org.
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