1907 Nobel Prize in Literature
{{Infobox award
| name = 20px 1907 Nobel Prize in Literature
| subheader = Rudyard Kipling
| awarded_for =
| presenter = Swedish Academy
| year = 1901
| website = {{official website|https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1907/summary/}}
| holder_label = 1907 laureate
| holder =
| image = Rudyard Kipling from John Palmer.jpg
| caption = "in consideration of the power of observation, originality of imagination, virility of ideas and remarkable talent for narration which characterize the creations of this world-famous author."
| host =
| date = {{plainlist|
- 10 October 1907 (announcement)
- 10 December 1907
(ceremony)
}}
| location = Stockholm, Sweden
| previous = 1906
| main = Nobel Prize in Literature
| next = 1908
}}
The 1907 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the British writer Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) "in consideration of the power of observation, originality of imagination, virility of ideas and remarkable talent for narration which characterize the creations of this world-famous author."[https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1907/summary/ The Nobel Prize in Literature 1907] nobelprize.org He is the first English-language writer to receive the prize, and being aged 41, is its youngest recipient to date.{{cite web |last=Alfred Nobel Foundation |url=http://nobelprize.org/contact/faq/index.html#3b |title=Who is the youngest ever to receive a Nobel Prize, and who is the oldest? |page=409 |publisher=Nobelprize.com |access-date=21 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060925202706/http://nobelprize.org/contact/faq/index.html#3b |archive-date=25 September 2006}}[https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/facts/facts-on-the-nobel-prize-in-literature/ Facts on the Nobel Prize in Literature] nobelprize.org
Laureate
File:JunglebookCover.jpg by Rudyard Kipling and illustrated by John Lockwood Kipling.]]
{{main|Rudyard Kipling}}
Rudyard Kipling praised the British colonial empire in his works as a poet, short story author, journalist, and novelist, which made his poetry well-liked in the British Army. Children all across the globe have grown to know and love him as a result of The Jungle Book (1894), especially because of Disney's 1967 motion picture adaptation. The Swedish Academy said that Kipling's human portraits and social environment descriptions that "penetrate to the substance of things" rather than merely repeating the fleeting" were his distinctive qualities.[https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/rudyard-kipling Rudyard Kipling – Poetry Foundation] poetryfoundation.org His classic literary works include Kim (1901), the Just So Stories (1902) and many short stories, including The Man Who Would Be King (1888).[https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1907/kipling/facts/ Rudyard Kipling – Facts] nobelprize.org[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rudyard-Kipling Rudyard Kipling] britannica.com
Deliberations
=Nominations=
Kipling was nominated four times beginning in 1904. He was nominated in 1907 by Charles Oman, professor of modern history at the University of Oxford, which later led to him being awarded the Nobel prize.[https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/archive/show_people.php?id=4859 Nomination archive – Rudyard Kipling] nobelprize.org
In total, the Swedish Academy received 37 nominations for 21 writers. The highest number of nominations – five nominations – were for the Italian writer Angelo de Gubernatis followed by American theologian Borden Parker Bowne with four nominations. Eight of the nominees were nominated first-time such as Holger Drachmann, Eduardo Benot, Andrés Manjón,{{efn|group=notes|Padre Manjón is the first nominee for the Nobel Prize in Literature on process for sainthood within the Roman Catholic Church. He was declared Venerable on November 23, 2020 by Pope Francis.}} Àngel Guimerà, and Paul Bourget. Selma Lagerlöf is the only female nominee for that year.[https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/archive/list.php?prize=4&year=1907 Nomination archive – 1907] nobelprize.org
The authors Thomas Bailey Aldrich, Mary Elizabeth Coleridge, Mary De Morgan, Charles Guérin, Louise Granberg, Benedikt Sveinbjarnarson Gröndal, Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu, Joris-Karl Huysmans, Alfred Jarry, Mkrtich Khrimian, Hector Malot, David Masson, Bertram Fletcher Robinson, André Theuriet, Marko Vovchok, Iosif Vulcan, and Stanisław Wyspiański died in 1907 without having been nominated for the prize. The British minister Ian Maclaren and Spanish academic Eduardo Benot died months before the announcement.
| class="sortable wikitable mw-collapsible"
|+ class="nowrap" | Official list of nominees and their nominators for the prize |
|
! scope=col | No. ! scope=col | Nominee ! scope=col | Country ! scope=col | Genre(s) ! scope=col | Nominator(s) |
| 1
|Eduardo Benot Rodríguez (1822–1907) |{{flag|Restoration (Spain)|name=Spain}} |poetry, drama, essays |Daniel de Cortázar Larrubia (1844–1927) |
| 2
|João Bonança (1836–1924) |{{flag|Kingdom of Portugal|name=Portugal}} |law, essays |Teófilo Braga (1843–1924) |
| 3
|Paul Bourget (1852–1935) |{{flag|French Third Republic|name=France}} |novel, short story, literary criticism, essays |René Bazin (1853–1932) |
| 4
|Borden Parker Bowne (1847–1910) |{{flag|United States|1896}} |philosophy, theology, essays |{{unbulleted list|Edwin Holt Hughes (1866–1950)|Lemuel Herbert Murlin (1861–1935)|William Henry Crawford (1855–1944)|Albert Knudson (1873–1953)}} |
| 5
|Georg Brandes (1842–1927) |{{flag|Denmark}} |literary criticism, essays |{{unbulleted list|Troels Frederik Lund (1840–1921){{efn|group=notes|The nomination was made by Troels Frederik Troels-Lund and 17 other members of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters}}|Anatole France (1844–1924)}} |
| 6
|Angelo de Gubernatis (1840–1913) |{{flag|Kingdom of Italy|name=Italy}} |drama, essays, philology, poetry |{{unbulleted list|Francesco Lorenzo Pullè (1850–1934)|Angelo Valdarnini (1847–1930)|Paolo Boselli (1838–1932)|Gaspare Finali (1829–1914)|Tancredi Canonico (1828–1908)}} |
| 7
|Holger Drachmann (1846–1908) |{{flag|Kingdom of the Netherlands|name=Netherlands}} |poetry, drama |Harald Høffding (1843–1931) |
| 8
|Antonio Fogazzaro (1842–1911) |{{flag|Kingdom of Italy|name=Italy}} |novel, poetry, short story |Eugène-Melchior de Vogüé (1848–1910) |
| 9
|Ángel Guimerá Jorge (1845–1924) |{{flag|Restoration (Spain)|name=Spain}} |drama, poetry |Joaquim Miret i Sans (1858–1919){{efn|group=notes|The nomination was made by Joaquin Miret y Sans and 19 other members of Reial Acadèmia de Bones Lletres de Barcelona in Spain}} |
| style="background:gold;white-space:nowrap"|10
|style="background:gold;white-space:nowrap"|Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) |style="background:gold;white-space:nowrap"|{{flag|United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|name=Great Britain}} |style="background:gold;white-space:nowrap"|short story, novel, poetry |style="background:gold;white-space:nowrap"|Charles Oman (1860–1946) |
| 11
|Selma Lagerlöf (1858–1940) |{{flag|Sweden}} |novel, short story |{{unbulleted list|Fredrik Wulff (1845–1930)|Adolf Noreen (1854–1925)|Gottfrid Billing (1841–1925)}} |
| 12
|Ian Maclaren (1850–1907) |{{flag|United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|name=Great Britain}} |short story, novel, theology, essays |Waldemar Rudin (1833–1921) |
| 13
|Andrés Manjón y Manjón (1846–1923) |{{flag|Restoration (Spain)|name=Spain}} |pedagogy, theology, essays, law |rowspan=2|Ángel Sánchez-Rubio Ibáñez (1852–1910) |
| 14
|Marcelino Menéndez Pelayo (1856–1912) |{{flag|Restoration (Spain)|name=Spain}} |history, philosophy, philology, poetry, translation, literary criticism |
| 15
|George Meredith (1828–1909) |{{flag|United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|name=Great Britain}} |novel, poetry |Mary Augusta Ward (1851–1920) |
| 16
|John Morley (1838–1923) |{{flag|United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|name=Great Britain}} |biography, literary criticism, essays |15 members of the Incorporated Society of Authors |
| 17
|Lewis Morris (1833–1907) |{{flag|United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|name=Great Britain}} |poetry, songwriting, essays |{{unbulleted list|William Jackson{{efn|group=notes|name=joint|The nomination was made jointly by J. Rhys, T.H. Warren and W.W. Jackson, all three at the university in Oxford, Great Britain.}} (1838–1931)|Herbert Warren (1853–1930){{efn|name=joint}}|John Rhys (1840–1915){{efn|name=joint}}}} |
| 18
|George Lansing Raymond{{efn|group=notes|Lansing Raymond: The Essentials of Aesthetics (1906){{cite book| url=http://libris.kb.se/bib/8345517| title=Nobelpriset i litteratur. Nomineringar och utlåtanden 1901–1950| first=Bo| last=Svensén| work=Swedish Academy| date=2001| publisher=Svenska Akademien| isbn=9789113010076| accessdate=11 November 2020}}}} (1839–1929) |{{flag|United States|1896}} |essays, philosophy |Charles Needham (1848–1935) |
| 19
|Georgios Souris{{efn|group=notes|Souris: Conseiller pour l'instruction publique La Canée, île de Crète ("National Education Advisers in Canée, the Island of Crete")}} (1852–1919) |{{flag|Kingdom of Greece|Greece}} |poetry, songwriting, essays |{{unbulleted list|Nikolaos Levidis (1868–1942){{efn|group=notes|The nomination was made jointly by Nikolaos Levidis and up to 100 other members of the Greek parliament.}}|Georgios Hatzidakis (1848–1941)|9 members of the Greek Artists' Association}} |
| 20
|Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909) |{{flag|United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|name=Great Britain}} |poetry, drama, literary criticism, novel |{{unbulleted list|28 members of the Incorporated Society of Authors|Carl Bildt (1850–1931)}} |
| 21
|Jaroslav Vrchlický (1853–1912) |{{flag|Austria-Hungary}} |poetry, drama, translation |{{unbulleted list|Bohuslav Raýman (1852–1910){{efn|group=notes|name=join|The nomination was made jointly by J. Hlávka and B. Rayman.}}|Josef Hlávka (1831–1908){{efn|name=join}}}} |
=Prize decision=
In 1907, the highly influential member of the Nobel committee Carl David af Wirsén advocated a prize for Algernon Charles Swinburne, but ultimately Wirsén chose to support Rudyard Kipling's candidacy as a way of blocking another strong candidate, Selma Lagerlöf, whose writing Wirsén disliked, from being awarded. Hence, Kipling was chosen by the Nobel Committee as the laureate.Gustav Källstrand Andens Olympiska Spel: Nobelprisets historia, Fri Tanke 2021, p. 191-192
Reactions
The choice of Rudyard Kipling was very well received. Kipling was widely celebrated by both the Swedish press and public crowds when he arrived in Stockholm to accept the prize.Gustav Källstrand Andens olympiska spel, Fri Tanke 2021 p.189
Award Ceremony
At the award ceremony in Stockholm on 10 December 1907, the Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy, Carl David af Wirsén, praised both Kipling and three centuries of English literature, saying:
"The Swedish Academy, in awarding the Nobel Prize in Literature this year to Rudyard Kipling, desires to pay a tribute of homage to the literature of England, so rich in manifold glories, and to the greatest genius in the realm of narrative that that country has produced in our times."{{cite web |url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1907/press.html |title=Nobel Prize in Literature 1907 – presentation Speech |publisher=Nobelprize.org}}
Notes
{{notelist}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1906/ceremony-speech/ Award ceremony speech by C.D. af Wirsén] nobelprize.org
{{Nobel Prize in Literature}}