1928 Nobel Prize in Literature
{{short description|Award}}
{{Infobox award
| name = 20px 1928 Nobel Prize in Literature
| subheader = Sigrid Undset
| awarded_for =
| presenter = Swedish Academy
| year = 1901
| website = {{oweb|https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1928/summary/}}
| holder_label =
| holder =
| image = Sigrid Undset OB.RP18176b.jpg
| caption = "principally for her powerful descriptions of Northern life during the Middle Ages."
| host =
| date = {{plainlist|
- 13 November 1928 (announcement)
- 10 December 1928
(ceremony)
}}
| location = Stockholm, Sweden
| previous = 1927
| main = Nobel Prize in Literature
| next = 1929
}}
The 1928 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the Danish-born Norwegian novelist Sigrid Undset (1882–1949) "principally for her powerful descriptions of Northern life during the Middle Ages."[https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1928/summary/ The Nobel Prize in Literature 1928] nobelprize.org{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1928/11/14/archives/mme-sigrid-undset-wins-nobel-prize-she-is-third-norwegian-author-to.html|title=MME. SIGRID UNDSET WINS NOBEL PRIZE; She Is Third Norwegian Author to Receive Coveted Honor for Literature. BERGSON ALSO A WINNER Frenchman, Gets Similar Award Held Over From 1927--Germans Get Chemistry Prizes.|date=14 November 1928|website=New York Times}} She is the third female recipient of the literature prize.
Laureate
{{main|Sigrid Undset}}
Sigrid Undset's writing career started by focusing on strong, contemporary women struggling for emancipation. Inspired by her archeologist father, she later turned to writing about the Middle Ages as seen in Fortællingen om Viga-Ljot og Vigdis ("Gunnar's Daughter", 1909) and tetralogy Olav Audunssøn i Hestviken og Olav Audunssøn og Hans Børn ("The Master of Hestviken", 1925–27). Her best known work is Kristin Lavransdatter (1920–1922),File:Sigrid Undset bokomslag Kristin Lavransdatter Kransen.png.]] which deals with themes of honor, religious faith, and the common life shared by women and men in 15th-century Norway. According to the Swedish Academy, Undset brings to life the medieval times with solid historical knowledge, deep psychological insight, a vivid imagination, and a vigorous language. Being a convert to Catholicism, she expressed her religiosity by writing a biographical novel on St. Catherine of Siena and a hagiographical collection Sagaen om de Hellige ("Saga of Saints", 1934).[https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1928/undset/facts/ Sigrid Undset – Facts] nobelprize.org
Deliberations
=Nominations=
Sigrid Undset was only nominated in four occasions (1922, 1925, 1926, and 1928). Her last nomination which led to her being awarded the Nobel prize came from the proposal of the Norwegian psychologist Helga Eng (1875–1966).[https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/archive/show_people.php?id=9445 Nomination archive – Sigrid Undset] nobelprize.org
In total, the Swedish Academy received 48 nominations for 36 writers. Thirteen of the nominees were newly nominated such as Hans Driesch, Ricarda Huch, Felix Timmermans, Theodor Däubler, Armando Palacio Valdés, Rufino Blanco Fombona, Blanca de los Ríos, Anna de Noailles, and Edith Howes. The highest number of nominations (with three nomination letters each) were for the German writer Paul Ernst and the French philosopher Henri Bergson (awarded for 1927). There were six female nominees: Blanca de los Ríos, Edith Howes, Ricarda Huch, Edith Wharton, Concha Espina de la Serna, and Anna de Noailles.
The authors Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, François de Curel, Robert de Flers, Brian Oswald Donn-Byrne, Edmund Gosse, Avery Hopwood, Oskar Jerschke, Henry Festing Jones, Juan Bautista Justo, Ladislav Klíma, Charlotte Mew, Barry Pain, Frank Ramsey, George Ranetti, José Eustasio Rivera, Max Scheler, Aron Hector Schmitz (known as Italo Svevo), Antonín Sova, Sir George Trevelyan, Paul van Ostaijen, Stanley John Weyman, and Elinor Wylie died without having been nominated for the prize.
| 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
|Rudolf Hans Bartsch (1873–1952) |{{flag|Republic of Austria|name=Austria}} |novel, short story, essays, drama |Oswald Redlich (1858–1944) |
| style="background:gold;white-space:nowrap"|2
|style="background:gold;white-space:nowrap"|Henri Bergson (1859–1941) |style="background:gold;white-space:nowrap"|{{flag|French Third Republic|name=France}} |style="background:gold;white-space:nowrap"|philosophy |style="background:gold;white-space:nowrap"|{{unbulleted list|3 professors of history of philosophy|19 members of the Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques|16 members of the Académie Française}} |
| 3
|Rufino Blanco Fombona (1874–1844) |{{flag|Venezuela|1905}} |essays, literary criticism |Royal Spanish Academy{{efn|group=notes|Other unrecorded nominations were also made for Rufino Blanco Fombosa.}} |
| 4
|Georg Bonne (1859–1945) |{{flag|Weimar Republic|name=Germany}} |essays |professors{{efn|group=notes|Georg Bonne's nominations were made by professors from Kiel, Halle (Saale), Freiburg im Breisgau, and others.}} |
| 5
|Paul Bourget (1852–1935) |{{flag|French Third Republic|name=France}} |novel, short story, literary criticism, essays |René Bazin (1853–1932) |
| 6
|Otokar Březina (1868–1929) |{{flag|Czechoslovakia}} |poetry, essays |{{unbulleted list|Otokar Fischer (1883–1938){{efn|group=notes|name=cz|A. Novak and O. Fischer, as well as other nominating professors, were from the universities in Brno, Prague and Pressburg (now Bratislava), all in Czechoslovakia.}}|Arne Novák (1880–1939){{efn|name=cz}}}} |
| 7
|Olaf Bull (1883–1933) |{{flag|Norway}} |poetry |Jens Thiis (1870–1942) |
| 8
|Blanca de los Ríos (1859–1956) |{{flag|Restoration (Spain)|name=Spain}} |poetry, novel, short story, essays |{{unbulleted list|Leopoldo Eijo Garay (1878–1963){{efn|group=notes|name=spain|Blanca de los Rios de Lampérez was nominated by A. Rubió i Lluch and L. Eijo Garay, both members of the Spanish Academy}}|Antoni Rubió i Lluch (1856–1937){{efn|name=spain}}}} |
| 9
|Anna de Noailles (1876–1933) |{{flag|French Third Republic|name=France}} |novel, poetry, essays |Tor Hedberg (1862–1931) |
| 10
|Theodor Däubler (1876–1934) |{{flag|Kingdom of Italy|name=Italy}} |poetry, essays |Oskar Walzel (1864–1944) |
| 11
|Olav Duun (1876–1939) |{{flag|Norway}} |novel, short story |Halvdan Koht (1873–1965) |
| 12
|Hans Driesch (1867–1941) |{{flag|Weimar Republic|name=Germany}} |philosophy |Kurt Breysig (1866–1940) |
| 13
|Paul Ernst (1866–1933) |{{flag|Germany}} |novel, short story, drama, essays |{{unbulleted list|Robert Faesi (1883–1972){{efn|group=notes|name=ernst|Paul Ernst was nominated by E. Ermatinger and R. Faesi, both professors of German literature at the University of Zurich}}|Edmund Stengel (1845–1935)|Emil Ermatinger (1873–1953){{efn|name=ernst}}}} |
| 14
|Concha Espina de la Serna (1869–1955) |{{flag|Restoration (Spain)|name=Spain}} |novel, short story |{{unbulleted list|Rodolfo Lenz (1863–1938)|Fredrik Wulff (1845–1930)}} |
| 15
|Édouard Estaunié (1862–1942) |{{flag|French Third Republic|name=France}} |novel, literary criticism |Erik Staaff (1867–1936) |
| 16
|James George Frazer (1854–1941) |{{flag|United Kingdom}} |history, essays, translation |Martin Persson Nilsson (1874–1967) |
| 17
|Maxim Gorky (1868–1936) |{{flag|Soviet Union}} |novel, short story, drama, memoir, autobiography, essays, poetry |{{unbulleted list|Tor Hedberg (1862–1931)|20px Verner von Heidenstam (1859–1940)}} |
| 18
|Ivan Grozev (1872–1957) |{{flag|Kingdom of Bulgaria|name=Bulgaria}} |drama, poetry, literary criticism |Mikhail Arnaudov (1878–1978) |
| 19
|Vilhelm Grønbech (1873–1948) |{{flag|Denmark}} |history, essays, poetry |Johannes Pedersen (1883–1977) |
| 20
|Arno Holz (1863–1929) |{{flag|Weimar Republic|name=Germany}} |poetry, drama |{{unbulleted list|German professors{{efn|group=notes|Arno Holz was nominated by a large number of German professors, several of whom were eligible to make a nomination.}}|Hermann Bahr (1863–1934)}} |
| 21
|Rudolf Maria Holzapfel (1874–1930) |{{flag|Republic of Austria|name=Austria}} |philosophy, essays |{{unbulleted list|3 members of the Prussian Academy of Arts{{efn|group=notes|Rudolf Maria Holzapfel was nominated by 3 members of the Prussian Academy of Arts. Nominations were also made by professors from Bern, Switzerland and Chicago, Illinois, United States, and others.}}|20px Romain Rolland (1866–1944)}} |
| 22
|Edith Howes (1872–1954) |{{flag|Dominion of New Zealand|name=New Zealand}} |novel, short story, drama, essays, pedagogy |Francis Prendeville Wilson (1874–?) |
| 23
|Ricarda Huch (1864–1947) |{{flag|Weimar Republic|name=Germany}} |history, essays, novel, poetry |{{unbulleted list|Johannes Sundwall (1877–1966)|professors from the universities in Switzerland{{efn|group=notes|Ricarda Huch was nominated by professors from Bern and Freiburg, Jena, Berlin, Erlangen, Göttingen, Leipzig, Heidelberg and Munich, and others.}}}} |
| 24
|Johannes Vilhelm Jensen (1873–1950) |{{flag|Denmark}} |novel, short story, poetry |Frederik Poulsen (1876–1950) |
| 25
|Willem Kloos (1859–1938) |{{flag|Kingdom of the Netherlands|name=Netherlands}} |poetry, essays, literary criticism |Albert Verwey (1865–1937) |
| 26
|Karl Kraus (1874–1936) |{{flag|Republic of Austria|name=Austria}} |essays, drama, poetry |Charles Andler (1866–1933) |
| 27
|Alf Larsen (1885–1967) |{{flag|Norway}} |poetry, essays |Alexander Seippel (1851–1938) |
| 28
|Thomas Mann (1875–1955) |{{flag|Weimar Republic|name=Germany}} |novel, short story, drama, essays |Anders Österling (1884–1981) |
| 29
|Armando Palacio Valdés (1853–1938) |{{flag|Restoration (Spain)|name=Spain}} |novel, short story, essays |Royal Spanish Academy{{efn|group=notes|Armando Palacio Valdés was nominated by approximately 20 members of the Royal Spanish Academy, and also by a number of professors at Spanish universities.}} |
| 30
|Kostis Palamas (1859–1943) |{{flag|Second Hellenic Republic|name=Greece}} |poetry, essays |20px Verner von Heidenstam (1859–1940) |
| 31
|J.-H. Rosny aîné (1856–1940) |{{flag|French Third Republic|name=France}} |novel, short story |{{unbulleted list|Romain Rolland (1866–1944)|members of Le Comité Rosny{{efn|group=notes|Some members of Le Comité Rosny were eligible to make a nomination.}}}} |
| 32
|Felix Timmermans (1886–1947) |{{flag|Belgium}} |drama, novel, short story, poetry |Arthur Boon (1883–1938) |
| style="background:gold;white-space:nowrap"|33
|style="background:gold;white-space:nowrap"|Sigrid Undset (1882–1949) |style="background:gold;white-space:nowrap"|{{flag|Norway}} |style="background:gold;white-space:nowrap"|novel, memoir, essays |style="background:gold;white-space:nowrap"|Helga Eng (1875–1966) |
| 34
|Frederik van Eeden (1860–1932) |{{flag|Kingdom of the Netherlands|name=Netherlands}} |novel, essays |Gerard Brom (1882–1959) |
| 35
|Edith Wharton (1862–1937) |{{flag|United States|1912}} |novel, short story, poetry, essays |William Lyon Phelps (1865–1943) |
| 36
|Juan Zorrilla de San Martín (1855–1931) |{{flag|Uruguay}} |poetry |members of the Academy of Lima and the Academy of Panama |
Prize decision
The main contenders for the 1928 Nobel Prize in Literature were Thomas Mann, the Russian author Maxim Gorky and Sigrid Undset. The members of the Nobel committee were divided between the candidates. Committee chairman Per Hallström pushed for a prize to Thomas Mann, but failed to gain support for the proposal. Committee member Anders Österling supported Gorky's candidacy, while other committee members dismissed Gorky for his "raw" and "brutal" writing. Member Henrik Schück was negative towards all three candidates for estetical reasons. Ultimately Undset was the chosen winner, mainly because of the Nobel committee's appreciation of her novel trilogy Kristin Lavransdatter. Thomas Mann was subsequently awarded the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iG5BEAAAQBAJ&dq=undset+nobelkommiten&pg=PT495 |title=Andens olympiska spel. Nobelpriset historia |author=Källstrand, Gustav |year=2021 |publisher=Fri Tanke förlag |isbn=978-91-8020-371-5 |lang=Swedish }}{{Cite web|url=http://www.kulturdelen.com/2012/09/25/thomas-mann-och-nobelpriset/ |title=Thomas Mann och nobelpriset |author=Alan Asaid |date=25 September 2012 |publisher=kulturdelen.com |lang=Swedish }}
Award ceremony
File:Heinrich Wieland, Sigrid Undset, and Adolf Windaus, 1928 photo by Wide World Photos.jpg
At the award ceremony in Stockholm on 10 December 1928, Per Hallström of the Swedish Academy said:
{{Quote|Sigrid Undset has received the Nobel Prize in Literature while still in her prime, an homage rendered to a poetic genius whose roots must be in a great and well-ordered spirit.{{cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1928/ceremony-speech/ |title=Award ceremony speech |publisher=nobelprize.org }} }}
Notes
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References
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