Nobel Prize Winners in Literature: list. Winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature from the USSR and Russia

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The Nobel Prize was established by Swedish industrialist, inventor and chemical engineer Alfred Nobel and named after him. It is considered the most prestigious in the world. Laureates receive a gold medal, which depicts A. B. Nobel, a diploma, as well as a check for a large amount. The latter is made up of the amount of profits received by the Nobel Foundation. In 1895, Alfred Nobel made a will, according to which his capital was placed in bonds, shares and loans. The income from this money is divided equally into five parts every year and becomes a prize for achievements in five areas: in chemistry, physics, physiology or medicine, literature, and for activities to promote peace.

The first Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded on December 10, 1901, and has since been awarded annually on that date, which is the anniversary of Nobel's death. The awarding of the winners takes place in Stockholm by ourselvesSwedish king. After receiving the award, the winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature must deliver a lecture on the topic of their work within 6 months. This is an indispensable condition for receiving an award.

The decision on who to award the Nobel Prize in Literature is made by the Swedish Academy, located in Stockholm, as well as the Nobel Committee itself, which announces only the number of applicants, without naming their names. The selection procedure itself is classified, which sometimes causes angry reviews from critics and ill-wishers, who claim that the award is given for political reasons, and not for literary achievements. The main argument cited as proof is Nabokov, Tolstoy, Bokhres, Joyce, who were not awarded the prize. However, the list of authors who received it still remains impressive. From Russia, the Nobel Prize winners in literature are five writers. Read more about each of them below.

The 2014 Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded for the 107th time by Patrick Modiano, a French novelist and screenwriter. That is, since 1901, 111 writers have become the winners of the award (since it was awarded four times to two authors at the same time).

Listing all the winners and getting to know each of them is quite a long time. The most famous and widely read Nobel Prize winners in Literature and their works are brought to your attention.

1. William Golding, 1983

William Golding received an award for his famous novels, which in his workthere are 12. The most famous, "Lord of the Flies" and "Heirs", are among the best-selling books written by Nobel laureates. The novel "Lord of the Flies", published in 1954, brought the writer worldwide fame. Critics often compare it to Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye in terms of its significance for the development of literature and modern thought in general.

2. Toni Morrison, 1993

Nobel Prize winners in Literature are not only men, but also women. Toni Morrison is one of them. This American writer was born into a working-class family in Ohio. Enrolling at Howard University, where she studied literature and English, she began to write her own works. The first novel, "The Bluest Eyes" (1970), was based on a short story she wrote for a university literary circle. It is one of the most popular works of Toni Morrison. Her other novel, Sula, published in 1975, was nominated for the US National Book Award.

3. John Steinbeck, 1962

The most famous works of Steinbeck are "East of Paradise", "The Grapes of Wrath", "Of Mice and Men". In 1939, The Grapes of Wrath became a bestseller, with more than 50,000 copies sold, and today their number is more than 75 million. Until 1962, the writer was nominated for the award 8 times, and he himself believed that he was not worthy of such an award. Yes, and many American critics noted that his later novelsmuch weaker than the previous ones, and responded negatively about this award. In 2013, when some documents from the Swedish Academy (which have been kept strictly secret for 50 years) were declassified, it became clear that the writer was awarded because this year he turned out to be "the best in bad company".

4. Ernest Hemingway, 1954

This writer became one of nine winners of the Literature Prize, to whom it was awarded not for creativity in general, but for a specific work, namely for the story "The Old Man and the Sea". The same work, first published in 1952, brought the writer in the next, 1953, and another prestigious award - the Pulitzer Prize.

In the same year, the Nobel Committee included Hemingway in the list of candidates, but Winston Churchill, who by that time was already 79 years old, became the owner of the award, and therefore it was decided not to delay the award. And Ernest Hemingway became a well-deserved winner of the award the following year, 1954.

5. Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 1982

The 1982 Nobel Prize winners in Literature included Gabriel García Márquez in their ranks. He became the first writer from Colombia to receive an award from the Swedish Academy. His books, notably The Chronicle of a Declared Death, The Autumn of the Patriarch, and Love in the Time of Cholera, have become the best-selling works written in Spanish in its history. The novel One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967), which another Nobel laureate, Pablo Neruda, called the greatest creation in Spanish after Cervantes' Don Quixote, was translated into more than 25 languages of the world, and the total circulation of the work was more than 50 million copies.

6. Samuel Beckett, 1969

The 1969 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Samuel Beckett. This Irish writer is one of the most famous representatives of modernism. It was he, together with Eugene Ionescu, who founded the famous "theater of the absurd". Samuel Beckett wrote his works in two languages - English and French. The most famous brainchild of his pen was the play "Waiting for Godot", written in French. The plot of the work is as follows. The main characters throughout the play are waiting for a certain Godot, who should bring some meaning to their existence. However, it never appears, leaving the reader or viewer to decide for themselves what the image was.

Beckett was fond of playing chess, enjoyed success with women, but led a rather secluded life. He did not even agree to come to the Nobel Prize ceremony, sending his publisher, Jerome Lindon, instead.

7. William Faulkner, 1949

The 1949 Nobel Prize in Literature went to William Faulkner. He also initially refused to go to Stockholm for the award, but was eventually persuaded to do so by his daughter. AmericanPresident John F. Kennedy sent him an invitation to a dinner hosted in honor of Nobel laureates. However, Faulkner, who all his life considered himself "not a writer, but a farmer", in his own words, refused to accept the invitation, citing old age.

The author's most famous and popular novels are "The Sound and the Fury" and "When I Was Dying". However, the success of these works did not come immediately, for a long time they were practically not sold. The Noise and Fury, published in 1929, sold only 3,000 copies in the first 16 years after publication. However, in 1949, by the time the author received the Nobel Prize, this novel was already a model of classic American literature.

In 2012, a special edition of this work was published in the UK, in which the text was printed in 14 different colors, which was done at the request of the writer so that the reader could notice different time planes. The limited edition of the novel was only 1480 copies and sold out immediately after the release. Now the cost of the book of this rare edition is estimated at about 115 thousand rubles.

8. Doris Lessing, 2007

The 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Doris Lessing. This British writer and poet received the award at the age of 88, making her the oldest recipient of the award. She also became the eleventh woman (out of 13) to receive the Nobel Prize.

Lessing was not very popular with critics, as she rarely wroteon topics devoted to pressing social issues, she was even often called a propagandist of Sufism, a doctrine that preaches the rejection of worldly fuss. However, according to The Times magazine, this writer is ranked fifth in the list of the 50 greatest British authors published since 1945.

The most popular work of Doris Lessing is the novel "The Golden Notebook", published in 1962. Some critics refer to it as a model of classic feminist prose, but the writer herself categorically disagrees with this opinion.

9. Albert Camus, 1957

French writers also received the Nobel Prize in Literature. One of them, a writer, journalist, essayist of Algerian origin, Albert Camus, is the "conscience of the West." His most famous work is the story "The Outsider" published in France in 1942. In 1946, an English translation was made, sales began, and within a few years the number of copies sold was more than 3.5 million.

Albert Camus is often referred to as representatives of existentialism, but he himself did not agree with this and strongly denied such a definition. So, in a speech delivered at the Nobel Prize, he noted that in his work he sought to "avoid outright lies and resist oppression."

10. Alice Munro, 2013

In 2013, nominees for the Nobel Prize in Literature included Alice Munro on their list. The representative of Canada, thisnovelist became famous in the genre of short story. She began to write them early, from adolescence, but the first collection of her works, en titled "Dance of Happy Shadows", was published only in 1968, when the author was already 37 years old. In 1971, the next collection, The Lives of Girls and Women, appeared, which critics called "a novel of education." Her other literary works include books: "And who are you, in fact, such?", "The Fugitive", "Moons of Jupiter", "Too Much Happiness". One of her collections, "Hate, Friendship, Courtship, Love, Marriage", published in 2001, even released a Canadian film called "Away from Her", directed by Sarah Polley. The author's most popular book is "Dear Life", published in 2012.

Munro is often referred to as the "Canadian Chekhov" because the styles of these writers are similar. Like the Russian writer, he is characterized by psychological realism and clarity.

Nobel Laureates in Literature from Russia

To date, five Russian writers have won the award. The first of them was I. A. Bunin.

1. Ivan Alekseevich Bunin, 1933

This is a famous Russian writer and poet, an outstanding master of realistic prose, an honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. In 1920, Ivan Alekseevich emigrated to France, and when presenting the award, he noted that the Swedishthe academy acted very boldly by awarding the émigré writer. Among the contenders for this year's award was another Russian writer, M. Gorky, however, largely due to the publication of the book "The Life of Arseniev" by that time, the scales tipped in the direction of Ivan Alekseevich.

Bunin began writing his first poems at the age of 7-8. Later, his well-known works were published: the story "The Village", the collection "Dry Valley", the books "John Rydalets", "The Gentleman from San Francisco", etc. In the 20s, he wrote "The Rose of Jericho" (1924) and " Sunstroke" (1927). And in 1943, the pinnacle of Ivan Alexandrovich's work, a collection of short stories "Dark Alleys", was born. This book was devoted to only one topic - love, its "dark" and gloomy sides, as the author wrote in one of his letters.

2. Boris Leonidovich Pasternak, 1958

Nobel Prize winners in literature from Russia in 1958 included Boris Leonidovich Pasternak in their list. The poet was awarded the prize at a difficult time. He was forced to abandon it under the threat of exile from Russia. However, the Nobel Committee regarded the refusal of Boris Leonidovich as forced, in 1989 he handed over the medal and diploma after the death of the writer to his son. The famous novel "Doctor Zhivago" is Pasternak's true artistic testament. This work was written in 1955. Albert Camus, laureate of 1957, praised this novel with admiration.

3. Mikhail AlexandrovichSholokhov, 1965

In 1965, M. A. Sholokhov was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Russia has once again proved to the whole world that it has talented writers. Having begun his literary activity as a representative of realism, depicting the deep contradictions of life, Sholokhov, however, in some works is captured by the socialist trend. During the presentation of the Nobel Prize, Mikhail Alexandrovich delivered a speech in which he noted that in his works he sought to praise "a nation of workers, builders and heroes."

In 1926, he began his main novel, The Quiet Flows the Flows Flows the Flows Flows, and completed it in 1940, long before he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Sholokhov's works were published in parts, including "Quiet Flows the Don". In 1928, largely thanks to the assistance of A. S. Serafimovich, a friend of Mikhail Alexandrovich, the first part appeared in print. The second volume was published the following year. The third was published in 1932-1933, already with the assistance and support of M. Gorky. The last, fourth, volume was published in 1940. This novel was of great importance for both Russian and world literature. It was translated into many languages of the world, became the basis of the famous opera by Ivan Dzerzhinsky, as well as numerous theater productions and films.

Some, however, accused Sholokhov of plagiarism (including A. I. Solzhenitsyn), believing that most of the work was copied from the manuscripts of F. D. Kryukov,Cossack writer. Other researchers confirmed the authorship of Sholokhov.

In addition to this work, in 1932 Sholokhov also created Virgin Soil Upturned, a work that tells about the history of collectivization among the Cossacks. In 1955, the first chapters of the second volume appeared, and the last chapters were completed in early 1960.

At the end of 1942, the third novel, "They Fought for the Motherland", was published.

4. Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn, 1970

The Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970 was awarded to AI Solzhenitsyn. Alexander Isaevich accepted it, but did not dare to attend the award ceremony, because he was afraid of the Soviet government, which regarded the decision of the Nobel Committee as "politically hostile." Solzhenitsyn was afraid that he would not be able to return to his homeland after this trip, although the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970, which he received, increased the prestige of our country. In his work, he touched on acute socio-political problems, actively fought against communism, its ideas and the policies of the Soviet government.

The main works of Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn include: "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" (1962), the story "Matryona Dvor", the novel "In the First Circle" (written from 1955 to 1968), "The Gulag Archipelago" (1964-1970). The first published work was the story "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich", which appeared in the Novy Mir magazine. This publication aroused great interest and numerous responses from readers, which inspiredwriter to create the Gulag Archipelago. In 1964, the first story of Alexander Isaevich received the Lenin Prize.

However, a year later, he loses the favor of the Soviet authorities, and his works are forbidden to be printed. His novels The Gulag Archipelago, In the First Circle and The Cancer Ward were published abroad, for which the writer was deprived of citizenship in 1974, and he was forced to emigrate. Only 20 years later he managed to return to his homeland. In 2001-2002, Solzhenitsyn's great work "Two Hundred Years Together" appeared. Alexander Isaevich died in 2008.

5. Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky, 1987

Winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1987 were joined by I. A. Brodsky. In 1972, the writer was forced to emigrate to the United States, so the world encyclopedia even calls him American. Among all the writers who received the Nobel Prize, he is the youngest. With his lyrics, he comprehended the world as a single cultural and metaphysical whole, and also pointed out the limited perception of a person as a subject of knowledge.

Iosif Alexandrovich wrote not only in Russian, but also in English poetry, essays, literary criticism. Immediately after the publication in the West of his first collection, in 1965, Brodsky came to international fame. The best books of the author include: "Embankment of the incurable", "Part of speech", "Landscape with flood", "The end of a beautiful era", "Stop atwilderness" and others.