1972 Nobel Prize in Literature
| Heinrich Böll | |
"for his writing which through its combination of a broad perspective on his time and a sensitive skill in characterization has contributed to a renewal of German literature." | |
| Date |
|
| Location | Stockholm, Sweden |
| Presented by | Swedish Academy |
| First awarded | 1901 |
| Website | Official website |
The 1972 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the German author Heinrich Böll (1917–1985) "for his writing which through its combination of a broad perspective on his time and a sensitive skill in characterization has contributed to a renewal of German literature."[1][2] Böll is the fifth German author to be recipient of the prize.[a]
Laureate
[edit]The events of World War II had a significant influence on Heinrich Böll's literature. In his debut novel Der Zug war pünktlich ("The Train Was on Time", 1949) and the short story collection Wanderer, kommst du nach Spa... ("Stranger, Bear Word to the Spartans We...", 1950), he illustrated the folly of war and the pain it causes. Böll published a number of books that critiqued West German society after World War II, such as Gruppenbild mit Dame ("Group Portrait with Lady", 1971). Among his best-known works include Und sagte kein einziges Wort ("And Never Said a Word", 1953), Ansichten eines Clowns ("The Clowns", 1963), and Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum ("The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum", 1974).[3][4]
Deliberations
[edit]Nominations
[edit]In 1972, the Swedish Academy received nominations for 100 writers. Böll started earning nominations for the Nobel Prize in Literature since 1960. In total, he received 29 nominations with the highest number in 1972 which eventually led to his awarding.[5]
Twenty-seven authors were newly nominated such as Philip Roth, Norman Mailer, Bernard Malamud, Nadine Gordimer (awarded in 1991), V. S. Naipaul (awarded in 2001), Francis Stuart, Doris Lessing (awarded in 2007), Alan Paton, Astrid Lindgren, Anthony Burgess, and Sri Chinmoy. The most number of nominations was for the British-American poet W. H. Auden with 10 nominations. The oldest nominee was Compton Mackenzie (aged 89) and the youngest was Philip Roth (aged 39). The Polish-born American poet Jacob Glatstein and Indian novelist Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay were nominated posthumously by Moshe Starkman (1906–1975) and the Academy's Nobel Committee respectively. Five of the nominees were women namely Nadine Gordimer, Doris Lessing, Astrid Lindgren, Anna Seghers, and Marie Under.[6][7]
The authors Natalie Clifford Barney, John Berryman, Victor Bridges, Fredric Brown, Américo Castro, Michał Choromański, Richard Church, Cecil Day-Lewis, R. F. Delderfield, Jacques Deval, Robert Faesi, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Ernestine Hill, Helen Hoyt, Vera Inber, Norah Lange, Violette Leduc, Laurence Manning, José Nucete Sardi, Kenneth Patchen, Betty Smith, Edgar Snow, Violet Trefusis, Mark Van Doren, and Ivan Yefremov died in 1972 without having been nominated for the prize.
| No. | Nominee | Country | Genre(s) | Nominator(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Said Akl (1911–2014) | poetry, philosophy, drama | Association of Cultural Clubs in Lebanon | |
| 2 | Tawfiq al-Hakim (1898–1987) | novel, drama, essays, short story, biography |
| |
| 3 | Edward Albee (1928–2016) | drama | Dieter Schaller (1929–2003) | |
| 4 | Jorge Amado (1912–2001) | novel, short story | Marcos Almir Madeira (1916–2003) | |
| 5 | Louis Aragon (1897–1982) | novel, short story, poetry, essays | Jean Gaudon (1926–2019) | |
| 6 | Wystan Hugh Auden (1907–1973) | poetry, essays, screenplay |
| |
| 7 | Riccardo Bacchelli (1891–1985) | novel, drama, essays | Beniamino Segre (1903–1977) | |
| 8 | Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay (1898–1971) (posthumous nomination) |
novel, short story, drama, essays, autobiography, songwriting | Nobel Committee | |
| 9 | Saul Bellow (1915–2005) | novel, short story, memoir, essays | Elsie Patton (?) | |
| 10 | Louis Paul Boon (1912–1979) | novel, essays, short story, poetry |
| |
| 11 | Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986) | poetry, essays, translation, short story |
| |
| 12 | Luis Buñuel (1900–1983) | screenplay | Lars Forssell (1928–2007) | |
| 13 | Anthony Burgess (1917–1993) | novel, poetry, drama, screenplay, autobiography, biography, essays, literary criticism, translation |
Artur Lundkvist (1906–1991) | |
| 14 | Heinrich Böll (1917–1985) | novel, short story |
| |
| 15 | Michel Butor (1926–2016) | poetry, novel, essays, translation | Leon Samuel Roudiez (1917–2004) | |
| 16 | Elias Canetti (1905–1994) | novel, drama, memoir, essays | Keith Spalding (1913–2002) | |
| 17 | Aimé Césaire (1913–2008) | poetry, drama, essays | Lassi Nummi (1928–2012) | |
| 18 | André Chamson (1900–1983) | novel, essays |
| |
| 19 | René Char (1907–1988) | poetry | Henri Peyre (1901–1988) | |
| 20 | Suniti Kumar Chatterji (1890–1977) | essays, pedagogy, literary criticism | Pratul Chandra Gupta (1910–1990) | |
| 21 | Sri Chinmoy (1931–2007) | poetry, drama, short story, essays, songwriting |
| |
| 22 | Austin Clarke (1896–1974) | poetry, drama, novel, memoirs |
| |
| 23 | Fazıl Hüsnü Dağlarca (1914–2008) | poetry | Yaşar Nabi Nayır (1908–1981) | |
| 24 | Denis de Rougemont (1906–1985) | philosophy, essays | Suzanne Deriex (born 1926) | |
| 25 | Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921–1990) | drama, novel, short story, essays |
| |
| 26 | Odysseas Elytis (1911–1996) | poetry, essays, translation | Artur Lundkvist (1906–1991) | |
| 27 | Rabbe Enckell (1903–1974) | short story, poetry |
| |
| 28 | Salvador Espriu (1913–1985) | drama, novel, poetry | Antoni Comas i Pujol (1931–1981) | |
| 29 | Max Frisch (1911–1991) | novel, drama | Elisabet Hermodsson (1927–2017) | |
| 30 | Romain Gary (1914–1980) | novel, essays, literary criticism, screenplay | Walther Hinz (1906–1992) | |
| 31 | Jacob Glatstein (1896–1971) (posthumous nomination) |
poetry, essays, literary criticism | Moshe Starkman (1906–1975) | |
| 32 | William Golding (1911–1993) | novel, poetry, drama, essays | Nobel Committee | |
| 33 | Nadine Gordimer (1923–2014) | novel, short story, essay, drama | Artur Lundkvist (1906–1991) | |
| 34 | Julien Gracq (1910–2007) | novel, drama, poetry, essays | Georges Matoré (1908–1998) | |
| 35 | Günter Grass (1927–2015) | novel, drama, poetry, essays |
| |
| 36 | Julien Green (1900–1998) | novel, autobiography, essays | Johannes Edfelt (1904–1997) | |
| 37 | Graham Greene (1904–1991) | novel, short story, autobiography, essays |
| |
| 38 | Paavo Haavikko (1931–2008) | poetry, drama, essays | Lassi Nummi (1928–2012) | |
| 39 | William Heinesen (1900–1991) | poetry, short story, novel | Harald Noreng (1913–2006) | |
| 40 | Joseph Heller (1923–1999) | novel, short story, drama, screenplay | Artur Lundkvist (1906–1991) | |
| 41 | Vladimír Holan (1905–1980) | poetry, essays | Nobel Committee | |
| 42 | Taha Hussein (1889–1973) | novel, short story, poetry, translation | Ibrāhīm Madkūr (1902–1995) | |
| 43 | Gyula Illyés (1902–1983) | poetry, novel, drama, essays |
| |
| 44 | Eugène Ionesco (1909–1994) | drama, essays | Johannes Söderlind (1918–2001) | |
| 45 | Roman Jakobson (1896–1982) | essays | Jean Dubois (1920–2015) | |
| 46 | Eyvind Johnson (1900–1976) | novel, short story | ||
| 47 | Ferenc Juhász (1928–2015) | poetry | Artur Lundkvist (1906–1991) | |
| 48 | Erich Kästner (1899–1974) | poetry, screenplay, autobiography | Johann Maier (1933–2019) | |
| 49 | Miroslav Krleža (1893–1981) | poetry, drama, short story, novel, essays | Nobel Committee | |
| 50 | Manbohdan Lal (?) | Udai Narain Tewari (?) | ||
| 51 | Philip Larkin (1922–1985) | poetry, novel, essays | Jørgen Læssøe (1924–1993) | |
| 52 | Siegfried Lenz (1926–2014) | novel, short story, essays, drama | Nobel Committee | |
| 53 | Doris Lessing (1919–2013) | novel, short story, memoirs, drama, poetry, essays | Artur Lundkvist (1906–1991) | |
| 54 | Saunders Lewis (1893–1985) | poetry, essays, history, literary criticism | John Ellis Caerwyn Williams (1912–1999) | |
| 55 | Lin Yutang (1895–1976) | novel, philosophy, essays, translation | Peng Yao (?) | |
| 56 | Astrid Lindgren (1907–2002) | novel, short story, drama, screenplay |
| |
| 57 | Väinö Linna (1920–1992) | novel |
| |
| 58 | Stanislaus Lynch (1907–1983) | poetry, essays | Desmond Clarke (1907–1979) | |
| 59 | Compton Mackenzie (1883–1972) | novel, short story, drama, poetry, history, biography, essays, literary criticism, memoirs |
Norman Jeffares (1920–2005) | |
| 60 | Hugh MacLennan (1907–1990) | novel, essays | Lawrence Lande (1906–1998) | |
| 61 | Harold Macmillan (1894–1986) | history, essays, memoirs | Carl Becker (1925–1973) | |
| 62 | Norman Mailer (1923–2007) | novel, short story, poetry, essays, biography, drama, screenplay | Artur Lundkvist (1906–1991) | |
| 63 | Bernard Malamud (1914–1986) | novel, short story | Lars Gyllensten (1921–2006) | |
| 64 | André Malraux (1901–1976) | novel, essays, literary criticism |
| |
| 65 | Frederick Manfred (1912–1994) | novel, essays |
| |
| 66 | Gabriel Marcel (1889–1973) | philosophy, drama | Charles Dédéyan (1910–2003) | |
| 67 | Gustave Lucien Martin-Saint-René (1888–1973) | poetry, novel, essays, literary criticism, drama, songwriting, short story | Henri Guiter (1909–1994) | |
| 68 | Harry Martinson (1904–1978) | poetry, novel, drama, essays | ||
| 69 | László Mécs (1895–1978) | poetry, essays | Watson Kirkconnell (1895–1977) | |
| 70 | Veijo Meri (1928–2015) | novel, short story, poetry, essays | Osmo Hormia (1926–1983) | |
| 71 | Vilhelm Moberg (1898–1973) | novel, drama, history | Harald Noreng (1913–2006) | |
| 72 | Eugenio Montale (1896–1981) | poetry, translation |
| |
| 73 | Alberto Moravia (1907–1990) | novel, literary criticism, essays, drama | Jacques Robichez (1914–1999) | |
| 74 | Sławomir Mrożek (1930–2013) | drama, essays | Kauko Aatos Ojala (1919–1987) | |
| 75 | Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul (1932–2018) | novel, short story, essays | Artur Lundkvist (1906–1991) | |
| 76 | Mikhail Naimy (1889–1988) | poetry, drama, short story, novel, autobiography, literary criticism | Joseph Bassila (?) | |
| 77 | Pak Dujin (1916–1998) | poetry | Baek Cheol (1908–1985) | |
| 78 | Alan Paton (1903–1988) | novel, autobiography, essays | Astley Cooper Partridge (1901–?) | |
| 79 | José María Pemán (1897–1981) | poetry, drama, novel, essays, screenplay | Juan de Contreras y López de Ayala (1893–1978) | |
| 80 | Ezra Pound (1885–1972) | poetry, essays | Hans Galinsky (1909–1991) | |
| 81 | Pandelis Prevelakis (1909–1986) | novel, poetry, drama, essays | Kariophilēs Mētsakēs (1932–2013) | |
| 82 | Henri Queffélec (1910–1992) | novel, short story, screenplay | Edmond Jarno (1905–1985) | |
| 83 | Evaristo Ribera Chevremont (1890–1976) | poetry |
| |
| 84 | Yannis Ritsos (1909–1990) | poetry, songwriting | Per Wästberg (born 1933) | |
| 85 | Philip Roth (1933–2018) | novel, short story, memoirs, essays | Artur Lundkvist (1906–1991) | |
| 86 | Georges Schéhadé (1905–1989) | poetry, drama, novel |
| |
| 87 | Arno Schmidt (1914–1979) | novel, short story, biography, essays | Nobel Committee | |
| 88 | Anna Seghers (1900–1983) | novel, short story |
| |
| 89 | Léopold Sédar Senghor (1906–2001) | poetry, essays | Lassi Nummi (1928–2012) | |
| 90 | Claude Simon (1913–2005) | novel, essays | Nobel Committee | |
| 91 | Zaharia Stancu (1902–1974) | poetry, novel, philosophy, essays |
| |
| 92 | Francis Stuart (1902–2000) | novel, short story, poetry, essays | Desmond Clarke (1907–1979) | |
| 93 | Abraham Sutzkever (1913–2010) | poetry | Joseph Leftwich (1892–1984) | |
| 94 | Marie Under (1883–1980) | poetry | Lassi Nummi (1928–2012) | |
| 95 | Gerard Walschap (1898–1989) | novel, drama, essays |
| |
| 96 | Patrick White (1912–1990) | novel, short story, drama, poetry, autobiography |
| |
| 97 | Elie Wiesel (1928–2016) | novel, memoirs, essays, drama | André Neher (1914–1988) | |
| 98 | Thornton Wilder (1897–1975) | drama, novel, short story | Wolfgang Clemen (1909–1990) | |
| 99 | Vũ Hoàng Chương (1915–1976) | poetry, drama | Thanh Lãng (1924–1978) | |
| 100 | Aaron Zeitlin (1898–1973) | drama, short story, essays, literary criticism | Moshe Starkman (1906–1975) |
Prize decision
[edit]Heinrich Böll had been considered for the prize by the Nobel committee since the first time he was nominated in 1960. The publication of Gruppenbild mit Dame in 1971, a year when Böll was not nominated for the prize, is believed to have strengthened his candidacy, and in 1972 the Nobel committee proposed that Böll should be awarded the prize. The other final candidates were Günter Grass, Eugenio Montale and Patrick White. A shared prize between Böll and Grass was proposed but rejected by the committee.[8]
Nobel lecture
[edit]Böll delivered a Nobel lecture entitled An Essay on the Reason of Poetry on May 2, 1973 at the Swedish Academy.[9] In his lecture, he said:
"Art is always a good hiding-place, not for dynamite, but for intellectual explosives and social time bombs. Why would there otherwise have been the various Indices? And precisely in their despised and often even despicable beauty and lack of transparency lies the best hiding-place for the barb that brings about the sudden jerk or the sudden recognition."[9]
Notes
[edit]- ^ Heinrich Böll is the first German citizen to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature since Thomas Mann won it in 1929. Hermann Hesse, born in Germany, was a Swiss citizen when he won the prize in 1946. The late poet Nelly Sachs, who was born in Germany and wrote in German, was honored in 1966, but she was a Swedish subject.[2]
References
[edit]- ^ "Nobel Prize in Literature 1972". nobelprize.org.
- ^ a b "Heinrich Boll Wins Nobel for Literature". The New York Times. 20 October 1972. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
- ^ Heinrich Böll – Facts nobelprize.org
- ^ Heinrich Böll britannica.com
- ^ Nomination archive – Heinrich Böll nobelprize.org
- ^ Nomination archive – 1972 nobelprize.org
- ^ "Nobelarkivet-1972" (PDF). svenskaakademien.se. April 2020. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
- ^ Kaj Schueler (2 January 2023). "Nobelpristagaren ansågs stödja terroristerna". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish).
- ^ a b 1972 Nobel lecture nobelprize.org
External links
[edit]- Award Ceremony speech by Karl Ragnar Gierow nobelprize.org
- Press release nobelprize.org
- Nobel diploma nobelprize.org