Ben Jackson
Well-known member
Great style was a criteria used by the Nobel committee to judge candidates for the Nobel Prizes in the 1920s. It had connections with Wirsen's epoch (1901--1912), and his treatment of classicism, though it eliminated the narrow interpretation of the ideal direction expressed by Wirsen. It upheld the wide-hearted humanity (which meant capturing a national human spirit) of works found in candidates like Undset, Shaw and Antaloe France, the last two writers dismissed in the earlier decade. The committee found problems in finding good candidates with rich oeuvres in this decade, hence the emphasis was laid on certain works and not an entire productions: Reymont, Arnold Bennet and Galsworthy for example, which made it possible to avoid taking responsibility for inferior works of uneven writers.
As for the Prize in 1920, which went to Knut Hamsun, he was shortlisted alongside his countryman Arne Garborg, Grazia Deledda and Finn novelist Juhani Aho, but the publication of Hamsun's Growth of the Soil, highlighted in Hamsun's Nobel citation, proved crucial.
The 1921 Nobel Prize shortlist consisted of Bernard Shaw, Anatole France, the recipient, H G Wells and John Galsworthy. "One can't deny him the idealism required of Nobel Prize, " said committee chair Per Hallstrom, but it was believed that Wells didn't "express the human drama enough," which was found in Galsworthy's Forsyte Saga. The committee had voted for Galsworthy, but the Academy chose instead France. It was one of those moments when the Academy disagreed on the choices made by the Committee, another was in 1966.
The Nobel Prize in 1922 the shortlist was Thomas Hardy, Jacinto Benevente and W B Yeats. Hallstrom hailed Yeats for bringing a fresh language into English, and also for his capturing, skillfully, the human spirit of his nation. But he felt that Spanish language has not been rewarded for a long time (since 1904), hence the selection of Benevente. In 1923, Yeats and Thomas Hardy was shortlisted. The committee praised Hardy's poetry productions, but felt that he was too old (he was 83 at the time), and while Yeats was praised with the same expressions he received in 1922, he was advocated by Anders Osterling for been a much younger and suitable candidate than Hardy. Yeats was eventually chosen, while Hardy never received the Prize.
As for the Prize in 1920, which went to Knut Hamsun, he was shortlisted alongside his countryman Arne Garborg, Grazia Deledda and Finn novelist Juhani Aho, but the publication of Hamsun's Growth of the Soil, highlighted in Hamsun's Nobel citation, proved crucial.
The 1921 Nobel Prize shortlist consisted of Bernard Shaw, Anatole France, the recipient, H G Wells and John Galsworthy. "One can't deny him the idealism required of Nobel Prize, " said committee chair Per Hallstrom, but it was believed that Wells didn't "express the human drama enough," which was found in Galsworthy's Forsyte Saga. The committee had voted for Galsworthy, but the Academy chose instead France. It was one of those moments when the Academy disagreed on the choices made by the Committee, another was in 1966.
The Nobel Prize in 1922 the shortlist was Thomas Hardy, Jacinto Benevente and W B Yeats. Hallstrom hailed Yeats for bringing a fresh language into English, and also for his capturing, skillfully, the human spirit of his nation. But he felt that Spanish language has not been rewarded for a long time (since 1904), hence the selection of Benevente. In 1923, Yeats and Thomas Hardy was shortlisted. The committee praised Hardy's poetry productions, but felt that he was too old (he was 83 at the time), and while Yeats was praised with the same expressions he received in 1922, he was advocated by Anders Osterling for been a much younger and suitable candidate than Hardy. Yeats was eventually chosen, while Hardy never received the Prize.
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