역대 노벨문학상 수상자

노벨문학상 수상 작가

노벨문학상의 후보는 비공개가 원칙이다. 스웨덴 아카데미가 10월 초에 수상자를 선정하여 발표하며, 시상식은 노벨이 사망한 날인 12월 10일에 열린다.

노벨문학상 후보는 비공개

알프레드 노벨의 유언에 따라 제정된 노벨상. 이 상에는 노벨 화학상, 노벨 물리학상, 노벨 평화상, 노벨 의학상, 노벨 경제학상 그리고 노벨상의 꽃으로 불리는 ‘노벨 문학상’(Nobel Prize in Literature)이 있다. 노벨은 노벨상들이 그 전해에 인류에게 가장 큰 공헌을 한 사람들에게 주어져야 하며, 그 중 한 분야는 문학 분야에서 이상적인 방향으로 가장 뛰어난 작품을 창조한 사람에게 주어져야 한다고 진술했다.

전통과 권위를 인정받은 노벨 문학상(스웨덴)은 맨 부커상(영국), 공쿠르상(프랑스)과 함께 세계 3대 문학상이다. 그중에서도 노벨 문학상은 국제적으로 가장 명성이 높은 상이다. 상금 또한 800만 크로나(약 13억 원)로 맨 부커상의 5만 파운드(약 8,500만원), 공쿠르상의 10유로(약 1만 5000원) 보다 가장 크다.

1901년부터 해마다 전 세계의 작가 중 한사람에게 준다. 작가의 특정한 작품 때문에 주는 경우도 있지만 대부분은 작가의 작품 전체를 평가한다. 노벨 문학상의 후보는 비공개가 원칙이다. 세계 곳곳의 관련 단체로부터 1월까지 후보를 추천받아 후보자 수를 줄여나가는 과정을 거쳐 5인을 최종심에 올린다. 스웨덴 아카데미가 10월 초에 수상자를 선정하여 발표하며, 시상식은 노벨이 사망한 날인 12월 10일에 열린다. 노벨 문학상 수상자는 노벨의 초상이 새겨진 금메달과 노벨재단에서 운영하는 상금을 받는다. 한편 노벨문학상은 문학적 성취 외에도 장르와 지역, 정치적 상황 등을 안배해 주어지는 것으로 알려졌다.

노벨 문학상 수상자 대부분이 소설가이거나 시인, 극작가이다. 그런데 작가가 아닌 수상자로는 테오도로 몸젠(1902), 루돌프 오이겐(1908), 앙리 베르그송(1927), 버트런드 러셀(1950), 윈스턴 처칠(1953) 등이 있다. ‘문학’상을 생각한다면 역사가나 철학자에게 수여한 경우에 대해서 의문을 품게 된다. 그러나 Literature가 문학에만 국한된 단어가 아닌, ‘쓰는 행위’(Literacy) 일반에 대한 것이기 때문이다. 이로 인해 베르그송과 처칠 같은 철학가, 정치가들이 그들의 유려한 문체와 사상으로써 이 상을 수여받는 것이 가능한 것이다.

역대 노벨문학상 수상자와 수상작품

▲ 1901년 쉴리 프뤼돔(프랑스 시인) 구절과 시
▲ 1902년 테오도어 몸젠(독일 역사가) 로마의 역사
▲ 1903년 비에른 스티에르네 비외른손(노르웨이 소설가) 행운아
▲ 1904년 프레데리크 미스트랄(프랑스 시인) 미레유
 호세 에체가라이(스페인 극작가) 광인인가 성인인가
▲ 1905년 헨리크 셍키에비치(폴란드 소설가) 쿠오바디스
▲ 1906년 조수에 카르두치(이탈리아 시인) 레비아 그라비아
▲ 1907년 러디어드 키플링(영국 소설가) 정글북
▲ 1908년 루돌프 크리스토프 오이켄(독일 철학자) 대사상가의 인생관
▲ 1909년 셀마 라게를뢰프(스웨덴 소설가) 닐스의 모험
▲ 1910년 파울 요한 폰 하이제(독일 시인 소설가) 아라비아타
▲ 1911년 모리스 마테를링크(벨기에 극작가) 파랑새
▲ 1912년 게르하르트 하우프트만(독일 극작가) 해뜨기 전
▲ 1913년 라빈드라나트 타고르(인도 시인) 기탄잘리
▲ 1914년 수상자 없음
▲ 1915년 로맹 롤랑(프랑스 소설가) 장크리스토프
▲ 1916년 베르네르 폰 헤이덴스탐(스웨덴 시인) 폴쿵스의 나무
▲ 1917 카를 아돌프 겔레루프(덴마크 소설가) 깨달은 자의 아내
 헨리크 폰토피단(덴마크 소설가) 죽음의 제국
▲ 1918년 수상자 없음
▲ 1919년 카를 슈피텔러(스위스 시인 소설가) 올림포스의 봄
▲ 1920년 크누트 함순(노르웨이 시인 소설가) 굶주림
▲ 1921년 아나톨(프랑스 소설가) 페도크 여왕의 불고기집
▲ 1922년 하신토 베나벤테 이 마르티네스(스페인 극작가) 타산적인 이해, 사악한 선행자들
▲ 1923년 윌리엄 버틀러 예이츠(아일랜드 시인) 이니스프리의 호도
▲ 1924년 브와디스와프 레이몬트(폴란드 소설가) 농민
▲ 1925년 조지 버나드 쇼(아일랜드 극작가) 피그말리온
▲ 1926년 그라치아 델레다(이탈리아 소설가) 코시마
▲ 1927년 앙리 베르그송(프랑스 철학자) 물질과 기억
▲ 1928년 시그리 운세트(노르웨 소설가) 크리스틴 라브란스다테르
▲ 1929년 토마스 만(독일 소설가) 마의 산, 부덴브로크 가의 사람들
▲ 1930년 싱클레어 루이스(미국 소설가) 메인 스트리트, 엘머 갠트리
▲ 1931년 에리크 악셀 카를펠트(스웨덴 시인) 프리돌린의 노래
▲ 1932년 존 골즈워디(영국 소설가) 포사이트가의 이야기, 충성
▲ 1933년 이반 알렉세예비치 부닌(소련 소설가) 마을
▲ 1934년 루이지 피란델로(이탈리아 소설가 극작가) 헨리 4세, 버림받은 여자
▲ 1935년 수상자 없음
▲ 1936년 유진 오닐(미국 극작가) 밤으로의 긴 여로, 느릎나무 밑의 욕망
▲ 1937년 로제 마르탱 뒤가르(프랑스 소설가) 티보가의 사람들
▲ 1938년 펄 벅(미국 소설가) 대지
▲ 1939년 프란스 에밀 실란페(핀란드 소설가) 젊었을 때 잠들다
▲ 1940~1943년 수상자 없음
▲ 1944년 요하네스 빌헬름 옌센(덴마크 소설가) 긴 여행
▲ 1945년 가브리엘라 미스트랄(칠레 시인) 비수
▲ 1946년 헤르만 헤세(스위스 소설가) 데미안
▲ 1947년 앙드레 지드(프랑스 소설가) 좁은 문
▲ 1948년 T.S.엘리엇(영국 시인) 황무지
▲ 1949년 윌리엄 포크너(미국 소설가) 자동차 도둑
▲ 1950년 버트런드 러셀(영국 철학자) 권위와 개인
▲ 1951년 페르 라게르크비스트(스웨덴 시인) 바라바
▲ 1952년 프랑수아 모리악(프랑스 소설가)- 테레즈 데케루
▲ 1953년 윈스턴 처칠(영국 정치가) 제 2차대전 회고록
▲ 1954년 어니스트 헤밍웨이(미국 소설가) 무기여 잘 있거라
▲ 1955년 할도르 락스네스(아이슬란드 소설가) 독립한 민중
▲ 1956년 J.R.히메네스(스페인 시인) 프라테로와 나
▲ 1957년 알베르 카뮈(프랑스 소설가) 이방인
▲ 1958년 보리스 파스테르나크(소련 소설가) 닥터 지바고
▲ 1959년 살바토레 콰지모도(이탈리아 시인) 시인과 정치
▲ 1960년 생-종 페르스(프랑스 시인)원정, 연대기
▲ 1961년 이보 안드리치(유고슬라비아 시인) 드리나강의 다리
▲ 1962년 존 스타인벡(미국 소설가) 불만의 겨울
▲ 1963년 게오르게 세페리스(그리스 시인) 연습장
▲ 1964년 장 폴 사르트르(프랑스 철학자) 구토
▲ 1965년 미하일 솔로호프(소련 소설가) 고요한 돈강
▲ 1966년 S.요세프 아그논(이스라엘 소설가) 출가
 넬리 작스(스웨덴 시인) 엘리
▲ 1967년 미겔 아스투리아스(과테말라 소설가) 과테말라의 전설집
▲ 1968년 가와바타 야스나리(일본 소설가) 설국
▲ 1969년 새뮤얼 베케트(아일랜드 극작가) 고도를 기다리며
▲ 1970년 알렉산드르 솔제니친(소련 소설가) 수용소 군도
▲ 1971년 파블로 네루다(칠레 시인) 지상의 주소
▲ 1972년 하인리히 뵐(독일 소설가) 기차는 늦지 않았다
▲ 1973년 패트릭 화이트(호주 소설가) 폭풍의 눈
▲ 1974년 H.마르틴손(스웨덴 시인) 아니 아라
E.욘손(스웨덴 소설가) 해변의 파도
▲ 1975년 에우제니오 몬탈레(이탈리아 시인) 오징어의 뼈
▲ 1976년 솔 벨로(미국 소설가)- 새믈러씨의 혹성
▲ 1977년 비센테 알레익산드레(스페인 시인) 파괴 또는 사랑
▲ 1978년 아이작 싱어(미국 소설가) 고레이의 사탄
▲ 1979년 오디세우스 엘리티스(그리스 시인) 방향
▲ 1980년 체슬라브 밀로즈(폴란드/미국 시인) 대낮의 등불
▲ 1981년 엘리아스 카네티(영국 소설가) 현혹
▲ 1982년 가브리엘 가르시아 마르케스(콜롬비아 소설가) 백년동안의 고독
▲ 1983년 윌리엄 골딩(영국 소설가) 파리 대왕
▲ 1984년 야로슬라프 세이페르트(체코슬로바키아 시인) 프라하의 봄
▲ 1985년 클로드 시몽(프랑스 소설가) 사기꾼
▲ 1986년 월레 소잉카(나이지리아 극작가)- 사자와 보석
▲ 1987년 요세프 브로드스키(미국 시인) 연설 한 토막
▲ 1988년 나기브 마푸즈(이집트 소설가) 도적과 개들
▲ 1989년 카밀로 호세 세라(스페인 소설가) 파스쿠알 두아르테 일가
▲ 1990년 옥타비오 파스(멕시코 시인) 태양의 돌
▲ 1991년 나딘 고디머(남아공 소설가) 사탄의 달콤한 목소리
▲ 1992년 데렉 월코트(세인트루시아 시인) 또 다른 삶
▲ 1993년 토니 모리슨(미국 소설가) 재즈
▲ 1994년 오에 겐자부로(일본 소설가) 개인적 체험
▲ 1995년 셰이머스 히니(아일랜드 시인) 어느 자연주의자의 죽음
▲ 1996년 비슬라바 쉼보르스카(폴란드 시인) 모래 알갱이가 있는 풍경
▲ 1997년 다리오 포(이탈리아 극작가) 돼지 등 타기
▲ 1998년 주제 사라마구(포르투갈 소설가) 눈먼 자들의 도시
▲ 1999년 귄터 그라스(독일 소설가) 양철북
▲ 2000년 가오싱젠(중국 극작가) 영산
▲ 2001년 비디아다르 네이폴(영국 소설가) 세계 속의 길
▲ 2002년 임레 케르테스(헝가리 소설가) 운명
▲ 2003년 J M 쿠치(남아공 소설가) 불명예
▲ 2004년 엘프레데 옐리네크(오스트리아 소설가) 피아노 치는 여자
▲ 2005년 해럴드 핀터(영국 극작가) 과거 일들의 회상
▲ 2006년 오르한 파무크(터키 소설가) 내 이름은 빨강
▲ 2007년 도리스 레싱(영국 소설가) 마사 퀘스트
▲ 2008년 르 클레지오(프랑스 소설가) 대홍수
▲ 2009년 헤르타 뮐러(독일 소설가) 저지대
▲ 2010년 마리오 바르가스 요사(페루 소설가) 판탈레온과 특별봉사대
▲ 2011년 토머스 트란스트로메르(스웨덴 시인) 창문과 돌
▲ 2012년 모옌(중국 소설가)-붉은 수수밭
▲ 2013년 앨리스 먼로(캐나다 소설가) 행복한 그림자의 춤
▲ 2014년 파트릭 모디아노(프랑스 소설가) 어두운 상점의 거리
▲ 2015년 스베틀라나 알렉시예비치(우크라이나 작가) 전쟁은 여자의 얼굴을 하지 않았다

 

 

All Nobel Prizes in Literature

The Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded 108 times to 112 Nobel Laureates between 1901 and 2015. Click on the links to get more information.

 

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2016

The 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature has not been awarded yet. The date will be set later.

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2015

Svetlana Alexievich

"for her polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2014

Patrick Modiano

"for the art of memory with which he has evoked the most ungraspable human destinies and uncovered the life-world of the occupation"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2013

Alice Munro

"master of the contemporary short story"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2012

Mo Yan

"who with hallucinatory realism merges folk tales, history and the contemporary"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2011

Tomas Tranströmer

"because, through his condensed, translucent images, he gives us fresh access to reality"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2010

Mario Vargas Llosa

"for his cartography of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual's resistance, revolt, and defeat"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2009

Herta Müller

"who, with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2008

Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio

"author of new departures, poetic adventure and sensual ecstasy, explorer of a humanity beyond and below the reigning civilization"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2007

Doris Lessing

"that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2006

Orhan Pamuk

"who in the quest for the melancholic soul of his native city has discovered new symbols for the clash and interlacing of cultures"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2005

Harold Pinter

"who in his plays uncovers the precipice under everyday prattle and forces entry into oppression's closed rooms"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2004

Elfriede Jelinek

"for her musical flow of voices and counter-voices in novels and plays that with extraordinary linguistic zeal reveal the absurdity of society's clichés and their subjugating power"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2003

John M. Coetzee

"who in innumerable guises portrays the surprising involvement of the outsider"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2002

Imre Kertész

"for writing that upholds the fragile experience of the individual against the barbaric arbitrariness of history"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2001

Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul

"for having united perceptive narrative and incorruptible scrutiny in works that compel us to see the presence of suppressed histories"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2000

Gao Xingjian

"for an æuvre of universal validity, bitter insights and linguistic ingenuity, which has opened new paths for the Chinese novel and drama"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1999

Günter Grass

"whose frolicsome black fables portray the forgotten face of history"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1998

José Saramago

"who with parables sustained by imagination, compassion and irony continually enables us once again to apprehend an elusory reality"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1997

Dario Fo

"who emulates the jesters of the Middle Ages in scourging authority and upholding the dignity of the downtrodden"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1996

Wislawa Szymborska

"for poetry that with ironic precision allows the historical and biological context to come to light in fragments of human reality"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1995

Seamus Heaney

"for works of lyrical beauty and ethical depth, which exalt everyday miracles and the living past"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1994

Kenzaburo Oe

"who with poetic force creates an imagined world, where life and myth condense to form a disconcerting picture of the human predicament today"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1993

Toni Morrison

"who in novels characterized by visionary force and poetic import, gives life to an essential aspect of American reality"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1992

Derek Walcott

"for a poetic oeuvre of great luminosity, sustained by a historical vision, the outcome of a multicultural commitment"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1991

Nadine Gordimer

"who through her magnificent epic writing has - in the words of Alfred Nobel - been of very great benefit to humanity"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1990

Octavio Paz

"for impassioned writing with wide horizons, characterized by sensuous intelligence and humanistic integrity"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1989

Camilo José Cela

"for a rich and intensive prose, which with restrained compassion forms a challenging vision of man's vulnerability"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1988

Naguib Mahfouz

"who, through works rich in nuance - now clear-sightedly realistic, now evocatively ambiguous - has formed an Arabian narrative art that applies to all mankind"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1987

Joseph Brodsky

"for an all-embracing authorship, imbued with clarity of thought and poetic intensity"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1986

Wole Soyinka

"who in a wide cultural perspective and with poetic overtones fashions the drama of existence"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1985

Claude Simon

"who in his novel combines the poet's and the painter's creativeness with a deepened awareness of time in the depiction of the human condition"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1984

Jaroslav Seifert

"for his poetry which endowed with freshness, sensuality and rich inventiveness provides a liberating image of the indomitable spirit and versatility of man"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1983

William Golding

"for his novels which, with the perspicuity of realistic narrative art and the diversity and universality of myth, illuminate the human condition in the world of today"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1982

Gabriel García Márquez

"for his novels and short stories, in which the fantastic and the realistic are combined in a richly composed world of imagination, reflecting a continent's life and conflicts"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1981

Elias Canetti

"for writings marked by a broad outlook, a wealth of ideas and artistic power"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1980

Czeslaw Milosz

"who with uncompromising clear-sightedness voices man's exposed condition in a world of severe conflicts"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1979

Odysseus Elytis

"for his poetry, which, against the background of Greek tradition, depicts with sensuous strength and intellectual clear-sightedness modern man's struggle for freedom and creativeness"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1978

Isaac Bashevis Singer

"for his impassioned narrative art which, with roots in a Polish-Jewish cultural tradition, brings universal human conditions to life"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1977

Vicente Aleixandre

"for a creative poetic writing which illuminates man's condition in the cosmos and in present-day society, at the same time representing the great renewal of the traditions of Spanish poetry between the wars"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1976

Saul Bellow

"for the human understanding and subtle analysis of contemporary culture that are combined in his work"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1975

Eugenio Montale

"for his distinctive poetry which, with great artistic sensitivity, has interpreted human values under the sign of an outlook on life with no illusions"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1974

Eyvind Johnson

"for a narrative art, far-seeing in lands and ages, in the service of freedom"

Harry Martinson

"for writings that catch the dewdrop and reflect the cosmos"

 

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1973

Patrick White

"for an epic and psychological narrative art which has introduced a new continent into literature"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1972

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"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1971

Pablo Neruda

"for a poetry that with the action of an elemental force brings alive a continent's destiny and dreams"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1970

Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn

"for the ethical force with which he has pursued the indispensable traditions of Russian literature"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1969

Samuel Beckett

"for his writing, which - in new forms for the novel and drama - in the destitution of modern man acquires its elevation"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1968

Yasunari Kawabata

"for his narrative mastery, which with great sensibility expresses the essence of the Japanese mind"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1967

Miguel Angel Asturias

"for his vivid literary achievement, deep-rooted in the national traits and traditions of Indian peoples of Latin America"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1966

Shmuel Yosef Agnon

"for his profoundly characteristic narrative art with motifs from the life of the Jewish people"

Nelly Sachs

"for her outstanding lyrical and dramatic writing, which interprets Israel's destiny with touching strength"

 

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1965

Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov

"for the artistic power and integrity with which, in his epic of the Don, he has given expression to a historic phase in the life of the Russian people"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1964

Jean-Paul Sartre

"for his work which, rich in ideas and filled with the spirit of freedom and the quest for truth, has exerted a far-reaching influence on our age"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1963

Giorgos Seferis

"for his eminent lyrical writing, inspired by a deep feeling for the Hellenic world of culture"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1962

John Steinbeck

"for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humour and keen social perception"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1961

Ivo Andric

"for the epic force with which he has traced themes and depicted human destinies drawn from the history of his country"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1960

Saint-John Perse

"for the soaring flight and the evocative imagery of his poetry which in a visionary fashion reflects the conditions of our time"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1959

Salvatore Quasimodo

"for his lyrical poetry, which with classical fire expresses the tragic experience of life in our own times"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1958

Boris Leonidovich Pasternak

"for his important achievement both in contemporary lyrical poetry and in the field of the great Russian epic tradition"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1957

Albert Camus

"for his important literary production, which with clear-sighted earnestness illuminates the problems of the human conscience in our times"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1956

Juan Ramón Jiménez

"for his lyrical poetry, which in Spanish language constitutes an example of high spirit and artistical purity"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1955

Halldór Kiljan Laxness

"for his vivid epic power which has renewed the great narrative art of Iceland"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1954

Ernest Miller Hemingway

"for his mastery of the art of narrative, most recently demonstrated in The Old Man and the Sea, and for the influence that he has exerted on contemporary style"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1953

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill

"for his mastery of historical and biographical description as well as for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1952

François Mauriac

"for the deep spiritual insight and the artistic intensity with which he has in his novels penetrated the drama of human life"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1951

Pär Fabian Lagerkvist

"for the artistic vigour and true independence of mind with which he endeavours in his poetry to find answers to the eternal questions confronting mankind"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1950

Earl (Bertrand Arthur William) Russell

"in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1949

William Faulkner

"for his powerful and artistically unique contribution to the modern American novel"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1948

Thomas Stearns Eliot

"for his outstanding, pioneer contribution to present-day poetry"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1947

André Paul Guillaume Gide

"for his comprehensive and artistically significant writings, in which human problems and conditions have been presented with a fearless love of truth and keen psychological insight"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1946

Hermann Hesse

"for his inspired writings which, while growing in boldness and penetration, exemplify the classical humanitarian ideals and high qualities of style"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1945

Gabriela Mistral

"for her lyric poetry which, inspired by powerful emotions, has made her name a symbol of the idealistic aspirations of the entire Latin American world"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1944

Johannes Vilhelm Jensen

"for the rare strength and fertility of his poetic imagination with which is combined an intellectual curiosity of wide scope and a bold, freshly creative style"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1943

No Nobel Prize was awarded this year. The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section.

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1942

No Nobel Prize was awarded this year. The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section.

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1941

No Nobel Prize was awarded this year. The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section.

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1940

No Nobel Prize was awarded this year. The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section.

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1939

Frans Eemil Sillanpää

"for his deep understanding of his country's peasantry and the exquisite art with which he has portrayed their way of life and their relationship with Nature"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1938

Pearl Buck

"for her rich and truly epic descriptions of peasant life in China and for her biographical masterpieces"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1937

Roger Martin du Gard

"for the artistic power and truth with which he has depicted human conflict as well as some fundamental aspects of contemporary life in his novel-cycle Les Thibault"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1936

Eugene Gladstone O'Neill

"for the power, honesty and deep-felt emotions of his dramatic works, which embody an original concept of tragedy"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1935

No Nobel Prize was awarded this year. The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section.

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1934

Luigi Pirandello

"for his bold and ingenious revival of dramatic and scenic art"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1933

Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin

"for the strict artistry with which he has carried on the classical Russian traditions in prose writing"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1932

John Galsworthy

"for his distinguished art of narration which takes its highest form in The Forsyte Saga"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1931

Erik Axel Karlfeldt

"The poetry of Erik Axel Karlfeldt"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1930

Sinclair Lewis

"for his vigorous and graphic art of description and his ability to create, with wit and humour, new types of characters"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1929

Thomas Mann

"principally for his great novel, Buddenbrooks, which has won steadily increased recognition as one of the classic works of contemporary literature"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1928

Sigrid Undset

"principally for her powerful descriptions of Northern life during the Middle Ages"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1927

Henri Bergson

"in recognition of his rich and vitalizing ideas and the brilliant skill with which they have been presented"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1926

Grazia Deledda

"for her idealistically inspired writings which with plastic clarity picture the life on her native island and with depth and sympathy deal with human problems in general"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1925

George Bernard Shaw

"for his work which is marked by both idealism and humanity, its stimulating satire often being infused with a singular poetic beauty"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1924

Wladyslaw Stanislaw Reymont

"for his great national epic, The Peasants"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1923

William Butler Yeats

"for his always inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1922

Jacinto Benavente

"for the happy manner in which he has continued the illustrious traditions of the Spanish drama"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1921

Anatole France

"in recognition of his brilliant literary achievements, characterized as they are by a nobility of style, a profound human sympathy, grace, and a true Gallic temperament"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1920

Knut Pedersen Hamsun

"for his monumental work, Growth of the Soil"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1919

Carl Friedrich Georg Spitteler

"in special appreciation of his epic, Olympian Spring"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1918

No Nobel Prize was awarded this year. The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section.

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1917

Karl Adolph Gjellerup

"for his varied and rich poetry, which is inspired by lofty ideals"

Henrik Pontoppidan

"for his authentic descriptions of present-day life in Denmark"

 

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1916

Carl Gustaf Verner von Heidenstam

"in recognition of his significance as the leading representative of a new era in our literature"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1915

Romain Rolland

"as a tribute to the lofty idealism of his literary production and to the sympathy and love of truth with which he has described different types of human beings"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1914

No Nobel Prize was awarded this year. The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section.

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1913

Rabindranath Tagore

"because of his profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse, by which, with consummate skill, he has made his poetic thought, expressed in his own English words, a part of the literature of the West"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1912

Gerhart Johann Robert Hauptmann

"primarily in recognition of his fruitful, varied and outstanding production in the realm of dramatic art"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1911

Count Maurice (Mooris) Polidore Marie Bernhard Maeterlinck

"in appreciation of his many-sided literary activities, and especially of his dramatic works, which are distinguished by a wealth of imagination and by a poetic fancy, which reveals, sometimes in the guise of a fairy tale, a deep inspiration, while in a mysterious way they appeal to the readers' own feelings and stimulate their imaginations"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1910

Paul Johann Ludwig Heyse

"as a tribute to the consummate artistry, permeated with idealism, which he has demonstrated during his long productive career as a lyric poet, dramatist, novelist and writer of world-renowned short stories"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1909

Selma Ottilia Lovisa Lagerlöf

"in appreciation of the lofty idealism, vivid imagination and spiritual perception that characterize her writings"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1908

Rudolf Christoph Eucken

"in recognition of his earnest search for truth, his penetrating power of thought, his wide range of vision, and the warmth and strength in presentation with which in his numerous works he has vindicated and developed an idealistic philosophy of life"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1907

Rudyard Kipling

"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"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1906

Giosuè Carducci

"not only in consideration of his deep learning and critical research, but above all as a tribute to the creative energy, freshness of style, and lyrical force which characterize his poetic masterpieces"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1905

Henryk Sienkiewicz

"because of his outstanding merits as an epic writer"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1904

Frédéric Mistral

"in recognition of the fresh originality and true inspiration of his poetic production, which faithfully reflects the natural scenery and native spirit of his people, and, in addition, his significant work as a Provençal philologist"

José Echegaray y Eizaguirre

"in recognition of the numerous and brilliant compositions which, in an individual and original manner, have revived the great traditions of the Spanish drama"

 

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1903

Bjørnstjerne Martinus Bjørnson

"as a tribute to his noble, magnificent and versatile poetry, which has always been distinguished by both the freshness of its inspiration and the rare purity of its spirit"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1902

Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen

"the greatest living master of the art of historical writing, with special reference to his monumental work, A history of Rome"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1901

Sully Prudhomme

"in special recognition of his poetic composition, which gives evidence of lofty idealism, artistic perfection and a rare combination of the qualities of both heart and intellect"