Template:Infobox award The 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the Bengali polymath Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) "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."[1] He is the first and remains only the Indian recipient of the prize.[2][3][4] The award stemmed from the idealistic and accessible (for Western readers) nature of a small body of translated material, including the translated Gitanjali.[5]
Laureate
The literary works of Rabindranath Tagore are well established in both Indian and Western academic traditions. In addition to fiction in the form of poetry, songs, stories, and dramas, it also incorporates literary criticism, philosophy, and social issues. After translating his poems into English, Tagore, who initially wrote in Bengali, was able to appeal to a large audience in the West. His poetry was believed to portray the tranquility of the spirit in connection with nature, in contrast to the frenzied existence in the West. His works include Gitanjali ("Song Offerings", 1910), Gora ("Fair-Faced", 1910) and Ghare-Baire ("The Home and the World", 1916).[6][2]
Deliberations
Nominations
Rabindranath Tagore had not been nominated for the prize before 1913, making it one of the rare occasions when an author have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature the same year they were first nominated.[7] He was nominated by British poet Thomas Sturge Moore (1870–1944), which led him to being awarded with the prize.[8]
In total, the Swedish Academy received 32 nominations for 28 writers. Among the repeated nominees include Pierre Loti, Verner von Heidenstam (awarded in 1916), Sven Hedin, Ángel Guimerá, Anatole France (awarded in 1921), John Morley, and Thomas Hardy. Nine of the nominees were newly nominated such as Edmond Picard, Jakob Knudsen, Henrik Pontoppidan (awarded in 1917), Émile Faguet, Edward Dowden, and John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury. The Italian writer Grazia Deledda, who was awarded in 1927 for the 1926 prize, was the only female nominee.[9]
The authors Alfred Austin, Aluísio Azevedo, Eva Brag, Jules Claretie, Ferdinand de Saussure, Ferdinand Dugué, Louis Hémon, Friedrich Huch, Ștefan Octavian Iosif, Pauline Johnson, Ioan Kalinderu, Thomas Krag, Emily Lawless, Camille Lemonnier, Juhan Liiv, Charles Major, Oscar Méténier, Lesya Ukrainka, Alfred Russel Wallace, and Frances Julia Wedgwood died in 1913 without having been nominated for the prize. The Irish critic Edward Dowden and English polymath John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury died months before the announcement.
| No. | Nominee | Country | Genre(s) | Nominator(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Juhani Aho (1861–1921) | Template:Flag (Template:Flag) |
novel, short story | Karl Alfred Melin (1849–1919) |
| 2 | Henri Bergson (1859–1941) | Template:Flag | philosophy | Vitalis Norström (1856–1916) |
| 3 | Grazia Deledda (1871–1936) | Template:Flag | novel, short story, essays | Template:Unbulleted list |
| 4 | Edward Dowden (1843–1913) | Template:Flag | poetry, essays, literary criticism | James Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford (1847–1913) |
| 5 | Émile Faguet (1847–1916) | Template:Flag | literary criticism, essays | Émile Boutroux (1845–1921) |
| 6 | Salvatore Farina (1846–1918) | Template:Flag | novel, short story | members of the Istituto Lombardo Accademia di Scienze e Lettere |
| 7 | Anatole France (1844–1924) | Template:Flag | poetry, essays, drama, novel, literary criticism | Richard Moritz Meyer (1860–1914) |
| 8 | Adolf Frey (1855–1920) | Template:Flag | biography, history, essays | Wilhelm Oechsli (1851–1919) |
| 9 | Karl Adolph Gjellerup (1857–1919) | Template:Flag | poetry, drama, novel | Template:Unbulleted list |
| 10 | Ángel Guimerá Jorge (1845–1924) | Template:Flag | drama, poetry | members of the Reial Acadèmia de Bones Lletres de Barcelona |
| 11 | Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) | Template:Flag | novel, short story, poetry | 97 members of the Royal Society of Literature |
| 12 | Sven Hedin (1865–1952) | Template:Flag | essays, autobiography, history | Fredrik Wulff (1845–1930) |
| 13 | Harald Høffding (1843–1931) | Template:Flag | philosophy, theology | members of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters |
| 14 | Jakob Knudsen (1858–1917) | Template:Flag | novel, short story, pedagogy, theology | Per Hallström (1866–1960) |
| 15 | Ernest Lavisse (1842–1922) | Template:Flag | history | Template:Unbulleted list |
| 16 | Pierre Loti (1850–1923) | Template:Flag | novel, short story, autobiography, essays | Template:Unbulleted list |
| 17 | John Lubbock (1834–1913) | Template:Flag | essays | Hans Hildebrand (1842–1913) |
| 18 | John Morley (1838–1923) | Template:Flag | biography, literary criticism, essays | John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury (1834–1913) |
| 19 | Benito Pérez Galdós (1843–1920) | Template:Flag | novel, short story, drama, essays | members of the Royal Spanish Academy and several literary societies |
| 20 | Edmond Picard (1836–1924) | Template:Flag | drama, law, essays | File:Nobel prize winner.svg Maurice Maeterlinck (1862–1949) |
| 21 | Henrik Pontoppidan (1857–1943) | Template:Flag | novel, short story | Adolf Noreen (1854–1925) |
| 22 | Peter Rosegger (1843–1918) | Template:Flag | poetry, essays | Karl Alfred Melin (1849–1919) |
| 23 | Salvador Rueda Santos (1857–1933) | Template:Flag | poetry, essays | professors in Madrid |
| 24 | Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) | Template:Flag | poetry, novel, drama, short story, essay, songwriting, translation |
Thomas Sturge Moore (1870–1944) |
| 25 | Carl Spitteler (1845–1924) | Template:Flag | poetry, essays | Template:Unbulleted list |
| 26 | Ernst von der Recke (1848–1933) | Template:Flag | poetry, drama | members of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters |
| 27 | Verner von Heidenstam (1859–1940) | Template:Flag | novel, short story, poetry | Fredrik Wulff (1845–1930) |
| 28 | Francis Channing Welles (1887–1956) | Template:Flag | essays | Carveth Read (1848–1931) |
Prize decision
Contenders for the 1913 prize included Thomas Hardy, Anatole France and Rabindranath Tagore.[10] The candidacy of Hardy, nominated by 97 members of the Royal Society of Literature, were dismissed by the committee on the grounds that his writing were considered too "pessimistic" to be in line with the Nobel prize donor Alfred Nobel's will. Similarly, France was considered a "sceptic", although he was eventually awarded the prize. The committee had only received one nomination for Tagore, and despite that Tagore was only known to the members of Swedish Academy in a few English translations he was awarded the prize. Committee member Per Hallström declared in a report that "...no poet in Europe since the death of Goethe in 1832 can rival Tagore....". To the poet Verner von Heidenstam, himself awarded in 1916, Tagore was the "discovering [of] a great name".[11][12]
Reactions
The choice of Rabindranath Tagore received intense reactions and substantial coverage in newspapers around the world.[13]
In Stockholm, a correspondent for the London newspaper The Times reported that the general reaction were of both surprise and joy: "The newspapers this morning express some surprise at the unexpected decision by the Swedish Academy to confer the Nobel Prize for Literature on the Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore. The choice, however, is hailed as a very happy one, and extracts are quoted from the English translation of the poet's work Gitanjali.[13]
The choice of Tagore was substantially recognised in The New York Times with several articles describing the previously "Entirely unknown outside of his own country" poet's quick rise to international fame and comparing him to Walt Whitman.[13]
The French newspaper Le Figaro said it was an surprise choice of "an author without - until now - any significant world reputation but with a central position in his Bengali home country."[13] The British Daily Mail expressed a delighted reaction to the prize decision.[13]
Other Nobel-related events
Theft of Nobel Prize
Tagore's Nobel Prize and a number of his other possessions were stolen from the Visva-Bharati University's security vault on March 25, 2004.[14] The Swedish Academy decided to give the University two copies of Tagore's Nobel Prize, one made of gold and the other of bronze, on December 7, 2004.[15] It inspired the fictional film Nobel Chor. A baul singer named Pradip Bauri was detained in 2016 after being suspected of providing the robbers with cover. The reward was then given back.[16][17]
References
- ↑ The Nobel Prize in Literature 1913 nobelprize.org
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Rabindranath Tagore britannica.com
- ↑ Rabindranath Tagore – Poetry Foundation poetryfoundation.org
- ↑ Rabindranath Tagore culturalindia.net
- ↑ The Nobel Prize in Literature 1913: Rabindranath Tagore—Award Ceremony Speech. Nobel Foundation.
- ↑ Rabindranath Tagore – Facts nobelprize.org
- ↑ Nomineringar och utlåtanden 1901-1950. Svenska Akademien.
- ↑ Nomination archive – Rabindranath Tagore nobelprize.org
- ↑ Nomination archive – 1913 nobelprize.org
- ↑ Gustav Källstrand Andens Olympiska Spel: Nobelprisets historia, Fri Tanke 2021
- ↑ Fresh doubts arises about circumstances under which Tagore was given Nobel Prize. India Today(31 October 1983).
- ↑ The Nobel Prize in Literature: Nominations and Reports 1901–1950 nobelprize.org
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 The Nobel Prize and the Formation of Contemporary World Literature{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Bloomsbury Publishing(2023)
- ↑ Tagore's Nobel Prize stolen. The Times of India(25 March 2004). Retrieved 10 July 2013.
- ↑ Sweden to present India replicas of Tagore's Nobel. The Times of India(7 December 2004). Retrieved 10 July 2013.
- ↑ Tagore's Nobel medal theft: Baul singer arrested. The Times of India. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
- ↑ Tagore's Nobel Medal Theft: Folk Singer Arrested From Bengal. News18. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
External links
- Award ceremony speech by Harald Hjärne nobelprize.org