1956 Nobel Prize in Literature

20px 1956 Nobel Prize in Literature Juan Ramón Jiménez Swedish Academy 1901 https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1956/summary/ 1956 laureate JRJimenez.JPG "for his lyrical poetry, which in Spanish language constitutes an example of high spirit and artistical purity." 25 October 1956 (announcement) 10 December 1956 (ceremony) Stockholm, Sweden 1955 Nobel Prize in Literature 1957 The 1956 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the Spanish poet Juan Ramón Jiménez (1881–1958) "for his lyrical poetry, which in Spanish language constitutes an example of high spirit and artistical purity"The Nobel Prize in literature 1956 nobelprize.org He is the third Spanish recipient of the prize after the dramatist Jacinto Benavente in 1922. Laureate Juan Ramón Jiménez Juan Ramón Jiménez belonged to the literary movement called modernismo. His early poetry was inspired by German romanticism and French symbolism that is visual and full of imagery and predominated by the colors yellow and green. Then he later turned to poetic prose in which the color white predominates; this is clearly evident in Diario de un poeta recién casado ("Diary of a Recently Married Poet", 1917). Jimenez worked as a poet, literary critic and editor of a literary magazine. Among his famous poem collections include Platero y yo ("Platero and I", 1956), Piedra y cielo ("Stones and Sky", 1919), and Voces de mi copla ("Voices of My Song", 1945)Juan Ramón Jiménez nobelprize.org Deliberations Nominations Jiménez was first nominated in 1952 before being awarded the 1956 Nobel Prize in Literature. Each year he received a single nomination, summing up to 5 nominations in all. His last nomination was made by the Swedish academy member, Harry Martinson.Nomination archive – Juan Ramón Jiménez nobelprize.org In total, the Nobel committee received 158 nominations for 44 writers. Among the nominees include Graham Greene, Nikos Kazantzakis, André Malraux, Albert Camus (awarded in 1957), Zalman Shneour, Johan Falkberget, Ezra Pound, and Giuseppe Ungaretti. The most nominations were for Ramón Menéndez Pidal with 95 nominations, but was not awarded. Seventeen of the nominees were nominated first-time including Henry de Montherlant, Jorge Luis Borges, Marcel Pagnol, Gabriel Marcel, Gonzague de Reynold, Pablo Neruda (awarded in 1971), and Jules Supervielle. Four of the nominees were women: Melpo Axioti, Elizabeth Goudge, Marthe Bibesco, and Karen Blixen.Nomination archive – 1956 nobelprize.org The authors Pío Baroja, Devorah Baron, Edmund Clerihew Bentley, Louis Bromfield, Carlos Bulosan, Ion Călugăru, Owen Davis, Alexander Fadeyev, Reşat Nuri Güntekin, Sheila Kaye-Smith, Yakub Kolas, Paul Léautaud, Louis Madelin, Henry Louis Mencken, Alan Alexander Milne, Leonora Speyer, Michael Ventris, Samad Vurgun, and Robert Walser died in 1956 without having been nominated for the prize. German playwright Bertolt Brecht died before the only chance to be rewarded. Official list of nominees and their nominators for the prize No. Nominee Country Genre(s) Nominator(s)1Mark Aldanov (1886–1957)Soviet Union(Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic Ukraine)French Fourth Republic Francebiography, novel, essays, literary criticismSamson Soloveitchik (1887–1974)2Melpo Axioti (1905–1973)Kingdom of Greece Greecenovel, short story, poetryAndré Bonnard (1888–1959)3Eugène Baie (1874–1964)Belgiumlaw, essaysRoyal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium Nils Ahnlund (1889–1957)4Gottfried Benn (1886–1956)West Germanypoetry, essaysErnst Alker (1895–1972)5Marthe Bibesco (1886–1973)Socialist Republic of Romania RomaniaFrench Fourth Republic Francenovel, poetry, memoirMarie-Jeanne Durry (1901–1980) Fernand Desonay (1899–1973) Henri Davignon (1879–1964) Auguste-Armand de la Force (1878–1961)6Karen Blixen (1885–1962)Denmarknovel, short story, memoirBirger Ekeberg (1880–1968) Nils Ahnlund (1889–1957)7Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986)Argentinapoetry, essays, translation, short storyRené Étiemble (1909–2002)8Henri Bosco (1888–1976)French Fourth Republic Francenovel, short storyRaymond Las Vergnas (1902–1994)9Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956)East Germanydrama, screenplay, poetry, novel, essaysAndré Bonnard (1888–1959)10Albert Camus (1913–1960)French Fourth Republic France(French Algeria Algeria)novel, short story, essays, philosophy, dramaBo Bergman (1869–1967) Birger Ekeberg (1880–1968)11Hans Carossa (1878–1956)West Germanypoetry, autobiography, essaysMaurice Le Boucher (1882–1964)12Francesco Chiesa (1871–1973)Switzerlandpoetry, short story, essaysHenri de Ziégler (1885–1970) Giovanni Laini (1899–1985)13Henry de Montherlant (1895–1972)Franceessays, novel, dramaHenri Morier (1910–2004)14Gonzague de Reynold (1880–1970)Switzerlandhistory, essays, biography, memoirPierre-Henri Simon (1903–1972)15Georges Duhamel (1884–1966)French Fourth Republic Francenovel, short story, poetry, drama, literary criticismJean Carrière (1928–2005) Pierre Jourda (1898–1978) Odette Bornand (1924–2009) Jacqueline Duchemin (1910–1988) Jean François-Anatole Ricci (–)September 202516Johan Falkberget (1879–1967)Norwaynovel, short story, essaysHarald Beyer (1891–1960)17Lion Feuchtwanger (1884–1958)Germanynovel, dramaWalter Arthur Berendsohn (1884–1984)18Edward Morgan Forster (1879–1970)United Kingdomnovel, short story, drama, essays, biography, literary criticismPierre Legouis (1891–1973)19Christopher Fry (1907–2005)United Kingdompoetry, drama, screenplayWerner Kohlschmidt (1904–1983)20Graham Greene (1904–1991)United Kingdomnovel, short story, autobiography, essaysKristian Smidt (1916–2013) Hans Walter Häusermann (1902–1973)21Armand Godoy (1880–1964)Republic of Cuba (1902–1959) CubaFrench Fourth Republic Francepoetry, translationAntonio Iraizoz Villar (1890–1976)22Elizabeth Goudge (1900–1984)United Kingdomnovel, short story, biography, autobiographyEdmond Privat (1889–1962)23Jean Guitton (1901–1999)French Fourth Republic Francephilosophy, theologyÉdouard Delebecque (1910–1990)24Juan Ramón Jiménez (1881–1958)Francoist Spain Spainpoetry, novel Harry Martinson (1904–1978)25Ernst Jünger (1895–1998)West Germanyphilosophy, novel, memoirMaurice Le Boucher (1882–1964)26Nikos Kazantzakis (1883–1957)Kingdom of Greece Greecenovel, philosophy, essays, drama, memoir, translationSamuel Baud-Bovy (1906–1986) Johannes Andreasson Dale (1898–1975) Society of Men of Letters of Greece27André Malraux (1901–1976)French Fourth Republic Francenovel, essays, literary criticismMarius-François Guyard (1921–2011) Pierre-Georges Castex (1915–1995) Marcel Ruff (1896–1993)28Gabriel Marcel (1889–1973)French Fourth Republic Francephilosophy, dramaJules-Augustin Bizet (1908–1977)29Ramón Menéndez Pidal (1869–1968)Francoist Spain Spainphilology, historyÁngel Rosenblat (1902–1984) 9 professors at the Central University of Venezuela José Ramón de Ayala Duarte (1878–1966) Mariano Picón Salas (1901–1965) William Fortune Smith (1931–2016) María Concepción Zardoya (1914–2004) Raymond Smith Willis (1906–1991) Tomás Navarro Tomás (1884–1979) Amelia Agostini de Del Río (1896–1996) Joaquín Casalduero (1903–1990) Norman Torrey (1894–1980) Vicente Gaos (1919–1980) Ernesto Guerra Da Cal (1911–1994) Hispanic Society of America Francisco Sánchez-Castañer (1908–1981) Harry Kurz (1889–1973) John Joseph Spagnoli (1914–2008) René Taupin (1905–1981) Maír José Benardete (1895–1989) Ángel del Río (1900–1962) Leo Spitzer (1887–1960) Edwin Morby (1909–1985) Juan López-Morillas (1913–1997) Raimundo Lida (1908–1979) Sylvanus Griswold Morley (1896–1969) William Fichter (1892–1985) Joan Coromines (1905–1997) María Rosa Lida de Malkiel (1910–1962) Yakov Malkiel (1914–1998) Edmund Schramm (1902–1974) Erich von Richthofen (1913–1988) Hans Rheinfelder (1898–1971) Günther Reichenkron (1907–1966) Fritz Neubert (1886–1970) Harri Meier (1905–1990) Wilhelm Neuss (1880–1965) Erhard Lommatzsch (1886–1975) Wilhelm Kellermann (1907–1980) Rudolf Großmann (1882–1941) Hugo Friedrich (1904–1978) Hans Flasche (1911–1994) Khalil Mardam Bey (1895–1959) Gunnar Tilander (1894–1973) Manuel Muñoz Cortés (1915–2000) Ángel Valbuena Prat (1900–1977) Mariano Baquero Goyanes (1923–1984) Luciano de la Calzada Rodríguez (1909–1974) Alonso Zamora Vicente (1916–2006) 16 members of the Real Academia de la Historia Alfredo Kindelán (1879–1962) Gabriel Maura (1879–1963) Luis Redonet López-Dóriga (1875–1972) Rafael Benítez Claros (1919–1972) Emilio Alarcos Llorach (1922–1998) Martí de Riquer i Morera (1914–2013) 14 professors at the University of Barcelona Antoni Maria Badia i Margarit (1920–2014) Antonio Llorente Maldonado (1922–1998) Antonio Gallego Morell (1923–2009) Emilio Orozco Díaz (1909–1987) Manuel Alvar (1923–2001) Emilio Alarcos García (1895–1986) Vicente Palacio Atard (1920–2013) Juan José Martín González (1923–2009) Alfonso Corral Castanedo (1921–2014) Francisco Ynduráin (1910–1994) professors at the University of Sevilla 12 professors of the National Hispanic Institute Joan Maluquer de Motes (1915–1988) Ramon d'Abadal i de Vinyals (1888–1970) 13 members of the Royal Spanish Academy Gerardo Diego (1896–1987) Melchor Fernández Almagro (1893–1966) Rafael Lapesa (1908–2001) Vicente García de Diego (1878–1978) Julio Casares (1877–1964) Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities Walther von Wartburg (1888–1971) Ramon Sugranyes de Franch (1911–2011) Academia Salvadoreña de la Lengua Júlio Dantas (1876–1962) Nobumoto Ōhama (1891–1976) Fukutarō Okui (1939–1965) Fouad Ephrem Boustany (1904–1994) Angelo Monteverdi (1886–1967) Alfonsina Braun (1906–1970) Felice Battaglia (1902–1977) Edward Riley (1933–2001) Jonas Andries van Praag (1895–1969) Aurelio Viñas (1892–1958) Robert Ricard (1900–1984) William Nitze (1876–1957) Pierre Le Gentil (1906–1989) Elie Lambert (1888–1961) Raymond Cantel (1914–1986) Veikko Väänänen (1905–1997) Manuel Briones (1893–1957) Philippine Academy of the Spanish Language Edward Meryon Wilson (1906–1977) Albert Sloman (1921–2012) Peter Edward Lionel Russell (1913–2006) Joseph Watkin Rees (1894–1976) Alexander Augustine Parker (1908–1989) William Christopher Atkinson (1902–1992) Andreas Blinkenberg (1893–1982) Academia Cubana de la Lengua Honoré Marie van Waeyenbergh (1891–1971) Fritz Krüger (1889–1974) James Shearer (–)September 2025 Gilles-Gaston Granger (1920–2016) Lawton P. G. Peckham (1904–1979) Olaf Deutschmann (1912–1989) Leonida Biancolini (1890–1968) Emiliano Diez Echarri (–)September 2025 Martín Ruipérez (1923–2015) Eric Jules François Arnould (–)September 2025 E. Kohler (–)September 2025 Jesús Castañon (1897–1960) Fredrik Norman (–)September 2025 João Paulo do Vale de Medeiros (–)September 2025 Luis Suárez Fernández (1924–2024)30Pablo Neruda (1904–1973)ChilepoetryAndré Joucla-Ruau (1923–1972)31Marcel Pagnol (1895–1974)French Fourth Republic Francenovel, memoir, drama, screenplayJean Ricci (1933–2011)32Saint-John Perse (1887–1975)French Fourth Republic FrancepoetryMarcel Raymond (1897–1981) Roger Martin du Gard (1881–1958)33Ezra Pound (1885–1972)United States 1912poetry, essaysErik Hjalmar Linder (1906–1994)34Vasco Pratolini (1913–1991)Italynovel, short storyPaul Renucci (1915–1976)35Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1888–1975)Indiaphilosophy, essays, lawNirmal Kumar Sidhanta (1929–2014)36Alfonso Reyes Ochoa (1889–1959)Mexicophilosophy, essays, novel, poetryNational Autonomous University of Mexico37Jean Schlumberger (1877–1968)French Fourth Republic Francepoetry, essays Pierre Legouis (1891–1973)38Zalman Shneour (1887–1959)Soviet Union(Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic Belarus)United States 1912poetry, essaysRobert Henry Pfeiffer (1892–1958)39Mikhail Sholokhov (1905–1984)Soviet UnionnovelJohannes Andreasson Dale (1898–1975) André Bonnard (1888–1959)40Stijn Streuvels (1871–1969)Belgiumnovel, short storyPierre Brachin (1914–2004)41Jules Supervielle (1884–1960)French Fourth Republic FranceUruguaypoetry, novel, short storyMaurice Le Boucher (1882–1964)42George Macauley Trevelyan (1876–1962)United Kingdombiography, autobiography, essays, historyNils Ahnlund (1889–1957)43Giuseppe Ungaretti (1888–1970)Italypoetry, essays, literary criticismMarcel Raymond (1897–1981)44Tarjei Vesaas (1897–1970)Norwaypoetry, novelSigmund Skard (1903–1995) Harald Beyer (1891–1960) Reactions right|thumb|Ramón Menéndez Pidal received 95 nominations only for the year 1956, becoming the author with the highest nominations in the Academy's archives. The strongest contender for the 1956 Nobel Prize was the Spanish historian and philologist Ramón Menéndez Pidal with 95 nominations from academics, critics, authors, literary societies and politicians.Nomination archive - Ramón Menéndez Pidal nobelprize.org His surmounting nomination was snubbed instead by the Swedish Academy and given to the poet, Juan Ramón Jiménez, who was nominated by Harry Martinson, an academy member. The rejection of Menéndez Pidal sparked heavy criticisms from the literary world.https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2021/10/09/the-best-way-to-win-a-nobel-is-to-get-nominated-by-another-laureate The best way to win a Nobel is to get nominated by another laureate 9 October 2021 21 May 2022 The Economist He received 154 nominations in all since 1931 up to 1968, the year he died. The Nobel citation for Juan Ramón Jiménez, says: "This year's laureate is the last survivor of the famous "generation of 1898". For a generation of poets on both sides of the ocean which separates, and at the same time, unites the Hispanic countries, he has been a master – the master, in effect. When the Swedish Academy renders homage to Juan Ramón Jiménez, it renders homage also to an entire epoch in the glorious Spanish literature."Award Ceremony – 1956 nobelprize.org] According to Burton Feldman, in his book The Nobel Prize: A History of Geniuses Controversy, and Prestige, the selection of Jiménez was made as form of recompense for the neglected past generation of writers who had set out a unique revival of Spanish writing in 1898, which includes Antonio and Manuel Machado, Ramón del Valle-Inclán, Miguel de Unamuno, the Nicaraguan Rubén Darío (then living in Spain), and Jiménez among them. Feldman said: "But making him a stand-in for a neglected generation renders his own honor ambiguous. Did he deserve the honor on his own, or because the others died ignored and he happened to live so long?"Burton Feldman, The Nobel Prize: A History of Geniuses Controversy, and Prestige, p. 56 Award Ceremony At the award ceremony in Stockholm on 10 December 1956, Hjalmar Gullberg of the Swedish Academy said: A long life consecrated to poetry and to beauty has been honoured this year with the Nobel Prize in Literature. He is an old gardener, this Juan Ramón, who has dedicated half a century to the creation of a new rose, a white mystical rose, which will bear his name. (...) In the annals of the Nobel Prize, Spanish literature has been one of the distant gardens. Very rarely have we cast a glance inside. This year’s laureate is the last survivor of the famous “generation of 1898”. For a generation of poets on both sides of the ocean which separates, and at the same time, unites the Hispanic countries, he has been a master – the master, in effect. When the Swedish Academy renders homage to Juan Ramón Jiménez, it renders homage also to an entire epoch in the glorious Spanish literature.https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1956/ceremony-speech/ Award ceremony speech nobelprize.org Nobel banquet Jiménez was unable to be present at the award ceremony and the Nobel Banquet in Stockholm, December 10, 1956, thus his speech was read by Jaime Benítez Rexach, Rector of the University of Puerto Rico. He was unable to participate in the event because he was emotionally devastated over the death of his wife, Zenobia Camprubí, from ovarian cancer and because of his intermittent sickness caused by old age. In his sorrow, Jiménez said: "Besieged by sorrow and sickness, I must remain in Puerto Rico, unable to participate directly in the solemnities... My wife Zenobia is the true winner of this Prize. Her companionship, her help, her inspiration made, for forty years, my work possible. Today, without her, I am desolate and helpless."Juan Ramón Jiménez – Speech nobelprize.org Prior to the speech, Ragnar Granit, a member of the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences, said of Juan Ramón Jiménez: Juan Ramón has been called a poet for poets, but the layman can approach him if willing first to partake passively of the sheer visual beauty of his landscape, lovely Andalusia, its birds, its flowers, pomegranates, and oranges. Once inside his world, by leisurely reading and rereading, one gradually awakens to a new «living insight» into it, refreshed by the depth and richness of a rare poetical imagination. References External links Award Ceremony speech nobelprize.org Banquet speech nobelprize.org 1956 Nobel