1930 Nobel Prize in Literature

Award 20px 1930 Nobel Prize in Literature Sinclair Lewis Swedish Academy 1901 https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1930/summary/ Lewis-Sinclair-LOC.jpg "for his vigorous and graphic art of description and his ability to create, with wit and humour, new types of characters." 5 November 1930http://libris.kb.se/bib/8345517 Nobelpriset i litteratur. Nomineringar och utlåtanden 1901–1950 Bo Svensén 2001 Svenska Akademien 9789113010076 1 November 2025 (announcement) 10 December 1930 (ceremony) Stockholm, Sweden 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature 1931 The 1930 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to American novelist Sinclair Lewis (1885–1951) "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 1930 nobelprize.orghttps://www.nytimes.com/1930/11/10/archives/sinclair-lewis-in-films-novelist-who-won-nobel-prize-talksother.html SINCLAIR LEWIS IN FILMS.; Novelist Who Won Nobel Prize Talks--Other Interesting Movies 10 November 1930 New York Times He is the first American Nobel laureate in literature. Laureate Sinclair Lewis Sinclair Lewis was a prolific author having written 24 novels, more than 70 short stories, several plays and poetry collections. He is well known for the satirical novels Main Street (1920), Babbitt (1922), Dodsworth (1929), and It Can't Happen Here (1935) – all of which critical acknowledgments of American capitalism and materialism in the interwar period. His 1920 novel became a commercial success but did not win a Pulitzer Prize, which disappointed Lewis much that he declined the Pulitzer Prize when it was awarded to his novel Arrowsmith in 1925.Sinclair Lewis – Facts nobelprize.orgSinclair Lewis britannica.com 190px|thumb|left|Dust jacket for the first edition of Sinclair Lewis' novel Babbitt. Deliberations Nominations Lewis had not been nominated before for the prize, making him one of the laureates who won on a rare occasion when they have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature the same year they were first nominated.Facts on the Nobel Prize in Literature nobelprize.org He received only one nomination from Swedish Academy member Henrik Schück (1855–1947).Nomination archive – Sinclair Lewis nobelprize.org In total, the Swedish Academy's Nobel Committee received 47 nominations for 30 writers. Thirteen of the authors were first-time nominated among them Theodore Dreiser, Edgar Lee Masters, Frans Eemil Sillanpää (awarded in 1939), Arvid Järnefelt, Paul Valéry, Lion Feuchtwanger, Rudolf Kassner, and Clotilde Crespo de Arvelo. The highest number of nomination was for the French poet and essayist Paul Valéry with six nominations. There were three female nominees: Concha Espina de la Serna, Clotilde Crespo de Arvelo and Edith Wharton.Nomination archive – 1930 nobelprize.org The authors Arthur St John Adcock, Vladimir Arsenyev, Florence Bell, Edward Bok, Alice Williams Brotherton, Mary Whiton Calkins, Herbert Croly, Georges de Porto-Riche, Arthur Conan Doyle, Florbela Espanca, Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman, Thomas Nicoll Hepburn, Pavlos Karolidis, D. H. Lawrence, William John Locke, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Olena Pchilka, Maria Polydouri, Marion Manville Pope, George Haven Putnam, Karam Singh, Arthur Way, Lucien Wolf, Joseph Wright, Gabriel Miró and Manuel Zeno Gandía died in 1930 without having been nominated for the prize. Official list of nominees and their nominators for the prize No. Nominee Country Genre(s) Nominator(s)1Rudolf Hans Bartsch (1873–1952)Republic of Austria Austrianovel, short story, essays, dramaAlfons Dopsch (1868–1953) Alfred Francis Pribram (1859–1942)2Rufino Blanco Fombona (1874–1844)Venezuela 1905essays, literary criticismJosé Francos Rodríguez (1862–1931)3Georg Bonne (1859–1945) Weimar Republic GermanyessaysPrince Maximilian of Saxony (1870–1951)notes The nomination was corroborated by a number of German professors.4Ivan Bunin (1870–1953) Soviet Unionshort story, novel, poetry Sigurd Agrell (1881–1937)5Clotilde Crespo de Arvelo (1887–1959)Venezuelanovel, poetry, essaysManuel María Villalobos (1858–1929)6Theodore Dreiser (1871–1945)United States 1912novel, drama, poetry, essaysAnders Österling (1884–1981)7Hans Driesch (1867–1941)Weimar Republic GermanyphilosophyArnošt Kraus (1859–1943) Fritz Kern (1884–1950) Walter Goetz (1867–1958) Kurt Breysig (1866–1940)8Olav Duun (1876–1939) Norwaynovel, short storyHalvdan Koht (1873–1965)9Paul Ernst (1866–1933) Weimar Republic Germanynovel, short story, drama, essaysRobert Faesi (1883–1972) Edmund Stengel (1845–1935) Gustav Neckel (1878–1940)10Concha Espina de la Serna (1869–1955)Restoration (Spain) Spainnovel, short storyGabriel Boussagol (1882–1970) Fredrik Wulff (1845–1930)11Édouard Estaunié (1862–1942)French Third Republic Francenovel, literary criticismErik Staaff (1867–1936)12Lion Feuchtwanger (1884–1958) Weimar Republic Germanynovel, dramaUlrik Anton Motzfeldt (1871–1942) 13Bertel Gripenberg (1878–1947)FinlandSwedenpoetry, drama, essaysJohannes Sundwall (1877–1966)14Yrjö Hirn (1870–1952)Finlandessays, literary criticismOlaf Homén (1879–1949)15Arvid Järnefelt (1861–1932)Finlandlaw, essays, dramaOiva Tuulio (1878–1941)16Alois Jirásek (1851–1930)Czechoslovakianovel, dramaJan Bedřich Novák (1872–1933) Josef Zubatý (1855–1931)17Rudolf Kassner (1873–1959) Austriaphilosophy, essays, translationFriedrich Gundolf (1880–1931) Walther Brecht (1876–1950) Arnold Meyer (1861–1934)18Karl Kraus (1874–1936)Republic of Austria Austriaessays, drama, poetryCharles Andler (1866–1933)19Manfred Kyber (1880–1933)Weimar Republic Germanydrama, short story, poetry, essays, literary criticismPrince Maximilian of Saxony (1870–1951) Ludwig Quidde (1858–1941)20Sinclair Lewis (1885–1951)United States 1912novel, short story, drama, poetryHenrik Schück (1855–1947)21Edgar Lee Masters (1868–1950)United States 1912poetry, biography, drama, novel, essaysMartin Lamm (1880–1950)22Dmitry Merezhkovsky (1865–1941) Soviet Unionnovel, essays, poetry, drama Sigurd Agrell (1881–1937)notes S. Agrell proposed that the Prize be awarded either solely to Dmitry Merezhkovsky, or shared with Ivan Bunin.23Kostis Palamas (1859–1943) Second Hellenic Republic Greecepoetry, essays20px Verner von Heidenstam (1859–1940) Simos Menardos (1872–1933)24Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869–1935)United States 1912poetry, dramaHjalmar Hammarskjöld (1862–1953)25Johann Rump (1871–1949)(pseud. Nathanael Jünger)Weimar Germany Germanytheology, essaysFredrik Wulff (1845–1930)26Frans Eemil Sillanpää (1888–1964) Finlandnovel, short story, poetryWerner Söderhjelm (1859–1931) Yrjö Hirn (1870–1952) Oiva Tuulio (1878–1941)27Paul Valéry (1871–1945) French Third Republic Francepoetry, philosophy, essays, dramaMaurice Paléologue (1859–1944) Jules Cambon (1845–1935) Henri Bergson (1859–1949) Raymond Poincaré (1860–1934) Gabriel Hanotaux (1853–1944) Gustave Cohen (1879–1958)28Ernst von der Recke (1848–1933) Denmarkpoetry, dramaJohannes Steenstrup (1844–1935) 8 members of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters29Edith Wharton (1862–1937)United States 1912novel, short story, poetry, essaysTor Hedberg (1862–1931)30Anton Wildgans (1881–1932) Austriapoetry, dramaOswald Redlich (1858–1944)notes Anton Wildgans was also nominated by a number of professors at the University in Vienna, Austria, who were eligible to nominate a candidate. Notes Prize decision The main contenders for the 1930 prize were the American novelists Theodore Dreiser and Sinclair Lewis, who had both been nominated by members of the Swedish Academy's Nobel committee. Committee chair Per Hallström opposed a prize to an American author as he found that the contemporary American culture lacked the deeper ideals and "inner dignity" of the European culture, but got no support for this view within the Nobel committee. Hallström had found in his examinations of the two candidates that they had really only written one significant work each, An American Tragedy and Babbit, but noted that Lewis' most recent novel Dodsworth was also "partly brilliant", which seems to have been decisive in the Swedish Academy's decision to award Lewis. Committee member Anders Österling who favoured Dreiser unsuccessfully argued that the prize should be shared between the two authors.Det litterära Nobelpriset : historien om världslitteraturens största utmärkelse Tenngart, Paul Albert Bonniers förlag 2025 Swedish Reactions The choice of Sinclair Lewis received mixed reactions. The British and European press were, in general, favourable. A Swedish newspaper stated that the prize decision was greeted with "general satisfaction", as the Swedish Academy for once had awarded a writer that was well known to the public. But in the United States reactions among critics and commentators were largely negative, dismissing Lewis' writing artistically and politically. Lewis rivalry with the American Nobel prize contender Theodore Dreiser was much noticed.https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1961/10/sinclair-lewis-and-the-nobel-prize/305481/ Sinclair Lewis and the Nobel prize Mark Schorer The Atlantic October 1961 https://books.google.com/books?id=iG5BEAAAQBAJ&dq=undset+nobelkommiten&pg=PT495 Andens olympiska spel. Nobelpriset historia Källstrand, Gustav 2021 Fri Tanke förlag 978-91-8020-371-5 Swedish Award ceremony thumb|Sinclair Lewis (right) at the award ceremony in Stockholm on 10 December 1930. At the award ceremony Erik Axel Karlfeldt, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, gave a speech in praise of Sinclair Lewis: The new great American literature has started with national self-criticism. It is a sign of health. Sinclair Lewis has the blessed gift of wielding his landclearing implement not only with a firm hand but with a smile on his lips and youth in his heart. He has the manners of a new settler, who takes new land into cultivation. He is a pioneer.https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1930/ceremony-speech/ Award ceremony speech nobelprize.org At the banquet, Tor Hedberg of the Swedish Academy addressed Sinclair Lewis and said: In your person we greet that [American] new building on its own American ground. It has been said that the Nobel Prize in Literature has found its way across the Atlantic far too late. If so, it has not been due to any indifference on the part of the Swedish Academy, nor to any lack of knowledge, but rather to an «embarras de richesse». (...) It is with living humour that you aim the blows of your scourge, and where there is humour, there is a heart too. It is not only the keen and lively intellect, the masterly design of human shapes and characters but also the warm, open, gaily-beating heart that we have appreciated in you. References External links Presentation Speech by Erik Axel Karlfeldt nobelprize.org 1930 Nobel Category:Sinclair Lewis