1960 Nobel Prize in Literature

20px 1960 Nobel Prize in Literature Saint-John Perse Swedish Academy 1901 https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1960/summary/ 1960 laureate Saint-John Perse 1960.jpg "for the soaring flight and the evocative imagery of his poetry which in a visionary fashion reflects the conditions of our time." 26 October 1960 (announcement) 10 December 1960 (ceremony) Stockholm, Sweden 1959 Nobel Prize in Literature 1961 The 1960 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the French poet Saint-John Perse (1887–1975) "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 1960 nobelprize.orghttps://www.nytimes.com/1960/10/27/archives/saintjohn-perse-french-poet-wins-nobel-prize-for-literature-nobel.html Saint-John Perse, French Poet, Wins Nobel Prize for Literature 27 October 1960 The New York Times Werner Wiskari Laureate Saint-John Perse Sain-John Perse, pseudonym for Alexis Leger, was born in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, where his family owned two plantations: a coffee and a sugar plantation. His family went back to France in 1899 and settled in Pau. In 1911, he published his first poetry collection Éloges and Other Poems which was almost completely ignored at the time, and one of the few writers who paid it any attention was Marcel Proust, who praised him as a creative young poet, but afterwards, in 1912, he started earning steady success with the help of Valery Larbaud and André Gide. His poetry, admired especially by literary circles, has been compared to that of Arthur Rimbaud. In 1914, he joined the French diplomatic service and spent many years abroad in various countries. While working as a consul in China, he wrote Anabase ("Anabasis", 1924), an epic poem that puzzled many critics. In 1940, he began a long exile in the U.S. in Washington, D.C. wherein much of his poetry has a profoundly personal tone, as in Exil (1942; "Exile"), Vents (1946; "Winds") and Amers (1957; "Seamarks").https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-John-Perse Saint-John Perse britannica.com Deliberations Nominations Saint-John Perse was nominated for the prize 15 times, including one nomination by 1937 Nobel laureate Roger Martin du Gard in 1956 and three nominations by the 1948 Nobel Prize laureate T. S. Eliot in 1955, 1958 and 1960.https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/archive/show_people.php?id=12089 Nomination archive Saint-John Perse 21 May 2024 nobelprize.org In total, the Nobel committee received 70 nominations including nominations for 58 authors, including Ivo Andrić (awarded in 1961), John Steinbeck (awarded in 1962), Jean-Paul Sartre (awarded in 1964), Robert Frost, André Malraux, Romulo Gallegos, Aldous Huxley, Louis Aragon, Johan Falkberget, Karl Jaspers, Martin Heidegger, Alberto Moravia, Ignazio Silone, Ezra Pound, Julien Gracq, E. M. Forster, Ramón Menéndez Pidal, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Junichiro Tanizaki, Miguel Torga and Tarjei Vesaas.https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/archive/list.php?prize=4&year=1960 Nomination archive 1960 21 May 2024 nobelprize.org Fourteen of the nominees were newly nominated namely Heinrich Böll (awarded in 1972), Wesley LaViolette, Aquilino Ribeiro, Marie Noël, Jean Price-Mars, James Thurber, Franz Theodor Csokor, Stratis Myrivilis, Elias Venezis, Aksel Sandemose, John Boyton Priestley and René Char. There were only four women nominated namely Maria Dąbrowska, Marie Noël, Juana de Ibarbourou and Karen Blixen. The authors Sibilla Aleramo, Vicki Baum, Ya'akov Cahan, Ralph Chubb, Hjalmar Dahl, Harold Lenoir Davis, Leonora Eyles, Paul Fort, Ethel Voynich, Ferdynand Goetel, Sigurd Hoel, Zora Neale Hurston, Raïssa Maritain, John P. Marquand, Elsie J. Oxenham, Pierre Reverdy, Nevil Shute, Tetsuro Watsuji and Richard Wright died in 1960 without having been nominated for the prize. Official list of nominees and their nominators for the prize No. Nominee Country Genre(s) Nominator(s) 1 Ivo Andrić (1892–1975) Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Yugoslavia novel, short story, poetry Eyvind Johnson (1900–1976) Harry Martinson (1904–1978) Association of Writers of Yugoslavia 2 Louis Aragon (1897–1982) France novel, short story, poetry, essays Henry Olsson (1896–1985) 3 Werner Bergengruen (1892–1964) West Germany novel, short story, poetry Wolfgang Stammler (1886–1965) 4 Karen Blixen (1885–1962) Denmark novel, short story, memoir Günther Jungbluth (1912–1976) 5 Heinrich Böll (1917–1985) West Germany novel, short story Gustav Korlén (1915–2014) 6 René Char (1907–1988) France poetry Georges Blin (1917–2005) 7 Franz Theodor Csokor (1885–1969) Austria drama, essays, poetry, autobiography The Austrian PEN-Club 8 Maria Dąbrowska (1889–1965) Polish People's Republic Poland novel, short story, essays, drama, literary criticism The Polish PEN-Club 9 Henry de Montherlant (1895–1972) France essays, novel, drama Henri Morier (1910–2004) 10 Gonzague de Reynold (1880–1970) Switzerland history, essays, biography, memoir Swiss Writers Association 11 Johan Falkberget (1879–1967) Norway novel, short story, essays Johannes Andreasson Dale (1898–1975) Harald Bayer (1891–1960) Hans Heiberg (1904–1978) Kristian Smidt (1916–2013) 12 Edward Morgan Forster (1879–1970) United Kingdom novel, short story, drama, essays, biography, literary criticism Eyvind Johnson (1900–1976) 13 Robert Frost (1874–1963) United States poetry, drama Walter Havighurst (1901–1994) Nils Erik Enkvist (1925–2009) Hans Galinsky (1909–1991) 14 Christopher Fry (1907–2005) United Kingdom poetry, drama, screenplay Arthur Henkel (1915–2005) 15 Rómulo Gallegos (1884–1969) Venezuela novel, short story Several South American proposers The Brazilian PEN-Club 16 Armand Godoy (1880–1964) CubaFrance poetry, translation Anna Hyatt Huntington (1876–1973) 17 Julien Gracq (1910–2007) France novel, poetry, drama, literary criticism Eyvind Johnson (1900–1976) 18 Robert Graves (1895–1985) United Kingdom history, novel, poetry, literary criticism, essays Johannes Edfelt (1904–1997) Johannes Andreasson Dale (1898–1975) 19 Graham Greene (1904–1991) United Kingdom novel, short story, autobiography, essays Kristian Smidt (1916–2013) 20 Gunnar Gunnarsson (1889–1975) Iceland novel, short story, poetry Stellan Arvidson (1902–1997) 21 Martin Heidegger (1889–1976) West Germany philosophy, essays Paul Böckmann (1899–1987) 22 Taha Hussein (1889–1973) United Arab Republic Egypt novel, short story, poetry, translation Olle Hedberg (1899–1974) 23 Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) United Kingdom novel, short story, essays, poetry, screenplay, drama, philosophy R. Fricker (–)September 2025 24 Juana de Ibarbourou (1892–1979) Uruguay poetry, essays Academia Cubana de la Lengua 25 Karl Jaspers (1883–1969) West GermanySwitzerland philosophy Hermann Kasack (1896–1966) Erich Kästner (1899–1974) 26 Miroslav Krleža (1893–1981) Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Yugoslavia poetry, drama, short story, novel, essays Association of Writers of Yugoslavia 27 Wesley LaViolette (1894–1978) United States poetry, essays Vinayaka Krishna Gokak (1909–1992) 28 Wilhelm Lehmann (1882–1968) VenezuelaWest Germany novel, short story, poetry, essays Friedrich Sengle (1909–1994) 29 André Malraux (1901–1976) France novel, essays, literary criticism Claude Digeon (1920–2008) 30 Max Mell (1882–1971) Austria drama, novel, screenplay Otto Höfler (1901–1987) Rudolf Jagoditsch (1892–1976) 31 Ramón Menéndez Pidal (1869–1968) Francoist Spain Spain philology, history Academia Argentina de Letras Jules Horrent (1920–1981) Gunnar Tilander (1894–1973) 32 Alberto Moravia (1907–1990) Italy novel, literary criticism, essays, drama Eyvind Johnson (1900–1976) 33 Stratis Myrivilis (1890–1969) Kingdom of Greece Greece novel, short story The Greek Authors' Union 34 Junzaburō Nishiwaki (1894–1982) Japan poetry, literary criticism Naoshirō Tsuji (1899–1979) 35 Marie Noël (1883–1967) France poetry, autobiography Maurice Bémol (1900–1961) 36 Saint-John Perse (1887–1975) France poetry 20px Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888–1965) Eyvind Johnson (1900–1976) 37 Ezra Pound (1885–1972) United States poetry, essays Ingvar Andersson (1899–1974) 38 Jean Price-Mars (1876–1969) Haiti essays, philosophy Henri Daniel-Rops (1901–1965) Georges Duhamel (1884–1966) 39 John Boynton Priestley (1894–1984) United Kingdom novel, drama, screenplay, literary criticism, essays G. Wilson Knight (1897–1985) 40 Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1888–1975) India philosophy, essays, law Nirmal Kumar Sidhanta (1929–2014) 41 Aquilino Ribeiro (1885–1963) Estado Novo (Portugal) Portugal novel, short story, biography, literary criticism, memoir, translation Sociedade Portuguesa de Autores 42 Mario Roques (1875–1961) PeruFrance history, philology, essays Ida-Marie Frandon (1907–1997) 43 Aksel Sandemose (1899–1965) DenmarkNorway novel, essays Eyvind Johnson (1900–1976) 44 Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980) France philosophy, novel, drama, essays, screenplay Kristian Smidt (1916–2013) 45 Rudolf Alexander Schröder (1878–1962) West Germany poetry, songwriting, translation Erich Kästner (1899–1974) 46 Ignazio Silone (1900–1978) Italy novel, short story, essays, drama Eyvind Johnson (1900–1976) 47 John Steinbeck (1902–1968) United States novel, short story, screenplay Henry Olsson (1896–1985) 48 Jules Supervielle (1884–1960) FranceUruguay poetry, novel, short story Jean Fabre (1904–1974) 49 Jun'ichirō Tanizaki (1886–1965) Japan novel, short story Sigfrid Siwertz (1882–1970) 50 Herman Teirlinck (1879–1967) Belgium novel, poetry, essays, drama Theodor Frings (1886–1968) 51 James Thurber (1894–1961) United States essays, short story, drama Robert Henry Elias (1914–2008) Arthur Mizener (1907–1988) Stephen Emerson Whicher (1915–1961) 52 Miguel Torga (1907–1995) Estado Novo (Portugal) Portugal poetry, short story, novel, drama, autobiography Several professors Émile Planchard (1905–1990) 53 George Macauley Trevelyan (1876–1962) United Kingdom biography, autobiography, essays, history Harry Martinson (1904–1978) 54 Elias Venezis (1904–1973) Kingdom of Greece Greece novel, short story Stylianos Kapsomenos (1907–1978) Nikolaos Andriōtēs (1906–1976) Emmanuel Kriaras (1906–2014) The Greek Authors' Union 55 Tarjei Vesaas (1897–1970) Norway poetry, novel Sigmund Skard (1903–1995) 56 Simon Vestdijk (1898–1971) Netherlands novel, poetry, essays, translation Sigfrid Siwertz (1882–1970) 57 Heimito von Doderer (1896–1966) Austria novel, short story, poetry, essays Ernst Alker (1895–1972) 58 Karl Heinrich Waggerl (1897–1973) Austria novel, short story, poetry, essays Friedrich Wild (1888–1966) Prize decision The main contenders for the 1960 Nobel Prize in Literature were Saint-John Perse, who had been nominated by the 1948 Nobel laureate T. S. Eliot, and the Yugoslavian author Ivo Andrić. The members of the Nobel committee were divided between the candidates. Committee chairman Anders Österling and Sigfrid Siwertz supported a prize to Ivo Andrić, while Eyvind Johnson and Henry Olsson advocated a prize to Saint-John Perse. Österling found Perse a worthy candidate but a too esoteric poet with "a resonance that is too limited to be appropriately made the subject of a global award such as the Nobel Prize." Olsson, on the other hand, in comparing the two candidates, found that Perse in almost every aspect appeared "as Andrić's opposite and is as global as the other is regional". Olsson and Johnson also argued that Perse was well known and widely acknowledged as a great poet. Österling unsuccessfully argued for a prize to Ivo Andrić, noting the Yugoslav author's "mastered style" that would open "a previously unknown page in the world chronicle and appeals to us from the depths of the tormented national soul", adding that a prize to Andrić would also have the advantage of correcting "the justified criticism of the geographical distribution of the Nobel Prize in Literature.” Andrić was subsequently awarded the prize the following year.https://www.svd.se/a/893e54e0-8c63-3c2e-92de-c4f3a8366039/hard-kamp-om-perse Hård kamp om Perse Schueler, Kaj Svenska Dagbladet 7 January 2011 Swedish Award ceremony thumb|Saint-John Perse (right) at the award ceremony in Stockholm on 10 December 1960. At the award ceremony in Stockholm on 10 December 1960, Anders Österling, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, said: One can only admire the integrity of his poetic attitude, the lofty insistence with which he perseveres in the only mode of expression that allows him to realize his intentions, an exclusive but always pertinent form. The inexhaustible luxuriance of the picturesque style of his rhapsodies is intellectually demanding and may weary the reader of whom the poet demands such efforts of concentration. He takes his metaphors from all disciplines, from all eras, from all mythologies, from all regions; his cycles of poems call to mind those great sea shells from which a cosmic music seems to emanate. This expansive imagination is his strength. Exile, separation – evocations whose voiceless murmur gives his poetry its general tonality; and through the double theme of man’s strength and helplessness a heroic appeal can be perceived, an appeal which is perhaps expressed more distinctly than before in the poet’s latest work, Chronique (Chronicle), 1960, filled with a breath of grandeur, in which the poet recapitulates everything, at the end of the day, while making veiled allusions to the present state of the world. And he even makes a prophetic appeal to Europe to have it consider this fateful moment, this turning point in the course of history. The poem ends with these words: “Great age, here we are. Take measure of the heart of man”.https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1960/ceremony-speech/ Award ceremony speech nobelprize.org External links Award ceremony speech References Category:Nobel Prize in Literature by year