1916 Nobel Prize in Literature

20px 1916 Nobel Prize in Literature Verner von Heidenstam Swedish Academy 1901 https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1916/summary/ 1916 laureate Verner von Heidenstam in the 1890s.jpg "in recognition of his significance as the leading representative of a new era in our literature." 9 November 1916notes The Swedish Academy decided on 9 November 1916 that the 1915 Nobel Prize in Literature should be awarded to Romain Rolland and that this year's Nobel Prize in Literature should be awarded to Verner von Heidenstam.http://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 1916 (ceremony) Stockholm, Sweden 1915 Nobel Prize in Literature 1917 The 1916 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the Swedish poet and prose writer Verner von Heidenstam (1859–1940) "in recognition of his significance as the leading representative of a new era in our literature."https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1916/summary/ The Nobel Prize in literature 1916 nobelprize.org Heidenstam was the second Swedish Nobel laureate in Literature after Selma Lagerlöf in 1909. Laureate Verner von Heidenstam Verner von Heidenstam was the leader of the generation of poets of the 1890s that regenerated Swedish poetry. His first collection of poems Vallfart och vandringsår ("Pilgrimage: The Wander Years", 1888), which contains predominantly Oriental themes, marked a new epoch in the modern literature of Sweden. A new form of poetry characterized by rich imagination and the worship of beauty in contrast to the gloomy realistic school which had been dominant in Swedish literature before. In major works such as Hans Alienus (1892) and especially in Dikter ("Poems", 1895) Heidenstam opens perspectives to an inner life. 200px|thumb|left|Verner von Heidenstam's first novel Endymion, first edition, 1889.He was later noted for patriotic poetry linked to Swedish history in works such as Ett folk ("One People", 1902) and the prose poems in Karolinerna ("The Charles Men", 1897–98). These were followed by major works such as the epic historical prose work Folkunga Trädet ("The Tree of the Folkungs", 1905–07) including Folke Filbyter and Bjälboarvet ("The Bjälbo Inheritance"). In 1915, the year before Heidenstam was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, another aspect of his writing appeared in Nya dikter ("New poems"), a collection of mainly philosophical poems. Deliberations Nominations In 1916, the Nobel committee received 41 nominations for 24 writers including Romain Rolland (who was awarded the postponed prize for 1915), Georg Brandes, Henry James, Anatole France (awarded in 1921), and a proposed shared prize to the Swiss authors Adolf Frey and Carl Spitteler. The Nobel committee decided to add another five previously proposed authors as candidates for the 1916 prize: Benito Pérez Galdos, Juhani Aho, Adolf Harnack, Émile Verhaeren, Ernst von der Recke, and a single nomination for Carl Spitteler.Nobelpriset i litteratur. Nomineringar och utlåtanden 1901-1920 1916 Svensén, Bo Svenska Akademien 2001 One literary society was also nominated.https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/archive/list.php?prize=4&year=1916 Nominations 1916 April 2020 nobelprize.org Verner von Heidenstam received his first nomination in 1909 from a Swedish politician and academic, Carl Carlson Bonde. Since then, he was nominated on 11 occasions before eventually being awarded in 1916 with which he received six nominations, including one nomination by the 1912 Nobel prize laureate Gerhard Hauptmann.Nomination archive – Verner von Heidenstam nobelprize.org Nine of the nominees were nominated first-time, among them Erik Axel Karlfeldt (awarded posthumously in 1931), Per Hallström, Ivan Franko and Gunnar Heiberg. The Pāli Text Society, a text publication society established in 1881, was nominated by its founder Thomas William Rhys Davids. Since 1916, it remains the first and last literary society nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.Nomination archive – Pali Text Society nobelprize.org The controversial German author Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche was the only woman nominated. Karlfeldt was nominated by the Swedish bishop Nathan Söderblom. The authors Sholom Aleichem, Rubén Darío, Richard Harding Davis, Mário de Sá-Carneiro, Jane Dieulafoy, Pierre Duhem, Carolina Freyre, Simon Frug, Olindo Guerrini, Petar Kočić, Jack London, João Simões Lopes Neto, Ernst Mach, Hector Hugh Munro (known as Saki), James Whitcomb Riley, Josiah Royce, Charles Taze Russell, Natsume Sōseki, Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky, John Todhunter, Petko Todorov, and Francis Warre-Cornish died in 1916 without having been nominated for the prize. Official list of nominees and their nominators for the prize No. Nominee Country Genre(s) Nominator(s)1Juhani Aho (1861–1921) Russian Empire Russia(Finland)novel, short storyKarl Alfred Melin (1849–1919)2Georg Brandes (1842–1927) Denmarkliterary criticism, essaysVilhelm Andersen (1864–1953)3Otokar Březina (1868–1929)Austria-Hungary(Czechoslovakia)poetry, essaysArne Novák (1880–1939)4Rabindranath Datta (1883–1917)British Raj Indiapoetry, pedagogyRaya Yatindra Chondhury (–)September 2025 Mano Gangedy (–)September 20255Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche (1846–1935) German Empire Germanyessays, autobiographyHans Vaihinger (1852–1933) Harald Hjärne (1848–1922)6Anatole France (1844–1924)French Third Republic Francepoetry, essays, drama, novel, literary criticismHenrik Schück (1855–1947) Anton Wilhelm Brøgger (1884–1951)7Ivan Franko (1856–1916)Russian Empire Russia(Ukraine)poetry, novel, short story, drama, literary criticism, essaysJosef Zastyretz (1873–1943) Harald Hjärne (1848–1922)8Adolf Frey (1855–1920)Switzerlandbiography, history, essaysWilhelm Oechsli (1851–1919)9Arne Garborg (1851–1921) Norwaynovel, poetry, drama, essaysAlexander Seippel (1851–1938) Oluf Kolsrud (1885–1945)10Karl Adolph Gjellerup (1857–1919)Denmarkpoetry, drama, novelClaudius Wilkens (18844–1929) Harald Høffding (1843–1931)11Ángel Guimerá Jorge (1845–1924) Restoration (Spain) Spaindrama, poetryFredrik Wulff (1845–1930) members of the Real Academia Sevillana de Buenas Letras12Per Hallström (1866–1960)Swedenshort story, drama, poetryKarl Helm (1871–1960) Josef Collin (1864–1939) Conrad Borchling (1872–1946) Oskar Walzel (1864–1944) Andreas Heusler (1865–1940)13Gunnar Heiberg (1857–1929)Norwaypoetry, drama, literary criticism, essaysJens Thiis (1870–1942)14Harald Høffding (1843–1931)Denmarkphilosophy, theologyValdemar Vedel (1865–1942)15Henry James (1843–1916)United States 1912United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Great Britainnovel, short story, drama, essaysJulio Nathaniel Reuter (1863–1937)16Erik Axel Karlfeldt (1864–1931)SwedenpoetryNathan Söderblom (1866–1931)17Jakob Knudsen (1858–1917)Denmarknovel, short story, pedagogy, theologyValdemar Vedel (1865–1942)18Troels Frederik Lund (1840–1921)DenmarkhistoryFrits Läffler (1847–1921)19Benito Pérez Galdós (1843–1920)Restoration (Spain) Spainnovel, short story, drama, essaysHarald Hjärne (1848–1922) Karl Alfred Melin (1849–1919)20Edmond Picard (1836–1924)Belgiumdrama, law, essays3 members of the Royal Academy of Belgium21Henrik Pontoppidan (1857–1943)Denmarknovel, short storyOtto Jespersen (1860–1943)22Romain Rolland (1866–1944)French Third Republic Francenovel, drama, essaysFredrik Wulff (1845–1930) Erik Axel Karlfeldt (1864–1931) Henrik Schück (1855–1947)23Henrik Schück (1855–1947)Swedenliterary criticism, essaysRabbe Axel Wrede (1851–1938)24Carl Spitteler (1845–1924)Switzerlandpoetry, essaysErik Axel Karlfeldt (1864–1931) Karl Alfred Melin (1849–1919) Wilhelm Oechsli (1851–1919)25Émile Verhaeren (1855–1916)Belgiumpoetry, essaysunnamed26Ernst von der Recke (1848–1933)Denmarkpoetry, dramaKarl Alfred Melin (1849–1919)27Adolf von Harnack (1851–1930)German Empire Germanyhistory, theologyKarl Alfred Melin (1849–1919)28Verner von Heidenstam (1859–1940)Swedennovel, short story, poetryRuben G:son Berg (1876–1948) Fredrik Wulff (1845–1930) Jens Thiis (1870–1942) Bengt Hesselman (1875–1952) Gerhard Gran (1856–1925) Gerhart Hauptmann (1862–1946)29The Pāli Text Society (founded in 1881)United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Great Britaintranslation, history, publicationsThomas William Rhys Davids (1843–1922) Prize decision In his report to the Swedish Academy dated 21 September 1916, Nobel committee chairman Harald Hjärne, in reference to the ongoing World War I conflict, noted that "It must certainly be considered regrettable that so many of them [nominated candidates], like other prominent writers and scientists in almost all of Europe, have allowed themselves to make numerous passionate statements that make it difficult to achieve the Nobel Foundation's purpose of working for peace and harmony among peoples."Nobelpriset i litteratur. Nomineringar och utlåtanden 1901-1920 1916 Svensén, Bo Svenska Akademien 2001 Hjärne proposed that the postponed prize for 1915 should be awarded to the Spanish novelist Benito Pérez Galdós. Hjärne noted Pérez Galdós major work Episodios Nacionales and said: "It seems to me obvious that he has made more and more efforts to set aside his own and his fellow-thinkers' special interests and prejudices in the pursuit of his great plan in comparison with the need of the entire Spanish people for mutual reconciliation and cohesion. There is certainly a tendency in this, but one which cannot be called unjustified even from an aesthetic point of view, since he does not seek to achieve his aim by argumentation and declamations in his own name, but uses only purely artistic means. It is Spain itself, the common fatherland, which emerges as the great controlling and self-developing personality over the countless people of different classes and conditions, characters and gifts, whose actions, intrigues and destinies are reflected against the background of the incessant civil wars, and it is Spain's own voice that is heard in the statements of the changing narrators and observers, from one generation to the next, of what is happening before their eyes or preserved in their memory." For the 1916 prize, Hjärne mentioned several authors from the neutral country Denmark as candidates for the prize, with Karl Gjellerup as his first proposal, arguing that "In versatile and profound learning he probably stands high above his Danish competitors, and he has won a great reputation both in England and in Germany as one of the foremost men of contemporary literature." Hjärne also found the Danish writer Jakob Knudsen a worthy candidate for the prize: "Overall, his writing should be considered to be of such prominence that he may well be remembered when the Nobel Prize is awarded", while Henrik Pontoppidan (who subsequently shared the 1917 prize with Gjellerup) was dismissed: "His writing, which is increasingly limited to subtle depictions of uninteresting personalities and situations, seems to me, with its characteristic of tired indifference, its circumstantial and almost dry style of presentation, to lack the open-mindedness that could justify a Nobel Prize." Literary critic Georg Brandes was noted for his "groundbreaking significance", but his works had to Hjärne appeared to have lost some of its relevance. Hjärne proposed that the postponed prize for 1915 should be awarded to Benito Pérez Galdós and the prize for 1916 to Karl Gjellerup. The members of the Swedish Academy did not follow Hjärnes recommendations, but voted on 9 November 1916 that the prize for 1915 should be awarded to the French author Romain Rolland, and the prize for 1916 to Verner von Heidenstam.Det litterära nobelpriset: historien om världslitteraturens största utmärkelse Fyra skandinaver och en schweizare Tenngart, Paul Albert Bonniers förlag 2025 Swedish Reactions The decision to award Heidenstam, himself a member of the awarding institution the Swedish Academy, as the second Swedish Nobel laureate in just seven years provoked mixed reactions. The Swedish press was generally positive to the choice of Heidenstam, but internationally it was heavily criticized by many observers.Det litterära nobelpriset: historien om världslitteraturens största utmärkelse Fyra skandinaver och en schweizare Tenngart, Paul Albert Bonniers förlag 2025 Swedish https://www.svd.se/a/EgEXP/svenske-nobelpristagaren-en-poetisk-bluff Svenske Nobelpristagaren en poetisk bluff? Haraldsson, Anders Svenska Dagbadet 11 October 2016 Swedish The decision to award Heidenstam has been seen as a result of the strong tendency of nationalism in Sweden at the time.https://www.arbetarbladet.se/2016-12-11/varfor-fick-nationalisten-verner-von-heidenstam-nobelpriset-i-litteratur-1916 Varför fick nationalisten Verner von Heidenstam Nobelpriset i litteratur 1916? Attius, Håkan Arbetarbladet 11 December 2016 Swedish Notes References 1916 Nobel