1936 Nobel Prize in Literature

20px 1936 Nobel Prize in Literature Eugene O'Neill Swedish Academy 1901 https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1936/summary/ 1936 laureate Eugene O'Neill 1936.jpg "for the power, honesty and deep-felt emotions of his dramatic works, which embody an original concept of tragedy" 12 November 1936notes The Swedish Academy decided on 12th November 1936 that the 1935 Nobel Prize in Literature would not be awarded and that this year's Nobel Prize in Literatue should be awarded to Eugene O'Neill.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 1936 (ceremony) Stockholm, Sweden 1935 Nobel Prize in Literature 1937 The 1936 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the American playwright Eugene O'Neill (1888–1953) "for the power, honesty and deep-felt emotions of his dramatic works, which embody an original concept of tragedy". He is the second American to become a literature laureate after Sinclair Lewis in 1930 and the only American playwright awarded the prize. Laureate Eugene O'Neill Influenced by the realist playwrights Chekhov, Strindberg and Ibsen, Eugene O'Neill is regarded as the foremost American dramatist of the 20th century. His plays were among the first to include speeches in American English vernacular and involve characters on the fringes of society who struggle to maintain their hopes and aspirations, but ultimately slide into disillusion and despair. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama four times, first for Beyond the Horizon (1920), his debut play, followed by Anna Christie in 1922, Strange Interlude in 1928 and Long Day's Journey into Night in 1957. Mourning Becomes Electra (1931) and the posthumous Long Day's Journey into Night is regarded as two masterpieces in a long string of plays.https://www.britannica.com/biography/Eugene-ONeill/Period-of-the-major-works Eugene O'Neill britannica.comEugene O'Neill – Facts nobelprize.org 190px|thumb|left|In a writing career that revolves around human tragedies, Ah, Wilderness! is O'Neill's only well-known comedy. Deliberations Nominations Eugene O'Neill was nominated for the prize three times (1934, 1935, and 1936).https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/archive/show_people.php?id=6935 Nomination archive - Eugene O'Neill 21 May 2024 nobelprize.org In 1936 the Nobel committee received 47 nominations for 27 writers including Paul Valéry, António Correia de Oliveira, Miguel Unamuno, Kostis Palamas, Olav Duun, Jarl Hemmer, Karel Capek, Benedetto Croce, Roger Martin du Gard (awarded in 1937) and Johannes V. Jensen (awarded in 1944). Ten were newly nominated such as Georges Duhamel, Ludwig Klages, Sigmund Freud, Cécile Tormay, Enrica von Handel-Mazzetti and Arvid Mörne. Most nominations were submitted for the Finnish author Frans Emil Sillanpää (awarded in 1939) with five nominations, including two nominations suggesting a shared prize with Jarl Hemmer and Arvid Mörne respectively. Only two women were nominated namely Cécile Tormay Tormay and Enrica von Handel-Mazzetti.https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/archive/list.php?prize=4&year=1936 Nomination archive - Literature 1936 April 2020 nobelprize.org The authors Juliette Adam, Jacques Bainville, Mateiu Caragiale, James Churchward, Eugène Dabit, Adolf de Herz, Teresa de la Parra, Ramón del Valle-Inclán, Stefan Grabiński, Federico García Lorca, A. E. Housman, M. R. James, Kitty Lee Jenner, Dezső Kosztolányi, Mikhail Kuzmin, Mourning Dove, Elizabeth Robins Pennell, Kristína Royová, Moritz Schlick, Jan Jacob Slauerhoff, Oswald Spengler, Dhanpat Rai Srivastava (known as Premchand), Heinrich Rickert, Ferdinand Tönnies, Lidia Veselitskaya and Zhou Shuren (known as Lu Xun) died in 1936 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 Hari Mohan Banerjee (–1960) British Raj India essays Devadatta R. Bhandarkar (1875–1950) 2 António Correia de Oliveira (1878–1960) Estado Novo (Portugal) Portugal poetry Luís da Cunha Gonçalvez (1875–1956) 3 Benedetto Croce (1866–1952) Fascist Italy (1922–1943) Italy history, philosophy, law Julius von Schlosser (1866–1938) 4 Karel Čapek (1890–1938) Czechoslovakia drama, novel, short story, essays, literary criticism several professorsnotes Several professors of history and history of literature from the Prague, Czech Republic. 5 Miguel de Unamuno (1864–1936) Spanish Republic Spain novel, poetry, philosophy, essays, drama Manuel García Blanco (1902–1966)notes Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo was nominated by J. Ramos Loscertales, F. Maldonado, J. Camón Aznar and M. Garcia Blanco, with approval from 6 other professors, all from Salamanca University. José Camón Aznar (1898–1979) Francisco Maldonado de Guevara (1891–1985) José María Ramos Loscertales (1890–1956) 6 Asis Domet (1890–1943) Mandatory Palestine essays, translation G. E. Khoury (–)September 2025 7 Roger Martin du Gard (1881–1958) French Third Republic France novel, drama, memoir Torsten Fogelqvist (1880–1941) 8 Georges Duhamel (1884–1966) France novel, short story, poetry, drama, literary criticism Hjalmar Hammarskjöld (1862–1953) 9 Olav Duun (1876–1939) Norway novel, short story Helga Eng (1875–1966) Jens Thiis (1870–1942) Torstein Høverstad (1880–1959) 10 Alfred Edward Evershed (1870–1941) Australia essays, pedagogy Elias Edward Miller (1878–1937) 11 Hans Fallada (1893–1947) Nazi Germany Germany novel, short story Martin Lamm (1880–1950) 12 Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) Federal State of Austria Austria essays 20px Romain Rolland (1866–944) 13 Jarl Hemmer (1893–1944) Finland poetry, novel Sigurd Erixon (1888–1968) Gunnar Landtman (1878–1940)gunnar Hjalmar Hammarskjöld (1862–1953) 14 Johannes Vilhelm Jensen (1873–1950) Denmark novel, short story, essays Johannes Brøndum-Nielsen (1881–1977) Frithiof Brandt (1892–1968) Carl Adolf Bodelsen (1894–1978) Vilhelm Andersen (1864–1953) 15 Ludwig Klages (1872–1956) Nazi Germany Germany philosophy, poetry, essays Wilhelm Pinder (1878–1947) 16 Erwin Guido Kolbenheyer (1878–1962) Federal State of Austria Austria novel, short story, poetry, drama Hans-Friedrich Rosenfeld (1899–1993) 17 Dmitry Merezhkovsky (1865–1941) Soviet Union novel, essays, poetry, drama Sigurd Agrell (1881–1937) 18 Arvid Mörne (1876–1946) Finland poetry, drama, novel, essays Gunnar Landtman (1878–1940)notes gunnar G. Landtman suggested the Nobel Committee to award F. Sillanpää alone. His second suggestion, to share the prize with Sillanpää, was J. Hemmer or A. Mörne. 19 Eugene O'Neill (1888–1953) United States 1912 drama Henrik Schück (1855–1947) 20 Kostis Palamas (1859–1943) Kingdom of Greece Greece poetry, essays Harry Fett (1875–1962) Sofia Antoniadou (?) 21 Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1888–1975) British Raj India philosophy, essays, law Hjalmar Hammarskjöld (1862–1953) 22 Frans Eemil Sillanpää (1888–1964) Finland novel, short story, poetry Yrjö Hirn (1870–1952) Rafael Erich (1879–1946) Björn Collinder (1894–1983) Sigurd Erixon (1888–1968) Gunnar Landtman (1878–1940)gunnar 23 Hermann Stehr (1864–1940) Nazi Germany Germany novel, short story, poetry, drama Hermann August Korff (1882–1963) 24 Cécile Tormay (1875–1937) Kingdom of Hungary Hungary novel, short story, essays, translation Jenö Pintér (1921–1988) János Horváth (1878–1961) Károly Pap (1897–1945) János Hankiss (1893–1959) 25 Paul Valéry (1871–1945) French Third Republic France poetry, philosophy, essays, drama 3 members of the Belgian Academy Viggo Brøndal (1887–1942) Jean-Jacques Salverda de Grave (1863–1947)grave Joseph Bidez (1867–1945)notes grave Valéry was nominated jointly by J. Bidez and J. Salverda de Grave, both member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences 26 Edvarts Virza (1883–1940) Latvia poetry, essays, translation Francis Balodis (1882–1947)notes virza E. Virza was nominated by L. Bērziņš and F. Balodis Ludis Bērziņš (1870–1965)virza 27 Enrica von Handel-Mazzetti (1871–1955) Federal State of Austria Austria novel, poetry, essays Moriz Enzinger (1891–1975)notes moriz E. von Handel-Mazzetti was jointly nominated by J. Nadler and M. Enzinger Josef Nadler (1884–1963)moriz Prize decision Considered authors for the 1936 Nobel Prize in Literature included Karel Čapek, Miguel de Unamuno, Cecile Tormay, Georges Duhamel, Roger Martin du Gard, Johannes V. Jensen, Paul Valéry, António Correia de Oliveira, Benedetto Croce, Ludwig Klages and Sigmund Freud, but the Nobel committee found none of the candidates recommendable for the prize.Nobelpriset i litteratur. Nomineringar och utlåtanden 1920-1950 1936 Svensén, Bo Svenska Akademien 2001 In a separate report to the Swedish Academy, committee member Henrik Schück successfully advocated that the prize for 1936 should be awarded to the American playwright Eugene O'Neill, rather than cancelling the awarding of the prize for a second year in succession. In another separate report, committee member Fredrik Böök pushed for awarding the Hungarian author Cecile Tormay. On 12 November 1936 the Swedish Academy decided that the postponed prize for 1935 should not be awarded and that the prize for 1936 should be awarded to Eugene O'Neill. Reactions The choice of Eugene O'Neill was generally well received. "No one in the postwar years has done more to stir interest in drama throughout the world than Mr. O'Neill!", The Guardian said. The Ceylon Daily News said that O'Neill was "our most modern dramatist in that he alone has succeeded in breasting back across that ocean of 2,000 years and more which roll between our time and the ancient Greek." The earlier Irish Nobel prize laureates George Bernard Shaw and William Butler Yeats both said that they were pleased that O'Neill was awarded the prize. "I have the greatest admiration for his work", Yeats said. A negative reaction appeared in the communist newspaper The Daily Worker, lamenting that O'Neill had become "increasingly safe and conservative...O'Neill, who started out as a dramatist of the working class, has completed his middle period as the dramatist of a sick middle class."O'Neill: Son and Artist Sheaffer, Louis Cooper Square Press 2002 1973 459-460 Banquet speech Because of the state of his health, Eugene O'Neill was unable to travel to Stockholm to receive the prize. But he delivered a speech that was read by the American chargé d'affaires at the banquet in Stockholm City Hall. In the speech, O'Neill paid tribute to the Swedish dramatist August Strindberg and the great influence Strindberg had on his work.https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1936/oneill/speech/ Banquet speech nobelprize.org Notes References External links Award ceremony speech by Per Hallström Banquet speech by Eugene O'Neill 1936 Nobel Category:Eugene O'Neill