1920 Nobel Prize in Literature

Award 20px 1920 Nobel Prize in Literature Knut Hamsun Swedish Academy 1901 https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1920/summary/ Portrett av Knut Hamsun (1859-1952) (cropped).jpg "for his monumental work, Growth of the Soil." 11 November 1920notes The Swedish Academy decided on 11th November 1920 that the 1919 Nobel Prize in Literature should be awarded to Carl Spitteler and that the current year's Nobel Prize in Literature should be awarded to Knut Hamsun. (announcement) 10 December 1920 (ceremony) Stockholm, Sweden 1919 Nobel Prize in Literature 1921 The 1920 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the Norwegian author Knut Hamsun (1859–1952) "for his monumental work, Growth of the Soil."The Nobel Prize in Literature 1920 nobelprize.org He was the second Norwegian Nobel laureate in literature after Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson won in 1903. Laureate Knut Hamsun The novel Sult ("Hunger", 1890), widely regarded as the first modern novel in Norwegian literature, marked Knut Hamsun's debut as a writer. In his writings, he basically highlights the simple life lived in harmony with nature and shows an aversion to civilization. He admired Germany, which made him sympathetic to the Nazi invasion of Norway in 1940. After the World War II, he was ordered to forfeit his possessions and placed under psychiatric monitoring for a period. He pioneered psychological literature with techniques of stream of consciousness and interior monologue influencing authors such as Kafka, Mann, Miller and Hesse. Among his famous oeuvres include Mysterier ("Mysteries", 1892), Pan (1894), and Victoria (1898), and published one poetry collection, Det vilde Kor ("The Wild Choir", 1904).Knut Hamsun – Facts nobelprize.orghttps://www.britannica.com/biography/Knut-Hamsun Knut Hamsun Norwegian author Encyclopedia Britannica 31 July 2023 Growth of the Soil thumb| The Nobel Prize was given to Hamsun for his 1917 novel Markens Grøde ("Growth of the Soil"), which is regarded as an epic ode to labor and the interdependence of man and nature. The protagonists in the novel are portrayed as actual individuals, but Hamsun gives the settlers' attempts to develop the wilderness heroic aspects in the manner of the classical poet Hesiod. Employing stream of consciousness, the novel exemplified his aversion to modernity and inclination towards primitivism and the agrarian lifestyle.Zagar Monika Knut Hamsun: The Dark Side of Literary Brilliance 2009 University of Washington Press 978-0295989457April 2023 Nobel medal aftermath In 1943, Hamsum met with propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels in Germany. When he came back to Norway that year, he sent his medal to Goebbels as a gesture of thanks for the meeting. Goebbels was honoured to receive it.Greene Connor Can a Nobel Prize Be Gifted or Sold? https://time.com/7347040/nobel-peace-prize-trump-venezuela-machado-sold-gift-history/ https://web.archive.org/web/20260122115610/https://time.com/7347040/nobel-peace-prize-trump-venezuela-machado-sold-gift-history/ 2026-01-22 2026-02-03 TIME en live 2026-01-16 The Nobel Prize and the Laureate Are Inseparable - Nobel Peace Prize https://www.nobelpeaceprize.org/press/press-releases/the-nobel-prize-and-the-laureate-are-inseparable 2026-02-03 www.nobelpeaceprize.org en As of 2025, the whereabouts of the medal are unknown. Deliberations Nominations Hamsun only received 3 nominations in total for consecutive two years. He first received his nomination in 1918 from Norwegian art historian Harry Fett, but no award was that year due to the deliberations being disrupted by World War I. He then received two nominations in 1920 once again from Harry Fett and Academy member Erik Axel Karlfeldt.Nomination archive – Knut P Hamsun nobelprize.org In total, the Nobel Committee earned 27 nominations for authors like Thomas Hardy, Grazia Deledda (awarded in 1926), Georg Brandes, John Galsworthy (awarded in 1932), Władysław Reymont (awarded in 1924), Ebenezer Howard and Juhani Aho. Only one author was newly recommended namely the American historian Wilbur Cortez Abbott and Italian writer Grazia Deledda was the only female nominee.Nomination archive – Literature 1920 nobelprize.org The authors Paul Adam, Alice E. Bartlett, Alberto Blest Gana, Rhoda Broughton, Giovanni Capurro, Bithia Mary Croker, Richard Dehmel, Paul Ferrier, Mary Evelyn Hitchcock, Matthías Jochumsson, Amanda Kerfstedt, Haralamb Lecca, Alexandru Macedonski, Alexius Meinong, Julia A. Moore, Panas Myrny, Manuel Pérez y Curis, Eleanor H. Porter, Shloyme Zanvl Rappoport (known as S. Ansky), Adolphe-Basile Routhier, Olive Schreiner, Ömer Seyfettin, Helen Ekin Starrett, Maria Antonietta Torriani, Mary Augusta Ward, Max Weber and Wilhelm Wundt died in 1920 died without having been nominated for the prize. Official list of nominees and their nominators for the prize No. Nominee Country Genre(s) Nominator(s)1Wilbur Cortez Abbott (1869–1947)United States 1912historyDana Carleton Munro (1866–1933)2Juhani Aho (1861–1921) Finlandnovel, short storyYrjö Hirn (1870–1952)3Georg Brandes (1842–1927) Denmarkliterary criticism, essays20px Selma Lagerlöf (1858–1940) Sven Hedin (1865–1952) Adolf Noreen (1854–1925) Henrik Schück (1855–1947)4Otokar Březina (1868–1929)Czechoslovakiapoetry, essaysArne Novák (1880–1939)5Grazia Deledda (1871–1936) Kingdom of Italy Italynovel, short story, essaysCarl Bildt (1850–1931)6Adolf Frey (1855–1920) Switzerlandbiography, history, essays Wilhelm Oechsli (1851–1919)7John Galsworthy (1867–1933) United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Great Britainnovel, drama, essays, short story, memoirHenrik Schück (1855–1947)8Arne Garborg (1851–1921) Norwaynovel, poetry, drama, essaysMarius Hægstad (1850–1927) Halvdan Koht (1873–1965) Olof Kolsrud (1885–1945) Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters9Ángel Guimerá Jorge (1845–1924) Restoration (Spain) Spaindrama, poetryReial Acadèmia de Bones Lletres de Barcelona10Knut Hamsun (1859–1952)Norwaynovel, short story, drama, poetry, essaysHarry Fett (1875–1962) Erik Axel Karlfeldt (1864–1931)11Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Great Britainnovel, short story, poetry, dramaEdmund Gosse (1849–1928) Anders Österling (1884–1981) Laurence Binyon (1869–1943) Edith Morley (1875–1964) John Bailey (1864–1931) Arthur Quiller-Couch (1863–1944) G. W. Dahlsten (–)September 2025 English Association Faculty of Arts and Letters of Durham University12Ebenezer Howard (1850–1928)United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Great BritainessaysChristen Collin (1857–1926)13Alois Jirásek (1851–1930)Czechoslovakianovel, dramaCzech Academy of Sciences14Hans Ernst Kinck (1865–1926) Norwayphilology, novel, short story, drama, essaysGerhard Gran (1856–1925)15Władysław Reymont (1867–1925)Second Polish Republic Polandnovel, short storyPer Hallström (1866–1960)16Carl Spitteler (1845–1924) Switzerlandpoetry, essaysErik Axel Karlfeldt (1864–1931) Wilhelm Oechsli (1851–1919) Prize decision The Nobel committee of the Swedish Academy had strong doubts to award Knut Hamsun. The committee did not find that Hamsun's often decadent and cynical work represented "what is most excellent in an ideal direction", as was outlined in Alfred Nobel's will. Following the publication of his 1917 novel Growth of the Soil and a nomination for Hamsun in 1920 the committee nevertheless found Hamsun worthy of the prize, but struggled to come to a decision. One dissenting member expressed the view that Hamsun lacked "the culture, the considered world-view and humanity" that ought to suit a worthy recipient of the prize. To suit the "ideal direction", the committee's solution was ultimately to award Hamsun for the single work Growth of the Soil, rather than for his entire oeuvre.https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00472441211033394 Out of the ruins: Knut Hamsun’s ‘idealism’ and the inheritance of World War I: The Nobel Prize Tore Rem Journal of European Studies, volume 51, issue 3-4 In their report to the Swedish Academy, four members of the Nobel committee proposed that the postponed prize for 1919 should be awarded to the Swiss poet Carl Spitteler and the prize for 1920 to Knut Hamsun in recognition of Growth of the Soil. The fifth committee member, Henrik Schück, oppososed both proposals and in a separate opinion instead proposed that the prize for 1919 should be awarded to Danish literature scholar Georg Brandes, and the prize for 1920 to the Italian Sardinian writer Grazia Deledda.http://libris.kb.se/bib/8345517 Nobelpriset i litteratur. Nomineringar och utlåtanden 1901–1950 1920 Bo Svensén 2001 Svenska Akademien 9789113010076 1 November 2025 Other considered but rejected candidates for the prize in 1920 included Thomas Hardy, Arne Garborg, Wladislaw Reymont and John Galsworthy.Gustav Källstrand Andens Olympiska Spel: Nobelprisets historia, Fri Tanke 2021April 2023 On 11 November 1920, the Swedish Academy decided that the Nobel Prize for 1919 should be awarded to Carl Spitteler "in special appreciation of his epic, Olympian Spring", and the prize for 1920 to Knut Hamsun "for his monumental work, Growth of the Soil." Grazia Deledda was subsequently awarded the 1926 Nobel Prize in Literature, Wladislaw Reymont the 1925 Nobel Prize in Literature and John Galsworthy the 1932 Nobel Prize in Literature. Notes References External links 1920 Photo Gallery nobelprize.org Category:Knut Hamsun 1920 Nobel