1932 Nobel Prize in Literature

20px 1932 Nobel Prize in Literature John Galsworthy Swedish Academy 1901 https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1932/summary/ 1932 laureate John Galsworthy 2.jpg "for his distinguished art of narration which takes its highest form in The Forsyte Saga." 10 November 1932http://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 1932 (ceremony) Stockholm, Sweden 1931 Nobel Prize in Literature 1933 The 1932 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the British author John Galsworthy (1867–1933) "for his distinguished art of narration which takes its highest form in The Forsyte Saga".https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1932/summary/ The Nobel Prize in Literature 1932 nobelprize.org Galsworthy was only the second English author to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature since its inception in 1901.notes The first English author to receive the prize was Rudyard Kipling, in 1907. Between the two awards, the prize had gone to three non-English authors who wrote in English: W. B. Yeats (1923), Bernard Shaw (1925), and Sinclair Lewis (1930); Rabindranath Tagore (1913) also sometimes wrote in English. Laureate John Galsworthy John Galsworthy is best known for the novel sequence The Forsyte Saga which chronicles the lives of three generations of a large, upper-middle-class family at the turn of the 19th/20th century. Galsworthy was also a successful playwright who examined controversial ethical or social problems in plays such as Strife (1909), Justice (1910) and Loyalties (1922).https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Galsworthy John Galsworthy Encyclopædia Britannica https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1932/galsworthy/facts/ John Galsworthy – Facts nobelprize.org 150px|thumb|left|Galsworthy's The Forsyte Saga The Forsyte Saga The first book in this extensive series was published in 1906. The upper middle classes and Galsworthy's own upbringing were harshly criticized in The Man of Property. Galsworthy did not start working on it right away; he had to wait fifteen years, during which World War I broke out, before he started again with In Chancery (1920) and To Let (1921). He had penned a sizable quantity of plays, short stories, and novels in the interim. The three volumes of A Modern Comedy, The White Monkey (1924), The Silver Spoon (1926), Swan Song (1928), and its two interludes, A Silent Wooing and Passersby (1927), carried on the Forsyte Saga. These should be supplemented with a collection of short stories called On Forsyte Change (1930). Of Galsworthy's 20 novels, nine are about the Forsytes (the last three tangentially so) and the other eleven are all one-off stories. Nominations John Galsworthy was nominated six times (1919–1922, 1931 and 1932) before he was awarded the prize in 1932. His first nomination came from Erik Axel Karlfeldt (1864–1931), the permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy. Others were from the persistent recommendation by other academy members such as Anders Österling, Martin Lamm, and Henrik Schück.https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/archive/show_people.php?id=3315 Nomination archive – John Galsworthy 21 May 2024 nobelprize.org In total, the Nobel Committee received 48 nominations for 31 writers which included Ramón Menéndez Pidal, Ivan Bunin (awarded in 1933), Frans Eemil Sillanpää (awarded in 1939), Johannes V. Jensen (awarded in 1944), Paul Valéry, Kostis Palamas, Olav Duun, and H. G. Wells. Nine of the nominees were newly nominated namely Percival Elgood, Michael Blümelhuber, Grigol Robakidze, Axel Munthe, Francesco Orestano, Karel Čapek, Vilhelm Ekelund, Manuel Gálvez and Upton Sinclair. The Spanish author Concha Espina de la Serna was the only female nominee.https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/archive/list.php?prize=4&year=1932 Nomination archive – Literature 1932 21 May 2024 nobelprize.org The authors Christopher Brennan, Mona Caird, Charles W. Chesnutt, Hart Crane, Evelyn Everett-Green, J. Meade Falkner, Kenneth Grahame, Ella Hepworth Dixon, Augusta Gregory, Jonas Mačiulis (known as Maironis), Gustav Meyrink, Harold Monro, Iacob Negruzzi, Giuseppe Peano, Sibylle Riqueti de Mirabeau (known as Gyp), Ahmed Shawqi, Frederick Jackson Turner, Edgar Wallace,Carmen de Burgos ,Henry S. Whitehead and Emma Wolf died in 1932 without having been nominated for the prize. Official list of nominees and their nominators for the prize No. Nominee Country Genre(s) Nominator(s)1Michael Blümelhuber (1865–1936)Republic of Austria Austriaessays, poetryOswald Redlich (1858–1944)2Johan Bojer (1872–1959) Norwaynovel, dramaAnders Sandvig (1862–1950)3Georg Bonne (1859–1945) Weimar Republic GermanyessaysOswald Floeck (1874–1943) Günther Müller (1925–2020)4Olaf Bull (1883–1933) NorwaypoetryFrancis Bull (1887–1974) Jens Thiis (1870–1942)5Ivan Bunin (1870–1953)Soviet Unionshort story, novel, poetryEttore Lo Gatto (1890–1983) Michael Rostovtzeff (1870–1952) Vladimir Frant͡sev (1867–1942) Olaf Broch (1867–1961) Sigurd Agrell (1881–1937)6Karel Čapek (1890–1938) Czechoslovakiadrama, novel, short story, essays, literary criticism10 professors of the University in Prague7Hans Driesch (1867–1941) Weimar Republic GermanyphilosophyErnest Bovet (1870–1941) Fritz Kern (1884–1950)8Olav Duun (1876–1939) Norwaynovel, short storyHelga Eng (1875–1966) Halvdan Koht (1873–1965)9Vilhelm Ekelund (1880–1949) Swedenpoetry, essaysAlexander Seippel (1851–1938)10Percival Elgood (1863–1941)United KingdomEgypt 1922historyArthur James Grant (1862–1948)11Paul Ernst (1866–1933)Weimar Republic Germanynovel, short story, drama, essaysFredrik Böök (1883–1961)12Concha Espina de la Serna (1869–1955) Spanish Republic Spainnovel, short storyRudolf J. Slabý (1885–1957) John Driscoll Fitz-Gerald (1873–1946)13John Galsworthy (1867–1933) United Kingdomnovel, drama, essays, short story, memoirHenrik Schück (1855–1947)14Manuel Gálvez (1882–1962) Argentinanovel, poetry, drama, essays, history, biographyJeremiah D. M. Ford (1873–1958) 28 professors from the University of Buenos Aires15Bertel Gripenberg (1878–1947) FinlandSwedenpoetry, drama, essaysArno Cederberg (1885–1948)notes en Frans Eemil Sillanpää and Bertel Gripenberg were nominated together by Arno R. Cederberg, though the nominations have different entry numbers.16Johannes Vilhelm Jensen (1873–1950)Denmarknovel, short story, poetryPaul Rubow (1896–1972) Hans Brix (1870–1961) Johannes Brøndum-Nielsen (1881–1977)17Johannes Jørgensen (1866–1956) Denmarknovel, poetry, biographyViggo Brøndal (1887–1942)18Rudolf Kassner (1873–1959) Republic of Austria Austriaphilosophy, essays, translationSeveral professorsnotes Rudolf Kassner was nominated by a number of German, Austrian and Swiss professors, most of whom were eligible to nominate a candidate.19Ramón Menéndez Pidal (1869–1968) Spanish Republic Spainphilology, historyErik Staaff (1867–1936) 30 members of the Royal Spanish Academy20Dmitry Merezhkovsky (1865–1941)Soviet Unionnovel, essays, poetry, dramaSigurd Agrell (1881–1937)21Axel Munthe (1857–1949)SwedenFrench Third Republic Francememoir, essaysRolf Lagerborg (1874–1959)22Francesco Orestano (1873–1945)Kingdom of Italy Italyphilosophy, essaysPietro Bonfante (1864–1932)23Kostis Palamas (1859–1943) Second Hellenic Republic Greecepoetry, essaysSimos Menardos (1871–1933)24Grigol Robakidze (1880–1962)Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic Georgianovel, short story, poetry, dramaRichard Meckelein (1880–1948)25Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869–1935) United States 1912poetry, dramaHjalmar Hammarskjöld (1862–1953)26Ivan Shmelyov (1873–1950)Soviet UnionFrench Third Republic Francenovel, short storyNicolaas van Wijk (1880–1941)27Frans Eemil Sillanpää (1888–1964) Finlandnovel, short story, poetryTorsten Evert Karsten (1870–1942) Eemil Nestor Setälä (1864–1935) Rafael Erich (1879–1946) Arno Cederberg (1885–1948)en28Upton Sinclair (1878–1968) United States 1912novel, short story, drama, autobiography, essays800 nominatorsnotes 800 nominations from all over the world were collected and sent together, by Ernest S. Greene (1864–1936), secretary of a committee in New York, United States. Among the nominators were members of the French and Spanish Academies, and professors (eligible to nominate) from several universities.29Paul Valéry (1871–1945) French Third Republic Francepoetry, philosophy, essays, drama5 members of the Académie Française 23 professorsnotes Several were members of the French Academy (Académie Française), and Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres.30Herbert George Wells (1866–1946) United Kingdomnovel, short story, essays, history, biography20px Sinclair Lewis (1885–1951)31Anton Wildgans (1881–1932) Republic of Austria Austriapoetry, drama24 professors from the University of Vienna Axel Romdahl (1880–1951) Prize decision In their report to the Swedish Academy dated 17 September 1932, the Nobel committee proposed that the Nobel prize in Literature should be awarded to the English novelist John Galsworthy. The majority of the committee, Henrik Schück, Anders Österling and chairman Per Hallström, advocated a prize to Galsworthy, while member Hjalmar Hammarskjöld placed German writer Paul Ernst as his first proposal, Russian author Ivan Bunin (awarded in 1933) as his second proposal and Galsworthy as his third. Member Fredrik Böök added a separate opinion to the committee's report stating that he did not oppose Galsworthy being awarded, but preferred Paul Ernst.Nobelpriset i litteratur. Nomineringar och utlåtanden 1920-1950 1932 Svensén, Bo Svenska Akademien 2001 On 10 November 1932 the Swedish academy decided that the Nobel Prize in Literature should be awarded to John Galsworthy "for his distinguished art of narration which takes its highest form in The Forsyte Saga." Reactions The choice of John Galsworthy caused a group of young Swedish authors to protest against the Swedish Academy's conservatism by sending a telegram to the Russian author Maxim Gorky, expressing their regret that he had not been awarded the prize.Gustav Källstrand Andens Olympiska Spel. Nobelprisets historia Fri Tanke 2021, p. 451 Galsworthy himself did not think he deserved the award. "As the least worthy of the Nobel prizemen honoured today I shall have but few words to say", he wrote in his acceptance speech.James Gindin "A retrospective introduction" The Life and Art of John Galsworthy: An Alien's Fortress, MacMillan 1987 Award ceremony At the award ceremony in Stockholm on 10 December 1932, Anders Österling of the Swedish Academy praised the Forsyte Saga as "a masterpiece of an energetic, firm, and independent account of human nature", noting that the two trilogies "together form an unusual literary accomplishment. The novelist has carried the history of his time through three generations, and his success in mastering so excellently his enormously difficult material, both in its scope and in its depth, remains an extremely memorable feat in English literature"https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1932/ceremony-speech/ Award ceremony speech nobelprize.org Due to poor health, John Galsworthy was not able to travel to Stockholm for the award ceremony. He died only a few weeks later. Notes References External links Award ceremony speech nobelprize.org 1932 Nobel