1903 Nobel Prize in Literature
 1903 Nobel Prize in Literature | |
|---|---|
| Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson | |
 "as a tribute to his noble, magnificent and versatile poetry, which has always been distinguished by both the freshness of its inspiration and the rare purity of its spirit." | |
| Date |
|
| Location | Stockholm, Sweden |
| Presented by | Swedish Academy |
| First award | 1901 |
| Website | Official website |
The 1903 Nobel Prize in Literature was the third prestigious literary prize based upon Alfred Nobel's will. It was awarded to the Norwegian poet and politician Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (1832–1910) "as a tribute to his noble, magnificent and versatile poetry, which has always been distinguished by both the freshness of its inspiration and the rare purity of its spirit." The prize was announced in October 8, 1903 and was given in December 10, 1903 at Stockholm.[2]
Laureate
[edit]Bjørnson was a Norwegian multifaceted literary person who became one of the original members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, that awards the Nobel Peace Prize, where he sat from 1901 to 1906.[3] He wrote poetry, drama and lyrical poetry. He worked for periods as theater director in both Bergen and Oslo, and he was active both politically and as a journalist. In his early works he depicted peasant life in the Norwegian countryside. This national romanticism was also found in his poetry throughout his career, even if he also wrote both realistic and symbolic dramas. Bjørnson's musical version of the poem "Ja, vi elsker dette landet" became Norway's national anthem. He is also considered to be one of the four great Norwegian writers, alongside Henrik Ibsen, Jonas Lie, and Alexander Kielland.[4]
Deliberations
[edit]Nominations
[edit]The Swedish Academy received four nominations – two nominations each in 1902 and 1903 – for Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson before getting awarded.
In total, the Nobel Committee received 43 nominations for 25 writers in 1903, including repeated nominations for the Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy (four nominations) and Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen (one nomination), and with new nominations for the English writers Algernon Charles Swinburne and Rudyard Kipling (one nominations each). Kipling would later be awarded in 1907.[5] French writer Anatole France and Fredrik Wulff were the first nominators to nominate a collective group of writers purposely for a shared prize. France nominated Tolstoy, Brandes, and Maeterlinck in one nomination,[6] whereas Wulff nominated Paris and Mistral together.[7]
The authors Ada Ellen Bayly, Nicolaas Beets, Eugenio María de Hostos, Girolamo de Rada, Frederic Farrar, George Gissing, William Ernest Henley, Ernest Legouvé, Vicente Fidel López, Evgeny Markov, Mary Anne Sadlier, Joseph Henry Shorthouse, Joseph Skipsey, Carl Snoilsky, Richard Henry Stoddard, Aleksandr Sukhovo-Kobylin, Wilhelm von Polenz, Sydir Vorobkevych, Otto Weininger, Josefina Wettergrund died in 1903 without having been nominated for the prize.
| No. | Nominee | Country | Genre(s) | Nominator(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alexander Baumgartner (1841–1910) |  Switzerland |
poetry, history | Knud Karl Krogh-Tonning (1842–1911) |
| 2 | Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (1832–1910) |  Norway |
poetry, novel, drama, short story |
|
| 3 | Georg Brandes (1842–1927) |  Denmark |
literary criticism, essays |
|
| 4 | Giosuè Carducci (1835–1907) |  Italy |
poetry, literary criticism, biography, essays | Vittorio Puntoni (1859–1926) |
| 5 | François Coppée (1842–1908) |  France |
poetry, novel, short story, drama | Sully Prudhomme (1839–1907) |
| 6 | Robert Langton Douglas (1864–1951) |  Great Britain |
history, essays | Thomas Hodgkin (1831–1913) |
| 7 | José Echegaray Eizaguirre (1832–1916) |  Spain |
drama | Daniel de Cortázar Larrubia (1844–1927) |
| 8 | Iwan Gilkin (1858–1924) |  Belgium |
poetry |
|
| 9 | Carl Friedrich Glasenapp (1847–1915) |  Germany |
biography |
|
| 10 | Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906) | Norway |
drama | Lorentz Dietrichson (1834–1917) |
| 11 | Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) | Great Britain |
short story, novel, poetry | Edwin Arnold (1832–1904) |
| 12 | Maurice Maeterlinck (1862–1949) | Belgium |
drama, poetry, essays | Anatole France (1844–1924) |
| 13 | Marcelino Menéndez Pelayo (1856–1912) | Spain |
history, philosophy, philology, poetry, translation, literary criticism |
|
| 14 | George Meredith (1828–1909) | Great Britain |
novel, poetry | Nobel Prize Committee of the Society of Authors |
| 15 | Frédéric Mistral (1830–1914) | France |
poetry, philology |
|
| 16 | Lewis Morris (1833–1907) | Great Britain |
poetry, songwriting, essays |
|
| 17 | Gaspar Núñez de Arce (1832–1903) | Spain |
poetry, drama, law |
|
| 18 | Gaston Paris (1839–1903) | France |
history, poetry, essays | Fredrik Wulff (1845–1930) |
| 19 | Paul Sabatier (1858–1928) | France |
history, theology, biography | Carl Bildt (1850–1931) |
| 20 | Henryk Sienkiewicz (1846–1916) |  Russia(  Poland) |
novel | Hans Hildebrand (1842–1913) |
| 21 | Albert Sorel (1842–1906) | France |
history, essays | Albert Vandal (1853–1910) |
| 22 | Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909) | Great Britain |
poetry, drama, literary criticism, novel | Nobel Prize Committee of the Society of Authors |
| 23 | Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) | Russia |
novel, short story, drama, poetry |
|
| 24 | Charles Wagner (1852–1918) | France |
theology, philosophy | Gabriel Jean Séailles (1852–1922) |
Prize decision
[edit]The Nobel committee proposed that the 1903 Nobel Prize in Literature should be awarded to the Norwegian author Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson. His countryman Henrik Ibsen was also considered as a favoured candidate. A shared prize to Bjørnson and Ibsen was proposed but rejected by the committee. Ibsen was regarded as "too old and burn-out", while Bjørnson was considered to still be "in full vigour". The committee said in their report to the Swedish Academy that Bjørnson's "ingenious and world-famous poetry, which has deep roots in nature and folk life, but also in his own strong convictions, combines ethical and poetic soundness; so the Nobel Committee has deemed it appropriate to propose to the Academy to pay tribute to his bright genius by awarding him the Nobel Prize unstruck."[8]
In their report the Nobel committee also mentioned the subsequently awarded authors, Italian Giosuè Carducci, Spanish José Echegaray, Polish Henryk Sienkiewicz and French Frédéric Mistral as worthy candidates for the prize. Other writers considered but rejected for the 1903 prize included Belgian Maurice Maeterlinck (awarded in 1911), Danish Georg Brandes, English Algernon Charles Swinburne and Russian Leo Tolstoy. The French historian Albert Sorel was praised as a worthy candidate for the prize, but was ruled out as the committee found it inappropriate to award an historian for a second year in succession.[8] On the candidacy of Rudyard Kipling, who was eventually awarded the prize in 1907, the committee chose to await works "of greater maturity, purer beauty, and a less hurried manner" by the young writer still only in his thirties.[8]
On rumours of a shared prize to Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson and Henrik Ibsen, Bjørnson told Norwegian reporters that he would refuse a shared prize. While the Nobel committee had rejected the proposal of a shared prize to them, thinking it would likely be misunderstood as two distinguished authors being worthy of only half a prize, the committee took notice of Bjørnson's statement and, on the event that Bjørnson should decline the award, recommended that the prize alternatively should be awarded to Frédéric Mistral (who was awarded the following year).
References
[edit]- ↑ Svensén, Bo (2001). Nobelpriset i litteratur. Nomineringar och utlåtanden 1901–1950. Svenska Akademien. ISBN 9789113010076. Retrieved 1 November 2025.
- ↑ The Nobel Prize in Literature 1903 nobelprize.org
- ↑ The Norwegian Nobel Committee Since 1901 nobelprize.org
- ↑ Grøndahl, Carl Henrik; Tjomsland, Nina (1978). The Literary masters of Norway: with samples of their works. Tanum-Norli. ISBN 978-82-518-0727-2.
- ↑ Nomination archive – 1903 nobelprize.org
- ↑ Nomination archive nobelprize.org
- ↑ Nomination archive nobelprize.org
- 1 2 3 Svensén, Bo (2001). "1903". Nobelpriset i litteratur. Nomineringar och utlåtanden 1901-1920. Svenska Akademien.
External links
[edit]- Award ceremony speech by C.D. af Wirsén nobelprize.org
