First Nobel Prize for Literature. Nobel Prize in Literature

Nobel Prize– one of the world's most prestigious prizes, awarded annually for outstanding scientific research, revolutionary inventions or major contributions to culture or society.

On November 27, 1895, A. Nobel drew up a will, which provided for the allocation of certain cash for award awards in five areas: physics, chemistry, physiology and medicine, literature and contributions to world peace. And in 1900, the Nobel Foundation was created - a private, independent, non-governmental organization with an initial capital of 31 million Swedish crowns. Since 1969, on the initiative of the Swedish Bank, awards have also been made prizes in economics.

Since the establishment of the awards, strict rules for selecting laureates have been in place. Intellectuals from all over the world participate in the process. Thousands of minds work to ensure that the most worthy candidate receives the Nobel Prize.

In total, to date, five Russian-speaking writers have received this award.

Ivan Alekseevich Bunin(1870-1953), Russian writer, poet, honorary academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, laureate Nobel Prize in Literature in 1933 "for the strict mastery with which he develops the traditions of Russian classical prose." In his speech when presenting the prize, Bunin noted the courage of the Swedish Academy, which honored the emigrant writer (he emigrated to France in 1920). Ivan Alekseevich Bunin is the greatest master of Russian realistic prose.

Boris Leonidovich Pasternak(1890-1960), Russian poet, laureate of the 1958 Nobel Prize in Literature “for outstanding services to modern lyric poetry and to the field of great Russian prose.” He was forced to refuse the award under threat of expulsion from the country. The Swedish Academy recognized Pasternak's refusal of the prize as forced and in 1989 awarded a diploma and medal to his son.

Mikhail Alexandrovich Sholokhov(1905-1984), Russian writer, winner of the 1965 Nobel Prize in Literature “for the artistic power and integrity of the epic about the Don Cossacks at a turning point for Russia.” In his speech during the awards ceremony, Sholokhov said his goal was to “extol the nation of workers, builders and heroes.” Having started out as a realistic writer who was not afraid to show deep life contradictions, Sholokhov in some of his works found himself captive of socialist realism.

Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn(1918-2008), Russian writer, winner of the 1970 Nobel Prize in Literature "for the moral strength derived from the tradition of great Russian literature." The Soviet government considered the decision of the Nobel Committee “politically hostile,” and Solzhenitsyn, fearing that after his trip, returning to his homeland would be impossible, accepted the award, but did not attend the award ceremony. In his artistic literary works, he, as a rule, touched upon acute socio-political issues, actively opposing communist ideas, the political system of the USSR and the policies of its authorities.

Joseph Alexandrovich Brodsky(1940-1996), poet, laureate of the 1987 Nobel Prize in Literature “for his multifaceted creativity, marked by acuteness of thought and deep poetry.” In 1972, he was forced to emigrate from the USSR and lived in the USA (the World Encyclopedia calls him American). I.A. Brodsky is the youngest writer to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. The peculiarities of the poet's lyrics are the understanding of the world as a single metaphysical and cultural whole, the identification of the limitations of man as a subject of consciousness.

If you want to get more specific information about the life and work of Russian poets and writers, to get to know their works better, online tutors We are always happy to help you. Online teachers will help you analyze a poem or write a review about the work of the selected author. Training is based on a specially developed software. Qualified teachers provide assistance in completing homework and explaining incomprehensible material; help prepare for the State Exam and the Unified State Exam. The student chooses for himself whether to conduct classes with the selected tutor for a long time, or use the help of the teacher only for specific situations when difficulties arise with a certain task.

website, when copying material in full or in part, a link to the source is required.

Briton Kazuo Ishiguro.

According to Alfred Nobel's will, the award is given to "the creator of the most significant literary work idealistic orientation."

The editors of TASS-DOSSIER have prepared material about the procedure for awarding this prize and its laureates.

Awarding the Prize and Nominating Candidates

The prize is awarded by the Swedish Academy in Stockholm. It includes 18 academicians who hold this post for life. The preparatory work is carried out by the Nobel Committee, whose members (four to five people) are elected by the Academy from among its members for a three-year period. Candidates may be nominated by members of the Academy and similar institutions in other countries, professors of literature and linguistics, award winners, and chairmen of writers' organizations who have received special invitations from the committee.

The nomination process lasts from September until January 31 of the following year. In April, the committee draws up a list of 20 most worthy writers, then narrows it down to five candidates. The laureate is determined by academicians in early October by majority vote. The writer is notified of the award half an hour before his name is announced. In 2017, 195 people were nominated.

The winners of the five Nobel Prizes are announced during Nobel Week, which begins on the first Monday in October. Their names are announced in the following order: physiology and medicine; physics; chemistry; literature; peace prize The winner of the State Bank of Sweden Prize in Economics in Memory of Alfred Nobel will be announced next Monday. In 2016, the order was violated; the name of the awarded writer was made public last. According to Swedish media, despite the delay in the start of the laureate election procedure, there were no disagreements within the Swedish Academy.

Laureates

Over the entire existence of the prize, 113 writers have become its laureates, including 14 women. Among the recipients are such world-famous authors as Rabindranath Tagore (1913), Anatole France (1921), Bernard Shaw (1925), Thomas Mann (1929), Hermann Hesse (1946), William Faulkner (1949), Ernest Hemingway (1954), Pablo Neruda (1971), Gabriel García Márquez (1982).

In 1953, this award “for the excellence of works of a historical and biographical nature, as well as for the brilliant art of oratory with which the highest human values ​​were defended,” was awarded to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Churchill was repeatedly nominated for this prize, in addition, he was twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, but never won it.

As a rule, writers receive a prize based on their total achievements in the field of literature. However, nine people were awarded for a specific piece. For example, Thomas Mann was recognized for his novel Buddenbrooks; John Galsworthy - for The Forsyte Saga (1932); Ernest Hemingway - for the story "The Old Man and the Sea"; Mikhail Sholokhov - in 1965 for the novel " Quiet Don" ("for the artistic strength and integrity of the epic about the Don Cossacks at a turning point for Russia").

In addition to Sholokhov, our other compatriots are among the laureates. Thus, in 1933, the prize was received by Ivan Bunin “for the strict mastery with which he develops the traditions of Russian classical prose,” and in 1958 by Boris Pasternak “for outstanding services in modern lyric poetry and in the field of great Russian prose.”

However, Pasternak, who was criticized in the USSR for the novel Doctor Zhivago, published abroad, refused the award under pressure from the authorities. The medal and diploma were presented to his son in Stockholm in December 1989. In 1970, Alexander Solzhenitsyn became the laureate of the prize (“for the moral strength with which he followed the immutable traditions of Russian literature”). In 1987, the prize was awarded to Joseph Brodsky “for his comprehensive creativity, imbued with clarity of thought and passion of poetry” (he emigrated to the USA in 1972).

In 2015, the award was awarded to the Belarusian writer Svetlana Alexievich for “polyphonic works, a monument to suffering and courage in our time.”

The 2016 winner was American poet, composer and performer Bob Dylan for “creating poetic images in the great American song tradition.”

Statistics

The Nobel website notes that of the 113 laureates, 12 wrote under pseudonyms. This list includes the French writer and literary critic Anatole France (real name François Anatole Thibault) and the Chilean poet and politician Pablo Neruda (Ricardo Eliezer Neftali Reyes Basoalto).

The relative majority of awards (28) were awarded to writers who wrote in English. For books in French, 14 writers were awarded, in German - 13, in Spanish - 11, in Swedish - seven, in Italian - six, in Russian - six (including Svetlana Alexievich), in Polish - four, in Norwegian and Danish - each three people, and in Greek, Japanese and Chinese - two each. Authors of works in Arabic, Bengali, Hungarian, Icelandic, Portuguese, Serbo-Croatian, Turkish, Occitan (Provençal dialect) French), Finnish, Czech, and Hebrew were awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature once each.

Most often, writers working in the genre of prose were awarded (77), poetry was in second place (34), and drama was in third place (14). Three writers received the prize for works in the field of history, and two for philosophy. Moreover, one author can be awarded for works in several genres. For example, Boris Pasternak received a prize as a prose writer and as a poet, and Maurice Maeterlinck (Belgium; 1911) - as a prose writer and playwright.

In 1901-2016, the prize was awarded 109 times (in 1914, 1918, 1935, 1940-1943, academicians were unable to determine the best writer). Only four times the award was shared between two writers.

The average age of the laureates is 65 years old, the youngest is Rudyard Kipling, who received the prize at 42 years old (1907), and the oldest is 88-year-old Doris Lessing (2007).

The second writer (after Boris Pasternak) to refuse the prize was the French novelist and philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre in 1964. He stated that he “does not want to be turned into a public institution,” and expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that when awarding the prize, academics “ignore the merits of revolutionary writers of the 20th century.”

Notable candidate writers who did not receive the prize

Many great writers who were nominated for the prize never received it. Among them is Leo Tolstoy. Our writers such as Dmitry Merezhkovsky, Maxim Gorky, Konstantin Balmont, Ivan Shmelev, Evgeny Yevtushenko, Vladimir Nabokov were not awarded either. Outstanding prose writers from other countries - Jorge Luis Borges (Argentina), Mark Twain (USA), Henrik Ibsen (Norway) - also did not become laureates.

The Nobel Prize for Literature began to be awarded in 1901. Several times the awards were not held - in 1914, 1918, 1935, 1940-1943. Current laureates, chairmen of authors' unions, literary professors and members of scientific academies can nominate other writers for the prize. Until 1950, information about the nominees was public, and then only the names of the laureates began to be named.

For five years in a row, from 1902 to 1906, Leo Tolstoy was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

In 1906, Tolstoy wrote a letter to the Finnish writer and translator Arvid Järnefelt, in which he asked him to persuade his Swedish colleagues to “try to ensure that I am not awarded this prize,” because “if this happened, it would be very unpleasant for me to refuse.”

As a result, the prize was awarded to the Italian poet Giosue Carducci in 1906. Tolstoy was glad that he was spared the prize: “Firstly, it saved me from a great difficulty - to manage this money, which, like any money, in my conviction, can only bring evil; and secondly, it gave me the honor and great pleasure to receive expressions of sympathy from so many people, although unknown to me, but still deeply respected by me.”

In 1902, another Russian also ran for the prize - lawyer, judge, speaker and writer Anatoly Koni. By the way, Koni had been friends with Tolstoy since 1887, corresponded with the count and met with him many times in Moscow. “Resurrection” was written based on Koni’s memories of one of Tolstoy’s cases. And Koni himself wrote the work “Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy”.

Kony himself was nominated for the award for his biographical essay about Dr. Haase, who devoted his life to the struggle to improve the lives of prisoners and exiles. Subsequently, some literary scholars spoke of Kony’s nomination as a “curiosity.”

In 1914, the writer and poet Dmitry Merezhkovsky, husband of the poetess Zinaida Gippius, was nominated for the prize for the first time. In total, Merezhkovsky was nominated 10 times.

In 1914, Merezhkovsky was nominated for a prize after the publication of his 24-volume collected works. However, this year the prize was not awarded due to the outbreak of the World War.

Later, Merezhkovsky was nominated as an emigrant writer. In 1930 he was again nominated for the Nobel Prize. But here Merezhkovsky turns out to be a competitor to another outstanding Russian literary emigrant - Ivan Bunin.

According to one legend, Merezhkovsky suggested that Bunin conclude a pact. “If I win the Nobel Prize, I will give you half, and if you win, you will give me half. Let's divide it in half. We will insure ourselves mutually." Bunin refused. Merezhkovsky was never given the prize.

In 1916, Ivan Franko became a nominee - Ukrainian writer and poet. He died before the award was considered. With rare exceptions, Nobel Prizes are not awarded posthumously.

In 1918, Maxim Gorky was nominated for the prize, but again it was decided not to present the award.

1923 becomes a “fruitful” year for Russian and Soviet writers. Ivan Bunin (for the first time), Konstantin Balmont (pictured) and again Maxim Gorky were nominated for the award. Thanks for this to the writer Romain Rolland, who nominated all three. But the prize is given to the Irishman William Gates.

In 1926, a Russian emigrant, the Tsarist Cossack General Pyotr Krasnov, became a nominee. After the revolution, he fought with the Bolsheviks, created the state of the All-Great Don Army, but later was forced to join Denikin’s army and then retire. In 1920 he emigrated and lived in Germany until 1923, then in Paris.

Since 1936, Krasnov lived in Nazi Germany. He did not recognize the Bolsheviks and helped anti-Bolshevik organizations. During the war years, he collaborated with the fascists and viewed their aggression against the USSR as a war exclusively against the communists, and not against the people. In 1945 he was captured by the British, handed over to the Soviets and in 1947 hanged in Lefortovo prison.

Among other things, Krasnov was a prolific writer, publishing 41 books. His most popular novel was the epic From the Double-Headed Eagle to the Red Banner. Krasnov was nominated for the Nobel Prize by Slavic philologist Vladimir Frantsev. Can you imagine if, by some miracle, he received the prize in 1926? How would people argue about this person and this award now?

In 1931 and 1932, in addition to the already familiar nominees Merezhkovsky and Bunin, Ivan Shmelev was nominated for the prize. In 1931, his novel “Bogomolye” was published.

In 1933, the Nobel Prize was awarded to a Russian-speaking writer for the first time, Ivan Bunin. The wording is “For the strict skill with which he develops the traditions of Russian classical prose.” Bunin didn’t really like the wording; he wanted more to be awarded for his poetry.

On YouTube you can find a very muddy video in which Ivan Bunin reads out his address on the occasion of the Nobel Prize.

After the news of receiving the prize, Bunin went to visit Merezhkovsky and Gippius. “Congratulations,” the poetess told him, “and I envy him.” Not everyone agreed with the decision of the Nobel committee. Marina Tsvetaeva, for example, wrote that Gorky was much more worthy of the prize.

Bunin actually squandered the prize, 170,331 crowns. The poet and literary critic Zinaida Shakhovskaya recalled: “Having returned to France, Ivan Alekseevich ... in addition to money, began to organize parties, distribute “benefits” to emigrants, and donate funds to support various societies. Finally, on the advice of well-wishers, he invested the remaining amount in some “win-win business” and was left with nothing.”

In 1949, emigrant Mark Aldanov (pictured) and three Soviet writers - Boris Pasternak, Mikhail Sholokhov and Leonid Leonov - were nominated for the prize. The award was given to William Faulkner.

In 1958, Boris Pasternak received the Nobel Prize “for significant achievements in modern lyric poetry, as well as for continuing the traditions of the great Russian epic novel.”

Pasternak received the award, having previously been nominated six times. IN last time nominated him Albert Camus.

In the Soviet Union, the persecution of the writer immediately began. At the initiative of Suslov (pictured), the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee adopted a resolution, classified “Strictly Secret,” “On the slanderous novel by B. Pasternak.”

“Recognize that awarding the Nobel Prize to Pasternak’s novel, which slanderously portrays the October Socialist Revolution, the Soviet people who carried out this revolution, and the construction of socialism in the USSR, is an act hostile to our country and a weapon of international reaction aimed at inciting the Cold War.” , the resolution said.

From Suslov’s note on the day the prize was awarded: “Organize and publish a collective speech by the most prominent Soviet writers, in which they evaluate the awarding of the prize to Pasternak as an attempt to ignite the Cold War.”

The writer was persecuted in newspapers and at numerous meetings. From the transcript of the all-Moscow meeting of writers: “There is no poet more distant from the people than B. Pasternak, a more aesthetic poet, in whose work the pre-revolutionary decadence preserved in its pristine purity would sound so clear. All of B. Pasternak’s poetic creativity lay outside the true traditions of Russian poetry, which always warmly responded to all events in the life of its people.”

Writer Sergei Smirnov: “I was finally offended by this novel, like a soldier Patriotic War, as a person who had to cry over the graves of his fallen comrades during the war, as a person who now has to write about the heroes of the war, about the heroes of the Brest Fortress, about other wonderful war heroes who revealed the heroism of our people with amazing power.”

“Thus, comrades, the novel Doctor Zhivago, in my deep conviction, is an apology for betrayal.”

Critic Kornely Zelinsky: “I was left with a very difficult feeling from reading this novel. I felt literally spat upon. My whole life seemed to be spat upon in this novel. Everything that I put my energy into for 40 years, creative energy, hopes, hopes - all of it was spat on.”

Unfortunately, it wasn’t just mediocrity that attacked Pasternak. Poet Boris Slutsky (pictured): “A poet is obliged to seek recognition from his people, and not from their enemies. The poet must seek fame native land, and not from an overseas uncle. Gentlemen, Swedish academicians know about Soviet land only that the Battle of Poltava, which they hated, took place there, and the Battle of Poltava, which they hated even more, took place there October Revolution(noise in the hall). What do they care about our literature?

Writers' meetings were held throughout the country, at which Pasternak's novel was branded as slanderous, hostile, mediocre, etc. Rallies were held at factories against Pasternak and his novel.

From Pasternak’s letter to the presidium of the board of the Union of Writers of the USSR: “I thought that my joy at being awarded the Nobel Prize would not remain lonely, that it would affect the society of which I am a part. In my eyes, the honor shown to me to a modern writer, living in Russia and, therefore, Soviet, rendered at the same time to all Soviet literature. I am saddened that I was so blind and mistaken.”

Under enormous pressure, Pasternak decided to refuse the prize. “Due to the importance that the award given to me has received in the society to which I belong, I must refuse it. Do not consider my voluntary refusal an insult,” he wrote in a telegram to the Nobel Committee. Until his death in 1960, Pasternak remained in disgrace, although he was not arrested or deported.

Nowadays they erect monuments to Pasternak, his talent is recognized. Then the hounded writer was on the verge of suicide. In the poem “Nobel Prize,” Pasternak wrote: “What kind of dirty trick have I done, / Am I a murderer and a villain? / I made the whole world cry / Over the beauty of my land.” After the publication of the poem abroad, the Prosecutor General of the USSR Roman Rudenko promised to prosecute Pasternak under the article “Treason to the Motherland.” But he didn't attract me.

In 1965, the Soviet writer Mikhail Sholokhov received the prize - “For the artistic strength and integrity of the epic about the Don Cossacks at a turning point for Russia.”

The Soviet authorities viewed Sholokhov as a “counterweight” to Pasternak in the fight for the Nobel Prize. In the 1950s, lists of nominees had not yet been published, but the USSR knew that Sholokhov was being considered as a possible contender. Through diplomatic channels, the Swedes were hinted that the USSR would have extremely positively assessed the awarding of the prize to this Soviet writer.

In 1964, the prize was awarded to Jean-Paul Sartre, but he refused it and expressed regret (among other things) that the prize was not awarded to Mikhail Sholokhov. This predetermined the decision of the Nobel Committee the following year.

During the presentation, Mikhail Sholokhov did not bow to King Gustav Adolf VI, who was presenting the prize. According to one version, this was done intentionally, and Sholokhov said: “We, Cossacks, do not bow to anyone. In front of the people, please, but I won’t do it in front of the king, that’s all...”

1970 was a new blow to the image of the Soviet state. The prize was awarded to dissident writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

Solzhenitsyn is the record holder for the speed of literary recognition. From the moment of the first publication to the award of the last prize, only eight years. No one could do this.

As in the case of Pasternak, Solzhenitsyn immediately began to be persecuted. A letter from the American singer Dean Reed, popular in the USSR, appeared in the magazine Ogonyok, who convinced Solzhenitsyn that everything was in order in the USSR, but in the USA it was a complete mess.

Dean Reed: “After all, it’s America, not Soviet Union, wages wars and creates a tense environment of possible wars in order to enable its economy to operate, and our dictators, the military-industrial complex to acquire even more wealth and power from the blood of the Vietnamese people, our own American soldiers and all the freedom-loving peoples of the world! It’s my homeland that has a sick society, not yours, Mr. Solzhenitsyn!”

However, Solzhenitsyn, who went through prisons, camps and exile, was not too afraid of censure in the press. He continued literary creativity, dissident work. The authorities hinted to him that it was better to leave the country, but he refused. Only in 1974, after the release of The Gulag Archipelago, Solzhenitsyn was deprived of Soviet citizenship and forcibly expelled from the country.

In 1987, the prize was received by Joseph Brodsky, at that time a US citizen. The prize was awarded “for comprehensive creativity, imbued with clarity of thought and passion of poetry.”

US citizen Joseph Brodsky wrote his Nobel speech in Russian. It became part of his literary manifesto. Brodsky spoke more about literature, but there was also room for historical and political remarks. The poet, for example, put the regimes of Hitler and Stalin on the same level.

Brodsky: “This generation - the generation born precisely when the Auschwitz crematoria were operating at full capacity, when Stalin was at the zenith of God-like, absolute, nature itself, seemingly sanctioned power, came into the world, apparently, to continue what theoretically should have been interrupted in these crematoria and in the unmarked mass graves of the Stalinist archipelago.”

Since 1987, the Nobel Prize has not been awarded to Russian writers. Among the contenders, Vladimir Sorokin (pictured), Lyudmila Ulitskaya, Mikhail Shishkin, as well as Zakhar Prilepin and Viktor Pelevin are usually named.

In 2015, the prize was sensationally received by the Belarusian writer and journalist Svetlana Alexievich. She wrote such works as “War Doesn’t Have a Woman’s Face”, “Zinc Boys”, “Enchanted by Death”, “Chernobyl Prayer”, “Second Hand Time” and others. Quite rare for recent years an event when a prize was given to a person who writes in Russian.

Since the delivery of the first Nobel Prize 112 years have passed. Among Russians worthy of this most prestigious award in the field literature, physics, chemistry, medicine, physiology, peace and economics there were only 20 people. As for the Nobel Prize in Literature, Russians have their own personal history in this area, not always with a positive ending.

First awarded in 1901, it bypassed the most important writer in history. Russian and world literature - Leo Tolstoy. In their 1901 address, members of the Royal Swedish Academy formally paid their respects to Tolstoy, calling him "the deeply revered patriarch modern literature” and “one of those powerful soulful poets, who in this case should be remembered first of all,” however, they referred to the fact that, in view of their convictions great writer he himself “never aspired to this kind of reward.” In his response letter, Tolstoy wrote that he was glad that he was spared the difficulties associated with the disposal of so much money and that he was pleased to receive notes of sympathy from so many respected persons. Things were different in 1906, when Tolstoy, preempting his nomination for the Nobel Prize, asked Arvid Järnefeld to use all kinds of connections so as not to be put in an unpleasant position and refuse this prestigious award.

Likewise Nobel Prize in Literature surpassed several other outstanding Russian writers, among whom was also the genius of Russian literature - Anton Pavlovich Chekhov. The first writer admitted to the “Nobel Club” was someone disliked by the Soviet government who emigrated to France Ivan Alekseevich Bunin.

In 1933, the Swedish Academy nominated Bunin for an award “for the rigorous skill with which he develops the traditions of Russian classical prose.” Among the nominees this year were also Merezhkovsky and Gorky. Bunin received Nobel Prize in Literature largely thanks to the 4 books about Arsenyev’s life that had been published by that time. During the ceremony, Per Hallström, a representative of the Academy who presented the prize, expressed admiration for Bunin’s ability to “extraordinarily expressively and accurately describe real life" In his response speech, the laureate thanked the Swedish Academy for the courage and honor it showed to the emigrant writer.

A difficult story full of disappointment and bitterness accompanies the receipt of the Nobel Prize in Literature Boris Pasternak. Nominated annually from 1946 to 1958 and awarded this high award in 1958, Pasternak was forced to refuse it. Almost becoming the second Russian writer to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, the writer was persecuted in his homeland, receiving stomach cancer as a result of nervous shock, from which he died. Justice triumphed only in 1989, when his son Evgeniy Pasternak received an honorary award for him “for significant achievements in modern lyric poetry, as well as for continuing the traditions of the great Russian epic novel.”

Sholokhov Mikhail Alexandrovich received the Nobel Prize in Literature "for his novel Quiet Don" in 1965. It is worth noting that the authorship of this deep epic work, despite the fact that the manuscript of the work was found and a computer match was established with the printed edition, there are opponents who claim the impossibility of creating a novel, indicating deep knowledge of the events of the First World War and Civil War at such a young age. The writer himself, summing up the results of his work, said: “I would like my books to help people become better, become purer in soul... If I succeeded in this to some extent, I am happy.”

Solzhenitsyn Alexander Isaevich, winner of the 1918 Nobel Prize in Literature "for the moral strength with which he followed the immutable traditions of Russian literature." Having spent most of his life in exile and exile, the writer created deep and frightening in its authenticity historical works. Upon learning of the Nobel Prize award, Solzhenitsyn expressed his desire to personally attend the ceremony. The Soviet government prevented the writer from receiving this prestigious award, calling it “politically hostile.” Thus, Solzhenitsyn never got to the desired ceremony, fearing that he would not be able to return from Sweden back to Russia.

In 1987 Brodsky Joseph Alexandrovich awarded Nobel Prize for Literature"for comprehensive creativity, imbued with clarity of thought and passion of poetry." In Russia, the poet never received lifelong recognition. He created while in exile in the USA, most of his works were written in impeccable English. In his speech as a Nobel laureate, Brodsky spoke about what was most dear to him - language, books and poetry...

On December 10, 1933, King Gustav V of Sweden awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature to the writer Ivan Bunin, who became the first Russian writer to receive this high award. In total, the prize, established by the inventor of dynamite Alfred Bernhard Nobel in 1833, was received by 21 people from Russia and the USSR, five of them in the field of literature. True, historically it turned out that for Russian poets and writers the Nobel Prize was fraught with big problems.

Ivan Alekseevich Bunin distributed the Nobel Prize to friends

It is known that Nobel laureates have the right to decide for themselves how to spend the money they receive. Some people invest in the development of science, some in charity, some in their own business. Bunin, a creative person and devoid of “practical ingenuity,” disposed of his bonus, which amounted to 170,331 crowns, completely irrationally. Poet and literary critic Zinaida Shakhovskaya recalled: “ Returning to France, Ivan Alekseevich... in addition to money, began to organize feasts, distribute “benefits” to emigrants, and donate funds to support various societies. Finally, on the advice of well-wishers, he invested the remaining amount in some “win-win business” and was left with nothing».

Ivan Bunin is the first emigrant writer to be published in Russia. True, the first publications of his stories appeared in the 1950s, after the writer’s death. Some of his works, stories and poems, were published in his homeland only in the 1990s.

Dear God, why are you
Gave us passions, thoughts and worries,
Do I thirst for business, fame and pleasure?
Joyful are cripples, idiots,
The leper is the most joyful of all.
(I. Bunin. September, 1917)

Boris Pasternak refused the Nobel Prize

The writing community in the poet’s homeland took this news extremely negatively and on October 27, Pasternak was unanimously expelled from the Union of Writers of the USSR, at the same time filing a petition to deprive Pasternak of Soviet citizenship. In the USSR, Pasternak's receipt of the prize was associated only with his novel Doctor Zhivago. The literary newspaper wrote: “Pasternak received “thirty pieces of silver,” for which the Nobel Prize was used. He was awarded for agreeing to play the role of bait on the rusty hook of anti-Soviet propaganda... An inglorious end awaits the resurrected Judas, Doctor Zhivago, and his author, whose lot will be popular contempt.”.

The mass campaign launched against Pasternak forced him to refuse the Nobel Prize. The poet sent a telegram to the Swedish Academy in which he wrote: “ Due to the importance that the award given to me has received in the society to which I belong, I must refuse it. Please don't take my voluntary refusal as an insult.».

It is worth noting that in the USSR until 1989, even in school curriculum There were no references to Pasternak’s work in the literature. He was the first to decide to introduce the Soviet people en masse to creative Pasternak director Eldar Ryazanov. In his comedy “The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath!” (1976) he included the poem “There will be no one in the house”, transforming it into an urban romance, which was performed by the bard Sergei Nikitin. Ryazanov later included in his film “ Office romance"An excerpt from another poem by Pasternak - “Loving others is a heavy cross..." (1931). True, it sounded in a farcical context. But it is worth noting that at that time the very mention of Pasternak’s poems was a very bold step.

It's easy to wake up and see clearly,
Shake out the verbal trash from the heart
And live without getting clogged in the future,
All this is not a big trick.
(B. Pasternak, 1931)

Mikhail Sholokhov, receiving the Nobel Prize, did not bow to the monarch

Gustav Adolf VI, who presented the prize to the Soviet writer, called him “one of the most outstanding writers of our time.” Sholokhov did not bow to the king, as prescribed by the rules of etiquette. Some sources claim that he did this intentionally with the words: “We Cossacks do not bow to anyone. In front of the people, please, but I won’t do it in front of the king...”

Alexander Solzhenitsyn was deprived of Soviet citizenship because of the Nobel Prize

On October 8, 1970, “for the moral strength drawn from the tradition of great Russian literature,” Solzhenitsyn was awarded the Nobel Prize. This became the reason for persecution of Solzhenitsyn in the USSR. In 1971, all the writer’s manuscripts were confiscated, and in the next 2 years, all his publications were destroyed. In 1974, a Decree was issued by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, which deprived Alexander Solzhenitsyn of Soviet citizenship and deported him from the USSR for systematically committing actions incompatible with belonging to USSR citizenship and causing damage to the USSR.

The writer’s citizenship was returned only in 1990, and in 1994 he and his family returned to Russia and actively became involved in public life.

Nobel Prize winner Joseph Brodsky was convicted of parasitism in Russia

In 1972, Brodsky turned to Secretary General Brezhnev with a request to work in his homeland as a translator, but his request remained unanswered, and he was forced to emigrate. Brodsky first lives in Vienna, London, and then moves to the United States, where he becomes a professor at New York, Michigan and other universities in the country.

On December 10, 1987, Joseph Brosky was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature “for his comprehensive creativity, imbued with clarity of thought and passion of poetry.” It is worth saying that Brodsky, after Vladimir Nabokov, is the second Russian writer who writes in English as his native language.

The sea was not visible. In the white haze,
swaddled on all sides, absurd
it was thought that the ship was heading towards land -
if it was a ship at all,
and not a clot of fog, as if poured
who whitened it in milk?
(B. Brodsky, 1972)

Interesting fact
For the Nobel Prize in different times nominated, but never received it, such famous personalities like Mahatma Gandhi, Winston Churchill, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Benito Mussolini, Franklin Roosevelt, Nicholas Roerich and Leo Tolstoy.

Literature lovers will definitely be interested in this book, which is written with disappearing ink.