The Nobel Prize in Literature is awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words of Alfred Nobel, produced "the most outstanding work of an idealistic tendency". The "work" in this case generally refers to an author's work as a whole, not to any individual work, though individual works are sometimes cited in the awards. The Swedish Academy decides who, if anyone, will receive the prize in any given year and announces the name of the chosen laureate in early October.

The original citation of this Nobel Prize has led to much controversy. In the original Swedish, the word idealisk can be translated as either "idealistic" or "ideal". In earlier years the Nobel Committee stuck closely to the intent of the will, and left out certain world-renowned writers such as Leo Tolstoy and Henrik Ibsen for the Prize, probably because their works were not "idealistic" enough. In later years the wording is interpreted much more liberally, and the Prize is awarded, as is often argued that it should be, for lasting literary merit. The choice of the Academy can still generate controversy in their selection of lesser known writers, such as Dario Fo in 1997.

The Nobel Prize is not the sole measure of literary excellence and lasting worth; many prominent writers have failed to be cited or even nominated for the award.

Nomination procedure

Each year the Swedish Academy sends out requests for nominations of candidates for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Members of the Academy, members of literature academies and societies, professors of literature and language, former Nobel literature laureates, and the presidents of writers' organizations are all allowed to nominate a candidate. However, it is not possible to nominate oneself.

Thousands of requests are sent out each year, and about fifty proposals are returned. These proposals must be received by the Academy by February 1, after which they are examined by the Nobel Committee. By April, the Academy narrows the field to around twenty candidates, and by summer the list is reduced further to some five names. In October that year, members of the Academy vote, and the candidate who receives more than half the number of votes is named the Nobel Laureate in Literature. The process is similar to those of other Nobel Prizes.

The prize money of the Nobel Prize has been fluctuating since its inauguration but as present stands at 10 million Swedish krona. The winner also wins a gold medal and a Nobel diploma.

List of Nobel Laureates in Literature

Trivia

• The oldest person to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature was Theodor Mommsen, who was 85 when he received the Prize in 1902. The youngest was Rudyard Kipling, who was 42 when he won the Prize in 1907.

• Mommsen was also the Nobel laureate born earliest (November 30, 1817), a combination of his advanced age and the early year in which he received the Prize. He was born nearly 129 years before the most recently born laureate, Elfriede Jelinek (October 20, 1946).

• The longest-lived laureate in literature to date is Bertrand Russell, who was 97 when he died. The oldest living laureate is Naguib Mahfouz, currently 94 years old. He will surpass Russell if he lives past August 29, 2009. The shortest-lived laureate was Albert Camus, who died in a car crash at the age of 46, three years after receiving the award.

Most awarded languages

Most awarded countries

Recipients listed as belonging to more than one country are counted as one for each of those. E.g., T. S. Eliot is counted as an American and again as a Briton. Declining or exiled recipients are counted under the listed country. East and West German recipients are counted for Germany.

Most awarded continents

Recipients listed as belonging to more than one continent are counted as one for each of those, e.g., T. S. Eliot is counted for both North America and Europe. North America includes all of Latin America and the Caribbean, while Oceania encompasses Australasia, Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia.

Eligible writers who did not win the Nobel Prize

The following writers were all eligible for the Nobel Prize in Literature, yet did not win. The list is organized by the year of death of the author, in that they would have been eligible.

• Anton Chekhov (1904)
• Henrik Ibsen (1906)
• Leo Tolstoy (1910)
• Mark Twain (1910)
• Marcel Proust (1922)
• Joseph Conrad (1924)
• Franz Kafka (1924)
• Thomas Hardy (1928)
• D.H. Lawrence (1930)
• Fernando Pessoa (1935)
• Miguel de Unamuno (1936)
• Cesar Vallejo (1937)
• Edith Wharton (1937)
• F. Scott Fitzgerald (1940)
• James Joyce (1941)
• Gertrude Stein (1946)
• Vicente Huidobro (1948)
• Wallace Stevens (1955)
• Louis-Ferdinand Céline (1961)
• Isak Dinesen/Karen Blixen (1962)
• John Dos Passos (1970)
• Yukio Mishima (1970)
• Ezra Pound (1972)
• Vladimir Nabokov (1977)
• Julio Cortázar (1984)
• Jorge Luis Borges (1986)
• Graham Greene (1991)
• Adolfo Bioy Casares (1999)
• Janet Frame (2004)
• Françoise Sagan (2004)

Eligible writers

The following writers have yet to win the Nobel Prize in literature. Since this list could, in principle, be limitless, and since it is impossible to determine whose work is more deserving of recognition, two simple rules have been used in assembling this list: First, only those writers are included who have achieved significant literary (as opposed to popular) recognition in their own country or language are eligible. And two, only writers whose achievement has been undisputed for at least twenty years are included. To determine this second rule, the year of publication of the defining work is listed. In cases where a writer's reputation accreted over time, the year and work listed are those by which time it was generally agreed that the writer was established and/or important.

• Nicanor Parra — Poemas y Antipoemas (1954)
• Mario Vargas Llosa — Conversación en la Catedral (1969)
• Phillip Roth — Portnoy's Complaint (1969)
• Joyce Carol Oates — them (1970)
• John Updike — Rabbit Redux (1971)
• Thomas Pynchon — Gravity's Rainbow (1973)
• E. L. Doctorow — Ragtime (1975)
• Umberto Eco — The Name of the Rose (1980)
• Norman Mailer — The Executioner's Song (1980)
• Salman Rushdie — Midnight's Children (1981)

See also

• Nobel Prize
• Nobel laureates by country
• Nobel Prize in Literature winners by longevity

External links

• The Nobel Prize in Literature - Laureates
• Nobel Prize Winners in Literature
• The Nobel Prize

Literary awards | Nobel Prize | Nobel Prize in Literature winners

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