The 1941 Nobel Prize in Literature was not awarded due to the ongoing Second World War that started on September 1, 1939. Instead, the prize money was allocated with 1/3 to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section.The Nobel Prize in Literature 1941 nobelprize.org This was the fifth occasion in Nobel history that the prize was not conferred.
Nominations Despite no author(s) being awarded the 1940 prize due to the ongoing Second World War, a number of literary critics, societies and academics continued sending nominations to the Nobel Committee of the Swedish Academy, hoping that their nominated candidate may be considered for the prize. In total, the academy received 21 nominations for 15 writers.Nomination archive – 1941 nobelprize.org
Three of the nominees were nominated first-time namely Manoel Wanderley, Ruth Comfort Young, and Branislav Petronijević. The highest number of the nominations – three nominations – was for the Danish author Johannes Vilhelm Jensen, who was awarded in 1944. Four of the nominees were women namely Gabriela Mistral (awarded in 1945), Henriette Charasson, Maria Madalena de Martel Patrício, and Ruth Comfort Young.
The authors Alexander Afinogenov, Sherwood Anderson, Oskar Baum, Mihály Babits, Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński, Karin Boye, Robert Byron, José de la Cuadra, Penelope Delta, William Arthur Dunkerley, James Joyce, Émile Nelligan, Banjo Paterson, Elizabeth Madox Roberts, Norberto Romualdez, Hasegawa Shigure, Gertrude Eileen Trevelyan, Marina Tsvetaeva, Evelyn Underhill, Elizabeth von Arnim, Benjamin Lee Whorf, Virginia Woolf, and May Ziadeh died in 1941 without having been nominated for the prize.
Official list of nominees and their nominators for the prize No. Nominee Country Genre(s) Nominator(s)1René Béhaine (1880–1966) novel, short story, essaysFrançois Dumas (1861–1948)2Edmund Blunden (1896–1974) poetry, essays, biographyHeinrich Wolfgang Donner (1904–1980)3Henriette Charasson (1884–1972) poetry, essays, drama, novel, literary criticism, biographyJacques Chevalier (1882–1962)4Paul Claudel (1868–1955) poetry, drama, essays, memoirPeter Hjalmar Rokseth (1891–1945)5Maria Madalena de Martel Patrício (1884–1947) poetry, essaysAntónio Baião (1878–1961)6Vilhelm Ekelund (1880–1949)poetry, essays7Johan Falkberget (1879–1967) novel, short story, essaysRichard Beck (1897–1980)8Vilhelm Grønbech (1873–1948) history, essays, poetrySven Lönborg (1871–1959)9Johan Huizinga (1872–1945) history10Johannes Vilhelm Jensen (1873–1950) novel, short story, essays11Gabriela Mistral (1889–1957) poetryHjalmar Hammarskjöld (1862–1953)12Branislav Petronijević (1875–1954)philosophy13Felix Timmermans (1886–1947) novel, short story, drama, poetry, essaysHjalmar Hammarskjöld (1862–1953)14Manoel Cyrillo Wanderley (–)poetry, essays Francisco de Aquino Correa (1885–1956)15Ruth Comfort Young (1882–1954)drama, screenplay, novel, short story, poetry
Prize decision In their deliberations on the nominated candidates for the 1941 Nobel Prize in Literature, the Nobel committee considered Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral, Danish author Johannes V. Jensen, Dutch historian Johan Huizinga and Flemish Felix Timmermans, but none of them received a majority of support. Committee member Hjalmar Hammarskjöld proposed that the 1941 Nobel Prize in Literature should be awarded to Gabriela Mistral, but no prize was awarded that year. Subsequently, Johannes V. Jensen was awarded the 1944 Nobel Prize in Literature and Gabriela Mistral awarded the 1945 Nobel Prize in Literature.
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