The 1915 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the French author Romain Rolland (1866–1944) "as a tribute to the lofty idealism of his literary production and to the sympathy and love of truth with which he has described different types of human beings."The Nobel Prize in Literature 1915 nobelprize.org The prize was awarded the following year on November 9, 1916 and he is the third Frenchman who became a Nobel recipient for the literature category.
Laureate
Rolland was a mystic and pacifist who studied spirituality, yoga, and Indian philosophy. He established the International Biogentic Society in 1929 to advance harmony, sustainability, and peace. Through communication, he spread the idea of the "oceanic feeling," which refers to the sensation of being at one with the universe, to people like Sigmund Freud and others. Regardless of genre, Rolland's literature centers on humanity's pursuit of pleasure, purpose, and the truth. Jean Christophe Krafft and Anette Rivière, the main protagonists in the novel series Jean-Christophe (1904–1912) and L'Ame enchantée ("The Enchanted Soul", 1922–1933) are in a struggle for both their physical and spiritual existence. In order to define the style of the collection of works, Rolland coined the term "roman-fleuve," which translates to "river-novel." He argued for the democratization of theater in his essay "The People's Theatre."Romain Rolland – Facts nobelprize.orgRomain Rolland britannica.com
In 1936 Rolland nominated the Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud for the same category which led the academy's Nobel Committee to a great deal of discussion.Nominations by literature laureates nobelprize.org Deliberations Nominations For the 1915 Nobel Prize in Literature, the Swedish Academy received nominations for only 11 writers and therefore decided to add another 11 candidates nominated by committee members. Among these were Romain Rolland, who was awarded the following year after only three nominations.Nomination archive – 1915 nobelprize.orgNomination archive – Romain Rolland nobelprize.org Other newly nominated authors were British explorer Charles Montagu Doughty and German poet Ferdinand Avenarius. The Italian writer Grazia Deledda (subsequently awarded the 1926 Nobel Prize in Literature) – the only female nominee – received the highest number of nominations.
The authors Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Thomas Alexander Browne, Saturnino Calleja, Luigi Capuana, Gaston Arman de Caillavet, Remy de Gourmont, Francisco Giner de los Ríos, Tevfik Fikret, James Elroy Flecker, Justus Miles Forman, Elizabeth Boynton Harbert, Elbert Hubbard, Charles Klein, Aurelio Tolentino, Lucy Bethia Walford, Booker T. Washington, Ellen Gould White, and Julia Ditto Young died in 1915 without having been nominated for the prize.
Official list of nominees and their nominators for the prize No. Nominee Country Genre(s) Nominator(s)1Juhani Aho (1861–1921) ()novel, short storyKarl Alfred Melin (1849–1919)2Ferdinand Avenarius (1856–1923)poetry3René Bazin (1853–1932) novelHarald Hjärne (1848–1922)4Henri Bergson (1859–1941) philosophyPer Hallström (1866–1960)5Paul Bourget (1852–1935) novel, short story, literary criticism, essaysKarl Alfred Melin (1849–1919)6Grazia Deledda (1871–1936) novel, short story, essays 7Charles Montagu Doughty (1843–1926)poetry, essaysHerbert Warren (1853–1930)8Anatole France (1844–1924) poetry, essays, drama, novel, literary criticism9Karl Adolph Gjellerup (1857–1919) poetry, drama, novelHarald Hjärne (1848–1922)10Vilhelm Grønbech (1873–1948) history, essays, poetry11Angel Guimerà y Jorge (1845–1924) drama, poetry12Willem Kloos (1859–1938) poetry, essays, literary criticismPer Hallström (1866–1960)13Josef Svatopluk Machar (1864–1942) ()poetry, essays, novelprofessors in Prague14Dmitry Merezhkovsky (1865–1941) novel, essays, poetry, dramaKarl Alfred Melin (1849–1919)15Benito Pérez Galdós (1843–1920) novel, short story, drama, essaysPer Hallström (1866–1960)16Romain Rolland (1866–1944) novel, drama, essaysHenrik Schück (1855–1947)17Salvador Rueda Santos (1857–1933) poetry, essaysprofessors in Madrid18Carl Spitteler (1845–1924) poetry, essaysJonas Fränkel (1879–1965)19Émile Verhaeren (1855–1916) poetry, essaysChristen Collin (1857–1926)20Ernst von der Recke (1848–1933) poetry, dramaKarl Alfred Melin (1849–1919)21Verner von Heidenstam (1859–1940) novel, short story, poetryFredrik Wulff (1845–1930)22William Butler Yeats (1865–1939) poetry, drama, essaysPer Hallström (1866–1960)
Prize decision The Nobel committee proposed that the 1915 Nobel prize in Literature should be awarded to the Spanish author Benito Pérez Galdós, and the postponed prize for 1914 to the Swiss writer Carl Spitteler. Two members of the committee opposed that Pérez Galdos was awarded and instead proposed the French writer Romain Rolland.
No prize was awarded in 1915, but in 1916 the prize for 1915 was awarded to Romain Rolland. A politically controversial choice as Rolland at the time of World War I had made himself unpopular in both Germany and his native France.Gustav Källstrand Andens Olympiska Spel: Nobelprisets historia, Fri Tanke 2021, p. 295
Carl Spitteler was subsequently awarded the 1919 Nobel Prize in Literature.
Notes
References
External links 1915 Press release nobelprize.org