The 1937 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the French author Roger Martin du Gard (1881–1958) "for the artistic power and truth with which he has depicted human conflict as well as some fundamental aspects of contemporary life in his novel-cycle Les Thibault".
Laureate
Roger Martin du Gard was awarded for the then seven-part (a final eight part was later published) novel cycle Les Thibault (1922-1940), that chronicles a family of the bourgeoisie from the turn of the 19th century to World War I. His other work includes the novel Jean Barois (1913) that deals with the conflict between the Roman catholic faith of his childhood and the scientific materialism of his maturity and the impact of the Dreyfus affair on the protagonist, sketches of French country life in Vielle France ("Old France", 1933), a study of the author and his friend André Gide (Notes sur André Gide, 1951), and dramas.
Les Thibault The multi-volume roman-fleuve Les Thibault influenced the Nobel Committee in awarding Du Gard the 1937 Nobel Prize in Literature. It follows intricately the fortunes of two brothers, Antoine and Jacques Thibault, from their upbringing in a prosperous Catholic bourgeois family to the end of the First World War. The novel was admired by authors like André Gide, Albert Camus, Clifton Fadiman, and Georg Lukacs. In contrast, Mary McCarthy called it "a work whose learned obtuseness is, so far as I know, unequaled in fiction."The New Republic, 26 April 1939
Deliberations Nominations Roger Martin du Gard had been nominated for the prize five times since 1934. In 1937, the Nobel committee received 62 nominations for 37 writers including Frans Emil Sillanpää (awarded in 1939), Paul Valéry, Paul Claudel, Kostis Palamas, António Correia de Oliveira, Bertel Gripenberg, Karel Capek and Georges Duhamel. Fourteen were newly nominated such as Stijn Streuvels, Jean Giono, Johan Falkberget, Valdemar Rørdam and Albert Verwey. Most nominations were submitted for the Danish author Johannes V. Jensen (awarded in 1944) with seven nominations. There were seven female nominees namely Maria Madalena de Martel Patrício, Ricarda Huch, Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić, Maila Talvio, Maria Jotuni, Cecile Tormay and Sally Salminen.
The authors Lou Andreas-Salomé, J. M. Barrie, Ellis Parker Butler, Aleksey Chapygin, Ralph Connor, Francis de Croisset, Alberto de Oliveira, John Drinkwater, Florence Dugdale, Edward Garnett, Antonio Gramsci, Frances Nimmo Greene, Ivor Gurney, Elizabeth Haldane, Élie Halévy, W. F. Harvey, Ilya Ilf, Attila József, H. P. Lovecraft, Don Marquis, H. C. McNeile, Dashdorjiin Natsagdorj, Rudolf Otto, Mittie Frances Point (known as Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller), Horacio Quiroga, Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo and Yevgeny Zamyatin died in 1937 without having been nominated for the prize. The Dutch poet Albert Verwey died before the only chance to be rewarded.
Official list of nominees and their nominators for the prize No. Nominee Country Genre(s) Nominator(s)1René Béhaine (1880–1966) novel, short story, essays 2Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić (1874–1938) () novel, short story3Paul Claudel (1868–1955) poetry, drama, essays, memoirPeter Hjalmar Rokseth (1891–1945)4António Correia de Oliveira (1878–1960) poetryLuís da Cunha Gonçalvez (1875–1956)5Karel Čapek (1890–1938) drama, novel, short story, essays, literary criticismJosef Šusta (1874–1945)6Maria Madalena de Martel Patrício (1884–1947) poetry, essaysAntónio Baião (1878–1961)7Roger Martin du Gard (1881–1958)novel, drama, memoirTorsten Fogelqvist (1880–1941)8Georges Duhamel (1884–1966) novel, short story, poetry, drama, literary criticism9Olav Duun (1876–1939) novel, short storyHelga Eng (1875–1966)10Johan Falkberget (1879–1967) novel, short story, essaysFredrik Paasche (1886–1943)11Jean Giono (1895–1970) novel, short story, essays, poetry, drama12Bertel Gripenberg (1878–1947) poetry, drama, essaysMagnus Hammarström (1893–1941)13Vilhelm Grønbech (1873–1948) history, essays, poetryWilliam Norvin (1878–1940)14Jarl Hemmer (1893–1944) poetry, novelHjalmar Hammarskjöld (1862–1953)15Ricarda Huch (1864–1947) history, essays, novel, poetry16Johannes Vilhelm Jensen (1873–1950) novel, short story, essays17Maria Jotuni (1880–1943)drama, novel, short story, essaysViljo Tarkiainen (1879–1951)18Ludwig Klages (1872–1956)philosophy, poetry, essaysWilhelm Pinder (1878–1947)19Erwin Guido Kolbenheyer (1878–1962)novel, short story, poetry, dramaHeinz Kindermann (1894–1985)20Maurice Magre (1877–1941)novel, poetry, drama21Bijay Chandra Majumdar (1861–1942)essaysSen Satyendranath (1909–1983)22John Masefield (1878–1967)poetry, drama, novel, short story, essays, autobiographyAnders Österling (1884–1981)23Dmitry Merezhkovsky (1865–1941) novel, essays, poetry, drama Sigurd Agrell (1881–1937)24Kostis Palamas (1859–1943) poetry, essaysNikos Athanasiou Veēs (1882–1958)25Jules Payot (1859–1940)pedagogy, philosophyAlfred Baudrillart, C.O. (1859–1942)26William Pickard (1889–1973)novel, poetry, essaysArthur Bernard Cook (1868–1952)27Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1888–1975) philosophy, essays, lawHjalmar Hammarskjöld (1862–1953)28Valdemar Rørdam (1872–1946) poetry, essaysEjnar Thomsen (1897–1956)29Sally Salminen (1906–1976) novel, essays, autobiographyAlbert Engström (1869–1940)30Arnold Schering (1877–1941)essaysIlmari Krohn (1867–1960)31Frans Eemil Sillanpää (1888–1964) novel, short story, poetry32Stijn Streuvels (1871–1969) novel, short story33Maila Talvio (1871–1951) novel, short story, translationIlmari Krohn (1867–1960)34Shaul Tchernichovsky (1875–1943)poetry, essays, translationJoseph Klausner (1874–1958)35Cécile Tormay (1875–1937)novel, short story, essays, translation36Paul Valéry (1871–1945) poetry, philosophy, essays, dramaGabriel Hanotaux (1853–1944)37Albert Verwey (1865–1937)poetry, essays, translation
Prize decision The main contenders for the 1937 Nobel Prize in Literature were Flemish Belgian writer Stijn Streuvels and French novelist Roger Martin du Gard. Three members of the Nobel committee advocated Streuvels and two advocated Martin du Gard. English writer John Masefield and a shared prize to Finnish writers Jarl Hemmer and Frans Eemil Sillanpää were also considered.
On 11 November 1937 the Swedish Academy decided that that year's Nobel Prize in Literature should be awarded to Roger Martin du Gard "for the artistic power and truth with which he has depicted human conflict as well as some fundamental aspects of contemporary life in his novel-cycle Les Thibault".
Notes
References
External links Award ceremony speech by Per Hallström Banquet speech by Roger Martin du Gard