The 1935 Nobel Prize in Literature was not awarded after the Swedish Academy decided that no author in the field of literature was a suitable candidate. Hence, the prize money for this year was allocated to the Main Fund and to the Special Fund of this prize section.The Nobel Prize in Literature 1935 nobelprize.org

Deliberations Nominations The Nobel Committee of the Swedish Academy received 52 nominations for 38 authors like Frans Eemil Sillanpää (awarded in 1939), Johannes V. Jensen (awarded in 1944), Paul Valéry, Dmitry Merezhkovsky, Roger Martin du Gard (awarded in 1937) and H. G. Wells.Nomination archive – Literature 1935 nobelprize.org

Fourteen of the nominees were newly recommended for the prize such as Shaul Tchernichovsky, Miguel de Unamuno, Jules Romains, John Masefield, Elise Richter, Edvarts Virza, Víctor Manuel Rendón, Émile Mâle, James Cousins and G. K. Chesterton. There were five women nominees: Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić, Violet Clifton, Ricarda Huch, Maria Madalena de Martel Patrício and Elise Richter.

The authors Henri Barbusse, Ioan Bianu, Arthur Hoey Davis (known as Steele Rudd), Clarence Day, Ella Loraine Dorsey, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Anna Katharine Green, Kaitarō Hasegawa, Mary R. P. Hatch, Louise Manning Hodgkins, Winifred Holtby, Panait Istrati, T. E. Lawrence, James Leslie Mitchell (known as Lewis Grassic Gibbon), Violet Paget (known as Vernon Lee), Fernando Pessoa, Lizette Woodworth Reese, George William Russell, Tsubouchi Shōyō, Kurt Tucholsky, William Watson and Stanley G. Weinbaum died in 1935 without having been nominated for the prize.

Official list of nominees and their nominators for the prize No. Nominee Country Genre(s) Nominator(s)1Rufino Blanco Fombona (1874–1944) essays, literary criticismSeveral professors from American universities2Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić (1874–1938) novel, short storyGavro Manojlović (1856–1939)3Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)philosophy, theology, essays, literary criticism, novel, short story, poetryTorsten Fogelqvist (1880–1941)4Violet Clifton (1883–1961)biography, essaysNevill Coghill (1899–1980)5António Correia de Oliveira (1878–1960)poetry6James Cousins (1873–1956)poetry, drama, essays, literary criticism Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941)7Karel Čapek (1890–1938)drama, novel, short story, essays, literary criticism8Maria Madalena de Martel Patrício (1884–1947) poetry, essaysBento Carqueja (1860–1935)9Miguel de Unamuno (1864–1936) novel, poetry, philosophy, essays, dramaEsteban Madruga Jiménez (1890–1980)10Roger Martin du Gard (1881–1958) novel, drama, memoir11Olav Duun (1876–1939) novel, short story12James George Frazer (1854–1941) history, essays, translationJarl Charpentier (1884–1935)13Franz Karl Ginzkey (1871–1963)poetry, short story, essaysHjalmar Hammarskjöld (1862–1953)14Vilhelm Grønbech (1873–1948) history, essays, poetrySven Lönborg (1871–1959)15Jarl Hemmer (1893–1944) poetry, novelHjalmar Hammarskjöld (1862–1953)16Ricarda Huch (1864–1947) history, essays, novel, poetryErnst Robert Curtius (1886–1956)17Johannes V. Jensen (1873–1950) novel, short story, poetry18Guðmundur Kamban (1888–1945)novel, dramaBengt Hesselman (1875–1952)19Rudolf Kassner (1873–1959) philosophy, essays, translation6 professors of the University of Zurich20Erwin Guido Kolbenheyer (1878–1962) novel, short story, poetry, dramaHans-Friedrich Rosenfeld (1899–1993)21Sven Lönborg (1871–1959)philosophy, history, pedagogy, essaysEmil Rodhe (1863–1936)22John Masefield (1878–1967) poetry, drama, novel, short story, essays, autobiography Anders Österling (1884–1981)23Émile Mâle (1862–1954)historyEmil Rodhe (1863–1936)24Dmitry Merezhkovsky (1865–1941) novel, essays, poetry, dramaSigurd Agrell (1881–1937)25Eugene O'Neill (1888–1953) dramaMartin Lamm (1880–1950)26Kostis Palamas (1859–1943) poetry, essays27Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1888–1975) philosophy, essays, law Hjalmar Hammarskjöld (1862–1953)28Víctor Manuel Rendón (1859–1940)novel, poetry, drama, biography, essays, translationCeliano Monge Navarrete (1856–1940)29Elise Richter (1865–1943)philology30Jules Romains (1885–1972) poetry, drama, screenplayFredrik Böök (1883–1961)31Frans Eemil Sillanpää (1888–1964) novel, short story, poetry32Hermann Stehr (1864–1940) novel, short story, poetry, dramaHermann August Korff (1882–1963)33Dezső Szabó (1879–1945)novel, essaysBjörn Collinder (1894–1983)34Shaul Tchernichovsky (1875–1943) poetry, essays, translationJoseph Klausner (1874–1958)35Paul Valéry (1871–1945) poetry, philosophy, essays, drama36Edvarts Virza (1883–1940) poetry, essays, translation37Herbert George Wells (1866–1946) novel, short story, essays, history, biographySigfrid Siwertz (1882–1970)38Tadeusz Stefan Zieliński (1859–1944)philology, history, translation, essaysSeveral professors at the University of Warsaw

Prize decision In 1935, considered authors by the Nobel committee included Karel Čapek, Miguel de Unamuno, John Masefield, G. K. Chesterton, H. G. Wells, Jarl Hemmer, Johannes V. Jensen, Paul Valéry, Eugene O'Neill and Roger Martin du Gard, but the committee found that no candidate met the criteria for the prize. In their report to the Swedish Academy, Čapek was noted for his "thriving imagination and inventiveness" but dismissed for his "solubility and emptiness in philosophical contemplation", De Unamuno was acknowledged as the greatest Spanish writer alive and that his candidacy should be seriously considered, but was dismissed for his abstract ideas in his literary oeuvres; Masefield was dismissed for his uneven works; Du Gard was praised for his The Thibaults, but the committee decided to wait for its other volumes; Valéry was dismissed for being too obscure, Wells for not having produced anything significant in recent years and Chesterton because of "The high value of much of his preaching and the almost unparalleled critical acumen he possesses have been offset by a heavy burden of feverishly nervous, hasty, and distorted judgments and views."

Committee member Hjalmar Hammarskjöld did not agree with the Nobel committee's conclusion that none of the candidates met the criteria for being awarded the prize and added a divergent opinion: "Since I have not been able to agree to the committee's request, I need not plead any other reason than that the committee in any event seems to me to have set far too strict requirements for competence for the Nobel Prize, requirements so strict that they could not be implemented during the past period, and that their maintenance in the future would certainly make the awarding of the Nobel Prize a rare occurrence." Hammarskjöld proposed that the Nobel Prize in Literature for 1935 should be awarded to Miguel de Unamuno, with Jarl Hemmer as his second proposal.

On 14 November 1935 the Swedish Academy decided that the Nobel Prize in Literature for 1935 should be reserved to the following year.

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