1920 Nobel Prize in Literature

The 1920 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the Norwegian author Knut Hamsun (1859–1952) "for his monumental work, Growth of the Soil."The Nobel Prize in Literature 1920 nobelprize.org He was the second Norwegian Nobel laureate in literature after Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson won in 1903.

Laureate

The novel Sult ("Hunger", 1890), widely regarded as the first modern novel in Norwegian literature, marked Knut Hamsun's debut as a writer. In his writings, he basically highlights the simple life lived in harmony with nature and shows an aversion to civilization. He admired Germany, which made him sympathetic to the Nazi invasion of Norway in 1940. After the World War II, he was ordered to forfeit his possessions and placed under psychiatric monitoring for a period. He pioneered psychological literature with techniques of stream of consciousness and interior monologue influencing authors such as Kafka, Mann, Miller and Hesse. Among his famous oeuvres include Mysterier ("Mysteries", 1892), Pan (1894), and Victoria (1898), and published one poetry collection, Det vilde Kor ("The Wild Choir", 1904).Knut Hamsun – Facts nobelprize.org

Growth of the Soil

The Nobel Prize was given to Hamsun for his 1917 novel Markens Grøde ("Growth of the Soil"), which is regarded as an epic ode to labor and the interdependence of man and nature. The protagonists in the novel are portrayed as actual individuals, but Hamsun gives the settlers' attempts to develop the wilderness heroic aspects in the manner of the classical poet Hesiod. Employing stream of consciousness, the novel exemplified his aversion to modernity and inclination towards primitivism and the agrarian lifestyle.

Nobel medal aftermath In 1943, Hamsum met with propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels in Germany. When he came back to Norway that year, he sent his medal to Goebbels as a gesture of thanks for the meeting. Goebbels was honoured to receive it. As of 2025, the whereabouts of the medal are unknown.

Deliberations Nominations Hamsun only received 3 nominations in total for consecutive two years. He first received his nomination in 1918 from Norwegian art historian Harry Fett, but no award was that year due to the deliberations being disrupted by World War I. He then received two nominations in 1920 once again from Harry Fett and Academy member Erik Axel Karlfeldt.Nomination archive – Knut P Hamsun nobelprize.org

In total, the Nobel Committee earned 27 nominations for authors like Thomas Hardy, Grazia Deledda (awarded in 1926), Georg Brandes, John Galsworthy (awarded in 1932), Władysław Reymont (awarded in 1924), Ebenezer Howard and Juhani Aho. Only one author was newly recommended namely the American historian Wilbur Cortez Abbott and Italian writer Grazia Deledda was the only female nominee.Nomination archive – Literature 1920 nobelprize.org

The authors Paul Adam, Alice E. Bartlett, Alberto Blest Gana, Rhoda Broughton, Giovanni Capurro, Bithia Mary Croker, Richard Dehmel, Paul Ferrier, Mary Evelyn Hitchcock, Matthías Jochumsson, Amanda Kerfstedt, Haralamb Lecca, Alexandru Macedonski, Alexius Meinong, Julia A. Moore, Panas Myrny, Manuel Pérez y Curis, Eleanor H. Porter, Shloyme Zanvl Rappoport (known as S. Ansky), Adolphe-Basile Routhier, Olive Schreiner, Ömer Seyfettin, Helen Ekin Starrett, Maria Antonietta Torriani, Mary Augusta Ward, Max Weber and Wilhelm Wundt died in 1920 died without having been nominated for the prize.

Official list of nominees and their nominators for the prize No. Nominee Country Genre(s) Nominator(s)1Wilbur Cortez Abbott (1869–1947)historyDana Carleton Munro (1866–1933)2Juhani Aho (1861–1921) novel, short storyYrjö Hirn (1870–1952)3Georg Brandes (1842–1927) literary criticism, essays4Otokar Březina (1868–1929)poetry, essaysArne Novák (1880–1939)5Grazia Deledda (1871–1936) novel, short story, essaysCarl Bildt (1850–1931)6Adolf Frey (1855–1920) biography, history, essays Wilhelm Oechsli (1851–1919)7John Galsworthy (1867–1933) novel, drama, essays, short story, memoirHenrik Schück (1855–1947)8Arne Garborg (1851–1921) novel, poetry, drama, essays9Ángel Guimerá Jorge (1845–1924) drama, poetryReial Acadèmia de Bones Lletres de Barcelona10Knut Hamsun (1859–1952)novel, short story, drama, poetry, essays11Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) novel, short story, poetry, drama12Ebenezer Howard (1850–1928)essaysChristen Collin (1857–1926)13Alois Jirásek (1851–1930)novel, dramaCzech Academy of Sciences14Hans Ernst Kinck (1865–1926) philology, novel, short story, drama, essaysGerhard Gran (1856–1925)15Władysław Reymont (1867–1925)novel, short storyPer Hallström (1866–1960)16Carl Spitteler (1845–1924) poetry, essays

Prize decision The Nobel committee of the Swedish Academy had strong doubts to award Knut Hamsun. The committee did not find that Hamsun's often decadent and cynical work represented "what is most excellent in an ideal direction", as was outlined in Alfred Nobel's will. Following the publication of his 1917 novel Growth of the Soil and a nomination for Hamsun in 1920 the committee nevertheless found Hamsun worthy of the prize, but struggled to come to a decision. One dissenting member expressed the view that Hamsun lacked "the culture, the considered world-view and humanity" that ought to suit a worthy recipient of the prize. To suit the "ideal direction", the committee's solution was ultimately to award Hamsun for the single work Growth of the Soil, rather than for his entire oeuvre.

In their report to the Swedish Academy, four members of the Nobel committee proposed that the postponed prize for 1919 should be awarded to the Swiss poet Carl Spitteler and the prize for 1920 to Knut Hamsun in recognition of Growth of the Soil. The fifth committee member, Henrik Schück, oppososed both proposals and in a separate opinion instead proposed that the prize for 1919 should be awarded to Danish literature scholar Georg Brandes, and the prize for 1920 to the Italian Sardinian writer Grazia Deledda.

Other considered but rejected candidates for the prize in 1920 included Thomas Hardy, Arne Garborg, Wladislaw Reymont and John Galsworthy.Gustav Källstrand Andens Olympiska Spel: Nobelprisets historia, Fri Tanke 2021

On 11 November 1920, the Swedish Academy decided that the Nobel Prize for 1919 should be awarded to Carl Spitteler "in special appreciation of his epic, Olympian Spring", and the prize for 1920 to Knut Hamsun "for his monumental work, Growth of the Soil." Grazia Deledda was subsequently awarded the 1926 Nobel Prize in Literature, Wladislaw Reymont the 1925 Nobel Prize in Literature and John Galsworthy the 1932 Nobel Prize in Literature.

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References

External links 1920 Photo Gallery nobelprize.org