The 1922 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the Spanish dramatist Jacinto Benavente (1866–1954) "for the happy manner in which he has continued the illustrious traditions of the Spanish drama".The Nobel Prize in Literature 1922 nobelprize.org
Laureate
Jacinto Benavente y Martinez is considered to be one of the foremost Spanish dramatists of the 20th century. He stood out as a dramatist in his day by letting aesthetics and dramatic effects take a backseat to a realistic depiction of reality beyond the theater. The majority of his plays are comedies in the sense that they have a pleasant conclusion, and he worked hard to depict reality realistically. In his plays, which were set in Madrid or the made-up little town of Moraleda, primarily upper-class environments were portrayed alongside various social groupings, frequently in a lighthearted and satirical manner. His other famous plays include El nido ajeno (1894), Los intereses creados (1907), La malquerida (1913), Lecciones de buen amor (1924), etc.
Nominations Jacinto Benavente was first nominated in 1921 by 21 members of the Royal Spanish Academy, and again the following year by the Nobel committee. In total, the committee received 30 nominations for 22 authors which included Georg Brandes, Grazia Deledda (awarded in 1926), John Galsworthy (awarded in 1932).Thomas Hardy, Arno Holz, Wladyslaw Reymont (awarded in 1924), W. B. Yeats (awarded in 1923), and Stefan Zeromski. Ten of the nominees were newly nominated such as Roberto Bracco, Paul Ernst, Darrell Figgis, William Inge, Michael Sadleir, Matilde Serao, Sigrid Undset (awarded in 1928), Ludwig von Pastor, Israel Zangwill. There were three female writers nominated: two from Italy (Grazia Deledda and Matilde Serao) and one from Norway (Sigrid Undset).
The authors Lyman Abbott, Lima Barreto, Clementina Black, Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, Gerard Bolland, Elizabeth Williams Champney, Erskine Childers, Alfred Espinas, Nellie Blessing Eyster, Géza Gárdonyi, Constance Jones, Velimir Khlebnikov, Henry Lawson, Alice Meynell, Renzo Novatore, Mori Ōgai, Marcel Proust, Gabriel Séailles, George Robert Sims, Georges Sorel, Giovanni Verga died in 1922 without having been nominated for the prize.
Official list of nominees and their nominators for the prize No. Nominee Country Genre(s) Nominator(s) 1 Jacinto Benavente (1866–1954) drama Nobel Committee 2 Roberto Bracco (1861–1943) drama, screenplay 3 Georg Brandes (1842–1927) literary criticism, essays 4 Grazia Deledda (1871–1936) novel, short story, essays Carl Bildt (1850–1931) 5 Paul Ernst (1866–1933) novel, short story, drama, essays Paul Natorp (1854–1924) 6 Darrell Figgis (1882–1925) poetry, novel, essays Thomas Rudmose-Brown (1878–1942) 7 John Galsworthy (1867–1933) novel, drama, essays, short story, memoir Nobel Committee 8 Bertel Gripenberg (1878–1947) poetry, drama, essays Nathan Söderblom (1866–1931) 9 Ángel Guimerá Jorge (1845–1924) drama, poetry Reial Acadèmia de Bones Lletres de Barcelona 10 Gunnar Gunnarsson (1889–1975) novel, short story, poetry Adolf Noreen (1854–1925) 11 Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) novel, short story, poetry, drama 12 Arno Holz (1863–1929) poetry, drama, essays 39 professors from Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Czechoslovakia 13 William Ralph Inge (1860–1954) theology, essays Nathan Söderblom (1866–1931) 14 Władysław Reymont (1867–1925) novel, short story Nobel Committee 15 Michael Sadleir (1888–1957) novel, essays Nobel Committee 16 Matilde Serao (1856–1927) novel, essays 17 Sigrid Undset (1882–1949) novel, memoir, essays Frederik Poulsen (1876–1950) 18 Georg von Below (1858–1927) history, essays Hermann Bächtold (1882–1934) 19 Ludwig von Pastor (1854–1928) history 20 William Butler Yeats (1865–1939) poetry, drama, essays Nobel Committee 21 Israel Zangwill (1864–1926) novel, drama, translation Adolf Noreen (1854–1925) 22 Stefan Żeromski (1864–1925) novel, drama, short story Nobel Committee
Prize decision The main contenders for the prize in 1922 were Benavente and the Irish poet William Butler Yeats. The Nobel committee considered them to be equally worthy of the prize, but noted that "we would not easily receive from southern Romance countries a proposal that is so likely to appeal to us upon thorough reflection, as is the case with this most prominent contemporary dramatic author of Spain. It is primarily with this in mind and the soon to be worrying gaps in the geographical distribution of the Nobel Prize that the committee, in the difficult choice between two poets as different and only comparable in literary value as Yeats and Benavente, has this year given preference to the latter." Yeats was awarded the prize the following year.
Other shortlisted candidates considered for the 1922 prize included Grazia Deledda (subsequently awarded the 1926 Nobel Prize in Literature), John Galsworthy (awarded in 1932), Thomas Hardy and Paul Ernst.
On 9 November 1922, the Swedish Academy decided that that year's Nobel Prize in Literature should be awarded to Jacinto Benavente "for the happy manner in which he has continued the illustrious traditions of the Spanish drama".
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