1916 Nobel Prize in Literature

1916 Nobel Prize in Literature
Verner von Heidenstam
"in recognition of his significance as the leading representative of a new era in our literature."
Date	9 November 1916 (announcement) 10 December 1916 (ceremony)
Location	Stockholm, Sweden
Presented by	Swedish Academy
First awarded	1901
Website	Official website
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The 1916 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the Swedish poet and prose writer Verner von Heidenstam (1859–1940) "in recognition of his significance as the leading representative of a new era in our literature."^[1] Heidenstam was the second Swedish Nobel laureate in Literature after Selma Lagerlöf in 1909.

Verner von Heidenstam was the leader of the generation of poets of the 1890s that regenerated Swedish poetry. His first collection of poems Vallfart och vandringsår ("Pilgrimage: The Wander Years", 1888), which contains predominantly Oriental themes, marked a new epoch in the modern literature of Sweden. A new form of poetry characterized by rich imagination and the worship of beauty in contrast to the gloomy realistic school which had been dominant in Swedish literature before. In major works such as Hans Alienus (1892) and especially in Dikter ("Poems", 1895) Heidenstam opens perspectives to an inner life.

He was later noted for patriotic poetry linked to Swedish history in works such as Ett folk ("One People", 1902) and the prose poems in Karolinerna ("The Charles Men", 1897-98). These were followed by major works such as the epic historical prose work Folkunga Trädet ("The Tree of the Folkungs", 1905-07) including Folke Filbyter and Bjälboarvet ("The Bjälbo Inheritance"). In 1915, the year before Heidenstam was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, another aspect of his writing appeared in Nya dikter ("New poems"), a collection of mainly philosophical poems.^[1]

Heidenstam received his first nomination in 1909 from a Swedish politician and academic, Carl Carlson Bonde. Since then, he was nominated in 11 occasions before eventually being awarded in 1916 with which he received six nominations.^[2]

In 1916, the Nobel committee received 47 nominations for 28 writers including Romain Rolland (who was awarded the postponed prize for 1915), Georg Brandes, Henry James, Benito Pérez Galdos and Anatole France (awarded in 1921), and for one literary society.^[3] 9 of the nominees were nominated first-time, among them Erik Axel Karlfeldt (awarded posthumously in 1931), Per Hallström, Ivan Franko and Gunnar Heiberg. The Pāli Text Society, a text publication society established in 1881, was nominated by its founder Thomas William Rhys Davids. Since 1916, it remains the first and last literary society nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.^[4] The controversial German author Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche was the only woman nominated. The Swedish Academy's permanent secretary Erik Axel Karlfeldt (awarded posthumously in 1931) was nominated by the Swedish bishop Nathan Söderblom.^[3]

The authors Sholom Aleichem, Rubén Darío, Richard Harding Davis, Mário de Sá-Carneiro, Jane Dieulafoy, Pierre Duhem, Carolina Freyre, Simon Frug, Olindo Guerrini, Petar Kočić, Jack London, João Simões Lopes Neto, Ernst Mach, Hector Hugh Munro (known as Saki), James Whitcomb Riley, Josiah Royce, Charles Taze Russell, Natsume Sōseki, Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky, John Todhunter, Petko Todorov, and Francis Warre-Cornish died in 1916 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	Juhani Aho (1861–1921)	Russia ( Finland)	novel, short story	Karl Alfred Melin (1849–1919)
2	Georg Brandes (1842–1927)	Denmark	literary criticism, essays	Vilhelm Andersen (1864–1953)
3	Otokar Březina (1868–1929)	Austria-Hungary ( Czechoslovakia)	poetry, essays	Arne Novák (1880–1939)
4	Rabindranath Datta (1883–1917)	India	poetry, pedagogy	Raya Yatindra Chondhury (?) Mano Gangedy (?)
5	Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche (1846–1935)	Germany	essays, autobiography	Hans Vaihinger (1852–1933) Harald Hjärne (1848–1922)
6	Anatole France (1844–1924)	France	poetry, essays, drama, novel, literary criticism	Henrik Schück (1855–1947) Anton Wilhelm Brøgger (1884–1951)
7	Ivan Franko (1856–1916)	Russia ( Ukraine)	poetry, novel, short story, drama, literary criticism, essays	Josef Zastyretz (1873–1943) Harald Hjärne (1848–1922)
8	Adolf Frey (1855–1920)	Switzerland	biography, history, essays	Wilhelm Oechsli (1851–1919)
9	Arne Garborg (1851–1921)	Norway	novel, poetry, drama, essays	Alexander Seippel (1851–1938) Oluf Kolsrud (1885–1945)
10	Karl Adolph Gjellerup (1857–1919)	Denmark	poetry, drama, novel	Claudius Wilkens (18844–1929) Harald Høffding (1843–1931)
11	Ángel Guimerá Jorge (1845–1924)	Spain	drama, poetry	Fredrik Wulff (1845–1930) members of the Real Academia Sevillana de Buenas Letras
12	Per Hallström (1866–1960)	Sweden	short story, drama, poetry	Karl Helm (1871–1960) Josef Collin (1864–1939) Conrad Borchling (1872–1946) Oskar Walzel (1864–1944) Andreas Heusler (1865–1940)
13	Gunnar Heiberg (1857–1929)	Norway	poetry, drama, literary criticism, essays	Jens Thiis (1870–1942)
14	Harald Høffding (1843–1931)	Denmark	philosophy, theology	Valdemar Vedel (1865–1942)
15	Henry James (1843–1916)	United States  Great Britain	novel, short story, drama, essays	Julio Nathaniel Reuter (1863–1937)
16	Erik Axel Karlfeldt (1864–1931)	Sweden	poetry	Nathan Söderblom (1866–1931)
17	Jakob Knudsen (1858–1917)	Denmark	novel, short story, pedagogy, theology	Valdemar Vedel (1865–1942)
18	Troels Frederik Lund (1840–1921)	Denmark	history	Frits Läffler (1847–1921)
19	Benito Pérez Galdós (1843–1920)	Spain	novel, short story, drama, essays	Harald Hjärne (1848–1922) Karl Alfred Melin (1849–1919)
20	Edmond Picard (1836–1924)	Belgium	drama, law, essays	3 members of the Royal Academy of Belgium
21	Henrik Pontoppidan (1857–1943)	Denmark	novel, short story	Otto Jespersen (1860–1943)
22	Romain Rolland (1866–1944)	France	novel, drama, essays	Fredrik Wulff (1845–1930) Erik Axel Karlfeldt (1864–1931) Henrik Schück (1855–1947)
23	Henrik Schück (1855–1947)	Sweden	literary criticism, essays	Rabbe Axel Wrede (1851–1938)
24	Carl Spitteler (1845–1924)	Switzerland	poetry, essays	Erik Axel Karlfeldt (1864–1931) Karl Alfred Melin (1849–1919) Wilhelm Oechsli (1851–1919)
25	Émile Verhaeren (1855–1916)	Belgium	poetry, essays	unnamed
26	Ernst von der Recke (1848–1933)	Denmark	poetry, drama	Karl Alfred Melin (1849–1919)
27	Adolf von Harnack (1851–1930)	Germany	history, theology	Karl Alfred Melin (1849–1919)
28	Verner von Heidenstam (1859–1940)	Sweden	novel, short story, poetry	Ruben G:son Berg (1876–1948) Fredrik Wulff (1845–1930) Jens Thiis (1870–1942) Bengt Hesselman (1875–1952) Gerhard Gran (1856–1925) Gerhart Hauptmann (1862–1946)
29	The Pāli Text Society (founded in 1881)	Great Britain	translation, history, publications	Thomas William Rhys Davids (1843–1922)

The committee's shortlist for 1916 consisted of Swedish poet Verner von Heidenstam, Danish historian Jakob Knudsen and Danish poet Karl Adolph Gjellerup. During the deliberations, the committee voted for a shared prize between the two Danish writers Knudsen and Gjellerup, but the Academy disagreed with the decision of the committee and instead awarded the prize, as a compromise choice, to Heidenstam.^{[5][page needed][6]}

The decision to award Heidenstam, himself a member of the awarding institution the Swedish Academy, as the second Swedish Nobel laureate in just seven years was criticized by some. Internationally it was generally well received.^[7] The decision to award Heidenstam has been seen as a result of the strong tendency of nationalism in Sweden at the time.^[8]