1912 Nobel Prize in Literature

1912 Nobel Prize in Literature
Gerhart Hauptmann
"primarily in recognition of his fruitful, varied and outstanding production in the realm of dramatic art."
Date	10 October 1912 (announcement) 10 December 1912 (ceremony)
Location	Stockholm,Sweden
Presented by	Swedish Academy
First awarded	1901
Website	Official website

The1912 Nobel Prize in Literaturewas awarded to the German dramatist and novelistGerhart Hauptmann(1862–1949) "primarily in recognition of his fruitful, varied and outstanding production in the realm of dramatic art."He is the fourth German author to become a recipient of the prize afterPaul Heysein1910.

Laureate

Main article:Gerhart Hauptmann

Gerhart Hauptmann achieved prominence as one of the pioneers ofGerman Naturalism.Naturalism emphasizes observation and determinism as key concepts.Vor Sonnenaufgang( "Before Sunrise" ), a drama he wrote in 1889, launched his career and received critical acclaim at the same time and was followed by other successful plays such asDie Weber( "The Weaver", 1892),Hanneles Himmelfahrt( "The Assumption of Hannele", 1893), andDie versunkene Glocke( "The Sunken Bell", 1896). Hauptmann was inspired by the discussion and quickly produced a series of works with realistic themes. He releasedDer Narr in Christo Emanuel Quint( "The Fool in Christ, Emanuel Quint)", his debut book, in 1910.

An 1897 poster for the playDie Weber.

Deliberations

Nominations

Gerhart Huaptmann was nominated in 5 occasions (three in1902and one nomination in1906). His nomination in 1912 was madeErich Schmidt(1853–1913), historian of literature and member of theRoyal Prussian Academy of Sciences,which eventually led him to being awarded the prize.

In total, the Nobel Committee of the Swedish Academy received 40 nominations for 30 writers. The highest nominations was for Spanish novelistBenito Pérez Galdóswith five nominations. Among the repeated nominees includeHenry James,Thomas Hardy,George Bernard Shaw(awarded in1925),William Chapman,Verner von Heidenstam(awarded in1916), andJuhani Aho.Ten of the nominees were nominated first-time, among themHenri Bergson(awarded in1927),Pencho Slaveykov,Sven Hedin,Carl Spitteler(awarded in1919),Jean-Henri Fabre,Salvatore Farina,Benito Pérez Galdós,Adolf Frey,andJames George Frazer.No female authors were nominated that year.

The authorsHerman Bang,Robert Barr,Berta Behrens,Alexandre Bisson,Edward Wilmot Blyden,Felix Dahn,Louis de Gramont,Léon Dierx,Horace Howard Furness,Joseph Furphy,Jacques Futrelle,Girish Chandra Ghosh,Theodor Gomperz,George Grossmith,Bertha Jane Grundy,Mir Mosharraf Hossain,Alphonse Lemerre,Lie Kim Hok,Karl May,Gabriel Monod,Giovanni Pascoli,Rafael Pombo,Bolesław Prus,Addison Peale Russell,Bram Stoker,Aleksey Suvorin,andVictoria, Lady Welbydied in 1912 without having been nominated for the prize. The Bulgarian poetPencho Slaveykovdied months before the announcement.

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	Johan Wilhelm Ruuth (1854–1928)
2	Rafael Altamira Crevea(1866–1951)	Spain	history, pedagogy, law, essays	Fermín Canella Secades (1849–1924)
3	Henri Bergson(1859–1941)	France	philosophy	Andrew Lang(1844–1912)
4	William Chapman(1850–1917)	Canada	poetry, translation	Adrien-Bruno Roy, O.M.I. (?)
5	Francesco D'Ovidio(1849–1925)	Italy	philology, literary criticism	Ernesto Monaci (1844–1918)
6	Jean-Henri Fabre(1823–1915)	France	short story, essays, poetry	Maurice Maeterlinck(1862–1949) Frédéric Mistral(1830–1914) Jean Richepin(1849–1926)
7	Salvatore Farina(1846–1918)	Italy	novel, short story	3 members of theIstituto Lombardo Accademia di Scienze e Lettere
8	Anatole France(1844–1924)	France	poetry, essays, drama, novel, literary criticism	Paul Hervieu(1857–1915)
9	James George Frazer(1854–1941)	Great Britain	history, essays, translation	George Augustin Macmillan (1855–1936)
10	Adolf Frey(1855–1920)	Switzerland	biography, history, essays	Wilhelm Oechsli(1851–1919)
11	Karl Adolph Gjellerup(1857–1919)	Denmark	poetry, drama, novel	5 members of theRoyal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters
12	Ángel Guimerá Jorge(1845–1924)	Spain	drama, poetry	6 members of theInstitute of Catalan Studies 13 members of theReial Acadèmia de Bones Lletres de Barcelona
13	Thomas Hardy(1840–1928)	Great Britain	novel, short story, poetry	70 members of theRoyal Society of Literature
14	Gerhart Hauptmann(1862–1946)	Germany	drama, novel	Erich Schmidt(1853–1913)
15	Sven Hedin(1865–1952)	Sweden	essays, autobiography, history	Fredrik Wulff(1845–1930)
16	Harald Høffding(1843–1931)	Denmark	philosophy, theology	12 members of theRoyal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters
17	Henry James(1843–1916)	United States Great Britain	novel, short story, drama, essays	Barrett Wendell(1855–1921) 2 members of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Letters
18	Hans Ernst Kinck(1865–1926)	Norway	philology, novel, short story, drama, essays	Gerhard Gran(1856–1925)
19	Ernest Lavisse(1842–1922)	France	history	Hans Hildebrand(1842–1913)
20	Pierre Loti(1850–1923)	France	novel, short story, autobiography, essays	René Bazin(1853–1932) Charles de Freycinet(1828–1923) Gabriel Hanotaux(1853–1944) Paul Thureau-Dangin(1837–1913)
21	Benito Pérez Galdós(1843–1920)	Spain	novel, short story, drama, essays	more than 700 members of various literary societies in Spain Jacinto Octavio Picón (1852–1923) José Echegaray Eizaguirre(1832–1916) Eugenio Sellés Ángel(1842–1926) José Rodríguez Carracido (1856–1928)
22	Salvador Rueda Santos (1857–1933)	Spain	poetry, essays	10 professors of the Cardenal Cisneros Institute
23	Karl Schönherr(1867–1943)	Austria-Hungary	drama, short story, poetry	Karl Johan Warburg (1852–1918)
24	George Bernard Shaw(1856–1950)	Great Britain and Ireland	drama, essays, novel	Kristian Birch-Reichenwald Aars(1868–1917)
25	Pencho Slaveykov(1866–1912)	Bulgaria	poetry, essays	Alfred Jensen(1859–1921)
26	Georgios Souris (1853–1919)	Greece	poetry, songwriting	Georgios Hatzidakis(1848–1941)
27	Carl Spitteler(1845–1924)	Switzerland	poetry, essays	professors inBernandZürich Wilhelm Oechsli(1851–1919)
28	Émile Verhaeren(1855–1916)	Belgium	poetry, essays	2 professors of theFree University of Brussels
29	Ernst von der Recke (1848–1933)	Denmark	poetry, drama	Thor Lange(1851–1915) Ewert Wrangel (1863–1940)
30	Verner von Heidenstam(1859–1940)	Sweden	novel, short story, poetry	Fredrik Wulff(1845–1930)

Prize decision

In 1911 and 1912, the committee's shortlists includedHenry James,Maurice Maeterlinck,George Bernard ShawandGerhart Hauptmann.During the deliberations, James was commended for his "fine style and conversational and situation novels" but was dismissed due to the "lack of concentration, and his recent workThe Wings of the Dovewas too improbable and odious in subject ";Maeterlinck was praised as "a poet of admirable power and versatility... surprisingly great" and that "his choice will be like in most quarters, because this poet enjoys a world reputation and his writings are widely read and accepted";Shaw was seen with "works lacking the ideal direction";and Hauptmann was praised as being one of the finest naturalists in Europe with hisThe Weaversplaying a vital role for his Nobel triumph.Hence for 1911 and 1912, Maeterlinck and Hauptmann were selected respectively.

External links

• Award ceremony speech by Hans Hildebrandnobelprize.org
• 1912 Banquet speechnobelprize.org