1906 Nobel Prize in Literature

1906 Nobel Prize in Literature
Giosuè Carducci
"not only in consideration of his deep learning and critical research, but above all as a tribute to the creative energy, freshness of style, and lyrical force which characterize his poetic masterpieces."
Date	4 October 1906 (announcement) 10 December 1906 (ceremony)
Location	Stockholm, Sweden
Country
Presented by	Swedish Academy
First awarded	1901
Official website	Official website

The 1906 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the Italian poet Giosuè Carducci (1835–1907) "not only in consideration of his deep learning and critical research, but above all as a tribute to the creative energy, freshness of style, and lyrical force which characterize his poetic masterpieces." He was the first Italian author to receive the prize and was followed by Grazia Deledda in 1926.

Laureate

Main article: Giosuè Carducci

Carducci started composing poetry while he was young, influenced by both the poets of his own time and those he had studied in the ancient and Italian periods. Rime ("Rhymes", 1857) was his debut book of poetry. In his active life he became an atheist, and the provocative poem Inno a Satana ("Hymn to Satan", 1865) is where he best displays his criticism of Christianity. Carducci confessed his sins and was reconciled to the Catholic Church in 1895. His other well-known poetry collections include Primavere elleniche ("Hellenic Springs", 1872), Odi barbare ("Barbarian Odes", 1877), and Giambi ed Epodi ("Giambi and Epodi", 1882).

Deliberations

Nominations

Carducci was nominated on 9 occasions starting in 1902 by Antonio Fogazzaro, an Italian Senator and author. In 1906, he received four nominations from academics and writers which eventually led him to becoming the year's recipient.

The Nobel Committee of the Swedish Academy received 54 nominations for 24 writers among them Leo Tolstoy, Algernon Charles Swinburne, Selma Lagerlöf (awarded in 1909), Jaroslav Vrchlický, Georg Brandes, and Antonio Fogazzaro. Eleven of the nominees were nominated first-time such as Pedro Pablo Figueroa, Gaston Boissier, Louis Franck, George Lansing Raymond, Borden Parker Bowne, Angelo de Gubernatis, and William Booth. Selma Lagerlöf was the only female nominee recorded.

The authors Émile Boutmy, Eliza Brightwen, Ferdinand Brunetière, Ellen Mary Clerke, Anne Ross Cousin, José María de Pereda, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Max Eyth, Giuseppe Giacosa, Alexander Kielland, Jean Lorrain, Agnes Catherine Maitland, Bartolomé Mitre, Vasile Pogor, Charlotte Riddell, Hendrik Jan Schimmel, Elizabeth Missing Sewell, Eduard von Hartmann, and Adeline Dutton Whitney died in 1906 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	Max Bewer (1861–1921)	Germany	poetry, songwriting, essays	Max Stoye (?) Henry Thode (1857–1920) Friedrich Kluge (1856–1926)
2	Gaston Boissier (1823–1908)	France	history, essays, translation	Jacobus Johannes Hartman (1851–1924)
3	William Booth (1829–1912)	Great Britain	theology, essays, songwriting	Otto Classen (1868–1939)
4	Borden Parker Bowne (1847–1910)	United States	philosophy, theology, essays	Albert Knudson (1873–1953) Henry MacCracken (1840–1918) William Henry Crawford (1855–1944) Caroline Borden (?)
5	Georg Brandes (1842–1927)	Denmark	literary criticism, essays	Troels Frederik Lund (1840–1921)
6	Giosuè Carducci (1835–1907)	Italy	poetry, literary criticism, biography, essays	Rodolfo Renier (1857–1915) Johan Vising (1855–1942) Carl Bildt (1850–1931) Ugo Balzani (1847–1916)
7	Houston Stewart Chamberlain (1855–1927)	Great Britain Germany	philosophy	Leopold von Schroeder (1851–1920)
8	Angelo de Gubernatis (1840–1913)	Italy	drama, essays, philology, poetry	Francesco Lorenzo Pullè (1850–1934) Angelo Valdarnini (1847–1930) Paolo Boselli (1838–1932) Gaspare Finali (1829–1914) Tancredi Canonico (1828–1908)
9	Pedro Pablo Figueroa (1857–1909)	Chile	history, biography, essays	Leonardo Eliz y Las Rosas (1861–1939)
10	Antonio Fogazzaro (1842–1911)	Italy	novel, poetry, short story	Carl Bildt (1850–1931)
11	Louis Franck (1868–1937)	Belgium	law	Ernest Nys (1851–1920)
12	Gerhart Hauptmann (1862–1946)	Germany	drama, novel	35 German and Austrian professors and members of societies
13	Max Haushofer (1840–1907)	Germany	poetry, drama, short story, essays	Emil Milan (1859–1917)
14	Selma Lagerlöf (1858–1940)	Sweden	novel, short story	Fredrik Wulff (1845–1930) Adolf Noreen (1854–1925) Anton Christian Bang (1840–1913)
15	George Meredith (1828–1909)	Great Britain	novel, poetry	John Collier (1850–1934)
16	John Morley (1838–1923)	Great Britain	biography, literary criticism, essays	John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury (1858–1929)
17	Lewis Morris (1833–1907)	Great Britain	poetry, songwriting, essays	Herbert Warren (1853–1930) John Rhys (1840–1915) Francis St. John Thackeray (1832–1919) Thomas Francis Roberts (1860–1919) William Jackson (1838–1931)
18	William Jonathan Neidig (1870–1955)	United States	poetry, short story, essays	Henry Burrowes Lathrop (1867–1936)
19	George Lansing Raymond (1839–1929)	United States	essays, philosophy	Charles Needham (1848–1935) William Allen Wilbur (1864–1945) Mitchell Carroll (1870–1925) Hermann Schoenfeld (1861–1926) Charles Clinton Swisher (1856–1940 )
20	Albert Sorel (1842–1906)	France	history, essays	René Bazin (1853–1932) Gabriel Hanotaux (1853–1944) Frédéric Masson (1847–1923)
21	Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909)	Great Britain	poetry, drama, literary criticism, novel	35 members of the Society of Authors
22	Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910)	Russia	novel, short story, drama, poetry	Ludovic Halévy (1837–1908)
23	Jaroslav Vrchlický (1853–1912)	Austria-Hungary (Czechoslovakia)	poetry, drama, translation	Bohuslav Raýman (1852–1910) Josef Hlávka (1831–1908) Arnošt Kraus (1859–1943)
24	Joseph Viktor Widmann (1842–1911)	Switzerland	novel, short story, drama, literary criticism	Otto Benndorf (1838–1907) Theodor Gomperz (1832–1912) Wilhelm von Hartel (1839–1907) Jakob Minor (1855–1912) Erich Schmidt (1853–1913)

Prize decision

For 1906, the committee's shortlist only consisted of Leo Tolstoy and Giosuè Carducci. During the deliberations, the chair of the committee Carl David af Wirsén had ordered for the copy of Tolstoy's recent works for assessment, but Tolstoy wrote a letter to one of the friends of the Nobel Committee member stating his lack of interest in the Nobel Prize. With that decision, the Swedish Academy voted unanimously for Carducci, a rare occasion by the Academy. The decision to award Carducci is considered one of the least controversial in the history of the Nobel Prize in Literature. He was the first and remain one of the few laureates who got all of the delivered votes from the members of the Swedish Academy.

Award ceremony

Due to Carducci's declining health, he was not able to receive the prize personally in Stockholm. Instead, the Swedish ambassador in Italy received it on his behalf.

External links

• Award ceremony speech by C.D. af Wirsén nobelprize.org