The
Nobel Prize in Literature 1901
Rene Francois Armand Prudhomme (1839-1907) was the son of a French shopkeeper. He wanted to become an engineer, but an eye disease terminated his training at a polytechnic institute. He studied literature, and after a brief and unsuccessful interlude in industry, he took up law, though without much conviction, and worked in a solicitor's office. Sully Prudhomme was a member of the «Conference La Bruyère», a distinguished student society, and the favourable reception that his fellow members gave to his juvenilia encouraged him to go on writing poetry. His first volume, Stances et Poèmes (1865) [Stanzas and Poems], was well reviewed by Sainte-Beuve and established his reputation. Sully Prudhomme combined a Parnassian regard for formal perfection and elegance with philosophic and scientific interests, which are revealed, for instance, in his translation of the first book of Lucretius' De Rerum Natura (1878-79). Some of his other poetic works are: Croquis Italiens (1866-68) [Italian Notebook]; Solitudes (1869); Impressions de la guerre (1870) [Impressions of War]; Les Destins (1872) [Destinies]; La Révolte des fleurs (1872) [Revolt of the Flowers ]; La France (1874); Les Vaines Tendresses (1875) [Vain Endearments]; La Justice (1878); and Le Bonheur (1888) [Happiness]. Les Epaves (1908) [Flotsam], published posthumously, was a collection of miscellaneous poems. A collected edition of his writings in five volumes appeared in 1900-01. He also wrote essays and a book on Pascal, La Vraie Religion selon Pascal (1905) [Pascal on true Religion]. Sully Prudhomme was a member of the French Academy from 1881 until his deah in 1907.
From Nobel Lectures, Literature 1901-1967, Editor Horst Frenz, Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1969
This autobiography/biography was written at the time of the award and later published in the book series Les Prix Nobel/Nobel Lectures. The information is sometimes updated with an addendum submitted by the Laureate. To cite this document, always state the source as shown above.
Sully Prudhomme died on September 7, 1907.
The
Nobel Prize in Literature 1901Presentation Speech by C.D. af Wirsén, Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy, on December 10, 1901
When Alfred Nobel decided to make the great
donation which has justly received much attention, his entire life's work led
him to favour the study of nature and to reward discoveries in some of the sciences
concerned with it. Likewise, his cosmopolitan aspirations made him an advocate
of peace and of the brotherhood of nations. In his will he also included literature,
although he placed it after the sciences, to which he felt most drawn.
Literature is grateful to him that its practitioners have also been the object
of his solicitude; one could argue that it comes last in the group of Swedish
prizes for the very sound reason that the supreme flower of civilization, perhaps
most beautiful yet also most delicate, will now bloom on the firm ground of reality.
In any event, the laureates receive in these floral tributes of modern
times a recompense surpassing in material value the golden violets of a past era.
The award of the Nobel Prize in Literature poses its own problems. «Literature»
is a very inclusive term and the statutes of the Nobel Foundation rightly specify
that the competition must include not only belles-lettres but also works which,
by their form as well as by their exposition, have literary value. But thereby
the field is expanded and the difficulties are compounded. If it is difficult
to decide - supposing that the merits of the proposed authors otherwise are approximately
equal - whether the Prize should be granted to a lyric, an epic, or a dramatic
poet, the task is complicated even more if it becomes a matter of choosing among
an eminent historian, a great philosopher, and a poet of genius. The dimensions
become, as the mathematicians say, incommensurable. But one may be consoled with
the thought that, since the Prize is an annual one, more than one writer of merit
who has to yield his place to another equally great, may be able to receive some
other year the award he deserves.
Numerous and excellent recommendations
for the literary Prize have reached the Swedish Academy. It has submitted them
to the most scrupulous examination and in its choice among different names of
universal reputation and almost equal literary importance, it has decided on one
which it believed should have priority this time from several points of view.
It has awarded the first Nobel Prize in Literature to the poet and philosopher
Sully Prudhomme of the French Academy.
Sully Prudhomme was born March
16, 1839, and in 1865 emerged as an accomplished poet in his Stances et Poèmes
[Stanzas and Poems]. This volume was followed by several others of verse, philosophy,
and aesthetics. If the imagination of other poets is primarily turned outward
and reflects the life and the world surrounding us, Sully Prudhomme has an introvert
nature as sensitive as it is delicate. His poetry is rarely concerned with images
and exterior situations as such, but principally with the extent to which they
can serve as a mirror of poetic contemplation. The love of the spiritual, his
doubts, his sorrows, which nothing earthly can dissipate, are the usual subjects
of his work which, in its finished form and sculptural beauty, suffers no useless
word. His poetry appears in exuberant colours and only rarely takes on the character
of melodious music; but it is all the more plastic in the creation of forms suited
to expressing feelings and ideas. Noble, profoundly pensive, and turned toward
sadness, his soul reveals itself in this poetry, tender yet not sentimental -
a sorrowful analysis which inspires a melancholy sympathy in the reader.
Through the charm of his exquisite diction and through his consummate art,
Sully Prudhomme is one of the major poets of our time, and some of his poems are
pearls of imperishable value. The Swedish Academy has been less attracted by his
didactic or abstract poems than by his smaller lyric compositions, which are full
of feeling and contemplation, and which charm by their nobility and dignity and
by the extremely rare union of delicate reflection and rich sentiment.
In conclusion, it is necessary to emphasize one characteristic. Sully Prudhomme's
work reveals an inquiring and observing mind which finds no rest in what passes
and which, as it seems impossible to him to know more, finds evidence of man's
supernatural destiny in the moral realm, in the voice of conscience, and in the
lofty and undeniable prescriptions of duty. From this point of view, Sully Prudhomme
represents better than most writers what the testator called «an idealistic
tendency» in literature. Thus the Academy believed it was acting in the
spirit of Nobel's will when, for the first time it awarded the Prize, it gave
its approval, among so many illustrious men of letters, to Sully Prudhomme.
As the laureate has agreed to accept this distinction but is unfortunately
prevented by illness from being in our midst today, I have the honour to ask the
Minister of France to receive the Prize and to present it to him in the name of
the Swedish Academy.
At the banquet, C.D. af Wirsén addressed himself to the Minister of France and asked him to convey the homage intended for the French poet who has combined, to such a notable degree, the best qualities of the heart and the mind. Also, he asked the Minister to present to the French Academy greetings from her younger Swedish sister, who was proud to be able to send from the country of Tegnér and Geijer testimony of esteem to the country which had witnessed the births of Racine, Corneille, and Victor Hugo. The Minister of France, Mr. Marchand, answered in a lively and spirited speech.
From Nobel Lectures, Literature 1901-1967, Editor Horst Frenz, Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1969
|
|
| free web hits counter |
This is my BrainyGoose:
United States, IL, Chicago, English, Italian, Genry, Male, 21-25, bodybulding, swiming.