The Nobel Prize winners in literature

Description

"Tabby's travels" by Lucy Ellen Guernsey is a historical-literary study written in the early 20th century. The work examines the Nobel Prize in Literature by outlining Alfred Nobel’s life and will, explaining how the prizes are structured and awarded, and presenting biographical portraits and critical assessments of notable early laureates such as Sully-Prudhomme, Frédéric Mistral, Theodor Mommsen, Rudolf Eucken, Björnstjerne Björnson, and Giosuè Carducci. It blends accessible criticism with background context to guide readers through the ideals and international scope of the prize. The opening of the work sets the stage with a preface describing years of research and lectures, positioning the book as a concise roadmap accompanied by selective bibliographies and acknowledgments to many libraries, scholars, and publishers. It then narrates Alfred Nobel’s background, his invention of dynamite, his correspondence with Bertha von Suttner, and the ideals behind his will, followed by a clear summary of the prize statutes: categories, committees, nomination rules, non-national favoritism, the lecture expectation, and practical corrections to the “preceding year” clause; it also notes criticisms about retrospective awards and the prize’s broadening effect on world literature. Subsequent chapters profile the first laureates: Sully-Prudhomme as a philosophical lyric poet (La Justice, Le Bonheur) with commentary from figures like Anatole France; Mistral as the Provençal revivalist of Mireio and leader of the Félibrige, who shared the 1904 award; Mommsen as the vivid historian of Rome and exemplary scholar; and Eucken as an idealist philosopher whose Nobel lecture contrasts Naturalism and Idealism. It then treats Björnson’s peasant tales and social dramas, his patriotism, and his contrast with Ibsen, before beginning the chapter on Carducci. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Subjects

• Literature -- History and criticism
• Authors
• Nobel, Alfred Bernhard, 1833-1896
• Nobel Prizes
• Nobel Prize winners
• PN