# 1961 Nobel Prize in Literature

The 1961 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the Yugoslav/Serbian writer Ivo Andrić (1892–1975) "for the epic force with which he has traced themes and depicted human destinies drawn from the history of his country." He is the first and only Serbian-speaking recipient of the literature prize.

## Laureate

Ivo Andrić began by writing poetry, and philosophers like Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Kafka and Goethe had an impact on his philosophical views. But his preferred literary form would be the historical epic. The fates of people are illuminated against a historical, cultural, and religious backdrop in Andrić's writings, such as his monumental novel Na Drini ćuprija ("The Bridge on the Drina", 1945). His stories show both immense love for individuals and brutality and violence. His writing is clear and full of information, and his stories are filled with insightful psychological observations. His other well-known literary oeuvres include Travnička hronika ("Travnika Chronicle", 1945) and Prokleta avlija ("The Damned Yard", 1954).

## Deliberations
### Nominations

Andrić earned ten nominations on four occasions. He was first nominated in 1958 by The Yugoslavian Author's Society. On 1961, he was recommended by four nominators from Elizabeth Hill, Lennart Breitholtz, Johannes Edfelt and the aforementioned society which led to his awarding.
In total, the Swedish Academy's Nobel Committee received 93 nominations for 56 authors such as Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, John Steinbeck (awarded in 1962), André Malraux, Graham Greene, Georges Simenon, Ramón Menéndez Pidal, Robert Frost and Rómulo Gallegos. Fifteen of the nominees were nominated for the first time, among them Yasunari Kawabata (awarded in 1968), Gaston Bachelard, Cora Sandel, Jean Anouilh, Simone de Beauvoir, J. R. R. Tolkien, Lawrence Durrell, W. H. Auden and Friedrich Dürrenmatt. There were five female nominees namely Giulia Scappino Murena, Gertrud von le Fort, Karen Blixen, Cora Sandel and Simone de Beauvoir.
The authors Jacques Stephen Alexis, Lucian Blaga, Joanna Cannan, Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Mazo de la Roche, Louis de Wohl, Hilda Doolittle, Frantz Fanon, Olga Forsh, Leonhard Frank, Simon Gantillon, Dashiell Hammett, Émile Henriot, George S. Kaufman, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Oliver Onions, Jessie Redmon Fauset, Mihail Sadoveanu, Peyami Safa, Frédéric-Louis Sauser (known as Blaise Cendrars), Clark Ashton Smith, Antanas Škėma, Dorothy Thompson and Maria Valtorta died in 1961 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 | Ivo Andrić (1892–1975) | Yugoslavia Serbia | novel, short story, poetry | Elizabeth Hill (1900–1996)Lennart Breitholtz (1909–1998)Johannes Edfelt (1904–1997)Association of Writers of Yugoslavia |
| 2 | Jean Anouilh (1910–1987) | France | drama, screenplay, translation | Harold Lawton (1899–2005)Francis James Carmody (1907–1982) |
| 3 | Wystan Hugh Auden (1907–1973) | United Kingdom United States | poetry, essays, screenplay | Ernest Ludwig Stahl (1902–1992) |
| 4 | Gaston Bachelard (1884–1962) | France | philosophy | Georges May (1920–2003) |
| 5 | Karen Blixen (1885–1962) | Denmark | novel, short story, memoir | Rolf Westman (1927–2017)Friedrich von der Leyen (1873–1966) |
| 6 | Maurice Bowra (1898–1971) | United Kingdom | history, essays, literary criticism, poetry | M. A. Oxon (?) |
| 7 | Heinrich Böll (1917–1985) | West Germany | novel, short story | Walter Höllerer (1922–2003)Fritz Martini (1909–1991)Hermann Weigand (1892–1985)Gustav Korlén (1915–2014) |
| 8 | Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986) | France | novel, drama, memoir, philosophy, essays, short story | Henri Peyre (1901–1988) |
| 9 | Michel de Ghelderode (1898–1962) | Belgium | drama, short story, essays | Eric Bentley (1916–2020) |
| 10 | Georges Duhamel (1884–1966) | France | novel, short story, poetry, drama, literary criticism | Frederick Charles Green (1891–1964) |
| 11 | Lawrence Durrell (1912–1990) | United Kingdom | novel, short story, poetry, drama, essays | Hjalmar Gullberg (1898–1961) |
| 12 | Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921–1990) | Switzerland | drama, novel, short story, essays | Joachim Müller (1906–1986)Friedrich Sengle (1909–1994) |
| 13 | Johan Falkberget (1879–1967) | Norway | novel, short story, essays | Johannes Andreasson Dale (1898–1975) |
| 14 | Edward Morgan Forster (1879–1970) | United Kingdom | novel, short story, drama, essays, biography, literary criticism | Simeon Potter (1898–1976)William David Williams (1900–1985)Walter Horace Bruford (1894–1988) |
| 15 | Robert Frost (1874–1963) | United States | poetry, drama | Several professorsWystan Hugh Auden (1907–1973)Carlos Baker (1909–1987)Moses Hadas (1900–1966)Donald M. Frame (1911–1991)Frederick Wilcox Dupee (1904–1979)Andrew Chiappe (1915–1967) Pearl S. Buck (1892–1973) |
| 16 | Rómulo Gallegos (1884–1969) | Venezuela | novel, short story | Several professorsRudolf Grossmann (1892–1980)Eugenio Florit (1903–1999)Angel del Rio (1900–1962)Academia Venezolana de la Lengua |
| 17 | Armand Godoy (1880–1964) | Cuba France | poetry, translation | Anna Hyatt Huntington (1876–1973) |
| 18 | Julien Gracq (1910–2007) | France | novel, poetry, drama, literary criticism | Eyvind Johnson (1900–1976) |
| 19 | Robert Graves (1895–1985) | United Kingdom | history, novel, poetry, literary criticism, essays | Henry Olsson (1896–1985) |
| 20 | Graham Greene (1904–1991) | United Kingdom | novel, short story, autobiography, essays | The English PEN-ClubRobert Niklaus (1910–2001)Kristian Smidt (1916–2013)Gabriel Turville-Petre (1908–1978) |
| 21 | Gunnar Gunnarsson (1889–1975) | Iceland | novel, short story, poetry | Stellan Arvidson (1902–1997) |
| 22 | Leslie Poles Hartley (1895–1972) | United Kingdom | novel, short story | August Closs (1898–1990)Geoffrey Tillotson (1905–1969) |
| 23 | Adriaan Roland Holst (1888–1976) | Netherlands | poetry | Jan de Vries (1890–1964)Jan Kamerbeek Jr. (1905–1977) |
| 24 | Taha Hussein (1889–1973) | Egypt | novel, short story, poetry, translation | Muhammad A. Khalafallah (1916–1997)Olle Hedberg (1899–1974)Henrik Samuel Nyberg (1889–1974) |
| 25 | Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) | United Kingdom | novel, short story, essays, poetry, screenplay, drama, philosophy | Jacques Barzun (1907–2012) |
| 26 | Pierre Jean Jouve (1887–1976) | France | poetry, novel, literary criticism | Francis James Carmody (1907–1982) |
| 27 | Ernst Jünger (1895–1998) | West Germany | philosophy, novel, memoir | August Closs (1898–1990) |
| 28 | Yasunari Kawabata (1899–1972) | Japan | novel, short story | Henry Olsson (1896–1985) |
| 29 | Miroslav Krleža (1893–1981) | Yugoslavia | poetry, drama, short story, novel, essays | Association of Writers of Yugoslavia |
| 30 | André Malraux (1901–1976) | France | novel, essays, literary criticism | Claude Digeon (1920–2008) |
| 31 | William Somerset Maugham (1874–1965) | United Kingdom | novel, short story, drama, essays | Karel van het Reve (1921–1999) |
| 32 | Ramón Menéndez Pidal (1869–1968) | Spain | philology, history | Walter Pabst (1907–1992)Jaap van Praag (1911–1981)Gunnar Tilander (1894–1973) |
| 33 | Eugenio Montale (1896–1981) | Italy | poetry, translation | Michele De Filippis (1891–1975) |
| 34 | Alberto Moravia (1907–1990) | Italy | novel, literary criticism, essays, drama | Anders Wedberg (1913–1978) |
| 35 | Pablo Neruda (1904–1973) | Chile | poetry | Francis James Carmody (1907–1982) |
| 36 | Junzaburō Nishiwaki (1894–1982) | Japan | poetry, literary criticism | The Japanese Authors' Union |
| 37 | Seán O'Casey (1880–1964) | Ireland | drama, memoir | Roy Pascal (1904–1980)Geoffrey Tillotson (1905–1969) |
| 38 | Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1888–1975) | India | philosophy, essays, law | Nirmal Kumar Sidhanta (1929–2014) |
| 39 | Cora Sandel (1880–1974) | Norway | novel, short story | Harald Ofstad (1920–1994) |
| 40 | Aksel Sandemose (1899–1965) | Denmark Norway | novel, essays | Eyvind Johnson (1900–1976) |
| 41 | Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980) | France | philosophy, novel, drama, essays, screenplay | Jacqueline de La Harpe (1894–1980)Kristian Smidt (1916–2013) |
| 42 | Giulia Scappino Murena (1902–1967) | Italy | poetry | Alfredo Galletti (1872–1962) |
| 43 | Giorgos Seferis (1900–1971) | Greece | poetry, memoir, essays | Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888–1965) |
| 44 | Mikhail Sholokhov (1905–1984) | Soviet Union | novel | Harry Martinson (1904–1978) |
| 45 | Ignazio Silone (1900–1978) | Italy | novel, short story, essays, drama | Elias Wessén (1889–1981) |
| 46 | Georges Simenon (1903–1989) | Belgium | novel, short story, memoir | Cornelis Soeteman (1912–2005)Justin O'Brien (1906–1968) |
| 47 | Charles Percy Snow (1905–1980) | United Kingdom | novel, essays | Friedrich Schubel (1904–1991)Robert Ralston Crawley (1893–1973)Norman Jeffares (1920–2005) |
| 48 | John Steinbeck (1902–1968) | United States | novel, short story, screenplay | Eugène Vinaver (1899–1979)The Danish PEN-Club |
| 49 | Jun'ichirō Tanizaki (1886–1965) | Japan | novel, short story | The Japanese Authors' Union |
| 50 | John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892–1973) | United Kingdom | novel, short story, poetry, philology, essays, literary criticism | Clive Staples Lewis (1898–1963) |
| 51 | Miguel Torga (1907–1995) | Portugal | poetry, short story, novel, drama, autobiography | Hernâni Antonio Cidade (1887–1975) |
| 52 | Tarjei Vesaas (1897–1970) | Norway | poetry, novel | Sigmund Skard (1903–1995)Johannes Andreasson Dale (1898–1975) |
| 53 | Simon Vestdijk (1898–1971) | Netherlands | novel, poetry, essays, translation | Jan Kamerbeek Jr. (1905–1977) |
| 54 | Gertrud von Le Fort (1876–1971) | West Germany | novel, short story, essays, poetry | Friedrich von der Leyen (1873–1966) |
| 55 | Arthur David Waley (1889–1966) | United Kingdom | translation, essays | Edwin G. Pulleyblank (1922–2013) |
| 56 | Edmund Wilson (1895–1972) | United States | essays, literary criticism, short story, drama | Serge Konovalov (1899–1982) |

## Prize decision

For the 1961 Nobel Prize in Literature, the Nobel committee of the Swedish Academy proposed Ivo Andric, Graham Greene and the Danish author Karen Blixen, with Andric receiving the majority of the votes. Anders Österling of the committee stated in the protocol that Graham Greene "appears as a fully worthy candidate", but neither Greene nor Blixen, who was also an annual contender at the time, was awarded the prize.

## Award ceremony speech

At the award ceremony in Stockholm on 10 December 1961, Anders Österling, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, said:
   Generally speaking, Andric combines modern psychological insight with the fatalism of the Arabian Nights. He feels a great tenderness for mankind, but he does not shrink from horror and violence, the most visible proof to him of the real presence of evil in the world. As a writer he possesses a whole network of original themes that belong only to him; he opens the chronicle of the world, so to speak, at an unknown page, and from the depth of the suffering souls of the Balkan slaves he appeals to our sensibility.(...)
   The study of history and philosophy has inevitably led him to ask what forces, in the blows and bitterness of antagonisms and conflicts, act to fashion a people and a nation. His own spiritual attitude is crucial in that respect. Considering these antagonisms with a deliberate and acquired serenity, he endeavours to see them all in the light of reason and with a profoundly human spirit. Herein lies, in the last analysis, the major theme of all his work; from the Balkans it brings to the entire world a stoic message, as our generation has experienced it.

## Prize money

Andric donated the entire amount of the prize money, 250 232 Swedish crowns, to a fund for building a library in Bosnia-Herzegovina.