# 1930 Nobel Prize in Literature

The 1930 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to American novelist Sinclair Lewis (1885–1951) "for his vigorous and graphic art of description and his ability to create, with wit and humour, new types of characters." He is the first American Nobel laureate in literature.

## Laureate

Sinclair Lewis was a prolific author having written 24 novels, more than 70 short stories, several plays and poetry collections. He is well known for the satirical novels Main Street (1920), Babbitt (1922), Dodsworth (1929), and It Can't Happen Here (1935) – all of which critical acknowledgments of American capitalism and materialism in the interwar period. His 1920 novel became a commercial success but did not win a Pulitzer Prize, which disappointed Lewis much that he declined the Pulitzer Prize when it was awarded to his novel Arrowsmith in 1925.

## Deliberations
### Nominations

Lewis had not been nominated before for the prize, making him one of the laureates who won on a rare occasion when they have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature the same year they were first nominated. He received only one nomination from Swedish Academy member Henrik Schück (1855–1947).
In total, the Swedish Academy's Nobel Committee received 47 nominations for 30 writers. Thirteen of the authors were first-time nominated among them Theodore Dreiser, Edgar Lee Masters, Frans Eemil Sillanpää (awarded in 1939), Arvid Järnefelt, Paul Valéry, Lion Feuchtwanger, Rudolf Kassner, and Clotilde Crespo de Arvelo. The highest number of nomination was for the French poet and essayist Paul Valéry with six nominations. There were three female nominees: Concha Espina de la Serna, Clotilde Crespo de Arvelo and Edith Wharton.
The authors Arthur St John Adcock, Vladimir Arsenyev, Florence Bell, Edward Bok, Alice Williams Brotherton, Mary Whiton Calkins, Herbert Croly, Georges de Porto-Riche, Arthur Conan Doyle, Florbela Espanca, Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman, Thomas Nicoll Hepburn, Pavlos Karolidis, D. H. Lawrence, William John Locke, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Olena Pchilka, Maria Polydouri, Marion Manville Pope, George Haven Putnam, Karam Singh, Arthur Way, Lucien Wolf, Joseph Wright, and Manuel Zeno Gandía died in 1930 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 | Rudolf Hans Bartsch (1873–1952) | Austria | novel, short story, essays, drama | Alfons Dopsch (1868–1953)Alfred Francis Pribram (1859–1942) |
| 2 | Rufino Blanco Fombona (1874–1844) | Venezuela | essays, literary criticism | José Francos Rodríguez (1862–1931) |
| 3 | Georg Bonne (1859–1945) | Germany | essays | Prince Maximilian of Saxony (1870–1951) |
| 4 | Ivan Bunin (1870–1953) | Soviet Union | short story, novel, poetry | Sigurd Agrell (1881–1937) |
| 5 | Clotilde Crespo de Arvelo (1887–1959) | Venezuela | novel, poetry, essays | Manuel María Villalobos (1858–1929) |
| 6 | Theodore Dreiser (1871–1945) | United States | novel, drama, poetry, essays | Anders Österling (1884–1981) |
| 7 | Hans Driesch (1867–1941) | Germany | philosophy | Arnošt Kraus (1859–1943)Fritz Kern (1884–1950)Walter Goetz (1867–1958)Kurt Breysig (1866–1940) |
| 8 | Olav Duun (1876–1939) | Norway | novel, short story | Halvdan Koht (1873–1965) |
| 9 | Paul Ernst (1866–1933) | Germany | novel, short story, drama, essays | Robert Faesi (1883–1972)Edmund Stengel (1845–1935)Gustav Neckel (1878–1940) |
| 10 | Concha Espina de la Serna (1869–1955) | Spain | novel, short story | Gabriel Boussagol (1882–1970)Fredrik Wulff (1845–1930) |
| 11 | Édouard Estaunié (1862–1942) | France | novel, literary criticism | Erik Staaff (1867–1936) |
| 12 | Lion Feuchtwanger (1884–1958) | Germany | novel, drama | Ulrik Anton Motzfeldt (1871–1942) |
| 13 | Bertel Gripenberg (1878–1947) | Finland Sweden | poetry, drama, essays | Johannes Sundwall (1877–1966) |
| 14 | Yrjö Hirn (1870–1952) | Finland | essays, literary criticism | Olaf Homén (1879–1949) |
| 15 | Arvid Järnefelt (1861–1932) | Finland | law, essays, drama | Oiva Tuulio (1878–1941) |
| 16 | Alois Jirásek (1851–1930) | Czechoslovakia | novel, drama | Jan Novák (?)Josef Zubatý (1855–1931) |
| 17 | Rudolf Kassner (1873–1959) | Austria | philosophy, essays, translation | Friedrich Gundolf (1880–1931)Walther Brecht (1876–1950)Arnold Meyer (1861–1934) |
| 18 | Karl Kraus (1874–1936) | Austria | essays, drama, poetry | Charles Andler (1866–1933) |
| 19 | Manfred Kyber (1880–1933) | Germany | drama, short story, poetry, essays, literary criticism | Prince Maximilian of Saxony (1870–1951)Ludwig Quidde (1858–1941) |
| 20 | Sinclair Lewis (1885–1951) | United States | novel, short story, drama, poetry | Henrik Schück (1855–1947) |
| 21 | Edgar Lee Masters (1868–1950) | United States | poetry, biography, drama, novel, essays | Martin Lamm (1880–1950) |
| 22 | Dmitry Merezhkovsky (1865–1941) | Soviet Union | novel, essays, poetry, drama | Sigurd Agrell (1881–1937) |
| 23 | Kostis Palamas (1859–1943) | Greece | poetry, essays | Verner von Heidenstam (1859–1940)Simos Menardos (1872–1933) |
| 24 | Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869–1935) | United States | poetry, drama | Hjalmar Hammarskjöld (1862–1953) |
| 25 | Johann Rump (1871–1949) (pseud. Nathanael Jünger) | Germany | theology, essays | Fredrik Wulff (1845–1930) |
| 26 | Frans Eemil Sillanpää (1888–1964) | Finland | novel, short story, poetry | Werner Söderhjelm (1859–1931)Yrjö Hirn (1870–1952)Oiva Tuulio (1878–1941) |
| 27 | Paul Valéry (1871–1945) | France | poetry, philosophy, essays, drama | Maurice Paléologue (1859–1944)Jules Cambon (1845–1935)Henri Bergson (1859–1949)Raymond Poincaré (1860–1934)Gabriel Hanotaux (1853–1944)Gustave Cohen (1879–1958) |
| 28 | Ernst von der Recke (1848–1933) | Denmark | poetry, drama | Johannes Steenstrup (1844–1935)8 members of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters |
| 29 | Edith Wharton (1862–1937) | United States | novel, short story, poetry, essays | Tor Hedberg (1862–1931) |
| 30 | Anton Wildgans (1881–1932) | Austria | poetry, drama | Oswald Redlich (1858–1944) |

## Reactions

The choice of Sinclair Lewis received mixed reactions. The British and European press were, in general, favourable. But in the United States reactions among critics and commentators were largely negative, dismissing Lewis' writing artistically and politically.