# 1946 Nobel Prize in Literature

The 1946 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the German author Hermann Hesse "for his inspired writings which, while growing in boldness and penetration, exemplify the classical humanitarian ideals and high qualities of style".

## Laureate

Hermann Hesse was a novelist and a poet whose writings are influenced by the likes of Francis of Assisi, Buddha, Nietzsche and Dostoyevsky. His best known works – Demian (1919), Siddhartha (1922), Der Steppenwolf (1927), and Das Glasperlenspiel ("The Glass Bead Game", 1943) – deals with the individual's search for self-knowledge and spirituality, often through mysticism.

## Deliberations
### Nominations

Hermann Hesse was nominated for the prize eight times, first in 1931 by the 1929 Nobel Prize laureate Thomas Mann. In 1946 the Nobel committee received one nomination for Hesse by the Swiss literature professor and author Robert Faesi, and one nomination by Anders Österling of the Swedish Academy.
In total, the Nobel committee received 32 nominations for 22 writers including Nikolai Berdyaev, T. S. Eliot (awarded in 1948), E. M. Forster, H. G. Wells, Arnulf Øverland, Georges Duhamel, and Marie Under. Nine of the authors were first-time nominated namely André Gide (awarded in 1947), François Mauriac (awarded in 1952), Winston Churchill (awarded in 1953), Boris Pasternak (awarded in 1958), Sholem Asch, Tarjei Vesaas, Angelos Sikelianos and Ignazio Silone. The Swiss author Charles Ferdinand Ramuz was the most nominated with four nominations. Marie Under and Maria Madalena de Martel Patrício were the only women nominated.
The authors Marion Angus, Octave Aubry, Eduard Bass, John Langalibalele Dube, Ronald Fangen, Constance Garnett, Harley Granville-Barker, Amir Hamzah, Pedro Henríquez Ureña, Violet Jacob, Orrick Glenday Johns, Nikolai Alexandrovich Morozov, Ernest Rhys, Alfred Rosenberg, Damon Runyon, Thomas Scott-Ellis, Edward Sheldon, Mary Amelia St. Clair (known as May Sinclair), Gertrude Stein, Booth Tarkington and Ibn Zaydan died in 1946 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 | Sholem Asch (1880–1957) | Poland United States | novel, short story, drama, essays | Walter Arthur Berendsohn (1884–1984) |
| 2 | Nikolai Berdyaev (1874–1948) | Soviet Union ( Ukraine) | philosophy, theology | Alf Nyman (1884–1968) |
| 3 | Winston Churchill (1874–1965) | United Kingdom | history, essays, memoir | Axel Romdahl (1880–1951) |
| 4 | Maria Madalena de Martel Patrício (1884–1947) | Portugal | poetry, essays | António Baião (1878–1961) |
| 5 | Georges Duhamel (1884–1966) | France | novel, short story, poetry, drama, literary criticism | Hjalmar Hammarskjöld (1862–1953) |
| 6 | Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888–1965) | United States United Kingdom | poetry, essays, drama | Gustaf Hellström (1882–1953)Anders Österling (1884–1981) |
| 7 | Edward Morgan Forster (1879–1970) | United Kingdom | novel, short story, drama, essays, biography, literary criticism | Gustaf Hellström (1882–1953) |
| 8 | André Gide (1869–1951) | France | novel, short story, poetry, drama, memoir, essays | Giuseppe Antonio Borgese (1882–1952) |
| 9 | Herbert J. C. Grierson (1866–1960) | United Kingdom | essays, literary criticism | William James Entwistle (1895–1952) |
| 10 | Hermann Hesse (1877–1962) | Germany Switzerland | novel, poetry, essays, short story | Anders Österling (1884–1981)Robert Faesi (1883–1972) |
| 11 | Ricarda Huch (1864–1947) | Germany | history, essays, novel, poetry | Fritz Strich (1882–1963) |
| 12 | François Mauriac (1885–1970) | France | novel, short story | Sigfrid Siwertz (1882–1970)Henry Olsson (1896–1985) |
| 13 | Charles Langbridge Morgan (1894–1958) | United Kingdom | drama, novel, essays, poetry | Sigfrid Siwertz (1882–1970)Henning Söderhjelm (1888–1967) |
| 14 | Arvid Mörne (1876–1946) | Finland | poetry, drama, novel, essays | Rolf Pipping (1889–1963)Olaf Homén (1879–1949) |
| 15 | Arnulf Øverland (1889–1968) | Norway | poetry, essays | Andreas Hofgaard Winsnes (1889–1972)Francis Bull (1887–1974)Rolv Thesen (1896–1966) |
| 16 | Boris Pasternak (1890–1960) | Soviet Union | poetry, novel, translation | Maurice Bowra (1898–1971) |
| 17 | Charles Ferdinand Ramuz (1878–1947) | Switzerland | novel, poetry, short story | Hjalmar Hammarskjöld (1862–1953)Albert Béguin (1901–1957)Henri de Ziégler (1885–1970)Marcel Raymond (1897–1981) |
| 18 | Angelos Sikelianos (1884–1951) | Greece | poetry, drama | Anders Österling (1884–1981) |
| 19 | Ignazio Silone (1900–1978) | Italy | novel, short story, essays, drama | Hjalmar Gullberg (1898–1961) |
| 20 | Marie Under (1883–1980) | Soviet Union ( Estonia) | poetry | Hjalmar Hammarskjöld (1862–1953) |
| 21 | Tarjei Vesaas (1897–1970) | Norway | poetry, novel | Olav Midttun (1883–1972) |
| 22 | Herbert George Wells (1866–1946) | United Kingdom | novel, short story, essays, history, biography | Carl Adolf Bodelsen (1894–1978) |

## Award ceremony

At the award ceremony in Stockholm on 10 December 1946, Anders Österling, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, said:
   This year’s Nobel Prize in literature has been awarded to a writer of German origin who has had wide critical acclaim and who has created his work regardless of public favour. The sixty-nine-year-old Hermann Hesse can look back on a considerable achievement consisting of novels, short stories, and poems, partly available in Swedish translation. (...) at present Hesse, together with Mann, is the best representative of the German cultural heritage in contemporary literature. (...)
   Hesse’s award is more than the confirmation of his fame. It honours a poetic achievement which presents throughout the image of a good man in his struggle, following his calling with rare faithfulness, who in a tragic epoch succeeded in bearing the arms of true humanism.
Reasons of health prevented Hermann Hesse to travel to Stockholm for the award ceremony. In his stead, the prize was accepted by the envoy of the Swiss republic.