# 1901 Nobel Prize in Literature

The 1901 Nobel Prize in Literature was the first awarded Nobel Prize in Literature. It was awarded to the French poet Sully Prudhomme (1839–1907) "in special recognition of his poetic composition, which gives evidence of lofty idealism, artistic perfection and a rare combination of the qualities of both heart and intellect."

## Laureate

Sully Prudhomme belonged to a school of poets that wanted to write in a classic and formally elegant style. His poetry combined formal perfection with an interest in science and philosophy. According to the Swedish Academy, his elevated poetry fit in Alfred Nobel's formulation about works "in an ideal direction".

## Deliberations
### Nominations

Sully Prudhomme was nominated for the prize by 17 members of the Académie Française, of which Sully Prudhomme himself was a member. In total the Nobel committee received 37 nominations for 26 writers including Frédéric Mistral (five nominations) and Henryk Sienkiewicz (three nominations) who were subsequently both awarded the prize, and the only woman nominated, Malwida von Meysenburg. The first name on their list of candidates was Émile Zola, but the campaign from the Académie Française proved to be successful and the Swedish Academy chose to award Sully Prudhomme.
The notable authors R. D. Blackmore, Anne Beale, Victoire Léodile Béra, Stephen Crane, Ernest Dowson, José Maria de Eça de Queiroz, Carit Etlar, Naim Frashëri, Mary Kingsley, Max Müller, Friedrich Nietzsche, Sigbjørn Obstfelder, Pyotr Lavrov, John Ruskin, Henry Sidgwick, Charles Dudley Warner, Oscar Wilde, Vladimir Solovyov and Gheorghe Dem Teodorescu all died in 1900, making them ineligible for the 1901 nominations. The nominated French theologian Louis Sabatier died months before the announcement, and authors Leopoldo Alas, Víctor Balaguer i Cirera, Walter Besant, Ada Christen, Ramón de Campoamor, Luis Mariano de Larra, Kate Greenaway, Julien Leclercq, William Cosmo Monkhouse, Frederic W. H. Myers, Johanna Spyri, Grigore Sturdza, Maurice Thompson, Vasile Alexandrescu Urechia, Brooke Foss Westcott and Charlotte Mary Yonge died in 1901 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 | Alexander Baumgartner, S.J. (1841–1910) | Switzerland | poetry, history | Knud Karl Krogh-Tonning (1842–1911) |
| 2 | Charles Borgeaud (1861–1940) | Switzerland | history, law | Wilhelm Oechsli (1851–1919)Antoine Guilland (1861–1931)Paul Seippel (1858–1926) |
| 3 | João da Câmara (1852–1908) | Portugal | drama, essays | Joaquim José Coelho de Carvalho (1855–1934) |
| 4 | Louis Ducros (1846–1927) | France | literary criticism, history | Michel Clerc (1857–1931) |
| 5 | Paul Duproix (1851–1912) | France | pedagogy | Émile Redard (1848–1913) |
| 6 | Carl Gustaf Estlander (1834–1910) | Russia (Finland) | history, essay | Johan Gustaf Frosterus (1826–1901) |
| 7 | Antonio Fogazzaro (1842–1911) | Italy | novel, poetry, short story | Hans Forssell (1843–1901) |
| 8 | Julius Gersdorff (1849–1907) | Germany | poetry, songwriting | Carl Heinrich Döring (1834–1916) |
| 9 | Oscar le Pin (?) | Switzerland | drama | P. L. Bonnaviat (?) |
| 10 | Ossip Lourié (1868–1955) | France | history, philosophy, essays | Kristian Birch-Reichenwald Aars (1868–1917) |
| 11 | Ferenc Kemény (1860–1944) | Austria–Hungary ( Hungary) | essays | Imre Rudolf Pauer (1845–1930) |
| 12 | Frédéric Mistral (1830–1914) | France | poetry, philology | Julius Cornu (1849–1919)Lèon Clédat (1851–1930)Eduard Koschwitz (1851–1904)Jan Urban Jarník (1848–1923)Adolf Mussafia (1835–1905)Karl Vollmöller (1878–1948)Gottfried Baist (1853–1920)Karl Voretzsch (1867–1947)Heinrich Schneegans (1863–1914)Hermann Suchier (1848–1914)Fritz Neumann (1854–1934)Wilhelm Cloetta (1857–1911)Theodor Gartner (1843–1925)Albert Stimming (1846–1922)Hugo Schuchardt (1846–1927)Gustav Gröber (1844–1911)Léopold Eugène Constans (1845–1916)Paul Meyer (1840–1917)Carl Appel (?)André Dumas (?)A. Kissner (?)M. Friedwagner (?)E. Böhmer (?)E. Mérimée (?)E. Ritter (?) |
| 13 | Gaspar Núñez de Arce (1832–1903) | Spain | poetry, drama, law | Mariano Catalina Cobo (1842–1913) |
| 14 | Gaston Paris (1839–1903) | France | history, poetry, essays | Fredrik Wulff (1845–1930) |
| 15 | Sully Prudhomme (1839–1907) | France | poetry, essay | Per Geijer (1886–1976)Michel Bréal (1832–1915)Gustave Lanson (1857–1934)Henri de Bornier (1825–1901)Gaston Paris (1839–1903)Paul Bourget (1852–1935)Octave Gréard (1828–1904)André Theuriet (1833–1907)Gaston Boissier (1823–1908)Ludovic Halévy (1837–1908)Henry Houssaye (1848–1911)François Coppée (1842–1908)José-Maria de Heredia (1842–1905)Jules Lemaître (1853–1914)Charles de Freycinet (1828–1923)Paul Deschanel (1855–1922)Émile Ollivier (1825–1913)Charles Costa de Beauregard (1835–1909)Émile Faguet (1847–1916)Guillaume Apollinaire (1880–1918) |
| 16 | Charles Renouvier (1815–1903) | France | philosophy | Antoine Benoist (1846–1922) |
| 17 | Edmond Rostand (1868–1918) | France | poetry, drama | Gabriel Hanotaux (1853–1944)Paul Hervieu (1857–1915) |
| 18 | Auguste Sabatier (1839–1901) | France | history, essays, theology | Gabriel Monod (1844–1912) |
| 19 | Paul Sabatier (1858–1928) | France | history, theology, biography | Carl Bildt (1850–1931) |
| 20 | Henryk Sienkiewicz (1846–1916) | Russia ( Poland) | novel | Harald Hjärne (1848–1922)Hans Hildebrand (1842–1913)Stanisław Tarnowski (1837–1917) |
| 21 | Giacomo Stampa (?) | Italy | essays | Ármin Vámbéry (1832–1913) |
| 22 | René Vallery-Radot (1853–1933) | France | essays, biography | Eugène-Melchior de Vogüé (1848–1910)Sully Prudhomme (1839–1907)Henri Lavedan (1859–1940)Gabriel Hanotaux (1853–1944)Albert Sorel (1842–1906)Albert Vandal (1853–1910)Ernest Legouvé (1807–1903) |
| 23 | Malwida von Meysenbug (1816–1903) | Germany | memoirs | Gabriel Monod (1844–1912) |
| 24 | Alexandru Dimitrie Xenopol (1847–1920) | Romania | history, philosophy, essays | Ion Găvănescu (1859–1949) |
| 25 | Émile Zola (1839–1907) | France | novel, drama, short story | Marcellin Berthelot (1827–1907) |

### Prize decision

For the year 1901, the main candidates for the prize were the French writers Frédéric Mistral (subsequently awarded in 1904) and Sully Prudhomme. Carl David af Wirsén of the Nobel committee argued that the two poets were equally prominent, but that the French Academy's recommendation of Sully Prudhomme should be decisive in awarding him the prize. Emile Zola's candidacy was dismissed by Wirsén due to his distaste for naturalist writers.

## Reactions

The Swedish Academy's decision to award Sully Prudhomme the first Nobel Prize in Literature was heavily criticised at the time and remains one of the most criticised prize decisions in the history of the Nobel Prize in literature. The choice of Sully Prudhomme was interpreted as a politeness towards the Académie Française, model to the Swedish Academy. Many believed that Lev Tolstoy should have been awarded the first Nobel Prize in literature. The Swedish author August Strindberg angrily reacted saying that Prudhomme is "hardly a poet although he writes in verse", and that it was scandalous that he was awarded the prize just because he was a member of an Academy that the Swedish Academy wanted to impress. The leading representatives of the contemporary Swedish cultural elite including August Strindberg, Selma Lagerlöf, Verner von Heidenstam, Oscar Levertin, Bruno Liljefors, Anders Zorn and Albert Engström protested against the Academy and sent a letter to Tolstoy saying he was the most worthy recipient of the prize and that the Swedish Academy did not represent the majority of Swedish cultural persons. The German newspaper Berliner Zeitung described Prudhomme as a poet who was respected but not read. An English newspaper said that Sully Prudhomme was a second rate poet who had not achieved anything in many years. Also from France and Germany came critical reactions with opinions that Tolstoy was the superior candidate for the prize. The Swedish Academy defended themselves from the criticism by saying that Tolstoy had not been nominated for the prize, and could thus not be awarded.