1971 Nobel Prize in Literature

The 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the Chilean politician and poet Pablo Neruda (1904–1973) "for a poetry that with the action of an elemental force brings alive a continent's destiny and dreams." Neruda became the second Chilean Nobel laureate in Literature after Gabriela Mistral in 1945.
Pablo Neruda is known for his surrealist poems and historical epics which touches political, human and passionate themes. Among his well known works which are read throughout the world include Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desesperada ("Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair", 1924), which established him as a prominent poet and an interpreter of love and erotica, and Cien Sonetos de Amor ("100 Sonnets of Love", 1959). A diplomat, his official journey in Asia affected him strongly, which is reflected in two volumes of poems titled Residencia en la tierra ("Residence on Earth", 1933 and 1935). Neruda's Communist sympathies reflect in his work Canto General (1939), an epic poem about the whole South American continent.
In 1971, the Swedish Academy received 137 nominations for 91 writers. Neruda received 25 nominations since 1956 and received two nominations which eventually led to him being awarded the 1971 prize. Among the shortlist were Neruda, W. H. Auden, Patrick White (awarded in 1973), André Malraux and Eugenio Montale (awarded in 1975).
The most number of nominations were for Jorge Luis Borges and Montale, both receiving 6 nominations. André Malraux was the nominee who had been nominated for most years (22 years) up to 1971. 25 of the nominees were nominated first-time, among them Elie Wiesel (awarded the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize), José García Villa, James Baldwin, Arno Schmidt, Georges Schéhadé, William Golding (awarded in 1983) and Richard E. Kim. The oldest nominee was Jacques Maritain (aged 89) while the youngest was Richard E. Kim (aged 39). Peruvian novelist José María Arguedas was nominated posthumously by the professor of Scandinavian languages, Elie Poulenard (1901–1985) from University of Strasbourg. Estonian poet Marie Under was the only female nominee.
The authors André Billy, C. D. Broad, Walter Van Tilburg Clark, Daniel de la Vega, Nels F. S. Ferré, Peter Fleming, Claude Gauvreau, Gaito Gazdanov, A. P. Herbert, Philippe Hériat, Raicho Hiratsuka, Anthony Ludovici, Ogden Nash, Allan Nevins, Reinhold Niebuhr, Naoya Shiga, Kenneth Slessor, Juhan Smuul, Aleksandr Tvardovsky, Frank Underhill, Charles Vildrac, Waldo Williams, and Philip Wylie died in 1971 without having been nominated for the prize. The Indian novelist Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay and Dutch writer Simon Vestdijk died months before the announcement.
In 1971, the Nobel committee shortlisted Patrick White (awarded in 1973), W.H. Auden, André Malraux and Eugenio Montale (awarded in 1975) along with Pablo Neruda. The Academy's archives later revealed in 2022 that Neruda was almost denied the Nobel Prize because of his "communist tendencies" and odes to Stalin. While Anders Österling of the Nobel committee praised Neruda's "poetic natural power and dynamic vitality", he questioned whether the increasingly dominant communist tendency in his poetry is compatible with the purpose of the Nobel prize. In the archives, Österling wrote that "a writer's way of thinking – whether Marxist, syndicalist, anarchist or something else – belongs to his free right. However, Neruda is fully politically involved, including through his hymns to Stalin and other purely propagandistic achievements. On that basis, I have reservations about his candidacy, without, however, wanting to firmly reject it in advance..." Österling had previously spoken out against the candidacy both of Ezra Pound and Samuel Beckett, but was eventually persuaded with Neruda's and Beckett's merits later awarded them the prize, but not Pound.
Committee members Lars Gyllensten, Henry Olsson and Artur Lundkvist all recommended Neruda and Patrick White as the main contenders for the prize. Karl Ragnar Gierow listed Neruda as his first proposal and W.H. Auden as his second proposal, noting a "little marked difference" between the order of the proposals. Österling found Auden to be the most recommendable among the candidates, followed by Montale and Patrick White. André Malraux's candidacy was dismissed by the committee as his best work was thought to be too far back in time. Following their meeting on 16 September 1971 the Nobel committee reported that Neruda had the strongest support in the committee, followed by Auden and White with an equal amount of votes.
Pablo Neruda had been one of the favourites to be awarded the Nobel prize in Literature in 1971. Other possible winners speculated about in the media included Graham Greene, Henry Miller and Lawrence Durrell.
The choice of Neruda was controversial for political reasons. It was questioned if Neruda's far-left communism was compatible with the purpose of the Nobel prize, but it was widely agreed that Neruda deserved the prize for his literary achievements.
Bo Strömstedt, cultural editor of the newspaper Expressen, suggested ironically that Neruda's appointment to the Paris embassy might have been decisive factor for him being awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, describing it as "Pension for Diplomats". In an interview, he pointed out that three laureates in the last decade had been diplomats: Saint-John Perse of France, Giorgos Seferis of Greece and Miguel Ángel Asturias of Guatemala. "I call it a Nobel old-age pension for diplomats," he said. "I think Pablo Neruda is a great poet and a greater artist than Patrick White but like choices that come too late, it's a bit dull. I'm for choosing younger persons who are in the midst of their work."
In his home country Chile, the awarding of the Nobel prize to Neruda was widely celebrated. Commenting on the political criticism, Neruda said at a press conference in Stockholm before the award ceremony: "The Nobel prize in literature could have been awarded to other Latin American writers who represent other beliefs. That would not have been wrong by the Swedish Academy but I don't think it would have received the same response and joy among our people as this choice has done."
At the award ceremony in Stockholm on 10 December 1971, Karl Ragnar Gierow of the Swedish Academy said:
Pablo Neruda delivered a Nobel lecture entitled "Towards the Splendid City" on 13 December 1971, in which he raises some great points about the craft of writing poetry and the poet's relation to society. Neruda expressed: "I believe that poetry is an action, ephemeral or solemn, in which there enters as equal partners solitude and solidarity, emotion and action, the nearness to oneself, the nearness to mankind and to the secret manifestations of nature."