1974 Nobel Prize in Literature

1974 Nobel Prize in Literature
Eyvind Johnson and
Harry Martinson
Johnson "for a narrative art, farseeing in lands and ages, in the service of freedom," and Martinson "for writings that catch the dewdrop and reflect the cosmos."
Date
  • 4 October 1974 (announcement)
  • 10 December 1974
    (ceremony)
LocationStockholm, Sweden
Presented bySwedish Academy
First awarded1901
WebsiteOfficial website
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The 1974 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded jointly to Swedish authors Eyvind Johnson (1900–1976) "for a narrative art, farseeing in lands and ages, in the service of freedom" and Harry Martinson (1904–1978) "for writings that catch the dewdrop and reflect the cosmos."[1] The winners were announced in October 1974 by Karl Ragnar Gierow, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, and later sparked heavy criticisms from the literary world.[2]

At the award ceremony on 10 December 1974, Karl Ragnar Gierow of the Swedish Academy said that Johnson and Martinson

"are representative of the many proletarian writers or working-class poets who, on a wide front, broke into our literature, not to ravage and plunder, but to enrich it with their fortunes. Their arrival meant an influx of experience and creative energy, the value of which can hardly be exaggerated."[3]

It is the fourth (after 1904, 1917, and 1966), and as of yet last, occasion when the Nobel Prize in Literature has been shared between two individuals.[4]

  1. ^ The Nobel Prize in Literature 1974 nobelprize.org
  2. ^ "2 Swedish Writers Win the Nobel Prize". New York Times. 4 October 1974.
  3. ^ Karl Ragnar Gierow: Award ceremony speech nobelprize.org
  4. ^ Facts on the Nobel Prize in Literature nobelprize.org