Dedicated to the great Russian writers.
From October 21 to November 21, 2015, the Library and Information Complex invites you to the exhibition, dedicated to creativity Nobel laureates in literature from Russia and the USSR.
A Belarusian writer received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2015. The award was awarded to Svetlana Alexievich with the following wording: “For her polyphonic creativity - a monument to suffering and courage in our time.” At the exhibition we also presented works by Svetlana Alexandrovna.
The exhibition can be viewed at the address: Leningradsky Prospekt, 49, 1st floor, room. 100.
The prizes, established by the Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, are considered the most honorable in the world. They are awarded annually (since 1901) for outstanding work in the field of medicine or physiology, physics, chemistry, literary works, for his contribution to strengthening peace and economics (since 1969).
The Nobel Prize in Literature is an award for achievements in the field of literature, awarded annually by the Nobel Committee in Stockholm on December 10. According to the statutes of the Nobel Foundation, the following persons can nominate candidates: members of the Swedish Academy, other academies, institutes and societies with similar tasks and goals; university professors of literary history and linguistics; Nobel Prize laureates in literature; chairmen of authors' unions representing literary creativity in the respective countries.
Unlike laureates of other prizes (for example, physics and chemistry), the decision to award the Nobel Prize in Literature is made by members of the Swedish Academy. The Swedish Academy unites 18 Swedish figures. The Academy includes historians, linguists, writers and one lawyer. They are known in society as "Eighteen". Membership in the academy is for life. After the death of one of the members, the academicians elect a new academician by secret vote. The Academy selects a Nobel Committee from among its members. It is he who deals with the issue of awarding the prize.
Nobel laureates in literature from Russia and the USSR :
- I. A. Bunin(1933 "For the strict skill with which he develops the traditions of Russian classical prose")
- B.L. Parsnip(1958 "For significant achievements in modern lyric poetry, and also for continuing the traditions of the great Russian epic novel")
- M. A. Sholokhov(1965 "For the artistic strength and honesty with which he depicted in his Don epic historical era in the life of the Russian people")
- A. I. Solzhenitsyn(1970 "For the moral strength with which he followed the immutable traditions of Russian literature")
- I. A. Brodsky(1987 "For comprehensive creativity, imbued with clarity of thought and passion of poetry")
Russian literature laureates are people with different, sometimes opposing, views. I. A. Bunin and A. I. Solzhenitsyn are staunch opponents of Soviet power, and M. A. Sholokhov, on the contrary, is a communist. However, the main thing they have in common is their undoubted talent, for which they were awarded Nobel Prizes.
Ivan Alekseevich Bunin - famous Russian writer and poet, outstanding master realistic prose, honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. In 1920, Bunin emigrated to France.
The most difficult thing for a writer in exile is to remain himself. It happens that, having left his homeland due to the need to make dubious compromises, he is again forced to kill his spirit in order to survive. Fortunately, Bunin escaped this fate. Despite any trials, Bunin always remained true to himself.
In 1922, Ivan Alekseevich’s wife, Vera Nikolaevna Muromtseva, wrote in her diary that Romain Rolland nominated Bunin for the Nobel Prize. From then on, Ivan Alekseevich lived with hopes that someday he would be awarded this prize. 1933 On November 10, all newspapers in Paris came out with large headlines: “Bunin - Nobel laureate.” Every Russian in Paris, even the loader at the Renault plant, who had never read Bunin, took this as a personal holiday. Because my compatriot turned out to be the best, the most talented! In the Parisian taverns and restaurants that evening there were Russians, who sometimes drank for “one of their own” with their last pennies.
On the day the prize was awarded, November 9, Ivan Alekseevich Bunin watched the “cheerful stupidity” “Baby” in the cinema. Suddenly the darkness of the hall was cut through by a narrow beam of a flashlight. They were looking for Bunin. He was called by telephone from Stockholm.
"And immediately all my old life. I walk home quite quickly, but feeling nothing but regret that I wasn’t able to watch the movie. But no. It’s impossible not to believe: the whole house is glowing with lights. And my heart contracts with some kind of sadness... Some kind of turning point in my life,” recalled I. A. Bunin.
Exciting days in Sweden. IN concert hall in the presence of the king, after the report of the writer, member of the Swedish Academy Peter Hallström on the work of Bunin, he was presented with a folder with a Nobel diploma, a medal and a check for 715 thousand French francs.
When presenting the award, Bunin noted that the Swedish Academy acted very bravely by awarding the emigrant writer. Among the contenders for this year’s prize was another Russian writer, M. Gorky, however, largely thanks to the publication of the book “The Life of Arsenyev” by that time, the scales nevertheless tipped in the direction of Ivan Alekseevich.
Returning to France, Bunin feels rich and, sparing no expense, distributes “benefits” to emigrants and donates funds to support various societies. Finally, on the advice of well-wishers, he invests the remaining amount in a “win-win business” and is left with nothing.
Bunin’s friend, poet and prose writer Zinaida Shakhovskaya, in her memoir book “Reflection,” noted: “With skill and a small amount of practicality, the prize should have been enough to last. But the Bunins did not buy either an apartment or a villa...”
Unlike M. Gorky, A. I. Kuprin, A. N. Tolstoy, Ivan Alekseevich did not return to Russia, despite the admonitions of the Moscow “messengers”. I never came to my homeland, not even as a tourist.
Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (1890-1960) was born in Moscow in the family of the famous artist Leonid Osipovich Pasternak. Mother, Rosalia Isidorovna, was a talented pianist. Maybe that’s why, as a child, the future poet dreamed of becoming a composer and even studied music with Alexander Nikolaevich Scriabin. However, the love of poetry won out. B. L. Pasternak's fame was brought by his poetry, and his bitter trials by "Doctor Zhivago", a novel about the fate of the Russian intelligentsia.
The editors of the literary magazine to which Pasternak offered the manuscript considered the work anti-Soviet and refused to publish it. Then the writer transferred the novel abroad, to Italy, where it was published in 1957. The very fact of publication in the West Soviet colleagues the creative workshop was sharply condemned, and Pasternak was expelled from the Writers' Union. However, it was Doctor Zhivago that made Boris Pasternak a Nobel laureate. The writer was nominated for the Nobel Prize starting in 1946, but was awarded it only in 1958, after the release of the novel. The conclusion of the Nobel Committee says: "... for significant achievements both in modern lyric poetry and in the field of the great Russian epic tradition."
At home the award is so honorary prize"anti-Soviet novel" caused indignation of the authorities, and under the threat of expulsion from the country, the writer was forced to refuse the award. Only 30 years later, his son, Evgeniy Borisovich Pasternak, received a diploma and a Nobel laureate medal for his father.
The fate of another Nobel laureate, Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn, is no less dramatic. He was born in 1918 in Kislovodsk, and his childhood and youth were spent in Novocherkassk and Rostov-on-Don. After graduating from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Rostov University, A.I. Solzhenitsyn taught and at the same time studied by correspondence at the Literary Institute in Moscow. When the Great Patriotic War began, the future writer went to the front.
Shortly before the end of the war, Solzhenitsyn was arrested. The reason for the arrest was critical remarks against Stalin, found by military censorship in Solzhenitsyn's letters. He was released after Stalin's death (1953). In 1962, the magazine "New World" published the first story - "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich", telling about the life of prisoners in the camp. Literary magazines refused to publish most of the subsequent works. There was only one explanation: anti-Soviet orientation. However, the writer did not give up and sent the manuscripts abroad, where they were published. Alexander Isaevich did not limit himself to literary activities - he fought for the freedom of political prisoners in the USSR, and sharply criticized the Soviet system.
Literary works and political position A.I. Solzhenitsyn were well known abroad, and in 1970 he was awarded the Nobel Prize. The writer did not go to Stockholm for the award ceremony: he was not allowed to leave the country. Representatives of the Nobel Committee, who wanted to present the prize to the laureate at home, were not allowed into the USSR.
In 1974, A.I. Solzhenitsyn was expelled from the country. First he lived in Switzerland, then moved to the USA, where, with a significant delay, he was awarded the Nobel Prize. Such works as “In the First Circle”, “The Gulag Archipelago”, “August 1914”, “Cancer Ward” were published in the West. In 1994, A. Solzhenitsyn returned to his homeland, traveling across all of Russia, from Vladivostok to Moscow.
The fate of Mikhail Alexandrovich Sholokhov, the only one Russian laureates Nobel Prize in Literature, who was supported government bodies. M. A. Sholokhov (1905-1980) was born in the south of Russia, on the Don - in the center of the Russian Cossacks. My small homeland- the village of Kruzhilin of the village of Veshenskaya - he later described it in many works. Sholokhov graduated from only four classes of the gymnasium. He actively participated in the events of the civil war, led a food detachment that took away the so-called surplus grain from rich Cossacks.
Already in his youth, the future writer felt a penchant for literary creativity. In 1922, Sholokhov came to Moscow, and in 1923 he began publishing his first stories in newspapers and magazines. In 1926, the collections “Don Stories” and “Azure Steppe” were published. Work on “The Quiet Don” - a novel about the life of the Don Cossacks during the Great Turning Point (the First World War, revolutions and civil war) - began in 1925. The first part of the novel was published in 1928, and Sholokhov completed it in the 30s . "Quiet Don" became the pinnacle of the writer's creativity, and in 1965 he was awarded the Nobel Prize "for the artistic strength and completeness with which he epic work about the Don reflected a historical phase in the life of the Russian people." "Quiet Don" has been translated in 45 countries around the world into several dozen languages.
By the time he received the Nobel Prize, Joseph Brodsky’s bibliography included six collections of poems, the poem “Gorbunov and Gorchakov”, the play “Marble”, and many essays (written mainly in English). However, in the USSR, from where the poet was expelled in 1972, his works were distributed mainly in samizdat, and he received the prize while already a citizen of the United States of America.
A spiritual connection with his homeland was important to him. He kept Boris Pasternak's tie as a relic and even wanted to wear it to the Nobel Prize ceremony, but protocol rules did not allow it. Nevertheless, Brodsky still came with Pasternak’s tie in his pocket. After perestroika, Brodsky was invited to Russia more than once, but he never came to his homeland, which rejected him. “You can’t step into the same river twice, even if it’s the Neva,” he said.
From Nobel lecture Brodsky: “A person with taste, in particular literary taste, is less susceptible to repetition and rhythmic spells, characteristic of any form of political demagoguery. The point is not so much that virtue is no guarantee of a masterpiece, but that evil, especially political evil, is always a poor stylist. The richer the aesthetic experience of an individual, the firmer his taste, the clearer his moral choice, the freer he is - although perhaps not happier. It is in this applied rather than platonic sense that one should understand Dostoevsky’s remark that “beauty will save the world,” or Matthew Arnold’s statement that “poetry will save us.” The world probably won't be able to be saved, but individual person It’s always possible.”
The Nobel Prize was created by and named after the Swedish industrialist, inventor and chemical engineer, Alfred Nobel. It is considered the most prestigious in the world. The laureates receive gold medal, which depicts A.B. Nobel, a diploma, as well as a check for a large sum. The latter consists of the amount of profits that the Nobel Foundation receives. In 1895 he made a will, according to which his capital was placed in bonds, shares and loans. The income that this money brings is divided equally into five parts every year and becomes a prize for achievements in five areas: chemistry, physics, physiology or medicine, literature, and also for activities to strengthen peace.
The first Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded on December 10, 1901, and has since been awarded annually on that date, which is the anniversary of Nobel's death. The winners are awarded in Stockholm by the Swedish king himself. After receiving the award, Nobel Prize winners in literature must give a lecture on their work within 6 months. This is an indispensable condition for receiving the award.
The decision on who is awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature is made by the Swedish Academy, located in Stockholm, as well as the Nobel Committee itself, which announces only the number of applicants, without naming their names. The selection procedure itself is secret, which sometimes causes angry reviews from critics and ill-wishers who claim that the award is given for political reasons and not for literary achievements. Main argument, which is cited as evidence, are Nabokov, Tolstoy, Bokhres, Joyce, who were bypassed for the prize. However, the list of authors who received it still remains impressive. There are five writers from Russia who have won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Read more about each of them below.
The 2014 Nobel Prize for Literature has been awarded for the 107th time, going to Patrick Modiano and screenwriter. That is, since 1901, 111 writers have received the award (since four times it was awarded to two authors at the same time).
It would take quite a long time to list all the laureates and get to know each of them. The most famous and widely read Nobel Prize winners in literature and their works are brought to your attention.
1. William Golding, 1983
William Golding received the award for his famous novels, of which there are 12 in his oeuvre. The most famous, Lord of the Flies and Descendants, are among the best-selling books written by Nobel laureates. The novel Lord of the Flies, published in 1954, brought the writer worldwide fame. Critics often compare it to Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye in terms of its significance for the development of literature and modern thought in general.
2. Toni Morrison, 1993
The Nobel Prize winners in literature are not only men, but also women. One of them is Toni Morrison. This American writer born into a working-class family in Ohio. After attending Howard University, where she studied literature and English, she began writing her own works. The first novel, "The Most Blue eyes" (1970), was based on a story she composed for a university literary circle. It is one of Toni Morrison's most popular works. Another of her novels, Sula, published in 1975, was nominated for the National USA.
3. 1962
Steinbeck's most famous works are East of Eden, The Grapes of Wrath, and Of Mice and Men. The Grapes of Wrath became a bestseller in 1939, selling more than 50,000 copies and now selling more than 75 million copies. Until 1962, the writer was nominated for the prize 8 times, and he himself believed that he was unworthy of such an award. Yes, and many American critics noted that his later novels were much weaker than his previous ones, and responded negatively to this award. In 2013, when some documents from the Swedish Academy (kept secret for 50 years) were declassified, it became clear that the writer was awarded because he was "the best in bad company" that year.
4. Ernest Hemingway, 1954
This writer became one of nine winners of the literature prize, to whom it was awarded not for creativity in general, but for a specific work, namely for the story “The Old Man and the Sea.” The same work, first published in 1952, brought the writer the following year, 1953, another prestigious award - the Pulitzer Prize.
In the same year, the Nobel Committee included Hemingway in the list of candidates, but the winner of the award that time was Winston Churchill, who by that time had already turned 79 years old, and therefore it was decided not to delay the presentation of the award. And Ernest Hemingway became a well-deserved winner of the award the following year, 1954.
5. Marquez, 1982
The winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982 included Gabriel García Márquez among their ranks. He became the first writer from Colombia to receive an award from the Swedish Academy. His books, among which we should especially note “Chronicle of a Death Declared”, “Autumn of the Patriarch”, as well as “Love in the Time of Cholera”, became the best-selling works written in Spanish, throughout its history. The novel “One Hundred Years of Solitude” (1967), which another Nobel Prize laureate, Pablo Neruda, called the greatest creation in Spanish after Cervantes’s “Don Quixote”, has been translated into more than 25 languages of the world, and the total circulation of the work was more than 50 millions of copies.
6. Samuel Beckett, 1969
The Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to Samuel Beckett in 1969. This Irish writer is one of the most... famous representatives modernism. It was he who, together with Eugene Ionescu, founded the famous “theater of the absurd”. Samuel Beckett wrote his works in two languages - English and French. The most famous creation of his pen was the play "Waiting for Godot", written in French. The plot of the work is as follows. The main characters throughout the play are waiting for a certain Godot, who should bring some meaning to their existence. However, he never appears, so the reader or viewer has to decide for himself what kind of image it was.
Beckett was fond of playing chess and enjoyed success with women, but led a rather secluded lifestyle. He did not even agree to come to the Nobel Prize ceremony, sending his publisher, Jerome Lindon, in his place.
7. 1949
The Nobel Prize for Literature in 1949 went to William Faulkner. He also initially refused to go to Stockholm to receive the award, but was eventually persuaded by his daughter. John Kennedy sent him an invitation to a dinner organized in honor of Nobel Prize winners. However, Faulkner, who all his life considered himself “not a writer, but a farmer,” in his own words, refused to accept the invitation, citing old age.
The author's most famous and popular novels are The Sound and the Fury and As I Lay Dying. However, success did not come to these works immediately, for a long time they hardly sold. The Sound and the Fury, published in 1929, sold only three thousand copies in its first 16 years of publication. However, in 1949, by the time the author received the Nobel Prize, this novel was already an example classical literature America.
In 2012, a special edition of this work was published in the UK, in which the text was printed 14 different colors, which was done at the request of the writer so that the reader could notice different time planes. The limited edition of the novel was only 1,480 copies and sold out immediately after its release. Now the cost of this book rare edition is estimated at approximately 115 thousand rubles.
8. Doris Lessing, 2007
The Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded in 2007. This British writer and poet received the award at the age of 88, making her the oldest recipient. She also became the eleventh woman (out of 13) to receive the Nobel Prize.
Lessing was not very popular with critics, since she rarely wrote on topics devoted to pressing social issues; she was even often called a propagandist of Sufism, a teaching that preaches the renunciation of worldly vanity. However, according to version The magazine Times, this writer ranks fifth on the list of 50 greatest authors UK, published after 1945.
The most popular work Doris Lessing's novel "The Golden Notebook", published in 1962, is considered. Some critics classify it as an example of classic feminist prose, but the writer herself categorically disagrees with this opinion.
9. Albert Camus, 1957
French writers also received the Nobel Prize in Literature. One of them, writer, journalist, essayist of Algerian origin, Albert Camus, is the “conscience of the West.” His most famous work is the story "The Stranger", published in 1942 in France. In 1946, an English translation was made, sales began, and within a few years the number of copies sold amounted to more than 3.5 million.
Albert Camus is often classified as a representative of existentialism, but he himself did not agree with this and in every possible way denied such a definition. Thus, in a speech delivered at the presentation of the Nobel Prize, he noted that in his work he sought to “avoid outright lies and resist oppression.”
10. Alice Munro, 2013
In 2013, nominees for the Nobel Prize in Literature included Alice Munro on their list. A representative of Canada, this novelist became famous in the genre short story. She began writing them early, from her teenage years, but the first collection of her works, entitled “Dance of the Happy Shadows,” was published only in 1968, when the author was already 37 years old. In 1971, the next collection, “The Lives of Girls and Women,” appeared, which critics called “an education novel.” Others her literary works include the books: “Who exactly are you?”, “The Fugitive”, “Too Much Happiness”. One of her collections, “The Hateful Friendship, Courtship, Love, Marriage,” published in 2001, was even made into a Canadian film called “Away From Her,” directed by Sarah Polley. The author's most popular book is " Dear Life", published in 2012.
Munro is often called the "Canadian Chekhov" because the writers' styles are similar. Like the Russian writer, he is characterized by psychological realism and clarity.
Nobel Prize laureates in literature from Russia
To date, five Russian writers have won the prize. The first laureate was I. A. Bunin.
1. Ivan Alekseevich Bunin, 1933
This is a famous Russian writer and poet, an outstanding master of realistic prose, and an honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. In 1920, Ivan Alekseevich emigrated to France, and when presenting the award, he noted that the Swedish Academy acted very bravely by awarding the emigrant writer. Among the contenders for this year’s prize was another Russian writer, M. Gorky, however, largely thanks to the publication of the book “The Life of Arsenyev” by that time, the scales nevertheless tipped in the direction of Ivan Alekseevich.
Bunin began writing his first poems at the age of 7-8 years. Later, his famous works were published: the story “The Village”, the collection “Sukhodol”, the books “John the Weeper”, “The Gentleman from San Francisco”, etc. In the 20s he wrote (1924) and “Sunstroke” ( 1927). And in 1943, the pinnacle of Ivan Alexandrovich’s creativity was born, a collection of stories " Dark alleys". This book was dedicated to only one topic - love, its “dark” and gloomy sides, as the author wrote in one of his letters.
2. Boris Leonidovich Pasternak, 1958
The Nobel Prize laureates in literature from Russia in 1958 included Boris Leonidovich Pasternak on their list. The poet was awarded the prize at a difficult time. He was forced to abandon it under threat of exile from Russia. However, the Nobel Committee regarded Boris Leonidovich’s refusal as forced, and in 1989 transferred the medal and diploma to his son after the writer’s death. The famous novel "Doctor Zhivago" is authentic artistic testament Pasternak. This work was written in 1955. Albert Camus, laureate in 1957, spoke with admiration of this novel.
3. Mikhail Alexandrovich Sholokhov, 1965
In 1965, M. A. Sholokhov was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Russia has once again proven to the whole world that it has talented writers. Having begun his literary activity as a representative of realism, depicting the deep contradictions of life, Sholokhov, however, in some works finds himself captive of the socialist trend. During the presentation of the Nobel Prize, Mikhail Alexandrovich made a speech in which he noted that in his works he sought to praise “the nation of workers, builders and heroes.”
In 1926 he started his main novel, Quiet Don, and completed it in 1940, long before he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Sholokhov's works were published in parts, including "Quiet Don". In 1928, largely thanks to the assistance of A.S. Serafimovich, a friend of Mikhail Alexandrovich, the first part appeared in print. Already in next year the second volume was published. The third was published in 1932-1933, already with the assistance and support of M. Gorky. The last, fourth, volume was published in 1940. This novel was of great importance for both Russian and world literature. It was translated into many languages of the world, became the basis of the famous opera by Ivan Dzerzhinsky, as well as numerous theatrical productions and films.
Some, however, accused Sholokhov of plagiarism (including A. I. Solzhenitsyn), believing that most of the work was copied from the manuscripts of F. D. Kryukov, a Cossack writer. Other researchers confirmed the authorship of Sholokhov.
In addition to this work, in 1932 Sholokhov also created “Virgin Soil Upturned,” a work telling about the history of collectivization among the Cossacks. In 1955, the first chapters of the second volume were published, and at the beginning of 1960 the last ones were completed.
At the end of 1942, the third novel, “They Fought for the Motherland,” was published.
4. Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn, 1970
The Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970 was awarded to A. I. Solzhenitsyn. Alexander Isaevich accepted it, but did not dare to attend the award ceremony because he was afraid of the Soviet government, which regarded the decision of the Nobel Committee as “politically hostile.” Solzhenitsyn was afraid that he would not be able to return to his homeland after this trip, although the 1970 Nobel Prize in Literature that he received increased the prestige of our country. In his work, he touched upon acute socio-political problems and actively fought against communism, its ideas and the policies of the Soviet regime.
The main works of Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn include: “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” (1962), story “ Matrenin Dvor", the novel "In the First Circle" (written from 1955 to 1968), "The Gulag Archipelago" (1964-1970). The first published work was the story "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich", which appeared in the magazine "New World". This publication caused great interest and numerous responses from readers, which inspired the writer to create “The Gulag Archipelago.” In 1964, Alexander Isaevich’s first story received the Lenin Prize.
However, a year later he lost the favor of the Soviet authorities, and his works were prohibited from being published. His novels “The Gulag Archipelago”, “In the First Circle” and “Cancer Ward” were published abroad, for which the writer was deprived of citizenship in 1974 and he was forced to emigrate. Only 20 years later he managed to return to his homeland. Appears in 2001-2002 a lot of work Solzhenitsyn "Two hundred years together." Alexander Isaevich died in 2008.
5. Joseph Alexandrovich Brodsky, 1987
The winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1987 joined their ranks with I. A. Brodsky. In 1972, the writer was forced to emigrate to the USA, so world encyclopedia even calls it American. Among all the writers who received the Nobel Prize, he is the youngest. With his lyrics, he comprehended the world as a single cultural and metaphysical whole, and also pointed out the limitations of the perception of man as a subject of knowledge.
Joseph Alexandrovich wrote poems, essays, and literary criticism not only in Russian, but also in English. Immediately after the publication of his first collection in the West, in 1965, Brodsky came to international fame. The author’s best books include: “Embankment of the Incurables”, “Part of Speech”, “Landscape with Flood”, “The End” belle époque", "Stop in the Desert" and others.
First laureate. Ivan Alekseevich Bunin(22.10.1870 - 08.11.1953). The prize was awarded in 1933.
Ivan Alekseevich Bunin, a Russian writer and poet, was born on his parents' estate near Voronezh, in central Russia. Until the age of 11, the boy was raised at home, and in 1881 he entered the Yeletsk district gymnasium, but four years later, due to the family’s financial difficulties, he returned home, where he continued his education under the guidance of his older brother Julius. WITH early childhood Ivan Alekseevich read Pushkin, Gogol, Lermontov with enthusiasm, and at the age of 17 he began writing poetry.
In 1889 he went to work as a proofreader for the local newspaper Orlovsky Vestnik. The first volume of poems by I.A. Bunin was published in 1891 as an appendix to one of the literary magazines. His first poems were full of images of nature, which is characteristic of all the writer’s poetic work. At the same time, he began to write stories that appeared in various literary magazines, and entered into correspondence with A.P. Chekhov.
In the early 90s. XIX century Bunin is influenced by the philosophical ideas of Leo Tolstoy, such as closeness to nature, occupation manual labor and non-resistance to evil through violence. Since 1895 he lives in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Literary recognition came to the writer after the publication of such stories as “On the Farm”, “News from the Motherland” and “At the End of the World”, dedicated to the famine of 1891, the cholera epidemic of 1892, the resettlement of peasants to Siberia, as well as impoverishment and the decline of the small landed nobility. Ivan Alekseevich called his first collection of stories “At the End of the World” (1897).
In 1898 he published the poetry collection “Under open air”, as well as Longfellow’s translation of “The Song of Hiawatha”, which received very high praise and was awarded the Pushkin Prize of the first degree.
In the first years of the 20th century. is actively involved in translating English and French poets. He translated Tennyson's poems "Lady Godiva" and Byron's "Manfred", as well as the works of Alfred de Musset and François Coppet. From 1900 to 1909 Many of the writer’s famous stories are published - “Antonov Apples”, “Pines”.
At the beginning of the 20th century. writes his best books, for example, the prose poem “Village” (1910), the story “Sukhodol” (1912). In a prose collection published in 1917, Bunin includes perhaps his most famous story"Mr. from San Francisco", a meaningful parable about the death of an American millionaire in Capri.
Fearing the consequences of the October Revolution, he came to France in 1920. Of the works created in the 20s, the most memorable are the story “Mitya’s Love” (1925), the stories “Rose of Jericho” (1924) and “Sunstroke” (1927). Received very high criticism from critics autobiographical story“The Life of Arsenyev” (1933).
I.A. Bunin was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1933 “for the rigorous skill with which he develops the traditions of Russian classical prose.” Following the wishes of his many readers, Bunin prepared an 11-volume collection of works, which was published by the Berlin publishing house Petropolis from 1934 to 1936. Most of all I.A. Bunin is known as a prose writer, although some critics believe that he managed to achieve more in poetry.
Boris Leonidovich Pasternak(10.02.1890-30.05.1960). The prize was awarded in 1958.
Russian poet and prose writer Boris Leonidovich Pasternak was born into a well-known Jewish family in Moscow. The poet's father, Leonid Pasternak, was an academician of painting; mother, née Rosa Kaufman, a famous pianist. Despite their rather modest income, the Pasternak family moved in the highest artistic circles of pre-revolutionary Russia.
Young Pasternak entered the Moscow Conservatory, but in 1910 he abandoned the idea of becoming a musician and, after studying for some time at the Faculty of History and Philosophy of Moscow University, at the age of 23 he left for the University of Marburg. Having made a short trip to Italy, in the winter of 1913 he returned to Moscow. In the summer of the same year, after passing university exams, he completed his first book of poems, “Twin in the Clouds” (1914), and three years later, the second, “Over the Barriers.”
The atmosphere of revolutionary change in 1917 was reflected in the book of poems “My Sister is My Life,” published five years later, as well as in “Themes and Variations” (1923), which put him in the first rank of Russian poets. Most He spent the rest of his life in Peredelkino, a summer cottage village for writers near Moscow.
In the 20s XX century Boris Pasternak writes two historical and revolutionary poems, “Nine Hundred and Fifth” (1925-1926) and “Lieutenant Schmidt” (1926-1927). In 1934, at the First Congress of Writers, he was already spoken of as the leading modern poet. However, praise for him soon gives way to harsh criticism due to the poet’s reluctance to limit his work to proletarian themes: from 1936 to 1943. the poet failed to publish a single book.
Knowing several foreign languages, in the 30s. translates classics of English, German and French poetry into Russian. His translations of Shakespeare's tragedies are considered the best in Russian. Only in 1943 was Pasternak’s first book in the last 8 years published - the poetry collection “On Early Trips”, and in 1945 - the second, “Earthly Expanse”.
In the 40s, continuing his poetic activity and translating, Pasternak began work on the famous novel Doctor Zhivago, the life story of Yuri Andreevich Zhivago, a doctor and poet, whose childhood was at the beginning of the century and who became a witness and participant in the First World War. , revolution, civil war, the first years of the Stalin era. The novel, initially approved for publication, was later considered unsuitable "due to the author's negative attitude towards the revolution and lack of faith in social change." The book was first published in Milan in 1957 at Italian, and by the end of 1958 it was translated into 18 languages.
In 1958, the Swedish Academy awarded Boris Pasternak the Nobel Prize in Literature “for significant achievements in modern lyric poetry, as well as for continuing the tradition of the great Russian epic novel.” But due to the insults and threats that fell upon the poet, and exclusion from the Writers' Union, he was forced to refuse the prize.
For many years, the poet’s work was artificially “unpopular” and only in the early 80s. attitudes towards Pasternak gradually began to change: the poet Andrei Voznesensky published memories of Pasternak in the magazine “New World”, a two-volume set of selected poems by the poet was published, edited by his son Evgeniy Pasternak (1986). In 1987, the Writers' Union reversed its decision to expel Pasternak after publication of the novel Doctor Zhivago began in 1988.
Mikhail Alexandrovich Sholokhov(05/24/1905 - 02/02/1984). The prize was awarded in 1965.
Mikhail Alexandrovich Sholokhov was born on the Kruzhilin farmstead Cossack village Veshenskaya in Rostov region, in the south of Russia. In his works, the writer immortalized the Don River and the Cossacks who lived here both in pre-revolutionary Russia and during the civil war.
His father, a native of the Ryazan province, sowed grain on rented Cossack land, and his mother was Ukrainian. After graduating from four classes of the gymnasium, Mikhail Alexandrovich joined the Red Army in 1918. Future writer He first served in the logistics support detachment, and then became a machine gunner. From the first days of the revolution he supported the Bolsheviks and advocated for Soviet power. In 1932 he joined the Communist Party, in 1937 he was elected to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, and two years later - a full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
In 1922 M.A. Sholokhov arrived in Moscow. Here he took part in the work of the literary group “Young Guard”, worked as a loader, laborer, and clerk. In 1923, his first feuilletons were published in the Yunosheskaya Pravda newspaper, and in 1924 his first story, “The Birthmark,” was published.
In the summer of 1924 he returned to the village of Veshenskaya, where he lived almost forever for the rest of his life. In 1925, a collection of feuilletons and stories by the writer about civil war under the title "Don Stories". From 1926 to 1940 working on “The Quiet Don,” a novel that brought the writer world fame.
In the 30s M.A. Sholokhov interrupts work on “Quiet Don” and writes the second world-famous novel “Virgin Soil Upturned”. During the Great Patriotic War Sholokhov is a war correspondent for Pravda, author of articles and reports on the heroism of the Soviet people; after Battle of Stalingrad the writer begins work on the third novel - the trilogy “They Fought for the Motherland.”
In the 50s publication of the second begins, final volume"Virgin Soil Upturned", but the novel was published as a separate book only in 1960.
In 1965 M.A. Sholokhov received the Nobel Prize in Literature “for the artistic strength and integrity of the epic about the Don Cossacks at a turning point for Russia.”
Mikhail Alexandrovich married in 1924, he had four children; The writer died in the village of Veshenskaya in 1984 at the age of 78. His works remain popular among readers.
Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn(born December 11, 1918). The prize was awarded in 1970.
Russian novelist, playwright and poet Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn was born in Kislovodsk, in the North Caucasus. Alexander Isaevich's parents came from peasant backgrounds, but received a good education. Since the age of six he has lived in Rostov-on-Don. The childhood years of the future writer coincided with the establishment and consolidation of Soviet power.
Having successfully graduated from school, in 1938 he entered Rostov University, where, despite his interest in literature, he studied physics and mathematics. In 1941, having received a diploma in mathematics, he also graduated from the correspondence department of the Institute of Philosophy, Literature and History in Moscow.
After graduating from the university A.I. Solzhenitsyn worked as a mathematics teacher in the Rostov high school. During the Great Patriotic War he was mobilized and served in the artillery. In February 1945, he was suddenly arrested, stripped of the rank of captain and sentenced to 8 years in prison followed by exile to Siberia “for anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda.” From a specialized prison in Marfino near Moscow he was transferred to Kazakhstan, to a camp for political prisoners, where the future writer was diagnosed with stomach cancer and was considered doomed. However, having been released on March 5, 1953, Solzhenitsyn underwent successful radiation therapy at the Tashkent hospital and recovered. Until 1956 he lived in exile in various regions of Siberia, taught in schools, and in June 1957, after rehabilitation, he settled in Ryazan.
In 1962, his first book, “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich,” was published in the “New World” magazine. A year later, several stories by Alexander Isaevich were published, including “An Incident at Krechetovka Station,” “Matrenin’s Dvor,” and “For the Good of the Cause.” The last work published in the USSR was the story “Zakhar-Kalita” (1966).
In 1967, the writer was subjected to persecution and newspaper persecution, and his works were banned. Nevertheless, the novels “In the First Circle” (1968) and “Cancer Ward” (1968-1969) end up in the West and are published there without the consent of the author. From this time begins the most difficult period his literary activity and further life path almost until the beginning of the new century.
In 1970, Solzhenitsyn was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature “for the moral strength drawn from the tradition of great Russian literature.” However, the Soviet government considered the decision of the Nobel Committee to be “politically hostile.” A year after receiving the Nobel Prize A.I. Solzhenitsyn allowed the publication of his works abroad, and in 1972 August the Fourteenth was published in English by a London publishing house.
In 1973, the manuscript of Solzhenitsyn’s main work “The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-1956: Experience” was confiscated artistic research" Working from memory and also using own recordings, which he wrote in the camps and in exile, the writer restores the book that “turned the minds of many readers” and prompted millions of people to take a critical look at many pages of the history of the Soviet Union for the first time. The “GULAG Archipelago” refers to prisons, forced labor camps, and exile settlements scattered throughout the USSR. In his book, the writer uses the memoirs, oral and written testimonies of more than 200 prisoners whom he met in prison.
In 1973, the first publication of “The Archipelago” was published in Paris, and on February 12, 1974, the writer was arrested, accused of treason, and deprived of his Soviet citizenship and deported to Germany. His second wife, Natalia Svetlova, and her three sons were allowed to join her husband later. After two years in Zurich, Solzhenitsyn and his family moved to the United States and settled in Vermont, where the writer completed the third volume of The Gulag Archipelago ( Russian edition- 1976, English - 1978), and also continues to work on a cycle of historical novels about the Russian revolution, begun by “August the Fourteenth” and called “The Red Wheel”. At the end of the 1970s. In Paris, the YMCA-Press publishing house published the first 20-volume collection of Solzhenitsyn's works.
In 1989, the magazine “New World” published chapters from “The Gulag Archipelago”, and in August 1990 A.I. Solzhenitsyn was returned to Soviet citizenship. In 1994, the writer returned to his homeland, traveling by train across the country from Vladivostok to Moscow in 55 days.
In 1995, on the writer’s initiative, the Moscow government, together with Solzhenitsyn’s Russian Philosophy and the Russian publishing house in Paris, created a library fund “ Russian abroad" The basis of her handwritten and book fund More than 1,500 memoirs of Russian emigrants, as well as collections of manuscripts and letters of Berdyaev, Tsvetaeva, Merezhkovsky and many other outstanding scientists, philosophers, writers, poets and the archives of the commander-in-chief of the Russian army in the First World War, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, became available. A significant work in recent years has been the two-volume work “200 Years Together” (2001-2002). After his arrival, the writer settled near Moscow, in Trinity-Lykovo.
South African John Maxwell Coetzee is the first writer to be awarded the Booker Prize twice (1983 and 1999). In 2003, he won the Nobel Prize in Literature "for creating countless guises of amazing situations involving outsiders." Coetzee's novels are characterized by well-crafted composition, rich dialogue, and analytical skill. He mercilessly criticizes the cruel rationalism and artificial morality of Western civilization. At the same time, Coetzee is one of those writers who rarely talks about his work, and even less often about himself. However, "Scenes from Provincial Life" is amazing autobiographical novel, - exception. Here Coetzee is extremely frank with the reader. He talks about his mother's painful, suffocating love, about the hobbies and mistakes that followed him for years, and about the path he had to go through to finally start writing.
"The Humble Hero" by Mario Vargas Llosa
Mario Vargas Llosa is a prominent Peruvian novelist and playwright who received the 2010 Nobel Prize in Literature “for his cartography of power structures and vivid images resistance, rebellion and defeat of the individual." Continuing the line of greats Latin American writers such as Jorge Luis Borges, Garcia Marquez, Julio Cortazar, he creates amazing novels balancing on the brink of reality and fiction. Vargas Llosa's new book, The Humble Hero, masterfully twists two parallel storylines in the elegant rhythm of the Marinera. The hard worker Felicito Yanaque, decent and trusting, becomes a victim of strange blackmailers. At the same time successful businessman Ismael Carrera, at the end of his life, seeks revenge on his two slacker sons who want his death. And Ismael and Felicito, of course, are not heroes at all. However, where others cowardly agree, these two stage a quiet rebellion. Old acquaintances also appear on the pages of the new novel - characters from the world created by Vargas Llosa.
"The Moons of Jupiter" by Alice Munro
Canadian writer Alice Munro is a master of the modern short story and winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Literature. Critics constantly compare Munro to Chekhov, and this comparison is not without reason: like the Russian writer, she knows how to tell a story in such a way that readers, even those belonging to a completely different culture, recognize themselves in the characters. These twelve stories, presented in seemingly simple language, reveal amazing plot abysses. In just twenty pages Munro manages to create the whole world- alive, tangible and incredibly attractive.
"Beloved" Toni Morrison
Toni Morrison received the 1993 Nobel Prize for Literature as a writer "who brought to life an important aspect of American reality in her dreamy and poetic novels." Her most famous novel, Beloved, was published in 1987 and received a Pulitzer Prize. The book is based on real events that took place in Ohio in the 80s of the nineteenth century: this amazing story the black slave Sethe, who decided on a terrible act - to give freedom, but take her life. Sethe kills her daughter to save her from slavery. A novel about how difficult it can sometimes be to tear out the memory of the past from the heart, about difficult choice who change fate, and people who remain loved forever.
"The Woman from Nowhere" by Jean-Marie Gustave Leclezio
Jean-Marie Gustave Leclezio, one of the largest living French writers, won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2008. He is the author of thirty books, including novels, stories, essays and articles. In the presented book, for the first time in Russian, two stories by Leclezio are published at once: “The Storm” and “The Woman from Nowhere.” The action of the first takes place on an island lost in the Sea of Japan, the second - in Cote d'Ivoire and the Parisian suburbs. However, despite such a vast geography, the heroines of both stories are very similar in some ways - these are teenage girls who are desperately striving to find their place in an inhospitable, hostile world. The Frenchman Leclezio, who lived for a long time in the countries of South America, Africa, Southeast Asia, Japan, Thailand and in his home island Mauritius, writes about how a man who grew up in the womb pristine nature, feels himself in the oppressive space of modern civilization.
"My Strange Thoughts" Orhan Pamuk
Turkish prose writer Orhan Pamuk received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2006 “for finding new symbols for the clash and interweaving of cultures in search of the melancholy soul of his native city.” "My strange thoughts" - last novel author, which he worked on for six years. Main character, Mevlut, works on the streets of Istanbul, watching as the streets fill with new people and the city gains and loses new and old buildings. Before his eyes, coups take place, authorities change each other, and Mevlut still wanders the streets winter evenings, wondering what distinguishes him from other people, why he has strange thoughts about everything in the world, and who really is his beloved, to whom he has been writing letters for the last three years.
“Legends of our time. Occupation essays" Czeslaw Milosz
Czeslaw Miłosz is a Polish poet and essayist who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1980 “for showing with fearless clairvoyance the vulnerability of man in a world torn by conflict.” “Legends of Modernity” is the first translated into Russian “confession of the son of the century”, written by Milosz on the ruins of Europe in 1942–1943. It includes essays on outstanding literary (Defoe, Balzac, Stendhal, Tolstoy, Gide, Witkiewicz) and philosophical (James, Nietzsche, Bergson) texts, and polemical correspondence between C. Milosz and E. Andrzejewski. Exploring modern myths and prejudices, appealing to the tradition of rationalism, Milos tries to find a foothold for European culture humiliated by two world wars.
Photo: Getty Images, press service archive
The Nobel Prize for Literature began to be awarded in 1901. Several times the awards were not held - in 1914, 1918, 1935, 1940-1943. Current laureates, chairmen of authors' unions, literary professors and members of scientific academies can nominate other writers for the prize. Until 1950, information about the nominees was public, and then only the names of the laureates began to be named.
For five years in a row, from 1902 to 1906, Leo Tolstoy was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
In 1906, Tolstoy wrote a letter to the Finnish writer and translator Arvid Järnefelt, in which he asked him to persuade his Swedish colleagues to “try to ensure that I am not awarded this prize,” because “if this happened, it would be very unpleasant for me to refuse.”
As a result, the prize was awarded to the Italian poet Giosue Carducci in 1906. Tolstoy was glad that he was spared the prize: “Firstly, it saved me from a great difficulty - to manage this money, which, like any money, in my conviction, can only bring evil; and secondly, it gave me honor and great pleasure to receive expressions of sympathy from so many people, although unknown to me, but still deeply respected by me.”
In 1902, another Russian also ran for the prize: lawyer, judge, speaker and writer Anatoly Koni. By the way, Koni had been friends with Tolstoy since 1887, corresponded with the count and met with him many times in Moscow. “Resurrection” was written based on Koni’s memories of one of Tolstoy’s cases. And Koni himself wrote the work “Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy”.
Kony himself was nominated for the award for his biographical essay about Dr. Haase, who devoted his life to the struggle to improve the lives of prisoners and exiles. Subsequently, some literary scholars spoke of Kony’s nomination as a “curiosity.”
In 1914, the writer and poet Dmitry Merezhkovsky, the husband of the poetess Zinaida Gippius, was nominated for the prize for the first time. In total, Merezhkovsky was nominated 10 times.
In 1914, Merezhkovsky was nominated for a prize after the publication of his 24-volume collected works. However, this year the prize was not awarded due to the outbreak of the World War.
Later, Merezhkovsky was nominated as an emigrant writer. In 1930 he was again nominated for the Nobel Prize. But here Merezhkovsky turns out to be a competitor to another outstanding Russian literary emigrant - Ivan Bunin.
According to one legend, Merezhkovsky suggested that Bunin conclude a pact. “If I win the Nobel Prize, I will give you half, and if you win, you will give me half. Let's divide it in half. We will insure ourselves mutually." Bunin refused. Merezhkovsky was never given the prize.
In 1916, Ivan Franko, a Ukrainian writer and poet, became a nominee. He died before the award was considered. With rare exceptions, Nobel Prizes are not awarded posthumously.
In 1918, Maxim Gorky was nominated for the prize, but again it was decided not to present the award.
1923 becomes a “fruitful” year for Russian and Soviet writers. Ivan Bunin (for the first time), Konstantin Balmont (pictured) and again Maxim Gorky were nominated for the award. Thanks for this to the writer Romain Rolland, who nominated all three. But the prize is given to the Irishman William Gates.
In 1926, a Russian emigrant, the Tsarist Cossack General Pyotr Krasnov, became a nominee. After the revolution, he fought with the Bolsheviks, created the state of the All-Great Don Army, but later was forced to join Denikin’s army and then retire. In 1920 he emigrated and lived in Germany until 1923, then in Paris.
Since 1936, Krasnov lived in Nazi Germany. He did not recognize the Bolsheviks and helped anti-Bolshevik organizations. During the war years, he collaborated with the fascists and viewed their aggression against the USSR as a war exclusively against the communists, and not against the people. In 1945 he was captured by the British, handed over to the Soviets and in 1947 hanged in Lefortovo prison.
Among other things, Krasnov was a prolific writer, publishing 41 books. His most popular novel was the epic From the Double-Headed Eagle to the Red Banner. Krasnov was nominated for the Nobel Prize by Slavic philologist Vladimir Frantsev. Can you imagine if, by some miracle, he received the prize in 1926? How would people argue about this person and this award now?
In 1931 and 1932, in addition to the already familiar nominees Merezhkovsky and Bunin, Ivan Shmelev was nominated for the prize. In 1931, his novel “Bogomolye” was published.
In 1933, the Nobel Prize was awarded to a Russian-speaking writer for the first time, Ivan Bunin. The wording is “For the strict skill with which he develops the traditions of Russian classical prose.” Bunin didn’t really like the wording; he wanted more to be awarded for his poetry.
On YouTube you can find a very muddy video in which Ivan Bunin reads out his address on the occasion of the Nobel Prize.
After the news of receiving the prize, Bunin went to visit Merezhkovsky and Gippius. “Congratulations,” the poetess told him, “and I envy him.” Not everyone agreed with the decision of the Nobel committee. Marina Tsvetaeva, for example, wrote that much more bonus Gorky was worthy.
Bunin actually squandered the prize, 170,331 crowns. Poet and literary critic Zinaida Shakhovskaya recalled: “Having returned to France, Ivan Alekseevich... in addition to money, began to organize feasts, distribute “benefits” to emigrants, and donate funds to support various societies. Finally, on the advice of well-wishers, he invested the remaining amount in some “win-win business” and was left with nothing.”
In 1949, emigrant Mark Aldanov (pictured) and three Soviet writers - Boris Pasternak, Mikhail Sholokhov and Leonid Leonov - were nominated for the prize. The award was given to William Faulkner.
In 1958, Boris Pasternak received the Nobel Prize “for significant achievements in modern lyric poetry, as well as for continuing the traditions of the great Russian epic novel.”
Pasternak received the award, having previously been nominated six times. IN last time Albert Camus nominated him.
In the Soviet Union, the persecution of the writer immediately began. At the initiative of Suslov (pictured), the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee adopted a resolution, classified “Strictly Secret,” “On the slanderous novel by B. Pasternak.”
“Recognize that the award of the Nobel Prize to Pasternak’s novel, which slanderously portrays the October Socialist Revolution, Soviet people who carried out this revolution, and the construction of socialism in the USSR, is an act hostile towards our country and an instrument of international reaction aimed at inciting cold war", the resolution stated.
From Suslov’s note on the day the prize was awarded: “Organize and publish a collective speech by the most prominent Soviet writers, in which they evaluate the awarding of the prize to Pasternak as an attempt to ignite the Cold War.”
The writer was persecuted in newspapers and at numerous meetings. From the transcript of the all-Moscow meeting of writers: “There is no poet more distant from the people than B. Pasternak, a more aesthetic poet, in whose work the pre-revolutionary decadence preserved in its pristine purity would sound so clear. All poetic creativity B. Pasternak lay outside the true traditions of Russian poetry, which always warmly responded to all events in the life of its people.”
Writer Sergei Smirnov: “I was finally offended by this novel, as a soldier of the Patriotic War, as a person who had to cry over the graves of his fallen comrades during the war, as a person who now has to write about the heroes of the war, about the heroes of the Brest Fortress, about others wonderful war heroes who revealed the heroism of our people with amazing power.”
“Thus, comrades, the novel Doctor Zhivago, in my deep conviction, is an apology for betrayal.”
Critic Kornely Zelinsky: “I was left with a very difficult feeling from reading this novel. I felt literally spat upon. My whole life seemed to be spat upon in this novel. Everything that I put my energy into for 40 years, creative energy, hopes, hopes - all of it was spat on.”
Unfortunately, it wasn’t just mediocrity that attacked Pasternak. Poet Boris Slutsky (pictured): “A poet is obliged to seek recognition from his people, and not from their enemies. The poet must seek fame native land, and not from an overseas uncle. Gentlemen, the Swedish academicians know about Soviet land only that the Battle of Poltava, which they hated, and the October Revolution, which they hated even more, took place there (noise in the hall). What is our literature to them?
Writers' meetings were held throughout the country, at which Pasternak's novel was branded as slanderous, hostile, mediocre, etc. Rallies were held at factories against Pasternak and his novel.
From Pasternak’s letter to the presidium of the board of the Union of Writers of the USSR: “I thought that my joy at being awarded the Nobel Prize would not remain lonely, that it would affect the society of which I am a part. In my eyes, the honor shown to me to a modern writer, living in Russia and, therefore, Soviet, provided at the same time to the whole Soviet literature. I am saddened that I was so blind and mistaken.”
Under enormous pressure, Pasternak decided to refuse the prize. “Due to the importance that the award given to me has received in the society to which I belong, I must refuse it. Do not consider my voluntary refusal an insult,” he wrote in a telegram to the Nobel Committee. Until his death in 1960, Pasternak remained in disgrace, although he was not arrested or deported.
Nowadays they erect monuments to Pasternak, his talent is recognized. Then the hounded writer was on the verge of suicide. In the poem “Nobel Prize,” Pasternak wrote: “What kind of dirty trick have I done, / Am I a murderer and a villain? / I made the whole world cry / Over the beauty of my land.” After the publication of the poem abroad, the USSR Prosecutor General Roman Rudenko promised to prosecute Pasternak under the article “Treason to the Motherland.” But he didn't attract me.
In 1965, the Soviet writer Mikhail Sholokhov received the prize - “For the artistic strength and integrity of the epic about the Don Cossacks at a turning point for Russia.”
The Soviet authorities viewed Sholokhov as a “counterweight” to Pasternak in the fight for the Nobel Prize. In the 1950s, lists of nominees had not yet been published, but the USSR knew that Sholokhov was being considered as a possible contender. Through diplomatic channels, the Swedes were hinted that the USSR would have assessed the awarding of the prize to this Soviet writer extremely positively.
In 1964, the prize was awarded to Jean-Paul Sartre, but he refused it and expressed regret (among other things) that the prize was not awarded to Mikhail Sholokhov. This predetermined the decision of the Nobel Committee the following year.
During the presentation, Mikhail Sholokhov did not bow to King Gustav Adolf VI, who was presenting the prize. According to one version, this was done deliberately, and Sholokhov said: “We, Cossacks, do not bow to anyone. In front of the people, please, but I won’t do it in front of the king, that’s all...”
1970 was a new blow to the image of the Soviet state. The prize was awarded to dissident writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
Solzhenitsyn is the record holder for the speed of literary recognition. From the moment of the first publication to the award of the last prize, only eight years. No one could do this.
As in the case of Pasternak, Solzhenitsyn immediately began to be persecuted. A letter from a popular writer in the USSR appeared in the magazine Ogonyok. American singer Dean Reed, who convinced Solzhenitsyn that everything was fine in the USSR, but in the USA it was a complete mess.
Dean Reed: “After all, it’s America, not Soviet Union, wages wars and creates a tense environment of possible wars in order to enable its economy to operate, and our dictators, the military-industrial complex to acquire even more wealth and power from the blood of the Vietnamese people, our own American soldiers and all the freedom-loving peoples of the world! It’s my homeland that has a sick society, not yours, Mr. Solzhenitsyn!”
However, Solzhenitsyn, who went through prisons, camps and exile, was not too afraid of censure in the press. He continued his literary work and dissident work. The authorities hinted to him that it was better to leave the country, but he refused. Only in 1974, after the release of The Gulag Archipelago, Solzhenitsyn was deprived of Soviet citizenship and forcibly expelled from the country.
In 1987, the prize was received by Joseph Brodsky, at that time a US citizen. The prize was awarded “for comprehensive creativity, imbued with clarity of thought and passion of poetry.”
US citizen Joseph Brodsky wrote his Nobel speech in Russian. She became a part of him literary manifesto. Brodsky spoke more about literature, but there was also room for historical and political remarks. The poet, for example, put the regimes of Hitler and Stalin on the same level.
Brodsky: “This generation - the generation born precisely when the Auschwitz crematoria were operating at full capacity, when Stalin was at the zenith of God-like, absolute, nature itself, seemingly sanctioned power, came into the world, apparently, to continue what theoretically should have been interrupted in these crematoria and in the unmarked mass graves of the Stalinist archipelago.”
No Nobel Prize has been awarded since 1987 Russian writers. Among the contenders, Vladimir Sorokin (pictured), Lyudmila Ulitskaya, Mikhail Shishkin, as well as Zakhar Prilepin and Viktor Pelevin are usually named.
In 2015, the prize was sensationally received by the Belarusian writer and journalist Svetlana Alexievich. She wrote such works as "War has no woman's face", "Zinc Boys", "Enchanted by Death", "Chernobyl Prayer", "Second Hand Time" and others. Quite rare for last years an event when a prize was given to a person who writes in Russian.
