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1971 Nobel Prize in Literature
Pablo Neruda
"for a poetry that with the action of an elemental force brings alive a continent's destiny and dreams."
Date	21 October 1971 (announcement) 10 December 1971 (ceremony)
Location	Stockholm, Sweden
Presented by	Swedish Academy
First awarded	1901
Website	Official website
← 1970 · Nobel Prize in Literature · 1972 →

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.

Laureate

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.

Deliberations

Nominations

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.

Official list of nominees and their nominators for the prize

No.	Nominee	Country	Genre(s)	Nominator(s)
1	Edward Albee (1928–2016)	United States	drama	Dieter Schaller (1929–2003)
2	Jorge Amado (1912–2001)	Brazil	novel, short story	Laurent Versini (1932–2021)
3	Jerzy Andrzejewski (1909–1983)	Poland	novel, short story	Eeva Kilpi (born 1928)
4	Louis Aragon (1897–1982)	France	novel, short story, poetry, essays	Jean Gaudon (1926–2019)
5	José María Arguedas (1911–1969) (posthumous nomination)	Peru	novel, short story, poetry, essays	Elie Poulenard (1901-1985)
6	Wystan Hugh Auden (1907–1973)	United Kingdom  United States	poetry, essays, screenplay	Erik Frykman (1905–1980) Barbara Hardy (1924–2016)
7	Riccardo Bacchelli (1891–1985)	Italy	novel, drama, essays	Giacomo Devoto (1897–1974) Beniamino Segre (1903–1977)
8	James Baldwin (1924–1987)	United States	novel, short story, essays, poetry, drama	Jacob Louis Mey (1926–2023)
9	Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay (1898–1971)	India	novel, short story, drama, essays, autobiography, songwriting	Krishna Kripalani (1907–1992)
10	Mykola Bazhan (1904–1983)	Ukraine	poetry, essays	Omeljan Pritsak (1919–2006)
11	Saul Bellow (1915–2005)	Canada  United States	novel, short story, memoir, essays	Jara Ribnikar (1912–2007)
12	Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986)	Argentina	poetry, essays, translation, short story	Manuel Durán (1925–2020) Yakov Malkiel (1914–1998) Andri Peer (1921–1985) Heinrich Bihler (1918–2017) Christopher Ricks (born 1933) Raimundo Lida (1908–1979)
13	Jawad Boulos (1900–1982)	Lebanon	history, essays	Camille Aboussouan (1919–2013)
14	Heinrich Böll (1917–1985)	West Germany	novel, short story	Karl Theodor Hyldgaard-Jensen (1917–1995) Herbert Morgan Waidson (1916–1988) Gustav Korlén (1915–2014)
15	Michel Butor (1926–2016)	France	poetry, novel, essays, translation	Karl Ragnar Gierow (1904–1982)
16	Elias Canetti (1905–1994)	Bulgaria  United Kingdom	novel, drama, memoir, essays	Keith Spalding (1913–2002)
17	Alejo Carpentier (1904–1980)	Cuba	novel, short story, essays	Henri Peyre (1901–1988)
18	Lord David Cecil (1902–1986)	United Kingdom	biography, history, essays	Leslie Poles Hartley (1895–1972)
19	Aimé Césaire (1913–2008)	Martinique	poetry, drama, essays	Karl Ragnar Gierow (1904–1982)
20	André Chamson (1900–1983)	France	novel, essays	Giannēs Koutsocheras (1904–1994) Guy Nairay (1914–1999) Armand Lunel (1892–1977) Pierre Emmanuel (1916–1984) Wladimir d'Ormesson (1888–1973) Marcel Achard (1899–1974)
21	Fazıl Hüsnü Dağlarca (1914–2008)	Turkey	poetry	Yaşar Nabi Nayır (1908–1981)
22	Tsendiin Damdinsüren (1908–1986)	Mongolia	poetry, essays, novel, translation	Walther Heissig (1913–2005)
23	Salvador de Madariaga (1886–1978)	Spain	essays, history, law, novel	Kazimir Geza Werner (1900–1985)
24	Henry de Montherlant (1895–1972)	France	essays, novel, drama	Anders Österling (1884–1981)
25	Paul Demiéville (1894–1979)	Switzerland  France	essays, translation	Martin Gimm (born 1930)
26	Lawrence Durrell (1912–1990)	United Kingdom	novel, short story, poetry, drama, essays	Haydn Trevor Mason (1929–2018)
27	Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921–1990)	Switzerland	drama, novel, short story, essays	Werner Betz (1912–1980) Karl Siegfried Guthke (born 1933)
28	Rabbe Enckell (1903–1974)	Finland	short story, poetry	Carl-Eric Thors (1920–1986) Eyvind Johnson (1900–1976)
29	Salvador Espriu (1913–1985)	Spain	drama, novel, poetry	Manuel Durán (1925–2020) Antoni Comas (1931–1981)
30	Romain Gary (1914–1980)	Lithuania  France	novel, essays, literary criticism, screenplay	Walther Hinz (1906–1992)
31	Maurice Genevoix (1890–1980)	France	novel, essays	Yves Gandon (1899–1975)
32	William Golding (1911–1993)	United Kingdom	novel, poetry, drama, essays	Inna Koskenniemi (1923–1995) Meta Mayne Reid (1905–1991)
33	Günter Grass (1927–2015)	West Germany	novel, drama, poetry, essays	Henry Caraway Hatfield (1912–1995) Erich Ruprecht (1906–1997) Lauri Seppänen (1924–2009) Manfred Windfuhr (born 1930)
34	Graham Greene (1904–1991)	United Kingdom	novel, short story, autobiography, essays	Mary Renault (1905–1983)
35	Jorge Guillén (1893–1984)	Spain	poetry, literary criticism	Manuel Durán (1925–2020) Andri Peer (1921–1985)
36	Paavo Haavikko (1931–2008)	Finland	poetry, drama, essays	Eeva Kilpi (born 1928)
37	William Heinesen (1900–1991)	Faroe Islands	poetry, short story, novel	Sven Møller Kristensen (1909–1991) Dag Strömbäck (1900–1978) Arthur Arnholtz (1901–1973)
38	Vladimír Holan (1905–1980)	Czechoslovakia	poetry, essays	Eyvind Johnson (1900–1976)
39	Eugène Ionesco (1909–1994)	Romania  France	drama, essays	Karl Ragnar Gierow (1904–1982)
40	Roman Jakobson (1896–1982)	Russia  United States	essays	Jean Dubois (1920–2015)
41	Eyvind Johnson (1900–1976)	Sweden	novel, short story	Pär Lagerkvist (1891–1974)
42	Younghill Kang (1898–1972)	North Korea  United States	novel, memoir, drama	Robert Payne (1911–1983)
43	Erich Kästner (1899–1974)	West Germany	poetry, screenplay, autobiography	Kazimir Geza Werner (1900–1985)
44	Richard Eun Kook Kim (1932–2009)	North Korea  United States	novel, short story	Baek Cheol (1908-1985)
45	Arthur Koestler (1905–1983)	Hungary  United Kingdom	novel, autobiography, essays	Georges Matoré (1908–1998)
46	Miroslav Krleža (1893–1981)	Croatia  Yugoslavia	poetry, drama, short story, novel, essays	Gunnar Jacobsson (1918–2001)
47	Karl Krolow (1915–1999)	West Germany	poetry, essays, translation	Emil Ernst Ploss (1925–1972)
48	Philip Larkin (1922–1985)	United Kingdom	poetry, novel, essays	Jørgen Læssøe (1924–1993)
49	Siegfried Lenz (1926–2014)	West Germany	novel, short story, essays, drama	Karl Ragnar Gierow (1904–1982)
50	Väinö Linna (1920–1992)	Finland	novel	Eeva Kilpi (born 1928) Eyvind Johnson (1900–1976)
51	Compton Mackenzie (1883–1972)	United Kingdom	novel, short story, drama, poetry, history, biography, essays, literary criticism, memoir	Magne Oftedal (1921–1985)
52	Archibald MacLeish (1892–1982)	United States	poetry, essays, drama, law	William Scovil Anderson (1927–2022)
53	Hugh MacLennan (1907–1990)	Canada	novel, essays	Lawrence Lande (1906–1998)
54	André Malraux (1901–1976)	France	novel, essays, literary criticism	Ernest Lee Tuveson (1915–1996) Kauko Aatos Ojala (1919–1987) Lloyd James Austin (1915–1994) Henri Peyre (1901–1988) John Henry Raleigh (1920–2001)
55	Jacques Maritain (1882–1973)	France	philosophy	Charles Dédéyan (1910–2003)
56	Harry Martinson (1904–1978)	Sweden	poetry, novel, drama, essays	Arthur Arnholtz (1901–1973)
57	Miquel Melendres i Rué (1905–1974)	Spain	essays, theology, poetry, memoir	Antoni Griera (1887–1973)
58	Arthur Miller (1915–2005)	United States	drama, screenplay, essays	Petronella O'Flanagan (?) Andri Peer (1921–1985)
59	Vilhelm Moberg (1898–1973)	Sweden	novel, drama, history	Anders Österling (1884–1981)
60	Eugenio Montale (1896–1981)	Italy	poetry, translation	Carlo Bo (1911–2001) Marco Scovazzi (1923–1971) Uberto Limentani (1913–1989) Paul Renucci (1915–1976) Lanfranco Caretti (1915–1995) Henri Peyre (1901–1988)
61	Alberto Moravia (1907–1990)	Italy	novel, literary criticism, essays, drama	Aimo Sakari (1911–2001) Jacques Robichez (1914–1999)
62	Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)	Russia  United States	novel, short story, poetry, drama, translation, literary criticism, memoir	Jens Pauli Heinesen (1932–2011) Bernard Tervoort (1920–2006)
63	Mikhail Naimy (1889–1988)	Lebanon	poetry, drama, short story, novel, autobiography, literary criticism	I. Bassalo (?) Toufic Fahd (1923–2009)
64	Pablo Neruda (1904–1973)	Chile	poetry	Henri Peyre (1901–1988) Josephine Miles (1911–1985)
65	Fritiof Nilsson Piraten (1895–1972)	Sweden	short story, novel, essays, law	Bertil Ejder (1916–2005)
66	Ezra Pound (1885–1972)	United States	poetry, essays	Hans Galinsky (1909–1991)
67	Evaristo Ribera Chevremont (1890–1976)	Puerto Rico	poetry	Ernesto Juan Fonfrías (1909–1990)
68	Yannis Ritsos (1909–1990)	Greece	poetry, songwriting	Eyvind Johnson (1900–1976) Per Wästberg (b. 1933)
69	Alain Robbe-Grillet (1922–2008)	France	novel, short story, essays, screenplays	Henry Olsson (1896–1985)
70	Tadeusz Rózewicz (1921–2014)	Poland	poetry, drama, translation	Gunnar Jacobsson (1918–2001)
71	Hans Ruin (1891–1980)	Finland  Sweden	philosophy	Arthur Arnholtz (1901–1973)
72	Georges Schéhadé (1905–1989)	Lebanon	poetry, drama, novel	Camille Aboussouan (1919–2013)
73	Arno Schmidt (1914–1979)	West Germany	novel, short story, biography, essays	Lars Gyllensten (1921–2006)
74	Léopold Sédar Senghor (1906–2001)	Senegal	poetry, essays	Karl Ragnar Gierow (1904–1982)
75	Robert Shih (1926–1983)	China	essays	Étienne Lamotte (1903–1983)
76	Claude Simon (1913–2005)	France	novel, essays	Henry Olsson (1896–1985)
77	Charles Percy Snow (1905–1980)	United Kingdom	novel, essays	Sylvère Monod (1921–2006)
78	Zaharia Stancu (1902–1974)	Romania	poetry, novel, philosophy, essays	Karl Ragnar Gierow (1904–1982)
79	Marie Under (1883–1980)	Estonia	poetry	Algirdas Landsbergis (1924–2004)
80	Simon Vestdijk (1898–1971)	Netherlands	novel, poetry, essays, translation	Karl Ragnar Gierow (1904–1982)
81	José García Villa (1908–1997)	Philippines  United States	poetry, essays	Alejandro Roces (1924–2011) Pacita Habana (died 2016) professors from Far Eastern University
82	Gerard Walschap (1898–1989)	Belgium	novel, drama, essays	Richard Declerck (1899–1986) William Pée (1903–1986) Marcel Coole (1913–2000)
83	Mika Waltari (1908–1979)	Finland	short story, novel, poetry, drama, essays, screenplay	Inna Koskenniemi (1923–1995)
84	Sándor Weöres (1913–1989)	Hungary	poetry, translation	Áron Kibédi Varga (1930–2018)
85	Patrick White (1912–1990)	Australia	novel, short story, drama, poetry, autobiography	Esko Pennanen (1912–1990) Leslie Rees (1905–2000)
86	Elie Wiesel (1928–2016)	Romania  United States	memoir, essays, novel, drama	Gerd Høst-Heyerdahl (1915–2007)
87	Thornton Wilder (1897–1975)	United States	drama, novel, short story	Wolfgang Clemen (1909–1990) Julián Marías (1914–2005) William Summers Anderson (1919–2021)
88	Tennessee Williams (1911–1983)	United States	drama, novel, screenplay, short story, poetry	Kazimir Geza Werner (1900–1985)
89	Henry Williamson (1895–1977)	United Kingdom	novel, short story	Petronella O'Flanagan (?)
90	Angus Wilson (1913–1991)	United Kingdom	novel, short story, essays	Gerhard Nickel (1928–2015)
91	Carl Zuckmayer (1896–1977)	West Germany	drama, screenplay	Herbert Penzl (1910–1995) Alexander Lernet-Holenia (1897–1976)

Prize Decision

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.

Reactions

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."

Nobel lecture

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."

References

1. "Nobel Prize in Literature 1971". nobelprize.org.
2. Pablo Neruda – Facts nobelprize.org
3. Pablo Neruda britannica.com
4. Pablo Neruda poetryfoundation.org
5. ^ Alison Flood (5 January 2022). "Nobel winner Pablo Neruda was almost denied prize because of odes to Stalin". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 May 2022.
6. ^ Nomination archive – 1971
7. ^ Schueler, Kaj (3 January 2022). "Han fick Nobelpris trots "kommunistpropaganda"". Svenska Dagbladet.
8. ^ John L. Hess (October 22, 1971). "Neruda, Chilean Poet-Politician, Wins Nobel Prize in Literature". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
9. Nobel lecture nobelprize.org

External links

• Award Ceremony speech nobelprize.org
• Nobel diploma nobelprize.org
• Banquet speech nobelprize.org

v t e Laureates of the Nobel Prize in Literature
1901–1920	1901: Sully Prudhomme 1902: Theodor Mommsen 1903: Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson 1904: Frédéric Mistral / José Echegaray 1905: Henryk Sienkiewicz 1906: Giosuè Carducci 1907: Rudyard Kipling 1908: Rudolf Eucken 1909: Selma Lagerlöf 1910: Paul Heyse 1911: Maurice Maeterlinck 1912: Gerhart Hauptmann 1913: Rabindranath Tagore 1914 1915: Romain Rolland 1916: Verner von Heidenstam 1917: Karl Gjellerup / Henrik Pontoppidan 1918 1919: Carl Spitteler 1920: Knut Hamsun
1921–1940	1921: Anatole France 1922: Jacinto Benavente 1923: W. B. Yeats 1924: Władysław Reymont 1925: George Bernard Shaw 1926: Grazia Deledda 1927: Henri Bergson 1928: Sigrid Undset 1929: Thomas Mann 1930: Sinclair Lewis 1931: Erik Axel Karlfeldt (posthumously) 1932: John Galsworthy 1933: Ivan Bunin 1934: Luigi Pirandello 1935 1936: Eugene O'Neill 1937: Roger Martin du Gard 1938: Pearl S. Buck 1939: Frans Eemil Sillanpää 1940
1941–1960	1941 1942 1943 1944: Johannes V. Jensen 1945: Gabriela Mistral 1946: Hermann Hesse 1947: André Gide 1948: T. S. Eliot 1949: William Faulkner 1950: Bertrand Russell 1951: Pär Lagerkvist 1952: François Mauriac 1953: Winston Churchill 1954: Ernest Hemingway 1955: Halldór Laxness 1956: Juan Ramón Jiménez 1957: Albert Camus 1958: Boris Pasternak 1959: Salvatore Quasimodo 1960: Saint-John Perse
1961–1980	1961: Ivo Andrić 1962: John Steinbeck 1963: Giorgos Seferis 1964: Jean-Paul Sartre (declined award) 1965: Mikhail Sholokhov 1966: Shmuel Yosef Agnon / Nelly Sachs 1967: Miguel Ángel Asturias 1968: Yasunari Kawabata 1969: Samuel Beckett 1970: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 1971: Pablo Neruda 1972: Heinrich Böll 1973: Patrick White 1974: Eyvind Johnson / Harry Martinson 1975: Eugenio Montale 1976: Saul Bellow 1977: Vicente Aleixandre 1978: Isaac Bashevis Singer 1979: Odysseas Elytis 1980: Czesław Miłosz
1981–2000	1981: Elias Canetti 1982: Gabriel García Márquez 1983: William Golding 1984: Jaroslav Seifert 1985: Claude Simon 1986: Wole Soyinka 1987: Joseph Brodsky 1988: Naguib Mahfouz 1989: Camilo José Cela 1990: Octavio Paz 1991: Nadine Gordimer 1992: Derek Walcott 1993: Toni Morrison 1994: Kenzaburō Ōe 1995: Seamus Heaney 1996: Wisława Szymborska 1997: Dario Fo 1998: José Saramago 1999: Günter Grass 2000: Gao Xingjian
2001–2020	2001: V. S. Naipaul 2002: Imre Kertész 2003: J. M. Coetzee 2004: Elfriede Jelinek 2005: Harold Pinter 2006: Orhan Pamuk 2007: Doris Lessing 2008: J. M. G. Le Clézio 2009: Herta Müller 2010: Mario Vargas Llosa 2011: Tomas Tranströmer 2012: Mo Yan 2013: Alice Munro 2014: Patrick Modiano 2015: Svetlana Alexievich 2016: Bob Dylan 2017: Kazuo Ishiguro 2018: Olga Tokarczuk 2019: Peter Handke 2020: Louise Glück
2021–present	2021: Abdulrazak Gurnah 2022: Annie Ernaux 2023: Jon Fosse 2024: Han Kang

• Nobel Prize in Literature by year
• Pablo Neruda
• 1971 literary awards