It begins with the death of Alfred Nobel and the will that reaches the public. Most of the considerable legacy of dynamite millions would be donated to a foundation that would reward those who have benefited most for humanity during the year.
- It was a huge and unexpected price. The size of the donation became a world news at the time and when you commented on the Literature Prize it was the Swedish Academy that was aimed at, says the author Ingrid Carlberg.
Carlberg has taken on a mastodont task. She has taken root in the archives in Sweden and around the world - wherever Nobel left a trace. She draws a portrait of a passionate inventor and industrial magnate with author dreams.
- He wrote all his life. Poetry, novel attempts and theater plays. Most of the time he wrote for the desk. He bought books. He was passionately interested in literature, which explains the literature prize, she says.
The outside world was skepticalWhen the astonishing will gives the Academy the task of awarding the prize that will reward the foremost in literature, the skepticism of the world is aroused, and within the Academy there are those who doubt.
- It was an overwhelming task for the small academy in Sweden to take on all the world's literature suddenly. It all ended with the constant secretary Carl David af Wirsén convincing his members that they would receive even more criticism if they refused the award.
Interesting connectionsIf you look at the price history in the light of the events of the past year, you see interesting connections, Carlberg says.
- When it became known that the Academy would receive the award, it was warned that the Academy was considered to be known for intrigue and coterie service. It was something, they wrote, that Alfred Nobel had never appreciated.