Imran Abdullah

Since the Swedish Academy began awarding the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1901, it has not stopped raising controversy and criticism over its choices and sponsors, but some of the award winners have also stirred much controversy following their announcement. The report reviews some of these writers and their positions such as the French philosopher Sartre and the American artist Dylan.

The famous Irish writer George Bernard Shaw refused to receive the Nobel Prize in 1925 for not convinced of its importance, and in his usual way he ridiculed them and its founder, but he retreated and accepted without taking cash and said that `` readers and my masses provide me with more than enough money for my needs. ''

Irish writer George Bernard Shaw mocked Nobel and his prize (Wikimedia Commons)

Sartre rejects the award
Paradoxically, renowned French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre abandoned writing literature in the last years of his life, arguing that "literature is the bourgeois end of true commitment to the world." The irony was that he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in October of the same year.He said he did not know the rules of the prize.He thought that by sending an apology letter to the Academy when it was circulated that he was nominated for the award, it would stop.

French existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre (Wikipedia)

But the famous existentialist philosopher later realized that the award was given without recourse to the opinion of the recipient.According to the files of the Swedish Academy which was released 50 years later, Sartre sent then saying that he "does not wish to be included in the list of winners of the award, neither in 1964 nor in the future. He will not be able to accept this award. "

Sartre said his reasons for rejecting the award were not for the Swedish Academy or the Nobel Prize itself, but he used to reject official honors and honors, including the "Chorus of Honor" in 1945 after World War II. He also believes that the writer should adopt political, social or literary positions only by his own means, ie the written word, adding that honoring puts his ideas to pressure does not want.

Dylan gets it
At the end of October 2016, American singer and poet Bob Dylan informed the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences that he would accept the Nobel Prize for Literature, becoming the first singer to receive the award.

Dylan, an American singer and songwriter, became famous with his artistic debut in the early 1960s, with some of his songs becoming symbols of protest movements among young people. He released many albums, most of which were successful, and his star grew brighter after his songs were linked to the protest movements that appeared in the early sixties of the last century.

By 1964, the famous singer had performed more than 200 concerts a year, and his songs, such as Ploen in the Wind, Masters of War and others, reflected the spirit of rebellion, opposition and independence.

"Dylan is a symbol of his profound influence in contemporary music," said the Swedish Academy, announcing Dylan's eight million crown prize (about $ 930,000). "He is probably the greatest poet alive," Swedish Academy member Per Westberg said, while Nobel Academy permanent secretary Sarah Danius told a news conference that there was "a great consensus" in the committee's decision to award Dylan the award.

The frequency of Russian writer
The 1970 Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to Soviet writer and dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn who did not attend the ceremony in Stockholm for fear that the Soviet Union would prevent his return, and his unpublished novel was smuggled into his home country to circulate in Europe.

But the story did not end there. Although the Swedish Academy chose him as the winner of the award, the Swedish government refused to hold an award ceremony and a lecture to receive the award at its embassy in Moscow as requested by the Soviet writer. Solzhenitsyn rejected the award in full, commenting that the conditions set by the Swedes - who They preferred a special ceremony - an "insult to the Nobel Prize itself."

But Solzhenitsyn retracted his position and accepted the prize on December 10, 1974 after the Soviet Union denied it. Some critics point out that he was awarded the prize because of his political stance, not because of the moral value of his work.

Tolstoy did not get it
The famous Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature every year from 1902 to 1906 but did not win, and in the first year of 1901 he was not nominated, which led to considerable controversy and criticism of the Swedish Academy, and in the first year went to French poet Sully Brodum, and the following year the German historian Theodor Moomsen.

It is reported that Tolstoy did not receive the award because of the reservations of the Swedish Academy to his political and religious positions, as well as against the background of Sweden's strained relationship with Russia at the time.

In 1901, 42 Swedish writers and writers, including August Strindberg, wrote a letter to Tolstoy, expressing their dissatisfaction with the decision.

Famous Russian writer Leo Tolstoy did not win the Nobel Prize (Pixabee)

Steinbeck doesn't deserve it
In 1962, American author John Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for his realistic and fictional writings that "combined humor and social compassion," according to the awarding committee. But the choice was strongly criticized and described as "one of the biggest mistakes of the Swedish Academy". The New York Times asked why the Nobel committee was awarded the prize, whose "limited talent - in his best books - ranks tenth."

Asked if he deserved the Nobel Prize on the day of the announcement, Steinbeck himself replied: "Frankly, no." In 2012 (50 years later, according to the rules of the prize), the Nobel Prize opened its archive and Steinbeck was revealed to be a "compromise option" from a shortlist of Steinbeck, British authors Robert Graves and Lawrence Dorel, French playwright Jean Anuellet, and Danish author Karen Blixen. .

The declassified documents showed that he was chosen as the best bad choice. "There is no clear candidate for the Nobel Prize and the Prize Committee is in an unenviable position," wrote the Swedish Academy member Henry Olsson.