1934 Nobel Prize in Literature
 1934 Nobel Prize in Literature | |
|---|---|
| Luigi Pirandello | |
 "for his bold and ingenious revival of dramatic and scenic art." | |
| Date |
|
| Location | Stockholm, Sweden |
| Presented by | Swedish Academy |
| First awarded | 1901 |
| Website | Official website |
The 1934 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the Italian dramatist Luigi Pirandello (1867–1936) "for his bold and ingenious revival of dramatic and scenic art".[1] He is the third Italian recipient of the said prize.[2]
Laureate[edit]
Luigi Pirandello was an Italian playwright, prose writer and poet. Pirandello wrote over 100 short stories, 40 plays and seven novels, including The Late Mattia Pascal (1904). Regarded as a major figure in 20th century theatre, his plays explore psychology, the ego and identity issues and paved the way for absurd theatre in the 1950s. Pirandello's first major play Right You Are (if You Think You Are) (1917) explored his lifelong subject of the relativity of truth. In the experimental metaplay Six Characters in Search of an Author (1921) Pirandello contrasted art and life. It was followed by the tragedy Henry IV (1922). Other plays include Each in His Own Way (1924) and Tonight We Improvise (1930).[3][4]
Nominations[edit]
Luigi Pirandello was only nominated once for the Nobel Prize in Literature, in the year he was awarded.[5] Other nominated authors in 1934 included António Correia de Oliveira, Eugene O'Neill (awarded in 1936), Roger Martin du Gard (awarded in 1937), Frans Eemil Sillanpää (awarded in 1939), Johannes V. Jensen (awarded in 1944), Karel Capek, Kostis Palamas, Ramón Menéndez Pidal, Francisco García Calderón, Maria Madalena de Martel Patrício, Olav Duun and Upton Sinclair.[6]
Award ceremony speech[edit]
At the award ceremony on 10 December 1934, Per Hallström, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy said:
"The most remarkable feature of Pirandello’s art is his almost magical power to turn psychological analysis into good theatre. Usually the theatre requires human stereotypes; here the spirit is like a shadow, obscurity behind obscurity, and one cannot decide what is more or less central inside. Finally one racks his brains, for there is no centre. Everything is relative, nothing can be grasped completely, and yet the plays can sometimes seize, captivate, and charm even the great international public. This result is wholly paradoxical. As the author himself explained, it depends on the fact that his works «arise out of images taken from life which have passed through a filter of ideas and which hold me completely captive». It is the image which is fundamental, not, as many have believed, the abstract idea disguised afterwards by an image."[7]
References[edit]
- ^ "The Nobel Prize in Literature 1934". nobelprize.org.
- ^ "Luigi Pirandello wins Nobel Prize; Italian Playwright's General Contribution to Literature Is Basis of Award". The New York Times. 9 November 1934.
- ^ "Luigi Pirandello summary". britannica.com.
- ^ "Luigi Pirandello - Facts". nobelprize.org.
- ^ "Nomination archive Luigi Pirandello". nobelprize.org.
- ^ "Nomination archive 1934". nobelprize.org.>
- ^ "Award ceremony speech". nobelprize.org.