Herta Muller, Partial Text of Two Novels and Nobel Facts

Herta Müller, the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature “who, with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed” joins the women who have won that particular prize previously:

Women Nobel Laureates in Literature

11 other women have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Swedish author Selma Lagerlöf (1858-1940) was the first woman to be awarded in 1909. Selma Lagerlöf was awarded five years before she was elected to the Swedish Academy, the Nobel Prize-Awarding Institution responsible for selecting Nobel Laureates in Literature.

1909 – Selma Lagerlöf

1926 – Grazia Deledda

1928 – Sigrid Undset

1938 – Pearl Buck

1945 – Gabriela Mistral

1966 – Nelly Sachs

1991 – Nadine Gordimer

1993 – Toni Morrison

1996 – Wislawa Szymborska

2004 – Elfriede Jelinek

2007 – Doris Lessing (Ms. Lessing was 88 years old when she was awarded the Prize in 2007.)

Who did Nobel Laureates in Literature nominate?

The Swedish author August Strindberg (1849-1912) was nominated once in 1911 by Nathan Söderblom (but the nomination arrived too late and was retrieved).

The Austrian neurologist and founder of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) was nominated for 12 years for the Nobel Prize in Medicine. In 1929, the Nobel Committee for Medicine engaged an expert who came to the conclusion that a further investigation in Freud was not necessary, since Freud’s work was of no proven scientific value. What is less known, perhaps, is that Romain Rolland, Nobel Laureate in Literature 1915, and an acquaintance of Freud, nominated him for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1936.

Surprise Literature Laureate?

Many believe that Winston Churchill was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, but he was actually awarded the 1953 Nobel Prize in Literature. In fact, Churchill was nominated both for Literature and for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Facts on the Nobel Prize in Physics

Facts on the Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Facts on the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

Facts on the Nobel Peace Prize

Facts on the Prize in Economic Sciences

and Facts on Nobel Laureates

Nadirs and Traveling on One Leg