Nobel in Lit

Topping Shakespeare?
Aspects of the Nobel Prize for Literature

by Professor Sture Alln
The Swedish Academy, Sweden
One of the many subjects treated vituperatively by August Strindberg in his "Addresses to the Swedish Nation", 1910, was
the choice in 1901 of the rst Nobel Laureate in literature, Sully Prudhomme: "Moreover, the prizewinner should have
written ideally (later tampered with to make it idealistically, which is something else), but he was a materialist and had
translated Lucretius." Strindberg goes on to state that the prize was awarded to Prudhomme "contrary to statutes and
will".
What Strindberg is referring to is the fact that Alfred Nobel had stipulated in his will in 1895 that the Nobel prize for
literature should be awarded to the person who had produced "the most outstanding work in an ideal direction". As a
contemporary of Nobel, Strindberg is most likely right when he points out that the adjective idealistic is something else
than the adjective ideal and incompatible with the will. But he does not say what the dierence is. The question of the
meaning of the adjective ideal as used by Nobel - considered strange or even anomalous - has been discussed for almost
a hundred years and many interpretations have been proposed. As Kjell Espmark puts it in his book The Nobel Prize in
Literature. A Study of the Criteria behind the Choices, 1991: "Indeed, the history of the literature prize is in some ways a
series of attempts to interpret an imprecisely worded will."
Nobel provided us with ve criteria. Three of them are of a general type, valid for all the ve prizes, and two are
specically designed for the literary prize. (1) "to those who ... shall have conferred the greatest benet on mankind". This
is the basic criterion, introduced in the very rst sentence of the relevant paragraph in the will. (2) "during the preceding
year". For obvious reasons, this is interpreted in such a way that the writer shall be alive at the moment of nomination -
no room for Shakespeare - and the oeuvre shall be of current interest. (3) "no consideration whatever shall be given to the
nationality of the candidates". This was a far-sighted criterion although not in keeping with the national romanticism of
the late 19th century. In the last decade or so it has been possible for it to apply extensively. (4) "to the person who shall
have produced ... the most outstanding work". It goes without saying that this means literary excellence. (5) "in an ideal
direction". In accordance with a philological analysis, including an investigation of an amendmentin the handwritten will,
this means 'in a direction towards an ideal', where the domain of the ideal is indicated by the rst criterion above.
With the conservative permanent secretary Carl David af Wirsn setting the trend, the discussion in the Academy during
the rst Nobel years led to an idealistic reading of the will in spite of balancing contributions from Esaias Tegnr and
others. This was accomplished in the spirit of the Swedish philosopher Christopher Jacob Bostrm, the German aesthete
Friedrich Theodor Vischer, advocating ideal realism, and with them, then, Wirsn. No doubt, this is what Strindberg had
noticed and turned against.
The attitude of the Academy is, of course, reected in the history of prize citations. Almost every third prize citation in the
rst three decades makes use of words like idealistical(ly) in one way or another.
However, other aspects gradually came to the fore. Using available sources, like reports and correspondence, Kjell
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Topping Shakespeare? Aspects of the Nobel Prize for Literature 8/18/2014 3:10 AM
Espmark has investigated, in the book I mentioned, the criteria behind the choices. His informative study has disclosed a
sequence of notions underlying the decisions in dierent periods, such as literary neutralism (in the days of the First
World War, incidentally favouring Scandinavian writers), the great style (in the wake of Goethe), universal interest (as
opposed to national or restricted in some other way), pioneers (recognizing innovative and exclusive writing), and a
pragmative attitude (drawing attention to a signicant but unknown writer, since none is best where there is no common
measure). Thus, these are dierent types of internal arguments used in prize discussions over the years.
The external citations, on the other hand, form an ocial source of information, making up the Academy's explicit
statements of motives. A study of these reveals, quite naturally, some reections of the underlying arguments just
exemplied. However, these reections are not abundant and the picture is somewhat complex. Still, a number of
recurrent arguments can be observed.
By far the most common element in the prize citations is a reference to the writer's native country or, sometimes,
continent. This applies to more than one out of three citations, from Grazia Deledda's plastic picture of life on her native
island Sardinia, Anatole France's Gallic temperament and Yasunari Kawabata's great sensibility expressing the essence
of the Japanese mind, to Toni Morrison's visionary force giving life to an essential aspect of American reality and Pablo
Neruda's elemental force that brings alive a continent's destiny and dreams.
Especially in the early days, and in any case no later than Sholokhov's "epic of the Don" in the citation of 1965, the
Academy often pointed out a single work as the main reason for the prize. The other eight books mentioned in this way
are Mommsen's A History of Rome, Spitteler's Olympian Spring, Hamsun's Growth of the Soil, Reymont's The Peasants,
Thomas Mann's Buddenbrooks, Galsworthy's The Forsyte Saga, Martin du Gard's Les Thibault, and Hemingway's The
Old Man and the Sea.
Only once is a laureate referred to, in the prize citations, as a pioneer: T. S. Eliot. But Pirandello is praised for his bold and
ingenious revival of dramatic and scenic art, and Faulkner for his artistically unique contribution to the modern American
novel. In addition, Hemingway and Sartre are credited with the inuence they have exerted.
Conversely, Benavente was awarded for the happy manner in which he had continued the illustrious traditions of the
Spanish drama. In the same vein, Bunin, Pasternak, and Solzhenitsyn were cited for having pursued the classical/great
/indispensable traditions of Russian literature.
The notion most often brought out in the last fty years - a dozen times since Gide 1947 - is the depiction of human
conditions. This is found in the lines to, e.g., Beckett, whose writing acquires its elevation in the destitution of modern
man; to Singer, who brings universal human conditions to life; to Golding, whose novels illuminate the human condition
in the world today, as well as to Oe, whose citation mentions his disconcerting picture of the human predicament.
Today, I think it is fair to say, there is a drift back to the will in the light of the eorts of the past. As an example, consider
the prize citation for Nadine Gordimer: "who through her magnicent epic writing has - in the words of Alfred Nobel -
been of very great benet to humanity".
Due to the ecient administration of Nobel's fortune by the Nobel Foundation, our Academy has sucient resources to
engage a network of experts for reports from any cultural sphere. Those who are entitled to nominate candidates and
take advantage of this prerogative form another international network. But the basis of the evaluation process is the
reading done by the members of the Academy. Priorities are of course subjective, but they emerge from the group's vast
experience and are tested in thorough discussions at the sessions. The members are well aware of the fact that the
reputation of the Nobel Prize rests on the list of laureates.
In an essay in Scientic American, October 1994, Marvin Minsky makes the following comment: "As a species, we seem to
have reached a plateau in our intellectual development. There is no sign that we are getting smarter. Was Albert Einstein
a better scientist than Isaac Newton or Archimedes? Has any playwright in recent years topped William Shakespeare or
Euripides?" His answer is no and it does not satisfy him. We ought to nd ways to transcend our intellectual limits. This
can be done, he thinks, by engineering replacement bodies and brains using nanotechnology. An option will be
immortality.
At the rst stage, researchers will invent electronic devices and connect them to our brains through large numbers of
microscopic electrodes, thereby increasing brain capacity. In the end, however, they will nd ways to replace each part of
the brain. In doing so, we will be making ourselves into machines, Minsky observes. These new intelligent machines he
prefers to call our "mind-children", following Hans Moravec in Mind Children: The Future of Robot and Human
Intelligence,1988. Since chips are millions of times faster than brain cells, "mind-children" could be designed to think very
much faster than we do. Minsky calculates that to such an entity half a minute might seem as long as one of our years
and each hour as long as an entire human lifetime.
Topping Shakespeare? Well, although it is not a prerequisite you would be most welcome. As for robots, I do not expect
any real competition. By the way, would a machine appreciate a prize? Let us rejoice in the wisdom of Wislawa
Szymborska, the Nobel Laureate of 1996, in her "Notes from a nonexistent Himalayan expedition":
We've inherited hope -
the gift of forgetting.
You'll see how we give
birth among the ruins.
Yeti, we've got Shakespeare there.
Yeti, we play solitaire
and violin. At nightfall,
we turn lights on, Yeti.
Interpretations
The Danish literary critic Georg Brandes states in a letter that he had asked one of Nobel's friends what Nobel might have
meant. The answer given was that Nobel was an anarchist and that by idealistic he meant 'adopting a polemical or critical
attitude to religion, royalty, marriage, social order in general'. Of this it may rst be said that a comment on idealistic is all
very well, but the word at issue here is ideal. Nonetheless, it seems to suggest that Nobel took an independent stand.
Anders sterling, a former permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, was inclined to emphasize the role played by
Shelley's utopian idealism in what he called "Nobel's practical idealism". According to him, Nobel was referring to a work
of a positive and humanistic tendency. He added that only the very broadest interpretation would be of any use.
The Swedish scholar Gunnar Brandell has pointed out that the contents of Nobel's library do not suggest that he was
particularly inuenced by Shelley. Brandell doubts whether it will ever be possible to ascertain what Nobel meant. For his
part he still ventures the guess that, by linking the prize for literature to the other international prizes, Nobel specically
wished to make a contribution to international understanding through literature.
Artur Lundkvist, a former member of the Academy, once gave the following answer to an interviewer's question: "The
prize should have an idealistic tendency; it should represent humanism. It cannot be awarded to those who advocate
violence." It may be noted that Lundkvist does not conne himself to purely literary production; he is referring to writers'
views taken as a whole.
Lars Gyllensten, a former permanent secretary of the Academy, writes that one must refrain from attempting a detailed
analysis of the phrase in question. In his view, it suces to say that serious, high quality literature generally furthers our
knowledge of mankind and the human condition and strives to enrich our lives and improve the conditions under which
we live.
The most recent comments on this issue are to be found in the third volume of Torgny Segerstedt's great work The
Swedish Academy from a Contemporary Perspective, 1992. Segerstedt, a member of the Academy, points out that the
prizes for science and peace indicate that Nobel wished to encourage progress towards reconciliation and cooperation
between peoples. Hence, he intended the prize for literature to inspire authors to bring alive and render attractive the
ideals which we could attain thanks to scientic progress if only we wanted to. Alfred Nobel could be regarded as a
radical ethical idealist.
Analysis
Since Strindberg marks so clearly a semantic dierence between the two adjectives ideal and idealistic, the idea presents
itself to try to ascertain how he himself used them. A national edition of Strindberg's works is well under way and the
texts are available in the computerized Language Bank at Gteborg University. Inspecting this material, we soon get a
very interesting picture of Strindberg's repertoire. I quote some of the relevant instances.
"They were excellent youths, ideally inclined, as it was called, with good intentions and a passion for unknown obscure
ideals. - - - Among them was a sensitive youth who retained his passion for all the old ideals but most of all Heine ..." (The
Son of a Servant, 1886.) In this specimen, it can be observed that the adjective ideal refers to ideals, one of them pointed
out as Heine, the poet.
"As far as I am able to understand, Nora [in Ibsen's A Doll's House] oers herself in return for cash payment. After all, it is
ideal and pleasurable. And all naturally for the love of her husband. To save him!" (Getting Married, 1884.) - "Society had
now reached the pinnacle or the ideal of absurdity. Good was despised and bad honoured. - - - But it was life in the towns
that developed most ideally. - - - The ideal way of building also contributed a great deal to this ... only a few of the
inhabitants had light rooms." (Swedish Destinies and Adventures, 1883.) These two passages are examples of
Strindberg's use, in an ironical context, of the same sense as in the previous specimen.
"On the rst of September this year I submit ve new original works. A tragedy two comedies two proverbs. Could also be
submitted earlier. A cast of only eight: an old woman a wife two girls (blonde and brunette) an old man you a lover (ideal)
a ditto (real, ugly)". (Letter to August Lindberg, 1887.) Here the ideal evoked is the opposite of real (Swedish realisk) in
juxtaposition with ugly.
"Christopher Jacob Bostrm was an oce philosopher, a 'speculative philosopher from Pite', who had imprisoned
himself in a philosophical system dating back to Plato's idealistic view of life." (Addresses to the Swedish Nation, 1910.)
This is an example of the use of idealistic in the ordinary philosophical sense.
"This idealistic perception of the kingdom by divine right, which had been construed as if the monarch were above all
human laws and only answered to God's supreme court, was sown among my contemporaries and fostered a slavish,
servile breed of secondary planets, who derived a modicum of power from above and thereby forgot that they were
servants." (Addresses to the Swedish Nation, 1910.) In this case idealistic refers to a conservative outlook on life and
society, although with a philosophical background. The examples given make it obvious that both adjectives belonged to
Strindberg's active vocabulary and that they conveyed distinctly dierent meanings.
There are equivalent examples in other writers, among them Carl Adolph Agardh, who in 1857 wrote the following
passage: "If one does not regard the Christian code of morality as ideal, that is to say, as representing a far-o end, which
we should endeavour to approach, then it is not possible to understand what is meant by such a code." (Collected Works,
1.) Here the adjective is given an explicitly stated meaning, approximately 'referring to an end'.
An interesting parallel can be found in another book by Strindberg: "But the reformation came, ruthless, practical,
material [Swedish materialisk], successful; the idolators (as they were called) were overthrown and the temple stripped of
precious metals in particular, since wooden engravings and carvings did remain in many a place unto these times and
remain there to this day." (The New Nation, 1882.) The adjective material is used here in the sense 'referring to material',
forming an analogue to ideal (and real mentioned above).
It is evident that, in Nobel's time, the adjective ideal 'referring to an ideal' was used by several people as a natural element
in their phrasing. Also notice Strindberg's remark about the young men in one of the examples above that they were
ideally inclined "as it was called". This metalinguistic statement refers to the usage of the time in an interesting way. Thus,
it is not as surprising as has been thought to nd the pertinent word in the will.
Amendment
It so happens that the word under discussion is the result of an amendment made by Nobel in his handwritten will. The
last two letters of the Swedish word idealisk - i.e., sk - have been superimposed on other characters. This aroused my
curiosity - perhaps the original letters could also shed some light on the matter.
I made several attempts to make out the word as it had originally been written, using the naked eye, but soon resolved to
consult a forensic expert. Jan-Erik Karlsson was kind enough to assist me. By means of various optical methods he was
rst able to ascertain that all the ink in the area examined was of the same type. Using microscopy, contrast
enhancement, and a comparison of characters, he concluded that the original word was idealirad. He ended his analysis
with the observation that some people may omit letters, syllables or entire words when they write, perhaps because their
thoughts run ahead of their pen.
However, this string of characters does not belong to the Swedish language and it may readily be understood that Nobel
wanted to make a change. The word which occurred to him at the moment of writing was in all likelihood idealiserad
(English idealized). Why did he not change the word accordingly in that case? I am inclined to believe that he was not
satised with idealiserad - perhaps it was his pondering of this that caused his misspelling - but wanted to use a word
emphasizing loftiness without such an obvious reference to embellishment. Thus, with a few swift strokes of the pen he
wrote sk over the nal letters rad, changing the string to the disputed word idealisk.
In linguistics, a distinction is usually made between classifying adjectives and characterizing adjectives. Examples of
classifying adjectives are orthographic 'referring to orthography' as in orthographic reform and physical 'referring to
physics' as in physical experiment. Characterizing adjectives, on the other hand, include doughy 'being like dough' and
blackguardly 'being like a blackguard'. In my view, idealisk is used by Nobel, as well as by Strindberg and Agardh, as a
classifying adjective, that is to say it means 'referring to an ideal'.
The solution would thus appear to be that Nobel's phrase in an ideal direction means 'in a direction towards an ideal'. The
sphere of the ideal is in turn indicated by the fundamental criterion for all the Nobel Prizes, namely that they are to be
awarded to those who "shall have conferred the greatest benet on mankind". This means, for instance, that writings,
however brilliant, that advocate, say, genocide, do not comply with the will.
It has been asked how it may be determined whether one kind of literature is more ideal than another. There is no need
to make comparisons of this kind, however. Classifying adjectives have an absolute meaning and thus cannot be
compared, except in very special circumstances, which is not the case here. Comparison is instead relevant in the phrase
preceding "in an ideal direction", i.e., "the most outstanding".
Once an idea has been formed of how this issue appeared to Nobel, it is up to each generation to decide how the
literature of the day meets his criterion. It is perhaps not evident that Nobel himself would have seen Samuel Beckett's
work the way we do, to mention but one example. And seen from our perspective, it is possible that the rst Nobel
Laureate's name might have been dierent.
Idealistical(ly)
Swedish original Authorized translation
1901 Prudhomme hg idealitet lofty idealism
1908 Eucken ideal vrldsskdning idealistic philosophy of life
1909 Lagerlf del idealitet lofty idealism
1910 Heyse ideal uppfattning idealism
1911 Maeterlinck poetisk idealitet poetic fancy
1916 Rolland upphjd idealism lofty idealism
1926 Shaw idealitet idealism
1927 Deledda hg idealitet idealistically inspired

Mind Children
In my view, a machine or robot can possibly be instructed to simulate, to some extent, feelings like compassion or
gratitude or sorrow but is probably unable to experience them. Could it ever feel its pulse beat with excitement? As
Douglas Hofstadter points out in his book Fluid Concepts & Creative Analogies. Computer Models of the Fundamental
Mechanisms of Thought, 1995, making a computer say thank you is far from making it feel gratitude. To me, the
simulation of, e.g., emotion, intention, identity is not necessarily emotion, intention, identity proper.
On this matter I very much agree with Roger Penrose in his book The Emperor's New Mind. Concerning Computers,
Minds, and The Laws of Physics, 1991, with its allusion to Hans Christian Andersen. He maintains that, even though much
of what is actually involved in mental activity might be algorithmic, there must be an essentially non-algorithmic
ingredient in the action of consciousness. This is what David J. Chalmers, in an essay in Scientic American, December
1995, calls the hard problem of consciousness, the question of how physical processes in the brain give rise to subjective
experience.
Among other things, I also appreciate the point Roger Penrose makes about our moral responsibilities in case there were
a device claimed to be a thinking, feeling, sensitive, understanding, conscious being: "Simply to operate the computer to
satisfy our needs without regard to its own sensibilities would be reprehensible."
In addition, it seems to me that another question comes to mind. Are these anthropomorphic machines expected to be
able to love and make love? Considering the wealth of experiences, nuances, perceptions, interpretations, etc., involved in
this very human phenomenon, I think the answer is no. Furthermore, note that replacement brains will aect the
recipient's identity, a fundamental factor in a relation like love. To me, this assumes the resemblance of a decisive
argument.
Share this:
Quotations from Strindberg translated by Maxwell Arding.

First published 23 July 1997

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MLA style: "Topping Shakespeare? Aspects of the Nobel Prize for Literature". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 17 Aug 2014.
<http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/themes/literature/sture/>

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Aspects of the Nobel Prize for Literature

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