Today in history: Leo Tolstoy refused the Nobel Prize, and Solzhenitsyn was saved by it. Leo Tolstoy and the Nobel Prize Leo Tolstoy Nobel laureate

Upon learning that Russian Academy Sciences nominated him as a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature for 1906, on October 8, 1906, Leo Tolstoy sent a letter to the Finnish writer and translator Arvid Jarnefelt. In it, Tolstoy asked his acquaintance through his Swedish colleagues "to try to make sure that this prize is not awarded to me", because "if this happened, it would be very unpleasant for me to refuse."

Järnefelt fulfilled this delicate task, and the prize was awarded to the Italian poet Giosuè Carducci, whose name is now known only to Italian literary scholars.

Tolstoy was pleased that the prize was not awarded to him. “Firstly,” he wrote, “it saved me from a great difficulty – to manage this money, which, like any money, in my opinion, can only bring evil; and secondly, it gave me the honor and great pleasure to receive expressions of sympathy from so many persons, although not familiar to me, but nevertheless deeply respected by me.

Probably, from the point of view of today's pragmatism, the realities of the time, and simply the psychology of most people, Tolstoy's thoughts and actions are a complete paradox. “Money is evil”, however, a lot of good deeds could be done on them, in the end, they could be distributed to the peasants, the poor. But you never know how there can be explanations from our subjective positions. But the logic of a genius clearly did not correspond to them. Perhaps precisely because he was a genius? Or there was a genius - and therefore he thought so paradoxically ...

Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn entered the history of Russian and world literature, journalism and historical thought. His works in The First Circle, The Gulag Archipelago, cancer corps”, “Red Wheel”, “A Calf Butted an Oak”, “200 Years Together”, “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich”, articles about the Russian language and journalism published in millions of copies in Russia and abroad.

Having gone through many life tests, since 1964 Solzhenitsyn devoted himself completely to literary creativity. At this time, he worked immediately on four major works: The Red Wheel, The Cancer Ward, The Gulag Archipelago, and was preparing for publication In the First Circle.

In 1964, the editorial board of the journal New world” puts forward the story “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” for the Lenin Prize. But Solzhenitsyn did not receive the prize - the authorities sought to erase the memory of the Stalinist terror. The latest work Solzhenitsyn, published in the USSR, was the story "Zakhar-Kalita" (1966).

In 1967, Solzhenitsyn sent an open letter to the Congress of Soviet Writers calling for an end to censorship. On October 8, 1970, Solzhenitsyn was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "for the moral strength gleaned from the tradition of great Russian literature."

After that, the persecution of the writer at home gained full strength. In 1971, the writer's manuscripts were confiscated. In 1971-1972, all Solzhenitsyn's publications were destroyed. The publication in 1973 in Paris of The Gulag Archipelago intensified the anti-Solzhenitsyn campaign.

In 1974, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR "for the systematic commission of actions that are incompatible with belonging to the citizenship of the USSR and detrimental to the USSR," Solzhenitsyn was deprived of citizenship and deported to Germany.

On August 16, 1990, citizenship was returned to Solzhenitsyn by decree of the President of the USSR, in September " TVNZ”published a program article by Solzhenitsyn “How do we equip Russia”.

In the same year he was awarded State Prize RSFSR for the Gulag Archipelago. In the 1990s, Solzhenitsyn's main works were published in Russia. In 1994, Alexander Isaevich, together with his wife Natalia Svetlova, returned to Russia and actively joined in public life countries.

Remarkably, this year on October 4 in Stockholm they could have named a laureate Nobel Prize on literature. But in May, the Nobel Committee announced that in 2018, for the first time in 75 years, there would be no literature award due to a data breach scandal at the Swedish Academy, which selects applicants and awards.

90 volumes. So many printed books were needed to accommodate Leo Tolstoy's manuscripts. Moreover, not all, but only those chosen for the collected works after the death of the writer. This is a reprint edition of 1928, it even has original handwriting samples. Lev Nikolaevich wrote a lot and illegibly, but a genius, as you know, is not revered for this at all. “The will was written by Tolstoy. He recommended Chertkov to publish his works at his own discretion. Chertkov chose Tolstoy from all the unpublished manuscripts and from 1928 to 1957 he published all this,” says Alena Dolzhenko, head of the department of rare and valuable publications of the Central Library System.

By 1906, when the Russian Academy of Sciences nominated Leo Tolstoy for the Nobel Prize, almost everything had already been written: five novels, a dozen novellas, many short stories, plays and philosophical articles. Upon learning of the academic initiative, he immediately sent a letter to his friend, the Finnish writer and translator Arvid Järnefelt. The writer urged him, with the help of his colleagues from Sweden, to ensure that no prizes were awarded to him. The delicate task was carried out. So why did he refuse? Here is what Lev Nikolaevich himself writes about this: “Firstly, it saved me from great difficulty in managing this money, which, like any money, in my opinion, can only bring evil; and secondly, it gave me the honor and great pleasure to receive expressions of sympathy from so many people, although not familiar to me, but still deeply respected by me.

That year, the Italian poet Giosue Carducci, whose name is known today only to literary critics, did not refuse the Nobel Prize in Literature. And here is the Austrian writer Elfriede Jelinek, Nobel laureate 2004, she said that she received the award undeservedly and refused to go to the award ceremony. However, she still took the bonus money of 10 million Swedish kronor or one and a half million dollars. From the point of view of contemporaries, Tolstoy's act is an arrogant count's whim. But not for those who are familiar with his attitude to wealth and the violent inequality of human beings. “The philosophy that he came to by the end of his life: to give everything to people - his estate to the peasants, and even leave his own children without a livelihood, that money is evil, of course, this is a natural ending,” says Natalia Tsymbalistenko , literary critic, candidate of philological sciences.

Leo Tolstoy's act was later repeated by other writers. Because of his convictions, Jean-Paul Sartre refused the Nobel Prize in 1964. Boris Pasternak and Alexander Solzhenitsyn were prevented from receiving the prize by the USSR authorities. The latter in 1970 was simply not allowed into Stockholm for the award ceremony. The Nobel Committee corrected this stupidity 5 years later, when Solzhenitsyn was expelled from the country and deprived of Soviet citizenship. Total in history Russian literature 5 laureates of the most prestigious award on the planet: Bunin, Pasternak, Sholokhov, Solzhenitsyn and Brodsky.

Which of the great Russian writers and poets was awarded the Nobel Prize? Mikhail Sholokhov, Ivan Bunin, Boris Pasternak and Joseph Brodsky.

Joseph Brodsky, a poet practically unknown in Russia, suddenly became the winner of the most prestigious literary prize in the world. Here is an amazing case!

However, why is it amazing? Joseph Brodsky at first, they wanted to bury in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg, next to the emperors, and then, according to his will, the ashes were scattered over the canals in Naples. So the reward is quite natural.

Who now remembers the name of the first Nobel Prize winner in literature, who received it in December 1901, the French poet Rene Francois Armand Sully-Prudhomme. They do not know him, and they never really knew him even in his native France.

And there are plenty of such, to put it mildly, dubious laureates in the ranks of the Nobel Prize winners! But at the same time, Mark Twain, Emile Zola, Ibsen, Chekhov, Oscar Wilde and, of course, Leo Tolstoy lived and worked!

When you get acquainted with the long list of writers, in different time marked by the Nobel Committee, you involuntarily find yourself thinking that you have never heard four names out of every ten. And five of the remaining six are also nothing special. Their "star" works have long been firmly forgotten. By itself, the thought comes to mind: it turns out that the Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded for some other merits? Judging by the life and work of the same Joseph Brodsky, then yes!

Already after the first dubious award, public opinion in Sweden and other countries was shocked by the decision of the Nobel Academy. A month after the scandalous award, in January 1902, Leo Tolstoy received a protest address from a group of Swedish writers and artists:

“In view of the awarding of the Nobel Prize for the first time, we, the undersigned writers, artists and critics of Sweden, wish to express our admiration to you. We see in you not only a deeply revered patriarch modern literature, but also one of those powerful soulful poets, about whom in this case should be remembered first of all, although you, in your personal judgment, never aspired to such an award. We all the more keenly feel the need to turn to you with this greeting because, in our opinion, the institution entrusted with the award of the literary prize does not, in its present composition, represent either the opinion of writers-artists or public opinion. Let them know abroad that even in our remote country, the main and most powerful art is considered to be that which rests on freedom of thought and creativity. This letter was signed by more than forty prominent figures in Swedish literature and art.

Everyone knew: there is only one writer in the world who deserves to be the first to be awarded the highest award in the world. And this is the writer Leo Tolstoy. In addition, it was at the turn of the century that a new brilliant creation of the writer was published - the novel "Resurrection", which Alexander Blok would later call "the testament of the outgoing century to the new."

On January 24, 1902, an article by the writer August Strindberg appeared in the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet, arguing in it that most of the members of the Academy are “unscrupulous artisans and dilettantes in literature, who for some reason are called to administer justice, but these gentlemen’s ideas about art are so childishly naive that they call poetry only what is written in verse, preferably rhymed. And if, for example, Tolstoy became forever famous as a painter human destinies if he is the creator of historical frescoes, then he is not considered a poet by them on the grounds that he did not write poetry!

Another judgment on this matter belongs to the well-known Danish literary critic Georg Brandeis: “Leo Tolstoy holds the first place among contemporary writers. No one inspires such a sense of reverence as he does! We can say: no one but him inspires a sense of reverence. When, at the first award of the Nobel Prize, it was given to a noble and subtle, but second-rate poet, all the best Swedish authors sent an address for their signatures to Leo Tolstoy, in which they protested against such an award of this distinction. Of course, it was felt that it should have belonged to only one - the great writer of Russia, for whom they unanimously recognized the right to this award.

Numerous appeals and demands for the restoration of desecrated justice forced Tolstoy himself to take up his pen: “Dear and respected brethren! I was very pleased that the Nobel Prize was not awarded to me. Firstly, it saved me from a great difficulty - to dispose of this money, which, like any money, in my opinion, can only bring evil; and secondly, it gave me the honor and great pleasure to receive expressions of sympathy from so many persons, although unknown to me, but nevertheless deeply respected by me. Please accept, dear brethren, the expression of my sincere gratitude and best feelings. Lev Tolstoy".

It would seem that this question could be exhausted ?! But no! The whole story took an unexpected turn.

In 1905, Tolstoy's new work, The Great Sin, was published. This, now almost forgotten, sharply publicistic book told about the hard lot of the Russian peasantry. Now they do not remember about it also because in this work Tolstoy in the most categorical form, argued and extremely convincingly spoke out against private ownership of land.

The Russian Academy of Sciences had a quite understandable idea to nominate Leo Tolstoy for the Nobel Prize. In a note compiled for this purpose by outstanding Russian scientists, academicians A.F. Koni, K.K. Arseniev and N.P. Kondakov gave the highest rating to "War and Peace", "Resurrection". And in conclusion, on behalf of the Russian Imperial Academy of Sciences, a wish was expressed to award Tolstoy the Nobel Prize.

This note was approved by the Rank belles-lettres Academy of Sciences - at that time there was such a organizational structure. On January 19, 1906, together with a copy of Tolstoy's The Great Sin, the note was sent to Sweden.

As soon as he heard about such a great honor, Tolstoy writes to the Finnish writer Arvid Ernefeld: “If this happened, it would be very unpleasant for me to refuse, and therefore I beg you, if you have - as I think - any connections in Sweden, try to make sure that I don't get this award. Maybe you know some of the members, maybe you can write to the chairman, asking him not to divulge this, so that they don't. I ask you to do what you can so that they do not assign me bonuses and do not put me in a very unpleasant position - to refuse it.

In fact, the Nobel Prize reflects the true merits to humanity of a particular writer, scientist or politician only in part. Nine out of ten Nobel laureates in the field of literature were ordinary artisans from literature and did not leave any noticeable trace in it. And only about one or two of those ten were truly brilliant.

So for what then the rest were given awards, honors?

The presence of a genius among the awarded gave the award to the rest of the very, very dubious company, the illusion of reliability and merit. Apparently, in such a sophisticated way, the Nobel Committee tried and is trying to influence the literary and political preferences of society, the formation of its tastes, affections, and, ultimately, nothing more, nothing less, the worldview of all mankind, its future.

Remember with what enthusiastic aspiration the majority says: "Such and such a Nobel laureate!!!". But the Nobel laureates were not only geniuses who worked for the benefit of people, but also destructive personalities.

So moneybags, through the Nobel banker's prize, are trying to buy the very soul of the World. Apparently, the great Tolstoy understood this before anyone else - he understood, and did not want his name to be used to approve such a terrible idea.

On October 8, 1906, Leo Tolstoy refused the Nobel Prize. It's actually not that surprising. After all, Leo Tolstoy was a man of principles. He had a negative attitude towards various monetary rewards. Throughout the history of the Nobel Prize, great people have refused it more than once, but more often they were forced to refuse than they refused because of their beliefs. Today we decided to talk about seven winners who refused the Nobel Prize.

The Nobel Prize is one of the most prestigious international awards, awarded annually for outstanding Scientific research, revolutionary inventions or major contributions to culture or society. Many have long considered it a great honor to receive such an award, but not all.

Lev Tolstoy

The great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, having learned that the Russian Academy of Sciences nominated him as a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature, ardently asked in a letter to his friend the Finnish writer and translator Arvid Jarnefelt to make sure that the prize was not awarded to him. The fact is that Leo Tolstoy himself was categorically convinced that the Nobel Prize is, first of all, money. And he considered money to be a great evil.

Jean-Paul Sartre

Not only Leo Tolstoy voluntarily refused the Nobel Prize. Writer Jean-Paul Sartre, winner of 1964, also refused the award for the sake of his beliefs. To all the questions that were put to him about this, he answered quite clearly that in the current situation the Nobel Prize is in fact an award intended for writers of the West or "rebels" from the East. Sartre believed that only certain breeds of writers receive the award, those talented and award-worthy writers who do not fit the breed will never receive the award.

Boris Pasternak

Boris Pasternak in his life became a worthy winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1958. However, Pasternak was forced to refuse the award under the strongest pressure from the Soviet authorities. Pasternak was awarded the prize "for outstanding achievements in modern lyric poetry and in the field of great Russian prose." But the Soviet authorities did not allow Pasternak to receive the award because of his novel Doctor Zhivago, which was published abroad. In the USSR, the novel was considered "ideologically harmful."

Richard Kuhn

In 1937, Adolf Hitler forbade German citizens from receiving Nobel Prizes, as he was offended that the Nazi critic Karl von Ossietzky received the Swedish Committee's award. Richard Kuhn, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1938, was supposed to receive this award for his work on carotenoids and vitamins, but in the end was forced to refuse the prize due to Hitler's principled ban on receiving Nobel Prizes by German citizens.

Adolf Butenandt

Another German chemist, who was the Nobel Prize winner in chemistry together with the Swiss scientist L. Ruzicka, was forced to refuse it in the same way as Richard Kuhn because of Hitler's ban on receiving the Nobel Prize for German citizens. However, it is known that Butenandt's studies of the biochemistry of hormonal substances in insects were awarded the prize. P. Erlich.

Video

From the history of the great scientific discoveries: Adolf Friedrich Johann Butenandt

Gerhard Domagk

Gerhard Domagk was a prominent German pathologist and bacteriologist. He received the 1939 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for his discovery of the antibacterial effect of prontosil". He became the third person on the list who was forced to refuse the award due to the ban of Adolf Hitler.

Which of the great Russian writers and poets was awarded the Nobel Prize? Mikhail Sholokhov, Ivan Bunin, Boris Pasternak and Joseph Brodsky.

Joseph Brodsky, a poet practically unknown in Russia, suddenly became the winner of the most prestigious literary award in the world. Here is an amazing case!

However, why is it amazing? Joseph Brodsky at first, they wanted to bury in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg, next to the emperors, and then, according to his will, the ashes were scattered over the canals in Naples. So the reward is quite natural.

Who now remembers the name of the first Nobel Prize winner in literature, who received it in December 1901, the French poet Rene Francois Armand Sully-Prudhomme. They do not know him, and they never really knew him even in his native France.

And there are plenty of such, to put it mildly, dubious laureates in the ranks of the Nobel Prize winners! But at the same time, Mark Twain, Emile Zola, Ibsen, Chekhov, Oscar Wilde and, of course, Leo Tolstoy lived and worked!

When you get acquainted with a long list of writers, noted at various times by the Nobel Committee, you involuntarily catch yourself thinking that you have never heard four names out of every ten. And five of the remaining six are also nothing special. Their "star" works have long been firmly forgotten. By itself, the thought comes to mind: it turns out that the Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded for some other merits? Judging by the life and work of the same Joseph Brodsky, then yes!

Already after the first dubious award, public opinion in Sweden and other countries was shocked by the decision of the Nobel Academy. A month after the scandalous award, in January 1902, Leo Tolstoy received a protest address from a group of Swedish writers and artists:

“In view of the awarding of the Nobel Prize for the first time, we, the undersigned writers, artists and critics of Sweden, wish to express our admiration to you. We see in you not only a deeply revered patriarch of modern literature, but also one of those mighty penetrating poets, who in this case should be remembered first of all, although you, in your personal judgment, never aspired to such an award. We feel the more keenly the need to address you with this greeting because, in our opinion, the institution that was entrusted with the award of the literary prize, in its present composition, does not represent the opinion of writers-artists, nor public opinion. Let them know abroad that even in our remote country, the main and most powerful art is considered to be that which rests on freedom of thought and creativity. This letter was signed by more than forty prominent figures in Swedish literature and art.

Everyone knew: there is only one writer in the world who deserves to be the first to be awarded the highest award in the world. And this is the writer Leo Tolstoy. In addition, it was at the turn of the century that a new brilliant creation of the writer was published - the novel "Resurrection", which Alexander Blok would later call "the testament of the outgoing century to the new."

On January 24, 1902, an article by the writer August Strindberg appeared in the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet, arguing in it that most of the members of the Academy are “unscrupulous artisans and dilettantes in literature, who for some reason are called to administer justice, but these gentlemen’s ideas about art are so childishly naive that they call poetry only what is written in verse, preferably rhymed. And if, for example, Tolstoy became forever famous as a depicter of human destinies, if he is the creator of historical frescoes, then he is not considered a poet by them on the grounds that he did not write poetry!

Another judgment on this subject belongs to the famous Danish literary critic Georg Brandes: “Leo Tolstoy holds the first place among contemporary writers. No one inspires such a sense of reverence as he does! We can say: no one but him inspires a sense of reverence. When, at the first award of the Nobel Prize, it was given to a noble and subtle, but second-rate poet, all the best Swedish authors sent an address for their signatures to Leo Tolstoy, in which they protested against such an award of this distinction. Of course, it was felt that it should have belonged to only one - the great writer of Russia, for whom they unanimously recognized the right to this award.

Numerous appeals and demands for the restoration of desecrated justice forced Tolstoy himself to take up his pen: “Dear and respected brethren! I was very pleased that the Nobel Prize was not awarded to me. Firstly, it saved me from a great difficulty - to dispose of this money, which, like any money, in my opinion, can only bring evil; and secondly, it gave me the honor and great pleasure to receive expressions of sympathy from so many persons, although unknown to me, but nevertheless deeply respected by me. Please accept, dear brethren, the expression of my sincere gratitude and best feelings. Lev Tolstoy".

It would seem that this question could be exhausted ?! But no! The whole story took an unexpected turn.

In 1905, Tolstoy's new work, The Great Sin, was published. This, now almost forgotten, sharply publicistic book told about the hard lot of the Russian peasantry. Now they do not remember about it also because in this work Tolstoy in the most categorical form, argued and extremely convincingly spoke out against private ownership of land.

The Russian Academy of Sciences had a quite understandable idea to nominate Leo Tolstoy for the Nobel Prize. In a note compiled for this purpose by outstanding Russian scientists, academicians A.F. Koni, K.K. Arseniev and N.P. Kondakov gave the highest rating to "War and Peace", "Resurrection". And in conclusion, on behalf of the Russian Imperial Academy of Sciences, a wish was expressed to award Tolstoy the Nobel Prize.

This note was also approved by the category of belles-lettres of the Academy of Sciences - at that time there was such an organizational structure in the Academy. On January 19, 1906, together with a copy of Tolstoy's The Great Sin, the note was sent to Sweden.

As soon as he heard about such a great honor, Tolstoy writes to the Finnish writer Arvid Ernefeld: “If this happened, it would be very unpleasant for me to refuse, and therefore I beg you, if you have - as I think - any connections in Sweden, try to make sure that I don't get this award. Maybe you know some of the members, maybe you can write to the chairman, asking him not to divulge this, so that they don't. I ask you to do what you can so that they do not assign me bonuses and do not put me in a very unpleasant position - to refuse it.

In fact, the Nobel Prize reflects the true merits to humanity of a particular writer, scientist or politician only in part. Nine out of ten Nobel laureates in the field of literature were ordinary artisans from literature and did not leave any noticeable trace in it. And only about one or two of those ten were truly brilliant.

So for what then the rest were given awards, honors?

The presence of a genius among the awarded gave the award to the rest of the very, very dubious company, the illusion of reliability and merit. Apparently, in such a sophisticated way, the Nobel Committee tried and is trying to influence the literary and political preferences of society, the formation of its tastes, affections, and, ultimately, nothing more, nothing less, the worldview of all mankind, its future.

Remember with what enthusiastic aspiration the majority says: "Such and such a Nobel laureate!!!". But the Nobel laureates were not only geniuses who worked for the benefit of people, but also destructive personalities.

So moneybags, through the Nobel banker's prize, are trying to buy the very soul of the World. Apparently, the great Tolstoy understood this before anyone else - he understood, and did not want his name to be used to approve such a terrible idea.