Declassified candidates for the 1973 Nobel Prize in Literature

Traditionally, the list of nominees for the Nobel Prize in Literature is announced every 50 years. Since then, the list of nominees from 1901 to 1972 has been revealed. Accordingly, more than 800 writers from many parts of the world have been nominated, and 68 individuals have been honored.

Writers Jorge Amado, William Golding, Romain Gary, Lin Yutang, and Alberto Moravia are also on the nomination list.

In 1973, the award went to Australian writer Patrick White for “his epic storytelling and deep psychological exploration, which brought a new continent into the literary world”. He is the first and only Australian to receive this award. In Vietnam, his work The Human Tree has been released.

Patrick White was first nominated in 1968 by Muriel Clara Bradbook, professor of English at Cambridge University. He was nominated every year thereafter until he was later honored. In 1973, he was nominated by scholars and professors of literature from Australia, New Zealand and Finland.

Australian novelist Patrick White and his work The Human Tree

National Museum of Australia and Tao Dan

According to the list that has been announced, there are more than 100 writers who have been considered and discussed this season. 1973 is recorded as the second highest number of nominations in the history of the award, only behind 1969 until the list was revealed.

It is remarkable that the highest number of nominations - 32 - in 1973 belonged to Elie Wiesel - a Jewish author, famous for his works about the Nazi genocide. Although he was not honored with the Nobel Prize in Literature even later, he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1988. His work Night has been translated and introduced in Vietnam.

Novelist Elie Wiesel and his work Night

This year also saw 18 first-time nominees, most notably Henry Miller, Vicente Aleixandre (awarded in 1977) and Isaac Bashevis Singer (awarded in 1978). The oldest nominee was Estonian poet Marie Under at 90, and the youngest was Finnish writer Hannu Salama at 37.

There were six female nominees, including “the great voice of the feminist movement” Simone de Beauvoir, two later winners – Nadine Gordimer (1991), Doris Lessing (2007), as well as others, including Indira Devi Dhanrajgir Zenta Mauriņa (India) and Marie Under (Estonia). The Indian novelist Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay was also nominated at this time, despite having died in 1971. In the more than 70 years since the nominations have been released, 75 women have been nominated and eight have won.

Of all the nominees, to date, only Ukrainian poet Lina Kostenko (born 1930) nominated in 1967, Finnish author Hannu Salama (born 1936) nominated in 1969 and Indian poet Indira Devi Dhanrajgir (born 1929) nominated in 1973 are still alive.

The above list also includes many big names familiar to Vietnamese readers, such as Jorge Amado (Brazil), Saul Bellow (Canada - USA), Jorge Luis Borges (Argentina), Friedrich Dürrenmatt (Switzerland), Romain Gary (France), William Golding (UK), Graham Greene (UK), Lin Yutang (China), Alberto Moravia (Italy), Vladimir Nabokov (Russia - USA)...

The then-chairman of the Nobel Literature Committee, Karl Ragnar Gierow, said that the award was unanimously approved for Patrick White. Saul Bellow was followed by Yiannis Ritsos with five votes, Anthony Burgess, William Golding and Eugenio Montale with three votes each.

Previously, poet Vu Hoang Chuong and journalist Ho Huu Tuong were also nominated in 1972 and 1969 respectively.

In 1973, Mr. Le Duc Tho was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with US Secretary of State - Henry Kissinger after the Paris Agreement was signed. However, he refused to accept the prize. It is the only Nobel Prize awarded to a Vietnamese person to date.

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