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JOURNAL ARTICLE In 1971, nearly 50 years after writing “Tonight I Can Write . . .” Pablo Neruda
was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature. For Neruda, this meant a prize of $450,000 and
worldwide fame, although he was already quite famous in and around Chile, his native country.
The following selection gives background on this prestigious award.
The
In 1888, the well-known scientist and
inventor Alfred Nobel experienced the shock of
reading his own obituary. A French journalist
had mistakenly reported his passing and
described him as a “merchant of Death.” The
name was a reference to Nobel’s most famous
invention: dynamite.
This description troubled Nobel. He had
often spoken out against violence and considered
himself a pacifist. Many believe that
he was moved to create a more positive legacy;
for when he did die, his will specified that
his fortune be used to honor people whose
achievements enrich human life.
Since 1900, the Nobel Prize has rewarded
some of the world’s most dazzling achievements
in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine,
economics, peace, and literature. Given out
each year by the Swedish Academy, the prize
consists of a gold medal, a diploma, and money
(in 2000, it reached one million dollars),
but its actual worth is much higher. Nobel
winners, or laureates, are considered among
the most important and influential people in
the world. The Nobel Prize has both launched
new careers and brought closure to long and
successful ones.
Nobel’s will required that a prize winner’s
work provide “the greatest benefit to mankind.”
For achievements in literature, however, Nobel
had a second requirement: this work must
726 unit 7: the language of poetry
N obel Prize
inLiterature
also be “in an ideal direction.” Over the past
century, there has been debate over what “ideal
direction” means, and why any particular writer
should be chosen. As a result, the prize has
been used at different times to honor different
things: talented but unknown writers, for
example, or writers who pioneer new styles.
Pablo Neruda falls into the “pioneers” category,
while recent winning poets Seamus Heaney
(1995) and Wislawa Szymborska (1996), were
honored as “unknown masters.”
When Neruda won his Nobel Prize in 1971,
the Academy’s presentation speech stated that
“his work benefits mankind precisely because of
its direction.” Neruda’s early poems describing
“isolation and dissonance” gave way to later
ones declaring “harmony with Man and the
Earth.” The Academy saw this as an “ideal
direction” for all of mankind to take. Neruda’s
work was also praised for its political content,
particularly as it criticized the oppression of
writers and artists.
In recent years, the Academy has moved
away from determining “ideal direction” in
favor of simply honoring writers for work which
“furthers knowledge of man and his condition.”
This tendency might have pleased Neruda, who
once stated, “The books that help you most
are those which make you think the most . . . a
great book that comes from a great thinker is a
ship of thought, deep freighted with truth and
beauty.”