Nobel Prize

English Ivo Andrić’s speech at the Nobel Banquet at the City Hall in Stockholm, December 10, 1961 (Translation) In carrying out the high duties entrusted to it, the Nobel Committee of the has this year awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, a signal mark of honour on the international scene, to a writer from a…

French Ivo Andrić’s speech at the Nobel Banquet at the City Hall in Stockholm, December 10, 1961 Sire, Madame, Altesses Royales, Excellences, Mesdames et Messieurs. Cette année, le Comité Nobel de l’Académie Suédoise, en s’acquittant des hautes fonctions qui lui ont été confiées, vient d’attribuer à un écrivain d’un petit pays – comme on dit…

French Saint-John Perse’s speech at the Nobel Banquet at the City Hall in Stockholm, December 10, 1960 Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen. J’ai accepté pour la poésie l’hommage qui lui est ici rendu, et que j’ai hâte de lui restituer. La poésie, sans vous, ne serait pas souvent à l’honneur.…

English Saint-John Perse’s speech at the Nobel Banquet at the City Hall in Stockholm, December 10, 1960 (Translation) I have accepted in behalf of poetry the honour which has been given to it here and which I am anxious to restore to it. Without you poetry would not often be held in esteem, for there…

Italian Salvatore Quasimodo’s speech at the Nobel Banquet at the City Hall in Stockholm, December 10, 1959 Ho sempre pensato al regno di Svezia come a una patria adottiva degli uomini che ricevono il Premio Nobel, cioè un riconoscimento unico e revente nella civiltà contemporanea. Nessun’altra nazione, infatti, è riuscita a proporre o a concretare…

English Salvatore Quasimodo’s speech at the Nobel Banquet at the City Hall in Stockholm, December 10, 1959 (Translation) I have always thought of Sweden as a country adopted by the men who received the Nobel Prize, that unique and brilliant distinction in contemporary civilization. No other nation, in fact, has succeeded in proposing, much less…

French Albert Camus’ speech at the Nobel Banquet at the City Hall in Stockholm, December 10, 1957 Sire, Madame, Altesses Royales, Mesdames, Messieurs, En recevant la distinction dont votre libre Académie a bien voulu m’honorer, ma gratitude était d’autant plus profonde que je mesurais à quel point cette récompense dépassait mes mérites personnels. Tout homme…

English Albert Camus’ speech at the Nobel Banquet at the City Hall in Stockholm, December 10, 1957 (Translation) In receiving the distinction with which your free has so generously honoured me, my gratitude has been profound, particularly when I consider the extent to which this recompense has surpassed my personal merits. Every man, and for…

English Halldór Laxness’s speech at the Nobel Banquet at the City Hall in Stockholm, December 10, 1955 (Translation) I was travelling in the south of Sweden a few weeks ago, when I heard the rumour that the choice of the might possibly fall on me. Alone in my hotel room that night, I naturally began…

Swedish Halldór Laxness’s speech at the Nobel Banquet at the City Hall in Stockholm, December 10, 1955 Eders Majestäter, Mina damer och herrar, Den kväll på en resa i Sydsverige för några få veckor sedan, då ryktet redan hade mält, att Svenska Akademiens förestående val möjligen kunde gälla mig, och jag hade blivit ensam i…