Address by Anders Österling, Member of the Swedish Academy
This year the Nobel Prize in Literature has
been granted by the Swedish Academy to the French writer
Jean-Paul Sartre for his work which, rich in ideas and filled
with the spirit of freedom and the quest for truth, has exerted a
far-reaching influence on our age.
It will be recalled that the laureate has made it known that he
did not wish to accept the prize. The fact that he has declined
this distinction does not in the least modify the validity of the
award. Under the circumstances, however, the Academy can only
state that the presentation of the prize cannot take place.
Refusal
In a public announcement, printed in Le
Figaro of October 23, 1964, Mr. Sartre expressed his regret
that his refusal of the prize had given rise to scandal, and
wished it to be known that, unaware of the irrevocability of the
Swedish Academy's decisions, he had sought by letter to prevent
their choice falling upon him. In this letter, he specified that
his refusal was not meant to slight the Swedish Academy but was
rather based on personal and objective reasons of his own.
As to personal reasons, Mr. Sartre pointed out that due to his
conception of the writer's task he had always declined official
honours and thus his present act was not unprecedented. He had
similarly refused membership in the Legion of Honour and had not
desired to enter the Collège de France, and he would refuse
the Lenin Prize if it were offered to him. He stated that a
writer's accepting such an honour would be to associate his
personal commitments with the awarding institution, and that,
above all, a writer should not allow himself to be turned into an
institution.
Among his objective reasons, Mr. Sartre listed his belief that
interchange between East and West must take place between men and
between cultures without the intervention of institutions.
Furthermore, since the conferment of past prizes did not, in his
opinion, represent equally writers of all ideologies and nations,
he felt that his acceptance might be undesirably and unjustly
interpreted.
Mr. Sartre closed his remarks with a message of affection for the
Swedish public.
At the banquet, S. Friberg, Rector of the
Caroline
Institute, made the following remarks: "Mr. Sartre found
himself unable to accept this year's Prize in Literature. There
is always discussion about this prize, which every one considers
himself capable of judging, or which he does not understand and
consequently criticizes. But I believe that Nobel would have had
a great understanding of this year's choice. The betterment of
the world is the dream of every generation, and this applies
particularly to the true poet and scientist. This was Nobel's
dream. This is one measure of the scientist's significance. And
this is the source and strength of Sartre's inspiration. As an
author and philosopher, Sartre has been a central figure in
postwar literary and intellectual discussion - admired, debated,
criticized. His explosive production, in its entirety, has the
impress of a message; it has been sustained by a profoundly
serious endeavour to improve the reader, the world at large. The
philosophy, which his writings have served, has been hailed by
youth as a liberation. Sartre's existentialism may be understood
in the sense that the degree of happiness which an individual can
hope to attain is governed by his willingness to take his stand
in accordance with his ethos and to accept the consequences
thereof; this is a more austere interpretation of a philosophy
admirably expressed by Nobel's contemporary, Ralph Waldo Emerson:
'Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own
mind.'"
The quality of human life depends not only on external conditions
but also on individual happiness. In our age of standardization
and complex social systems, awareness of the meaning of life for
the individual has perhaps not been lost, but it has certainly
been dulled; and it is as urgent for us today as it was in
Nobel's time to uphold the ideals which were his."
From Nobel Lectures, Literature 1901-1967, Editor Horst Frenz, Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1969
Copyright © The Nobel Foundation 1964