The Nobel Committee has been silent for a long time about its work, and only after 50 years does it reveal information about how the prize was awarded. On January 2, 2018, it became known that Konstantin Paustovsky was among the 70 candidates for the 1967 Nobel Prize in Literature.

The company was very worthy: Samuel Beckett, Louis Aragon, Alberto Moravia, Jorge Luis Borges, Pablo Neruda, Yasunari Kawabata, Graham Greene, Wisten Hugh Oden. The prize that year was awarded by the Academy to the Guatemalan writer Miguel Angel Asturias "for his living literary achievements, deeply rooted in the national characteristics and traditions of the indigenous peoples of Latin America."


The name of Konstantin Paustovsky was proposed by a member of the Swedish Academy Eyvind Yunson, but the Nobel Committee rejected his candidacy with the wording: "The committee would like to emphasize its interest in this proposal for a Russian writer, but for natural reasons it should be put aside for now." It is difficult to say what kind of "natural causes" we are talking about. It only remains to cite the known facts.

In 1965, Paustovsky was already nominated for the Nobel Prize. It was an unusual year, because among the nominees for the award there were four Russian writers at once - Anna Akhmatova, Mikhail Sholokhov, Konstantin Paustovsky, Vladimir Nabokov. The award was eventually received by Mikhail Sholokhov, so as not to irritate the Soviet authorities too much after the previous Nobel laureate Boris Pasternak, whose award caused a huge scandal.

For the first time, the Literature Prize was awarded in 1901. Since then, six authors writing in Russian have received it. Some of them cannot be attributed to either the USSR or Russia due to citizenship issues. However, their instrument was the Russian language, and this is the main thing.

Ivan Bunin becomes the first Russian laureate of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1933, taking the top on the fifth attempt. As subsequent history will show, this will not be the longest road to Nobel.


The award was presented with the wording "for the strict skill with which he develops the traditions of Russian classical prose."

In 1958, the Nobel Prize went to a representative of Russian literature for the second time. Boris Pasternak was noted "for significant achievements in modern lyric poetry, as well as for the continuation of the traditions of the great Russian epic novel."


The prize did not bring anything to Pasternak himself, except for problems and a campaign under the slogan "I have not read it, but I condemn it!" It was about the novel Doctor Zhivago, which was published abroad, which at that time was equated with betrayal of the homeland. Even the fact that the novel was published in Italy by a communist publishing house did not save the situation. The writer was forced to refuse the award under the threat of expulsion from the country and threats against his family and loved ones. The Swedish Academy recognized Pasternak's refusal from the award as forced and in 1989 presented a diploma and a medal to his son. This time there were no excesses.

In 1965, Mikhail Sholokhov became the third laureate of the Nobel Prize in Literature "for the artistic strength and integrity of the epic about the Don Cossacks at a crucial time for Russia."


This was the "correct" award from the point of view of the USSR, especially since the writer's candidacy was supported directly by the state.

In 1970, the Nobel Prize in Literature went to Alexander Solzhenitsyn "for the moral strength with which he followed the immutable traditions of Russian literature."


For a long time, the Nobel Committee made excuses that its decision was not political, as the Soviet authorities claimed. Supporters of the version about the political nature of the award note two things - it took only eight years from the moment of Solzhenitsyn's first publication to the presentation of the award, which cannot be compared with other laureates. Moreover, by the time the prize was awarded, neither The Gulag Archipelago nor The Red Wheel had been published.

The fifth winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1987 was the emigrant poet Joseph Brodsky, who was awarded "for an all-encompassing creativity imbued with clarity of thought and poetic intensity."


The poet was forcibly sent into exile in 1972 and had American citizenship at the time of the award.

Already in the 21st century, in 2015, that is, 28 years later, Svetlana Aleksievich received the Nobel Prize as a representative of Belarus. And again, there was some scandal. Many writers, public figures and politicians rejected the ideological position of Aleksievich, others believed that her works were ordinary journalism and had nothing to do with artistic creativity.


In any case, a new page has opened in the history of the Nobel Prize. For the first time, the prize was awarded not to a writer, but to a journalist.

Thus, almost all the decisions of the Nobel Committee concerning writers from Russia had a political or ideological background. It began back in 1901, when Swedish academics wrote a letter to Tolstoy, calling him "the deeply revered patriarch of modern literature" and "one of those powerful soulful poets, which in this case should be remembered first of all."

The main message of the letter was the desire of the academicians to justify their decision not to award the prize to Leo Tolstoy. Academicians wrote that the great writer himself "never aspired to such an award." Lev Tolstoy thanked in response: "I was very pleased that the Nobel Prize was not awarded to me ... This saved me from a big difficulty - to dispose of this money, which, like any money, in my opinion, can only bring evil."

Forty-nine Swedish writers, led by August Strindberg and Selma Lagerlef, wrote a letter of protest to Nobel academics. All in all, the great Russian writer was nominated for the prize for five years in a row, the last time it was in 1906, four years before his death. It was then that the writer turned to the committee with a request not to award him the prize, so that he would not have to refuse later.


Today the opinions of those experts who excommunicated Tolstoy from the prize have become the property of history. Among them is Professor Alfred Jensen, who believed that the philosophy of the late Tolstoy contradicted the will of Alfred Nobel, who dreamed of an "idealistic orientation" of works. And "War and Peace" is completely "devoid of understanding history." The secretary of the Swedish Academy, Karl Virsen, even more categorically formulated his point of view about the impossibility of awarding the prize to Tolstoy: "This writer condemned all forms of civilization and insisted instead to accept a primitive way of life, divorced from all the institutions of high culture."

Among those who became nominees, but were not honored to read the Nobel Lecture, there are many high-profile names.
This is Dmitry Merezhkovsky (1914, 1915, 1930-1937)


Maxim Gorky (1918, 1923, 1928, 1933)


Constantin Balmont (1923)


Pyotr Krasnov (1926)


Ivan Shmelev (1931)


Mark Aldanov (1938, 1939)


Nikolay Berdyaev (1944, 1945, 1947)


As you can see, the list of nominees includes mainly those Russian writers who were in exile at the time of their nomination. This number has been replenished with new names.
This is Boris Zaitsev (1962)


Vladimir Nabokov (1962)


Of the Soviet Russian writers, only Leonid Leonov (1950) was included in the list.


Anna Akhmatova, of course, can be considered a Soviet writer only conditionally, because she had USSR citizenship. The only time she was in the Nobel Prize in 1965.

If you wish, you can name more than one Russian writer who has earned the title of Nobel Prize laureate for his work. For example, Joseph Brodsky in his Nobel lecture mentioned three Russian poets who would be worthy to be on the Nobel podium. They are Osip Mandelstam, Marina Tsvetaeva and Anna Akhmatova.

The further history of the Nobel nominations will surely reveal many more interesting things to us.

RUSSIAN HISTORY

“Prix Nobel? Oui, ma belle "... So Brodsky joked long before receiving the Nobel Prize, which is the most important award for almost any writer. Despite the generous scattering of Russian literary geniuses, only five of them managed to receive the highest award. However, many, if not all of them, having received it, have suffered enormous losses in their lives.

1933 Nobel Prize "For the true artistic talent with which he recreated the typical Russian character in prose."

Bunin became the first Russian writer to receive the Nobel Prize. A special resonance to this event was given by the fact that Bunin had not even appeared in Russia for 13 years, even as a tourist. Therefore, when he was informed of the call from Stockholm, Bunin could not believe what had happened. In Paris, the news spread instantly. Every Russian, regardless of financial status and position, squandered his last pennies in a tavern, rejoicing that their compatriot turned out to be the best.

Once in the Swedish capital, Bunin was almost the most popular Russian person in the world, they stared at him for a long time, looked around, whispered. He was surprised, comparing his fame and honor with the fame of the famous tenor.



Nobel Prize Ceremony.
I. A. Bunin in the first row on the far right.
Stockholm, 1933

1958 Nobel Prize "For significant achievements in modern lyric poetry, as well as for the continuation of the traditions of the great Russian epic novel"

Pasternak's candidacy for the Nobel Prize was discussed in the Nobel Committee annually, from 1946 to 1950. After a personal telegram from the head of the committee and notifying Pasternak of the award, the writer replied with the following words: "Grateful, glad, proud, embarrassed." But after a while, after a planned public persecution of the writer and his friends, public persecution, sowing an unpleasant and even hostile image among the masses, Pasternak refused the award, writing a letter of a more voluminous content.

After the award of the prize, Pasternak carried the entire burden of the "persecuted poet" firsthand. Moreover, he did not wear this for his poems (although it was for them, for the most part, he was awarded the Nobel Prize), but for the "anti-Soviet" novel Doctor Zhivago. Nes, even having refused such an honorable award and a substantial amount of 250,000 crowns. According to the writer himself, he still would not have taken this money, sending it to another, more useful place than his own pocket.

On December 9, 1989, in Stockholm, Boris Pasternak's son, Eugene, at a gala reception timed to the Nobel Prize laurets of that year, were awarded a diploma and the Nobel Medal of Boris Pasternak.



Evgeny Borisovich Pasternak

1965 Nobel Prize "For the artistic power and integrity of the epic about the Don Cossacks at a crucial time for Russia".

Sholokhov, like Pasternak, repeatedly appeared in the field of vision of the Nobel Committee. Moreover, their paths, like their offspring, involuntarily, and voluntarily, too, crossed more than once. Their novels, without the participation of the authors themselves, "prevented" each other from winning the main award. It makes no sense to choose the best of two brilliant, but so different works. Moreover, the Nobel Prize was (and is) given in both cases not for individual works, but for the overall contribution as a whole, for a special component of all creativity. Once, in 1954, the Nobel Committee did not award Sholokhov an award only because the letter of recommendation from Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences Sergeev-Tsensky arrived a couple of days later, and the committee did not have enough time to consider Sholokhov's candidacy. It is believed that the novel ("Quiet Don") at that time was not politically beneficial to Sweden, and the artistic value has always played a secondary role for the committee. In 1958, when the figure of Sholokhov looked like an iceberg in the Baltic Sea, the prize went to Pasternak. Already the gray-haired, sixty-year-old Sholokhov in Stockholm was awarded his well-deserved Nobel Prize, after which the writer read the speech as pure and honest as all his work.



Mikhail Alexandrovich in the Golden Hall of the Stockholm City Hall
before the start of the Nobel Prize.

1970 Nobel Prize "For the moral strength gleaned in the tradition of the great Russian literature."

Solzhenitsyn learned about this prize while still in the camps. And in his heart he strove to become its laureate. In 1970, after being awarded the Nobel Prize, Solzhenitsyn replied that he would come for the award "in person, on a set date." However, like 12 years earlier, when Pasternak was also threatened with deprivation of citizenship, Solzhenitsin canceled his trip to Stockholm. It's hard to say that he regretted it too much. Reading the program of the gala evening, he now and then stumbled upon pompous details: what and how to say to him, a tuxedo or tailcoat to wear at one or another banquet. "... Why is it necessarily a white butterfly," he thought, "but you can't wear a camp jacket?" "And how to talk about the main business of all life at the" banquet table ", when the tables are lined with food and everyone is drinking, eating, talking ...".

1987 Nobel Prize "For an all-encompassing literary activity distinguished by clarity of thought and poetic intensity."

Of course, it was much easier for Brodsky to receive the Nobel Prize than it was for Pasternak or Solzhenitsyn. At that time, he was already a persecuted emigrant, deprived of citizenship and the right to enter Russia. The news of the Nobel Prize award found Brodsky at lunch in a Chinese restaurant not far from London. The news practically did not change the expression on the face of the writer. He only joked to the first reporters that now he will have to use his tongue for a whole year. One journalist asked Brodsky who he considered himself to be: Russian or American? “I am a Jew, a Russian poet and an English essayist,” Brodsky replied.

Known for his indecisive nature, Brodsky took two versions of the Nobel Lecture to Stockholm: in Russian and in English. Until the last moment, no one knew in which language the writer would read the text. Brodsky settled on Russian.



On December 10, 1987, the Russian poet Joseph Brodsky was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "for an all-encompassing work imbued with clarity of thought and poetic intensity."

The Nobel Prize in Literature is an award for achievements in the field of literature, awarded annually by the Nobel Committee in Stockholm. Contents 1 Requirements for nominating candidates 2 List of laureates 2.1 1900s ... Wikipedia

Medal awarded to the Nobel Prize laureate The Nobel Prizes (Swedish Nobelpriset, English Nobel Prize) are one of the most prestigious international prizes awarded annually for outstanding scientific research, revolutionary inventions or ... ... Wikipedia

Medal of the laureate of the USSR State Prize The USSR State Prize (1966 1991) is one of the most important awards in the USSR along with the Lenin Prize (1925 1935, 1957 1991). Established in 1966 as the successor to the Stalin Prize awarded in 1941 1954; laureates ... ... Wikipedia

Swedish Academy Building Nobel Prize in Literature An award for achievements in the field of literature, awarded annually by the Nobel Committee in Stockholm. Contents ... Wikipedia

Medal of the laureate of the USSR State Prize The USSR State Prize (1966 1991) is one of the most important awards in the USSR along with the Lenin Prize (1925 1935, 1957 1991). Established in 1966 as the successor to the Stalin Prize awarded in 1941 1954; laureates ... ... Wikipedia

Medal of the laureate of the USSR State Prize The USSR State Prize (1966 1991) is one of the most important awards in the USSR along with the Lenin Prize (1925 1935, 1957 1991). Established in 1966 as the successor to the Stalin Prize awarded in 1941 1954; laureates ... ... Wikipedia

Medal of the laureate of the USSR State Prize The USSR State Prize (1966 1991) is one of the most important awards in the USSR along with the Lenin Prize (1925 1935, 1957 1991). Established in 1966 as the successor to the Stalin Prize awarded in 1941 1954; laureates ... ... Wikipedia

Books

• According to the will. Notes on the Nobel Prize Laureates in Literature, A. Ilyukovich. The publication is based on biographical sketches about all the Nobel Prize Laureates in Literature for 90 years, from the moment of its first award in 1901 to 1991, supplemented by ...

Nobel Prize- one of the most prestigious world prizes awarded annually for outstanding scientific research, revolutionary inventions or major contributions to culture or society.

November 27, 1895 A. Nobel drew up a will, which provided for the allocation of certain funds for the award awards in five areas: physics, chemistry, physiology and medicine, literature and contributions to world peace. And in 1900 the Nobel Foundation was created - a private, independent, non-governmental organization with an initial capital of 31 million Swedish kronor. Since 1969, on the initiative of the Bank of Sweden, awards have also been made awards in economics.

Since the inception of the prizes, strict rules have been in place for the selection of laureates. The process involves intellectuals from all over the world. Thousands of minds are working so that the most worthy of the candidates won the Nobel Prize.

To date, five Russian-speaking writers have been awarded this award.

Ivan Alekseevich Bunin(1870-1953), Russian writer, poet, honorary academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, laureate of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1933 "for the strict skill with which he develops the traditions of Russian classical prose." In his speech at the presentation of the prize, Bunin noted the courage of the Swedish Academy, which honored the emigrant writer (he emigrated to France in 1920). Ivan Alekseevich Bunin is the greatest master of Russian realistic prose.

Boris Leonidovich Pasternak(1890-1960), Russian poet, laureate of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1958 "for outstanding services in modern lyric poetry and in the field of great Russian prose." He was forced to refuse the prize under the threat of expulsion from the country. The Swedish Academy recognized Pasternak's refusal from the prize as forced and in 1989 presented a diploma and a medal to his son.

Mikhail Alexandrovich Sholokhov(1905-1984), Russian writer, laureate of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1965 "for the artistic power and integrity of the epic about the Don Cossacks at a crucial time for Russia." In his speech during the awards ceremony, Sholokhov said that his goal was "to exalt a nation of workers, builders and heroes." Starting as a realistic writer who is not afraid to show the deep contradictions of life, Sholokhov in some of his works found himself in the captivity of socialist realism.

Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn(1918-2008), Russian writer, laureate of the 1970 Nobel Prize in Literature "for moral strength gleaned from the tradition of great Russian literature." The Soviet government considered the decision of the Nobel Committee "politically hostile", and Solzhenitsyn, fearing that after his trip it would be impossible to return to his homeland, accepted the award, but did not attend the award ceremony. In his artistic literary works, he touched upon, as a rule, acute social and political issues, actively opposing communist ideas, the political system of the USSR and the policy of its authorities.

Joseph Alexandrovich Brodsky(1940-1996), poet, winner of the 1987 Nobel Prize for Literature "for multifaceted creativity, marked by the sharpness of thought and deep poetry." In 1972 he was forced to emigrate from the USSR, lived in the USA (the world encyclopedia calls it American). I.A. Brodsky is the youngest writer to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. The peculiarities of the poet's lyrics are the comprehension of the world as a single metaphysical and cultural whole, the identification of the limitations of a person as a subject of consciousness.

If you want to get more specific information about the life and work of Russian poets and writers, get to know their works better, online tutors always happy to help you. Online tutors will help you analyze the poem or write a review about the work of the selected author. Training takes place on the basis of specially developed software. Qualified teachers provide assistance with homework, explaining incomprehensible material; help to prepare for the State Exam and the Unified State Exam. The student chooses himself, to conduct classes with the chosen tutor for a long time, or to use the teacher's help only in specific situations when difficulties arise with a certain task.

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The Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded for the 107th time - the laureate of 2014 was the French writer and screenwriter Patrick Modiano. Thus, since 1901, 111 authors have been awarded the Literature Prize (four times the prize was awarded simultaneously to two writers).

Alfred Nobel bequeathed the award for "the most outstanding literary work in an ideal direction", not for circulation and popularity. But the concept of a "bestseller book" existed already at the beginning of the 20th century, and sales volumes can at least partially tell about the skill and literary significance of the writer.

RBC has compiled a conditional rating of Nobel laureates in literature based on the commercial success of their works. The source was data from the world's largest book retailer Barnes & Noble on the best-selling books of Nobel laureates.

William Golding

1983 Nobel Prize Winner for Literature

"For novels that, with the clarity of realistic narrative art, combined with the diversity and universality of myth, help to comprehend the existence of man in the modern world."

For almost forty years of his literary career, the English writer published 12 novels. Golding's novels Lord of the Flies and The Heirs are among Barnes & Noble's best-selling Nobel laureate books. The first, released in 1954, brought him worldwide fame. In terms of the importance of the novel for the development of modern thought and literature, critics have often compared it to Salinger's Catcher in the Rye.

The best-selling book on Barnes & Noble is Lord of the Flies (1954).

Toni Morrison

1993 Nobel Prize Laureate in Literature

« A writer who, in her novels full of dreams and poetry, brought to life an important aspect of American reality. "

American writer Toni Morrison was born in Ohio to a working class family. She began her creative career while attending Howard University, where she studied "English Language and Literature." Morrison's first novel, The Bluest Eyes, was based on a story she wrote for a university circle of writers and poets. In 1975, her novel Sula was nominated for the US National Book Award.

Best Selling Book on Barnes & Noble - Bluest Eyes (1970)

John Steinbeck

1962 Nobel Prize Laureate in Literature

"For a realistic and poetic gift, combined with gentle humor and sharp social vision"

Among the most famous novels of Steinbeck - "Grapes of Wrath", "East of Paradise", "On Mice and People." All of them are included in the first dozen bestsellers according to the American store Barnes & Noble.

By 1962, Steinbeck had been nominated for the award eight times, and he himself felt that he did not deserve it. Critics in the United States greeted the award with hostility, believing that his later novels were much weaker than subsequent ones. In 2013, when the documents of the Swedish Academy were revealed (they have been kept secret for 50 years), it was revealed that Steinbeck - a recognized classic of American literature - was awarded because he was "the best in bad company" candidates for the award that year.

The first edition of the novel "Grapes of Wrath" with a circulation of 50 thousand copies was illustrated and cost $ 2.75. In 1939, the book became a bestseller. To date, more than 75 million copies of the book have been sold, and the first edition in good condition costs more than $ 24,000.

Ernest Hemingway

1954 Nobel Prize in Literature

"For the narrative prowess once again demonstrated in The Old Man and the Sea, and for the influence he has had on contemporary style."

Hemingway became one of nine laureates in literature to whom the Nobel Prize was awarded for a specific work (the story "The Old Man and the Sea"), and not for literary activity in general. In addition to the Nobel Prize, The Old Man and the Sea brought the author the Pulitzer Prize in 1953. The story was first published in Life magazine in September 1952, and in just two days, 5.3 million copies of the magazine were purchased in the United States.

Interestingly, the Nobel Committee seriously considered awarding the Hemingway Prize in 1953, but then opted for Winston Churchill, who wrote more than a dozen books of a historical and biographical nature in his life. One of the main reasons for not delaying the awarding of the former British Prime Minister was his venerable age (Churchill was 79 at the time).

Gabriel García Márquez

1982 Nobel Prize Laureate in Literature

"For novels and stories in which fantasy and reality, when combined, reflect the life and conflicts of an entire continent"

Marquez became the first Colombian to receive the Swedish Academy Prize. His books, including The Chronicle of the Announced Death, Love in the Time of Cholera, The Autumn of the Patriarch, surpassed the sales of all books ever published in Spanish, except the Bible. A Hundred Years of Solitude, called by Chilean poet and Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda “the greatest creation in Spanish since Don Quixote by Cervantes,” has been translated into more than 25 languages ​​and has sold more than 50 million copies worldwide.

The best-selling book on Barnes & Noble is One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967).

Samuel Beckett

1969 Nobel Prize in Literature

"For innovative works in prose and drama, in which the tragedy of modern man becomes his triumph"

A native of Ireland, Samuel Beckett is considered one of the most prominent representatives of modernism; along with Eugene Ionescu, he founded the "theater of the absurd". Beckett wrote in English and French, and his most famous work, Waiting for Godot, was written in French. The main characters of the play throughout the entire action are waiting for a certain Godot, a meeting with whom can bring meaning to their meaningless existence. There is practically no dynamics in the play, Godot never appears, and the viewer is left to interpret for himself what kind of image it is.

Beckett loved chess, attracted women, but led a secluded life. He agreed to accept the Nobel Prize only on the condition that he would not be present at the presentation ceremony. His publisher Jerome Lyndon received the award instead.

William Faulkner

1949 Nobel Prize in Literature Laureate

"For his significant and artistically unique contribution to the modern American novel."

Initially he refused to go to Stockholm to receive the Faulkner Prize, but his daughter persuaded him. When US President John F. Kennedy was invited to attend a dinner in honor of Nobel Prize winners, Faulkner, who said to himself, "I am not a writer, but a farmer," replied that "too old to travel this far to dine with strangers."

According to Barnes & Noble, Faulkner's best-selling book is his novel When I Died. Noise and Fury, which the author himself considered his most successful work, had no commercial success for a long time. For 16 years after publication (in 1929), the novel sold only three thousand copies. However, at the time of receiving the Nobel Prize, "Noise and Fury" was already considered a classic of American literature.

In 2012, the British publishing house The Folio Society released Faulkner's Noise and Fury, where the text of the novel is printed in 14 colors, as the author himself wanted (so that the reader can see different time planes). The publisher's recommended cost for such a copy is $ 375, but the circulation was limited to only 1,480 copies, and already at the time of the book's release, a thousand of them were pre-ordered. At the moment on eBay you can buy a limited edition of "Noise and Fury" for 115 thousand rubles.

Doris Lessing

2007 Nobel Prize Laureate in Literature

"For the comprehension of the experience of women, filled with skepticism, passion and visionary power"

British poet and writer Doris Lessing became the oldest recipient of the Swedish Academy's Literary Prize, at 88 in 2007. Lessing also became the eleventh woman to win this prize (out of thirteen).

Lessing did not enjoy the popularity of mass literary critics, as her works were often devoted to acute social issues (in particular, she was called a propagandist of Sufism). Nonetheless, Lessing is ranked fifth in The Times' 50 Greatest British Authors since 1945.

The most popular book on Barnes & Noble is Lessing's The Golden Notebook, published in 1962. Some commentators rank him as a classic of feminist prose. Lessing herself categorically disagreed with this label.

Albert Camus

1957 Nobel Prize for Literature

"For his enormous contribution to literature, highlighting the importance of human conscience"

Albert Camus, a French essayist, journalist and writer of Algerian descent, has been called "the conscience of the West." One of his most popular works, The Outsider, was published in 1942, and in 1946, sales of an English translation began in the United States, and in just a few years more than 3.5 million copies were sold.

During the presentation of the award to the writer, a member of the Swedish Academy Anders Exterling said that "Camus's philosophical views were born in an acute contradiction between the acceptance of earthly existence and the realization of the reality of death." Despite the frequent correlation of Camus with the philosophy of existentialism, he himself denied his involvement in this trend. In his speech in Stockholm, he said that his work is built on the desire to "avoid outright lies and resist oppression."

Alice Munro

2013 Nobel Prize Winner in Literature

The prize was awarded with the wording “ to the master of the modern genre of short stories "

Canadian novelist Alice Munroe has been writing stories since her teens, but the first collection (Dance of Happy Shadows) was not published until 1968, when Munroe was already 37. In 1971, the writer published a collection of interrelated stories, The Lives of Girls and Women, characterized by critics as a "parenting novel" (Bildungsroman). Among other literary works - the collections "And who are you, in fact, such?" (1978), The Moons of Jupiter (1982), The Fugitive (2004), Too Much Happiness (2009). The 2001 collection Hate, Friendship, Courtship, Falling in Love, Marriage served as the basis for the Canadian feature film Away from Her, directed by Sarah Polly.

Critics call Munroe the "Canadian Chekhov" for a narrative style characterized by clarity and psychological realism.

The best-selling book on Barnes & Noble is Dear Life (2012).