Writers awarded the Nobel Prize. Russian Nobel Prize Laureates in Literature

The Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded for the 107th time - the 2014 winner was French writer and screenwriter Patrick Modiano. Thus, since 1901, 111 authors have already received the literature prize (four times the award was awarded to two writers at the same time).

Alfred Nobel bequeathed a prize for “the most outstanding literary work in ideal direction”, and not for circulation and popularity. But the concept of a “bestselling book” already existed at the beginning of the 20th century, and sales volumes can at least partially speak about the craftsmanship and literary significance 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

Laureate Nobel Prize in literature 1983

"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 literary career English writer published 12 novels. Golding's novels Lord of the Flies and The Descendants are among the Nobel laureates' best-selling books according to Barnes & Noble. The first, coming out in 1954, brought him worldwide fame. According to the importance of the novel for development modern thought and literary critics often compared it to Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye.”

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

Toni Morrison

Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature 1993

« A writer who brought to life an important aspect of American reality in her dreamy and poetic novels.”

American writer Toni Morrison was born in Ohio, working family. She began pursuing creative writing while attending Howard University, where she studied English Language and Literature. The basis for Morrison's first novel, The Most Blue eyes"was inspired by 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 at Barnes & Noble - The Bluest Eye (1970)

John Steinbeck

Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature 1962

"For his realistic and poetic gift, combined with gentle humor and keen social vision"

Among the most famous novels Steinbeck - The Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden, Of Mice and Men. All of them are included in the top dozen bestsellers according to the American store Barnes & Noble.

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

The first edition of the novel “The 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, the book has sold more than 75 million copies, and a first edition in good condition costs more than $24,000.

Ernest Hemingway

Winner of the 1954 Nobel Prize in Literature

"For the narrative mastery once again demonstrated in The Old Man and the Sea, and for the influence it has had on modern style"

Hemingway was one of nine literary laureates to receive the Nobel Prize for 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 won the author a 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 prize to Hemingway in 1953, but then chose Winston Churchill, who wrote more than a dozen books of a historical and biographical nature during 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 years old at that time).

Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Winner of the 1982 Nobel Prize in Literature

"For novels and stories in which fantasy and reality combine to reflect the life and conflicts of an entire continent"

Márquez became the first Colombian to receive a prize from the Swedish Academy. His books, including Chronicle of a Death Proclaimed, Love in the Time of Cholera, and The Autumn of the Patriarch, outsold all books ever published in Spanish except the Bible. The novel “One Hundred Years of Solitude”, named by the Chilean poet and Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda “ greatest creation in Spanish after Cervantes' Don Quixote," has been translated into more than 25 languages ​​and has sold more than 50 million copies worldwide.

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

Samuel Beckett

Winner of the 1969 Nobel Prize in Literature

"Behind innovative works in prose and drama, in which tragedy modern man becomes his triumph"

A native of Ireland, Samuel Beckett is considered one of the most prominent representatives modernism; along with Eugène Ionescu, he founded the "theater of the absurd". Beckett wrote in English and French, and his most famous work - the play "Waiting for Godot" - was written in French. The main characters of the play throughout the entire play are waiting for a certain Godot, 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 he 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 attend the presentation ceremony. His publisher, Jérôme Lindon, received the award instead.

William Faulkner

Winner of the 1949 Nobel Prize in Literature

"For his significant and artistic point view as a unique contribution to the development of the modern American novel"

Faulkner initially refused to go to Stockholm to receive the prize, but his daughter persuaded him. When asked by US President John F. Kennedy 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 he was “too old to travel so far for a dinner with strangers.”

According to Barnes & Noble, Faulkner's best-selling book is his novel As I Lay Dying. “The Sound and the Fury,” which the author himself considered his most successful work, for a long time was not a commercial success. In the 16 years after its publication (in 1929), the novel sold only three thousand copies. However, at the time of receiving the Nobel Prize, The Sound and the Fury was already considered a classic of American literature.

In 2012, the British publishing house The Folio Society released Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, where the text of the novel is printed in 14 colors, as the author himself wanted (so that the reader could see different time planes). The publisher's recommended price 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. On this moment on eBay you can buy a limited edition of “The Sound and the Fury” for 115 thousand rubles.

Doris Lessing

Winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature

"For his insight into women's experiences with skepticism, passion and visionary power"

British poet and writer Doris Lessing became the oldest laureate literary prize Swedish Academy, in 2007 she was 88 years old. Lessing also became the eleventh woman to win this prize (out of thirteen).

Lessing was not popular among the masses literary critics, since her works were often devoted to pressing social issues (in particular, she was called a propagandist of Sufism). However, The Times magazine places Lessing fifth on its list of the "50 greatest British authors since 1945".

The most popular book at Barnes & Noble is Lessing's 1962 novel The Golden Notebook. Some commentators rank it among the classics of feminist fiction. Lessing herself categorically disagreed with this label.

Albert Camus

Winner of the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature

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

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

When presenting the prize to the writer, member of the Swedish Academy Anders Exterling said that “ philosophical views Camus were born in an acute contradiction between the acceptance of earthly existence and the awareness of the reality of death." Despite Camus's frequent association with the philosophy of existentialism, he himself denied his involvement in this movement. In a speech in Stockholm, he said his work was built on the desire to "avoid outright lies and resist oppression."

Alice Munro

Winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Literature

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

Canadian short story writer Alice Munro wrote stories from adolescence, but the first collection (Dance of the Happy Shadows) was published only in 1968, when Munro was already 37. In 1971, the writer published a collection of interconnected stories, Lives of Girls and Women, described by critics as a “novel of education” (Bildungsroman). Among others literary works- collections “Who are you, exactly?” (1978), “The Moons of Jupiter” (1982), “The Fugitive” (2004), “Too Much Happiness” (2009). The 2001 collection “The Hate Me, the Hate Friendship, the Courtship, the Love, the Marriage” served as the basis for the Canadian feature film Away from Her directed by Sarah Polley.

Critics have called Munro "the Canadian Chekhov" for his narrative style, characterized by clarity and psychological realism.

The best selling book at Barnes & Noble is “ Dear Life" (year 2012).

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

On November 27, 1895, A. Nobel drew up a will, which provided for the allocation of certain Money for 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 initial capital SEK 31 million. Since 1969, on the initiative of the Swedish Bank, awards have also been made prizes in economics.

Since the establishment of the awards, strict rules for selecting laureates have been in place. Intellectuals from all over the world participate in the process. Thousands of minds work to ensure that the most worthy candidate receives the Nobel Prize.

In total, to date, five Russian-speaking writers have received 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 when presenting the prize, Bunin noted the courage of the Swedish Academy, which honored the emigrant writer (he emigrated to France in 1920). Ivan Alekseevich Bunin - the greatest master of Russian realistic prose.

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

Mikhail Alexandrovich Sholokhov(1905-1984), Russian writer, laureate of the 1965 Nobel Prize in Literature "for artistic power and the integrity of the epic about the Don Cossacks at a turning point for Russia.” In his speech during the awards ceremony, Sholokhov said his goal was to “extol the nation of workers, builders and heroes.” Having started out as a realistic writer who was not afraid to show deep life contradictions, Sholokhov in some of his works found himself captive of socialist realism.

Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn(1918-2008), Russian writer, winner of the 1970 Nobel Prize in Literature "for the moral strength derived from the tradition of great Russian literature." The Soviet government considered the decision 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, as a rule, he touched upon pressing socio-political issues, actively opposed communist ideas, political system The USSR and the policies of its authorities.

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

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

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In 1933, Bunin became the first Russian writer to receive the Nobel Prize “for the truthful artistic talent with which he recreated typical character" The work that influenced the jury’s decision was the autobiographical novel “The Life of Arsenyev.” Forced to leave his homeland due to disagreement with the Bolshevik regime, Bunin is a piercing and touching work, full of love for the Motherland and longing for it. Becoming a witness October revolution, the writer did not accept the changes that had taken place and the loss Tsarist Russia. He recalled with sadness old times, curvy noble estates, measured life on family estates. As a result, Bunin created a large-scale literary canvas in which he expressed his innermost thoughts.

Boris Leonidovich Pasternak - award for poetry in prose

Pasternak received the award in 1958 “for outstanding services in the modern and traditional field of great Russian prose.” The novel "Doctor Zhivago" was especially noted by critics. However, in the homeland of Pasternak, a different reception awaited. A profound work about the life of the intelligentsia was negatively received by the authorities. Pasternak was expelled from the Union of Soviet Writers and virtually forgotten about its existence. Pasternak had to refuse the award.

Pasternak not only wrote works himself, but was also a talented translator.

Mikhail Alexandrovich Sholokhov - singer of the Russian Cossacks

In 1965, the prestigious award was received by Sholokhov, who created the large-scale epic novel “ Quiet Don" It still seems incredible how a young, 23-year-old aspiring writer could create a deep and voluminous work. There were even disputes over the authorship of Sholokhov with supposedly irrefutable evidence. Despite all this, the novel was translated into several Western and Eastern languages, and Stalin personally approved it.

Despite the deafening fame of Sholokhov in early age, his subsequent works were much weaker.

Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn - rejected by the authorities

Another Nobel Prize Winner Who Wasn't Recognized home country- Solzhenitsyn. He received the award in 1970 “for the moral strength drawn from the tradition of great Russian literature.” Having been imprisoned for political reasons For about 10 years, Solzhenitsyn was completely disillusioned with the ideology of the ruling class. He began publishing quite late, after 40 years, but only 8 years later he was awarded the Nobel Prize - no other writer had such a rapid rise.

Joseph Alexandrovich Brodsky - the last laureate of the prize

Brodsky received the Nobel Prize in 1987 "for his comprehensive authorship, full of clarity of thought and poetic depth." Brodsky's poetry caused rejection from the outside Soviet power. He was arrested and was in custody. Afterwards, Brodsky continued to work, was popular in his homeland and abroad, but he was constantly being monitored. In 1972, the poet was given an ultimatum - to leave the USSR. Brodsky received the Nobel Prize in the USA, but he wrote the speech for the speech

On December 10, 1901, the world's first Nobel Prize was awarded. Since then, five Russian writers have received this prize in the field of literature.

1933, Ivan Alekseevich Bunin

Bunin was the first Russian writer to receive such a high award - the Nobel Prize in Literature. This happened in 1933, when Bunin had already been living in exile in Paris for several years. The prize was awarded to Ivan Bunin "for the rigorous skill with which he develops the traditions of Russian classical prose." It was about the major work writer - the novel “The Life of Arsenyev”.

Accepting the award, Ivan Alekseevich said that he was the first exile to be awarded the Nobel Prize. Along with his diploma, Bunin received a check for 715 thousand French francs. With the Nobel money he could live comfortably until the end of his days. But they quickly ran out. Bunin spent it very easily and generously distributed it to his fellow emigrants in need. He invested part of it in a business that, as his “well-wishers” promised him, would be a win-win, and went broke.

It was after receiving the Nobel Prize that Bunin’s all-Russian fame grew into worldwide fame. Every Russian in Paris, even those who had not yet read a single line of this writer, took this as a personal holiday.

1958, Boris Leonidovich Pasternak

For Pasternak this high reward and recognition turned into real persecution at home.

Boris Pasternak was nominated for the Nobel Prize more than once - from 1946 to 1950. And in October 1958 he was awarded this award. This happened just after the publication of his novel Doctor Zhivago. The prize was awarded to Pasternak "for significant achievements in modern lyric poetry, as well as for continuing the traditions of the great Russian epic novel."

Immediately after receiving the telegram from the Swedish Academy, Pasternak responded “extremely grateful, touched and proud, amazed and embarrassed.” But after it became known that he had been awarded a prize from the newspaper "Pravda" and " Literary newspaper"attacked the poet with indignant articles, rewarding him with epithets, "traitor", "slanderer", "Judas". Pasternak was expelled from the Writers' Union and forced to refuse the prize. And in his second letter to Stockholm, he wrote: "Due to its significance, "which award was awarded to me in the society to which I belong, I must refuse it. Do not consider my voluntary refusal an insult."

Boris Pasternak's Nobel Prize was awarded to his son 31 years later. In 1989, the permanent secretary of the academy, Professor Store Allen, read both telegrams sent by Pasternak on October 23 and 29, 1958, and said that the Swedish Academy recognized Pasternak’s refusal of the prize as forced and, after thirty-one years, was presenting his medal to his son, regretting that The laureate is no longer alive.

1965, Mikhail Alexandrovich Sholokhov

Mikhail Sholokhov was the only one Soviet writer, who received the Nobel Prize with the consent of the leadership of the USSR. Back in 1958, when a delegation of the USSR Writers Union visited Sweden and learned that Pasternak and Shokholov were among those nominated for the prize, a telegram sent to the Soviet ambassador in Sweden said: “it would be desirable to give through cultural figures close to us "To understand the Swedish public that the Soviet Union would highly appreciate the award of the Nobel Prize to Sholokhov." But then the prize was given to Boris Pasternak. Sholokhov received it in 1965 - “for the artistic strength and integrity of the epic about the Don Cossacks at a turning point for Russia.” By this time his famous “Quiet Don” had already been published.

1970, Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn

Alexander Solzhenitsyn became the fourth Russian writer to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature - in 1970 "for the moral strength with which he followed the immutable traditions of Russian literature." By this time the following had already been written outstanding works Solzhenitsyn as " Cancer building" and "In the first circle." Having learned about the award, the writer stated that he intended to receive the award “personally, on the appointed day.” But after the announcement of the award, the persecution of the writer in his homeland increased full force. The Soviet government considered the decision of the Nobel Committee "politically hostile." Therefore, the writer was afraid to go to Sweden to receive the award. He accepted it with gratitude, but did not participate in the award ceremony. Solzhenitsyn received his diploma only four years later - in 1974, when he was expelled from the USSR to Germany.

The writer’s wife, Natalya Solzhenitsyna, is still confident that the Nobel Prize saved her husband’s life and gave her the opportunity to write. She noted that if he had published “The Gulag Archipelago” without being a Nobel Prize laureate, he would have been killed. By the way, Solzhenitsyn was the only Nobel Prize laureate in literature for whom only eight years passed from the first publication to the award.

1987, Joseph Alexandrovich Brodsky

Joseph Brodsky became the fifth Russian writer to win the Nobel Prize. It happened in 1987, at the same time his big Book poems - "Urania". But Brodsky received the award not as a Soviet, but as an American citizen who had lived in the USA for a long time. The Nobel Prize was awarded to him "for his comprehensive creativity, imbued with clarity of thought and poetic intensity." Receiving the award in his speech, Joseph Brodsky said: “For a private person who has preferred this whole life to some public role, for a person who has gone quite far in this preference - and in particular from his homeland, for it is better to be the last loser in democracy than a martyr or a ruler of thoughts in a despotism, to suddenly appear on this podium is a great awkwardness and test.”

Let us note that after Brodsky was awarded the Nobel Prize, and this event just happened during the beginning of perestroika in the USSR, his poems and essays began to be actively published in his homeland.

Dedicated to the great Russian writers.

From October 21 to November 21, 2015, the Library and Information Complex invites you to the exhibition, dedicated to creativity Nobel laureates in literature from Russia and the USSR.

Received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2015 Belarusian writer. The award was awarded to Svetlana Alexievich with the following wording: “For her polyphonic creativity - a monument to suffering and courage in our time.” At the exhibition we also presented works by Svetlana Alexandrovna.

The exhibition can be viewed at the address: Leningradsky Prospekt, 49, 1st floor, room. 100.

The prizes, established by the Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, are considered the most honorable in the world. They are awarded annually (since 1901) for outstanding work in the field of medicine or physiology, physics, chemistry, literary works, for his contribution to the strengthening of peace, the economy (since 1969).

The Nobel Prize in Literature is an award for achievements in the field of literature, awarded annually by the Nobel Committee in Stockholm on December 10. According to the charter of the Nobel Foundation, candidates can be nominated by the following persons: members of the Swedish Academy, other academies, institutes and societies with similar tasks and goals; professors of the history of literature and linguistics of universities; Nobel Prize laureates in literature; chairmen of authors' unions representing literary creativity in the respective countries.

Unlike laureates of other prizes (for example, physics and chemistry), the decision to award the Nobel Prize in Literature is made by members of the Swedish Academy. The Swedish Academy unites 18 Swedish figures. The Academy includes historians, linguists, writers and one lawyer. They are known in society as "Eighteen". Membership in the academy is for life. After the death of one of the members, the academicians elect a new academician by secret vote. The Academy selects a Nobel Committee from among its members. It is he who deals with the issue of awarding the prize.

Nobel laureates in literature from Russia and the USSR :

• I. A. Bunin(1933 "For the strict skill with which he develops the traditions of Russian classical prose")
• B.L. Parsnip(1958 "For significant achievements in modern lyric poetry, as well as for continuing the traditions of the great Russian epic novel")
• M. A. Sholokhov(1965 "For the artistic strength and honesty with which he depicted in his Don epic historical era in the life of the Russian people")
• A. I. Solzhenitsyn(1970 "For the moral strength with which he followed the immutable traditions of Russian literature")
• I. A. Brodsky(1987 "For comprehensive creativity, imbued with clarity of thought and passion of poetry")

Russian literature laureates are people with different, sometimes opposing, views. I. A. Bunin and A. I. Solzhenitsyn are staunch opponents of Soviet power, and M. A. Sholokhov, on the contrary, is a communist. However, what they have in common is the main thing - undoubted talent, for which they were awarded Nobel Prizes.

Ivan Alekseevich Bunin is a famous Russian writer and poet, an outstanding master of realistic prose, an honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. In 1920, Bunin emigrated to France.

The most difficult thing for a writer in exile is to remain himself. It happens that, having left his homeland due to the need to make dubious compromises, he is again forced to kill his spirit in order to survive. Fortunately, Bunin escaped this fate. Despite any trials, Bunin always remained true to himself.

In 1922, Ivan Alekseevich’s wife, Vera Nikolaevna Muromtseva, wrote in her diary that Romain Rolland nominated Bunin for the Nobel Prize. From then on, Ivan Alekseevich lived with hopes that someday he would be awarded this prize. 1933 All newspapers in Paris came out on November 10 with large headlines: “Bunin - Nobel laureate.” Every Russian in Paris, even the loader at the Renault plant, who had never read Bunin, took this as a personal holiday. Because my compatriot turned out to be the best, the most talented! In the Parisian taverns and restaurants that evening there were Russians, who sometimes drank for “one of their own” with their last pennies.

On the day the prize was awarded, November 9, Ivan Alekseevich Bunin watched the “cheerful stupidity” “Baby” in the cinema. Suddenly the darkness of the hall was cut through by a narrow beam of a flashlight. They were looking for Bunin. He was called by telephone from Stockholm.

“And immediately my whole old life ends. I go home quite quickly, but without feeling anything other than regret that I was not able to watch the film. But no. I can’t help but believe: the whole house is glowing with lights. And my heart squeezes with some kind of sadness ... Some kind of turning point in my life,” recalled I. A. Bunin.

Exciting days in Sweden. IN concert hall in the presence of the king, after the report of the writer, member of the Swedish Academy Peter Hallström on the work of Bunin, he was presented with a folder with a Nobel diploma, a medal and a check for 715 thousand French francs.

When presenting the award, Bunin noted that the Swedish Academy acted very bravely by awarding the emigrant writer. Among the contenders for this year’s prize was another Russian writer, M. Gorky, however, largely thanks to the publication of the book “The Life of Arsenyev” by that time, the scales nevertheless tipped in the direction of Ivan Alekseevich.

Returning to France, Bunin feels rich and, sparing no expense, distributes “benefits” to emigrants and donates funds to support various societies. Finally, on the advice of well-wishers, he invests the remaining amount in a “win-win business” and is left with nothing.

Bunin’s friend, poet and prose writer Zinaida Shakhovskaya, in her memoir book “Reflection,” noted: “With skill and a small amount of practicality, the prize should have been enough to last. But the Bunins did not buy either an apartment or a villa...”

Unlike M. Gorky, A. I. Kuprin, A. N. Tolstoy, Ivan Alekseevich did not return to Russia, despite the admonitions of the Moscow “messengers”. He never came to his homeland, even as a tourist.

Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (1890-1960) was born in Moscow into a family famous artist Leonid Osipovich Pasternak. Mother, Rosalia Isidorovna, was a talented pianist. Maybe that’s why, as a child, the future poet dreamed of becoming a composer and even studied music with Alexander Nikolaevich Scriabin. However, the love of poetry won. B. L. Pasternak's fame was brought by his poetry, and his bitter trials by "Doctor Zhivago", a novel about the fate of the Russian intelligentsia.

The editors of the literary magazine, to which Pasternak offered the manuscript, considered the work anti-Soviet and refused to publish it. Then the writer sent the novel abroad, to Italy, where in 1957 it was published. The very fact of publication in the West was sharply condemned by Soviet creative colleagues, and Pasternak was expelled from the Writers' Union. However, it was Doctor Zhivago that made Boris Pasternak a Nobel laureate. The writer was nominated for the Nobel Prize starting in 1946, but was awarded it only in 1958, after the release of the novel. The conclusion of the Nobel Committee says: "... for significant achievements both in modern lyric poetry and in the field of the great Russian epic tradition."

At home, the award of such an honorary prize to an “anti-Soviet novel” aroused the indignation of the authorities, and under the threat of deportation from the country, the writer was forced to refuse the award. Only 30 years later, his son, Evgeny Borisovich Pasternak, received a diploma and medal for his father Nobel laureate.

The fate of another Nobel laureate, Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn, is no less dramatic. He was born in 1918 in Kislovodsk, and his childhood and youth were spent in Novocherkassk and Rostov-on-Don. After graduating from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Rostov University, A. I. Solzhenitsyn taught and at the same time studied in absentia at literary institute in Moscow. When did the Great Patriotic War, future writer went to the front.

Shortly before the end of the war, Solzhenitsyn was arrested. The reason for the arrest was critical remarks against Stalin, found by military censorship in Solzhenitsyn's letters. He was released after Stalin's death (1953). In 1962 the magazine " New world" published his first story - "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich", which tells about the life of prisoners in the camp. Most of the subsequent works literary magazines refused to print. There was only one explanation: anti-Soviet orientation. However, the writer did not give up and sent the manuscripts abroad, where they were published. Alexander Isaevich did not limit himself literary activity- he fought for the freedom of political prisoners in the USSR, and sharply criticized the Soviet system.

Literary works and political position A.I. Solzhenitsyn were well known abroad, and in 1970 he was awarded the Nobel Prize. The writer did not go to Stockholm for the award ceremony: he was not allowed to leave the country. Representatives of the Nobel Committee, who wanted to present the prize to the laureate at home, were not allowed into the USSR.

In 1974, A.I. Solzhenitsyn was expelled from the country. First he lived in Switzerland, then moved to the USA, where, with a significant delay, he was awarded the Nobel Prize. Such works as “In the First Circle”, “The Gulag Archipelago”, “August 1914”, “Cancer Ward” were published in the West. In 1994, A. Solzhenitsyn returned to his homeland, traveling across all of Russia, from Vladivostok to Moscow.

The fate of Mikhail Alexandrovich Sholokhov, the only one Russian laureates Nobel Prize in Literature, who was supported government bodies. M. A. Sholokhov (1905-1980) was born in the south of Russia, on the Don - in the center Russian Cossacks. My small homeland- the village of Kruzhilin of the village of Veshenskaya - he later described it in many works. Sholokhov graduated from only four classes of the gymnasium. He actively participated in the events of the civil war, led a food detachment that took away the so-called surplus grain from rich Cossacks.

Already in his youth, the future writer felt an inclination to literary creativity. In 1922, Sholokhov came to Moscow, and in 1923 he began publishing his first stories in newspapers and magazines. In 1926, the collections " Don stories" and "Azure Steppe". Work on "Quiet Don" - a novel about life Don Cossacks during the era of the Great Reversal (First World War, revolutions and Civil War) - began in 1925. In 1928, the first part of the novel was published, and Sholokhov completed it in the 30s. "Quiet Don" became the pinnacle of the writer's creativity, and in 1965 he was awarded the Nobel Prize "for the artistic strength and completeness with which he epic work about the Don reflected a historical phase in the life of the Russian people." "Quiet Don" has been translated in 45 countries around the world into several dozen languages.

By the time he received the Nobel Prize, Joseph Brodsky’s bibliography included six collections of poems, the poem “Gorbunov and Gorchakov”, the play “Marble”, many essays (written mainly in English language). However, in the USSR, from where the poet was expelled in 1972, his works were distributed mainly in samizdat, and he received the prize while already a citizen of the United States of America.

A spiritual connection with his homeland was important to him. He kept Boris Pasternak's tie as a relic and even wanted to wear it to the Nobel Prize ceremony, but protocol rules did not allow it. Nevertheless, Brodsky still came with Pasternak’s tie in his pocket. After perestroika, Brodsky was invited to Russia more than once, but he never came to his homeland, which rejected him. “You can’t step into the same river twice, even if it’s the Neva,” he said.

From Brodsky’s Nobel Lecture: “A person with taste, particularly literary taste, is less susceptible to repetition and rhythmic incantations inherent in any form of political demagoguery. The point is not so much that virtue is no guarantee of a masterpiece, but that evil, especially political evil, is always a poor stylist. The richer the aesthetic experience of an individual, the firmer his taste, the clearer his moral choice, the freer he is - although perhaps not happier. It is in this applied rather than platonic sense that one should understand Dostoevsky’s remark that “beauty will save the world,” or Matthew Arnold’s statement that “poetry will save us.” The world probably won’t be able to be saved, but an individual can always be saved.”