Nobel Prize and the Formation of Contemporary World Literature

Paul Tenngart is Associate Professor in Comparative and Swedish Literature at Lund University, Sweden. He is co-editor of AnthropoScenes: A Climate Fiction Competition (2020) and co-author of Northern Crossings: Translation, Circulation and the Literary Semi-periphery (Bloomsbury, 2022).

• 1. The Stockholm ConsecrationRelative ContemporaneityCulture, Capital, Crown – and ScienceCosmopolitan DreamsCanon Formation from the Side2. Entering the Cosmopolitan Scene: The Rise of the PrizeEarly Breakthroughs and Setbacks (1901–1913)Position Re-Established (1914–1929)A Broader Significance (1930–1939)World Consecration (1944–1953)Breaking News (The 1950s and Onwards)Concluding Remarks3. Encompassing Everything: The Scope of the PrizeWorld AmbitionsThe European TemplateBetween Universalism and PluralismThe Problem of AccessThe NominationsThe Actual Distribution of AwardsConcluding Remarks4. Making History: The Impact of the PrizeImpactful AwardsThe UnawardedThe Already CanonizedAn Alternative Literary HistoryNobel Effects and the World Literary SystemShaping the Cosmopolitan SpacePolitical ConsequencesConcluding Remarks5. Defining Literature: The Poetics of the PrizePrize MotivationsThe Role of the Author and the Purpose of LiteratureThe Poetics of GenrePoetics and PoliticsNobel LecturesConcluding Remarks6. Looking Ahead: The Survival of the PrizeCrises EnduredThe Balancing ActLiterary Canonization in an Age of PolarizationAcknowledgmentAppendix: Nobel Laureates in Literature 1901–2022ReferencesIndex

Paul Tenngart’s The Nobel Prize and the Formation of Contemporary World Literature is a comprehensive, insightful, and well-written volume which represents an important contribution to research on the study of international literary prizes and awards and their role in world literature.