List of nominees for the Nobel Prize in Literature
Nobel Prize nominees for Literature
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Nobel Prize in Literature (Swedish: Nobelpriset i litteratur) is awarded annually by the Swedish Academy to authors who, according to the Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, the benefactor of the prize, have produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction".[1] It is one of the five Nobel Prizes that are awarded for outstanding contributions in chemistry, physics, literature, peace, and physiology or medicine.[2]
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Every year, the Swedish Academy sends out requests regularly for nominations of candidates for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Members of the Academy, members of literature academies and societies, professors of literature and language, former Nobel literature laureates, and the presidents of writers' organizations are all allowed to nominate a candidate. Nomination of oneself is not permitted.[3] Despite the yearly invitations for nominations, there have been some years in which the prize was not conferred due to particular reasons (1914, 1918, 1935) and due to the outbreak of World War II (1940–1943). In addition, the prize has been delayed for a year seven times (1915, 1919, 1925, 1926, 1927, 1936, 1949).
Records of nominations are strictly kept secret for 50 years until they are made publicly available. Currently, the nominations submitted from 1901 to 1975 are available.[4][5] Between those years, there have been 882 writers from different parts of the world nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature, 74 of whom were awarded the prize,[6] including Albert Schweitzer and Elie Wiesel, who were awarded a Nobel Peace Prize on 1953 and 1986 respectively. Only 89 women had been nominated for the prize starting with Malwida von Meysenburg who was nominated once for the year 1901[7] and eight of them have been awarded after all. Only one literary society has been nominated, the Pali Text Society for the year 1916.
Of the 882 revealed nominated writers, only the following are currently living:
- for 1967, the Ukrainian poet Lina Kostenko (born 1930)
- for 1969, the Finnish author Hannu Salama (born 1936)
- for 1973, the Indian writer Pratap Narayan Tandon (born 1932)
- for 1974, the Taiwanese poet Chen Min-hwa (born 1934).
Though the following list consists of notable literary figures deemed worthy of the prize, there have been some celebrated writers who were not considered nor even nominated such as Masaoka Shiki, Anton Chekhov, Kate Chopin, Jules Verne, Machado de Assis, Sarah Orne Jewett, William James, Ferdinand de Saussure, Robert Hugh Benson, Booker T. Washington, Sholom Aleichem, Rubén Darío, Jack London, L. Frank Baum, Olive Schreiner, Alexander Blok, Marcel Proust, Katherine Mansfield, Joseph Conrad, Franz Kafka, Rainer Maria Rilke, Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, D. H. Lawrence, Arthur Conan Doyle, Khalil Gibran, Constantine Cavafy, Júlia Lopes de Almeida, Fernando Pessoa, Federico García Lorca, Lu Xun, Horacio Quiroga, Osip Mandelstam, César Vallejo, Gabriele D'Annunzio, Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, Edmund Husserl, Antonio Machado, Ernst Toller, Antonio Machado, Francis Scott Fitzgerald, Isaac Babel, Mikhail Bulgakov, Marina Tsvetaeva, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Evelyn Underhill, Robert Musil, Simone Weil, Else Lasker-Schüler, Gertrude Stein, Booth Tarkington, Georges Bernanos, Osamu Dazai, Edna St. Vincent Millay, George Orwell, Graciliano Ramos, Dylan Thomas, Wallace Stevens, A. A. Milne, Alfred Döblin, Galaktion Tabidze, Zora Neale Hurston, Richard Wright, Georges Bataille, E. E. Cummings, Edith Hamilton, Flannery O'Connor, C. S. Lewis, Langston Hughes, João Guimarães Rosa, Manuel Bandeira, Jack Kerouac, Christopher Dawson, John Dos Passos, Stevie Smith, John Berryman, Dino Buzzati, Nancy Mitford, Rosario Castellanos, Hannah Arendt, Murilo Mendes, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Agatha Christie, Ernst Bloch and Clarice Lispector.[8][9][10]
There were also other news outlets and historians that noted the nominations of Mark Twain in 1907,[11][12] Charlie Chaplin in 1952,[13] Fernando González Ochoa in 1955[14] Es'kia Mphahlele in 1969,[15][16] León de Greiff in 1970,[17] Anja Lundholm in 1974,[18] and Anaïs Nin in 1976[19] yet their names are not archived in the years they were nominated.[20] Many speculate it could be the case of lost nominations where the nomination letters never arrived at the Swedish Academy due to mishandling and poor mailing services.[20]
Nominees by their first nomination
Notes
Nominations that were declared invalid and some nomination data are hidden at the Nomination Archive site according to § 8 of the statutes governing the Nobel archives of the Swedish Academy. However, they are provided in this list.[21][22]
- † Posthumously nominated.
- ♀ Female nominee.
- Living Nominee
1901–1909
1910–1919
1920–1929
1930–1939
1940–1949
1950–1959
1960–1969
1970–1977
Nominees are published 50 years later so 1976 nominees should be published at the beginning of 2027.
See also
Motivations
- Awarded the 1904 Nobel Prize in Literature "in recognition of the fresh originality and true inspiration of his poetic production, which faithfully reflects the natural scenery and native spirit of his people, and, on addition, his significant work as a Provençal philologist"
- Awarded the 1901 Nobel Prize in Literature "in special recognition of his poetic composition, which gives evidence of lofty idealism, artistic perfection and a rare combination of the qualities of both heart and intellect"
- Awarded the 1905 Nobel Prize in Literature "because of his outstanding merits as an epic writer"
- Awarded the 1903 Nobel Prize in Literature "as a tribute to his noble, magnificent and versatile poetry, which has always been distinguished by both freshness of its inspiration and the rare purity of its spirit"
- Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize "for his public advocacy for peace, democracy, national self-determination, and arbitration between nations"[50]
- Awarded the 1906 Nobel Prize in Literature "not only because of his deep learning and critical research, but above all as a tribute to the creative energy, freshness of style, and lyrical force which characterize his poetic masterpieces"
- Awarded the 1904 Nobel Prize in Literature "in recognition of the numerous and brilliant compositions which, in an individual and original manner, have revived the great traditions of the Spanish drama"
- Awarded the 1912 Nobel Prize in Literature "primarily in recognition of his fruitful, varied and outstanding production in the realm of dramatic art"
- Awarded the 1902 Nobel Prize in Literature "the greatest living master of the art of historical writing, with special reference to his monumental work, A History of Rome"
- Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize "for his political and social philosophy supported international peace, individual liberty, and opposition to militarism."
- Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize "for his literary works, especially his later philosophical and religious books, which promoted peace and anti-militarism."
- Awarded the 1923 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his always inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation"
- Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize "for his broader role as an internationalist intellectual during the World War I, championing liberal and humanistic values in Scandinavian culture"[74]
- Awarded the 1907 Nobel Prize in Literature "in consideration of the power of observation, originality of imagination, virility of ideas and remarkable talent for narration which characterize the creations of this world-famous author"
- Awarded the 1911 Nobel Prize in Literature "in appreciation of his many-side literary activities, and especially of his dramatic works, which are distinguished by a wealth of imagination and by a poetic fancy, which reveals, sometimes in the guise of a fairytale, a deep inspiration, while in a mysterious way they appeal to the readers' own feelings and stimulate their imaginations"
- Awarded the 1921 Nobel Prize in Literature "in recognition of his brilliant literary achievements, characterized as they are by a nobility of style, a profound human sympathy, grace, and a true Gallic temperament"
- Awarded the 1909 Nobel Prize in Literature "in appreciation of the lofty idealism, vivid imagination and spiritual perception that characterize hwr writings"
- John Macmillan Brown has nominated himself under the pseudonym Godfrey Sweven
- The nomination was later declared invalid by the Nobel committee because the nominator Otto Classen (1868–1939) from Köln-Lindenthal was found to be ineligible.
- The nomination was later declared invalid by the Nobel committee because the nominator Leonardo Eliz (1861–1939) from the Valparaiso Secondary School was found to be ineligible.
- The nomination was later declared invalid by the Nobel committee because the nominator Emil Milan (1859–1917) was found to be ineligible.
- Awarded the 1908 Nobel Prize in Literature "in recognition of his earnest search for truth, his penetrating power of thought, his wide range of vision, and the warmth and strength in presentation with which in his numerous works he has vindicated and developed an idealistic philosophy of life"
- Awarded the 1916 Nobel Prize in Literature "in recognition of his significance as the leading representative of a new era in our literature"
- Awarded the 1910 Nobel Prize in Literature "as a tribute to the consummate artistry, permeated with idealism, which he has demonstrated during his long productive career as a lyrical poet, dramatist, novelist and writer of world-renowned short stories"
- Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize "for his important contribution to international law, especially his extensive authorship on international law."
- Awarded the 1917 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his varied and rich poetry, which is inspired by lofty ideals"
- Awarded the 1925 Nobel Prize in Literature in 1926 "for his work which is marked by both idealism and humanity, its stimulating satire often being infused with a singular poetic beauty"
- Strindberg's nomination made by Nathan Söderblom (1866–1931) was retrieved for having arrived too late.[147]
- Awarded the 1927 Nobel Prize in Literature in 1928 "in recognition of his rich and vitalizing ideas and the brilliant skill with which they have been presented"
- Awarded the 1919 Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920 "in special appreciation of his epic, Olympian Spring"
- Awarded the 1926 Nobel Prize in Literature in 1927 "for her idealistically inspired writings which with plastic clarity picture the life on her native island and with depth and sympathy deal with human problems in general"
- Awarded the 1917 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his authentic descriptions of present-day Denmark"
- Awarded the 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature "because of his profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse, by which, with consummate skill, he has made his poetic thought, expressed in his own English words, a part of the literature of the West"
- No Nobel Prize has been awarded this year.
- Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize "for his work La Casa de la Paz, which addressed preventing war through international legal cooperation, strengthening arbitration between nations, and creating structures for peaceful conflict resolution."
- Awarded the 1915 Nobel Prize in Literature in 1916 "as a tribute to the lofty idealism of his literary production and to the sympathy and live of truth with which he has described different types of human beings"
- Awarded the 1931 Nobel Prize in Literature for "the poetry of Erik Axel Karlfeldt"
- Awarded the 1920 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his monumental work, Growth of the Soil"
- Awarded the 1932 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his distinguished art of narration which takes its highest form in The Forsyte Saga"
- Awarded the 1924 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his great national epic, The Peasants"
- Awarded the 1922 Nobel Prize in Literature "for the happy manner in which he has continued the illustrious traditions of the Spanish drama"
- Awarded the 1928 Nobel Prize in Literature "principally for her powerful descriptions of Northern life during the Middle Ages"
- Awarded the 1933 Nobel Prize in Literature "for the strict artistry with which he has carried on the classical Russian traditions in prose writing"
- Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize "for his numerous public intellectual campaigns against militarism, especially through widely attended lectures that influenced public opinion in Italy"
- Awarded the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature "principally for his great novel, Buddenbrooks, which has won steadily increased recognition as one of the classic works of contemporary literature"
- Awarded the 1944 Nobel Prize in Literature "for the rare strength and fertility of his poetic imagination with which is combined an intellectual curiosity of wide scope and a bold, freshly creative style"
- Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize "for his intellectual and literary work that indirectly support peace by encouraging humanism, education, and anti-nationalist thinking"
- Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize "for his philosophical and ethical ideas which supported peaceful international thinking and opposition to militarism."
- Awarded the 1930 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his vigorous and graphic art of description and his ability to create, with wit and humour, new types of characters"
- Awarded the 1939 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his deep understanding of his country's peasantry and the exquisite art with which he has portrayed their way of life and their relationship with Nature"
- Awarded the 1946 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his inspired writings which, while growing in boldness and penetration, exemplify the classical humanitarian ideals and high qualities of style"
- Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize "for his novel Im Westen nicht Neues ("All Quiet on the Western Front"), in which he depicted a realistic picture of the German army and the horrors of war"
- Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize "for his artistic and symbolic work promoted humanistic and peace-oriented values, fostering international harmony and anti-materialist ideals"
- Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize "for promoting international understanding by emphasizing the unity of spiritual values and the great truths revealed to all through his extraordinary literary works that contributed to draw the world together and has laid the ideological indications of world peace"
- Awarded the 1937 Nobel Prize in Literature "for the artistic power and truth with which he has depicted human conflict as well as some fundamental aspects of contemporary life in his novel-cycle Les Thibault"
- Awarded the 1936 Nobel Prize in Literature in 1937 "for the power, honesty and deep-felt emotions of his dramatic works, which embody an original concept of tragedy"
- Awarded the 1934 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his bold and ingenious revival of dramatic and scenic art"
- Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize "for his book Secrets of Religion and Way to Peace, which presented religion as a foundation for moral harmony, interfaith understanding, non-violence and ethical living"
- Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize "for writing extensively on peace to promote fraternity of nations, peace congresses and means to abolish the war-thought"
- Nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for work on psychotherapy and the subconscious (dream interpretation, phobias, and psychoanalysis)"
- Awarded the 1938 Nobel Prize in Literature "for her rich and truly epic descriptions of peasant life in China and for her biographical masterpieces"
- Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize "for her establishment of the Pearl S. Buck Foundation which, through opportunity centers seeks to gather all orphan Amerasians to house them, educate them and teach them skills"
- Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize "for his authorship of treaties important towards the causes of world order, world peace and one supranational government for the world"
- Awarded the 1945 Nobel Prize in Literature "for her lyrical poetry which, inspired by powerful emotions, has made her a name of symbol of the idealistic aspirations of the entire Latin American world"
- Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize "for his spiritual philosophy of human evolution and unity, offering a non-political, non-violent vision of global peace grounded in consciousness rather than conflict resolution"
- Awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humour and keen social perception"
- Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy Anders Österling revealed to the New York Times days before the announcement that Willa Cather, together with Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, and Gabriela Mistral, was among the contenders for the 1944 prize. Despite the revelation, Cather's name has not included in the archives"[20]
- Awarded the 1948 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his outstanding, pioneer contribution to present-day poetry"
- Awarded the 1953 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his mastery of historical and biographical description as well as for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values"
- Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize "for his leadership in defeating fascism and shaping the post-World War II order, which was essential to establishing and preserving long-term peace in Europe"
- Awarded the 1947 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his comprehensive and artistically significant writings, in which human problems and conditions have been presented with a fearless love of truth and keen psychological insight"
- Awarded the 1952 Nobel Prize in Literature "for the deep spiritual insight and the artistic intensity with which he has in his novels penetrated the drama of human life"
- Awarded the 1958 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his important achievement both in contemporary lyrical poetry and in the field of the great Russian epic tradition"
- Awarded the 1966 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his profoundly characteristic narrative art with motifs from the life of the Jewish people"
- Awarded the 1954 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his mastery of the art of narrative, most recently demonstrated in The Old Man and the Sea, and for the influence that he has exerted on contemporary style"
- Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize "for his work among the poor, for reconciliation among nations and opposition to militarism through nonviolence, social reform, and international moral advocacy"
- Awarded the 1951 Nobel Prize in Literature "for the artistic vigour and true independence of mind with which he endeavours in his poetry to find answers to the eternal questions confronting mankind"
- Awarded the 1965 Nobel Prize in Literature "for the artistic power and integrity with which, in his epic of the Don, he has given expression to a historic phase in the life of the Russian people"
- Awarded the 1955 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his vivid epic power which has renewed the great narrative art of Iceland"
- Awarded the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his important literary production, which with clear-sighted earnestness illuminates the problems of the human conscience in our times"
- Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize "for his effort of creating an understanding and reconciliation between Israelis and Arabs"
- Awarded the 1949 Nobel Prize in Literature in 1950 "for his powerful and artistically unique contribution to the modern American novel"
- Awarded the 1950 Nobel Prize in Literature "in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought"
- Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize "for his persistent work for the future of humanity and his courage in carrying out his opinions in action, being in constant opposition to war and a frontrunner in the fight against nuclear weapons and warfare"
- Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize "for his leadership of the disarmament section of the League of Nations and his contribution to secure peace through the development of its juridical principles"
- Awarded the 1956 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his lyrical poetry, which in Spanish language constitutes an example of high spirit and artistical purity"
- Awarded the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize "for his altruism, reverence for life, and tireless humanitarian work which has helped making the idea of brotherhood between men and nations a living one"
- Nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for work on analytical psychology (collective unconscious, archetypes, and introversion/extroversion)"
- Awarded the 1984 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his poetry which endowed with freshness, sensuality and rich inventiveness provides a liberating image of the indomitable spirit and versatility of man"
- Awarded the 1975 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his distinctive poetry which, with great artistic sensitivity, has interpreted human values under the sign of an outlook on life with no illusions
- Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize "for his writings represented a shift toward spiritual and ethical ideas that could contribute indirectly to peace and European cultural renewal"
- Awarded the 1960 Nobel Prize in Literature "for the soaring flight and the evocative imagery of his poetry which in a visionary fashion reflects the conditions of our time"
- Awarded the 1963 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his eminent lyrical writing, inspired by a deep feeling for the Hellenic world of culture"
- Awarded the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature "for a poetry that with the action of an elemental force brings alive a continent's destiny and dreams"
- Awarded the 1969 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his writing, which – in new forms for the novel and drama – in the destitution of modern man acquires its elevation
- Awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize in Literature "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"
- Awarded the 1961 Nobel Prize in Literature "for the epic force with which he has traced themes and depicted human destinies drawn from the history of his country"
- Awarded the 1959 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his lyrical poetry, which with classical fire expresses the tragic experience of life in our own times"
- Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize "for the powerful literary critiques of war and militarism in his novels, especially The Case of Sergeant Grischa, and his broader intellectual work aligned with anti-fascist and pacifist ideals"
- Awarded the 1972 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his writing which through its combination of a broad perspective on his time and a sensitive skill in characterization has contributed to a renewal of German literature"
- Awarded the 1968 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his narrative mastery, which with great sensibility expresses the essence of the Japanese mind"
- Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize "in the hope that her voice, singing about human brotherhood, will become a sign of harmony for the divided humanity"
- Awarded the 1974 Nobel Prize in Literature "for a narrative art, far-seeing in lands and ages, in the service of freedom"
- Awarded the 1966 Nobel Prize in Literature "for her outstanding lyrical and dramatic writing, which interprets Israel's destiny with touching strength"
- Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize "for his efforts to bring people together in friendship and cultural understanding"
- Awarded the 1967 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his vivid literary achievement, deep-rooted in the national traits and traditions of Indian peoples of Latin America"
- Awarded the 1989 Nobel Prize in Literature "for a rich and intensive prose, which with restrained compassion forms a challenging vision of man's vulnerability"
- Awarded the 1974 Nobel Prize in Literature "for writings that catch the dewdrop and reflects the cosmos"
- Awarded the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature "whose frolicsome black fables portray the forgotten face of history"
- Awarded the 1976 Nobel Prize in Literature "for the human understanding and subtle analysis of contemporary culture that are combined in his works"
- Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize as part of the 1000 PeaceWomen "in recognition of women's efforts and visibility in promoting peace all over the world"[737]
- Awarded the 1985 Nobel Prize in Literature "who in his novel combines the poet's and the painter's creativeness with a deepened awareness of time in the depiction of the human condition"
- Awarded the 1973 Nobel Prize in Literature "for an epic and psychological narrative art which has introduced a new continent into literature"
- Awarded the 1981 Nobel Prize in Literature "for writings marked by a broad outlook, a wealth of ideas and artistic power"
- Awarded the 1970 Nobel Prize in Literature "for the ethical force with which he has pursued the indispensable traditions of Russian literature"
- Awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his novels which, with the perspicuity of realistic narrative art and the diversity and universality of myth, illuminate the human condition in the world of today"
- Awarded the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize "for being a messenger of peace to mankind: his message is one of peace, atonement and dignity"
- Awarded the 1979 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his poetry, which, against the background of Greek tradition, depicts with sensuous strength and intellect clear-sightedness modern man's struggle for freedom and creativeness"
- Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize "for his contribution to the West, offering immense spiritual wealth and the message that the world's inner and outer well-being are inseparably one"
- Awarded the 1991 Nobel Prize in Literature "who through her magnificent epic writing has – in the words of Alfred Nobel – been of very great benefit to humanity"
- probably Madan Lal Madhu (1925–2014)
- Awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature "that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny"
- Awarded the 2001 Nobel Prize in Literature "for having united perceptive narrative and incorruptible scrutiny in works that compel us to see the presence of suppressed histories"
- Awarded the 1977 Nobel Prize in Literature "for a creative poetic writing which illuminates man's condition in the cosmos and in present-day society, at the same time representing the great renewal of the traditions of Spanish poetry between the wars"
- Awarded the 1978 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his impassioned narrative art which, with roots in a Polish-Jewish cultural tradition, brings universal human conditions to life"
- Awarded the 1980 Nobel Prize in Literature "who with uncompromising clear-sightedness voices man's exposed condition in a world of severe conflicts"
- Awarded the 1994 Nobel Prize in Literature "who with poetic force creates an imagined world, where life and myth condense to form a disconcerting picture of the human predicament today"
- Awarded the 1990 Nobel Prize in Literature "for impassioned writing with wide horizons, characterized by sensuous intelligence and humanistic integrity"
- Awarded the 2005 Nobel Prize in Literature "who in his plays uncovers the precipice under everyday prattle and forces entry into oppression's closed rooms"
- Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize "for his investigative journalism and anti-war writings, which are courageous efforts to promote peace, justice, civil liberties, and public resistance to militarism"
- Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize "for her lifelong work for European reconciliation, democratic internationalism, women's rights, anti-fascism, and peace-oriented journalism, making a substantial contribution to the cause of peace in Europe"
- Awarded the 1982 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his novels and short stories, in which the fantastic and the realistic are combined in a richly composed world of imagination, reflecting a continent's life and conflicts"
- Awarded the 1988 Nobel Prize in Literature "who, through works rich in nuance – now clear-sightedly realistic, now evocatively ambiguous – has formed an Arabian narrative art that applies to all mankind"
- probably Nirad Chaudhuri (1897–1999)