FRANCE: SARTRE INTERVIEWED ON REFUSAL OF NOBEL PRIZE

Record ID: 496391

  • Title: FRANCE: SARTRE INTERVIEWED ON REFUSAL OF NOBEL PRIZE
  • Date: 23rd October 1964
  • Summary: Shotlist incomplete on original 19. GV M. SARTRE BEING INTERVIEWED 0.30 21. SV TWO PEOPLE LOOK OUT OF WINDOW 0.34 21. GV ROAD SIGN "RUE SCHOELCHER" 0.39 27. SARTRE ACCOMPANIED BY MME DE BEAUVOIR, INTERVIEWED AGAIN 0.44 33. SV SARTRE LEAVES IN CAR WITH MME DE BEAUVOIR 0.53 Initials PC/V/RM/SGM Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 7th November 1964 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: PARIS, FRANCE
  • Country: France
  • Reuters ID: LVAAD184YJU119Y7PEMRJ1SH2LP3
  • Story Text: A LEADING MEMBER OF THE SWEDISH ACADEMY TODAY (FRIDAY) DENIED PRESS SUGGESTIONS THAT JEAN-PAUL SARTRE'S REFUSAL OF THE NOBEL LITERATURE PRIZE MIGHT DAMAGE THE PRESTIGE OF THE AWARD. THE 59-YEAR-OLD FRENCH AUTHOR HAS TURNED DOWN THE 273,000 CROWNS (ABOUT GBP19,000) AWARD BECAUSE, HE SAID, HE ALWAYS REFUSED OFFICIAL DISTINCTIONS AND DID NOT WANT TO BE "INSTITUTIONALISED".

    FILM SHOWS M. SARTRE BEING INTERVIEWED BY JOURNALISTS OUTSIDE THE PARIS FLAT OF HIS FRIEND SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR, AUTHORESS AND PLAYWRIGHT. SOON AFTERWARDS HE LEFT BY CAR WITH MME DE BEAUVOIR.

    M. SARTRE HAS ALSO TOLD THE PRESS HE REJECTED THE NOBEL PRIZE FOR FEAR THAT IT WOULD LIMIT THE IMPACT OF HIS WRITINGS. HE EXPRESSED REGRETS THAT CIRCUMSTANCES HAD GIVE HIS DECISION "THE APPEARANCE OF A SCANDAL". HE COULD NOT ACCEPT ANY DISTINCTIONS HANDED OUT BY THE EAST OR THE WEST. HIS SYMPATHIES WERE WITH THE SOCIALIST, YET HE WOULD BE UNABLE TO ACCEPT, FOR EXAMPLE, A LENIN PRIZE.

    YESTERDAY'S ANNOUNCEMENT THAT SARTRE HAD WON THE AWARD CAME AFTER THE SWEDISH ACADEMY HAD DELIBERATED ON THIS YEAR'S NOMINATIONS FOR MUCH LONGER THAN USUAL. IT FOLLOWED A STATEMENT FROM THE SWEDISH EMBASSY IN PARIS THAT THE "POPE OF EXISTENTIALISM" WOULD DECLINE THE PRIZE.

    (THERE HAVE BEEN ONLY TWO PREVIOUS REFUSALS IN THE 63 YEARS HISTORY OF THE NOBEL LITERATURE PRIZE. THE FIRST WAS IN 1925 WHEN BRITAIN'S GEORGE BERNARD SHOW WAS GIVEN THE AWARD DESPITE HIS REFUSAL. HE PRESENTED THE PRIZE MONEY TO A FOUNDATION DEVOTED TO THE TRANSLATION OF SWEDISH LITERATURE INTO ENGLISH. THE SECOND WAS THE SOVIET AUTHOR BORIS PASTERNAK, WHO DECLINED THE 1958 PRIZE.

    (FRANCE NOW HEADS THE NOBEL LITERATURE PRIZE TABLE WITH 11 AWARDS. BRITAIN AND THE UNITED STATES COME NEXT WITH SIX EACH.)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register