On 28th Oct. Vice-Chancillor Ashutosh Mukhopadhyay proposed in a meeting of the Syndicate of Calcutta University proposed to offer honourable Doctor of Literature to Rabindranath along with other six persons. Syndicate decided to send the proposal to Senate for its sanction.In about 15 days time Swidish Academy published the name of Rabindranath as a winner of Nobel prize in Literature for 1913. The propsal of Ashutosh Mukhopadhyay to offer Honourable D. Lit to Rabindranath saved the Calcutta University from shame. It is to be mentioned here that just before one year "Pathsanchoy" written by Rabindranath was refused to be selected by the Textbook-Selection-Committee of Calcutta University.
Thomas Sturge Moore, as a member of Royal Society of Literature of Great Britain, recommended the names of Rabindranath to the Swidish Academy for Nobel Prize. There was no mention about the identity of Rabindranath or anything about the his creation in the letter of recommendation. But it attracted the members of the Swidish Academy for its novel style of recommendation.Sturge Moore was not at all unknown to The Academy Gunnar Ahlstrom in his essay " The 1913 Prize'wrote;
"In 1911 Sturge Moore was elected to an important post in the Royal Society of Literature, whose concern it had been since 1912, to watch over the interests of England with regard to the Nobel Prize."
Per halltrom (1866-1960) , a member of Nobel Committee and an Academician, had been given the charge of judging the merit of the proposal and the last date of submitting his report was 29 Oct. 1913.
Per Hallström and his wife.Per Hallström (1866, Stockholm – 1960) was a Swedish author, short-story writer, dramatist, poet and member of the Swedish Academy. He joined the academy in 1908, and served as its Permanent Secretary from 1931 to 1941. Before devoting himself to writing, Hallström worked in London and Chicago as a chemist. He is appreciated primarily for his collections of short stories, such as Purpur [Purple] (1895) and Thanatos [Death] (1900). His major works, written before 1910, combine profound compassion with a sensitive awareness of beauty.[citation needed] Between 1922 and 1946, Hallström served as Chairman of the Nobel Committee of the Swedish Academy for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Thomas Sturge Moore, as a member of Royal Society of Literature of Great Britain, recommended the names of Rabindranath to the Swidish Academy for Nobel Prize. There was no mention about the identity of Rabindranath or anything about the his creation in the letter of recommendation. But it attracted the members of the Swidish Academy for its novel style of recommendation.Sturge Moore was not at all unknown to The Academy Gunnar Ahlstrom in his essay " The 1913 Prize'wrote;
"In 1911 Sturge Moore was elected to an important post in the Royal Society of Literature, whose concern it had been since 1912, to watch over the interests of England with regard to the Nobel Prize."
Per halltrom (1866-1960) , a member of Nobel Committee and an Academician, had been given the charge of judging the merit of the proposal and the last date of submitting his report was 29 Oct. 1913.
Per Hallström and his wife.Per Hallström (1866, Stockholm – 1960) was a Swedish author, short-story writer, dramatist, poet and member of the Swedish Academy. He joined the academy in 1908, and served as its Permanent Secretary from 1931 to 1941. Before devoting himself to writing, Hallström worked in London and Chicago as a chemist. He is appreciated primarily for his collections of short stories, such as Purpur [Purple] (1895) and Thanatos [Death] (1900). His major works, written before 1910, combine profound compassion with a sensitive awareness of beauty.[citation needed] Between 1922 and 1946, Hallström served as Chairman of the Nobel Committee of the Swedish Academy for the Nobel Prize in Literature. The translated form of the report of the recommendation of Hallstrom was published in Indian Literaure (Vol. 4. 1961) in the essay "Tagore and Nobel Prize" written by Arvid hallden. It revealed that Hallstrom had taken much time to prepare the report -- it was written in three stages. In the first stage he wrote about Gitanjali, in which he said ;
" The small collection of poems... creates such a surprisingly rich and genuinely poetic impression that there is nothing odd or absurd in the proposal to reward it even with such a distinction as it is a question here." and here he found, " something more remarkable than anything that European poetry has to offer at present.". He expressed his decision, " There is no mistaking the exceptional poetic beauty. The mode of expression is of classical simplicity, the image is only the spontaneous language of thought, and it does not need to be moulded into shape, it is even complete through the mere mention of the word."
Before writing about the next phase of his recommendation he found the criticisms of Ezra Pound in The Times, (7th Nov 1912) & The Fortnightly Review (Mar 1913), of Arnest Ridge in The Nineteenth Century (April 1913). He got in these criticisms which he incorporated in his second phase of recommendation in the line of its outward structure. The third phase of his recommendation he wrote after getting " The Gardener".Hallstrom did not find any shortage of beauty in these poems of love. Quoting several poems he wrote in his decision;
" It is certain, however, that no poet in Europe since the death of Goethe in 1832 can rival Tagore in noble humanity, in unaffected greatness, in classical tranquility."
" The small collection of poems... creates such a surprisingly rich and genuinely poetic impression that there is nothing odd or absurd in the proposal to reward it even with such a distinction as it is a question here." and here he found, " something more remarkable than anything that European poetry has to offer at present.". He expressed his decision, " There is no mistaking the exceptional poetic beauty. The mode of expression is of classical simplicity, the image is only the spontaneous language of thought, and it does not need to be moulded into shape, it is even complete through the mere mention of the word."
Before writing about the next phase of his recommendation he found the criticisms of Ezra Pound in The Times, (7th Nov 1912) & The Fortnightly Review (Mar 1913), of Arnest Ridge in The Nineteenth Century (April 1913). He got in these criticisms which he incorporated in his second phase of recommendation in the line of its outward structure. The third phase of his recommendation he wrote after getting " The Gardener".Hallstrom did not find any shortage of beauty in these poems of love. Quoting several poems he wrote in his decision;
" It is certain, however, that no poet in Europe since the death of Goethe in 1832 can rival Tagore in noble humanity, in unaffected greatness, in classical tranquility."
