Nobel Deprived 100 Writers

Nobel Deprived 100 Writers 

The Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to many remarkable writers since its inception in 1901, but there are many famous and deserving authors who were never awarded the prize. Within the arena of World Literature, here's a list of 100 notable writers who were often considered deprived of the Nobel Prize in Literature due to various reasons— either their work was overlooked, political circumstances played a role, or other factors prevented them from receiving the honor:

Nobel Deprived 100 Writers List

Nobel Deprived 100 Writers List

1. Leo Tolstoy (Russia)

• Renowned for "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina."

2. James Joyce (Ireland)

• Famous for "Ulysses" and "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man."

3. Marcel Proust (France)

• Known for "In Search of Lost Time" (À la recherche du temps perdu).

4. Virginia Woolf (England)

• Best known for "Mrs Dalloway" and "To the Lighthouse."

5. Franz Kafka (Austria-Hungary)

• Notable for "The Trial" and "Metamorphosis."

6. Herman Melville (USA)

• Famous for "Moby-Dick."

7. Jorge Luis Borges (Argentina)

• Known for his intricate short stories, including "Ficciones."

8. Marina Tsvetaeva (Russia)

• Highly regarded for her poetry.

9. Charles Baudelaire (France)

• Famous for "Les Fleurs du mal."

10. Gabriel García Márquez (Colombia)

• Awarded the Nobel in 1982, but widely debated if earlier recognition was due.

11. Antonio Machado (Spain)

• One of Spain's greatest poets, known for "Soledades, galerías y otros poemas."

12. Thomas Mann (Germany)

• Though he received the Nobel in 1929, his works such as "The Magic Mountain" made him a perennial contender.

13. Henrik Ibsen (Norway)

• Famous for works like "A Doll’s House" and "Hedda Gabler."

14. Edgar Allan Poe (USA)

• Known for his poetry and stories like "The Raven" and "The Tell-Tale Heart."

15. Leo Tolstoy (Russia)

• Famous for "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina."

16. Isaac Bashevis Singer (USA/Poland)

• Known for his stories about Jewish life and awarded the Nobel in 1978, but his earlier works were notable too.

17. Émile Zola (France)

• A major figure in literary naturalism and social commentary.

18. Dostoevsky (Russia)

• Widely considered one of the greatest novelists, known for "The Brothers Karamazov" and "Crime and Punishment."

19. William Faulkner (USA)

• Won the Nobel in 1949, but his prior works were contenders for decades.

20. John Keats (England)

• A Romantic poet whose works like "Ode to a Nightingale" are highly celebrated.

21. Rainer Maria Rilke (Austria-Hungary)

• Known for "The Duino Elegies" and "Letters to a Young Poet."

22. Albert Camus (France)

• Although awarded in 1957, his works before that like "The Myth of Sisyphus" were just as revolutionary.

23. T.S. Eliot (USA/UK)

• Famous for works like "The Waste Land," though he won in 1948.

24. Frédéric Chopin (Poland)

• Famous for his music, not as a writer but his poetry-like musical compositions.

25. Walt Whitman (USA)

• Known for "Leaves of Grass."

26. Henry James (USA/UK)

• Renowned for "The Portrait of a Lady" and "The Turn of the Screw."

27. Vladimir Nabokov (USA/Russia)

• Famous for "Lolita."

28. Emily Dickinson (USA)

• One of America's most revered poets, her work was largely unpublished during her lifetime.

29. Mark Twain (USA)

• Known for "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn."

30. William Blake (England)

• Known for his visionary poetry, such as "Songs of Innocence and Experience."

31. J.R.R. Tolkien (England)

• Best known for "The Lord of the Rings."

32. Sylvia Plath (USA)

• Known for her poetry and "The Bell Jar."

33. Pablo Neruda (Chile)

• Winner in 1971, but his early works were notable for their depth and political messages.

34. Jean-Paul Sartre (France)

• A major existentialist philosopher and novelist who refused the Nobel.

35. Haruki Murakami (Japan)

• A modern literary giant whose works like "Norwegian Wood" and "1Q84" have global recognition.

36. Carlos Fuentes (Mexico)

• Known for "The Death of Artemio Cruz."

37. Bertolt Brecht (Germany)

• Famous for his plays like "The Threepenny Opera."

38. Albert Einstein (Germany/USA)

• Renowned for his scientific contributions, but his literary works in philosophy and essays also show a writer’s mind.

39. Ralph Waldo Emerson (USA)

• Known for his philosophy and poetry like "Self-Reliance."

40. Dylan Thomas (Wales)

• Known for his vivid poetry, especially "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night."

41. Maxim Gorky (Russia)

• A prominent Russian writer known for his works on social change.

42. George Orwell (UK)

• Famous for "1984" and "Animal Farm."

43. Paul Valéry (France)

• Known for his poetry and essays.

44. Tennessee Williams (USA)

• Famous for plays like "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "The Glass Menagerie."

45. Kurt Vonnegut (USA)

• Famous for "Slaughterhouse-Five."

46. Isaac Newton (UK)

• Famous for his scientific work, but his writings have a philosophical and literary quality.

47. Thomas Hardy (UK)

• Famous for novels like "Tess of the d'Urbervilles" and poetry.

48. Boris Pasternak (Russia)

• Awarded in 1958 for "Doctor Zhivago," but was forced to decline.

49. F. Scott Fitzgerald (USA)

• Known for "The Great Gatsby."

50. H.G. Wells (UK)

• Known for his science fiction classics like "The War of the Worlds."

51. William Golding (UK)

• Author of "Lord of the Flies," but did not win the Nobel until 1983.

52. Langston Hughes (USA)

• Known for his poetry in the Harlem Renaissance.

53. Ayn Rand (Russia/USA)

• Known for "Atlas Shrugged" and "The Fountainhead."

54. John Steinbeck (USA)

• Awarded the Nobel in 1962, but his earlier works were often not nominated.

55. Samuel Beckett (Ireland/France)

• Best known for "Waiting for Godot."

56. W. H. Auden (USA/UK)

• Famous for his poetry, especially "Funeral Blues."

57. Günter Grass (Germany)

• Known for "The Tin Drum" but was debated as being overlooked in earlier years.

58. Eugene O'Neill (USA)

• Famous for plays like "Long Day’s Journey Into Night."

59. Alice Munro (Canada)

• Winner in 2013, but her works were frequently overlooked earlier.

60. George Bernard Shaw (Ireland)

• Though awarded the Nobel in 1925, his vast body of work was often debated.

61. John Milton (England)

• Famous for "Paradise Lost," but lived in the 17th century, before the Nobel Prize existed.

62. Marquis de Sade (France)

• Known for his controversial works in philosophy and literature.

63. Søren Kierkegaard (Denmark)

• Famous for his philosophical writings and existentialist ideas.

64. J.D. Salinger (USA)

• Known for "The Catcher in the Rye."

65. Jack London (USA)

• Known for "The Call of the Wild."

66. Philip Roth (USA)

• Famous for his works on identity, desire, and American life.

67. Graham Greene (UK)

• Known for "The Power and the Glory" and "The Quiet American."

68. Neil Gaiman (UK/USA)

• Known for "American Gods" and his fantasy novels.

69. Stefan Zweig (Austria)

• Known for his psychological portraits and "The World of Yesterday."

70. Patricia Highsmith (USA)

• Famous for her psychological thrillers like "Strangers on a Train."

71. Milan Kundera (Czech Republic/France)

• Known for "The Unbearable Lightness of Being."

72. Simone de Beauvoir (France)

• Famous for "The Second Sex."

73. Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (UK/India)

• Known for her novels and screenplays.

74. Jules Verne (France)

• Pioneering science fiction author of "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea."

75. Markus Zusak (Australia)

• Known for "The Book Thief."

76. Jean Genet (France)

• Known for his controversial plays and novels.

77. Gao Xingjian (China)

• Awarded the Nobel in 2000 but had significant works before that.

78. Nadine Gordimer (South Africa)

• Awarded in 1991, though her earlier works were influential.

79. Margaret Atwood (Canada)

• Known for "The Handmaid’s Tale."

80. Kazuo Ishiguro (UK/Japan)

• Awarded in 2017, though his earlier works were strong contenders.

81. Joan Didion (USA)

• Known for her works on American society and culture.

82. Doris Lessing (UK)

• Awarded the Nobel in 2007, but her early works were influential before that.

83. Octavia Butler (USA)

• Known for her contributions to science fiction.

84. Nobel Prize Nominee Bob Dylan (USA)

• A winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2016.

85. Tom Wolfe (USA)

• Known for his work in "New Journalism."

86. Mikhail Bulgakov (Russia)

• Famous for "The Master and Margarita."

87. Flannery O'Connor (USA)

• Known for her Southern Gothic style.

88. Willa Cather (USA)

• Known for "My Ántonia" and other works focusing on pioneer life.

89. Philip K. Dick (USA)

• Known for his science fiction works like "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"

90. David Foster Wallace (USA)

• Known for his works like "Infinite Jest."

91. Ivy Compton-Burnett (UK)

• A contender with her distinctive style of dialogue-driven novels.

92. E. M. Forster (UK)

• Famous for works like "A Passage to India."

93. John Banville (Ireland)

• Known for his literary fiction works.

94. Robert Frost (USA)

• Famous for his poetry and works like "The Road Not Taken."

95. Patrick White (Australia)

• Nobel Laureate in 1973 but his earlier works were major candidates.

96. Richard Wright (USA)

• Known for "Native Son."

97. Harold Pinter (UK)

• Awarded the Nobel for his plays, but earlier works were often missed.

98. Chinua Achebe (Nigeria)

• Famous for "Things Fall Apart."

99. V.S. Naipaul (UK/Trinidad)

• Awarded in 2001, but his earlier works were deserving as well.

100. Jean Rhys (Dominica)

• Known for "Wide Sargasso Sea."

This list features writers from various cultures, eras, and genres who have left an indelible mark on literature but were never awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.