Facebook discussion of Eric's post allowed the surfacing of what I believe is a myth (in the sense of "falsehood"), that in 1975 Sartre asked for the Nobel Prize money for the award he refused in 1964, but was turned down.
Allegedly, Nobel committee member Lars Gyllensten claimed in his autobiography that Sartre asked for the 1964 money and was turned down. Now I am no historian, but I do have decent web search skills and a solid hour of looking this morning has turned up no evidence that Gyllensten ever even made such a claim. Nor has any letter from Sartre ever turned up (some discussions claim a letter was sent, others "a telephone call"). Nor has anyone else on the Nobel committee come forth to corroborate the alleged claim. This discussion by some Wikipedia folks seems reasonable to me:
It's hard to prove a negative, unless you have a "debunker" cite. But I am certain it is NOT true. Sartre was very consistent in his principles. During the last 16 years of his life, he lived comfortably (on royalties) in an apartment in Paris. It is all but impossible to imagine him "asking for the prize money" during the period 1964-1980, and there is no reference to such an act in his writings or interviews or in Beauvoir's. 63.17.43.56 (talk) 11:08, 1 December 2010 (UTC)
So, does anyone have a lead here? Or can we put this one to rest?
Recent Comments