Oct. 25, 1962 - John Steinbeck (pictured) has won the 1962 Nobel Prize for Literature. The 60-year-old author is the sixth American to be chosen for the award since the first Nobel prizes were distributed in 1900. The previous American winners were Sinclair Lewis, Eugene O’Neill, Pearl Buck, William Faulkner, and Ernest Hemingway. Dr. Anders Osterling, secretary of the Swedish Academy, which makes the annual award, said that Mr. Steinbeck had been chosen principally because of his novel “The Winter of Our Discontent.” The novel, published last year, is a story of the temptation of an honest man. At a press conference, Mr. Steinbeck said that he had turned on the television set this morning in his home in Sag Harbor, L.I., for details about the Cuban crisis and learned that he had won the 1962 Nobel Prize for Literature. Asked for his reaction, Mr. Steinbeck said, “Disbelief.” “Then what happened?” he was asked. “I had a cup of coffee,” the author replied.
Kommentare