z_darius: Switezianka: Sienkiewicz is no great literature. Switezianka: intellectually shallow Number 9
From 1901 to 1912, the committee was characterized by an interpretation of the "ideal direction" stated in Nobel's will as "a lofty and sound idealism", which caused Leo Tolstoy, Henrik Ibsen, Émile Zola and Mark Twain to be rejected.[4] During World War I and its immediate aftermath, the committee adopted a policy of neutrality, favouring writers from non-combatant countries.[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Prize_in_Literature
And it wasn't far from the general perception of literary merits in that time. Often, book was judged by its ideological contents more than purely literary quality.
Even very conservative Polish teachers sometimes admit Sienkiewicz wrote popular literature.
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