Who refused the Nobel Literature prize in 1958

Boris Leonidovich Pasternak
Pasternak was informed that, if he traveled to Stockholm to collect his Nobel Medal, he would be refused re-entry to the Soviet Union.

As a result, Pasternak sent a second telegram to the Nobel Committee: "In view of the meaning given the award by the society in which I live, I must renounce this undeserved distinction which has been conferred on me.

Please do not take my voluntary renunciation amiss."

The Swedish Academy announced: "This refusal, of course, in no way alters the validity of the award.

There remains only for the Academy, however, to announce with regret that the presentation of the Prize cannot take place."

According to Yevgenii Pasternak, "I couldn't recognize my father when I saw him that evening. Pale, lifeless face, tired painful eyes, and only speaking about the same thing: 'Now it all doesn’t matter, I declined the Prize.'"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Pasternak#Nobel_Prize

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