To Leo Tolstoy:
With regard to the awarding of the Nobel Prize for Literature for the first time, we, the undersigned authors, artists, and critics, wish to express our admiration for you. In specific, we see in your person not only the most revered patriarch of today’s literature, but also for us the greatest and most profound poet who, in our opinion, should have been the first to be thought of, even if you yourself never strove for this sort of reward. We feel ourselves very much called upon to let you know that, as a consequence of its current membership, we consider the institution which has control over said Prize reflects neither the view of the artists nor of public opinion. It must not be other countries’ impression that art which comes from free-thinkers and freely creative persons, even among our remotely residing citizens, is not appreciated as of the finest quality and of a status greater than all others.

Signed: