Letter: Baroness who inspired Nobel
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.From Dr Peter van den Dungen
Sir: In his article on the Nobel prizes, Paul Vallely (10 October) writes that Nobel acquired his pacifism from an Austrian baroness friend "who was also a novelist manque".
This is an unworthy put-down of one of the most remarkable and high- minded women of the pre-1914 world. Bertha von Suttner, the author of many novels (often of social criticism), was extremely well-known in the German-speaking world and had become Austria's most popular woman writer and journalist by the turn of the century.
Her novel Lay down your arms! (1889) was translated into 27 languages and made her famous world-wide. Tolstoy complimented her for having written "the Uncle Tom's Cabin of the peace movement". While not abolishing war, her novel invigorated and inspired the international peace movement in the quarter-century before August 1914.
It has been claimed with considerable justification that hers was one of the most influential novels of the 19th century. It also started Nobel on the course that resulted in his establishment of the Peace Prize (of which von Suttner became the first woman recipient).
Yours faithfully,
Peter van den Dungen
Department of Peace Studies
University of Bradford
Bradford
11 October
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments