In 1901, the very first Nobel Prize in Literature in history was awarded to a French poet now largely forgotten, rather than to Tolstoy, who had been the favourite. Who is this laureate, buried in Division 44?
The answer
René François Armand Prudhomme, known as Sully Prudhomme, received the very first Nobel Prize in Literature in 1901, which sparked controversy: several members of the Swedish Academy reportedly would have preferred to honour Leo Tolstoy.
This question belongs to the “Writers and Poets” series of the Père-Lachaise quiz: ten questions, a story behind every right answer.