1938 in literature
Encyclopedia
The year 1938 in literature involved some significant events and new books.
Events
- The trilogy, U.S.A.U.S.A. trilogyThe U.S.A. Trilogy is a major work of American writer John Dos Passos, comprising the novels The 42nd Parallel ; 1919, also known as Nineteen Nineteen ; and The Big Money . The three books were first published together in a single volume titled U.S.A by Harcourt Brace in January, 1938...
by John Dos PassosJohn Dos PassosJohn Roderigo Dos Passos was an American novelist and artist.-Early life:Born in Chicago, Illinois, Dos Passos was the illegitimate son of John Randolph Dos Passos , a distinguished lawyer of Madeiran Portuguese descent, and Lucy Addison Sprigg Madison of Petersburg, Virginia. The elder Dos Passos...
, is published containing his three novels The 42nd Parallel (1930), 1919 (1932), and The Big MoneyThe Big Money"The Big Money" is a song by progressive rock group Rush from their album Power Windows. It charted at #45 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #4 on album-oriented rock charts, and has been featured on many "Best-Of" compilations, such as Retrospective II and The Spirit of Radio: Greatest Hits...
(1936). - Jorge Luis BorgesJorge Luis BorgesJorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo , known as Jorge Luis Borges , was an Argentine writer, essayist, poet and translator born in Buenos Aires. In 1914 his family moved to Switzerland where he attended school, receiving his baccalauréat from the Collège de Genève in 1918. The family...
is injured in an accident and develops blood poisoning in December. While recovering next year he will write the first short story in his later characteristic style. - Samuel BeckettSamuel BeckettSamuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. He wrote both in English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most...
's first completed novel MurphyMurphyMurphy is an Anglicized version of two Irish surnames: Ó Murchadha/Ó Murchadh , and Mac Murchaidh/Mac Murchadh derived from the Irish personal name Murchadh, which meant "sea-warrior" or "sea-battler"...
is published. - Avant-garde musician and theoretician Pierre SchaefferPierre SchaefferPierre Henri Marie Schaeffer was a French composer, writer, broadcaster, engineer, musicologist and acoustician of the 20th century. His innovative work in both the sciences —particularly communications and acoustics— and the various arts of music, literature and radio presentation after the end...
begins his writing career as an essayist for a number of French musical journals.
New books
- Margery AllinghamMargery AllinghamMargery Louise Allingham was an English crime writer, best remembered for her detective stories featuring gentleman sleuth Albert Campion.- Childhood and schooling :...
- The Fashion in ShroudsThe Fashion in ShroudsThe Fashion in Shrouds is a crime novel by Margery Allingham. It was originally published in 1938 in the United Kingdom by Heinemann, London and in the United States by Doubleday, New York. It is the tenth novel in the Albert Campion series.... - Eric AmblerEric AmblerEric Clifford Ambler OBE was an influential British author of spy novels who introduced a new realism to the genre. Ambler also used the pseudonym Eliot Reed for books co-written with Charles Rodda.-Life:...
- Cause for AlarmCause for Alarm (Ambler novel)Cause for Alarm is a novel by Eric Ambler first published in 1938. Set in Fascist Italy in that year, the book is one of Ambler's classic spy thrillers.-Plot summary:...
- Epitaph for a Spy
- Cause for Alarm
- Vladimir BartolVladimir BartolVladimir Bartol was a Slovene writer, most famous for his novel Alamut. Alamut was published in 1938 and translated into numerous languages, becoming the most popular work of Slovene literature around the world.-Biography:Bartol was born on February 24, 1903 in San Giovanni , a suburb of the...
- AlamutAlamut (1938 novel)Alamut is a novel by Vladimir Bartol, first published in 1938 in Slovenian, dealing with the story of Hassan-i Sabbah and the Hashshashin, and named after their Alamut fortress.... - Elizabeth BowenElizabeth BowenElizabeth Dorothea Cole Bowen, CBE was an Irish novelist and short story writer.-Life:Elizabeth Bowen was born on 7 June 1899 at 15 Herbert Place in Dublin, Ireland and was baptized in the nearby St Stephen's Church on Upper Mount Street...
- The Death of the HeartThe Death of the HeartThe Death of the Heart is a 1938 novel by Elizabeth Bowen set between the two world wars. It is about a sixteen year old orphan, Portia Quayne, who moves to London to live with her half-brother Thomas and falls in love with Eddie, a friend of her sister-in-law.-Plot summary:At the beginning of the... - Edgar Rice BurroughsEdgar Rice BurroughsEdgar Rice Burroughs was an American author, best known for his creation of the jungle hero Tarzan and the heroic Mars adventurer John Carter, although he produced works in many genres.-Biography:...
- Tarzan and the Forbidden CityTarzan and the Forbidden CityTarzan and the Forbidden City is a novel written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the twentieth in his series of books about the title character Tarzan.-Plot summary:... - Taylor CaldwellTaylor CaldwellJanet Miriam Holland Taylor Caldwell was an Anglo-American novelist and prolific author of popular fiction, also known by the pen names Marcus Holland and Max Reiner, and by her married name of J. Miriam Reback....
- Dynasty of DeathDynasty of DeathDynasty of Death was the debut novel of the Anglo-American writer Taylor Caldwell . When Caldwell submitted the manuscript to Maxwell Perkins in 1937, she was an unknown housewife from Buffalo, New York... - John Dickson CarrJohn Dickson CarrJohn Dickson Carr was an American author of detective stories, who also published under the pen names Carter Dickson, Carr Dickson and Roger Fairbairn....
- The Four False WeaponsThe Four False WeaponsThe Four False Weapons, first published in 1937, is a detective story by John Dickson Carr featuring his series detective Henri Bencolin. This novel is a mystery of the type known as a whodunnit.-Plot summary:...
, Being the Return of Bencolin - To Wake the DeadTo Wake the DeadTo Wake the Dead, first published in 1938, is a detective story by John Dickson Carr featuring his series detective Gideon Fell. This novel is a mystery of the type known as a whodunnit.-Plot summary:...
- The Crooked HingeThe Crooked HingeThe Crooked Hinge is a mystery novel by detective novelist John Dickson Carr. It combines a seemingly impossible throat-slashing with elements of witchcraft, an automaton modelled on Maelzel's Chess Player, and the story of the Tichborne Claimant....
- The Judas WindowThe Judas WindowThe Judas Window is a famous locked room mystery novel by the American writer John Dickson Carr , writing under the name of Carter Dickson, published in 1938 and featuring detective Sir Henry Merrivale....
(as by Carter Dickson) - Death in Five BoxesDeath in Five BoxesDeath in Five Boxes is a mystery novel by the American writer John Dickson Carr , who published it under the name of Carter Dickson. It is a whodunnit and features the series detective Sir Henry Merrivale and his associate, Scotland Yard's Chief Inspector Humphrey Masters.-Plot summary:Dr...
(as by Carter Dickson)
- The Four False Weapons
- Peter CheyneyPeter CheyneyReginald Evelyn Peter Southouse Cheyney, known as Peter Cheyney, was a British crime fiction writer who flourished between 1936 and 1951...
- Can Ladies Kill?Can Ladies Kill?Can Ladies Kill? is a crime novel by British author Peter Cheyney first published in 1938 by William Collins, Sons & Co. Ltd. Set in San Francisco and featuring Cheyney's creation, G-Man Lemmy Caution, it belongs to the hardboiled school of crime writing.... - Agatha ChristieAgatha ChristieDame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
- Hercule Poirot's ChristmasHercule Poirot's ChristmasHercule Poirot's Christmas is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on December 19, 1938 . It retailed at seven shillings and sixpence ....
- Appointment with DeathAppointment with DeathAppointment with Death is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on May 2, 1938 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year...
- Hercule Poirot's Christmas
- René DaumalRené DaumalRené Daumal was a French spiritual para-surrealist writer and poet. He was born in Boulzicourt, Ardennes, France....
- A Night of Serious DrinkingA Night of Serious DrinkingA Night of Serious Drinking is an allegorical novel by the French surrealist writer René Daumal detailing what is ostensibly an extremely simple plot in which the narrator overly imbibes alcohol; what unfolds however is a novel which explores the extremities of heaven and hell.... - John Dos PassosJohn Dos PassosJohn Roderigo Dos Passos was an American novelist and artist.-Early life:Born in Chicago, Illinois, Dos Passos was the illegitimate son of John Randolph Dos Passos , a distinguished lawyer of Madeiran Portuguese descent, and Lucy Addison Sprigg Madison of Petersburg, Virginia. The elder Dos Passos...
- U.S.A. trilogyU.S.A. trilogyThe U.S.A. Trilogy is a major work of American writer John Dos Passos, comprising the novels The 42nd Parallel ; 1919, also known as Nineteen Nineteen ; and The Big Money . The three books were first published together in a single volume titled U.S.A by Harcourt Brace in January, 1938... - Daphne du MaurierDaphne du MaurierDame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning DBE was a British author and playwright.Many of her works have been adapted into films, including the novels Rebecca and Jamaica Inn and the short stories "The Birds" and "Don't Look Now". The first three were directed by Alfred Hitchcock.Her elder sister was...
- RebeccaRebecca (novel)Rebecca is a novel by Daphne du Maurier. When Rebecca was published in 1938, du Maurier became – to her great surprise – one of the most popular authors of the day. Rebecca is considered to be one of her best works... - Lawrence DurrellLawrence DurrellLawrence George Durrell was an expatriate British novelist, poet, dramatist, and travel writer, though he resisted affiliation with Britain and preferred to be considered cosmopolitan...
- The Black BookThe Black Book (Durrell novel)The Black Book is a novel by Lawrence Durrell, published in 1938 by the Obelisk Press. It is set with two competing narrators: Lawrence Lucifer on Corfu, in Greece, and Death Gregory in London. Faber and Faber offered to publish the novel in an expurgated edition, but on the advice of Henry Miller,... - Rachel FieldRachel FieldRachel Lyman Field was an American novelist, poet, and author of children's fiction. She is best known for her Newbery Medal–winning novel for young adults, Hitty, Her First Hundred Years, published in 1929. She won the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award twice...
- All This and Heaven TooAll This and Heaven TooAll This, and Heaven Too is a 1940 American drama film made by Warner Bros.-First National Pictures, produced and directed by Anatole Litvak with Hal B. Wallis as executive producer. The screenplay was adapted by Casey Robinson from the novel by Rachel Field... - Robert GravesRobert GravesRobert von Ranke Graves 24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985 was an English poet, translator and novelist. During his long life he produced more than 140 works...
- Count BelisariusCount BelisariusCount Belisarius is a historical novel by Robert Graves, first published in 1938, recounting the life of the Byzantine general Belisarius .... - Graham GreeneGraham GreeneHenry Graham Greene, OM, CH was an English author, playwright and literary critic. His works explore the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world...
- Brighton Rock - Eric KnightEric KnightEric Knight was an author who is mainly notable for creating the fictional collie Lassie.Born on 10 April 1897, in Menston in Yorkshire, England, Eric Mowbray Knight was the third of four sons born to Frederic Harrison and Marion Hilda Knight, both Quakers...
- Lassie Come-HomeLassie Come HomeLassie Come Home is a 1943 MGM film starring Roddy McDowall and canine actor, Pal, in a story about the profound bond between Yorkshire boy Joe Carraclough and his rough collie, Lassie. The film was directed by Fred M. Wilcox from a screenplay by Hugo Butler based upon the 1940 novel Lassie... - Emilio LussuEmilio LussuEmilio Lussu was an Italian soldier, politician and a writer.-The soldier:Lussu was born in Armungia, province of Cagliari and graduated with a degree in law in 1914...
- Un anno sull'altopiano - C. S. LewisC. S. LewisClive Staples Lewis , commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as "Jack", was a novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist from Belfast, Ireland...
- Out of the Silent PlanetOut of the Silent PlanetOut of the Silent Planet is the first novel of a science fiction trilogy written by C. S. Lewis, sometimes referred to as the Space Trilogy, Ransom Trilogy or Cosmic Trilogy. The other volumes are Perelandra and That Hideous Strength, and a fragment of a sequel was published posthumously as The... - Henry MillerHenry MillerHenry Valentine Miller was an American novelist and painter. He was known for breaking with existing literary forms and developing a new sort of 'novel' that is a mixture of novel, autobiography, social criticism, philosophical reflection, surrealist free association, and mysticism, one that is...
- Tropic of CapricornTropic of Capricorn (novel)Tropic of Capricorn is a semi-autobiographical novel by Henry Miller, first published in Paris in 1938. The novel was subsequently banned in the United States until a 1961 Justice Department ruling declared that its contents were not obscene. It is a sequel to Miller's 1934 work, the Tropic of... - Vladimir NabokovVladimir NabokovVladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov was a multilingual Russian novelist and short story writer. Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Russian, then rose to international prominence as a master English prose stylist...
- The Gift
- Invitation to a BeheadingInvitation to a BeheadingInvitation to a Beheading is a novel by Russian American author Vladimir Nabokov. It was originally published in Russian in 1935-1936 as a serial in Contemporary Notes , a highly respected Russian émigré magazine...
- John O'HaraJohn O'HaraJohn Henry O'Hara was an American writer. He initially became known for his short stories and later became a best-selling novelist whose works include Appointment in Samarra and BUtterfield 8. He was particularly known for an uncannily accurate ear for dialogue...
- Hope of Heaven - Ellery QueenEllery QueenEllery Queen is both a fictional character and a pseudonym used by two American cousins from Brooklyn, New York: Daniel Nathan, alias Frederic Dannay and Manford Lepofsky, alias Manfred Bennington Lee , to write, edit, and anthologize detective fiction.The fictional Ellery Queen created by...
- The Devil to PayThe Devil to Pay (1938 novel)The Devil To Pay is a novel that was published in 1938 by Ellery Queen. It is a mystery novel primarily set in Los Angeles, United States.-Plot summary:...
- The Four of HeartsThe Four of HeartsThe Four of Hearts is a novel that was published in 1938 by Ellery Queen. It is a mystery novel primarily set in Los Angeles, United States.-Plot summary:...
- The Devil to Pay
- Marjorie Kinnan RawlingsMarjorie Kinnan RawlingsMarjorie Kinnan Rawlings was an American author who lived in rural Florida and wrote novels with rural themes and settings. Her best known work, The Yearling, about a boy who adopts an orphaned fawn, won a Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1939 and was later made into a movie, also known as The...
- The YearlingThe YearlingThe Yearling is a 1946 Technicolor family film drama made by MGM. It was directed by Clarence Brown and produced by Sidney Franklin. The screenplay was by Paul Osborn and John Lee Mahin , adapted from the novel of the same name by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings... - Clayton RawsonClayton RawsonClayton Rawson was an American mystery writer, editor, and amateur magician. His four novels frequently invoke his great knowledge of stage magic and feature as their fictional detective The Great Merlini, a professional magician who runs a shop selling magic supplies...
- Death from a Top HatDeath from a Top HatDeath from a Top Hat is a locked-room mystery novel written by Clayton Rawson.It is the first of four mysteries featuring The Great Merlini, a stage magician and Rawson's favorite protagonist.... - Ayn RandAyn RandAyn Rand was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her two best-selling novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism....
- AnthemAnthemThe term anthem means either a specific form of Anglican church music , or more generally, a song of celebration, usually acting as a symbol for a distinct group of people, as in the term "national anthem" or "sports anthem".-Etymology:The word is derived from the Greek via Old English , a word... - Jean-Paul SartreJean-Paul SartreJean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic. He was one of the leading figures in 20th century French philosophy, particularly Marxism, and was one of the key figures in literary...
- La NauséeNausea (book)Nausea is an epistolary novel by the existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, which was published in 1938 and written while he was teaching at the lycée of Le Havre... - Kate SeredyKate SeredyKate Seredy was a Hungarian-born writer and illustrator of children's books, written in the English language.-Life:...
- The White StagThe White StagThe White Stag is a children's book, written and illustrated by Kate Seredy, that won the Newbery Medal for excellence in American children's literature in 1938... - Esphyr SlobodkinaEsphyr SlobodkinaEsphyr Slobodkina was a popular artist, author, and illustrator, best known for her classic 1940 children's book Caps for Sale.-Biography:...
- Caps for SaleCaps for SaleCaps for Sale: A Tale of a Peddler, Some Monkeys and Their Monkey Business is a 1938 classic children's book by Esphyr Slobodkina. It's a sly take on the saying, "Monkey see, monkey do."-Summary:...
: A Tale of a Peddler, Some Monkeys and Their Monkey Business - Rex StoutRex StoutRex Todhunter Stout was an American writer noted for his detective fiction. Stout is best known as the creator of the larger-than-life fictional detective Nero Wolfe, described by reviewer Will Cuppy as "that Falstaff of detectives." Wolfe's assistant Archie Goodwin recorded the cases of the...
- Too Many CooksToo Many CooksToo Many Cooks is the fifth Nero Wolfe detective novel by American mystery writer Rex Stout. The story was serialized in The American Magazine before its publication in book form in 1938 by Farrar & Rinehart, Inc... - Phoebe Atwood TaylorPhoebe Atwood TaylorPhoebe Atwood Taylor was an American mystery author.Phoebe Atwood Taylor wrote mystery novels under her own name, and as Freeman Dana and Alice Tilton. Her first novel, The Cape Cod Mystery, introduced the "Codfish Sherlock", Asey Mayo, who became a series character appearing in 24 novels...
- The Annulet of Gilt
- Banbury Bog
- The Cut DirectThe Cut DirectThe Cut Direct is a novel that was published in 1938 by Phoebe Atwood Taylor writing as Alice Tilton. It is the second of the eight Leonidas Witherall mysteries.-Plot summary:...
(as by Alice Tilton) - Murder at the New York World's FairMurder at the New York World's FairMurder at the New York World's Fair is a novel that was published in 1938 by Phoebe Atwood Taylor writing as Freeman Dana. It is the only mystery she wrote under that name.-Plot summary:Mrs...
(as by Freeman Dana)
- B. TravenB. TravenB. Traven was the pen name of a German novelist, whose real name, nationality, date and place of birth and details of biography are all subject to dispute. A rare certainty is that B...
- The Bridge in the Jungle - S. S. Van DineS. S. Van DineS. S. Van Dine was the pseudonym of Willard Huntington Wright , a U.S art critic and author. He created the once immensely popular fictional detective Philo Vance, who first appeared in books in the 1920s, then in movies and on the radio.-Early life and career:Willard Huntington Wright was born...
- The Gracie Allen Murder CaseThe Gracie Allen Murder CaseThe Gracie Allen Murder Case is the eleventh of twelve detective novels by S. S. Van Dine featuring his famous fictional detective of the 1920s and 1930s, Philo Vance. It also features the zany half of the George Burns & Gracie Allen comedy team... - Evelyn WaughEvelyn WaughArthur Evelyn St. John Waugh , known as Evelyn Waugh, was an English writer of novels, travel books and biographies. He was also a prolific journalist and reviewer...
- ScoopScoop (novel)Scoop is a 1938 novel by English writer Evelyn Waugh, a satire of sensationalist journalism and foreign correspondence.-Plot:William Boot, a young man who lives in genteel poverty far from the iniquities of London, is contributor of nature notes to Lord Copper's Beast, a national newspaper... - T. H. WhiteT. H. WhiteTerence Hanbury White was an English author best known for his sequence of Arthurian novels, The Once and Future King, first published together in 1958.-Biography:...
- The Sword in the StoneThe Sword in the StoneThe Sword in the Stone is a novel by T. H. White, published in 1939, initially a stand-alone work but now the first part of a tetralogy The Once and Future King. A fantasy of the boyhood of King Arthur, it is a sui generis work which combines elements of legend, history, fantasy and comedy... - Gale WilhelmGale WilhelmGale Wilhelm was an American writer most noted for two books that featured lesbian themes written in the 1930s: We Too Are Drifting and Torchlight to Valhalla.- Early life :...
- Torchlight to ValhallaTorchlight to ValhallaTorchlight to Valhalla is a lesbian-themed novel published by Random House in 1938, written by Gale Wilhelm. The novel is considered a classic in lesbian fiction, being one of the few hardbound novels with lesbian content to be published in the early 20th century. Quite rare for lesbian fiction in... - Virginia WoolfVirginia WoolfAdeline Virginia Woolf was an English author, essayist, publisher, and writer of short stories, regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century....
- Three GuineasThree GuineasThree Guineas is a book-length essay by Virginia Woolf, published in June 1938.-Background:Although Three Guineas is a work of non-fiction, it was initially conceived as a "novel-essay" which would tie up the loose ends left in her earlier work, A Room of One's Own...
New drama
- Jean AnouilhJean AnouilhJean Marie Lucien Pierre Anouilh was a French dramatist whose career spanned five decades. Though his work ranged from high drama to absurdist farce, Anouilh is best known for his 1943 play Antigone, an adaptation of Sophocles' Classical drama, that was seen as an attack on Marshal Pétain's...
- Thieves' Carnival - Robert ArdreyRobert ArdreyRobert Ardrey was an American playwright and screenwriter who returned to his academic training in anthropology and the behavioral sciences in the 1950s....
- Casey JonesCasey Jones (play)Casey Jones is a 1938 play by Robert Ardrey.Casey Jones was produced in the United States by the Group Theater in 1938, and directed by Elia Kazan. Kazan also directed Ardrey's play Thunder Rock for the Group Theater in 1939.-References:* * ]]... - Patrick HamiltonPatrick Hamilton (dramatist)Patrick Hamilton was an English playwright and novelist.He was well regarded by Graham Greene and J. B. Priestley and study of his novels has been revived recently because of their distinctive style, deploying a Dickensian narrative voice to convey aspects of inter-war London street culture...
- Gas LightGas Light (play)Gas Light is a 1938 play by the British dramatist Patrick Hamilton. The play gave rise to the term gaslighting with the meaning "a form of psychological abuse in which false information is presented to the victim with the intent of making him/her doubt his/her own memory and... - Kaj MunkKaj MunkKaj Harald Leininger Munk was a Danish playwright and Lutheran pastor, known for his cultural engagement and his martyrdom during the Occupation of Denmark of World War II...
- Han sidder ved Smeltediglen - Robert E. SherwoodRobert E. SherwoodRobert Emmet Sherwood was an American playwright, editor, and screenwriter.-Biography:Born in New Rochelle, New York, he was a son of Arthur Murray Sherwood, a rich stockbroker, and his wife, the former Rosina Emmet, a well-known illustrator and portrait painter known as Rosina E. Sherwood...
- Abe Lincoln in IllinoisAbe Lincoln in Illinois (play)Abe Lincoln in Illinois is a play written by the American playwright Robert E. Sherwood in 1938. The play, in three acts, covers the life of President Abraham Lincoln from his childhood through his final speech in Illinois before he left for Washington. The play also covers his romance with Mary... - Rodolfo UsigliRodolfo UsigliRodolfo Usigli was a Mexican playwright. He was called the "playwright of the Mexican Revolution."Usigli born to an Italian father and a Polish mother in Mexico City. He studied drama at Yale from 1935-1936 on a Rockefeller scholarship, later becoming a professor and diplomat...
- The Gesticulator - Thornton WilderThornton WilderThornton Niven Wilder was an American playwright and novelist. He received three Pulitzer Prizes, one for his novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey and two for his plays Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth, and a National Book Award for his novel The Eighth Day.-Early years:Wilder was born in Madison,...
- Our TownOur TownOur Town is a three-act play by American playwright Thornton Wilder. It is a character story about an average town's citizens in the early twentieth century as depicted through their everyday lives... - Emlyn WilliamsEmlyn WilliamsGeorge Emlyn Williams, CBE , known as Emlyn Williams, was a Welsh dramatist and actor.-Biography:He was born into a Welsh-speaking, working class family in Mostyn, Flintshire....
- The Corn is GreenThe Corn is GreenThe Corn Is Green is a semi-autobiographical play by Emlyn Williams.At its core is L. C. Moffat, a strong-willed English school teacher working in a small poverty-stricken coal mining town in the late 19th century...
Poetry
- Alfred KreymborgAlfred KreymborgAlfred Francis Kreymborg was an American poet, novelist, playwright, literary editor and anthologist.-Early life and associations:...
- The Planets: A Modern AllegoryThe Planets: A Modern AllegoryThe Planets: A Modern Allegory is a radio play, written in verse, by Alfred Kreymborg. The first performance was on 6 June 1938 by the National Broadcasting Company at the Hayden Planetarium in New York City, and was directed by Thomas L. Riley...
(radio play in verse)
Non-fiction
- Hall CaineHall CaineSir Thomas Henry Hall Caine CH, KBE , usually known as Hall Caine, was a Manx author. He is best known as a novelist and playwright of the late Victorian and the Edwardian eras. In his time he was exceedingly popular, and at the peak of his success his novels outsold those of his...
- Life of ChristLife of ChristThe Life of Christ as a narrative cycle in Christian art comprises a number of different subjects, which were often grouped in series or cycles of works in a variety of media, narrating the life of Jesus on earth, as distinguished from the many other subjects in art showing the eternal life of... - Cyril ConnollyCyril ConnollyCyril Vernon Connolly was an English intellectual, literary critic and writer. He was the editor of the influential literary magazine Horizon and wrote Enemies of Promise , which combined literary criticism with an autobiographical exploration of why he failed to become the successful author of...
- Enemies of PromiseEnemies of PromiseEnemies of Promise is a critical and autobiographical work written by Cyril Connolly and first published in 1938.It comprises three parts, the first dedicated to Connolly's observations about literature and the literary world of his time, the second a listing of adverse elements that affect the... - Geoffrey FaberGeoffrey FaberSir Geoffrey Cust Faber was a British academic, publisher and poet.Geoffrey Cust Faber was educated at Rugby School and Christ Church, Oxford...
- The Romance of a Bookshop 1904-1938 - Elie HalévyÉlie HalévyÉlie Halévy was a French philosopher and historian who wrote studies of the British utilitarians, a history of 19th-century England and the acclaimed book of essays, Era of Tyrannies.-Biography:...
- The Era of Tyrannies - Jomo KenyattaJomo KenyattaJomo Kenyattapron.] served as the first Prime Minister and President of Kenya. He is considered the founding father of the Kenyan nation....
- Facing Mount KenyaFacing Mount KenyaFacing Mount Kenya, first published in 1938, is an anthropological study of the people of the Kikuyu ethnicity of central Kenya. It was written by native Kikuyu and future Kenyan president Jomo Kenyatta.... - Robert McAlmonRobert McAlmonRobert Menzies McAlmon was an American author, poet and publisher.-Life:McAlmon was born in Clifton, Kansas, the youngest of ten children of an itinerant Presbyterian minister....
- Being Geniuses Together, 1920-1930 - Thomas MannThomas MannThomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and 1929 Nobel Prize laureate, known for his series of highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual...
- The Coming Victory of DemocracyThe Coming Victory of DemocracyThe Coming Victory of Democracy is a book published in 1938 by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. It contains the abbreviated text of a lecture series delivered by Thomas Mann from February to May of that year, all across the United States. Mann's intent was to rally support in America for fighting the Nazi... - George OrwellGeorge OrwellEric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
- Homage to CataloniaHomage to CataloniaHomage to Catalonia is political journalist and novelist George Orwell's personal account of his experiences and observations in the Spanish Civil War. The first edition was published in 1938. The book was not published in the United States until February 1952. The American edition had a preface...
Births
- January 5 - Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'oNgugi wa Thiong'oNgũgĩ wa Thiong'o is a Kenyan author, formerly working in English and now working in Gĩkũyũ. His work includes novels, plays, short stories, and essays, ranging from literary and social criticism to children's literature...
(also known as James Ngigi), Kenyan novelist - February 12 - Judy BlumeJudy BlumeJudy Blume is an American author. She has written many novels for children and young adults which have exceeded sales of 80 million and been translated into 31 languages...
, children's author - April 29 - Larry NivenLarry NivenLaurence van Cott Niven / ˈlæri ˈnɪvən/ is an American science fiction author. His best-known work is Ringworld , which received Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards. His work is primarily hard science fiction, using big science concepts and theoretical physics...
, sci-fi author - May 13 - Norma KleinNorma KleinNorma Klein was a US children's book author. She was born, grew up and lived in New York City for most of her life. She died, after a brief illness, in New York City....
, author - July 19
- Nicholas BethellNicholas BethellNicholas William Bethell, 4th Baron Bethell was a British politician. He was an historian of Central and Eastern Europe. He was also a translator and human rights activist. He sat in the House of Lords as a Conservative from 1967 to 1999...
, historian - Dom MoraesDom MoraesDominic Francis Moraes , popularly known as Dom Moraes, was a Goan writer, poet and columnist. He published nearly 30 books.-Early life:...
, poet and columnist
- Nicholas Bethell
- October 12 - Anne PerryAnne PerryAnne Perry is an English author of historical detective fiction. Perry was convicted of the murder of her friend's mother in 1954.-Early life:Born Juliet Marion Hulme in Blackheath, London, the daughter of Dr...
, historical novelist - October 13 - Hugo YoungHugo YoungHugo John Smelter Young was a British journalist and columnist and senior political commentator at The Guardian.-Early life and education:...
, journalist - December 14 - Leonardo BoffLeonardo BoffLeonardo Boff was born 14 December 1938 in Concórdia, Santa Catarina state, Brazil. He is a theologian, philosopher and writer, known for his active support for the rights of the poor and excluded....
, philosopher and theologian - date unknown
- Christopher BookerChristopher BookerChristopher John Penrice Booker is an English journalist and author. In 1961, he was one of the founders of the magazine Private Eye, and has contributed to it for over four decades. He has been a columnist for the Sunday Telegraph since 1990...
, journalist and editor - Charles L. MeeCharles L. MeeCharles L. Mee is an American playwright, historian and author known for his collage-like style of playwriting, which makes use of radical reconstructions of found texts.-Early Life and Early Career:...
, dramatist - M. K. WrenM. K. WrenMartha Kay Renfroe is an Oregon writer, author of mystery and science fiction under the penname M.K. Wren...
, novelist
- Christopher Booker
Deaths
- January 19 - Branislav NušićBranislav NušicBranislav Nušić was a Serbian novelist of Aromanian descent, playwright, satirist, essayist and founder of modern rhetoric in Serbia. He also worked as a journalist and a civil servant.- Biography :...
, novelist and dramatist - March 1 - Gabriele D'AnnunzioGabriele D'AnnunzioGabriele D'Annunzio or d'Annunzio was an Italian poet, journalist, novelist, and dramatist...
, poet and novelist - April 19 - Sir Henry NewboltHenry NewboltSir Henry John Newbolt, CH was an English poet. He is best remembered for Vitaï Lampada, a lyrical piece used for propaganda purposes during the First World War.-Background:...
, poet - April 21 - Lady Ottoline Morrell, literary hostess
- May 26 - James ForbesJames Forbes (screenwriter)James Grant Forbes was a Canadian playwright who worked as a Hollywood movie screenwriter.-Writer - filmography:1930s 1920s 1910s*Bachelor's Affairs...
, dramatist and screenwriter - June 26 - James Weldon JohnsonJames Weldon JohnsonJames Weldon Johnson was an American author, politician, diplomat, critic, journalist, poet, anthologist, educator, lawyer, songwriter, and early civil rights activist. Johnson is remembered best for his leadership within the NAACP, as well as for his writing, which includes novels, poems, and...
- June 26 - E. V. LucasE. V. LucasEdward Verrall Lucas was a versatile and popular English writer. His nearly 100 books demonstrate great facility with style, and are generally acknowledged as humorous by contemporary readers and critics. Some of his essays about the sport cricket are still considered among the best instructional...
, essayist and biographer - August 7 - Konstantin StanislavskiKonstantin StanislavskiConstantin Sergeyevich Stanislavski , was a Russian actor and theatre director. Building on the directorially-unified aesthetic and ensemble playing of the Meiningen company and the naturalistic staging of Antoine and the independent theatre movement, Stanislavski organized his realistic...
, theatre director - September 15 - Thomas WolfeThomas WolfeThomas Clayton Wolfe was a major American novelist of the early 20th century.Wolfe wrote four lengthy novels, plus many short stories, dramatic works and novellas. He is known for mixing highly original, poetic, rhapsodic, and impressionistic prose with autobiographical writing...
, novelist - December 25 - Karel ČapekKarel CapekKarel Čapek was Czech writer of the 20th century.-Biography:Born in 1890 in the Bohemian mountain village of Malé Svatoňovice to an overbearing, emotional mother and a distant yet adored father, Čapek was the youngest of three siblings...
, science fiction author and dramatist - November 10 - Mustafa Kemal AtatürkMustafa Kemal AtatürkMustafa Kemal Atatürk was an Ottoman and Turkish army officer, revolutionary statesman, writer, and the first President of Turkey. He is credited with being the founder of the Republic of Turkey....
, the founder of TurkeyTurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
.
Awards
- Carnegie MedalCarnegie MedalThe Carnegie Medal is a literary award established in 1936 in honour of Scottish philanthropist Andrew Carnegie and given annually to an outstanding book for children and young adults. It is awarded by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals...
for children's literatureChildren's literatureChildren's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...
: Noel StreatfeildNoel StreatfeildMary Noel Streatfeild OBE , known as Noel Streatfeild, was an author, most famous for her children's books including Ballet Shoes . Several of her novels have been adapted for film or television.-Biography:...
, The Circus Is Coming - Hawthornden PrizeHawthornden PrizeThe Hawthornden Prize is a British literary award that was established in 1919 by Alice Warrender. Authors are awarded on the quality of their "imaginative literature" which can be written in either poetry or prose...
- David JonesDavid Jones (poet)David Jones CH was both a painter and one of the first generation British modernist poets. As a painter he worked chiefly in watercolor, painting portraits and animal, landscape, legendary and religious subjects. He was also a wood-engraver and designer of inscriptions. As a writer he was...
for In Parenthesis - James Tait Black Memorial PrizeJames Tait Black Memorial PrizeFounded in 1919, the James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are among the oldest and most prestigious book prizes awarded for literature written in the English language and are Britain's oldest literary awards...
for fiction: C. S. ForesterC. S. ForesterCecil Scott "C.S." Forester was the pen name of Cecil Louis Troughton Smith , an English novelist who rose to fame with tales of naval warfare. His most notable works were the 11-book Horatio Hornblower series, depicting a Royal Navy officer during the Napoleonic era, and The African Queen...
, A Ship of the LineA Ship of the LineA Ship of the Line is an historical seafaring novel by C. S. Forester. It follows his fictional hero Horatio Hornblower during his tour as captain of a ship of the line. By internal chronology, A Ship of the Line, which follows The Happy Return, is the seventh book in the series...
and Flying Colours - James Tait Black Memorial PrizeJames Tait Black Memorial PrizeFounded in 1919, the James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are among the oldest and most prestigious book prizes awarded for literature written in the English language and are Britain's oldest literary awards...
for biography: Sir Edmund Chambers, Samuel Taylor ColeridgeSamuel Taylor ColeridgeSamuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet, Romantic, literary critic and philosopher who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. He is probably best known for his poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla... - Newbery MedalNewbery MedalThe John Newbery Medal is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association . The award is given to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. The award has been given since 1922. ...
for children's literatureChildren's literatureChildren's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...
: Kate SeredyKate SeredyKate Seredy was a Hungarian-born writer and illustrator of children's books, written in the English language.-Life:...
, The White StagThe White StagThe White Stag is a children's book, written and illustrated by Kate Seredy, that won the Newbery Medal for excellence in American children's literature in 1938... - Newdigate prizeNewdigate prizeSir Roger Newdigate's Prize is awarded to students of the University of Oxford for Best Composition in English verse by an undergraduate who has been admitted to Oxford within the previous four years. It was founded by Sir Roger Newdigate, Bt in the 18th century...
: Michael ThwaitesMichael ThwaitesMichael Rayner Thwaites, AO was an Australian academic, poet, intelligence officer, and activist for Moral Rearmament.-Early life and education:... - Nobel Prize for literature: Pearl S. BuckPearl S. BuckPearl Sydenstricker Buck also known by her Chinese name Sai Zhenzhu , was an American writer who spent most of her time until 1934 in China. Her novel The Good Earth was the best-selling fiction book in the U.S. in 1931 and 1932, and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1932...
- Pulitzer Prize for DramaPulitzer Prize for DramaThe Pulitzer Prize for Drama was first awarded in 1918.From 1918 to 2006, the Drama Prize was unlike the majority of the other Pulitzer Prizes: during these years, the eligibility period for the drama prize ran from March 2 to March 1, to reflect the Broadway 'season' rather than the calendar year...
: Thornton WilderThornton WilderThornton Niven Wilder was an American playwright and novelist. He received three Pulitzer Prizes, one for his novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey and two for his plays Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth, and a National Book Award for his novel The Eighth Day.-Early years:Wilder was born in Madison,...
, Our TownOur TownOur Town is a three-act play by American playwright Thornton Wilder. It is a character story about an average town's citizens in the early twentieth century as depicted through their everyday lives... - Pulitzer Prize for PoetryPulitzer Prize for PoetryThe Pulitzer Prize in Poetry has been presented since 1922 for a distinguished volume of original verse by an American author. However, special citations for poetry were presented in 1918 and 1919.-Winners:...
: Marya ZaturenskaMarya ZaturenskaMarya Zaturenska was an American lyric poet, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1938.-Life:She was born in Kiev and her family emigrated to the United States, when she was eight and lived in New York. Like many immigrants, she worked in a clothing factory during the day, but was able to...
: Cold Morning Sky - Pulitzer Prize for the Novel: John Phillips Marquand - The Late George ApleyThe Late George ApleyThe Late George Apley is a 1937 novel by John Phillips Marquand. It is a satire of Boston's upper class. The title character is a Harvard-educated WASP living on Beacon Hill in downtown Boston....
Alysha Hobbs- How the Grinch Stole Christmas