1931 in literature
Encyclopedia
The year 1931 in literature involved some significant events and new books.
Events
- CherokeeCherokeeThe Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
playwright Lynn RiggsLynn RiggsRollie Lynn Riggs was an author, poet and playwright born on a farm near Claremore, Oklahoma. His mother was 1/8 Cherokee, and when he was two years old, his mother secured his Cherokee allotment for him. He was able to draw on his allotment to help support his writing...
' play Green Grow the LilacsGreen Grow the Lilacs (play)Green Grow the Lilacs is a 1930 play by Lynn Riggs named for the popular folk song of the same name. It was performed 64 times on Broadway, opening on January 26, 1931 and closing March 21, 1931. It also played January 19, 1931 through January 24, 1931 at the National Theatre in Washington, D.C. It...
premiers. It would later be adapted by Rodgers and HammersteinRodgers and HammersteinRichard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II were a well-known American songwriting duo, usually referred to as Rodgers and Hammerstein. They created a string of popular Broadway musicals in the 1940s and 1950s during what is considered the golden age of the medium...
as Oklahoma!Oklahoma!Oklahoma! is the first musical written by composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. Set in Oklahoma Territory outside the town of Claremore in 1906, it tells the story of cowboy Curly McLain and his romance...
. - The very first Inspector Maigret novel is published under the title Pietr-le-LettonPietr-le-LettonThe Strange Case of Peter the Lett , a detective novel by the Belgian writer Georges Simenon, is the very first novel to feature Inspector Jules Maigret who would later feature in more than a hundred stories by Simenon and who has become a legendary figure in the annals of detective fiction.-See...
. Georges SimenonGeorges SimenonGeorges Joseph Christian Simenon was a Belgian writer. A prolific author who published nearly 200 novels and numerous short works, Simenon is best known for the creation of the fictional detective Maigret.-Early life and education:...
would eventually write 75 novels, as well as 28 short stories, featuring the pipe-smoking detective. - October 4 - Debut appearance of the Dick TracyDick TracyDick Tracy is a comic strip featuring Dick Tracy, a hard-hitting, fast-shooting and intelligent police detective. Created by Chester Gould, the strip made its debut on October 4, 1931, in the Detroit Mirror. It was distributed by the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate...
comic stripComic stripA comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
, created by cartoonistCartoonistA cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...
Chester Gould.
New books
- Shmuel Yosef AgnonShmuel Yosef AgnonShmuel Yosef Agnon , was a Nobel Prize laureate writer and was one of the central figures of modern Hebrew fiction. In Hebrew, he is known by the acronym Shai Agnon . In English, his works are published under the name S. Y. Agnon.Agnon was born in Galicia, Austro-Hungarian Empire...
- The Bridal Canopy - Margery AllinghamMargery AllinghamMargery Louise Allingham was an English crime writer, best remembered for her detective stories featuring gentleman sleuth Albert Campion.- Childhood and schooling :...
- Police at the FuneralPolice at the FuneralPolice at the Funeral is a crime novel by Margery Allingham, first published in October 1931, in the United Kingdom by Heinemann, London and in 1932 in the United States by Doubleday, New York... - 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...
- The Good EarthThe Good EarthThe Good Earth is a novel by Pearl S. Buck published in 1931 and awarded the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1932. The best selling novel in the United States in both 1931 and 1932, it was an influential factor in Buck winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1938... - 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:...
- A Fighting Man of MarsA Fighting Man of MarsA Fighting Man of Mars is an Edgar Rice Burroughs science fiction novel, the seventh of his famous Barsoom series. Burroughs began writing it on February 28, 1929, and the finished story was first published in Blue Book Magazine as a six-part serial in the issues for April to September, 1930...
- Tarzan the InvincibleTarzan the InvincibleTarzan the Invincible is a novel written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the fourteenth in his series of books about the title character Tarzan. The novel was originally serialized in the magazine Blue Book from October, 1930 through April, 1931 as "Tarzan, Guard of the Jungle."-Plot summary:Tarzan, his...
- A Fighting Man of Mars
- Morley CallaghanMorley CallaghanMorley Callaghan, was a Canadian novelist, short story writer, playwright, TV and radio personality.-Biography:...
- No Man's Meat - 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....
- Castle SkullCastle SkullCastle Skull, first published in 1931, is a detective story by John Dickson Carr which features Carr's series detective Henri Bencolin. This novel is a mystery of the type known as a whodunnit.-Plot summary:...
- The Lost Gallows
- Castle Skull
- Willa CatherWilla CatherWilla Seibert Cather was an American author who achieved recognition for her novels of frontier life on the Great Plains, in works such as O Pioneers!, My Ántonia, and The Song of the Lark. In 1923 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for One of Ours , a novel set during World War I...
- Shadows on the RockShadows on the RockShadows on the Rock is a novel by the American writer Willa Cather, published in 1931. The novel covers one year of the lives of Cecile Auclair and her father Euclide, French colonists in Quebec... - 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...
- The Sittaford MysteryThe Sittaford MysteryThe Sittaford Mystery is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1931 under the title of The Murder at Hazelmoor and in UK by the Collins Crime Club on 7 September of the same year under Christie's original title... - Elizabeth Jane Coatsworth - The Cat Who Went to HeavenThe Cat Who Went to HeavenThe Cat Who Went to Heaven is a 1930 novel by Elizabeth Coatsworth that won the Newbery Medal for excellence in American children's literature in 1931. The story is set in ancient Japan, and is about a poor painter and a cat he adopts....
- A. J. CroninA. J. CroninArchibald Joseph Cronin was a Scottish physician and novelist. His best-known works are Hatter's Castle, The Stars Look Down, The Citadel, The Keys of the Kingdom and The Green Years, all of which were adapted to film. He also created the Dr...
- Hatter's CastleHatter's CastleHatter's Castle is the first novel of author A. J. Cronin. The story is set in 1879, in the fictional town of Levenford, on the Firth of Clyde. The plot revolves around many characters and has many subplots, all of which relate to the life of the hatter, James Brodie, whose narcissism and cruelty... - E. E. CummingsE. E. CummingsEdward Estlin Cummings , popularly known as E. E. Cummings, with the abbreviated form of his name often written by others in lowercase letters as e.e. cummings , was an American poet, painter, essayist, author, and playwright...
- CIOPWCIOPWCIOPW is a collection of artwork by E. E. Cummings published in 1931. The title is an anagram of the five media Cummings used to produce the collection: charcoal, ink, oil, pencil, and watercolours.... - Detection ClubDetection ClubThe Detection Club was formed in 1930 by a group of British mystery writers, including Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Freeman Wills Crofts, Arthur Morrison, John Rhode, Jessie Rickard, Baroness Emma Orczy, R. Austin Freeman, G.D.H. Cole, Margaret Cole, E.C. Bentley, and H.C. Bailey. Anthony...
- The Floating AdmiralThe Floating AdmiralThe Floating Admiral is a collaborative detective novel written by fourteen members of the Detection Club in 1931. The twelve chapters of the story were each written by a different author, in the following sequence: Canon Victor Whitechurch, G. D. H. Cole and Margaret Cole, Henry Wade, Agatha... - William FaulknerWilliam FaulknerWilliam Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner worked in a variety of media; he wrote novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays and screenplays during his career...
- SanctuarySanctuary (novel)Sanctuary is a novel by the American author William Faulkner. It is considered one of his more controversial, given its theme of rape. First published in 1931, it was Faulkner's commercial and critical breakthrough, establishing his literary reputation...
- These 13These 13thumb|First edition coverThese 13 is a collection of short stories written by William Faulkner, and dedicated to his first daughter Alabama, who died nine days after her birth on January 11, 1931, and to his wife Estelle...
- Sanctuary
- Jessie Redmon FausetJessie Redmon FausetJessie Redmon Fauset was an American editor, poet, essayist and novelist. Fauset was most known for being the editor of the NAACP magazine the Crisis. She also was the editor and co-author for the African American children magazine called Brownies' Book...
- The Chinaberry Tree - Emma GoldmanEmma GoldmanEmma Goldman was an anarchist known for her political activism, writing and speeches. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the twentieth century....
- Living My LifeLiving My LifeLiving My Life is the 993-page autobiography of Lithuanian-born anarchist Emma Goldman, published in two volumes in 1931 and 1934 . Goldman wrote it in Saint-Tropez, France, following her disillusionment with the Bolshevik role in the Russian revolution... - Caroline GordonCaroline GordonCaroline Ferguson Gordon was a notable American novelist and literary critic who, while still in her thirties, was the recipient of two prestigious literary awards, a 1932 Guggenheim Fellowship and a 1934 O...
- Penhally - Dashiell HammettDashiell HammettSamuel Dashiell Hammett was an American author of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories, and political activist. Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade , Nick and Nora Charles , and the Continental Op .In addition to the significant influence his novels and stories had on...
- The Glass KeyThe Glass KeyThe Glass Key is a novel by Dashiell Hammett, said to be his favorite among his works. It was first published in 1931, and tells the story of gambler and racketeer Ned Beaumont, whose devotion to crooked political boss Paul Madvig leads him to investigate the murder of a local senator's son as a... - Georgette HeyerGeorgette HeyerGeorgette Heyer was a British historical romance and detective fiction novelist. Her writing career began in 1921, when she turned a story for her younger brother into the novel The Black Moth. In 1925 Heyer married George Ronald Rougier, a mining engineer...
- The ConquerorThe Conqueror (novel)The Conqueror is a novel written by Georgette Heyer. It is based on the life of William the Conqueror.-Plot summary:It chronicles the life of William of Normandy from his birth in 1028 to his conquest of England in 1066... - James HiltonJames HiltonJames Hilton was an English novelist who wrote several best-sellers, including Lost Horizon and Goodbye, Mr. Chips.-Biography:...
- Murder at SchoolMurder at SchoolMurder at School is a detective novel by James Hilton first published in 1931. It was released in the United States the following year under the title, Was It Murder?.-Introduction:... - Knud HolmboeKnud HolmboeKnud Valdemar Gylding Holmboe was a Danish journalist and explorer who converted to Islam after travels in North Africa. Born in Horsens he travelled to Morocco as a young man, in order to familiarize himself with Islam and learn the Arabic language.Upon his conversion, Holmboe changed his name to...
- Desert EncounterDesert EncounterDesert Encounter is a book written by the Danish journalist Knud Holmboe who had converted to Islam.Desert Encounter describes a trip across the Sahara made in 1930 by Knud Holmboe in an old Chevrolet. In the book he condemns the colonial regimes of North Africa and particularly the Italian... - Fannie HurstFannie HurstFannie Hurst was an American novelist. Although her books are not well remembered today, during her lifetime some of her more famous novels were Stardust , Lummox , A President is Born , Back Street , and Imitation of Life...
- Back Street - Francis Iles - Malice AforethoughtMalice AforethoughtMalice Aforethought is a murder mystery novel written by Anthony Berkeley Cox, using the pen name Francis Iles. It involves a Devon physician who slowly poisons his domineering wife so that he may be with the woman he loves. It is an early and prominent example of the "inverted detective story",...
- Dennis F. Imbert - The Colored Gentlemen, A Product of Modern Civilization
- Erich KästnerErich KästnerEmil Erich Kästner was a German author, poet, screenwriter and satirist, known for his humorous, socially astute poetry and children's literature.-Dresden 1899–1919:...
- The 35th of May, or Conrad's Ride to the South SeasThe 35th of May, or Conrad's Ride to the South SeasThe 35th of May, or Conrad's Ride to the South Seas is a novel by Erich Kästner, first published in 1931.-Plot introduction:... - Carolyn KeeneCarolyn KeeneCarolyn Keene is the pseudonym of the authors of the Nancy Drew mystery stories and The Dana Girls mystery stories, both produced by the Stratemeyer Syndicate...
- The Secret of Shadow Ranch - Nancy MitfordNancy MitfordNancy Freeman-Mitford, CBE , styled The Hon. Nancy Mitford before her marriage and The Hon. Mrs Peter Rodd thereafter, was an English novelist and biographer, one of the Bright Young People on the London social scene in the inter-war years...
- Highland Fling - Thomas MofoloThomas MofoloThomas Mokopu Mofolo is considered to be the greatest Basotho author. He wrote mostly in the Sesotho language, but his most popular book, Chaka, has been translated into English and other languages....
- ChakaChaka (novel)Chaka is the most famous novel by the writer Thomas Mofolo of Lesotho. Written in Sotho, it is a mythic retelling of the story of the rise and fall of the Zulu emperor-king Shaka. It was named one of the twelve best works of African literature of the 20th century by a panel organized by Ali Mazrui.... - Leopold Myers - Prince Jali
- Ilf and PetrovIlf and PetrovIlya Ilf Ilya Ilf Ilya Ilf (Ilya Arnoldovich Faynzilberg and Evgeny or Yevgeni Petrov (Yevgeniy Petrovich Kataev or Katayev were two Soviet prose authors of the 1920s and 1930s...
- The Little Golden CalfThe Little Golden CalfThe Little Golden Calf is a famous satirical novel by Soviet authors Ilf and Petrov, released in 1931. Its main character Ostap Bender, also appeared in a previous novel of the authors called The Twelve Chairs... - Anthony PowellAnthony PowellAnthony Dymoke Powell CH, CBE was an English novelist best known for his twelve-volume work A Dance to the Music of Time, published between 1951 and 1975....
- Afternoon MenAfternoon MenAfternoon Men is the first published novel by the English writer Anthony Powell. In its characters and themes it anticipates some of the ground Powell would cover in his masterpiece, A Dance to the Music of Time, a twelve-volume cycle spanning much of the 20th century.Published in 1931, it focuses... - 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 Dutch Shoe MysteryThe Dutch Shoe MysteryThe Dutch Shoe Mystery is a novel that was written in 1931 by Ellery Queen. It is the third of the Ellery Queen mysteries.-Plot summary:... - Arthur RansomeArthur RansomeArthur Michell Ransome was an English author and journalist, best known for writing the Swallows and Amazons series of children's books. These tell of school-holiday adventures of children, mostly in the Lake District and the Norfolk Broads. Many of the books involve sailing; other common subjects...
- SwallowdaleSwallowdaleSwallowdale is the second book in the Swallows and Amazons series by Arthur Ransome. It was published in 1931. In this book, camping in the hills and moorland country around Ransome's Lake in the North features much more prominently and there is less sailing... - Erich Remarque - The Road BackThe Road BackThe Road Back is a novel by German author Erich Maria Remarque. The novel was first serialized in the German newspaper Vossische Zeitung between December 1930 and January 1931, and published in book form in April 1931. It details the experience of young men in Germany who have returned from the...
- Dorothy Sayers - Five Red HerringsFive Red HerringsFive Red Herrings is a 1931 novel by Dorothy L. Sayers. It was retitled Suspicious Characters for its first publication in the United States, but reverted to its original title in subsequent printings....
- George S. Schuyler - Black No MoreBlack No MoreBlack No More: Being an Account of the Strange and Wonderful Workings of Science in the Land of the Free, AD 1933-1940 is a 1931 Harlem Renaissance era satire on American race relations by George S. Schuyler . He targets both the KKK and NAACP in condemning the ways in which race functions as both...
- Nevil ShuteNevil ShuteNevil Shute Norway was a popular British-Australian novelist and a successful aeronautical engineer. He used his full name in his engineering career, and 'Nevil Shute' as his pen name, in order to protect his engineering career from any potential negative publicity in connection with his novels.-...
- The Lonely RoadThe Lonely RoadThe Lonely Road is a 1936 British drama film directed by James Flood and starring Clive Brook, Victoria Hopper, Nora Swinburne and Malcolm Keen... - Georges SimenonGeorges SimenonGeorges Joseph Christian Simenon was a Belgian writer. A prolific author who published nearly 200 novels and numerous short works, Simenon is best known for the creation of the fictional detective Maigret.-Early life and education:...
- Pietr-le-LettonPietr-le-LettonThe Strange Case of Peter the Lett , a detective novel by the Belgian writer Georges Simenon, is the very first novel to feature Inspector Jules Maigret who would later feature in more than a hundred stories by Simenon and who has become a legendary figure in the annals of detective fiction.-See... - Upton SinclairUpton SinclairUpton Beall Sinclair Jr. , was an American author who wrote close to one hundred books in many genres. He achieved popularity in the first half of the twentieth century, acquiring particular fame for his classic muckraking novel, The Jungle . It exposed conditions in the U.S...
- Roman HolidayRoman Holiday (novel)Roman Holiday is a 1931 novel by Upton Sinclair. This novel is not related to the 1953 motion picture starring Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn.-External links:*... - 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 Cape Cod MysteryThe Cape Cod MysteryThe Cape Cod Mystery, first published in 1931, is a detective story by Phoebe Atwood Taylor, the first to feature her series detective Asey Mayo, the "Codfish Sherlock". This novel is a mystery of the type known as a whodunnit.-Plot summary:... - Sigrid UndsetSigrid UndsetSigrid Undset was a Norwegian novelist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1928.-Biography:Undset was born in Kalundborg, Denmark, but her family moved to Norway when she was two years old. In 1924, she converted to Catholicism and became a lay Dominican...
- Wild Orchid - Hugh WalpoleHugh WalpoleSir Hugh Seymour Walpole, CBE was an English novelist. A prolific writer, he published thirty-six novels, five volumes of short stories, two plays and three volumes of memoirs. His skill at scene-setting, his vivid plots, his high profile as a lecturer and his driving ambition brought him a large...
- Judith Paris - Nathanael WestNathanael WestNathanael West was a US author, screenwriter and satirist.- Early life :...
- The Dream Life of Balso SnellThe Dream Life of Balso SnellThe Dream Life of Balso Snell is a 1931 novel by American author Nathanael West. West's first novel, it presents a young man's immature and cynical search for meaning in a series of dreamlike encounters inside the entrails of the Trojan Horse.... - 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....
- The WavesThe Waves- External links :* The Waves, at wikilivres.info... - P.G. Wodehouse
- Big MoneyBig Money (novel)Big Money is a novel by P.G. Wodehouse, first published in the United States on January 30, 1931 by Doubleday, Doran, New York, and in the United Kingdom on March 20, 1931 by Herbert Jenkins, London...
- If I Were YouIf I Were You (novel)If I Were You is the title of a novel by P.G. Wodehouse, first published in the United States on September 3, 1931 by Doubleday, Doran, New York, and in the United Kingdom on September 25, 1931 by Herbert Jenkins, London....
- Big Money
New drama
- Federico García LorcaFederico García LorcaFederico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca was a Spanish poet, dramatist and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27. He is believed to be one of thousands who were summarily shot by anti-communist death squads...
- When Five Years PassWhen Five Years PassWhen Five Years Pass , also known as If Five Years Pass and When Five Years Have Passed, is a play by the twentieth-century Spanish dramatist Federico García Lorca. It was written in 1931 but was not given a professional theatrical production until several years after Lorca's death, despite plans...
(written) - Eugene O'NeillEugene O'NeillEugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into American drama techniques of realism earlier associated with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish...
- Mourning Becomes ElectraMourning Becomes ElectraMourning Becomes Electra is a play cycle written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill. The play premiered on Broadway at the Guild Theatre on 26 October 1931 where it ran for 150 performances before closing in March 1932... - Jean GiraudouxJean GiraudouxHippolyte Jean Giraudoux was a French novelist, essayist, diplomat and playwright. He is considered among the most important French dramatists of the period between World War I and World War II. His work is noted for its stylistic elegance and poetic fantasy...
- JudithJudith (play)Judith is a play written in 1931 by French dramatist Jean Giraudoux.-Original productions:Judith was translated into English by John K. Savacool, in The Modern Theatre, ed. Eric Bentley, vol. 3 , and by Christopher Fry, in The Drama of Jean Giraudoux, vol... - Dodie SmithDodie SmithDorothy Gladys "Dodie" Smith was an English novelist and playwright. Smith is best known for her novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians. Her other works include I Capture the Castle and The Starlight Barking....
- Autumn Crocus - 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,...
- The Long Christmas DinnerThe Long Christmas DinnerThe Long Christmas Dinner is a play in one act written by American novelist and playwright Thornton Wilder in 1931. In its first published form, it was included in the volume The Long Christmas Dinner and Other Plays in One Act.-Characters:...
Non-fiction
- Ali Akbar DehkhodaAli Akbar DehkhodaAllameh Ali Akbar Dehkhoda was a prominent Iranian linguist, and author of the most extensive dictionary of the Persian language ever published.-Biography:...
et al. - Dehkhoda DictionaryDehkhoda DictionaryThe Dehkhoda Dictionary is the largest comprehensive Persian dictionary ever published, comprising 15 volumes . The complete work is an ongoing effort that entails over forty-five years of efforts by Dehkhoda and a cadre of other experts.The series initially consisted of 3 million records until...
of the Persian languagePersian languagePersian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence... - 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...
- Proust - W. Chapman & V.C.A. Ferraro - A New Theory of Magnetic Storms
- Julius EvolaJulius EvolaBarone Giulio Cesare Andrea Evola also known as Julius Evola, was an Italian philosopher and esotericist...
- The Hermetic TraditionThe Hermetic TraditionThe Hermetic Tradition: Symbols and Teachings of the Royal Art is a work by Italian esoteric writer Julius Evola... - Irma S. Rombauer - The Joy of CookingThe Joy of CookingJoy of Cooking, often known as "The Joy of Cooking" is one of the United States' most-published cookbooks, and has been in print continuously since 1936 and with more than 18 million copies sold. It was privately published in 1931 by Irma S. Rombauer, a homemaker in St. Louis, Missouri, who was...
Births
- January 6 - E. L. DoctorowE. L. DoctorowEdgar Lawrence Doctorow is an American author.- Biography :Edgar Lawrence Doctorow was born in the Bronx, New York City, the son of second-generation Americans of Russian Jewish descent...
, author - January 9 - Algis BudrysAlgis BudrysAlgis Budrys was a Lithuanian-American science fiction author, editor, and critic. He was also known under the pen names "Frank Mason", "Alger Rome", "John A. Sentry", "William Scarff", and "Paul Janvier."-Biography:...
, science fiction author - January 10 - Peter BarnesPeter BarnesPeter Barnes was an English Olivier Award-winning playwright and screenwriter. His most famous work is the play The Ruling Class, which was made into a 1972 film for which Peter O'Toole received an Oscar nomination....
, playwright - January 17 - Mark BrandisMark BrandisNikolai von Michalewsky was a German writer and journalist best known for a series of science fiction novels published between 1970 and 1987.-Biography:...
, journalist and science fiction author - January 27
- John HopkinsJohn Hopkins (writer)John Richard Hopkins was an English film, stage, and television writer.Born in southwest London, he graduated from St Catharine's College, Cambridge...
, screenwriter - Mordecai RichlerMordecai RichlerMordecai Richler, CC was a Canadian Jewish author, screenwriter and essayist. A leading critic called him "the great shining star of his Canadian literary generation" and a pivotal figure in the country's history. His best known works are The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Barney's Version,...
, author (d. 2001)
- John Hopkins
- February 10 - Thomas BernhardThomas BernhardThomas Bernhard was an Austrian novelist, playwright and poet. Bernhard, whose body of work has been called "the most significant literary achievement since World War II," is widely considered to be one of the most important German-speaking authors of the postwar era.- Life :Thomas Bernhard was...
, author (d. 1989) - February 11 - Larry MerchantLarry MerchantLarry Merchant is an American former sportswriter, a longtime commentator for HBO Sports presentations of HBO World Championship Boxing, Boxing After Dark and HBO pay-per-view telecasts, and is considered "the greatest television boxing analyst of all time" by ESPN Boxing analyst Dan Rafael.-Life...
, author/boxingBoxingBoxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
commentator - February 12 - Janwillem van de WeteringJanwillem van de WeteringJanwillem Lincoln van de Wetering was the author of a number of works in English and Dutch. He was particularly noted for his detective fiction, his most popular creations being Grijpstra and de Gier, a pair of Amsterdam police officers who figure in a lengthy series of novels and short stories...
, crime writer - February 18
- Johnny HartJohnny HartJohnny Hart was an American cartoonist noted as the creator of the comic strip B.C. and co-creator of the strip The Wizard of Id. Hart was recognized with several awards, including the Swedish Adamson Award and five from the National Cartoonists Society...
, cartoonCartoonA cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works...
ist - Toni MorrisonToni MorrisonToni Morrison is a Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, editor, and professor. Her novels are known for their epic themes, vivid dialogue, and richly detailed characters. Among her best known novels are The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon and Beloved...
, writer, winner 1993 Nobel Prize in literatureNobel Prize in LiteratureSince 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...
- Johnny Hart
- February 19 - Robert SobelRobert SobelRobert Sobel was an American professor of history at Hofstra University, and a well-known and prolific writer of business histories.- Biography :...
, business writer - March 2 - Tom WolfeTom WolfeThomas Kennerly "Tom" Wolfe, Jr. is a best-selling American author and journalist. He is one of the founders of the New Journalism movement of the 1960s and 1970s.-Early life and education:...
, novelist - April 21 - Gabriel de BroglieGabriel de BroglieGabriel-Marie-Joseph-Anselme de Broglie-Revel is a French historian and statesman.He was elected to the Académie française in 2001, replacing Alain Peyrefitte. He is a Knight Commander of the Légion d'honneur...
, historian - April 29 - Robert GottliebRobert GottliebRobert Adams Gottlieb , is an American writer and editor. From 1987 to 1992 he was the editor of The New Yorker.-Personal:Robert Gottlieb was born in New York City in 1931 and grew up in Manhattan...
, editor - June 12 - Robin Cook, British novelist (d. 1994)
- June 21 - Patricia GoedickePatricia GoedickePatricia Goedicke was an American poet.Born Patricia McKenna in Boston, Massachusetts, she grew up in Hanover, New Hampshire, where her father was a resident psychiatrist at Dartmouth College. During her high school years she was an accomplished downhill skier. She earned her B.A. at Middlebury...
, poet - July 4 - Sébastien JaprisotSébastien JaprisotSébastien Japrisot was a French author, screenwriter and film director, born in Marseille. His pseudonym was an anagram of Jean-Baptiste Rossi, his real name...
, novelist and screenwriter - July 7 - David EddingsDavid EddingsDavid Eddings was an American author who wrote several best-selling series of epic fantasy novels.-Biography:...
, AmericanUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
novelist (d. 2009) - July 10
- Nick Adams, screenwriter
- Julian MayJulian MayJulian May is an American science fiction, fantasy, horror, science and children's writer who also uses several literary pseudonyms, best known for her Saga of Pliocene Exile and Galactic Milieu Series books.- Background and early career :Julian May grew up in Elmwood Park, Illinois, a suburb of...
, science fiction author
- August 12 - William GoldmanWilliam GoldmanWilliam Goldman is an American novelist, playwright, and Academy Award-winning screenwriter.-Early life and education:...
, author - August 22 - Maurice GeeMaurice GeeMaurice Gee is a New Zealand novelist.-Awards and honors:Gee was awarded the 1978 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his novel Plumb...
, novelist - September 22 - Fay WeldonFay WeldonFay Weldon CBE is an English author, essayist and playwright, whose work has been associated with feminism. In her fiction, Weldon typically portrays contemporary women who find themselves trapped in oppressive situations caused by the patriarchal structure of British society.-Biography:Weldon was...
, novelist - October 8 - Dennis SilkDennis SilkDennis Raoul Whitehall Silk, CBE , is a former schoolmaster and international cricketer. He was also a close friend of the poet Siegfried Sassoon, about whom he has spoken and written extensively....
, friend of Siegfried SassoonSiegfried SassoonSiegfried Loraine Sassoon CBE MC was an English poet, author and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World War. His poetry both described the horrors of the trenches, and satirised the patriotic pretensions of those who, in Sassoon's...
and Edmund BlundenEdmund BlundenEdmund Charles Blunden, MC was an English poet, author and critic. Like his friend Siegfried Sassoon, he wrote of his experiences in World War I in both verse and prose. For most of his career, Blunden was also a reviewer for English publications and an academic in Tokyo and later Hong Kong... - October 19 - John le CarréJohn le CarréDavid John Moore Cornwell , who writes under the name John le Carré, is an author of espionage novels. During the 1950s and the 1960s, Cornwell worked for MI5 and MI6, and began writing novels under the pseudonym "John le Carré"...
, novelist - November 18 - Nikoloz JanashiaNikoloz JanashiaNikoloz Janashia was a famous Georgian historian and public benefactor.He born in Tbilisi...
, historian
Deaths
- January 26 - Graça AranhaGraça AranhaJosé Pereira da Graça Aranha was a Brazilian writer and diplomat, considered to be a forerunner of the Modernism in Brazil. He was also one of the organizers of the Brazilian Modern Art Week of 1922....
, Brazilian diplomat and writer (b. 1868) - March 27 - Arnold BennettArnold Bennett- Early life :Bennett was born in a modest house in Hanley in the Potteries district of Staffordshire. Hanley is one of a conurbation of six towns which joined together at the beginning of the twentieth century as Stoke-on-Trent. Enoch Bennett, his father, qualified as a solicitor in 1876, and the...
, novelist (b. 1867) - April 4 - André MichelinAndré MichelinAndré Jules Michelin was aFrench industrialist who, with his brother Édouard , founded the Michelin Tyre Company in 1888 in the French city of Clermont-Ferrand.In 1900, André Michelin published the first Michelin Guide, the purpose of which was to promote tourism by car,...
, originator of the Michelin Guide (b. 1853) - April 10 - Khalil GibranKhalil GibranKhalil Gibran Jubrān Khalīl Jubrān,Jibrān Khalīl Jibrān, or Jibrān Xalīl Jibrān; Arabic , January 6, 1883 – April 10, 1931) also known as Kahlil Gibran, was a Lebanese American artist, poet, and writer...
, poet (b. 1883) - June 29 - Nérée BeaucheminNérée BeaucheminCharles-Nérée Beauchemin was a French Canadian poet and physician.He published two volumes of his poetry: Les Floraisons Matutinales in 1897 and Patrie Intime in 1928.-External links:*...
, poet (b. 1850) - July 2 - Harald HøffdingHarald HøffdingHarald Høffding was a Danish philosopher.-Life:Born and educated in Copenhagen, he became a schoolmaster, and ultimately in 1883 a professor at the University of Copenhagen...
, Danish philosopher (b. 1843) - August 1 - Bertha McNamaraBertha McNamaraBertha McNamara Bredt , was a Sydney-based Australian socialist agitator, feminist, pamphleteer, bookseller, and mother-in-law of Australian writer Henry Lawson....
, pamphleteer and bookseller (b. 1853) - August 15 - Delfín ChamorroDelfín ChamorroDelfin Chamorro , was a special educator. He was the creator of a method of teaching the Spanish language.- Childhood and studies :...
, poet and language teacher (b. 1863) - August 27 - Frank HarrisFrank HarrisFrank Harris was a Irish-born, naturalized-American author, editor, journalist and publisher, who was friendly with many well-known figures of his day...
, author and editor (b. 1856) - August 31 - 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...
, author (b. 1853) - October 13 - Ernst DidringErnst DidringErnst Didring was an early 20th century author who wrote mainly of life in his home country of Sweden .-Biography:...
, Swedish writer (b. 1868) - October 21 - Arthur SchnitzlerArthur SchnitzlerDr. Arthur Schnitzler was an Austrian author and dramatist.- Biography :Arthur Schnitzler, son of a prominent Hungarian-Jewish laryngologist Johann Schnitzler and Luise Markbreiter , was born in Praterstraße 16, Leopoldstadt, Vienna, in the Austro-Hungarian...
, Austrian dramatist (b. 1862) - November 3 - Juan Zorrilla de San MartínJuan Zorrilla de San MartínJuan Zorrilla de San Martín was a Uruguayan epic poet - he is referred as "National Poet of Uruguay" -and political figure . He is featured on the 20-peso note.-Well-known poems:...
, epic poet (b. 1855) - November 5 - Ole Edvart Rolvaag, Norwegian-American writer (b. 1876)
- December 10 - Enrico CorradiniEnrico CorradiniEnrico Corradini was an Italian novelist, essayist, journalist and nationalist political figure.-Biography:Corradini was born near Montelupo Fiorentino, Tuscany....
, novelist, essayist and journalist (b. 1865) - December 26 - Melvil DeweyMelvil DeweyMelville Louis Kossuth Dewey was an American librarian and educator, inventor of the Dewey Decimal system of library classification, and a founder of the Lake Placid Club....
, inventor of the most widely-used library classification system (b. 1851) - December 27 - Alfred Perceval GravesAlfred Perceval GravesAlfred Perceval Graves , was an Anglo-Irish poet, songwriter, and school inspector . His first marriage to Jane Cooper, eldest daughter of James Cooper of Cooper Hill, Co. Limerick, resulted in five children: the journalist Philip Graves, Mary, Richard, Alfred, and Susan...
, author and collector of songs and ballads (b. 1846) - December 31 - Ieronim YasinskyIeronim YasinskyIeronim Ieronimovich Yasinsky , 1850, Kharkiv, Russian Empire, modern Ukraine, - December 31, 1931, Leningrad, USSR) was a Russian novelist, poet, literary critic and essayist, who also published his works under several pseudonyms: Maxim Belinsky, Nezavisimy and M.Tchunosov.-Biography:Yasinsky was...
, writer, poet and essayist (b. 1850)
Awards
- 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: Kate O'BrienKate O'BrienKate O'Brien , was an Irish novelist and playwright.-Biography:Kathleen "Kate" Mary Louie O'Brien was born in Limerick City at the end of the 19th century. Following the death of her mother when she was five, she became a boarder at Laurel Hill convent...
, Without My Cloak - 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: J. Y. R. Greig, David HumeDavid HumeDavid Hume was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist, known especially for his philosophical empiricism and skepticism. He was one of the most important figures in the history of Western philosophy and the Scottish Enlightenment... - 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...
: Elizabeth CoatsworthElizabeth CoatsworthElizabeth Jane Coatsworth was an American author of children's fiction and poetry. Her novel The Cat Who Went to Heaven won the 1931 Newbery Medal....
, The Cat Who Went to HeavenThe Cat Who Went to HeavenThe Cat Who Went to Heaven is a 1930 novel by Elizabeth Coatsworth that won the Newbery Medal for excellence in American children's literature in 1931. The story is set in ancient Japan, and is about a poor painter and a cat he adopts.... - Nobel Prize for literature - Erik Axel KarlfeldtErik Axel KarlfeldtErik Axel Karlfeldt was a Swedish poet whose highly symbolist poetry masquerading as regionalism was popular and won him the Nobel Prize in Literature posthumously in 1931. It has been rumored that he had been offered, but declined, the award already in 1919.Karlfeldt was born into a farmer's...
- 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...
: Susan GlaspellSusan GlaspellSusan Keating Glaspell was an American Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, actress, director, novelist, biographer and poet. She was a founding member of the Provincetown Players, one of the most important collaboratives in the development of modern drama in the United States...
, Alison's House - 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:...
: Robert FrostRobert FrostRobert Lee Frost was an American poet. He is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech. His work frequently employed settings from rural life in New England in the early twentieth century, using them to examine complex social and...
: Collected Poems - Pulitzer Prize for the Novel: Margaret Ayer BarnesMargaret Ayer BarnesMargaret Ayer Barnes was an American playwright, novelist, and short-story writer....
- Years of GraceYears of GraceYears of Grace is a 1930 novel by Margaret Ayer Barnes. It won the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1931. Despite this, it is not her most well-known work; that honor belongs to Dishonored Lady, a play she co-wrote with Edward Sheldon, which was adapted twice into film .Barnes' alma mater, Bryn Mawr...