1939 in literature
Overview of the events of 1939 in literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1939 .
Events
Early – The Pocket Books mass-market paperback imprint is launched in the United States. The first of the nationally distributed titles is James Hilton 's Lost Horizon
January
January/February – Poetry London: a Bi-Monthly of Modern Verse and Criticism Tambimuttu (with Dylan Thomas and others), is first published.
February 6 – Raymond Chandler 's California private detective Philip Marlowe is introduced in his first full-length work of crime fiction , The Big Sleep Alfred A. Knopf in the United States.[ 4] March – Isaac Asimov 's first published short story , "Marooned off Vesta ", appears in Astounding Science-Fiction
March 4 – BBC Television broadcasts one of the first specially written television plays , Condemned To Be Shot Alexandra Palace . The production notably uses a camera as the first-person view by the play's unseen central character.March 31 – 20th Century Fox releases a film version of The Hound of the Baskervilles Sherlock Holmes film series starring Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Dr Watson .April 13 – The United Artists film version of Wuthering Heights Merle Oberon and Laurence Olivier , is released.May – Jorge Luis Borges ' first short story in his later characteristic style, "Pierre Menard, autor del Quijote ", is published in the Buenos Aires literary magazine Sur
May 4 – James Joyce 's last work, Finnegans Wake Faber and Faber in London.May 15 – Russian writer Isaac Babel is arrested by the NKVD at his dacha as part of the Great Purge in the Soviet Union , and incarcerated in the Lubyanka Building in Moscow.c. August – Ernest Vincent Wright publishes his lipogrammatic novel Gadsby Los Angeles a few months before his death on October 7.
August
Before September – After a pledge drive led by Renaud de Jouvenel and Lucien Lévy-Bruhl , the Romanian poet Benjamin Fondane is naturalized French and in September conscripted into the French Army , to serve in the Phony War .[ 6]
September 2 – Jean-Paul Sartre is conscripted into the French Army, where he will serve as a meteorologist .September 3 – Yorkshire-born novelist and playwright J. B. Priestley reads the first installment of his novel Let the People Sing BBC Home Service radio in the UK, the day war is declared.[ 7] September 18 – The Polish painter, playwright and novelist Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz (born 1885 ) commits suicide after the Soviet invasion of Poland .September/October – Famous Fantastic Mysteries pulp magazine reprinting American science fiction and fantasy , begins publication in New York.
Fall – Frank Herbert lies about his age to get his first job as a local newspaper reporter.
November – The teenage Brendan Behan is arrested in Liverpool for possessing explosives.
November 8 – Lindsay and Crouse 's stage adaptation of Clarence Day 's Life with Father Empire Theatre (42nd Street) in New York. Running until 12 July 1947, it becomes the all-time longest-running non-musical play in Broadway theatre .[ 8] November/December – Captain Marvel makes his first appearance, in Whiz Comics
New books
bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk!
—From Finnegans Wake
Fiction
Children and young people
Drama
Poetry
Non-fiction
Births
January 10 – Jared Carter , American poet and authorJanuary 12 – Jacques Hamelink , Dutch poet, novelist and literary critic, best known for short stories (died 2021 )[ 24] January 29 – Germaine Greer , Australian-born feminist author[ 25] February 19 – Erin Pizzey , English novelist and founder of world's first domestic violence shelter[ 26] February 25 – Gerald Murnane , Australian novelistMarch 15 – Alicia Freilich , Venezuelan novelistMarch 25 – Toni Cade Bambara , African-American writer (died 1995 )April 10 – Penny Vincenzi , née Hannaford, English novelist (died 2018 )[ 27] April 12 – Alan Ayckbourn , English dramatist[ 28] April 13 – Seamus Heaney , Irish poet (died 2013 )[ 29] April 22 – Jason Miller , American playwright and actor (died 2001 )[ 30] May 4 – Amos Oz , né Klausner, Israeli author (died 2018 )[ 31] June 5 – Margaret Drabble , English novelist[ 32] June 14 – Penelope Farmer , English children's writerJune 15 – Brian Jacques , English writer (died 2011 )[ 33] July 2 – Ferdinand Mount , English journalist and novelistAugust 1 – Robert James Waller , American novelist (died 2017 )[ 34] September 6 – Dan Cragg , American science-fiction authorSeptember 16 – Breyten Breytenbach , South African writer and painter[ 35] September 9 – Ed Victor , American-born literary agent (died 2017 )[ 36] September 24 – Jacky Gillott , English novelist (suicide 1980 )October 6 – Melvyn Bragg , English novelist, critic and broadcast presenter[ 37] October 7 – Clive James , Australian writer, humorist and television personality (died 2019 )[ 38] October 8 – Harvey Pekar , American memoirist and graphic-novel scriptwriter (died 2010 )[ 39] October 9 – John Pilger , Australian-born journalist and documentary filmmaker[ 40] October 28 – Giulio Angioni , Italian writer and anthropologist (died 2017 )[citation needed October 29 – Malay Roy Choudhury , Bengali poet, novelist and creator of the Indian Hungry generation literary and cultural movement[ 41] November 17 – Auberon Waugh , English journalist and novelist (died 2001 )[ 42] November 18 – Margaret Atwood , Canadian novelist and poet[ 43] November 25 – Shelagh Delaney , English dramatist (died 2011 )[ 44] December 3 – Lee Israel , American biographer and literary forger (died 2014 )[ 45] December 11 – Thomas McGuane , American writerDecember 18 – Michael Moorcock , English science fiction writer[ 46]
Deaths
January 8 – Caton Theodorian , Romanian dramatist and novelist (born 1871 )January 27 - Lewis Jones , Welsh miners' leader and novelist (born 1897 )[ 47] January 28 – W. B. Yeats , Irish poet (born 1865 )[ 48] February 2 – Amanda McKittrick Ros , Irish novelist and poet noted for her purple prose (born 1860 )[ 49] February 5 – Teresa Mañé , Spanish teacher, editor and writer (born [1865 )[ 50] February 18 – Okamoto Kanoko (岡本 かの子, Ohnuki Kano), Japanese tanka 1889 )February 22 – Antonio Machado , Spanish poet (born 1875 )[ 51] March 7 – Ludwig Fulda , German playwright and poet, suicide (born 1862 )[ 52] March 23 – Richard Halliburton , American travel writer (born 1900 )April 5 – Sibyl Marvin Huse , French-born American author and teacher (born 1866 ).[ 53] April 11 – S. S. Van Dine (Willard Huntington Wright), American crime novelist and art critic (born 1888 )[ 54] May 23 – Margarete Böhme , German novelist (born 1867 )[ 55] May 27 – Joseph Roth , Austrian novelist (born 1894 )[ 56] June 5 – Solomon Cleaver , Canadian storyteller and novelist (born 1855 )June 13 – Volter Kilpi , Finnish novelist (born 1874 )[ 57] June 14 – Vladislav Khodasevich , Russian poet and critic (born 1886 )June 26 – Ford Madox Ford (Ford Hermann Hueffer), English novelist (born 1873 )[ 58] July 5 – Mrs. O. F. Walton , English writer of Christian children's books (born 1849 )July 8 – Havelock Ellis , English sexual psychologist and writer (born 1859 )[ 59] August 7 – Leonard Merrick , English novelist (born 1864 )[ 60] August 15 – Federico Gamboa , Mexican diplomat and writer (born 1864 )[ 61] August 20 – Agnes Giberne , English children's writer (born 1845 )[ 62] August 23
August 31 – Wilhelm Bölsche , German journalist, editor and science writer (born [1861 )[ 64] September 6 – Arthur Rackham , English book illustrator (born 1867 )[ 65] September 7 – Kyōka Izumi , Japanese author (b. 1873 )[ 66] September 19 – Ethel M. Dell , English romantic novelist (born 1881 )October 23 – Zane Grey , American western novelist (born 1872 )October 29 – Dwight B. Waldo , American educator and historian (born 1864 )November – Pedro Nolasco Cruz Vergara , Chilean literary critic, novelist, writer, and politician (born 1857 )[ 67]
November 6 – Eliza D. Keith , American educator, author, and journalist (born 1854 )[ 68] December 2 – Llewelyn Powys , English novelist and autobiographer (born 1884 )[ 69] December 13 – Frances Brackett Damon (Percy Larkin), American writer (born 1857 )[ 70] unknown dates
Awards
References
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^ Deidre Lynch; William Beatty Warner (1996). Cultural Institutions of the Novel . Duke University Press. p. 169. ISBN 9780822318439 ^ Theatre World, Volume 33, Issues 180-186 . Iliffe Specialist Publications, 1940. p.116^ Wearing, J.P. The London Stage 1930-1939: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel . Rowman & Littlefield, 2014. Page 769
^ "The Little Foxes" . Playbill Vault . Retrieved 2014-04-24 .^ "Arsenic and Old Lace " , Brooks Atkinson, The New York Times , 11 January 1941.
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