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Calendar of Literary Facts
1940
The U.S. Congress passes the Smith Act, a peacetime sedition act which provides criminal penalties for advocating the overthrow of the American government
Upton Sinclair introduces his fictional character Lanny Budd, the hero of a series of eleven novels, in World’s End
Cyril Connolly founds the distinguished literary periodical Horizon
Raymond Chandler publishes Farewell, My Lovely John O’Hara publishes Pal Joey
Thomas Harris is born
John Steinbeck receives the Pulitzer Prize in fiction for The Grapes of Wrath Ernest Hemingway publishes For Whom the Bell Tolls E. J. Pratt publishes Brebeuf and His Brethren
Richard Wright publishes Native Son William Saroyan receives the Pulitzer Prize in drama for The Time of Your Life Graham Greene publishes The Labyrinthine Ways Bernard Pomerance is born Thomas Wolfe’s novel You Can’t Go Home Again is published
Arthur Koestler publishes Darkness at Noon Winston Churchill becomes British Prime Minister, succeeding Neville Chamberlain
Mark Van Doren receives the Pulitzer Prize in poetry for Collected Poems, 1922-1928
Robert E. Sherwood’s Roosevelt and Hopkins is produced
E. E. Cummings publishes 50 Poems Maria Campbell is born Leonard Bacon publishes Sunderland Capture
Nelson Algren publishes The Man with the Golden Arm Christina Stead publishes The Man Who Loved Children Adolfo Bioy Casares publishes La invencion de Morel (The Invention of Morel )
Kenneth Rexroth publishes In What Hour Robin Cook is born (May 4) David Plante is born (March 4) Jon Anderson is born (July 4) Gao Xingjian is born (January 4) Angela Carter is born (May 7) Peter Benchley is born (May 8) J. M. Coetzee is born (February 9) David Rabe is born (March 10) Marcus Garvey dies (June 10)
Mikhail Bulgakov dies (March 10) John Buchan dies (February 11)
Robert J. Conley is born (July 11)
Victor E. Villasenor is born (May 11)
Bruce Chatwin is born (September 13)
Edmund White is born (January 13) Susan Howatch is born (July 14)
Jeffrey Archer is born (April 15) Selma Lagerlöf dies (March 16)
Mark Medoff is born (March 18) James Welch is born (June 19) Verner von Heidenstam dies (May 20)
Robert Pinsky is born (October 20) F. Scott Fitzgerald dies (December 21) P. G. Wodehouse, living at villa in Le Touquet, France, is arrested and interned by German occupation forces, as are all English nationals under the age of 60 (July 21)
The Auschwitz concentration camp is established in Poland (May 22)
Joseph Brodsky is born (May 24) Sue Grafton is born (August 24) Frank Chin is born (February 25) Luis Valdez is born (June 26) Bharati Mukherjee is born (July 27) Maxine Hong Kingston is born (October 27) Russell Banks is born (March 28) Maeve Binchy is born (May 28) Robert E. Sherwood’s drama There Shall Be No Night is first performed (April 29)
