1942 - Literature

Literature

The New York Times Book Review publishes its first bestseller list August 9, having published lists on an intermittent basis for 7 years based on sales figures from one book wholesaler (see 1911).

Nonfiction: "The Myth of Sisyphus" ("Le Mythe de Sisyphe") (philosophical essay) by French man of letters Albert Camus, 29, who has joined the Résistance against German occupation forces; Victory Through Airpower by Alexander de Seversky; The Coming Battle of Germany by magazine publisher William B. Ziff argues that the Allies must use the airplane as an offensive weapon and cargo carrier to overcome German U-boats; Admiral of the Ocean Sea: A Life of Christopher Columbus by Boston-born Harvard history professor Samuel Eliot Morison, 55, who has made several voyages following the route of the Great Navigator. Morison is appointed historian of naval operations with the rank of lieutenant commander and will write a History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II that will fill 15 volumes; Man's Poor Relations by anthropologist Earnest A. Hooton; Man's Most Dangerous Myth: The Fallacy of Race by London-born U.S. anthropologist (Montague Francis) Ashley Montagu, 37, who has studied at Columbia under Franz Boas and notes that there is more genetic variability within races than between races; Letters from Syria by Freya Stark, who works with the British Information Ministry to counter Axis propaganda in Aden, Yemen, Egypt, Iraq, and India; One Man's Meat (essays) by New Yorker magazine writer E. B. White, who will expand the book for a 1944 edition that will remain in print through the end of the century; Our Hearts Were Young and Gay by former Ladies' Home Journal managing editor Emily Kimbrough, 42, and actress Cornelia Otis Skinner, 41; West with the Night by Beryl Markham (see transportation, 1936); Generation of Vipers by Beverly, Mass.-born author Philip (Gordon) Wylie, 40, introduces the term "Momism" to describe emasculating American matriarchy.

Writer Stefan Zweig commits suicide in exile at Petrópilis outside Rio de Janeiro February 22 at age 62 along with his second wife; Léon Daudet dies at Saint-Remy-de-Provence July 1 at age 74; philosopher (and former Cornell University president) Jacob Gould Schurman at New York August 12 at age 88.

Fiction: Flight to Arras (Pilote de la guerre) by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry; The Stranger (L'etranger) by Albert Camus; The Family of Pascual Duarte (La familia de Pascual Duarte) by Spanish novelist Camilo José Cela (Trulock), 26; Go Down, Moses by William Faulkner; My Uncle Dudley by Nebraska-born novelist Wright Morris, 32; The Company She Keeps by Seattle-born New York novelist Mary (Therese) McCarthy, 30; The Robber Bridegroom (novella) by Eudora Welty; Pied Piper by English novelist Nevil Shute (Nevil Shute Norway), 43; To Be a Pilgrim by Joyce Cary; The Moon Is Down by John Steinbeck; The Just and the Unjust by James Gould Cozzens; Breakfast with the Nikolides by Rumer Godden; Return to the Future by Sigrid Undset, who escaped to America 2 years ago when German forces invaded Norway; The Road to the City (La Strada che va in citta) (two short novels) by Italian novelist Allesandra Tourninbarte (Natalia Ginzburg), 26, daughter of physician-biology professor Carlo Levi, whose own novel will appear in 1945; Tales from Bective Bridge (stories) by Irish short-story writer Mary Lavin, 30 (with an introduction by Lord Dunsany, who has encouraged her); Frenchman's Creek by Daphne du Maurier; Dragon Seed by Pearl S. Buck; Meet Me in St. Louis (stories) by Sally Benson; Put Out More Flags and Work Suspended by Evelyn Waugh; "The Catbird Seat" (story) by James Thurber in the November 14 issue of the New Yorker magazine; Assignment in Brittany by Helen MacInnes; Lay On, Mac Duff! by Michigan-born mystery novelist Charlotte Armstrong, 37, whose detective MacDougal Duff is a former history professor.

Novelist Albert Payson Terhune dies at his New Jersey farm, Sunnybank, February 18 at age 69; Robert Musil at Geneva April 15 at age 62. He fled Germany after the 1938 Anschluss and was refused refuge by the United States.

Poetry: And Suddenly It's Night (Ed e subito sera) by Italian poet Salvatore Quasimodo, 41; The Great Hunger by Irish poet Patrick Kavanagh, 37, whose 1939 book A Green Fool was an autobiography; Blood for a Stranger by Tennessee poet Randall Jarrell, 28; Person, Place, and Thing by Baltimore-born poet Karl (originally Carl Jay) Shapiro, 28, who was drafted in the army late last year and is serving in the South Pacific; Poems by Oklahoma-born Harvard English instructor John Berryman, 27; The Garden Is Political by Nova Scotia-born U.S. poet John Malcolm Brinnin, 35; Wake Island by Muriel Rukeyser; Brownstone Eclogues by Conrad Aiken; Street Songs by Edith Sitwell.

Juvenile: The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton.

Twelve Little Golden Books are published for U.S. children. Each is 42 pages long and priced at 25¢; sales reach 1.5 million copies within 5 months.

Author Carolyn Wells dies at New York March 26 at age 79, having written some 170 books, including mysteries and humorous writings as well as children's books; L. M. Montgomery dies at Toronto April 24 at age 67.