Calendar

The Calendar of Literary Facts contains more than 6,500 events in literary history.

1917 Literary Facts

Horacio Quiroga publishes Cuentos de amor, de locura y de muerte

Juan Ramón Jiménez publishes Platero y yo (Platero and I: An Andalusian Elegy)

The Pulitzer Prize is expanded to include journalism and letters

Siegfried Sassoon publishes The Old Huntsman and Other Poems

Paul Valéry publishes La Jeune Parque

The Commonwealth Film Censorship Board is established in Australia, introducing a rating system on films to protect children

The United States enters World War I on the side of the Allies

The Trans-Siberian Railroad is completed

The tank is developed and introduced on the Western Front in World War I

Russia and Germany sign an armistice ending hostilities on the Eastern Front

The first stage of the Russian Revolution occurs in March, with Czar Nicholas II deposed and Aleksandr Kerensky’s provisional government established

The second (and final) stage of the Russian Revolution occurs in October, with a violent uprising in which the Bolsheviks assume power with V. I. Lenin as leader

Knut Hamsun publishes Markens groede (Growth of the Soil)

Ernest Poole publishes His Family

Jesse Lynch Williams’s Why Marry? is first performed

H. L. Mencken publishes A Book of Prefaces

Paul Valéry publishes Le Jeune Parque

Peter Taylor is born

Explore: A Summons To Memphis, Peter Taylor

Sidney Sheldon is born

Explore: Bloodline, Tell Me Your Dreams

Robert Lowell is born

Explore: Robert Lowell

Robert Anderson is born

Explore: Tea and Sympathy, Robert Anderson

Jean Cocteau’s ballet Parade, cowritten with Pablo Picasso and others, is performed in Paris

Explore: Jean Cocteau

Gwendolyn Brooks is born

Explore: Gwendolyn Brooks

Cleveland Amory is born

Louis Auchincloss is born

Explore: The Rector of Justin, Louis Auchincloss

Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. is born

H. L. Mencken publishes his influential essay on literature “The Sahara of the Bozart” in the New York Evening Mail

Explore: H. L. Mencken, H.L. Mencken's portrayal and implications about Southerners in "Sahara of the Bozart."

Arthur C. Clarke is born

Explore: The Star, If I Forget Thee, O Earth . . ., Arthur C. Clarke

Ossie Davis is born

Explore: Purlie Victorious