Calendar of Literary Facts
Antonin Artaud publishes his manifesto Le Theatre de la cruaute Erle Stanley Gardner introduces his fictional attorney Perry Mason, in the novel The Case of the Velvet Claws
Maxwell Anderson’s Both Your Houses
André Malraux publishes La Condition humaine (Man’s Fate Octavio Paz publishes Luna silvestre Maxwell Anderson receives Pulitzer Prize in drama for Both Your Houses James Thurber publishes My Life and Hard Times Erskine Caldwell publishes God’s Little Acre Nazi Propaganda Minister Josef Goebbels oversees the burning of approximately 20,000 books in Berlin
A severe famine decimates the population of the U.S.S.R.
U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt introduces his “New Deal,” instituting massive federal relief programs for unemployed Americans
Adolf Hitler is named Reich Chancellor in Germany, which embarks on a program of statism and rearmament
The German Reichstag burns under mysterious circumstances; the Nazis blame German Jews and Communists and then tighten their control, granting Hitler total control
The first German concentration camps are built for incarcerating perceived enemies of the state
At the urging of the German government, “non-German” books are burned publicly
Dorothy Parker publishes After Such Pleasures T. S. Stribling receives the Pulitzer Prize in fiction for The Store Ivan Bunin receives the Nobel Prize for Literature Caroline Miller publishes Lamb in His Bosom
The Holocaust takes place in Europe, at the behest of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany; six million Jews die in this genocidal event
James Hilton publishes Lost Horizon Robert Hillyer publishes his Collected Verse John Kingsley (“Joe”) Orton is born. (Explore: Entertaining Mr. Sloane , Joe Orton , Head to Toe ) (January 1)
Ernest J. Gaines is born. (Explore: A Lesson before Dying , Catherine Carmier , Ernest J. Gaines ) (January 15)
Alden Nowlan is born. (Explore: Alden Nowlan ) (January 25)
Susan Sontag is born. (Explore: The Way We Live Now , Against Interpretation and Other Essays , On Photography , Susan Sontag , What are the main points of Sontag's essay "Illness as Metaphor"? ) (January 28)
John Galsworthy dies. (Explore: The Japanese Quince , Justice , Loyalties , John Galsworthy , How can I approach a brief summary of John Galsworthy's play Strife? ) (January 31)
Reynolds Price is born. (Explore: A Long and Happy Life , Three Gospels , Reynolds Price ) (February 1)
Penelope Lively is born. (Explore: Moon Tiger , The Road To Lichfield , Penelope Lively ) (March 17)
Philip Roth is born. (Explore: The Ghost Writer , Zuckerman Bound , Philip Roth ) (March 19)
Vine Deloria Jr. is born. (Explore: Vine Deloria, Jr. , Custer Died for Your Sins , Deloria, Vine, Jr. ) (March 26)
Germany’s Nazi government decrees a general boycott of all Jewish-owned businesses (April 1)
C. P. Cavafy dies. (Explore: Ithaka , C. P. Cavafy ) (April 29)
Barbara Taylor Bradford is born. (Explore: The Women in His Life , Act of Will , To Be the Best ) (May 10)
Andrei Voznesensky is born. (Explore: Andrei Voznesensky , Foggy Street , The Last Train to Malakhovka ) (May 12)
Elena Poniatowska is born. (Explore: Dear Diego , Here's to You, Jesusa! , Elena Poniatowska ) (May 19)
Max Eastman publishes “Bull in the Afternoon,” a retrospective article attacking Ernest Hemingway’s craft which enraged Hemingway and eventually led to a scuffle between critic and author (June 7)
Peter Blue Cloud is born. (Explore: Who was Peter Blue Cloud, and what did he contribute to literature? ) (June 10)
Jerzy Kosinski is born. (Explore: The Painted Bird , Being There , Jerzy Kosinski ) (June 14)
Donald E. Westlake is born. (Explore: Donald E. Westlake , The Ax ) (July 12)
David Storey is born. (Explore: This Sporting Life , David Storey ) (July 13)
German Jews of East European birth are stripped of their citizenship by the Nazis (July 14)
Yevgeny Yevtushenko is born. (Explore: Yevgeny Yevtushenko , A Precocious Autobiography , Babii Yar , What are some themes in the poem "The City of Yes and the City of No" by... ) (July 18)
Cormac McCarthy is born. (Explore: The Road , Cormac McCarthy , Examine any personal feelings about The Road by Cormac McCarthy. ) (July 20)
John Gardner Jr. is born. (Explore: Grendel , John Gardner ) (July 21)
Michael Frayn is born. (Explore: Michael Frayn , A Landing on the Sun ) (September 8)
Ring Lardner dies. (Explore: Ring Lardner , The Golden Honeymoon , Haircut ) (September 25)
Sidney Kingsley’s drama Men in White is first performed. (Explore: Men in White , Sidney Kingsley ) (September 26)
Beryl Bainbridge is born. (Explore: A Quiet Life , Beryl Bainbridge , Winter Garden ) (November 21)