1951 in literature
| List of years in literature |
|---|
| (table) |
If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1951.
Events
[edit]
- January 12 – Janie Moore, C. S. Lewis' so-called adoptive mother, dies.[1]
- March – The American writer Flannery O'Connor leaves hospital after being diagnosed with lupus at the age of 25.[2]
- March 12 – Hank Ketcham's American comic strip Dennis the Menace first appears in 16 American newspapers.[3] The strip is originally distributed by the Post-Hall Syndicate.[4]
- March 17 – The homonymous British comic strip Dennis the Menace first appears in the Scottish anthology comic magazine The Beano, in issue 452 (dated March 17, 1951),[5] on sale from March 12.[6] It is the longest-running strip in the comic. The idea and name of the character emerged when the comic's editor heard a British music hall song with the chorus "I'm Dennis the Menace from Venice".[7] The creation of Dennis in the 1950s had sales of The Beano soar.[7]
- Spring – Arthur C. Clarke's short story "The Sentinel", which will form a basis for the film 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and a subsequent novel, is published as "Sentinel of Eternity" in the only issue ever produced of the American science fiction and fantasy pulp magazine 10 Story Fantasy.
- May – Joe Orton enters the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, where he meets his lover and ultimate murderer Kenneth Halliwell.
- June 18 – Frank Hardy is acquitted of criminal libel in the Australian state of Victoria over his self-published 1950 roman à clef on corruption in Melbourne political life, Power Without Glory.[8]
- July 16 – J. D. Salinger's coming-of-age story The Catcher in the Rye is published by Little, Brown and Company in New York City.
- September 6 – William S. Burroughs shoots and kills his common-law wife Joan Vollmer, apparently by accident, in Mexico City.[9]
- December 16 – Noël Coward leaves his home, White Cliffs, on the south coast of England, having sold it to Ian Fleming.[10]
- unknown dates
- E. E. Cummings and Rachel Carson are awarded Guggenheim Fellowships. It is Cummings' second.[11]
- Janet Frame's first book, The Lagoon and Other Stories, is published by the Caxton Press (New Zealand) (dated 1952) while the author is a patient in Seacliff Lunatic Asylum, Seacliff, New Zealand, scheduled for a lobotomy. It is awarded the Hubert Church Memorial Award, at the time one of New Zealand's most prestigious literary prizes. This results in the cancellation of Frame's operation.[12]
- Béla Hamvas completes his epic novel Karnevál. He is banned from publication in Hungary at the time, so that it will appear only in 1985, 17 years after his death.
- A Question of Upbringing, the first book in Anthony Powell's twelve-novel series A Dance to the Music of Time, is published by Heinemann in the U.K.
- The custom of performing medieval mystery plays is revived at York and Chester, England.[13]
- The Théâtre national de la Colline in Paris is founded.[14]
New books
[edit]Fiction
[edit]- Martha Albrand – Desperate Moment
- Sholem Asch – Moses
- Isaac Asimov
- Nigel Balchin – A Way Through the Wood
- Samuel Beckett – Molloy
- Ray Bradbury – The Illustrated Man (collection of short stories)[15]
- Taylor Caldwell – The Balance Wheel
- Morley Callaghan – The Loved and the Lost
- Truman Capote – The Grass Harp
- L. Sprague de Camp
- John Dickson Carr – The Devil in Velvet
- Henry Cecil – The Painswick Line
- Camilo José Cela – The Hive (La Colmena)
- James Hadley Chase – But a Short Time to Live
- Peter Cheyney – Ladies Won't Wait
- Agatha Christie
- Arthur C. Clarke – Prelude to Space
- Beverly Cleary – Ellen Tebbits
- Julio Cortázar – Bestiario
- Robertson Davies – Tempest-Tost
- August Derleth – The Memoirs of Solar Pons
- Heimito von Doderer – Die Strudlhofstiege, oder Melzer und die Tiefe der Jahre (The Strudelhof Steps)
- Daphne du Maurier – My Cousin Rachel
- Friedrich Dürrenmatt – Suspicion
- Howard Fast – Spartacus
- Per Anders Fogelström – Sommaren med Monika
- Anthony Gilbert – Lady Killer
- Michael Gilbert – Death Has Deep Roots
- Julien Gracq – Le Rivage des Syrtes (The Opposing Shore)
- Graham Greene – The End of the Affair
- Henri René Guieu – Le Pionnier de l'atome
- Cyril Hare – An English Murder
- John Hawkes – The Beetle Leg
- Robert A. Heinlein – The Puppet Masters
- Elizabeth Jane Howard and Robert Aickman – We Are for the Dark: Six Ghost Stories
- Laurence Hyde – Southern Cross (wordless novel)
- James Jones – From Here to Eternity
- Margaret Kennedy – Lucy Carmichael
- A. M. Klein – The Second Scroll
- Wolfgang Koeppen – Tauben im Gras (Pigeons on the Grass)
- Kalki Krishnamurthy
- Poiman Karadu
- Ponniyin Selvan (பொன்னியின் செல்வன், The Son of Ponni; publication begins)
- Louis L'Amour – The Rustlers of the West Fork
- Eric Linklater – Laxdale Hall
- John Masters – Nightrunners of Bengal[16]
- Carson McCullers – The Ballad of the Sad Café
- James A. Michener – Return to Paradise[17]
- Nancy Mitford – The Blessing
- Gladys Mitchell – The Devil's Elbow
- Nicholas Monsarrat – The Cruel Sea
- Alberto Moravia – The Conformist (Il conformista)
- Robert Pinget – Entre Fantoine et Agapa
- Anthony Powell – A Question of Upbringing
- J. B. Priestley – Festival at Farbridge
- Ernest Raymond – A Chorus Ending
- J. D. Salinger – The Catcher in the Rye[18]
- Ernst von Salomon – The Questionnaire (Der Fragebogen)
- Ooka Shohei (大岡 昇平) – Fires on the Plain (野火, Nobi)
- Vern Schneider – The Teahouse of the August Moon[19]
- Georges Simenon
- Margit Söderholm – Meeting in Vienna
- Cardinal Spellman – The Foundling
- Howard Spring – The Houses in Between
- John Steinbeck – The Log from the Sea of Cortez
- Rex Stout
- William Styron – Lie Down in Darkness[20]
- Elizabeth Taylor – A Game of Hide and Seek
- Josephine Tey – The Daughter of Time[21]
- Anne de Tourville – Jabadao
- Henry Wade – Diplomat’s Folly
- Herman Wouk – The Caine Mutiny
- John Wyndham – The Day of the Triffids[22]
- Frank Yerby – A Woman Called Fancy
- Marguerite Yourcenar – Memoirs of Hadrian (Mémoires d'Hadrien)[23]
- Juan Eduardo Zúñiga – Inútiles totales (Totally useless)
Children and young people
[edit]- M. E. Atkinson – Castaway Camp (first in the Fricka series of five books)
- Rev. W. Awdry – Henry the Green Engine (sixth in The Railway Series of 42 books by him and his son Christopher Awdry)
- Viola Bayley – The Dark Lantern
- Margaret Biggs – The Blakes Come to Melling
- Anne de Vries – Into the Darkness (De Duisternis in, first in the Journey Through the Night – Reis door de nacht – series of four books)
- Eleanor Estes – Ginger Pye[24]
- Rumer Godden – The Mousewife
- Cynthia Harnett – The Wool-Pack[25]
- C. S. Lewis – Prince Caspian[26]
- Elinor Lyon – We Daren't Go A'Hunting
- Gianni Rodari – l romanzo di Cipollino (The Adventures of the Little Onion)
- Sydney Taylor – All-of-a-Kind Family[27]
Drama
[edit]- Muriel Box and Sydney Box – The Seventh Veil
- Agatha Christie – The Hollow
- Ian Hay – The White Sheep of the Family
- Lillian Hellman - The Autumn Garden
- Kenneth Horne – And This Was Odd
- Michael Clayton Hutton – The Happy Family
- Eugène Ionesco – The Lesson (La Leçon)
- Ronald Jeans – Count Your Blessings
- Maryat Lee – Dope!
- A. A. Milne – Before the Flood
- Lawrence Riley – Kin Hubbard
- Jean-Paul Sartre – The Devil and the Good Lord (Le Diable et le Bon Dieu)
- Peter Ustinov
- John Van Druten – I Am a Camera
- John Whiting
- A Penny for a Song
- Saint's Day (first performance)
- Tennessee Williams – The Rose Tattoo
Poetry
[edit]- Clark Ashton Smith – The Dark Chateau
- Frank O'Hara – A City Winter and Other Poems
- Iona and Peter Opie – The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes
Non-fiction
[edit]- Nelson Algren – Chicago: City on the Make (essay)
- Lou Andreas-Salomé (died 1937) – Lebensrückblick (Looking Back)
- Hannah Arendt – The Origins of Totalitarianism
- Albert Camus – The Rebel (L'Homme révolté)
- Rachel Carson – The Sea Around Us
- Nirad C. Chaudhuri – The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian
- Wolfgang Clemen – The Development of Shakespeare's Imagery
- Thomas B. Costain – The Magnificent Century (second book in the Plantagenet or Pageant of England series)
- Daphne du Maurier (ed.) – The Young George du Maurier: a selection of his letters 1860–67
- James A. Frost – Life On The Upper Susquehanna 1783-1860
- Jacquetta Hawkes
- A Land
- A Guide to the Prehistoric and Roman Monuments in England and Wales
- Eric Hoffer – The True Believer: Thoughts On The Nature Of Mass Movements
- Karl Huber (executed 1943) – Leibniz
- Dumas Malone – Jefferson and the Rights of Man
- C. Wright Mills – White Collar: The American Middle Classes
- Vladimir Nabokov – Speak, Memory
- J. A. Schumpeter – Imperialism and Social Classes
- Tran Duc Thao – Phénoménologie et matérialisme dialectique
Births
[edit]- January 1 – Ashfaq Hussain, Urdu poet
- January 3 – Ken Bruen, Irish crime fiction writer (died 2025)
- January 13 – Nigel Cox, New Zealand novelist
- January 22 – Steve J. Spears, Australian actor, singer, and playwright (died 2007)
- February 13 – Katja Lange-Müller, German novelist
- February 17 – Jagadish Mohanty, Indian novelist (died 2013)[28]
- March 4 – Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, South Korean-born novelist and artist (died 1982)
- March 12 – Susan Musgrave, Canadian poet and children's writer
- March 17 – Lian Tanner, Australian children's writer
- March 22 – Sigrid Nunez, American writer and essayist[29]
- April 5 – Guy Vanderhaeghe, Canadian author[30]
- April 16 – Ioan Mihai Cochinescu, Romanian novelist and essayist
- April 19 – Pierre Lemaitre, French suspense novelist
- May 3 – Tatyana Tolstaya, Russian novelist, essayist and TV presenter
- May 9
- Christopher Dewdney, Canadian poet[31]
- Joy Harjo, Native American poet
- May 15 – David Almond, English writer for children and young adults
- May 20 – Christie Blatchford, Canadian newspaper columnist, journalist, writer and broadcaster (died 2020)[32]
- May 21 – Al Franken, American comedian, actor, writer and politician
- June 15 – Amir Barghashi, Iranian-born Swedish actor and dramatist[33]
- June 22 – Rosario Murillo, Nicaraguan poet and political activist
- June 29 – Don Rosa, American writer and artist of Disney comics
- August 20 – Greg Bear, American science fiction writer[34]
- August 24 – Orson Scott Card, American science fiction writer[35]
- September 14 – Volodymyr Melnykov, Ukrainian poet, writer, songwriter and composer[36]
- September 15 – Jared Taylor, American author and journalist[37]
- September 20 – Javier Marías, Spanish novelist[38]
- September 29 – Andrés Caicedo, Colombian novelist and cinema critic (suicide 1977)[39]
- October 3 – Bernard Cooper, American writer
- October 11 – Louise Rennison, English author and comedian (died 2016)[40]
- October 12 – Peter Flannery, English dramatist[41]
- October 17 – Clark Parent, Haitian novelist, musician and politician
- November 18 - Dennis Foon, Canadian playwright, screenwriter and novelist
- December 6 – Tomson Highway, Canadian and Cree playwright, novelist and children's author[42]
- December 8 – Bill Bryson, American travel writer[43]
- December 20 – Peter May, Scottish novelist and television dramatist
- December 22 – Charles de Lint, Canadian fantasy author and Celtic folk musician
- Unknown dates
- Mohammed Achaari, Moroccan writer[44]
- Carol Birch, English novelist
Deaths
[edit]- January 6 – Maila Talvio, Finnish writer, nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature (born 1871)
- January 7 – René Guénon, French philosophical writer (born 1886)
- January 10 – Sinclair Lewis, American novelist (born 1885)
- January 29 – James Bridie, Scottish dramatist (born 1888)
- February 13 – Lloyd C. Douglas, American author (born 1877)
- February 16 – Henri-René Lenormand, French dramatist (born 1882)
- February 19 – André Gide, French author (born 1869)[45]
- February 28 – Vsevolod Vishnevsky, Russian dramatist and screenwriter (born 1900)
- March 11 – János Zsupánek, Prekmurje Slovene poet and author (born 1861)
- March 25 – Oscar Micheaux, African American author, film director and producer (born 1884)
- April 3 – Henrik Visnapuu, Estonian poet and dramatist (born 1890)[46]
- April 9 – Sadegh Hedayat, Iranian-born novelist (born 1903; suicide)
- April 12 - Henry De Vere Stacpoole. Irish author (born 1863)
- April 29 – Ludwig Wittgenstein, Austrian philosopher (born 1889)
- May 2 – Alphonse de Châteaubriant, French writer (born 1877)
- May 25 – Paula von Preradović, Austrian poet and writer (born 1887)[47]
- May 30 – Hermann Broch, Austrian writer (born 1886)[48]
- June 10 – Håkon Evjenth, Norwegian children's writer (born 1894)
- June 11 – W. C. Sellar, Scottish humorist (born 1898)
- August 14 – William Randolph Hearst, American newspaper tycoon (born 1863)
- August 18 – Richard Malden, English editor, classical and Biblical scholar, and ghost story writer (born 1879)
- August 31 – Abraham Cahan, American Jewish journalist and novelist (born 1860)
- September 2 – Antoine Bibesco, Romanian dramatist (born 1878)[49]
- September 7 – F. G. Loring, English writer and naval officer (born 1869)
- September 28 – Petre P. Negulescu, Romanian philosopher (born 1870)
- October 20 – Vincent Duffey, American playwright (born 1893)[50][51]
- November 5 – I. C. Vissarion, Romanian novelist, dramatist, poet and science writer (born 1879)
- November 27 – Timrava (Božena Slančíková), Slovak novelist, short story writer and playwright (born 1867)
- December 4 – Pedro Salinas, Spanish poet (born 1891)[52]
- December 10 – Algernon Blackwood, English novelist and journalist (born 1869)
Awards
[edit]- Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Cynthia Harnett, The Wool-Pack[53]
- Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels: Albert Schweitzer
- Frost Medal: Wallace Stevens
- James Tait Black Memorial Prize:
- Fiction: Chapman Mortimer, Father Goose
- Biography: Noel Annan, Leslie Stephen
- Newbery Medal: Elizabeth Yates, Amos Fortune, Free Man
- Nobel Prize in Literature: Pär Lagerkvist
- Premio Nadal: Luis Romero, La noria
- Pulitzer Prize:
- Drama: no award given
- Fiction: Conrad Richter, The Town
- Poetry: Carl Sandburg, Complete Poems
- Hugo Award:
Notes
[edit]- Hahn, Daniel (2015). The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature (2nd ed.). Oxford. University Press. ISBN 9780198715542.
References
[edit]- ↑ "C. S. Lewis". Headington History. Oxford. Retrieved 2018-11-10.
- ↑ Connie Ann Kirk (2008). Critical Companion to Flannery O'Connor. Infobase Publishing. p. 315. ISBN 978-1-4381-0846-9.
- ↑ "History". DennisTheMenace.com. Archived from the original on July 5, 2014. Retrieved August 5, 2017.
- ↑ Markstein, Donald D. (2010). "Dennis the Menace". Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Retrieved August 5, 2017.
- ↑ "The Beano Diaries". Retrieved 2023-01-20.
- ↑ "The curious tale of two menacing children named Dennis". The Courier. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
- 1 2 "Dennis the Menace at 60". BBC. 20 October 2016.
- ↑ Dymphna Cusack; Florence James; Miles Franklin (2001). Yarn Spinners: A Story in Letters. University of Queensland Press. p. 278. ISBN 978-0-7022-3192-6.
- ↑ William Lawlor (2005). Beat Culture: Lifestyles, Icons, and Impact. ABC-CLIO. p. 363. ISBN 978-1-85109-400-4.
- ↑ "Noel Coward and Ian Fleming". Dover Museum. Retrieved 2018-11-10.
- ↑ Gale, Cengage Learning. A Study Guide for E.E. Cummings's "in Just--". Gale, Cengage Learning. p. 5. ISBN 978-1-4103-4941-5.
- ↑ Robert Ross; Robert S. Ross (1999). Colonial and Postcolonial Fiction: An Anthology. Psychology Press. p. 425. ISBN 978-0-8153-1431-8.
- ↑ Alan E. Knight; Robert W. Frank, Jr. (1997). The Stage as Mirror: Civic Theatre in Late Medieval Europe. Boydell & Brewer. p. 91. ISBN 978-0-85991-422-2.
- ↑ Béatrice de Andia (2001). Larousse Paris. Larousse. p. 238. ISBN 978-2-03-585012-6.
- ↑ "Realm of the Spacemen". The New York Times Book Review. February 4, 1951.
- ↑ "John Masters and his 'Savage' view of Indian history". Mathrubhumi. Retrieved 2021-09-19.
- ↑ "Books Published Today". The New York Times: 23. April 23, 1951.
- ↑ "Carte Blanche: Famous Firsts". Booklist. November 15, 2000. Retrieved December 20, 2007.
- ↑ NCTE Studies in the Mass Media. National Council of Teachers of English. 1960. p. 3.
- ↑ Pizer, Donald (1982). Twentieth-century American literary naturalism : an interpretation. Carbondale, Ill: Southern Illinois University Press. p. 115. ISBN 9780809310272.
- ↑ J. Randolph Cox (1989). Masters of Mystery and Detective Fiction: An Annotated Bibliography. Salem Press. p. 252. ISBN 9780893566524.
- ↑ Hunter, I. Q. (1999). British science fiction cinema. London New York: Routledge. p. 75. ISBN 9780415168687.
- ↑ Saint, Nigel (2000). Marguerite Yourcenar : reading the visual. Oxford: Legenda. p. 181. ISBN 9781900755399.
- ↑ Hahn 2015, p. 188
- ↑ Clark Layman Bruccoli; Gale Cengage (1996). British Children's Writers Since 1960: First series. Gale Research. pp. 181–183. ISBN 978-0-8103-9356-1.
- ↑ Hahn 2015, p. 474
- ↑ Hahn 2015, p. 20
- ↑ Jagadish Mohanty (2022). "Introduction". Battles Of Our Own. Penguin Random House India Private Limited. ISBN 9789391149451.
- ↑ "Notice de personne: Nunez, Sigrid". catalogue.bnf.fr (in French). Retrieved 3 February 2026.
- ↑ Christian Riegel (2007). Twenty-first-century Canadian Writers. Thomson Gale. p. 244. ISBN 978-0-7876-8152-4.
- ↑ Canadian Writers and Their Work: Poetry series. ECW Press. 1996. p. 125.
- ↑ "Veteran journalist Christie Blatchford was known for her work ethic and wit".
- ↑ "Amir Barghashi" (in Swedish). Swedish Film Institute. Retrieved 15 June 2010.
- ↑ Bleiler, Richard (1999). Science fiction writers : critical studies of the major authors from the early nineteenth century to the present day. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons Macmillan Library Reference USA/Macmillan Pub. p. 43. ISBN 9780684805931.
- ↑ Reid, Suzanne (1998). Presenting young adult science fiction. New York London England: Twayne Publishers Prentice Hall International. p. 36. ISBN 9780805716535.
- ↑ Melnikov Vladimir Nikolaevich // Encyclopedia of Modern Ukraine, vol.20, p.135-136
- ↑ Swain, Carol M.; Nieli, Russell, eds. (2003). Contemporary Voices of White Nationalism in America. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p. 87. ISBN 978-0-521-81673-1.
- ↑ Thompson, Clifford (1999). World authors 1990-1995. New York: H.W. Wilson. p. 507. ISBN 9780824209568.
- ↑ Sandro Romero Rey (12 August 2015). Memorias de una cinefilia: (Andrés Caicedo, Carlos Mayolo, Luis Ospina) (in Spanish). Siglo del Hombre Editores. p. 108. ISBN 978-958-665-369-5.
- ↑ "Louise Rennison: Comedian and bestselling author of teen fiction". The Independent. 8 March 2016. Archived from the original on 2022-05-01. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
- ↑ Contemporary Dramatists. St. James Press. 1993. p. 183.
- ↑ Boyd, Colin (2017-06-29). "Tomson Highway". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2021-11-04.
- ↑ Scott P. Richert (2011). Bill Bryson. Marshall Cavendish. p. 105. ISBN 978-0-7614-4120-5.
- ↑ Publitec Publications (22 December 2011). Who's Who in the Arab World 2007-2008. Walter de Gruyter. p. 54. ISBN 978-3-11-093004-7.
- ↑ "New York Times obituary". www.andregide.org. Archived from the original on 6 August 2011. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
- ↑ "EANC Henrik Visnapuu Literature and Culture Award nominees announced". Estonian American National Council. October 4, 2021. Retrieved November 6, 2021.
- ↑ Schoolfield, G. C. (July 1954). "PAULA VON PRERADOVIĆ-AN INTRODUCTION". German Life and Letters. 7 (4): 285–292. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0483.1954.tb00671.x.
- ↑ Paul Michael Lützeler (1987). Hermann Broch: A Biography. Quartet. p. 265. ISBN 978-0-7043-2604-0.
- ↑ Philippe Michel-Thiriet; Dominique Frémy (1989). The Book of Proust. Chatto & Windus. p. 161. ISBN 978-0-7011-3360-3.
- ↑ Vincent Edward Duffey in the California, U.S., Death Index, 1940-1997
- ↑ "Vincent E. Duffey". San Francisco Chronicle. October 22, 1951. p. 15.
- ↑ Harriet Monroe (1953). Poetry. Modern Poetry Association. p. 153.
- ↑ Bernice E. Cullinan; Diane Goetz Person (1 January 2005). The Continuum Encyclopedia of Children's Literature. A&C Black. p. 348. ISBN 978-0-8264-1778-7.
