1955 in literature explained
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1955.
Events
- February 8 – Jin Yong's first wuxia novel, The Book and the Sword (書劍恩仇錄), begins publication in the New Evening Post (Hong Kong), where he is an editor.
- March 3 – Jean Cocteau is elected to the Académie française (inducted October 20); on January 8 he has been elected to the Académie royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique (inducted October 1).
- April 16 – Sir Laurence Olivier's film version of Shakespeare's Richard III is released in U.K. cinemas.
- June – J. P. Donleavy's novel The Ginger Man is published in Paris by Olympia Press, but he is angered when he finds they have produced it under their imprint for pornography, 'The Traveller's Companion Series'.[1] It is prohibited in both the author's adoptive and native countries, the Republic of Ireland and the United States, for obscenity. Set in postwar Dublin it features the character Sebastian Dangerfield.
- July 10 – Jorge Luis Borges is appointed Director of the National Library of the Argentine Republic.
- July 14 – Director Stephen Joseph sets up Britain's first theatre in the round at Scarborough, North Yorkshire, predecessor of the Stephen Joseph Theatre.[2]
- July 30 – The English poet Philip Larkin, having become University Librarian at the University of Hull on March 21, is inspired on a train from Hull to Grantham to write a poem, "The Whitsun Weddings".[3] His collection The Less Deceived is published in November (dated October).
- August
- The American speculative fiction author Charles Beaumont's short story "The Crooked Man", depicting a homosexual society where heterosexuality is persecuted, is published in Playboy magazine after being rejected by Esquire.
- An article in the British Journal of Education criticises Enid Blyton's novels as formulaic.[4]
- August 3 – The English-language première of Samuel Beckett's play Waiting for Godot, directed by Peter Hall, opens at the Arts Theatre, London. The initial reaction is hostile, but "[e]verything changed on Sunday 7 August 1955 with Kenneth Tynan's and Harold Hobson's reviews in The Observer and The Sunday Times. Beckett was always grateful to the two reviewers for their support ... which more or less transformed the play overnight into the rage of London."[5]
- August 27 – The first hardback edition of The Guinness Book of Records appears in London.[6]
- September – Vladimir Nabokovs Lolita appears in Paris three years before its US publication.[7]
- September 26 – The Madan Puraskar is established as an annual award for outstanding books in the Nepali language, endowed by Rani Jagadamba Kumari Devi (first awards 1956).
- November – Frank Herbert's first novel The Dragon in the Sea begins as a three-part serial, Under Pressure, in the monthly Astounding Science-Fiction.[8]
- November 28 – Ray Lawler's Summer of the Seventeenth Doll is first staged by the Union Theatre Repertory Company in Melbourne with the playwright in a lead. It is the first authentically naturalistic drama in the theatre of Australia.[9]
- unknown date
- Violette Leduc's novel Ravages is issued in France but the publisher, Éditions Gallimard, suppresses the opening section depicting a semi-autobiographical lesbian awakening, which will be published as a novella, Thérèse et Isabelle, in 1966.[10]
- The Indian guru Mani Madhava Chakyar performs Koodiyattam outside a temple for the first time.[11]
New books
Fiction
Children and young people
Drama
Musical theater
Poetry
See main article: 1955 in poetry.
- Emily Dickinson (died 1886), edited by Thomas H. Johnson – The Poems of Emily Dickinson
- Philip Larkin – The Less Deceived
- R.S. Thomas – Song at the Year's Turning
Non-fiction
Births
- January 11 – Max Lucado, American religious writer
- January 12 – Rockne S. O'Bannon, American writer and producer
- January 13 – Jay McInerney, American novelist
- January 27 – Alexander Stuart, English-born American novelist and screenwriter
- February 2 – Leszek Engelking, Polish poet, fiction writer and translator
- February 8 – John Grisham, American novelist
- February 17 – Mo Yan, Chinese fiction writer
- March 11 – D. J. MacHale, American writer
- March 19 – John Burnside, Scottish poet and fiction writer
- March 23 – Lloyd Jones, New Zealand novelist
- March 27 – Patrick McCabe, Irish novelist
- April 8 – Barbara Kingsolver, American novelist, essayist and poet
- April 30 – Zlatko Topčić, Bosnian author and screenwriter
- May 13 – Mark Abley, Canadian poet and non-fiction writer
- May 30 – Colm Tóibín, Irish novelist, playwright and poet
- June 4 – Val McDermid, Scottish crime novelist
- June 16 – J. Jill Robinson, Canadian fiction writer
- June 20 – Tor Nørretranders, Danish science author
- July 1
- July 5
- Sebastian Barry, Irish novelist, playwright and poet
- Mia Couto (António Emílio Leite Couto), Mozambican fiction writer and poet
- July 6
- July 7 – Suzanne Weyn, American children's and young-adult writer
- July 10 – Regina Yaou, Ivory Coast novelist (died 2017)[13]
- July 12 – Robin Robertson, Scottish-born poet, novelist and editor
- July 24 – Brad Watson, American author and academic (died 2020)
- August 2 – Caleb Carr, American writer
- August 7 – Vladimir Sorokin, Russian writer
- August 8 – Iain Pears, English writer
- August 14 - Mary E. Pearson, American young-adult fiction writer
- September 6 – Raymond Benson, American novelist
- September 13 – Hiromi Itō (伊藤 比呂美), Japanese poet, essayist and translator
- October 19 – Jason Shinder, American poet and editor (died 2008)
- November 12 – Katharine Weber, American author and academic
- November 23 – Steven Brust, American fantasy author
- December 28 – Liu Xiaobo (刘晓波), Chinese critic, writer and activist (died 2017)
- unknown date – Wang Xiaoni (王小妮), Chinese poet
Deaths
- January 18 – Saadat Hasan Manto, Pakistani fiction writer (cirrhosis) (born 1912)
- January 20 – Robert P. Tristram Coffin, American poet, essayist and novelist (born 1892)
- February 23 – Paul Claudel, French poet, dramatist and diplomat (born 1868)
- April 10 – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, French philosopher and essayist (born 1881)
- May 16 – James Agee, American writer (born 1909; heart attack)[14]
- June 6 – Joseph Jefferson Farjeon, English crime writer (born 1883)
- June 17 – Constance Holme, English novelist and dramatist (born 1880)
- June 19 – Adrienne Monnier, French poet and publisher (born 1892; suicide)[15]
- June 21 – Roger Mais, Jamaican novelist (born 1905)
- June 30 – Gilbert Cannan, British writer (born 1884)
- July 3 – Beatrice Chase, English writer (born 1874)
- August 1 – Charles Shaw, Australian writer (born 1900)
- August 2 – Wallace Stevens, American poet (born 1879)
- August 12 – Thomas Mann, German novelist (born 1875)[16]
- August 14 – Herbert Putnam, American Librarian of Congress (born 1861)
- August 29 – Hong Shen (洪深), Chinese dramatist (born 1894)
- September 7 – Mary Tracy Earle, American author and essayist (born 1864)
- September 20 – Robert Riskin, American dramatist and screenwriter (born 1897)
- October 18 – José Ortega y Gasset, Spanish philosopher (born 1883)
- November 1 – Dale Carnegie, American writer (born 1888)
- November 12 – Tin Ujević, Croatian poet (born 1891)
- November 14
- December – Al. T. Stamatiad, Romanian poet (born 1885)
Awards
Leona Speyer
Halldór Laxness
Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio, El Jarama
Roger Ikor, Les eaux mêlées[17]
Tennessee Williams, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof[18]
William Faulkner, A Fable
Wallace Stevens, Collected Poems
Ruth Pitter
Notes and References
- News: Associated Press. Author J.P. Donleavy, who met scorn and then celebration with 'The Ginger Man,' dies at 91. 2017-09-14. Los Angeles Times. 2017-09-14.
- Web site: Simon . Murgatroyd . Scarborough In The Round . 2015-11-23.
- Contrary to his later recollection of the event. Book: Burnett, Archie . The Complete Poems of Philip Larkin . London . Faber . 2012 . 978-0-571-24006-7 . 411.
- Book: Robert Druce. This Day Our Daily Fictions: An Enquiry Into the Multi-million Bestseller Status of Enid Blyton and Ian Fleming. 1992. Rodopi. 978-90-5183-401-7. 36.
- Book: Knowlson, James. Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett. London. Bloomsbury. 1996. 415.
- Web site: Guinness Book History 1950 – Present . 2012-02-10 . 2006-05-13 . https://web.archive.org/web/20060513093133/http://spyhunter007.com/spy_guinness_book_history.htm . dead .
- Book: Boyd, Brian . Vladimir Nabokov: The American Years . Princeton University Press . 1991 . 0-691-06797-X . 226 . registration .
- Web site: Frank (Patrick) Herbert . Books and Writers . Petri . Liukkonen . Kuusankoski Public Library . Finland . https://web.archive.org/web/20140427010107/http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/fherbert.htm. 2014-04-27 . dead.
- Book: Fitzpatrick, Peter . After The Doll: Australian Drama Since 1955 . Edward Arnold Australia . Melbourne . 1979 . Studies in Australian culture . 0726720402 . vii .
- Book: Brioude, Mireille. 2007. Violette Leduc du mythe à la mystification. Lesbian Inscriptions in Francophone Society and Culture. Günther. Renate. Michallat. Wendy. Durham University. 9780907310624. Durham Modern Languages Series. 103–120.
- Book: Bhargavinilayam, Das . Mani Madhaveeyam . . 1999 . 81-86365-78-8.
- Book: Douglas Arthur Howard. The History of Turkey. 2001. Greenwood Publishing Group. 978-0-313-30708-9. 115.
- Web site: fr . Macaire Etty . Macaire Etty . Oraison funèbre prononcée par le président de l’AECI aux obsèques de Feue Régina Yaou . aeci.c . 2 December 2017 . 9 December 2020.
- http://www.ageefilms.org/ageebio.html James Agee (1909–1955)
- Book: Monnier . Adrienne . Adrienne Monnier . McDougall . Richard . The Very Rich Hours of Adrienne Monnier . 1996 . 1976. University of Nebraska Press . Lincoln, NE . 978-0-8032-8227-8 . 64.
- Bollinger A. [The death of Thomas Mann: consequence of erroneous angiologic diagnosis?]. Wiener Medizinische Wochenschrift, 1999; 149(2–4):30–32.
- Book: Flower, John. Historical Dictionary of French Literature. 2013. Scarecrow Press. 978-0-8108-7945-4. 255.
- Book: Elizabeth A. Brennan. Elizabeth C. Clarage. Who's who of Pulitzer Prize Winners. 1999. Greenwood Publishing Group. 978-1-57356-111-2. 108.
