1958 in literature explained
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1958.
Events
- January 7 – Tennessee Williams' one-act plays Suddenly, Last Summer and Something Unspoken are premièred off-Broadway.
- January 13 – In One, Inc. v. Olesen, the Supreme Court of the United States affirms that homosexual writing is not as such obscene.
- March 29 – The stage première of Max Frisch's dark comedy Biedermann und die Brandstifter (known in English as The Fire Raisers) takes place at the Schauspielhaus Zürich.
- April 28 – The première of Harold Pinter's play The Birthday Party is held at the Cambridge Arts Theatre in England, with Richard Pearson playing the lead as Stanley.
- May 19 – The London début of the production of Pinter's The Birthday Party, starring Richard Pearson, takes place at the Lyric Opera House (Hammersmith). It closes after a week, but its reputation is saved by a review by Harold Hobson in The Sunday Times on May 25.[1]
- May 27 – The 19-year-old Shelagh Delaney's A Taste of Honey is staged by Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop at the Theatre Royal Stratford East in London.[2] Littlewood had received the script with a covering letter stating "A fortnight ago I didn't know the theatre existed".
- Spring/Summer – London publishers Faber introduce their paper-covered editions, including T. S. Eliot's Collected Poems, William Golding's Lord of the Flies, J. W. Dunne's An Experiment with Time and the first of several science fiction anthologies edited by Edmund Crispin, all with covers designed by Berthold Wolpe based on the Albertus typeface.[3]
- August 18 – Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita is published in the United States.
- c. September – Herbert Marcuse begins teaching at Brandeis University, Massachusetts.
- October 14 – Brendan Behan's play The Hostage is first performed in an English version by Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop at the Theatre Royal Stratford East in London. Also this year, Behan's autobiographical Borstal Boy is published in London,[4] and on November 12 it is banned in Ireland by the Censorship of Publications Board.
- October 23 – Announcement of the award of the Nobel Prize in Literature to Boris Pasternak leads to denunciation of him in the Soviet Union and threats to expel him.
- October 28 – Samuel Beckett's monologue Krapp's Last Tape is first performed by Patrick Magee at the Royal Court Theatre, London. Also this year, Beckett's novel The Unnamable is first published in English.
- November – Truman Capote's novella Breakfast at Tiffany's is published in this month's Esquire magazine (having been rejected for July's Harper's Bazaar). It appears soon afterwards as the title story in a collection published by Random House in New York City.
- unknown dates
New books
Fiction
Children and young people
Drama
Poetry
Non-fiction
Births
- February 9 – Walid al-Kubaisi, Norwegian-Iraqi author, journalist, translator, film director and government scholar (died 2018)
- March 14 – James Robertson, Scottish novelist[10]
- April 6 – Graeme Base, English-born Australian children's author and illustrator
- April 15 – Benjamin Zephaniah, English dub poet[11] (died 2023)
- May 7 – Robert Antoni, West Indian novelist[12]
- May 8 – Roddy Doyle, Irish novelist
- May 14 – Anna Höglund, Swedish writer and illustrator[13]
- May 18 – Jonathan Maberry, American writer
- May 21 – Taku Ashibe (芦辺 拓), Japanese mystery novelist
- May 22 – Wayne Johnston, Canadian novelist
- May 26 – Moinul Ahsan Saber, Bangladeshi writer and editor
- June 10 – James F. Conant, American philosopher
- June 14 – Todur Zanet, Gagauz poet and translator
- June 16 – Isobelle Carmody, Australian science fiction, fantasy and children's writer
- June 22 – Bruce Campbell, American actor, producer, writer and director[14]
- July 3 – Charlie Higson, English speculative fiction writer
- July 5 – Veronica Guerin, Irish journalist (murdered 1996)
- August 15 – Victor Shenderovich, Russian writer
- August 29 – Michael Jackson, American pop singer, songwriter and author (died 2009)
- September 5 – Pierre Leroux, Canadian novelist, journalist and screenwriter
- October 30 – Flora Fraser, English biographer
- November 11 – Kathy Lette, Australian novelist, playwright and activist
- November 24 – Gregory Doran, English theater director
- December 2 - George Saunders
- December 10 – Cornelia Funke, German children's author[15]
- unknown dates
Deaths
- February 4 – Henry Kuttner, American science fiction author (born 1915)
- February 6 – Charles Langbridge Morgan, English novelist and dramatist (born 1894)
- February 24 – Herbert Adams, English writer of mystery novels (born 1874)
- March 15 – Michael Joseph, English publisher (born 1897)
- March 17 – Margiad Evans, Anglo-Welsh writer and poet (born 1909)
- March 21 – Cyril M. Kornbluth, American science fiction writer (born 1923)
- March 24 – Seumas O'Sullivan, Irish poet (born 1879)
- April 7 – Elliot Paul, American writer (born 1892)
- April 8 – Ethel Turner, English-born Australian novelist and children's author (born 1873)
- May 5 – James Branch Cabell, American fantasy author (born 1879)
- June 4 – Eleanor Hallowell Abbott, American fiction writer and poet (born 1872)
- June 10 – Angelina Weld Grimké, African-American playwright and poet (born 1880)
- June 28 – Alfred Noyes, English poet (born 1880)
- August 6 – Geoffrey Willans, English novelist and comic writer (born 1911)
- August 29 – Marjorie Flack, American author and illustrator (born 1897)[17]
- September 11 – Robert W. Service, English-born Canadian comic poet (born 1874)
- October 7 – Louise Hammond Willis Snead, American writer, artist, and composer (born 1868)
- October 24 – G. E. Moore, English philosopher (born 1873)
- October 30 – Rose Macaulay, English novelist (born 1881)
- November 9 – Dorothy Canfield Fisher, American activist and novelist (born 1879)
- December 8
- December 20 – J. C. Squire, English writer and critic (born 1884)
Awards
Fritz Leiber, The Big Time
Randolph Stow, To the Islands
Jon Stallworthy
Boris Pasternak
J. Vidal Cadellans, No era de los nuestros
Ketti Frings, Look Homeward, Angel
James Agee, A Death In The Family
Robert Penn Warren, Promises: Poems 1954-1956
Notes and References
- News: Michael Billington (critic) . Michael . Billington . Fighting Talk . . 2006-05-03 .
- Book: Marr, Andrew . Andrew Marr . A History of Modern Britain . London . Macmillan . 2007 . 978-1-4050-0538-8.
- Web site: Wolpe, Albertus and Faber's Classic Covers . James . Pardey . The Thought Fox . Faber & Faber . 2011 . 2015-04-28 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150915072556/http://thethoughtfox.co.uk/berthold-wolpe-prints/#sthash.sHUPNBEz.dpuf . 2015-09-15 . dead.
- News: Bad Boys and Blarney: A Prison Masterpiece . . 1958-10-23 . 2012-03-19.
- Book: Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation. Directory of Fellowship Awards for the Academic Years 1945/46-1959/60. 1960. 188.
- Book: Frank Northen Magill. Cyclopedia of World Authors. 1997. Salem Press. 978-0-89356-448-3. 1578.
- Book: Hahn . Daniel . The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature . 2015 . Oxford. University Press . 9780198715542 . 2 . 2nd.
- Web site: The 10 best historical novels. Skidelsky. William. 12 May 2012. The Guardian. August 30, 2021.
- Web site: 'Winnie Ille Pu', in Latin, Is Reprinted Yet Again . The New York Times . 14 January 2022 . 14 December 1984.
- Book: Paul Henderson Scott. Spirits of the Age: Scottish Self Portraits. 2005. The Saltire Society. 978-0-85411-087-2. 339.
- Book: David Scott Kastan. The Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature. Oxford University Press. 2006. 371.
- Book: Eugene Benson. L.W. Conolly. Encyclopedia of Post-Colonial Literatures in English. 30 November 2004. Routledge. 978-1-134-46848-5. 64.
- Book: Bienále Ilustrácií Bratislava, Československo, '79 '81. Mladé letá. 1983. 116.
- Book: Weisbrot, Robert . Xena, Warrior Princess : the official guide to the Xenaverse . Doubleday . New York . 1998 . 9780385491365 . 141.
- Web site: Cornelia Funke – The Official Website . www.corneliafunke.com . 28 December 2016.
- Book: Research in African Literatures. 2003. African and Afro-American Studies and Research Center, University of Texas at Austin. 235.
- Book: Whitehead, Winifred. Flack, Marjorie. D.L.. Kirkpatrick. Twentieth-century Children's Writers. London. Macmillan. 1978. 978-0-33323-414-3. 461.
