This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1940.
Events
*January – The English literary magazine ''
Horizon'' first appears in London, with
Cyril Connolly
Cyril Vernon Connolly CBE (10 September 1903 – 26 November 1974) was an English literary critic and writer. He was the editor of the influential literary magazine '' Horizon'' (1940–49) and wrote '' Enemies of Promise'' (1938), which comb ...
,
Peter Watson and
Stephen Spender
Sir Stephen Harold Spender (28 February 1909 – 16 July 1995) was an English poet, novelist and essayist whose work concentrated on themes of social injustice and the class struggle. He was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry by th ...
contributing.
*February – The Canadian writer
Robertson Davies
William Robertson Davies (28 August 1913 – 2 December 1995) was a Canadian novelist, playwright, critic, journalist, and professor. He was one of Canada's best known and most popular authors and one of its most distinguished " men of letters" ...
leaves the
Old Vic
Old or OLD may refer to:
Places
*Old, Baranya, Hungary
*Old, Northamptonshire, England
* Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD)
*OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Ma ...
repertory company in the U.K.
*
March 11
Events Pre-1600
* 222 – Roman emperor Elagabalus is murdered alongside his mother, Julia Soaemias. He is replaced by his 14-year old cousin, Severus Alexander.
* 843 – Triumph of Orthodoxy: Empress Theodora II restores the ven ...
–
Ed Ricketts
Edward Flanders Robb Ricketts (May 14, 1897 – May 11, 1948) was an American marine biologist, ecologist, and philosopher. He is best known for '' Between Pacific Tides'' (1939), a pioneering study of intertidal ecology. He is also known as a m ...
,
John Steinbeck and six others leave
Monterey
Monterey (; es, Monterrey; Ohlone: ) is a city located in Monterey County on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on the U.S. state of California's Central Coast. Founded on June 3, 1770, it functioned as the capital of Alta California under bot ...
for the
Gulf of California
The Gulf of California ( es, Golfo de California), also known as the Sea of Cortés (''Mar de Cortés'') or Sea of Cortez, or less commonly as the Vermilion Sea (''Mar Bermejo''), is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean that separates the Baja C ...
on a marine invertebrate collecting expedition.
*April –
Máirtín Ó Cadhain
Máirtín Ó Cadhain (; 1906 – 18 October 1970) was one of the most prominent Irish language writers of the twentieth century. Perhaps best known for his 1949 novel ''Cré na Cille'', Ó Cadhain played a key role in reintroducing literary mod ...
is interned by the Irish government at
Curragh Camp
The Curragh Camp ( ga, Campa an Churraigh) is an army base and military college in The Curragh, County Kildare, Ireland. It is the main training centre for the Irish Defence Forces and is home to 2,000 military personnel.
History
Longstanding ...
, as a member of the
Irish Republican Army
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various paramilitary organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dedicated to irredentism through Irish republicanism, the belief th ...
.
*
May 14
Events Pre-1600
*1027 – Robert II of France names his son Henry I as junior King of the Franks.
* 1097 – The Siege of Nicaea begins during the First Crusade.
*1264 – Battle of Lewes: Henry III of England is captured and force ...
– The
Battle of the Netherlands ends with the surrender of the main Dutch forces to Nazi German invaders. This evening, the gay Dutch Jewish writer
Jacob Hiegentlich takes poison, dying four days later aged 33.
*
June 5 – The English novelist
J. B. Priestley
John Boynton Priestley (; 13 September 1894 – 14 August 1984) was an English novelist, playwright, screenwriter, broadcaster and social commentator.
His Yorkshire background is reflected in much of his fiction, notably in ''The Good Compa ...
broadcasts his first Sunday evening radio ''Postscript'', "An excursion to hell", on the
BBC Home Service in the U.K., marking the role of pleasure steamers in the
Dunkirk evacuation, which ended the day before.
*July
**
Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and lit ...
is taken prisoner by the Germans.
Léopold Sédar Senghor
Léopold Sédar Senghor (; ; 9 October 1906 – 20 December 2001) was a Senegalese poet, politician and cultural theorist who was the first president of Senegal (1960–80).
Ideologically an African socialist, he was the major theoretician o ...
also becomes a prisoner of war this year.
P. G. Wodehouse
Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, ( ; 15 October 188114 February 1975) was an English author and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jeeve ...
is interned by the Germans as an
enemy alien
In customary international law, an enemy alien is any native, citizen, denizen or subject of any foreign nation or government with which a domestic nation or government is in conflict and who is liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured and ...
.
**American
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...
and
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...
pulp magazine ''
Fantastic Novels
''Fantastic Novels'' was an American science fiction and fantasy pulp magazine published by the Munsey Company of New York from 1940 to 1941, and again by Popular Publications, also of New York, from 1948 to 1951. It was a companion to ''Famous ...
'' begins its first run.
*
July 26
Events Pre-1600
* 657 – First Fitna: In the Battle of Siffin, troops led by Ali ibn Abu Talib clash with those led by Muawiyah I.
* 811 – Battle of Pliska: Byzantine Emperor Nikephoros I is killed and his heir Staurakios is se ...
– A movie adaptation of
Jane Austen's ''
Pride and Prejudice'' is released, with
Aldous Huxley
Aldous Leonard Huxley (26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. He wrote nearly 50 books, both novels and non-fiction works, as well as wide-ranging essays, narratives, and poems.
Born into the prominent Huxle ...
as a screenwriter.
*September – In
Uriage-les-Bains
Uriage-les-Bains (or ''Uriage'') is a spa town in France, at above sea level. Uriage is attached to the communes of Saint-Martin-d'Uriage and Vaulnaveys-le-Haut and is located in the department of Isère, beneath the ski resort of Chamrousse ...
,
Vichy France
Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its te ...
,
Emmanuel Mounier and the ''
Esprit'' circle establish a school of government and philosophy attuned to
Catholic social teaching. Initially endorsing the ''
Révolution nationale
The ''Révolution nationale'' (, ''National Revolution'') was the official ideological program promoted by the Vichy regime (the “French State”) which had been established in July 1940 and led by Marshal Philippe Pétain. Pétain's regime wa ...
'', Uriage is put off by Vichy's
collaboration with Germany, and blends into the
Christian left
The Christian left is a range of left-wing Christian political and social movements that largely embrace social justice principles and uphold a social doctrine or social gospel.
Given the inherent diversity in international political thoug ...
.
*
September 10
Events Pre-1600
* 506 – The bishops of Visigothic Gaul meet in the Council of Agde.
*1419 – John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy is assassinated by adherents of the Dauphin, the future Charles VII of France.
* 1509 – An eart ...
–
Virginia Woolf
Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device.
Woolf was born i ...
's London house at 37
Mecklenburgh Square
Mecklenburgh Square is a Grade II listed square in Bloomsbury, London. The square and its garden were part of the Foundling Estate, a residential development of 1792–1825 on fields surrounding and owned by the Foundling Hospital. The square was ...
is destroyed by bombing. On October 18 she sees the ruins of her previous home, 52
Tavistock Square
Tavistock Square is a public square in Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden.
History
Tavistock Square was built shortly after 1806 by the property developer James Burton and the master builder Thomas Cubitt for Francis Russell, 5th Duke ...
,
Bloomsbury, similarly destroyed.
*October
**
Grahame Greene's London house on
Clapham Common Northside is destroyed by bombing, an event reflected in his novels ''
The Ministry of Fear'' (1943) and ''
The End of the Affair
''The End of the Affair'' is a 1951 novel by British author Graham Greene, as well as the title of two feature films (released in 1955 and 1999) that were adapted from the novel. Set in London during and just after the Second World War, the n ...
'' (1951).
**
Philip Larkin
Philip Arthur Larkin (9 August 1922 – 2 December 1985) was an English poet, novelist, and librarian. His first book of poetry, ''The North Ship'', was published in 1945, followed by two novels, ''Jill'' (1946) and ''A Girl in Winter'' (1947 ...
enters
St John's College, Oxford.
*
October 4
Events Pre-1600
*AD 23 – Rebels sack the Chinese capital Chang'an during a peasant rebellion.
*1209 – Otto IV is crowned Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire by Pope Innocent III.
*1302 – The Byzantine–Venetian War comes t ...
–
Brian O'Nolan
Brian O'Nolan ( ga, Brian Ó Nualláin; 5 October 1911 – 1 April 1966), better known by his pen name Flann O'Brien, was an Irish civil service official, novelist, playwright and satirist, who is now considered a major figure in twentieth ce ...
's first "Cruiskeen Lawn" humorous column is published in ''
The Irish Times
''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...
'' (Dublin). In the second column he assumes the pseudonym Myles na gCopaleen. The original columns are composed in
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
. He continues the column until the year of his death in
1966.
*December –
Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a British publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.[Puffin Books
Puffin Books is a longstanding children's imprint of the British publishers Penguin Books. Since the 1960s, it has been among the largest publishers of children's books in the UK and much of the English-speaking world. The imprint now belongs t ...]
children's imprint in the United Kingdom with ''War on Land'' by James Holland.
*
December 21
Events Pre-1600
*AD 69 – The Roman Senate declares Vespasian emperor of Rome, the last in the Year of the Four Emperors.
*1124 – Pope Honorius II is consecrated, having been elected after the controversial dethroning of Pope Celes ...
–
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age—a term he popularize ...
dies of a heart attack aged 44 in the apartment of
Hollywood gossip columnist
Sheilah Graham
Sheilah Graham (born Lily Shiel; 15 September 1904 – 17 November 1988) was a British-born, nationally syndicated American gossip columnist during Hollywood's "Golden Age". In her youth, she had been a showgirl and a freelance writer for F ...
, leaving his novel ''
The Last Tycoon
''The Last Tycoon'' is an unfinished novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald. In 1941, it was published posthumously under this title, as prepared by his friend Edmund Wilson, a critic and writer. According to ''Publishers Weekly,'' the novel is "generally ...
'' unfinished. The following day, his friend and fellow novelist and screenwriter,
Nathanael West
Nathanael West (born Nathan Weinstein; October 17, 1903 – December 22, 1940) was an American writer and screenwriter. He is remembered for two darkly satirical novels: ''Miss Lonelyhearts'' (1933) and ''The Day of the Locust'' (1939), set r ...
, is killed aged 37 in an automobile accident in California.
*
December 29
Events Pre-1600
* 1170 – Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, is assassinated inside Canterbury Cathedral by followers of King Henry II; he subsequently becomes a saint and martyr in the Anglican Communion and the Catholic Church.
* ...
– Heavy bombing causes a
Second Great Fire of London, destroying the premises of Simpkin, Marshall, the U.K.'s largest book wholesaler, and of many publishers also in the
Paternoster Row
Paternoster Row was a street in the City of London that was a centre of the London publishing trade, with booksellers operating from the street. Paternoster Row was described as "almost synonymous" with the book trade. It was part of an area cal ...
area, including
Longman
Longman, also known as Pearson Longman, is a publishing company founded in London, England, in 1724 and is owned by Pearson PLC.
Since 1968, Longman has been used primarily as an imprint by Pearson's Schools business. The Longman brand is also ...
, together with some 25,000 volumes in the
Guildhall Library
The Guildhall Library is a public reference library specialising in subjects relevant to London. It is administered by the Corporation of London, the government of the City of London, which is the historical heart of London, England.
The library ...
's stores and a copy of the ''
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
''Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám'' is the title that Edward FitzGerald gave to his 1859 translation from Persian to English of a selection of quatrains (') attributed to Omar Khayyam (1048–1131), dubbed "the Astronomer-Poet of Persia".
Altho ...
'' in a jewelled binding by
Sangorski & Sutcliffe (1939). On dawn patrol as a fighter pilot,
Douglas Blackwood
George Douglas Morant Blackwood, (11 October 1909 – 2 March 1997) was a British publisher and a fighter pilot in the Royal Air Force during World War II.
Early life
Douglas Blackwood was a great-great-grandson of William Blackwood who founded ...
sees his family's publishing business,
William Blackwood
William Blackwood (20 November 177616 September 1834) was a Scottish publisher who founded the firm of William Blackwood and Sons.
Life
Blackwood was born in Edinburgh on 20 November 1776. At the age of 14 he was apprenticed to a firm of book ...
, burning.
*
December 31
It is known by a collection of names including: Saint Sylvester's Day, New Year's Eve or Old Years Day/Night, as the following day is New Year's Day. It is the last day of the year; the following day is January 1, the first day of the following ...
– ''
Echternacher Anzeiger'', a Luxembourg newspaper ends publication.
*''unknown dates''
**The Russian poet
Anna Akhmatova
Anna Andreyevna Gorenko rus, А́нна Андре́евна Горе́нко, p=ˈanːə ɐnˈdrʲe(j)ɪvnə ɡɐˈrʲɛnkə, a=Anna Andreyevna Gorenko.ru.oga, links=yes; uk, А́нна Андрі́ївна Горе́нко, Ánna Andríyivn ...
's collection ''From Six Books'' appears in the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
, but distribution is soon suspended, copies pulped and remaining issues prohibited.
**Wills & Hepworth of
Loughborough
Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England, the seat of Charnwood Borough Council and Loughborough University. At the 2011 census the town's built-up area had a population of 59,932 , the second large ...
begins publishing
Ladybird Books
Ladybird Books is a London-based publishing company, trading as a stand-alone imprint within the Penguin Group of companies. The Ladybird imprint publishes mass-market children's books.
It is an imprint of Penguin Random House, a subsidiary o ...
in the United Kingdom in a new format, with ''Bunnykin's Picnic Party: a story in verse for children with illustrations in colour''.
New books
Fiction
*
Thomas Armstrong – ''
The Crowthers of Bankdam''
*
Frank Baker
John Franklin "Home Run" Baker (March 13, 1886 – June 28, 1963) was an American professional baseball player. A third baseman, Baker played in Major League Baseball from 1908 to 1922 for the Philadelphia Athletics and New York Yankees. Althoug ...
– ''Miss Hargreaves''
*
Pridi Banomyong
Pridi Banomyong ( th, ปรีดี พนมยงค์, , ; 11 May 1900 – 2 May 1983), also known by his noble title Luang Praditmanutham ( th, หลวงประดิษฐ์มนูธรรม) was a Thai politician and professo ...
– ''The King of the White Elephant''
*
Giorgio Bassani
Giorgio Bassani (4 March 1916 – 13 April 2000) was an Italian novelist, poet, essayist, editor, and international intellectual.
Biography
Bassani was born in Bologna into a prosperous Jewish family of Ferrara, where he spent his childhood wit ...
– ''Una città di pianura
*
Henry Bellamann
Heinrich Hauer Bellamann (April 28, 1882 – June 16, 1945) was an American author, whose bestselling novel ''Kings Row'' exposed the hypocrisy of small-town life in the midwest, addressing many social taboos. Research suggested that Bellamann ...
– ''
Kings Row
''Kings Row'' is a 1942 film starring Ann Sheridan, Robert Cummings, Ronald Reagan and Betty Field that tells a story of young people growing up in a small American town at the turn of the twentieth century. The picture was directed by Sam Wood ...
''
*
Pierre Benoit – ''
The Environs of Aden''
*
Phyllis Bottome – ''
Heart of a Child''
*
Marjorie Bowen
Margaret Gabrielle Vere Long (née Campbell; 1 November 1885 – 23 December 1952), who used the pseudonyms Marjorie Bowen and Joseph Shearing, was a British author who wrote historical romances, supernatural horror stories, popular history and ...
– ''
The Crime of Laura Sarelle
''The Crime of Laura Sarelle'' is a 1940 novel by the British author Marjorie Bowen, published under the pen name Joseph Shearing.Vinson p.92 The original title was simply ''Laura Sarelle''. A Gothic story, it takes place in Ireland
Irel ...
''
*
Karin Boye
Karin Maria Boye (; 26 October 1900 – 24 April 1941) was a Swedish poet and novelist. In Sweden she is acclaimed as a poet, but internationally she is best known for the dystopian science fiction novel '' Kallocain'' (1940).
Career
Boye wa ...
– ''
Kallocain''
*
Lynn Brock
Lynn Brock (1877-1943) was the pseudonym of the Irish writer Alister McAllister, who moved to England and wrote a series of mystery novels. Brock is best known for his series of Colonel Gore detective novels, which enjoyed popularity in the 1920 ...
– ''
The Stoat''
*Douglas Brown and
Christopher Serpell – ''Loss of Eden: a cautionary tale''
*
Heðin Brú
Heðin Brú (pronounced ; August 17, 1901, Skálavík – May 18, 1987, Tórshavn) was the pen-name of Hans Jacob Jacobsen, a Faroese novelist and translator.
Heðin Brú is considered to be the most important Faroese writer of his generat ...
– ''Feðgar á ferð'' (The Old Man and His Sons)
*
Edgar Rice Burroughs – ''
Synthetic Men of Mars''
*
Dino Buzzati
Dino Buzzati-Traverso (; 14 October 1906 – 28 January 1972) was an Italian novelist, short story writer, painter and poet, as well as a journalist for ''Corriere della Sera''. His worldwide fame is mostly due to his novel ''The Tartar Ste ...
– ''
The Tartar Steppe
''The Tartar Steppe'' ( it, Il deserto dei Tartari, ), also published as ''The Stronghold'' (''La fortezza''), is a novel by Italian author Dino Buzzati, published in 1940.
The novel tells the story of a young officer, Giovanni Drogo, and his li ...
(Il deserto dei Tartari)''
*
Arthur Calder-Marshall
Arthur Calder-Marshall (19 August 1908 – 17 April 1992) was an English novelist, essayist, critic, memoirist, and biographer.
Life and career
Calder-Marshall was born in El Misti, Woodcote Road, Wallington, Surrey, the son of Alice (Poole) ...
– ''
The Way to Santiago''
*
Erskine Caldwell
Erskine Preston Caldwell (December 17, 1903 – April 11, 1987) was an American novelist and short story writer. His writings about poverty, racism and social problems in his native Southern United States, in novels such as '' Tobacco Road'' (1 ...
– ''Trouble in July''
*
Taylor Caldwell
Janet Miriam Caldwell (September 7, 1900August 30, 1985) was a British-born American novelist and prolific author of popular fiction under the pen names Taylor Caldwell, Marcus Holland and Max Reiner. She was also known by a variation of her mar ...
– ''The Earth is the Lord's''
*
Victor Canning
Victor Canning (16 June 1911 – 21 February 1986) was a prolific British writer of novels and thrillers who flourished in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. He was personally reticent, writing no memoirs and giving relatively few newspaper interviews.
...
– ''
Mr. Finchley Takes the Road''
*
Joyce Carey
Joyce Carey, OBE (30 March 1898 – 28 February 1993) was an English actress, best known for her long professional and personal relationship with Noël Coward. Her stage career lasted from 1916 until 1987, and she was performing on television ...
– ''Charley is My Darling''
*
John Dickson Carr
John Dickson Carr (November 30, 1906 – February 27, 1977) was an American author of detective stories, who also published using the pseudonyms Carter Dickson, Carr Dickson, and Roger Fairbairn.
He lived in England for a number of years, and is ...
**''The Department of Queer Complaints''
**''
The Man Who Could Not Shudder
''The Man Who Could Not Shudder'', first published in 1940, is a detective story by American writer John Dickson Carr featuring his series detective Gideon Fell. It is mystery novel of the locked room mystery
The "locked-room" or "impossible ...
''
**''
And So To Murder'' (as Carter Dickson)
**''
Murder in the Submarine Zone'' (as Carter Dickson)
*
Adolfo Bioy Casares
Adolfo Bioy Casares (; 15 September 1914 – 8 March 1999) was an Argentine fiction writer, journalist, diarist, and translator. He was a friend and frequent collaborator with his fellow countryman Jorge Luis Borges. He is the author of the Fa ...
– ''
The Invention of Morel (La invención de Morel)''
*
Willa Cather
Willa Sibert Cather (; born Wilella Sibert Cather; December 7, 1873 – April 24, 1947) was an American writer known for her novels of life on the Great Plains, including '' O Pioneers!'', '' The Song of the Lark'', and '' My Ántonia''. In 192 ...
– ''Sapphira And The Slave''
*
Raymond Chandler – ''
Farewell, My Lovely
''Farewell, My Lovely'' is a novel by Raymond Chandler, published in 1940, the second novel he wrote featuring the Los Angeles private eye Philip Marlowe. It was adapted for the screen three times and was also adapted for the stage and rad ...
''
*
Peter Cheyney
Reginald Evelyn Peter Southouse-Cheyney (22 February 1896 – 26 June 1951) was a British crime fiction writer who flourished between 1936 and 1951. Cheyney is perhaps best known for his short stories and novels about agent/detective Lemmy C ...
** ''
You Can't Keep the Change
''You Can't Keep the Change'' is a 1940 thriller novel by the British writer Peter Cheyney.Reilly, John M. ''Twentieth Century Crime & Mystery Writers''. Springer, 2015. p. 300. . . It is the third in his series of novels featuring the London pri ...
''
** ''
You'd Be Surprised
"You'd Be Surprised" is a song written by Irving Berlin in 1919 which Eddie Cantor interpolated it into Ziegfeld's ''Follies of 1919''. Cantor soon recorded it and it became a major hit. Other popular versions in 1920 were by the All-Star Trio a ...
''
*
Agatha Christie
**''
Sad Cypress
''Sad Cypress'' is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in March 1940 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year. The UK edition retailed at ei ...
''
**''
One, Two, Buckle My Shoe
"One, Two, Buckle My Shoe" is a popular English language nursery rhyme and counting-out rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 11284.
Lyrics
A common version is given in ''The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes'':
:One, two, buckl ...
''
*
Walter Clark – ''
The Ox-bow Incident
''The Ox-Bow Incident'' is a 1943 American Western film directed by William A. Wellman, starring Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews and Mary Beth Hughes, with Anthony Quinn, William Eythe, Harry Morgan and Jane Darwell. Two cowboys arrive in a ...
''
*
Freeman Wills Crofts
Freeman Wills Crofts FRSA (1 June 1879 – 11 April 1957) was an Irish mystery author, best remembered for the character of Inspector Joseph French.
A railway engineer by training, Crofts introduced railway themes into many of his stories, ...
– ''
Golden Ashes''
*
James Daugherty – ''
Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone (September 26, 1820) was an American pioneer and frontiersman whose exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. He became famous for his exploration and settlement of Kentucky, which was then beyond the we ...
''
*
Georges Duhamel
Georges Duhamel (; ; 30 June 1884 – 13 April 1966) was a French author, born in Paris. Duhamel trained as a doctor, and during World War I was attached to the French Army. In 1920, he published '' Confession de minuit'', the first of a serie ...
– ''
Les Maîtres''
*
Mircea Eliade
Mircea Eliade (; – April 22, 1986) was a Romanian historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. He was a leading interpreter of religious experience, who established paradigms in religiou ...
– ''
The Secret of Dr. Honigberger'' (''Secretul doctorului Honigberger''; published with ''Nights at Serampore'')
*
Margita Figuli
Margita Figuli (2 October 1909 – 27 March 1995; known after her marriage as Margita Šustrová and by the penname Ol'ga Morena) was a Slovak prose writer, translator and author of literature for children and young people.
Biography
Margita Fig ...
– ''
Three Chestnut Horses''
*
Anthony Gilbert – ''
Dear Dead Woman''
*
Graham Greene
Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...
– ''
The Power and the Glory
''The Power and the Glory'' is a 1940 novel by British author Graham Greene. The title is an allusion to the doxology often recited at the end of the Lord's Prayer: "For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever and ever, amen." ...
''
*
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century f ...
– ''
For Whom the Bell Tolls
''For Whom the Bell Tolls'' is a novel by Ernest Hemingway published in 1940. It tells the story of Robert Jordan, a young American volunteer attached to a Republican guerrilla unit during the Spanish Civil War. As a dynamiter, he is assigned ...
''
*
Georgette Heyer
Georgette Heyer (; 16 August 1902 – 4 July 1974) was an English novelist and short-story writer, in both the Regency romance and detective fiction genres. Her writing career began in 1921, when she turned a story for her younger brother ...
– ''
The Corinthian''
*
Anne Hocking – ''
The Wicked Flee''
*
Dorothy B. Hughes
Dorothy B. Hughes (August 10, 1904 May 6, 1993) was an American crime writer, literary critic, and historian. Hughes wrote fourteen crime and detective novels, primarily in the hardboiled and noir styles, and is best known for the novels ''In ...
– ''The So Blue Marble''
*
Hammond Innes
Ralph Hammond Innes (15 July 1913 – 10 June 1998) was a British novelist who wrote over 30 novels, as well as works for children and travel books.
Biography
Innes was born in Horsham, Sussex, and educated at Feltonfleet School, Cobham, Surrey ...
**''
The Trojan Horse''
**''
Wreckers Must Breathe
''Wreckers Must Breathe'' is a 1940 thriller novel by the British writer Hammond Innes. It was published in the United States by Putnam's under the title ''Trapped''. Set in the early stages of the Second World War, it tells a story about German ...
''
*
Michael Innes
** ''
The Secret Vanguard''
** ''
There Came Both Mist and Snow''
*
Anna Kavan – ''Asylum Piece'' (short stories)
*
Arthur Koestler
Arthur Koestler, (, ; ; hu, Kösztler Artúr; 5 September 1905 – 1 March 1983) was a Hungarian-born author and journalist. Koestler was born in Budapest and, apart from his early school years, was educated in Austria. In 1931, Koestler join ...
– ''
Darkness at Noon
''Darkness at Noon'' (german: link=no, Sonnenfinsternis) is a novel by Hungarian-born novelist Arthur Koestler, first published in 1940. His best known work, it is the tale of Rubashov, an Old Bolshevik who is arrested, imprisoned, and tried ...
''
*
E.C.R. Lorac – ''
Death at Dyke's Corner
''Death at Dyke's Corner'' is a 1940 detective novel by E.C.R. Lorac, the pen name of the British writer Edith Caroline Rivett. It is the nineteenth in her long-running series featuring Chief Inspector MacDonald of Scotland Yard, a Golden Age ...
''
*
Marie Belloc Lowndes
Marie Adelaide Elizabeth Rayner Lowndes (née Belloc; 5 August 1868 – 14 November 1947), who wrote as Marie Belloc Lowndes, was a prolific English novelist, and sister of author Hilaire Belloc.
Active from 1898 until her death, she had a li ...
– ''
The Christine Diamond''
*
Carson McCullers
Carson McCullers (February 19, 1917 – September 29, 1967) was an American novelist, short-story writer, playwright, essayist, and poet. Her first novel, '' The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter'' (1940), explores the spiritual isolation of misfits ...
– ''
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
''The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter'' (1940) is the debut novel by the American author Carson McCullers; she was 23 at the time of publication. It is about a deaf man named John Singer and the people he encounters in a 1930s mill town in the US state ...
''
*
Ngaio Marsh
Dame Edith Ngaio Marsh (; 23 April 1895 – 18 February 1982) was a New Zealand mystery writer and theatre director. She was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1966.
As a crime writer during the "Golden Age of De ...
– ''
Death at the Bar
''Death at the Bar'' is a crime novel by Ngaio Marsh, the ninth to feature her series detective Chief Detective-Inspector Roderick Alleyn of Scotland Yard. Published in 1940 by Collins (UK) and Little, Brown (USA), it was adapted for television ...
''
*
W. Somerset Maugham
William Somerset Maugham ( ; 25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was an English writer, known for his plays, novels and short stories. Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German un ...
– ''
The Mixture as Before
''The Mixture as Before'' is a collection of 10 short stories by the British writer W. Somerset Maugham, first published by William Heinemann in 1940.Gladys Mitchell
Gladys Maude Winifred Mitchell (21 April 1901 – 27 July 1983) was an English writer best known for her creation of Mrs Bradley, the heroine of 66 detective novels. She also wrote under the pseudonyms Stephen Hockaby and Malcolm Torrie. Fê ...
– ''
Brazen Tongue''
*
Nancy Mitford
Nancy Freeman-Mitford (28 November 1904 – 30 June 1973), known as Nancy Mitford, was an English novelist, biographer, and journalist. The eldest of the Mitford sisters, she was regarded as one of the "bright young things" on the London ...
– ''Pigeon Pie''
*
John O'Hara – ''
Pal Joey''
*
E. Phillips Oppenheim – ''
Last Train Out''
*
Raymond Postgate
Raymond William Postgate (6 November 1896 – 29 March 1971) was an English socialist, writer, journalist and editor, social historian, mystery novelist, and gourmet who founded the '' Good Food Guide''. He was a member of the Postgate fa ...
– ''
Verdict of Twelve''
*
John Cowper Powys
John Cowper Powys (; 8 October 187217 June 1963) was an English philosopher, lecturer, novelist, critic and poet born in Shirley, Derbyshire, where his father was vicar of the parish church in 1871–1879. Powys appeared with a volume of verse ...
– ''
Owen Glendower''
*
Clayton Rawson
Clayton Rawson (August 15, 1906 – March 1, 1971) was an American mystery writer, editor, and amateur magician. His four novels frequently invoke his great knowledge of stage magic and feature as their fictional detective The Great Merlini, a ...
-- ''
The Headless Lady''
*
Michael Sadleir
Michael Sadleir (25 December 1888 – 13 December 1957), born Michael Thomas Harvey Sadler, was a British publisher, novelist, book collector, and bibliographer.
Biography
Michael Sadleir was born in Oxford, England, the son of Sir Michael ...
– ''
Fanny by Gaslight''
*
Mikhail Sholokov
Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov ( rus, Михаил Александрович Шолохов, p=ˈʂoləxəf; – 21 February 1984) was a Russian novelist and winner of the 1965 Nobel Prize in Literature. He is known for writing about life ...
– ''
The Don Flows Home to the Sea'' (English translation of part 2 of ''Тихий Дон – Tikhii Don, The Quiet Don'')
*
C. P. Snow
Charles Percy Snow, Baron Snow, (15 October 1905 – 1 July 1980) was an English novelist and physical chemist who also served in several important positions in the British Civil Service and briefly in the UK government.''The Columbia Encyclope ...
– ''
George Passant
''George Passant'' is the first published of C. P. Snow
Charles Percy Snow, Baron Snow, (15 October 1905 – 1 July 1980) was an English novelist and physical chemist who also served in several important positions in the British Civil Servic ...
'' (first in the ''
Strangers and Brothers'' series)
*
Christina Stead
Christina Stead (17 July 190231 March 1983) was an Australian novelist and short-story writer acclaimed for her satirical wit and penetrating psychological characterisations. Christina Stead was a committed Marxist, although she was never a me ...
– ''
The Man Who Loved Children
''The Man Who Loved Children'' is a 1940 novel by Australian writer Christina Stead. It was not until a reissue edition in 1965, with an introduction by poet Randall Jarrell, that it found widespread critical acclaim and popularity. ''Time'' mag ...
''
*
Rex Stout
Rex Todhunter Stout (; December 1, 1886 – October 27, 1975) was an American writer noted for his detective fiction. His best-known characters are the detective Nero Wolfe and his assistant Archie Goodwin, who were featured in 33 novels and ...
**''
Over My Dead Body''
**''
Where There's a Will''
*
Cecil Street
Cecil John Charles Street (3 May 1884 – 8 December 1964), who was known to his colleagues, family and friends as John Street, began his military career as an artillery officer in the British Army. During the course of World War I, he became a ...
** ''
Death on the Boat Train
''Death on the Boat Train'' is a 1940 detective novel by John Rhode, the pen name of the British writer Cecil Street. It is the thirty second in his long-running series of novels featuring Lancelot Priestley, a Golden Age armchair detective.Rei ...
''
** ''
Death Takes a Flat''
** ''
Mr. Westerby Missing''
** ''
Murder at Lilac Cottage
''Murder at Lilac Cottage'' is a 1940 detective novel by John Rhode, the pen name of the British writer Cecil Street. It is the thirty third in his long-running series of novels featuring Lancelot Priestley, a Golden Age armchair detective.Reil ...
''
*
Phoebe Atwood Taylor
Phoebe Atwood Taylor (Boston 18 May 1909–Boston 9 January 1976) was an American writer of mystery novels. She graduated from Barnard College in 1930 and married surgeon Grantley Walder Taylor in December 1951.
Phoebe Atwood Taylor wrote mystery ...
**''The Criminal C. O. D.''
**''The Deadly Sunshade''
**''
The Left Leg
''The Left Leg'' is a novel that was published in 1940 by Phoebe Atwood Taylor writing as Alice Tilton. It is the fourth of the eight Leonidas Witherall mysteries.
Plot summary
It's a winter day in Dalton (a New England town near Boston) and ...
'' (as Alice Tilton)
*
Dylan Thomas – ''
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog'' (short stories)
*
Luis Trenker – ''
Captain Ladurner''
*
Sachchidananda Vatsyayan – ''
Shekhar: Ek Jivani''
*
Henry Wade
Henry Menasco Wade (November 11, 1914 – March 1, 2001) was an American lawyer who served as district attorney of Dallas County from 1951 to 1987. He participated in two notable U.S. court cases of the 20th century: the prosecution of Jack Ru ...
– ''
Lonely Magdalen''
*
Richard Wright – ''
Native Son
''Native Son'' (1940) is a novel written by the American author Richard Wright. It tells the story of 20-year-old Bigger Thomas, a black youth living in utter poverty in a poor area on Chicago's South Side in the 1930s.
While not apologizing f ...
''
*
Francis Brett Young
Francis Brett Young (29 June 1884 – 28 March 1954) was an English novelist, poet, playwright, composer, doctor and soldier.
Life
Francis Brett Young was born in Halesowen, Worcestershire. He received his early education at Iona, a pri ...
– ''
Mr. Lucton's Freedom''
*
Xiao Hong
Xiao Hong or Hsiao Hung (1 June 1911 – 22 January 1942) was a Chinese writer. Her ruming (乳名,infant name) was Zhang Ronghua (張榮華). Her xueming (學名,formal name used at school) was Zhang Xiuhuan (張秀環). Her name Zhang Nai ...
(蕭紅) – ''Ma Bole'' (马伯乐)
Children and young people
*
Enid Blyton
Enid Mary Blyton (11 August 1897 – 28 November 1968) was an English children's writer, whose books have been worldwide bestsellers since the 1930s, selling more than 600 million copies. Her books are still enormously popular and have b ...
– ''
The Naughtiest Girl in the School''
*
Godfried Bomans
Godfried Jan Arnold Bomans (2 March 1913 – 22 December 1971) was a Dutch author and television personality. Much of his work remains untranslated into English.
Life and career
Godfried Bomans was born in The Hague and grew up in and arou ...
– ''Eric in the Land of the Insects (
Erik of het klein insectenboek
''Eric in the Land of the Insects'', originally called ''Erik of het klein insectenboek'' (English: Erik or the small book of insects) in Dutch, is a 1941 Dutch children's novel by Godfried Bomans. It is widely seen as a children's classic and Bo ...
)''
*
Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire – ''Abraham Lincoln''
*
Doris Gates
Doris Gates (November 26, 1901 – September 3, 1987) was one of America's first writers of realistic children's fiction. Her novel ''Blue Willow'', about the experiences of Janey Larkin, the ten-year-old daughter of a migrant farm worker in 19 ...
– ''
Blue Willow
''Blue Willow'' is a realistic children's fiction book by Doris Gates, published in 1940. Called the "juvenile ''Grapes of Wrath''", it was named a Newbery Honor book in 1941. Written by a librarian who worked with migrant children in Fresno, C ...
''
*
Dorothy Kunhardt
Dorothy Kunhardt (née Dorothy Meserve; September 29, 1901 – December 23, 1979) was an American children's-book author, best known for the baby book ''Pat the Bunny.'' She was also a historian and writer about the life of U.S. President Abraha ...
– ''
Pat the Bunny
''Pat the Bunny'' is the first "touch and feel" interactive children's book, written and illustrated by Dorothy Kunhardt. Since its publication in 1940, it has been a perennial best-seller in the United States. Rather than follow a linear narrat ...
''
*
Phyllis Matthewman
Phyllis Matthewman (née Barton) (19 January 1896 – 1979), British writer of children's books, mostly boarding school stories, and adult fiction.
Personal life
Matthewman was born in Leeds, the elder daughter of Thomas Barton, an insurance man ...
– ''Chloe Takes Control'' (first in the Danewood series of seven books)
*
Arthur Ransome – ''
The Big Six''
*
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (August 8, 1896 – December 14, 1953)
accessed December 8, 2014. was an – ''When the Whippoorwill''
*
Dr. Seuss
Theodor Seuss Geisel (;["Seuss"](_blank)
'' Horton Hatches the Egg
''Horton Hatches the Egg'' is a children's book written and illustrated by Theodor Geisel under the pen name Dr. Seuss and published in 1940 by Random House. The book tells the story of Horton the Elephant, who is tricked into sitting on a bird's ...
''
*
Armstrong Sperry
Armstrong Wells Sperry (November 7, 1897 – April 26, 1976) was an American writer and illustrator of children's literature. His books include historical fiction and biography, often set on sailing ships, and stories of boys from Polynesia, Asi ...
– ''
Call It Courage''
*
Jakob Streit – ''Beatuslegenden''
*
Geoffrey Trease
(Robert) Geoffrey Trease FRSL (11 August 1909 – 27 January 1998) was a prolific British writer who published 113 books, mainly for children, between 1934 and 1997, starting with '' Bows Against the Barons'' and ending with ''Cloak for a Spy'' ...
– ''
Cue for Treason''
*
John R. Tunis – ''The Kid from Tomkinsville''
*
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder (February 7, 1867 – February 10, 1957) was an American writer, mostly known for the '' Little House on the Prairie'' series of children's books, published between 1932 and 1943, which were based on her childhood ...
– ''
The Long Winter''
Drama
*Jean Anouilh
Jean Marie Lucien Pierre Anouilh (; 23 June 1910 – 3 October 1987) was a French dramatist whose career spanned five decades. Though his work ranged from high drama to absurdist farce, Anouilh is best known for his 1944 play ''Antigone'', an a ...
– ''Léocadia
''Léocadia'' (''Time Remembered'') is a play by Jean Anouilh that premiered at the Théâtre de la Michodière in Paris on 2 December 1940. It is one of Anouilh's ''Pièces roses'', together with '' Humulus le muet'' (1932), '' Le Bal des voleur ...
''
*Ugo Betti
Ugo Betti (4 February 1892 in Camerino – 9 June 1953 in Rome) was an Italian judge, better known as an author, who is considered by many the greatest Italian playwright next to Pirandello.
Biography
Betti studied law in Parma at the time when ...
– ''Il cacciatore di anitre'' (The Duck Hunter)
* Peter Blackmore – '' The Blue Goose''
* Bertolt Brecht – ''Mr Puntila and his Man Matti
''Mr Puntila and his Man Matti'' (german: Herr Puntila und sein Knecht Matti) is an epic comedy by the German modernist playwright Bertolt Brecht. It was written in 1940 and first performed in 1948.
The story describes the aristocratic land-owne ...
'' (''Herr Puntila und sein Knecht Matti'', written)
* Agatha Christie – ''Peril at End House
''Peril at End House'' is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the US by the Dodd, Mead and Company in February 1932 and in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in March of the same year. The US editi ...
''
*Jean Cocteau
Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (, , ; 5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost creatives of the s ...
– ''Le Bel indifférent''
* Artturi Järviluoma – '' Pohjalaisia''
*Terence Rattigan
Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan (10 June 191130 November 1977) was a British dramatist and screenwriter. He was one of England's most popular mid-20th-century dramatists. His plays are typically set in an upper-middle-class background.Geoffrey Wan ...
and Anthony Goldsmith – ''Follow My Leader'' (first performed)
*Lawrence Riley
Lawrence Riley (1896–1974) was a successful United States, American playwright and screenwriter. He gained fame in 1934 in literature, 1934 as the author of the Broadway theatre, Broadway hit ''Personal Appearance'', which was turned by Mae West ...
– ''Return Engagement''
* George Shiels – ''The Rugged Path''
*Vernon Sylvaine
Vernon Sylvaine (1896–1957) was a British playwright and screenwriter. He is known for writing several popular stage farces. He began working in film in 1937 when his stage hit ''Aren't Men Beasts!'' was turned into a film of the same title s ...
– ''Nap Hand
A nap is a short period of sleep, typically taken during daytime hours as an adjunct to the usual nocturnal sleep period. Naps are most often taken as a response to Somnolence, drowsiness during waking hours. A nap is a form of Biphasic and po ...
''
*John Van Druten
John William Van Druten (1 June 190119 December 1957) was an English playwright and theatre director. He began his career in London, and later moved to America, becoming a U.S. citizen. He was known for his plays of witty and urbane observation ...
–
** ''Leave Her to Heaven
''Leave Her to Heaven'' is a 1945 American psychological thriller film noir melodrama directed by John M. Stahl and starring Gene Tierney, Cornel Wilde, Jeanne Crain, and Vincent Price. It follows a socialite who marries a prominent novelist, ...
''
** ''Old Acquaintance
''Old Acquaintance'' is a 1943 American drama film released by Warner Bros. It was directed by Vincent Sherman and produced by Henry Blanke with Jack L. Warner as executive producer. The film was adapted from a screenplay by John Van Druten, L ...
''
*Emlyn Williams
George Emlyn Williams, CBE (26 November 1905 – 25 September 1987) was a Welsh writer, dramatist and actor.
Early life
Williams was born into a Welsh-speaking, working class family at 1 Jones Terrace, Pen-y-ffordd, Ffynnongroyw, Flints ...
**''The Corn Is Green
''The Corn Is Green'' is a 1938 semi-autobiographical play by Welsh dramatist and actor Emlyn Williams. The play premiered in London at the Duchess Theatre in September 1938; with Sybil Thorndike as Miss Moffat and Williams himself portraying Mo ...
''
**'' The Light of Heart''
Non-fiction
*
Mortimer J. Adler
Mortimer Jerome Adler (December 28, 1902 – June 28, 2001) was an American philosopher, educator, encyclopedist, and popular author. As a philosopher he worked within the Aristotelian and Thomistic traditions. He lived for long stretches in N ...
– ''
How to Read a Book
''How to Read a Book'' is a book by the American philosopher Mortimer J. Adler. Originally published in 1940, it was heavily revised for a 1972 edition, co-authored by Adler with editor Charles Van Doren. The 1972 revision gives guidelines for ...
''
*"Cato" (
Michael Foot
Michael Mackintosh Foot (23 July 19133 March 2010) was a British Labour Party politician who served as Labour Leader from 1980 to 1983. Foot began his career as a journalist on ''Tribune'' and the ''Evening Standard''. He co-wrote the 1940 p ...
,
Frank Owen, and
Peter Howard) – ''
Guilty Men
''Guilty Men'' is a short book published in Great Britain in July 1940 that attacked British public figures for their failure to re-arm and their appeasement of Nazi Germany in the 1930s. A classic denunciation of the former government policy, i ...
''
*
George Gamow
George Gamow (March 4, 1904 – August 19, 1968), born Georgiy Antonovich Gamov ( uk, Георгій Антонович Гамов, russian: Георгий Антонович Гамов), was a Russian-born Soviet and American polymath, theoret ...
– ''
The Birth and Death of the Sun''
*
G. H. Hardy
Godfrey Harold Hardy (7 February 1877 – 1 December 1947) was an English mathematician, known for his achievements in number theory and mathematical analysis. In biology, he is known for the Hardy–Weinberg principle, a basic principle of pop ...
– ''
A Mathematician's Apology''
*
Bernard Leach
Bernard Howell Leach (5 January 1887 – 6 May 1979), was a British studio potter and art teacher. He is regarded as the "Father of British studio pottery".
Biography
Early years (Japan)
Leach was born in Hong Kong. His mother Eleanor (née ...
– ''A Potter's Book''
*
C. S. Lewis
Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Oxford University (Magdalen College, 1925–1954) and Cambridge Univers ...
– ''
The Problem of Pain
''The Problem of Pain'' is a 1940 book on the problem of evil by C. S. Lewis, in which Lewis argues that human pain, animal pain, and hell are not sufficient reasons to reject belief in a good and powerful God.
Lewis states that his writing ...
''
*
Karl Mannheim
Karl Mannheim (born Károly Manheim, 27 March 1893 – 9 January 1947) was an influential Hungarian sociologist during the first half of the 20th century. He is a key figure in classical sociology, as well as one of the founders of the sociolo ...
– ''Man and Society in the Age of Reconstruction''
*
Arthur Marder – ''The Anatomy of British Sea Power: a history of British naval policy in the pre-Dreadnought era, 1880–1905''
*
A. A. Milne
Alan Alexander Milne (; 18 January 1882 – 31 January 1956) was an English writer best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh, as well as for children's poetry. Milne was primarily a playwright before the huge success of Winni ...
– ''War with Honour''
*
Malcolm Muggeridge
Thomas Malcolm Muggeridge (24 March 1903 – 14 November 1990) was an English journalist and satirist. His father, H. T. Muggeridge, was a socialist politician and one of the early Labour Party Members of Parliament (for Romford, in Essex). In ...
– ''The Thirties''
*
Hugh Trevor-Roper
Hugh Redwald Trevor-Roper, Baron Dacre of Glanton (15 January 1914 – 26 January 2003) was an English historian. He was Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford.
Trevor-Roper was a polemicist and essayist on a range of ...
– ''Archbishop Laud, 1573–1645''
*
Edmund Wilson
Edmund Wilson Jr. (May 8, 1895 – June 12, 1972) was an American writer and literary critic who explored Freudian and Marxist themes. He influenced many American authors, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, whose unfinished work he edited for publi ...
– ''
To the Finland Station''
Births
*
January 4 –
Gao Xingjian
Gao Xingjian (高行健 in Chinese - born January 4, 1940) is a Chinese émigré and later French naturalized novelist, playwright, critic, painter, photographer, film director, and translator who in 2000 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature " ...
(高行健), Chinese novelist
*
January 15 –
Ted Lewis, English novelist (died
1982)
*
January 23
Events Pre-1600
* 393 – Roman emperor Theodosius I proclaims his eight-year-old son Honorius co-emperor.
* 971 – Using crossbows, Song dynasty troops soundly defeat a war elephant corps of the Southern Han at Shao.
*1264 & ...
–
Mario Levrero
Jorge Mario Varlotta Levrero (23 January 1940 - 30 August 2004), better known as Mario Levrero, was a Uruguayan author. He authored nearly 20 novels as well as writing articles, columns, comic books and crosswords. His work is said to be influence ...
, Uruguayan novelist (died
2004)
*
February 6 –
Tom Brokaw
Thomas John Brokaw (; born February 6, 1940) is an American retired network television journalist and author. He first served as the co-anchor of ''The Today Show'' from 1976 to 1981 with Jane Pauley, then as the anchor and managing editor of '' ...
, American television journalist and author
*
February 8
Events Pre-1600
* 421 – Constantius III becomes co-Emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
*1238 – The Mongols burn the Russian city of Vladimir.
* 1250 – Seventh Crusade: Crusaders engage Ayyubid forces in the Battle of Al ...
–
Ted Koppel
Edward James Martin Koppel (born February 8, 1940) is a British-born American broadcast journalist, best known as the anchor for ''Nightline'', from the program's inception in 1980 until 2005.
Before ''Nightline'', he spent 20 years as a broadc ...
, American journalist
*
February 9
Events Pre-1600
* 474 – Zeno is crowned as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
* 1003 – Boleslaus III is restored to authority with armed support from Bolesław I the Brave of Poland.
*1539 – The first recorded race is held ...
**
J. M. Coetzee
John Maxwell Coetzee OMG (born 9 February 1940) is a South African–Australian novelist, essayist, linguist, translator and recipient of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature. He is one of the most critically acclaimed and decorated authors in ...
, South African novelist
**
Seamus Deane
Seamus Francis Deane (9 February 194012 May 2021) was an Irish poet, novelist, critic, and intellectual historian. He was noted for his debut novel, ''Reading in the Dark'', which won several literary awards and was nominated for the Booker Pri ...
, Irish poet and novelist (died 2021 in literature, 2021)
*
March 16
Events Pre-1600
* 934 – Meng Zhixiang declares himself emperor and establishes Later Shu as a new state independent of Later Tang.
*1190 – Massacre of Jews at Clifford's Tower, York.
* 1244 – Over 200 Cathars who refuse ...
–
Bernardo Bertolucci
Bernardo Bertolucci (; 16 March 1941 – 26 November 2018) was an Italian film director and screenwriter with a career that spanned 50 years. Considered one of the greatest directors in Italian cinema, Bertolucci's work achieved international ...
, Italian writer and film director
*
March 23
Events Pre-1600
*1400 – The Trần dynasty of Vietnam is deposed, after one hundred and seventy-five years of rule, by Hồ Quý Ly, a court official.
*1540 – Waltham Abbey is surrendered to King Henry VIII of England; the last rel ...
–
Ama Ata Aidoo
Ama Ata Aidoo, ''née'' Christina Ama Aidoo (born 23 March 1942) is a Ghanaian author, poet, playwright and academic. She was the Minister of Education under the Jerry Rawlings administration. In 2000, she established the Mbaasem Foundation t ...
, Ghanaian playwright
*
March 28
Events Pre-1600
* AD 37 – Roman emperor Caligula accepts the titles of the Principate, bestowed on him by the Senate.
* 193 – After assassinating the Roman Emperor Pertinax, his Praetorian Guards auction off the throne to Di ...
–
Russell Banks
Russell Banks (born March 28, 1940) is an American writer of fiction and poetry. As a novelist, Banks is best known for his "detailed accounts of domestic strife and the daily struggles of ordinary often-marginalized characters". His stories usua ...
, American novelist
*
April 6
Events Pre–1600
*46 BC – Julius Caesar defeats Caecilius Metellus Scipio and Marcus Porcius Cato (Cato the Younger) at the Battle of Thapsus.
* 402 – Stilicho defeats the Visigoths under Alaric in the Battle of Pollentia.
*13 ...
-
Homero Aridjis, Mexican poet, novelist and environmentalist
*
April 13 –
J. M. G. Le Clézio
Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio (; 13 April 1940), usually identified as J. M. G. Le Clézio, of French and Mauritian nationality, is a writer and professor. The author of over forty works, he was awarded the 1963 Prix Renaudot for his novel '' Le ...
, French novelist
*
April 15
Events Pre-1600
* 769 – The Lateran Council ends by condemning the Council of Hieria and anathematizing its iconoclastic rulings.
* 1071 – Bari, the last Byzantine possession in southern Italy, is surrendered to Robert Guiscar ...
–
Jeffrey Archer
Jeffrey Howard Archer, Baron Archer of Weston-super-Mare (born 15 April 1940) is an English novelist, life peer, convicted criminal, and former politician. Before becoming an author, Archer was a Member of Parliament (1969–1974), but did not ...
, English novelist, politician and perjurer
*
April 24
Events Pre-1600
* 1479 BC – Thutmose III ascends to the throne of Egypt, although power effectively shifts to Hatshepsut (according to the Low Chronology of the 18th dynasty).
*1183 BC – Traditional reckoning of the Fall of Troy ...
–
Sue Grafton, American detective novelist (died
2017
File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...
)
*
May 1
Events Pre-1600
* 305 – Diocletian and Maximian retire from the office of Roman emperor.
* 880 – The Nea Ekklesia is inaugurated in Constantinople, setting the model for all later cross-in-square Orthodox churches.
*1169 – N ...
–
Bobbie Ann Mason
Bobbie Ann Mason (born May 1, 1940) is an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and literary critic from Kentucky. Her memoir was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
Early life and education
A child of Wilburn and Christina Mason, Bobb ...
, American novelist, short story writer, essayist and literary critic
*
May 7
Events Pre-1600
* 351 – The Jewish revolt against Constantius Gallus breaks out after his arrival at Antioch.
* 558 – In Constantinople, the dome of the Hagia Sophia collapses, twenty years after its construction. Justinian I imm ...
–
Angela Carter
Angela Olive Pearce (formerly Carter, Stalker; 7 May 1940 – 16 February 1992), who published under the name Angela Carter, was an English novelist, short story writer, poet, and journalist, known for her feminist, magical realism, and picar ...
, English novelist (died
1992)
*
May 8 –
Peter Benchley
Peter Bradford Benchley (May 8, 1940 – February 11, 2006) was an American author, screenwriter, and ocean activist. He is known for his bestselling novel '' Jaws'' and co-wrote its film adaptation with Carl Gottlieb. Several more of his works ...
, American novelist (died
2006)
*
May 13
Events Pre-1600
*1373 – Julian of Norwich has visions of Jesus while suffering from a life-threatening illness, visions which are later described and interpreted in her book '' Revelations of Divine Love''.
* 1501 – Amerigo Vespu ...
–
Bruce Chatwin
Charles Bruce Chatwin (13 May 194018 January 1989) was an English travel writer, novelist and journalist. His first book, ''In Patagonia'' (1977), established Chatwin as a travel writer, although he considered himself instead a storyteller, ...
, English novelist and travel writer (died
1989
File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...
)
*
May 24 –
Joseph Brodsky, Russian-born American poet and essayist (died
1996)
*
May 28
Events Pre-1600
*585 BC – A solar eclipse occurs, as predicted by the Greek philosopher and scientist Thales, while Alyattes is battling Cyaxares in the Battle of the Eclipse, leading to a truce. This is one of the cardinal dates from ...
–
Maeve Binchy
Anne Maeve Binchy Snell (28 May 1939Born 1939 as per biography, ''Maeve Binchy'' by Piers Dudgeon, Thomas Dunne Books 2013; (hardcover), pp. 4, 280, 302; (ebook) – 30 July 2012) was an Irish novelist, playwright, short story writer, colum ...
, Irish novelist (died
2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...
)
*
July 17
Events Pre-1600
* 180 – Twelve inhabitants of Scillium (near Kasserine, modern-day Tunisia) in North Africa are executed for being Christians. This is the earliest record of Christianity in that part of the world.
*1048 – Damasu ...
–
Tim Brooke-Taylor
Timothy Julian Brooke-Taylor OBE (17 July 194012 April 2020) was an English actor and comedian best known as a member of The Goodies.
He became active in performing in comedy sketches while at the University of Cambridge and became president ...
, English comedy writer and performer
*
July 30
Events Pre-1600
* 762 – Baghdad is founded.
*1419 – First Defenestration of Prague: A crowd of radical Hussites kill seven members of the Prague city council.
* 1502 – Christopher Columbus lands at Guanaja in the Bay Islan ...
–
Alice Azure, American poet and writer
*
July 31 –
Fleur Jaeggy
Fleur Jaeggy (born 31 July 1940) is a Swiss author who writes in Italian. ''The'' ''Times Literary Supplement'' named ''Proleterka'' as a Best Book of the Year upon its US publication, and her ''Sweet Days of Discipline'' won the Premio Bagut ...
, Swiss-Italian fiction writer
*
September 1
Events Pre-1600
*1145 – The main altar of Lund Cathedral, at the time seat of the archiepiscopal see of all the Nordic countries, is consecrated.
*1173 – The widow Stamira sacrifices herself in order to raise the siege of Ancona b ...
–
Annie Ernaux
Annie Thérèse Blanche Ernaux (; born 1 September 1940) is a French writer, professor of literature and Nobel laureate. Her literary work, mostly autobiographical, maintains close links with sociology. Ernaux was awarded the 2022 Nobel Prize ...
, French author and Nobel laureate
*
September 3
Events Pre-1600
*36 BC – In the Battle of Naulochus, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, admiral of Octavian, defeats Sextus Pompey, son of Pompey, thus ending Pompeian resistance to the Second Triumvirate.
* 301 – San Marino, one of the ...
–
Eduardo Galeano
Eduardo Hughes Galeano (; 3 September 1940 – 13 April 2015) was a Uruguayan journalist, writer and novelist considered, among other things, "global soccer's pre-eminent man of letters" and "a literary giant of the Latin American left".
Galean ...
, Uruguayan journalist, writer and novelist (died
2015)
*
September 14
Events Pre-1600
*AD 81 – Domitian becomes Emperor of the Roman Empire upon the death of his brother Titus.
* 629 – Emperor Heraclius enters Constantinople in triumph after his victory over the Persian Empire.
* 786 – "Night ...
–
Ventseslav Konstantinov, Bulgarian writer and translator (died
2019
File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
)
*
October 11
Events Pre-1600
*1138 – A massive earthquake strikes Aleppo; it is one of the most destructive earthquakes ever.
*1142 – A peace treaty ends the Jin–Song wars.
* 1311 – The peerage and clergy restrict the authority of Engl ...
–
David McFadden, Canadian poet, fiction and travel writer (died
2018
File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...
)
*
October 15 –
Fanny Howe
Fanny Howe (born October 15, 1940 in Buffalo, New York) is an American poet, novelist, and short story writer. Howe has written more than 20 books of poetry and prose. Her major works include poetry such as ''One Crossed Out'', ''Gone'', and ''S ...
, American poet, novelist and short story writer
*
October 20
Events Pre-1600
*1568 – The Spanish Duke of Alba defeats a Dutch rebel force under William the Silent.
* 1572 – Eighty Years' War: Three thousand Spanish soldiers wade through fifteen miles of water in one night to effect the re ...
–
Robert Pinsky
Robert Pinsky (born October 20, 1940) is an American poet, essayist, literary critic, and translator. From 1997 to 2000, he served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. Pinsky is the author of nineteen books, most o ...
, American poet
*
November 15
Events Pre-1600
* 655 – Battle of the Winwaed: Penda of Mercia is defeated by Oswiu of Northumbria.
* 1315 – Growth of the Old Swiss Confederacy: The Schweizer Eidgenossenschaft ambushes the army of Leopold I in the Battle of Mo ...
–
René Avilés Fabila, Mexican writer (died
2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...
)
*
November 20
Events Pre-1600
* 284 – Diocletian is chosen as Roman emperor.
* 762 – During the An Shi Rebellion, the Tang dynasty, with the help of Huihe tribe, recaptures Luoyang from the rebels.
* 1194 – Palermo is conquered by Henry ...
–
Wendy Doniger
Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty (born November 20, 1940) is an American Indologist whose professional career has spanned five decades. A scholar of Sanskrit and Indian textual traditions, her major works include, 'The Hindus: an alternative history'; ' ...
O'Flaherty, American
Indologist
Indology, also known as South Asian studies, is the academic study of the history and cultures, languages, and literature of the Indian subcontinent, and as such is a subset of Asian studies.
The term ''Indology'' (in German, ''Indologie'') is ...
and translator
*
December 5
Events Pre-1600
* 63 BC – Cicero gives the fourth and final of the Catiline Orations.
* 633 – Fourth Council of Toledo opens, presided over by Isidore of Seville.
* 1033 – The Jordan Rift Valley earthquake destroys multipl ...
–
Peter Pohl
Peter Pohl (born 5 December 1940) is a Swedish author and former director and screenwriter of short films. He has received prizes for several of his books and films, as well as for his entire work. From 1966 until his retirement in 2005, he was ...
, Swedish novelist
*
December 29
Events Pre-1600
* 1170 – Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, is assassinated inside Canterbury Cathedral by followers of King Henry II; he subsequently becomes a saint and martyr in the Anglican Communion and the Catholic Church.
* ...
–
Brigitte Kronauer, German novelist (died
2019
File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
)
*
Stan Grant,
Wiradjuri
The Wiradjuri people (; ) are a group of Aboriginal Australian people from central New South Wales, united by common descent through kinship and shared traditions. They survived as skilled hunter-fisher-gatherers, in family groups or clans, a ...
Australian writer
Deaths
*
January 1
January 1 or 1 January is the first day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 364 days remaining until the end of the year (365 in leap years). This day is also known as New Year's Day since the day marks the beginning of the yea ...
–
Panuganti Lakshminarasimha Rao, Indian writer (born
1865)
*
January 5
Events Pre-1600
*1477 – Battle of Nancy: Charles the Bold is defeated and killed in a conflict with René II, Duke of Lorraine; Burgundy subsequently becomes part of France.
1601–1900
* 1675 – Battle of Colmar: The French a ...
–
Humbert Wolfe, British poet and epigrammist (born
1885)
*
January 27 –
Isaak Babel
Isaac Emmanuilovich Babel (russian: Исаак Эммануилович Бабель, p=ˈbabʲɪlʲ; – 27 January 1940) was a Russian writer, journalist, playwright, and literary translator. He is best known as the author of '' Red Cavalry' ...
, Russian journalist and dramatist (executed, born
1894
Events January–March
* January 4 – A military alliance is established between the French Third Republic and the Russian Empire.
* January 7 – William Kennedy Dickson receives a patent for motion picture film in the United S ...
)
*
February 11 –
John Buchan, Scottish novelist (born
1875
Events
January–March
* January 1 – The Midland Railway of England abolishes the Second Class passenger category, leaving First Class and Third Class. Other British railway companies follow Midland's lead during the rest of the ...
)
*
February 29
February 29, also known as leap day or leap year day, is a date added to leap years. A leap day is added in various solar calendars (calendars based on the Earth's revolution around the Sun), including the Gregorian calendar standard in mos ...
**
E. F. Benson, English novelist, biographer, memoirist and short-story writer (born
1867
Events
January–March
* January 1 – The Covington–Cincinnati Suspension Bridge opens between Cincinnati, Ohio, and Covington, Kentucky, in the United States, becoming the longest single-span bridge in the world. It was renamed a ...
)
**
Emma Shaw Colcleugh, American author (born
1846
Events
January–March
* January 5 – The United States House of Representatives votes to stop sharing the Oregon Country with the United Kingdom.
* January 13 – The Milan–Venice railway's bridge, over the Venetian Lagoon between ...
)
*
March 7 –
Edwin Markham
Edwin Markham (born Charles Edward Anson Markham; April 23, 1852 – March 7, 1940) was an American poet. From 1923 to 1931 he was Poet Laureate of Oregon.
Life
Edwin Markham was born in Oregon City, Oregon, and was the youngest of 10 children; ...
, American poet (born
1852
Events
January–March
* January 14 – President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte proclaims a new constitution for the French Second Republic.
* January 15 – Nine men representing various Jewish charitable organizations come tog ...
)
*
March 10
Events Pre-1600
* 241 BC – First Punic War: Battle of the Aegates: The Romans sink the Carthaginian fleet bringing the First Punic War to an end.
* 298 – Roman Emperor Maximian concludes his campaign in North Africa and makes a ...
–
Mikhail Bulgakov, Russian novelist and playwright (born
1891
Events
January–March
* January 1
** Paying of old age pensions begins in Germany.
** A strike of 500 Hungarian steel workers occurs; 3,000 men are out of work as a consequence.
** Germany takes formal possession of its new Af ...
)
*
March 11
Events Pre-1600
* 222 – Roman emperor Elagabalus is murdered alongside his mother, Julia Soaemias. He is replaced by his 14-year old cousin, Severus Alexander.
* 843 – Triumph of Orthodoxy: Empress Theodora II restores the ven ...
–
John Monk Saunders
John Monk Saunders (November 22, 1897 – March 11, 1940) was an American novelist, screenwriter, and film director.
Early life and career
Born in Hinckley, Minnesota, to Robert C. Saunders and Nannie Monk Saunders, his family (6 children) move ...
, American writer (born
1897
Events
January–March
* January 2 – The International Alpha Omicron Pi sorority is founded, in New York City.
* January 4 – A British force is ambushed by Chief Ologbosere, son-in-law of the ruler. This leads to a puni ...
)
*
March 12 –
Florence White, English food writer (born
1863
Events
January–March
* January 1 – Abraham Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation during the third year of the American Civil War, making the abolition of slavery in the Confederate states an official war goal. It proclaim ...
)
*
March 16
Events Pre-1600
* 934 – Meng Zhixiang declares himself emperor and establishes Later Shu as a new state independent of Later Tang.
*1190 – Massacre of Jews at Clifford's Tower, York.
* 1244 – Over 200 Cathars who refuse ...
**Sir
Thomas Little Heath
Sir Thomas Little Heath (; 5 October 1861 – 16 March 1940) was a British civil servant, mathematician, classical scholar, historian of ancient Greek mathematics, translator, and mountaineer. He was educated at Clifton College. Heath translat ...
, English classicist and translator (born
1861
Statistically, this year is considered the end of the whale oil industry and (in replacement) the beginning of the petroleum oil industry.
Events
January–March
* January 1
** Benito Juárez captures Mexico City.
** The first stea ...
)
**
Selma Lagerlöf
Selma Ottilia Lovisa Lagerlöf (, , ; 20 November 1858 – 16 March 1940) was a Swedish author. She published her first novel, '' Gösta Berling's Saga'', at the age of 33. She was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, which she wa ...
, Swedish children's writer and Nobel laureate (born
1858
Events
January–March
* January –
** Benito Juárez (1806–1872) becomes Liberal President of Mexico. At the same time, conservatives install Félix María Zuloaga (1813–1898) as president.
** William I of Prussia becomes regen ...
)
*
April 13 –
Mary Bathurst Deane, English novelist (born
1843)
*
June 1
Events Pre-1600
*1215 – Zhongdu (now Beijing), then under the control of the Jurchen ruler Emperor Xuanzong of Jin, is captured by the Mongols under Genghis Khan, ending the Battle of Zhongdu.
* 1252 – Alfonso X is proclaimed k ...
–
Jan F. E. Celliers, South African Afrikaans-language poet, essayist, dramatist and critic (born
1865)
*
June 10
Events Pre-1600
* 671 – Emperor Tenji of Japan introduces a water clock ( clepsydra) called ''Rokoku''. The instrument, which measures time and indicates hours, is placed in the capital of Ōtsu.
*1190 – Third Crusade: Frederick I ...
–
Marcus Garvey
Marcus Mosiah Garvey Sr. (17 August 188710 June 1940) was a Jamaican political activist, publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator. He was the founder and first President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African ...
, Jamaican journalist and publisher (born
1887
Events
January–March
* January 11 – Louis Pasteur's anti-rabies treatment is defended in the Académie Nationale de Médecine, by Dr. Joseph Grancher.
* January 20
** The United States Senate allows the Navy to lease Pearl ...
)
*
June 20 –
Charley Chase
Charles Joseph Parrott (October 20, 1893 – June 20, 1940), known professionally as Charley Chase, was an American comedian, actor, screenwriter and film director. He worked for many pioneering comedy studios but is chiefly associated with pro ...
, American screenwriter (born
1893
Events
January–March
* January 2 – Webb C. Ball introduces railroad chronometers, which become the general railroad timepiece standards in North America.
* Mark Twain started writing Puddn'head Wilson.
* January 6 – Th ...
)
*
June 21 –
Hendrik Marsman, Dutch poet (born
1899
Events January 1899
* January 1
** Spanish rule ends in Cuba, concluding 400 years of the Spanish Empire in the Americas.
** Queens and Staten Island become administratively part of New York City.
* January 2 –
**Bolivia sets up a c ...
)
*
August 4
Events Pre-1600
* 598 – Goguryeo-Sui War: In response to a Goguryeo (Korean) incursion into Liaoxi, Emperor Wéndi of Sui orders his youngest son, Yang Liang (assisted by the co-prime minister Gao Jiong), to conquer Goguryeo during th ...
–
Ze'ev Jabotinsky
Ze'ev Jabotinsky ( he, זְאֵב זַ׳בּוֹטִינְסְקִי, ''Ze'ev Zhabotinski'';, ''Wolf Zhabotinski'' 17 October 1880 – 3 August 1940), born Vladimir Yevgenyevich Zhabotinsky, was a Russian Jewish Revisionist Zionist leade ...
, Russian-born Zionist leader, novelist and poet (heart attack, born
1880
Events
January–March
* January 22 – Toowong State School is founded in Queensland, Australia.
* January – The international White slave trade affair scandal in Brussels is exposed and attracts international infamy.
* February ...
)
*
August 7
Events Pre-1600
* 461 – Roman Emperor Majorian is beheaded near the river Iria in north-west Italy following his arrest and deposition by the ''magister militum'' Ricimer.
* 626 – The Avar and Slav armies leave the siege of Co ...
–
T. O'Conor Sloane, American editor (born
1851)
*
September 8
Events Pre-1600
* 617 – Battle of Huoyi: Li Yuan defeats a Sui dynasty army, opening the path to his capture of the imperial capital Chang'an and the eventual establishment of the Tang dynasty.
*1100 – Election of Antipope Theodo ...
–
Constantin Banu, Romanian politician, journalist, cultural promoter and aphorist (born
1873
Events
January–March
* January 1
** Japan adopts the Gregorian calendar.
** The California Penal Code goes into effect.
* January 17 – American Indian Wars: Modoc War: First Battle of the Stronghold – Modoc Indians defe ...
)
*
September 26
Events
Pre-1600
*46 BC – Julius Caesar dedicates a temple to Venus Genetrix, fulfilling a vow he made at the Battle of Pharsalus.
* 715 – Ragenfrid defeats Theudoald at the Battle of Compiègne.
*1087 – William II is crown ...
–
W. H. Davies, Welsh poet (born
1871)
*
November 27
Events Pre-1600
*AD 25 – Luoyang is declared capital of the Eastern Han dynasty by Emperor Guangwu of Han.
* 176 – Emperor Marcus Aurelius grants his son Commodus the rank of " Imperator" and makes him Supreme Commander of the ...
–
Nicolae Iorga
Nicolae Iorga (; sometimes Neculai Iorga, Nicolas Jorga, Nicolai Jorga or Nicola Jorga, born Nicu N. Iorga;Iova, p. xxvii. 17 January 1871 – 27 November 1940) was a Romanian historian, politician, literary critic, memoirist, Albanologist, poet ...
, Romanian historian, politician, culture critic, poet and playwright (assassinated, born
1871)
*
December 21
Events Pre-1600
*AD 69 – The Roman Senate declares Vespasian emperor of Rome, the last in the Year of the Four Emperors.
*1124 – Pope Honorius II is consecrated, having been elected after the controversial dethroning of Pope Celes ...
–
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age—a term he popularize ...
, American novelist (born
1896
Events
January–March
* January 2 – The Jameson Raid comes to an end, as Jameson surrenders to the Boers.
* January 4 – Utah is admitted as the 45th U.S. state.
* January 5 – An Austrian newspaper reports that ...
)
*
December 22
Events Pre-1600
*AD 69 – Vespasian is proclaimed Emperor of Rome; his predecessor, Vitellius, attempts to abdicate but is captured and killed at the Gemonian stairs.
* 401 – Pope Innocent I is elected, the only pope to succeed h ...
–
Nathanael West
Nathanael West (born Nathan Weinstein; October 17, 1903 – December 22, 1940) was an American writer and screenwriter. He is remembered for two darkly satirical novels: ''Miss Lonelyhearts'' (1933) and ''The Day of the Locust'' (1939), set r ...
, American screenwriter and satirist (born
1903
Events January
* January 1 – Edward VII is proclaimed Emperor of India.
* January 19 – The first west–east transatlantic radio broadcast is made from the United States to England (the first east–west broadcast having bee ...
)
Awards
*
Carnegie Medal for
children's literature
Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader.
Children's ...
:
Kitty Barne, ''
Visitors from London''
*
James Tait Black Memorial Prize
The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are literary prizes awarded for literature written in the English language. They, along with the Hawthornden Prize, are Britain's oldest literary awards. Based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Uni ...
for fiction:
Charles Morgan, ''The Voyage''
*
James Tait Black Memorial Prize
The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are literary prizes awarded for literature written in the English language. They, along with the Hawthornden Prize, are Britain's oldest literary awards. Based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Uni ...
for biography:
Hilda F. M. Prescott, ''Spanish Tudor:
Mary I of England''
*
Newbery Medal
The John Newbery Medal, frequently shortened to the Newbery, is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), to the author of "the most distinguished cont ...
for
children's literature
Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader.
Children's ...
:
James Daugherty, ''
Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone (September 26, 1820) was an American pioneer and frontiersman whose exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. He became famous for his exploration and settlement of Kentucky, which was then beyond the we ...
''
*
Nobel Prize in literature: not awarded
*
Prix Goncourt
The Prix Goncourt (french: Le prix Goncourt, , ''The Goncourt Prize'') is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year". The prize carries a symbolic reward o ...
:
Francis Ambrière, ''
Les grandes vacances'' (awarded in retrospect)
*
Pulitzer Prize for Drama
The Pulitzer Prize for Drama is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It is one of the original Pulitzers, for the program was inaugurated in 1917 with seven prizes, four of which were a ...
:
William Saroyan
William Saroyan (; August 31, 1908 – May 18, 1981) was an Armenian-American novelist, playwright, and short story writer. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1940, and in 1943 won the Academy Award for Best Story for the film ''T ...
, ''
The Time of Your Life
''The Time of Your Life'' is a 1939 five-act play by American playwright William Saroyan. The play is the first drama to win both the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award. The play opened on Broadway in 1939.
Cha ...
''
*
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
The Pulitzer Prize for Poetry is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes awarded annually for Letters, Drama, and Music. It was first presented in 1922, and is given for a distinguished volume of original verse by an American author, published ...
:
Mark Van Doren
Mark Van Doren (June 13, 1894 – December 10, 1972) was an American poet, writer and critic. He was a scholar and a professor of English at Columbia University for nearly 40 years, where he inspired a generation of influential writers and thin ...
, ''Collected Poems''
*
Pulitzer Prize for the Novel
The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It recognizes distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life, published durin ...
:
John Steinbeck, ''
The Grapes of Wrath
''The Grapes of Wrath'' is an American realist novel written by John Steinbeck and published in 1939. The book won the National Book Award
and Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and it was cited prominently when Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Priz ...
''
*
King's Gold Medal for Poetry:
Michael Thwaites
Michael Rayner Thwaites, AO (30 May 1915 – 1 November 2005) was an Australian academic, poet, and intelligence officer.
Early life and education
Thwaites was born in Brisbane, to Yorkshire immigrant Robert Ernest Thwaites who taught at Brisba ...
References
Years of the 20th century in literature
{{DEFAULTSORT:1940 In Literature