1955 in literature

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List of years in literature (table)
In poetry
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
1958

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.
  • 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.[1]
  • 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".[2] 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 criticises Enid Blyton's novels as formulaic.[3]
  • 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."[4]
  • August 27 – The first hardback edition of The Guinness Book of Records appears in London.[5]
  • September – Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita appears in Paris three years before its US publication.[6]
  • 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.[7]
  • 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.[8]
  • 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.[9]
    • The Indian guru Mani Madhava Chakyar performs Koodiyattam outside a temple for the first time.[10]

New books[]

Fiction[]

1st ed.

Children and young people[]

  • BB (Denys Watkins-Pitchford) – The Forest of Boland Light Railway
  • Paul Berna – Le Cheval sans tête (Horse without a Head, translated as A Hundred Million Francs)
  • Crockett Johnson – Harold and the Purple Crayon
  • C. S. Lewis – The Magician's Nephew
  • William Mayne – A Swarm in May
  • Janet McNeill – My Friend Specs McCann
  • Iona and Peter Opie – The Oxford Nursery Rhyme Book
  • Philippa Pearce – Minnow on the Say
  • Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (died 1953) – The Secret River
  • Barbara Sleigh – Carbonel: The King of the Cats
  • E. C. Spykman – A Lemon and a Star
  • Catherine Storr – Clever Polly and the Stupid Wolf
  • Patricia Wrightson – The Crooked Snake
  • Eva-Lis Wuorio – Return of the Viking

Drama[]

Musical theater[]

Poetry[]

Main article: 1955 in poetry

Non-fiction[]

  • Richard Aldington – Lawrence of Arabia: A Biographical Inquiry
  • James Baldwin – Notes of a Native Son
  • Frank Barlow – The Feudal Kingdom of England
  • Ivan Bunin (died 1953) – About Chekhov
  • G. D. H. Cole – Studies in Class Structure
  • Thomas E. Gaddis – Birdman of Alcatraz
  • Antonio Gramsci – Gli intellettuali e l'organizzazione della cultura (Intellectuals and Cultural Organization)
  • Robert Graves – The Greek Myths
  • The Guinness Book of Records, 1st edition
  • Morris K. Jessup – The Case for the UFO
  • R. K. Kelsall – Higher Civil Servants in Britain
  • T. E. Lawrence (352087 A/c Ross; died 1935) – The Mint: A day-book of the R.A.F. Depot between August and December 1922, with later notes (written 1928; 1st trade edition)
  • C. S. Lewis – Surprised by Joy
  • Walter Lippmann – Essays in the Public Philosophy
  • Walter Lord – A Night to Remember
  • Herbert Marcuse – Eros and Civilization
  • Alan Marshall – I Can Jump Puddles
  • Garrett Mattingly – Renaissance Diplomacy
  • Meher Baba – God Speaks
  • J. H. Plumb – Studies in Social History
  • RAND – A Million Random Digits with 100,000 Normal Deviates
  • Donald J. West – Homosexuality

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 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
    • Candia McWilliam, Scottish fiction writer
    • Lisa Scottoline, American writer of legal thrillers
  • July 5
    • Sebastian Barry, Irish novelist, playwright and poet
    • Mia Couto (António Emílio Leite Couto), Mozambican fiction writer and poet
  • July 6
    • Michael Boyd, British theatre director
    • William Wall, Irish author and poet
  • July 10 – Regina Yaou, Ivory Coast novelist (died 2017)[12]
  • July 12 – Robin Robertson, Scottish-born poet, novelist and editor
  • August 2 – Caleb Carr, American writer
  • August 7 – Vladimir Sorokin, Russian writer
  • August 8 – Iain Pears, English 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 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)
  • 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)
  • 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)
  • August 14 – Herbert Putnam, American Librarian of Congress (born 1861)
  • August 29 – Hong Shen (洪深), Chinese dramatist (born 1894)
  • 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
    • Ruby M. Ayres, English romance novelist (born 1881)
    • Robert E. Sherwood, American playwright (born 1896)
  • December – Al. T. Stamatiad, Romanian poet (born 1885)

Awards[]

  • Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Eleanor Farjeon, The Little Bookroom
  • Frost Medal:
  • James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Ivy Compton-Burnett, Mother and Son
  • James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: R. W. Ketton-Cremer, Thomas Gray
  • Newbery Medal for children's literature: Meindert DeJong, The Wheel on the School
  • Nobel Prize for Literature: Halldór Kiljan Laxness
  • Premio Nadal: Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio, El Jarama
  • Prix Goncourt: Roger Ikor, Les eaux mêlées<ref">John Flower (17 January 2013). Historical Dictionary of French Literature. Scarecrow Press. p. 255. ISBN 978-0-8108-7945-4.</ref>
  • Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Tennessee Williams, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof[13]
  • Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: William Faulkner, A Fable
  • Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Wallace Stevens, Collected Poems
  • Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: Ruth Pitter

References[]

  1. ^ Murgatroyd, Simon. "Scarborough In The Round". Retrieved 2015-11-23.
  2. ^ Contrary to his later recollection of the event. Burnett, Archie, ed. (2012). The Complete Poems of Philip Larkin. London: Faber. p. 411. ISBN 978-0-571-24006-7.
  3. ^ Robert Druce (1992). This Day Our Daily Fictions: An Enquiry Into the Multi-million Bestseller Status of Enid Blyton and Ian Fleming. Rodopi. p. 36. ISBN 978-90-5183-401-7.
  4. ^ Knowlson, James (1996). Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett. London: Bloomsbury. p. 415.
  5. ^ "Guinness Book History 1950 – Present". Retrieved 2012-02-10.
  6. ^ Boyd, Brian (1991). Vladimir Nabokov: The American Years. Princeton University Press. p. 226. ISBN 0-691-06797-X.
  7. ^ Liukkonen, Petri. "Frank (Patrick) Herbert". Books and Writers. Finland: Kuusankoski Public Library. Archived from the original on 2014-04-27.
  8. ^ Fitzpatrick, Peter (1979). After The Doll: Australian Drama Since 1955. Studies in Australian culture. Melbourne: Edward Arnold Australia. p. vii. ISBN 0726720402.
  9. ^ Brioude, Mireille (2007). "Violette Leduc du mythe à la mystification". In Günther, Renate; Michallat, Wendy (eds.). Lesbian Inscriptions in Francophone Society and Culture. Durham Modern Languages Series. Durham University. pp. 103–120. ISBN 9780907310624.
  10. ^ Bhargavinilayam, Das (1999). Mani Madhaveeyam. Department of Cultural Affairs, Government of Kerala. ISBN 81-86365-78-8.
  11. ^ Douglas Arthur Howard (2001). The History of Turkey. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 115. ISBN 978-0-313-30708-9.
  12. ^ (2 December 2017). "Oraison funèbre prononcée par le président de l'AECI aux obsèques de Feue Régina Yaou". aeci.c (in French). Retrieved 9 December 2020.
  13. ^ Elizabeth A. Brennan; Elizabeth C. Clarage (1999). Who's who of Pulitzer Prize Winners. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 108. ISBN 978-1-57356-111-2.


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