Timeline of Writers
1920-2011
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Writers
before
1920
1920
Apr 1, Toshiro Mifune, writer, actor (Shogun),
was born in Tsing-tao, China.
(MC, 4/1/02)
1920 Apr 3, F. Scott Fitzgerald
and Zelda Sayre were married at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York
City.
(HN, 4/3/02)
1920 Apr 5, Arthur Hailey
(d.2004), author, was born in Luton, England. His later novels
included “Hotel” and ”Airport.”
(HN, 4/5/01)(SFC, 11/26/04, p.B3)
1920 May 8, Sloan Wilson,
American author, was born in Norwalk, Conn. He wrote "The man in the
Gray Flannel Suit" and "A Summer Place."
(HN, 5/8/99)(MC, 5/8/02)
1920 May 10, Richard Adams,
English novelist (Watership Down), was born.
(HN, 5/10/02)
1920 Aug 3, P.D. James (Phyllis
Dorothy James), British mystery writer, was born.
(HN, 8/3/00)
1920 Aug 22, Ray Bradbury,
science fiction writer whose works include "The Martian Chronicles"
and "Fahrenheit 451," was born.
(WSJ, 11/22/95, p.A-3)(HN, 8/22/98)
1920 Isaac Babel (d.1940) wrote
a wartime diary as he rode horseback with Budyonny’s First Cavalry
Army as the Cossacks participated in the Bolshevik invasion of
Poland. An essay on the diary was written by Cynthia Ozick in her
1996 book: "Fame & Folly."
(WSJ, 5/22/96, p.A-18)
1920 F. Scott Fitzgerald (23)
authored his 1st novel “This Side of Paradise.”
(WSJ, 7/29/06, p.P12)(www.bartleby.com/115/)
1920 Sigmund Freud authored
"Beyond the Pleasure Principle."
(WSJ, 5/5/06, p.A16)
1920 William Dean Howells
published his last novel "Vacation at the Kelwyn’s." In it he
satirized the romances of the 1860s and 1870s.
(SFEM, 6/28/98, p.37)
1920 Ernst Juenger
(Jünger) (d.1998) published his first book "In Storms of
Steel." The book glorified the horrors of WW I and put him in the
rank of militant nationalists whose writings helped pave the way for
the Third Reich. In 2003 Michael Hoffman made a translation, Storm
of Steel, to English.
(SFC, 2/18/98, p.A18)(WSJ, 10/7/06, p.P12)
1920 Sinclair Lewis (1865-1951)
authored "Main Street."
(WSJ, 1/18/02, p.W8)
1920 "The Story of Dr.
Doolittle" by Hugh Lofting was published.
(SFEC, 2/27/00, BR p.12)
1920 Eugene O’Neill wrote his
first full-length play "Beyond the Horizon."
(WSJ, 1/21/98, p.A20)
1920 S. Ansky (b.1863),
Russian-Jewish journalist and playwright, died. In 2003 Joachim
Neugroschel edited and translated "The Enemy at His Pleasure: A
Journey Through the Jewish Pale of Settlement During World War I."
(SSFC, 4/20/03, p.M4)
1920-1933 Joseph Roth, Austrian novelist, spent
this period in Berlin. In 2002 his writings from this time were
translated by Michael Hofmann and published as "What I Saw: Reports
From Berlin 1920-1933."
(SSFC, 12/29/02, p.M3)
1921 Feb 14, The Literary
Review faced obscenity charges in NY for publishing "Ulysses" by
James Joyce.
(MC, 2/14/02)
1921 May 12, Farley Mowat,
Canadian nature writer (Never Cry Wolf), was born.
(HN, 5/12/01)
1921 May 23, James [Benjamin]
Blish, US-UK sci-fi author (Hugo, Black Easter, Star Trek
Reader), was born.
(MC, 5/23/02)
1921 Aug 3, Hayden Carruth,
novelist (Crow & Heart), was born in Waterbury, Ct.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1921 Aug 20, Jacqueline Susann,
author (Valley of the Dolls), was born in Phila., Pa.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1921 Aug 25, Brian Moore, Irish
novelist, was born. His work included "The Lonely Passion of Judith
Hearne."
(HN, 8/25/00)
1921 Aug 26, Ben Bradlee,
editor, journalist, executive (Washington Post), was born in Boston.
(MC, 8/26/02)
1921 Mary Clarissa Miller, pen
name Agatha Christie, published her 1st novel.
(SFC, 10/14/99, p.C5)
1921 Sheila Kaye-Smith wrote
her novel "Joanna Godden."
(SFEC, 11/17/96, DB p.40)
1921 Eugene O’Neill wrote his
expressionist drama "The Hairy Ape," about a boiler stoker on a
transatlantic liner.
(WSJ, 4/4/97, p.A7)(WM, www,1999)
1921 Edith Wharton won the
Pulitzer Prize for her novel "Age of Innocence" (1920).
(SSFC, 1/14/01, BR p.8)
1921 In China Lu Xun authored
his allegorical novella “The Story of Ah Q.” It contained
damning insights into the “feudal” thinking of the time.
(Econ, 10/27/07, p.54)
1921 Yevgeny Zamyatin (d.1937),
Russian author, completed his novel “We.” It offended communist
censors and did not appear in print in Russia until 1988. Editions
outside Russia became available in 1924. In 2006 Natasha Randall
made a new English translation.
(WSJ, 7/26/06, p.D11)
1922 Mar 12, Jack Kerouac,
American novelist, was born. He wrote "On the Road."
(HN, 3/12/99)
1922 Apr 13, John Gerard
Braine, British novelist (Room at the Top), was born.
(HN, 4/13/01)
1922 Apr 16, Kingsley Amis
(d.1995), novelist and poet, was born. He wrote more than 20 novels
and 6 volumes of verse. His work included "The King’s English: A
Guide to Modern Usage." In 1998 Eric Jacobs published the biography
"Kingsley Amis."
(WSJ, 10/23/95, p.A-1)(SFEC, 7/19/98, BR p.3)(HN,
4/16/01)
1922 Jun 27, The Newberry Medal
was 1st presented for kids literature to Hendrik Van Loon.
(SC, 6/27/02)
1922 F. Scott Fitzgerald
authored his 2nd novel “The Beautiful and Damned.”
(WSJ, 7/29/06, p.P12)
1922 Hermann Hesse (1877-1962)
published his novel "Siddhartha," a short lyric novel of a
father-son relationship based on the early life of Buddha and
inspired by Hesse’s travels through India. In 1951 it was translated
to English.
(SFC, 10/15/99, p.C12)(iUniv. 7/2/00)(WSJ,
8/5/06, p.P8)
1922 Franz Kafka (1883-1924)
authored his novel “The Castle.”
(WSJ, 8/7/07, p.D10)
1922 Sinclair Lewis (1965-1951)
published his novel "Babbitt," a small-town saga of a real estate
agent.
(WSJ, 7/13/99, p.A20)(WSJ, 1/18/02, p.W8)
1923 Jan 31, Norman Mailer
(d.2007), NYC mayoral candidate, novelist (Naked and the Dead), was
born in NJ. In 1999 Mary V. Dearborn published "Norman Mailer: A
Biography."
(SFEC, 12/26/99, BR p.7)(SSFC, 11/11/07, p.A7)
1923 Mar 27, Louis Simpson,
Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, was born.
(HN, 3/27/01)
1923 Apr 21, John Mortimor,
British barrister and playwright, was born. He created Rumpole of
the Bailey.
(HN, 4/21/99)
1923 May 1, Joseph Heller
(d.1999), American author, was born in Brooklyn, NY. His work
included the novel "Catch 22."
(HN, 5/1/99)(SFC, 12/14/99, p.A10)(MC, 5/1/02)
1923 May 25, John Weitz, spy,
author, fashion designer (Friends in High Places), was born.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1923 Jul 10, Jean Kerr
(d.2003), playwright and author, was born in Scranton, Pa. Her later
books included "Please Don’t Eat the Daisies."
(SFC, 1/7/03, p.A22)
1923 Jul 17, James Purdy,
writer (Cabot Wright Begins), was born.
(HN, 7/17/01)
1923 Aug 24, Kate Douglas
Wiggin (66), author (US kindergarten movement), died.
(MC, 8/24/02)
1923 Felix Salten (1869-1945) a
Viennese Jew, wrote his antifascist allegory "Bambi, A Life in the
Woods." It was translated into English by Whittaker Chambers (28)
and published by Simon & Schuster in 1928. In 1942 it was
made into an animated Disney.
(WSJ, 10/14/97,
p.A22)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Salten)
1923 Rudyard Kipling authored
“The Irish Guards in the Great War,” a history of the unit that his
son fought and died for in WW I.
(WSJ, 10/7/06, p.P12)
1924 May 1, Terry Southern,
novelist and screenwriter (Candy, The Magic Christian, Dr.
Strangelove, Easy Rider), was born.
(HN, 5/1/01)(MC, 5/1/02)
1924 Jun 3, Franz Kafka
(b.1883), Czech writer, died. He was born in Prague and authored
"The Castle" and "The Trial," both published after his death. Kafka
had requested that his papers be burned after his death, but his
friend, Max Brod, kept them and carried them to Tel Aviv when he
fled Prague in 1939. Brod died in 1968 and left his personal
secretary, Esther Hoffe, in charge of his literary estate and
instructed her to transfer the Kafka papers to an academic
institution. A critical German edition of The Castle was published
in 1982 and an English translation of that edition came out in 1998.
In 1927 Max Brod edited Kafka’s unfinished manuscript called "The
Man Who Disappeared" and published it as "Amerika." In 2005 Roberto
Calasso authored “K,” a contemporary evaluation of Kafka’s work. In
2010 more of Kafka’s unfinished work emerged from safety deposit
boxes in Tel Aviv and Zurich, Switzerland.
(WSJ, 10/10/96, p.A1)(SFEC, 4/5/98, BR
p.11)(SSFC, 12/8/02, p.M4)(SSFC, 2/20/05, p.B1)(SFC, 8/18/08,
p.A12)(AP, 7/21/10)
1924 Aug 3, Leon Uris, writer,
was born. His works included "Battle Cry" and "Exodus."
(HN, 8/3/00)
1924 Aug 3, Joseph Conrad
(b.1857), Ukraine-born and Poland-raised novelist (Jozef Teodor
Konrad Korzeniowski), died in England. In 2008 Jim Stape authored
“The Several Lives of Joseph Conrad.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Conrad)
1924 Aug 15, Robert Oxton Bolt,
English screenwriter and playwright, was born. He is best known for
"A Man for all Seasons."
(HN, 8/15/00)(MC, 8/15/02)
1924 Dec 25, Rod Serling
(d.1975), writer and host (Twilight Zone, Night Gallery), was born
in Syracuse, NY. He was also the author of "Requiem for a
Heavyweight." He was remembered in the PBS production titled:
"Submitted for Your Approval," first broadcast on 11/29/95.
(WSJ, 11/27/95, p.A-14)(Internet)
1924 Anita Loos authored
“Gentlemen Preferred Blondes.”
(WSJ, 4/10/09, p.W7)
1924 Frances Hodgson Burnett
(b.1849), English author, died. In 2004 Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina
authored “Frances Hodgson Burnett: The Unexpected Life of the Author
of The Secret Garden.”
(Econ, 5/15/04, p.82)
1925 Mar 25, Flannery O'Connor
(d.1964), novelist and short story writer, was born in Savannah,
Georgia.
(www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-498)(WUD, 1994
p.997)
1925 Apr 2, George MacDonald
Fraser, poet, author (Flashman at the Charge), was born.
(MC, 4/2/02)
1925 Apr 10, The novel "The
Great Gatsby," by F. Scott Fitzgerald, was first published by
Scribner's of New York. A film version was made in 1974.
(TMC, 1994, p.1925)(SFEC, 2/16/97, Par. p.18)(AP,
4/9/97)
1925 May 14, Henry Rider
Haggard, English writer (Dawn, She), died.
(MC, 5/14/02)
1925 May 27, Tony Hillerman,
mystery novelist (The Blessing Way, Sacred Clowns), was born.
(HN, 5/27/01)
1925 Aug 12, Norris McWhirter,
author (Guinness Book of World Records), was born.
(SC, 8/12/02)
1925 Aug 12, Ross McWhirter,
author (Guinness Book of World Records), was born.
(SC, 8/12/02)
1925 Earl Derr Biggers
(1884-1933), Ohio-born novelist, published “The House Without a
Key.” The novel included the fictional Chinese-American detective
Charlie Chan, who became immortalized in 6 novels and 47 movies. In
2010 Yunte Huang authored “Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the
Honorable Detective and His Rendezvous With American History.”
(SSFC, 9/5/10,
p.F2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Chan)
1925 Theodore Dreiser authored
his novel “An American Tragedy,” a portrayal of the rapidly changing
country.
(WSJ, 6/16/07, p.P10)
1925 Pramoedya Ananta Toer,
writer, was born in Indonesia. He was jailed for 2 years by the
Dutch in 1947 and spent years in a labor camp under the Suharto
regime. His novels included “This Earth Mankind.”
(WSJ, 8/10/04, p.D8)
1926 Mar 24, Dario Fo, Italian
actor and playwright, was born in Leggiuno Sangiano on the banks of
Lake Maggiore. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1997.
(SFC, 10/10/97, p.A15)(HN, 3/24/01)
1926 Mar 31, John Fowles
(d.2005), English novelist, was born. His work included “The
Collector” (1963) and “The French Lieutenant's Woman” (1969).
(HN, 3/31/01)(SFC, 11/8/05, p.B5)
1926 Apr 16, Book of the Month
Club sent out its 1st selections: "Lolly Willowes" & "Loving
Huntsman" by Sylvia Townsend Warner.
(MC, 4/16/02)
1926 Apr 23, J.P. Donlevey,
American-born Irish writer (The Ginger Man), was born.
(HN, 4/23/01)
1926 Apr 28, Harper Lee,
American novelist, was born. Her 1960 book, "To Kill a Mockingbird"
won a Pulitzer.
(HN, 4/28/99)(SSFC, 6/25/06, p.M3)
1926 May 3, A Pulitzer prize
was awarded to Sinclair Lewis (Arrowsmith).
(MC, 5/3/02)
1926 May 5, Sinclair Lewis
refused his Pulitzer Prize for "Arrowsmith."
(MC, 5/5/02)
1926 May 15, Anthony Shaffer,
English playwright (Sleuth), twin brother of Peter Shaffer, was
born.
(HN, 5/15/01)
1926 May 15, Peter Shaffer,
English playwright (Equus, Amadeus), twin brother of Anthony
Shaffer, was born.
(HN, 5/15/01)
1926 May 21, Robert Creeley,
poet, was born.
(HN, 5/21/01)
1926 May 25, M von der
Grün, writer, was born.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1927 Mar 22, Federico Garcia
Lorca's "El Maleficio," premiered in Madrid.
(MC, 3/22/02)
1927 Apr 15, Francesco Gaeta
(47), Italian poet (Di Giacomo), died.
(MC, 4/15/02)
1927 May 22, Peter Mathiessen,
writer, was born.
(HN, 5/22/01)
1927 May 25, Robert Ludlum, spy
novelist (Bourne Identity), was born in NYC.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1927 Jun 30, James Goldman,
author, playwright (Butch Cassidy & Sundance Kid), was born.
(MC, 6/30/02)
1927 Jul 19, Jan Myrdal,
Swedish writer, journalist (Albania Defiant), was born.
(MC, 7/19/02)
1927 Jul 25, Midge Decter,
writer and editor, was born in St. Paul Minn.
(HN, 7/25/02)
1927 Herbert Asbury wrote "The
Gangs of New York." The book established the Five Points district as
the mythic slum.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.46)(SFC, 7/29/98, p.A19)
1927 Julien Benda (1867-1956),
French writer, authored “La Trahison des Clercs,” (Treason of the
Clerks). The title of the English translation was The Betrayal of
the Intellectuals. The book described the politicization of Western
intellectuals, above all their willingness to abandon the
disinterested search for truth.
{France. Writer, Books}
(WSJ, 6/10/08,
p.A15)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julien_Benda)
1927 Willa Cather authored
“Death Comes for the Archbishop.” Bishop Jean Marie Latour, her
novel’s hero, was the fictional name for the French Bishop
Jean-Baptiste Lamy, dispatched as a priest by Rome in 1850 to bring
order and discipline to the New Mexican territory.
(WSJ, 9/13/06, p.D10)
1927 Ernest Hemingway published
his novel "Fiesta."
(SFC, 8/5/98, p.E3)
1927 Hermann Hesse published
"Steppenwolf," a novel about a writer who despises middle class and
Western values, but suffers from his feelings of emotional
isolation.
(iUniv. 7/2/00)
1927 DuBose Heyward and his
wife Dorothy based a play called "Porgy" on his novel "Porgy."
(MT, Fall. ‘97, p.12)
1927 D.H. Lawrence wrote his
story "The Man Who Died," in which Jesus becomes a lover of a
priestess of Isis.
(WSJ, 10/14/98, p.A20)
1927 Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951)
authored his novel “Elmer Gantry.” A 1960 film version starred Burt
Lancaster.
(WSJ, 12/28/07, p.W13)
1927 V.L. Parrington wrote
"Main Currents in American Thought." It is considered one of the
most important history books of the 30s.
(WSJ, 12/15/95, p.A-16)
1927 Margaret Sanger wrote
"What Every Boy and Girl Should Know."
(WSJ, 3/12/97, p.A16)
1927 Upton Sinclair published
his novel "Oil," based on the development of oil in southern
California.
(SFEC, 3/8/98, BR p.7)
1927 Thornton Wilder wrote "The
Bridge of San Luis Rey." It was set in Peru in the early 1700s when
a rope bridge broke that sent 5 people to their death.
(SFEC, 6/21/98, BR p.8)
1928 Jan 11, Thomas Hardy (87),
English novelist, died near Dorchester. His books included “Far from
Maddening Crowd” (1874) and “Jude the Obscure” (1895). In 2006
Claire Tomalin authored “Thomas Hardy: The Time-Torn Man.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hardy)(Econ,
11/11/06, p.96)
1928 Mar 6, Gabriel
Garcia-Marquez, Columbian-born novelist (One Hundred Years of
Solitude, Love in the Time of Cholera), was born.
(HN, 3/6/01)
1928 Mar 12, Edward Albee,
American dramatist who wrote "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf," was
born.
(HN, 3/12/00)
1928 Apr 17, Cynthia Ozick,
writer (The Cannibal Galaxy, The Messiah of Stockholm), was born.
(HN, 4/17/01)
1928 May 7, A Pulitzer prize
was awarded to Thornton Wilder for Bridge of San Luis Rey.
(MC, 5/7/02)
1928 May 24, William Trevor,
Irish short story writer and novelist (The Old Boys, The Boarding
House), was born.
(HN, 5/24/01)
1928 Jul 2, Pavel Kohout, Czech
author (Poor Murderer), was born.
(SC, 7/2/02)
1928 Jul 16, Anita Brookner,
writer (Hotel du Lac), was born.
(HN, 7/16/01)
1928 Jul 26, Bernice Rubens,
Welsh novelist and filmmaker, was born.
(HN, 7/26/01)
1928 Aug, Buck Rogers first
appeared as Anthony Rogers in a short space opera, "Armageddon-2419
A.D." by Philip Francis Nowlan, published in the August 1928 issue
of Amazing Stories.
(www.buck-rogers.com/amazing_stories/)
1928 Sep 6, Robert Pirzig,
author, was born. His work included “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle
Maintenance.”
(HN, 9/6/00)
1928 Herbert Asbury authored
"The Gangs of New York." In 2002 it was made into a film.
(SFC, 12/30/02, p.D1)
1929 Mar 28, Frederick Exley,
American novelist (A Fan's Notes), was born.
(HN, 3/28/01)
1929 Apr 1, Milan Kundera,
Czech writer (The Farewell Party, The Unbearable Lightness of
Being), was born.
(HN, 4/1/01)
1929 May 16, Adrienne Rich,
poet (Diving into the Wreck), was born.
(HN, 5/16/01)
1929 Jul 26, Jean Shepherd,
humorist (Playboy satire Award 1966, 1967, 1969), was born.
(MC, 7/26/02)
1929 Jul 27, Jack Higgins,
[Harry Patterson], novelist, was born.
(MC, 7/27/02)
1929 Oct 21, Ursula Kroeber Le
Guin, science fiction writer, was born. Her work included "The Left
Hand of Darkness."
(HN, 10/21/00)(MC, 10/21/01)
1929 Aug 27, Ira Levin, author
(Rosemary Baby, Boys From Brazil, This Perfect Day), was born.
(MC, 8/27/02)
1929 Stephen Vincent Benet won
the Pulitzer Prize for his Civil War epic "John Brown’s Body." In
2002 the work was performed by inmates at San Quentin Prison under
the direction of Joseph De Francesca.
(SFC, 1/2/98, p.C20)(SFC, 11/19/02, p.D1)
1929 Jean Cocteau wrote his
novel "Les Enfants Terribles" while in a sanatorium trying to shake
his opium habit. He narrated the 1950 film version. In 1997 it was
made into an opera by Philip Glass.
(WSJ, 11/26/96, p.A16)(SFC, 10/12/97, DB p.40)
1929 Henry Green (1905-1973),
English writer, authored “Living,” a novel of working class factory
life.
(WSJ, 9/20/08,
p.W8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Green)
1929 Irene Nemirovsky
(1903-1942), Russian-born French-Jewish writer, authored her
high-finance novel “David Golder.”
(SSFC, 5/16/10, p.F5)
1929 Agnes Smedley (1892-1950),
American journalist and writer, authored her semi-autobiographical
novel “Daughter of Earth.” Smedley, an advocate for women, children,
peasants and liberation for the oppressed, then moved to China and
covered the civil war there.
(SFC, 1/10/08,
p.E1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnes_Smedley)
1930 Feb 14, “The Maltese
Falcon," by SF based writer Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961), was
published.
(SFC, 6/7/04, p.C1)
1930 Apr 21, Robert S. Bridges
(85), poet laureate (Testament of beauty), died.
(MC, 4/21/02)
1930 Apr 25, Paul Mazursky, US
writer, director (Moscow on the Hudson), was born.
(SS, 4/25/02)
1930 May 8, Gary Snyder, beat
poet, was born.
(HN, 5/7/02)
1930 May 12, A Pulitzer prize
was awarded to Marc Connelly (Green Pastures).
(MC, 5/12/02)
1930 May 17, Herbert Croly
(b.1869), American liberal political author, died. His books
included “The Promise of American Life” (1909).
(WSJ, 1/4/08,
p.W5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Croly)
1930 Jul 7, Arthur Conan Doyle
(b.1859), British novelist, died. His work included 4 Sherlock
Holmes mystery novels and 56 short stories about Holmes. Doyle was
an eye doctor. In 1999 Daniel Stashower published "Teller of Tales:
The Life of Arthur Conan Doyle." In 2007 Andrew Lycett authored
“Conan Doyle: The Man who Created Sherlock Holmes.”
(SFEC, 6/13/99, Par
p.12)(www.sherlockian.net/acd/)(ON, 3/06, p.12)(Econ, 10/6/07, p.98)
1930 Jul 27, David Hughes,
English novelist (The Horsehair Sofa, The Man Who Invented
Tomorrow), was born.
(HN, 7/27/01)
1930 Mary Ware Dennett wrote:
"The Sex Side of Life: An Explanation for Young People." It was
found on appeal not to be obscene under the 1873 Comstock Act.
(WSJ, 12/3/96, p.A20)(SFEM, 6/28/98, p.39)
1930 Freud published his
"Civilization and Its Discontents." Here he developed his ideas of
1915 and added that men are: "on the contrary, creatures among whose
instinctual endowments is to be reckoned a powerful share of
aggressiveness. Homo homini lupus. (Man is a wolf to man.)
(V.D.-H.K.p.294)
1930 Ales Hrdlicka published
his "Skeletal Remains of Early Man." It is still the fullest and
most detailed descriptive, historical account that has been written
on the subject.
(DD-EVTT, p.139)
c1930 "The Secret Museum of
Mankind," a pastiche of world exotica from postcards and doctored
National Geographic photographs was published.
(NH, 6/97, p.65)
1930 Rolf de Mare, patron of
the Swedish Ballet, established the Archives Internationales de la
Danse in Paris, France.
(SFEM, 6/9/96, p.34)
1930 Dawn Powell wrote her
novel "Dance Night."
(WSJ, 10/19/98, p.A24)
1930 The first "Savoy Cocktail
Book" was published. It was called the Holy Writ of the drinks
world.
(WSJ, 1/22/99, p.W8)
1930 Moss Hart, American
playwright and librettist, wrote "Once in a Lifetime," a
collaboration with George S. Kaufman. It was called the mother of
all Hollywood satires.
(WUD, 1994, p.648)(SFEC, 7/13/97, DB p.11)(WSJ,
6/3/98, p.A16)
1930 Evelyn Waugh (1903-1966),
English writer, authored his novel “Vile Bodies.”
(WSJ, 1/10/09, p.W8)
1931 Jan 6, Edgar Laurence
Doctorow (E.L. Doctorow), novelist (World's Fair, Ragtime), was born
in NYC.
(www.albany.edu/writers-inst/doctorow.html)
1931 Apr 1, Rolf Hochhuth,
German playwright (Deputy), was born.
(MC, 4/1/02)
1931 Apr 7, Donald Barthelme
(d.1989), US writer, was born in Philadelphia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Barthelme)(WSJ, 2/21/09, p.W8)
1931 May 7, Gene [Rodman]
Wolfe, US, sci-fi author (Soldier of Arete), was born.
(MC, 5/7/02)
1931 Jul 4, Novelist James
Joyce (22) married Nora Barnacle (20) in London. They legalized
their 26-year common-law marriage at the Kensington Registry Office
in London.
(SFEM, 1/25/98, p.69)
1931 Jul 10, Alice Munro,
Canadian writer (Open Secrets, Friend of my Youth), was born.
(HN, 7/10/01)
1931 Sep 12, Kristin Hunter,
author, was born. Her work included "God Bless the Child" and
"The Survivors."
(HN, 9/12/00)
1931 Dashiell Hammett authored
his mystery thriller “The Glass Key.” It was made into a film in
1942.
(SFEC, 5/31/98, DB p.51)(WSJ, 4/15/06, p.P16)
1931 Noel Coward stayed at the
Sassoon House in Shanghai for four days and wrote his "Private
Lives."
(Hem. 1/95, p. 84)
1931 Irma S. Rombauer published
the first volume of "Joy of Cooking."
(SFC,11/12/97, Z1 p.1)
1931 Writer Lincoln Steffens
published his "Autobiography." It was an enormous success.
(HNQ, 10/4/98)
1931 Nathanael West (1902-1940)
wrote his first novel "The Dream Life of Balso Snell."
(WSJ, 8/11/97, p.A12)
1931 "Morning Becomes Electra"
by Eugene O’Neill was first produced. He adopted the Aeschylus
"Oresteia" trilogy to a New England family, the Mannons, in the days
just after the American Civil War. The three parts were called
"Homecoming," "The Hunted" and "The Haunted."
(WSJ, 5/16/97, p.A16)
1932 Feb 7, Gay Talese, author
(Honor Thy Father), was born.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1932 Mar 18, John Updike,
American poet, novelist, was born. He wrote "Witches of Eastwick."
(HN, 3/18/99)
1932 Apr 15, Eva Figes, British
novelist, was born.
(HN, 4/15/01)
1932 Apr 21, Elaine May, comedy
writer, was born.
(HN, 4/21/01)
1932 Apr 27, American poet Hart
Crane (32) drowned after jumping from a steamer while en route to
New York. In 1967 R.W.B. Lewis (d. 2002) authored "The Poetry
of Hart Crane."
(AP, 4/27/97)(SFC, 6/17/02, p.B5)
1932 May 2, Pulitzer prize was
awarded to Pearl S. Buck for "The Good Earth."
(MC, 5/2/02)
1932 May 7, Jenny Joseph,
English poet and novelist (The Thinking Heart, The Inland Sea), was
born.
(HN, 5/7/02)
1932 May 25, John Gregory Dunne
(d.2003), author, screenwriter and husband of Joan Didion, was born
in Hartford, Conn.
(HN, 5/25/01)(SFC, 1/1/04, p.A23)
1932 May 28, Stephen
Birmingham, novelist and biographer (Real Lace: America's Irish
Rich), was born in Hartford.
(HN, 5/28/01)(MC, 5/28/02)
1932 Aug 17, V.S, Naipaul
(b.1932), English novelist (Middle Passage), was born in Chaguana,
Trinidad. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2001.
(SFC, 10/12/01, p.C1)(SC, 8/17/02)
1932 Aug 27, Antonia Fraser,
biographer (Mary Queen of Scots), was born.
(MC, 8/27/02)
1932 Columbia professor Adolf
Berle and researcher Gardiner means wrote "The Modern Corporation,"
wherein they argued that with the rise of the public corporation,
the owners had lost control and that managers had gained the upper
hand over small shareholders.
(WSJ, 4/18/96, p.C-1)
1932 Louis-Ferdinand Celine
(1894-1961), French physician and writer, authored “Journey to the
End of Night.”
(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/lfceline.htm)(WSJ, 9/23/06,
p.P8)
1932 Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald
authored her novel “Save Me the Waltz.”
(SSFC, 6/20/04, p.M6)
1932 Aldous Huxley wrote "Brave
New World." A 2-hour TV version was made in 1998.
(WSJ, 4/13/98, p.A20)
1932 John Steinbeck wrote his
novel "The Red Pony." It was made into a 1948 film.
(SFEC, 6/21/98, DB p.35)
1932 Philip Stong published his
novel “State Fair.” It was made into a non-musical film in 1933 and
in 1945 became a musical film with songs by Richard Rogers and Oscar
Hammerstein.
(WSJ, 8/16/06, p.D12)
1932 Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote
"Little House in the Big Woods," the first of a series. A biography
"Laura Ingalls Wilder: Storyteller of the Prairie" was written in
1997 by Ginger Wadsworth.
(SFEC, 3/30/97, BR. p.10)
1932 Eugene O’Neill’s play,
"Strange Interlude," opened in Quincy, Mass. The crowds saved the
restaurant across the street owned by Howard Johnson.
(SFEC, 12/6/98, Z1p.10)
1932 Edna Ferber and George S.
Kaufman co-wrote the Broadway comedy "Dinner at Eight."
(WSJ, 2/9/96, p.A-10)
1933 Mar 19, Phillip Roth,
American novelist and short-story writer (Portnoy's Complaint), was
born.
(HN, 3/19/01)
1933 Apr 19, Etheridge Knight,
poet, was born.
(HN, 4/1901)
1933 May 4, Pulitzer prize was
awarded to Archibald Macleish (Conquistador).
(MC, 5/4/02)
1933 May 10, Barbara Taylor
Bradford, author, was born.
(MC, 5/10/02)
1933 May 12, Andrey Andreyevich
Voznesensky, Russian poet, was born.
(HN, 5/12/01)
1933 May 14, Richard P.
Brickner, novelist (The Broken Year), was born.
(HN, 5/14/01)
1933 Jul 20, Cormac McCarthy,
novelist (All the Pretty Horses), was born.
(HN, 7/20/01)
1933 Jul 21, John Gardner
(d.1982), poet and novelist (Grendel, October Light), was born.
(HN, 7/21/02)
1933 Dec 8, Patrick Leigh
Fermor (b.1915), London-born student, set off to walk the length of
Europe, from the Hook of Holland to Constantinople. He later
recounted his adventures in “A Time of Gifts” (1977) and “Between
the Woods and the Water” (1986). He was later widely regarded as
Britain’s greatest travel writer.
(WSJ, 11/24/07,
p.W8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Leigh_Fermor)
1933 Charles Henri Ford (d.2002
at 94) authored "The Young and Evil," considered by some to be the
1st gay novel. It was based on Ford’s adventures in Greenwich
Village and was banned in the US until the 1960s.
(SFC, 10/1/02, p.A18)
1934 Apr 10, David Halberstam,
New York Times correspondent, author, Pulitzer Prize winner in 1964,
was born.
(HN, 4/10/01)
1934 Apr 12,
The F. Scott Fitzgerald novel "Tender Is the Night" was first
published by Scribner's in New York. It had been serialized in
Scribner's Magazine.
(AP, 4/12/07)
1934 May 7, A Pulitzer prize
was awarded to Sidney Kingsley (Men in White).
(MC, 5/7/02)
1934 May 25, David J. Burke,
writer, was born in Liverpool, England.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1934 May 27, Harlan [Jay]
Ellison, US sci-fi author (7 Hugos, Doomsman, Babylon 5), was born.
(MC, 5/27/02)
1934 Jun 21, [James] Thorne
Smith, US fantasy author (Stray Lamb, Turnabout), died.
(MC, 6/21/02)
1934 Aug 7, The U.S. Court of
Appeals upheld a lower court ruling striking down the government's
attempt to ban the controversial James Joyce novel "Ulysses."
(AP, 8/7/97)
1934 James M. Cain authored
"The Postman Always Rings Twice." It became one of the most popular
"hard-boiled" crime novels ever written. It is said that Albert
Camus was so taken with the book that he used it as a model for "The
Stranger."
(iUniv. 7/1/00)(WSJ, 8/2/08, p.W8)
1934 Robert Graves authored “I,
Claudius.”
(SSFC, 4/22/07, p.P10)
1934 George Orwell published
his 1st novel “Burmese Days.” In 2005 Emma Larkin authored “Finding
George Orwell in Burma.”
(SFEC, 10/22/00, p.T9)(SSFC, 6/5/05, p.B3)
1934 Dashiell
Hammett (1894-1961) authored “The Thin Man.”
(www.imdb.com/name/nm0358591/)(SFCM, 2/6/05, p.4)
1934 Janet Lewis wrote "The
Invasion," a historical novel on the interplay of French, English
and Indian cultures on the American frontier. [first source says it
was published in 1932]
(SFC, 12/5/98, p.C2)(SFEC, 12/6/98, p.C14)
1934 William Maxwell
(1908-2000) published his 1st novel: "Bright Center of Heaven."
Maxwell went on to become an editor for the New Yorker.
(SFC, 8/2/00, p.A24)
1934 Henry Miller’s novel
"Tropic of Cancer" was published by the French publisher Girodias.
(SFC, 7/7/96, BR p.6)
1934 William Saroyan
(1908-1981), Fresno, Ca., writer and painter, published his first
book, a collection of short stories that included “The Daring Young
Man on the Flying Trapeze.”
(SSFC, 10/11/09, DB p.46)
1934 Evelyn Waugh (1903-1966),
English writer, authored “Ninety-Two Days.” It was based on his 1932
travels in Brazil and British Guiana.
(WSJ, 11/24/07, p.W8)
1934 William Phillips (d.2002
at 94) co-founded the Partisan Revue along with critic Philip Rahv
as an organ of the John Reed Club associated with the Communist
Party. It severed ties with the party in 1937 and went on to
showcase some of the finest writers of the era.
(SFC, 9/14/02, p.A19)
1934 Upton Sinclair, muckraker
and socialist, ran for governor of California and wrote "I, governor
of California and how I ended poverty: A true story of the future."
It spoke of his utopian scheme called EPIC (End Poverty in
California). He was defeated by Frank Merriam (1865-1955). In 1992
Greg Mitchell authored “The Campaign of the Century: Upton
Sinclair’s Race for Governor of California and the Birth of Media
Politics.”
(SFEC, 5/2/99, Z1 p.5)(SFC, 1/12/05, p.E3)
1935 Apr 6, Edward Arlington
Robinson, US poet, died.
(MC, 4/6/02)
1935 Apr 8, The Emergency
Relief Appropriation Act authorized $5 billion to increase
employment and for useful projects including the Works Progress
Administration (WPA). President Franklin Roosevelt proposed the
Works Progress Administration (WPA) during the Great Depression of
the 1930s when almost 25 percent of Americans were unemployed. The
WPA created low-paying federal jobs to provide immediate relief. The
WPA put 8.5 million jobless to work on projects as diverse as
constructing highways, bridges and public buildings to arts programs
like the Federal Writers' Project. Writers were paid to produce
comprehensive guidebooks for each of the US states and Washington
DC. In 2008 Nick Taylor authored “”American-Made: The Enduring
Legacy of the WPA, When FDR Put America to Work.”
(AP, 4/8/97)(HN, 4/8/98)(HNPD, 4/8/99)(SFC,
3/12/08, p.E2)(WSJ, 2/17/09, p.A13)
1935 Apr 12, Germany prohibited
the publishing of "not-Aryan" writers.
(MC, 4/12/02)
1935 May 29, André P.
Brink, South African writer (Dry White Season), was born.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1935 Aug 22, E. Annie Proulx,
writer, was born in Connecticut. Her novels included "Postcards" and
"The Shipping News."
(HN, 8/22/00)
1935 Aug 31, Eldridge Cleaver,
political activist and author of "Soul on Fire," was born.
(HN, 8/31/98)
1935 Samuel Fuller (d.1997 at
86) wrote his novel "Burn Baby Burn."
(SFC,11/1/97, p.A17)
1935 Robert E. Howard, pulp
fiction writer, created his Conan the Barbarian, the Sonora Kid,
Solomon Kane and other characters. His romance with Novalyne Price
Ellis formed the basis for the 1996 film "The Whole Wide World." It
was based on her memoir "One Who Walked Alone."
(SFC, 12/27/96, p.C3)(WSJ, 1/3/97, p.A7)
1935 Ella Maillart (d.1997 at
94), Swiss sportswoman, wrote "Among Russian Youth: from Moscow to
the Caucasus." In 1947 she took a trip to Afghanistan with a sick,
morphine-addicted friend and wrote "The Cruel Way, Two Women and a
Ford in Afghanistan."
(SFC, 3/29/97, p.A20)
1935 John O’Hara authored his
novel “Butterfield 8.” In 1960 it was made into a film.
(SFEC, 3/23/97, DB p.39)(WSJ, 3/15/08, p.W10)
1935 John Steinbeck wrote his
novel "Tortilla Flat."
(SFEC, 6/21/98, DB p.35)
1935 An edition of Mark Twain’s
notebooks was published. "If you tell the truth, you don’t have to
remember anything."
(WSJ, 1/26/96, A-11)
1935 Marguerite Veiller wrote
her murder mystery play "The Two Mrs. Carrolls," under the pen name
Martin Vale.
(WSJ, 8/29/97, p.A9)
1935 Thomas Wolfe wrote his 2nd
novel "Of Time and the River."
(SFEC, 11/17/96, DB p.40)
1935 Mussolini exiled Carlo
Levi (1902-1975), Italian journalist, artist and doctor. As a Jew
and for his antifascist activities he was exiled until 1936 to two
isolated villages in the province of Lucania.
(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/clevi.htm)
1935 Stefan Zweig (1881-1942),
Austrian novelist, wrote the libretto for the opera Die Schweigsame
Frau (The Silent Woman) with music by Richard Strauss. It was banned
by the Nazis and Zweig was driven into exile.
(Econ, 5/23/09,
p.91)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan_Zweig)
1936 Jan 18, Author Rudyard
Kipling (70) died in Burwash, England. His work included "Plain
Tales from the Hills," "Barrack-Room Ballads," and the novel "Kim."
In 2000 Harry Ricketts authored the biography "Rudyard Kipling: A
Life." In 2009 Charles Allen authored “Kipling Sahib: India
and the Making of Rudyard Kipling 1865-1900.”
(AP, 1/18/00)(WSJ, 3/30/00, p.A28)(WSJ, 3/14/09,
p.W8)
1936 Mar 28, Mario Vargas
Llosa, Peruvian novelist (Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, Death in
the Andes), was born.
(HN, 3/28/01)
1936 Mar 29, Judith Guest,
novelist (Ordinary People), was born.
(HN, 3/29/01)
1936 Mar 31, Marge Piercy, poet
and novelist, was born.
(HN, 3/31/01)
1936 Apr 28, Kenneth White,
poet and essayist, was born.
(HN, 4/28/01)
1936 May 28, Fred Chappell,
poet and novelist, was born.
(HN, 5/28/01)
1936 Jun 18, Maxim Gorkei
(Aleksvey Maksimovich Pyeshkov [aka Gorky], b.1868], Russian
dramatist, died. "A good man can be stupid and still be good. But a
bad man must have brains."
(WUD, 1994 p.611)(HN, 3/16/98)(AP, 2/23/01)(NG,
7/04, p.132)
1936 Jul 9, June Jordan, poet
and author, was born.
(HN, 7/9/98)
1936 Jul 22, Tom Robbins,
novelist (Another Roadside Attraction, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues),
was born.
(HN, 7/22/02)
1936 Agatha Christie authored
her novel “Murder in Mesopotamia.” During the 1930s she accompanied
her husband Max Mallowan, British archeologist, on excavations in
southern Iraq and later wrote an account of their work titled “Come
Tell Me How You Live” (1946).
(MT, summer 2003, p.12)
1936 Graham Green (1904-1991),
English writer, authored “Journey Without Maps,” a travel account
about a 350-mile, 4-week walk through the interior of Liberia and
Sierra Leone in 1935.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Burnt-Out_Case)(Econ, 9/4/10, p.90)
1936 John Dos Passos authored
the “The Big Money,” the third volume of his “U.S.A.” trilogy.
(WSJ, 3/20/09, p.W10)
1936 Israel Joshua Singer
(b.1893), Polish-born writer and older brother of Isaac Bashevis
Singer, authored his novel “The Brothers Ashkenazi.” It was later
considered to be the best Russian novel written in Yiddish.
(WSJ, 2/7/09, p.W12)
1936 Samuel Morris Steward
(1909-1993) authored his novel “Angels on the Bough,” a depiction of
a girl of easy virtue among Columbus, Ohio, bohemians. It got him
fired from the State College of Washington.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Andros)(SSFC,
8/22/10, p.F1)
1936 At its peak the WPA
Federal Writers' Project employed nearly 6,700 people. In 1972 Jerre
Mangione authored “The Dream and the Deal,” an account of the
project. In 2009 David A. Taylor authored “Soul of a People: The WPA
Federal Writers' Project Uncovers Depression America.”
(WSJ, 2/17/09, p.A13)
1937 Mar 15, H.P. Lovecraft
(b.1890), author of horror tales whose works included "The Color out
of Space," died in Providence, RI.
(HN, 8/20/98)(SSFC, 2/27/05, p.B1)
1937 Apr 13, Lanford Wilson, US
playwright (Hot L Baltimore), was born.
(MC, 4/13/02)
1937 May 8, Thomas Pynchon,
novelist (Gravity's Rainbow), was born.
(HN, 5/7/02)
1937 May 10, Arthur Kopit,
American playwright, was born.
(HN, 5/10/02)
1937 May 13, Roger [Joseph]
Zelazny, sci-fi author (6 Hugos, Chronicles of Amber), was born.
(MC, 5/13/02)
1937 Jun 19, James M. Barrie
(b.1860), Scottish writer (Dear Brutus, Peter Pan), died. In 2004
the film "Finding Neverland," was based on Barrie’s life.
(www.angus.gov.uk)(AP, 9/5/04)
1937 Jul 3, Tom Stoppard,
British author and dramatist, was born in Czechoslovakia. His plays
include "Rosencrantz and Gilderstern are Dead" and "The Real Thing."
(HN, 7/3/99)(MC, 7/3/02)
1937 Jul 18, Hunter S. Thompson
(d.2005), journalist, was born in Louisville, Ky.
(SFC, 2/21/05, p.A8)
1937 Aug 11, Edith Wharton
(b.1862), American author, died in France. Her books included “The
House of Mirth” (1905) and “Ethan Frome” (1911). In 1975 R.W.B.
Lewis (d. 2002) authored the Pulitzer prize-winning "Edith Wharton:
A Biography." In 2007 Hermione Lee authored “Edith Wharton.”
(SFC, 6/17/02, p.B5)(Econ, 1/27/07,
p.85)(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/wharton.htm)
1937 Leo Rosten (1908-1997)
wrote "The Education of HYMAN KAPLAN" under the pseudonym Leonard Q.
Ross. There were two sequels, one in 1959 and one in 1976. The
original was turned into a Broadway production in 1968.
(SFC, 2/21/97, p.A26)
1937 M.F.K. Fisher wrote "Serve
It Forth," her first book on cooking. Her letters were published in
1997: "M.F.K. Fisher: A Life in Letters."
(SFEC,12/21/97, BR p.4)
1937 C.S. Forester wrote
"Captain Horatio Hornblower." Hornblower was loosely based on the
life of Adm. Lord Nelson. Forester wrote 11 Hornblower books and
also wrote "The African Queen." Hornblower was made into a 4-part
A&E TV miniseries in 1999. The early Hornblower novels included
"Beat to Quarters," "Ship of the Line," and "Flying Colours."
(WSJ, 7/10/98, p.W10)(WSJ, 4/5/99, p.A20)
1937 Theodore Geisel (aka Dr.
Seuss) published his book: "And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry
Street."
(Hem., 2/97, p.13)
1937 Zora Neale Hurston
(1903-1960) wrote her novel: "Their Eyes were Watching God." It is
about a young black woman from Florida who survives a bad marriage
and finds true love with a younger man named Tea Cake. Cassette
recordings were made in 1991. She also wrote her collected folktales
"Mules and Men." She made some films during research trips on life
in the South in 1928 and 1929.
(SFC, 4/5/96, p.D-1)(SFC, 12/13/96, p.C8)
1937 Somerset Maughan authored
his novel “Theater.” In 2004 it was adopted as the comedy film
“Being Julia.”
(WSJ, 10/15/04, p.W1)
1937 George Orwell (1903-1950)
authored "The Road to Wigan Pier." The first half of this work
documents his sociological investigations of Lancashire and
Yorkshire in the industrial north of England before World War II.
The second half is a long essay of his upbringing, and the
development of his political conscience. It marked his 1st
disagreement with mainstream Socialists.
(SFEC, 10/1/00, BR
p.5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_to_Wigan_Pier)
1937 "The Yearling" by Marjorie
Kinnan Rawlings (1896-1953) was published. It was illustrated by
Edward Shenton.
(SFEC, 2/27/00, BR p.12)
1937 Jerome Weidman (24)
published "I Can Get It for You Wholesale." It was transformed into
a musical in 1962. He wrote 22 novels, and many short stories and
screenplays before he died in 1998.
(SFC, 10/8/98, p.C4)
1938 Mar 12, John Ross, poet,
historian and author, was born. He celebrated his 60th birthday in
SF with friends at the Cafe Babar with much gusto and brouhaha.
(EW)
1938 Apr 30, Larry [Van Cott]
Niven, US sci-fi author (5 Hugo, Neutron Star), was born.
(MC, 4/30/02)
1938 May 2, Pulitzer prize was
awarded to Thornton Wilder (Our Town).
(MC, 5/2/02)
1938 May 6, Dutch writer
Maurits Dekker was sentenced to 50 days for "offending a friendly
head of state" (Hitler).
(MC, 5/6/02)
1938 Jun 25, Mary Hallock Foote
(b1847), author and illustrator, died. Her 3 Leadville novels
established her as a Western writer. On 2003 Darlis A. Miller
authored “Mary Hallock Foote: Author-Illustrator of the American
West.
(AH, 6/03,
p.62)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Hallock_Foote)
1938 Jul 18, Vladimir M.
Kirshon (35), Russian playwright, was executed.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1938 Jul 21, Owen Wister
(b.1860), novelist, died at his summer home in Rhode Island.
His 1902 novel "The Virginian" inspired 5 films. He had earlier
begun a novel set in his native Philadelphia but stopped work on it
when his wife died during childbirth on Aug 24, 1913.
(HN, 7/14/01)(SFC, 1/9/02, p.D8)(AH, 10/02, p.20)
1938 Jul 28, Robert Hughes
[Studley Forrest], writer, critic, was born in Australia.
(SC, 7/28/02)
1938 Aug 25, Frederick Forsyth,
author of thrillers, was born. His work included "The Day of the
Jackal" (1971) and "The Odessa File."
(HN, 8/25/00)
1938 Sep 15, Thomas Wolfe
(b.1900), US writer (Look Homeward Angel), died in Baltimore.
(http://www.britannica.com)
1938 Daphne Du Maurier
(1907-1989), English writer, authored her novel “Rebecca.”
(WSJ, 8/2/08, p.W4)
1938 Julien Gracq (1910-2007),
French writer, published "Au chateau d'Argol" (The Castle of Argol).
It was favorably reviewed by the Surrealist leader Andre Breton, who
became a friend and a strong influence.
(AP, 12/23/07)
1938 Evelyn Waugh (1903-1966),
English writer, authored his novel “Scoop.”
(Econ, 5/15/10, p.91)
1939 Apr 11, SS Van Dine (50),
[William Huntingdon Wright], detective writer, died.
(MC, 4/11/02)
1939 Apr 12, Alan Ayckbourn,
playwright, was born in London.
(MC, 4/12/02)
1939 Apr 13, Seamus Heaney,
Irish poet, Nobel laureate, was born.
(HN, 4/13/01)
1939 Apr 14, The John Steinbeck
novel "The Grapes of Wrath" was first published.
(SFEC, 11/3/96, DB p.71)(AP, 4/14/97)
1939 May 4, Amos Oz, Israeli
novelist (The Black Box, The Third State), was born.
(HN, 5/4/01)
1939 May 27, Joseph Roth,
Austrian-born Jewish writer, died in Paris. His books included
“Radetzkymarsch” (The Radetzky March) (1932), a novel of the
Habsburg empire from 1859-1916 and “The Auto-da-Fe of the Mind.”
(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/jroth.htm)
1939 May 29, Nanette Newman,
writer, actress (Endless Game, Of Human Bondage), was born.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1939 Jul 23, Nicholas Gage,
journalist and author (Eleni), was born.
(HN, 7/23/02)
1939 Aug 23, Zane Grey
(b.1872), American novelist, died. He best known for his popular
adventure novels and stories that presented an idealized image of
the rugged Old West. He authored over 90 books, some published
posthumously and/or based on serials originally published in
magazines. Grey was one of the first millionaire authors.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zane_Grey)
1939 Raymond Chandler
introduced detective Philip Marlowe in the mystery novel "The Big
Sleep."
(SFC, 7/9/97, p.D5)(WSJ, 8/26/06, p.P14)
1939 Dalton Trumbo (1905-1976),
US writer, authored “Johnny Got His Gun.”
(www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAtrumbo.htm)
1939 Nathanael West (1902-1940)
wrote his last novel "The Day of the Locust." It was made into a
film in 1975.
(WSJ, 8/11/97, p.A12)(SFEC,12/21/97, DB p.58)
1939-1971 California maintained a Senate
Fact-Finding Subcommittee on Un-American Activities. Files on some
20,000 Californians were declared still closed to the public in
1998.
(SFC, 4/14/98, p.A20)
1940 Mar 10, David Rabe,
playwright (Sticks and Bones, Hurlyburly), was born.
(HN, 3/10/01)
1940 Mar 10, Mikhail Bulgakov
(b.1891), Russian author, died in Moscow. His novel “The
Master and Margarita,” which satirized life under Stalin, was
written between 1928 and the author’s death. It was not published
until 1966-67 in the Russian journal Moskva, with some 60 pages cut.
(Econ, 3/13/04, p.86)(WSJ, 1/3/09, p.W6)
1940 Apr 15, Jeffrey Archer,
English novelist and politician (Kane and Abel, Honor Among
Thieves), was born.
(HN, 4/15/01)
1940 May 1, Bobbie Ann Mason,
American writer (Shiloh and Other Stories, In Country), was born.
(HN, 5/1/01)
1940 May 6, A Pulitzer prize
was awarded to John Steinbeck (Grapes of Wrath).
(MC, 5/6/02)
1940 May 8, Peter Benchley,
novelist (Jaws, The Deep), was born.
(HN, 5/7/02)
1940 May 24, Joseph Brodsky,
author (Less than 1, Nobel 1987), was born in the USSR.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1940 May 28, Maeve Binchy,
Irish writer (Circle of Friends, The Copper Beach), was born.
(HN, 5/28/01)
1940 Jun 16, Dubose Heyward, US
writer (Porgy, Star Spangled Virgin), died.
(MC, 6/16/02)
1940 Jul 23, John Nichols,
novelist and essayist (The Milagro Beanfield War), was born.
(HN, 7/23/02)
1940 Jul 27, Bharati Mukherjee,
Indian novelist (The Middleman and Other Stories), was born.
(HN, 7/27/01)
1940 Oct 21, Ernest Hemingway's
novel "For Whom the Bell Tolls" was published.
(HN, 10/21/00)
1940 Dec 21, F. Scott
Fitzgerald (44), American author (Zelda, The Great Gatsby), died of
a heart attack.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._Scott_Fitzgerald)
1940 Dec 22, Nathanael West
(b.1902), [Weinstein], US writer (Cool Million), died in an auto
accident at age 37. In 1962 Stanley Edgar Hyman authored “Nathanael
West.” In 1970 Jay Martin authored the biography: "Nathanael West:
The Art of His Life." In 2010 Marion Meade authored “Lonely Hearts:
The Screwball world of Nathanael West and Eileen McKeney.”
(WUD, 1994, p.1623)(WSJ, 8/11/97, p.A12)(SFC,
5/25/10, p.E2)
1940 Denis de Rougemont
(1906-1985), Swiss writer who wrote in French, authored “Love in the
Western World,” a sweeping history of 8 centuries of romantic
passion.
(WSJ, 1/5/08,
p.W8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denis_de_Rougemont)
1940 Rebecca West authored
“Black Lamb and Grey Falcon,” an account of her travels in
Yugoslavia beginning in 1936.
(West, BLGC, single volume 1943 ed.)
1941 Jan 13, James Joyce,
Irish-born novelist, died in Zurich, Switzerland. In 1983 Richard
Ellmann authored the 900-page "James Joyce" biography. In 1999 Edna
O'Brien authored the pocket bio "James Joyce."
(AP, 1/13/98)(SFC, 12/9/99, p.B1)
1941 Mar 28, Novelist and
critic Virginia Woolf (1882-1941), born as Virginia Stephen, died in
Lewes, England. She feared a mental breakdown and threw herself into
the River Ouse near her home in Sussex. Her body was never found.
She was an English novelist, essayist and critic and wrote standing
up. In 1997 "Art and Affection, A Life of Virginia Woolf" was
published. In 1997 a biography by Hermione Lee was published.
(WUD, 1994, p.1643)(SFC, 6/23/96, zone 1
p.2)(SFEM, 1/12/97, BR p.7)(AP, 3/28/97)(SFEC, 6/22/97, BR p.8)(HN,
3/28/01)
1941 Apr 8, Eugene-Marcel
Prevost, novelist, died.
(MC, 4/8/02)
1941 Apr 10, Paul Theroux,
author (The Great Railway Bazaar), was born.
(HN, 4/10/01)
1941 Apr 11, Ellen Goodman,
Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, was born.
(HN, 4/11/01)
1941 May 5, A Pulitzer prize
was awarded to Robert E Sherwood (There shall be no night).
(MC, 5/5/02)
1941 Jul 16, Dag Solstad,
Norwegian novelist and playwright, was born.
(HN, 7/16/01)
1941 Sep 10, Stephen Jay Gould
(d.2002), biologist, paleontologist and writer, was born in NYC. His
books included “Time’s Cycle” and “The Panda’s Thumb.”
(HN, 9/10/00)(SFC, 5/21/02, p.A6)
1941 Jorge Amado (1912-2001),
Brazilian Communist novelist, was exiled to Argentina.
(SFC, 8/9/01, p.D2)
1941 Mahmoud Darwish,
Palestinian poet, was born in a village that later became part of
Israel. His later work included the poem "State of Siege." In 2003
"Unfortunately It Was Paradise," a translation of his work into
English, was published
(SSFC, 11/3/02, p.D6)
1941 James Hilton authored
“Random Harvest.” It was turned into a 1942 film starring Ronald
Colman and Greer Garson and directed by Mervyn LeRoy.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mervyn_LeRoy)
1941 Arthur Koestler
(1905-1983), Hungarian novelist and essayist, authored “Darkness at
Noon,” a story of life in Stalin’s Russia.
(HN, 9/5/98)(SFEC, 1/2/00, BR p.5)(WSJ, 8/26/06,
p.P8)
1941 Janet Lewis (1899-1998)
published "The Wife of Martin Guerre," a historical novel on about
16th century France. The story was turned into an opera in 1961 with
music by William Bergsma. In 1984 a French film version was released
"The Return of Martin Guere." An American version, "Somersby," was
made in 1993 set during the Civil War.
(SFC, 12/5/98,
p.C2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Guerre)
1941 H.L. Mencken (1880-1956)
published the 2nd volume of his “Days” trilogy, “Newspaper Days.”
The first volume was “Happy Days” and the 3rd was “Heathen Days.”
(WSJ, 9/29/07, p.W8)
1941 British writer Rebecca
West, pen name for Cicely Isabel Fairfield (1892-1983), authored
“Black Lamb and Grey Falcon,” on the history and culture of
Yugoslavia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_West)
1942 Feb 23, Stefan Zweig
(b.1881), Austrian Jewish writer (Die Welt von Gestern), committed
suicide with his wife in Brazil. Zweig's nostalgic but rather
impersonal memoirs of the "Golden Age of Security", The World of
Yesterday, was published posthumously in 1943. His last novel (The
Ecstasy of Transformation) was published posthumously in Germany in
1982. In 2008 it was translated into English as “The Post-Office
Girl.”
(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/szweig.htm)(WSJ, 6/21/08,
p.W9)(Econ, 5/23/09, p.91)
1942 Mar 26, Erica Jong [Mann],
poet, novelist (Fear of Flying, How to Save Your Own Life), was born
in NYC.
(HN, 3/26/01)(SS, 3/26/02)
1942 May 6, Ariel Dorfman,
Chilean writer (Death and the Maiden), was born.
(HN, 5/6/01)
1942 Aug 7, Garrison Keillor,
American humorist and writer, was born.
(HN, 8/7/00)
1942 Aug, Irene Nemirovsky
(39), French-Jewish author, died at Auschwitz. She had recently
authored "Suite Francaise" while waiting in rural France for what
she knew was her imminent arrest and deportation. It is a powerful
account of the effect on ordinary people of the military collapse of
June 1940, the panicked flight from Paris and the arrival of the
German army. It was finally published in France in 2004 and
Nemirovsky was awarded a top French literary award. In 2006 Jonathan
Weiss authored “Irene Nemirovsky: Her Life and Works.”
(AFP, 11/8/04)(SSFC, 9/24/06, p.M1)(SSFC,
5/16/10, p.F5)
1942 Nov 19, Bruno Schulz
(b.1892), Polish writer and graphic artist, was shot dead by a
German officer, a rival of Schulz’s German protector. In 1992
Theatre de Complicite created their play “The Street of Crocodiles”
based on the life and work of Schulz.
(Econ, 9/1/07,
p.76)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruno_Schulz)
1942 Albert Camus (1913-1960),
Algeria-born French writer, authored "The Stranger" and "The Myth of
Sisyphus." He established himself as a spokesman for a philosophy of
the absurd along with Jean-Paul Sartre.
(WSJ, 12/12/97, p.A16)(WSJ, 10/21/06, p.P14)
1942 Alfred Kazin (1915-1998)
authored “On Native Grounds,” a history of the rise of literary
realism in America.
(WSJ, 1/12/08,
p.W9)(www.nybooks.com/articles/article-preview?article_id=784)
1942 Lev Nussimbaum (37),
Orientalist and writer (aka Essad Bey or Kurban Said), died in
Italy, while researching a biography of Mussolini. In 2005 Tom Reiss
authored “The Orientalist,” a biography of Nussimbaum, whose books
included the novel “Ali and Nino” (1937), translated to English in
1970.
(WSJ, 2/17/05, p.D8)(SSFC, 3/6/05, p.B3)
1942 Robert St. John
(1902-2003), American war journalist, authored "From the Land of
Silent People," an account of his war experiences in the Balkans.
(SFC, 2/10/03, p.B5)
1943 Apr 22, Louise Gluck,
Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, was born.
(HN, 4/22/01)
1943 Apr 30, Beatrice Potter
Webb (b.1858), British socialist, reformer and writer, died. Her
books included “My Apprenticeship” (1943).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatrice_Webb)
1943 May 7, Peter Carey,
Australian writer (Illywhacker, Oscar and Lucinda), was born.
(HN, 5/7/02)
1943 May 23, Thomas Mann began
writing his novel Dr. Faustus.
(MC, 5/23/02)
1943 Jul 21, Tess Gallagher,
American writer, was born.
(HN, 7/21/02)
1943 Sep 12, Michael Ondaatje,
Canadian novelist and poet, was born. His work included "The English
Patient."
(HN, 9/12/00)
1943 Oct 7, Radclyffe Hall
(b.1880), English author of the lesbian classic "The Well of
Loneliness" (1928), died. The book was the subject of an obscenity
trial in Britain which resulted in all copies being ordered
destroyed.
(AP,
9/29/09)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radclyffe_Hall)
1943 Dec 22, Beatrix Potter
(b.1866), English author, died. She first told the story of Peter
Rabbit in the form of a "picture letter" to Noel Moore, the son of
Potter's former governess in 1893. A 2nd illustrated letter the same
month later became “The Tale of Jeremy Fisher.” The “Tale of Peter
Rabbit” was published in 1901. At her death she bequeathed all her
holdings, 14 farms and 4,000 acres of land, to the National Trust.
(Econ, 1/6/07,
p.67)(www.visitcumbria.com/bpotter.htm)
1944 Jan 6, Ida M. Tarbell
(b.1857), teacher, author and muckraking journalist, died in
Connecticut. She is best-known for her 1904 book “The History of the
Standard Oil Company.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ida_Tarbell)
1944 May 14, George Lucas,
writer and director, was born in Modesto, Ca. He is best remembered
for his Star Wars trilogy.
(HN, 5/14/99)(MC, 5/14/02)
1944 May 16, Max Brand,
[Frederick Schiller Faust], western author, died.
(MC, 5/16/02)
1944 Jul 15, In Amsterdam Anne
Frank (1929-1945) entered this in her diary: "In spite of everything
I still believe that people are really good at heart." In 1998 5
additional pages to her diary were reported. She died of typhoid in
the spring of 1945 at the Bergen-Belson concentration camp.
(AP, 8/4/98)(SFC, 8/19/98, p.A16)
1944 Jul 23, Lisa Alther,
novelist (Kinflicks), was born.
(HN, 7/23/02)
1944 Jul 31, Antoine de
Saint-Exupery (44), author of "The Little Prince," died in a plane
crash during reconnaissance off Marseilles. In 1949 Nelly de Vogue,
his longtime mistress, authored the 1st Exupery biography. In 2001 a
memoir by his widow, Consuelo de Saint-Exupery (d.1979) titled "The
Tale of the Rose: The Passion That Inspired the Little Prince," was
published. Saint-Exupery's plane was found in 2004.
(SFEC, 2/27/00, BR p.12)(SFEC, 5/28/00,
p.A15)(SSFC, 8/5/01, DB p.63)(SFC, 4/8/04, p.A2)
1944 Theodore Adorno and Max
Horkheimer authored “Dialectic of Enlightenment,” which examined the
culture that gave birth to Auschwitz. This became the founding text
of the post modern writers (pomos), later represented by
Jean-Francois Lyotard, Roland Barthes, Michel Foucault and Jacques
Derrida.
(Econ, 12/23/06, p.106)
1945 Apr 27, August Wilson, US
playwright (Fences, Pulitzer 1987), was born.
(MC, 4/27/02)
1945 Apr 30, Annie Dillard,
writer (Pilgrim at Tinker Creek), was born.
(HN, 4/30/01)
1945 May 5, Ezra Pound, poet
and author, was arrested by American Army soldiers in Italy for
treason. He had served during the war as a pro-fascist and
anti-Semitic spokesman for the Mussolini government.
(NPR, 5/5/95 interview with the sergeant who
arrested Mr. Pound.)
1945 May 7, A Pulitzer prize
was awarded to John Hersey (Bell for Adano).
(MC, 5/7/02)
1945 Jul 9, Dean R[ay] Koontz,
US author (Star Quest, Beastchild), was born.
(MC, 7/9/02)
1945 Aug 26, Franz Werfel (54),
Czech-German-US poet, writer (Mirror Man), died.
(MC, 8/26/02)
1945 Aug, George Orwell
published "Animal Farm" in England.
(SFEC, 10/1/00, BR p.5)
1945 Oct 8, Felix Salten
(b.1869), Austrian writer and the creator of Disney’s Bambi (1923),
died in Switzerland. In 1906 he authored the novel Josephine
Mutzenbacher, the fictional autobiography of a Vienna prostitute, a
notorious pornographic novel.
{Austria, Writer, Switzerland}
(Econ, 11/8/08,
p.102)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Salten)
1945 Chester Himes authored "If
He Hollers Let Him Go," an exploration of work-place racism.
(SFC, 5/9/03, p.E7)
1945 Carmen Laforet (23),
Spanish writer, authored her first novel “Nada” (Nothing). It was
set in Spain during the 1930s and conveyed the crushing weight of
war through its characters. An English translation became available
in 2007.
(SFC, 3/2/07, p.E7)
1945 Carlo Levi (1902-1975),
Italian journalist, artist and doctor, authored “Christ Stopped at
Eboli,” his first documentary novel.
(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/clevi.htm)
1945 Karl Popper (1902-1994)
authored “The Open Society and Its Enemies.” “Unlimited tolerance
must led to the disappearance of tolerance.”
(WSJ, 9/9/06, p.P8)
1945 Nevil Shute authored “Most
Secret,” a novel about a French-crewed trawler that uses a flame
thrower against a German gunboat during WW II.
(SFC, 10/28/06, p.P12)
1945 George R. Stewart,
novelist and co-founder of the American name Society authored "Names
on the Land," a work of onomastics and patriotic toponymy.
(WSJ, 7/19/08, p.W9)
1946 May 6, A Pulitzer prize
was awarded to Arthur M. Schlesinger ("Age of Jackson").
(MC, 5/6/02)
1946 May 25, Janet E[llen]
Morris, US sci-fi author (Golden Sword, Tempus), was born.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1946 Jul 4, Ron Kovic, disabled
Vietnam veteran, author (Born on 4th of July), was born.
(MC, 7/4/02)
1946 Jul 27, Gertrude Stein
(72), US-French author, poet (Ida, Tender Buttons), died in France.
Her work included the murder mystery "Blood on the Dining-Room
Floor" and “The Biography of Alice B. Toklas” (1933). She once said
of Oakland, Ca.: "There is no there there." Painter Francis Rose
carved the headstone on her grave at the Pere Lachaise cemetery. A
biography of Stein by Linda Wagner-Martin was published in 1996
titled "Favored Strangers." In 2007 Janet Malcolm authored “Two
Lives: Gertrude and Alice.”
(SFC, 6/9/96, Z1 p.5)(WSJ, 10/5/99, p.A24)(WSJ,
9/25/07, p.D6)
1946 Aug 13, H.G. Wells
(b.1866), sci-fi author (Time Machine), died in London.
(AP, 8/13/00)
1946 Hermann Hesse (1877-1962),
Swiss-born German philosopher poet and author, was awarded the Nobel
Prize in literature "for his inspired writings which, growing in
boldness and penetration, exemplify the classical humanitarian
ideals and high qualities of style."
(http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1946/)
1946 Curzio Malaparte, an
Italian fascist intellectual, authored “Kaputt,” an autobiographical
novel that described the cruelty of Nazi fanaticism.
(WSJ, 1/19/08, p.W8)
1946 George Mikes (1912-1987),
a Hungarian living in England, published “How to Be An Alien.” It
was about a foreigner’s view of England.
(Econ, 12/19/09, p.110)
1946 Robert Penn Warren
(1905-1989) published his Pulitzer Prize winning novel "All the
King’s Men." It was based on the life of Huey Long of Louisiana. In
1949 it was turned into a movie. In 1997 Joseph Blotner wrote
Warren’s biography.
(WSJ, 8/26/06, p.P8)(WSJ, 9/23/06, p.P12)
1947 Mar 9, Keri Hulme, New
Zealand novelist (The Bone People), was born.
(HN, 3/9/01)
1947 May 5, Pulitzer prize was
awarded to Robert Penn Warren (All the King's Men).
(MC, 5/5/02)
1947 May 23, Jane Kenyon, poet
(Let Evening Come, Otherwise), was born.
(HN, 5/23/01)
1947 Aug 14, Daniele Steel,
author (Remembrance, Zoya, Star, Daddy), was born in NYC.
(MC, 8/14/02)
1947 Sep 8, Ann Beattie,
writer, was born. Her work included “Chilly Scenes of Winter” and
“Picturing Will.”
(HN, 9/8/00)
1947 Sep 21, Stephen King,
author, was born in Portland, Maine. He is best known for
supernatural and horror tales including Carrie (1974), Shining
(1977) and Kujo (1981).
(HN, 9/21/00)(SSFC, 7/2/06, Par p.16)
1947 Dec 15, Arthur Machen
(b.1863), Welsh author of classic horror stories, died.
(WSJ, 10/30/07,
p.D6)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Machen)
1947 Vance Bourjaily (d.2010 at
87), Ohio-born author of Lebanese immigrants, published his first
novel “The End of Life.”
(SFC, 9/17/10, p.C5)
1947 Willa Cather, American
writer, died. She grew up in Nebraska and spent time in NYC as an
editor. She wrote over 15 books including: "O, Pioneers!" "My
Antonia" (1918) and "The Song of the Lark." In 2000 Joan Acocella
authored "Willa Cather and the Politics of Criticism.’
(WUD, 1994, p.233)(RBI, 1989)(SFEC, 4/2/00, BR
p.4)
1948 Mar 5, Leslie Marmon
Silko, writer (Ceremony), was born.
(HN, 3/5/01)
1948 Jun 4, Hugh Kenner (d.2003
at 80) met for the 1st time with Ezra Pound in a Washington-area
mental facility. Pound became his mentor and directed him in a
number of literary efforts. In 1951 Kenner turned his thesis into
the book: "The Poetry of Ezra Pound." In 1971 Kenner authored "The
Pound Era."
(SSFC, 11/30/03, p.A31)
1948 Govindas Vishnoodas Desani
(1909-2000), Kenya-born Pakistani writer in England, authored “All
About Hatterr,” his novel of an absurdist and mystical odyssey in
India. In 1968 he was invited to teach at the Univ. of Texas and
spent 11 years there.
(SSFC, 12/2/07, p.M1)
1948 John R. Tunis authored
“Highpockets,” a novel centered around baseball.
(WSJ, 3/31/07, p.P10)
1949 Apr 12, Scott Turow,
writer and attorney, was born.
(HN, 4/12/01)
1949 May 2, Arthur Miller won
Pulitzer Prize for "Death of a Salesman."
(MC, 5/2/02)
1949 May 4, Graham Swift,
British novelist (The Sweet Shop Owner, Out of this World), was
born.
(HN, 5/4/01)
1949 May 6, P.M.B. Maurice
Maeterlinck (b.1862), Belgian philosopher, playwright (Grand Fairie)
and essayist, died in Nice, France. He won the 1911 Nobel Prize in
Literature.
(WUD, 1994,
p.861)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Maeterlinck)
1949 Aug 16, Margaret Mitchell
(48), US writer (Gone With the Wind), died.
(MC, 8/16/02)
1949 Aug 25, Martin Amis,
English novelist, was born. His work included "Money, Time’s Arrow."
(HN, 8/25/00)
1949 Oct 29, George Ivanovich
Gurdjieff (b.~1866), a Greek-Armenian mystic and spiritual teacher,
died in France. His books included “Meetings with Remarkable Men,”
the 2nd volume of his “All and Everything” trilogy.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._I._Gurdjieff)
1949 Dorothy Bussy (d.1960),
English novelist and translator, wrote her novella “Olivia.“ Writer
Lytton Strachey and translator of Freud, James Strachey, were her
brothers.
(WSJ, 7/8/06,
p.P8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Bussy)
1949 John Gunther, journalist
and novelist, authored “Death Be Not Proud,” an account of his
17-year-old son’s battle with a brain tumor that ultimately took his
life.
(WSJ, 1/26/08, p.W8)
1949 George Orwell’s
(1903-1950) novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four" was published. He was
inspired by the Russian author Yevgeny Zamyatin, who wrote an
antiutopian novel warning against intoxication with technology.
Orwell asserted that technology is an instrument of tyranny. In his
novel Orwell described a machine called a versificator that
generated music for the masses. “Those in power control the future
by controlling the past.”
(WSJ, 11/4/98, p.A12)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R14)(Econ,
6/10/06, Survey p.6)(Econ, 9/15/07, p.70)
1949 George R. Stewart authored
"Earth Abides," a novel that imagined the SF Bay Area after humans
are driven away by plagues.
(SSFC, 10/27/02, p.M1)
1950 Jan 21, George Orwell
(46), author, died in London of tuberculosis. His books included
Down and Out in Paris and London" (1933) and "1984." William
Abrahams (d.1998), editor and novelist, co-authored the 2-volume
biography of Orwell: "Life, Death and Art in the Second World War,"
and "Journey to the Frontier" with Peter Stansky. In 2000 Jeffrey
Meyers authored the biography "Orwell: Wintry Conscience of a
Generation." Orwell married Sonia Brownell (1918-1980) on his
deathbed. In 2003 Hilary Spurling authored "The Gril from the
Fiction Department," a biography of Sonia Orwell. In 2003 D.J.
Taylor authored "Orwell : The Life."
(AP, 1/21/98)(SFC, 6/5/98, p.D7)(SFC, 6/25/98,
p.B12)(SFEC, 10/1/00, BR p.5)(WSJ, 5/16/03, p.W10)(SSFC, 9/28/03,
p.M2)
1950 Mar 19, Edgar Rice
Burroughs (74), sci-fi author and the creator of Tarzan, died. He
wrote 24 Tarzan novels and 50 other thrillers. In 1999 John
Taliaferro authored the biography "Tarzan Forever."
(SFEC, 5/9/99, Par p.8)(MC, 3/19/02)
1950 May 1, Gwendolyn Brooks
became the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize for her
book of poetry called "Annie Allen."
(HN, 5/1/99)
1950 May 6, Agnes Smedley,
American journalist and writer, died. She was best known for her
chronicling of the Chinese revolution.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States)
1950 Jul 18, Carl Clinton Van
Doren (64), US literary (The Nation), died.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1950 Isaac Asimov published “I,
Robot,” a book of short stories. In the book he wrote the Three Laws
of Robotics, which were designed to prevent robots from harming
people.
(Econ, 6/10/06, Survey p.18)
1950 L. Ron Hubbard, founder of
Scientology, authored his sci-fi novel “To the Stars.”
(SSFC, 12/26/04, p.E2)
1950 German writer Ernst
Juenger (1895-1998) went into a self-imposed exile in Wilflingen
where he wrote over 50 books.
(SFC, 2/18/98,
p.A18)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_J%C3%BCnger)
1950 Milan Kundera (b.1929),
later renowned as a Czech writer, informed on Miroslav Dvoracek, who
had been recruited in Germany by the Czech emigre intelligence
network to work as a spy against the Communist regime. Dvoracek was
later sentenced to 22 years in prison and eventually served 14,
working in uranium mines. Kundera had joined the Communist Party as
a student, but was later expelled after criticizing its totalitarian
nature. This information was only made public in 2008.
(AP, 10/13/08)(Econ, 10/18/08, p.98)
1950 Doris Lessing, British
writer, authored “The Grass Is Singing,” a novel of race in Rhodesia
and the effect that harsh colonial experience had on both oppressor
and oppressed.
(Econ, 10/23/10, p.101)
1950 Octavio Paz (36), poet and
essayist, published "The Labyrinth of Solitude," his classical study
of the Mexican character.
(SFC, 4/20/98, p.A17)(Econ, 11/18/06, Survey p.4)
1950 Mervyn Peake
(1911-1968) authored his fantasy novel “Gormenghast.” It was the 2nd
of of a 3-novel cycle. The first was “Titus Groan” (1946) and the
3rd was “Titus Alone” (1959).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gormenghast_series)
1950 The first German Book
Trade Peace Prize was awarded to Max Tau (Adolf Grimme).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_Prize_of_the_German_Book_Trade)
1951 Jan 10, [Harry] Sinclair
Lewis (65), American author of 23 novels and 3 plays (Nobel 1930),
died in Rome of a nervous disorder. In 2002 Richard Lingeman
authored "Sinclair Lewis: Rebel from Main Street."
(HNQ, 5/18/98)(WSJ, 1/18/02, p.W8)
1951 Mar 19, Herman Wouk’s war
novel "The Caine Mutiny" was first published.
(AP, 3/19/01)
1951 May 7, A Pulitzer prize
was awarded to Conrad Richter (The Town).
(MC, 5/7/02)
1951 Jul 10, In San Francisco
Dashiell Hammett, mystery writer, was sentenced to 6 months in
prison for refusing to tell where the Communist party got its bail
money.
(SFC, 7/6/01, WBb p.8)
1951 Jul 16, "The Catcher in
the Rye," a coming-of-age novel by J.D. Salinger (1919-2010), was
first published. Holden Caulfield, the main character, became
recognized as the quintessential American teenager.
(SFC, 1/17/97, p.D7)(AP, 7/16/98)(WSJ, 12/15/07,
p.W10)(SFC, 1/29/10, p.A1)
1951 Aug 1, Jim Carroll,
musician and writer of "The Basketball Diaries," was born
(HN, 8/1/00)
1951 Aug 24, Oscar Hijeulos,
novelist, was born. His work included "The Mambo Kings play Songs of
Love."
(HN, 8/24/00)
1951 Sep 6, William Burroughs
(1914-1997), American writer, shot and killed his wife Joan Vollmer
(27) in Mexico City. He claimed to be trying to shoot a glass off
her head, a la William Tell, during a day of drinking and drugs but
shot her in the head.
(SFEC, 8/3/97, p.B6)(Internet)
1951 Albert Camus (1913-1960),
Algeria-born French novelist, wrote "The Rebel." The book asserted a
revolt against absurd nonsense and against commitments indifferent
to the suffering that revolutionary steamrollers caused.
(WSJ, 12/12/97, p.A16)(Econ, 1/9/10, p.83)
1951 William Faulkner authored
“Requiem for a Nun.” The past is never dead, it’s not even past.”
(Econ, 7/17/10, p.87)
1951 Vladimir Nabokov
(1899-1977) published his memoir under the title “Conclusive
Evidence.” In 1996 it was republished as “Vladimir Nabokov: Novels
and Memoirs 1941-1951: The Real Life of Sebastian Knight, Bend
Sinister, Speak, Memory,” in a 3-volume set. The individual chapters
had been published from 1936-1951.
(Econ, 9/5/09,
p.62)(www.loa.org/volume.jsp?RequestID=8§ion=notes)
1951 John Steinbeck authored
"The Log from the Sea of Cortez" based on a 1940 trip he made there
with marine biologist Doc Ricketts (d.1948). He also wrote most of
"East of Eden" in his Manhattan townhouse and Long Island beach
retreat.
(SFC, 2/22/02, p.A21)(SFC, 10/15/03, p.D1)
1952 Feb 19, Knut Hamsun
(b.1859), Norwegian writer, died. He won the Nobel Prize in
literature in 1920. His work included "From the Cultural Life in
Modern America" (1889), "Hunger," "The Growth of the Soil,"
"Victoria," and "An Overgrown Path." A film portrait of his life was
produced in 1997. In 2009 Ingar Sletten Kolloen authored “Knut
Hamsun: Dreamer and Dissenter.”
(SFEC, 4/20/97, DB p.47-49)(Econ, 11/7/09, p.79)
1952 Mar 11, Douglas Adams,
British writer, (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), was born.
(HN, 3/11/01)
1952 May 5, A Pulitzer prize
awarded to Herman Wouk (Caine Mutiny).
(MC, 5/5/02)
1952 May 8, Beth Henley,
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright (Crimes of the Heart), was born.
(HN, 5/7/02)
1952 May 29, Louise Cooper,
sci-fi author (Nemesis, Inferno, Infanta, Nocturne), was born in UK.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1952 Jun 7, Orhan Pamuk,
Turkish novelist, was born in Istanbul. In 2003 he won the IMPACV
Dublin Literary Award for his book "My Name Is Red." In 2004 he
authored the highly acclaimed “Snow.”
(WSJ, 8/13/03, p.D4)(SFC, 10/20/04, p.E1)
1952 Sep 8, The Ernest
Hemingway novel "The Old Man and the Sea" was published. Hemingway
won the Pulitzer Prize for the work in 1953.
(TL, 1988, p.114)(SFEC, 7/18/99, p.D5) (AP,
9/8/99)
1952 Samuel Beckett published
his play "Waiting for Godot." It was 1st produced in Paris in 1953.
(SFEM, 9/10/00, p.7)
1952 Arthur Laurent wrote his
play "The Time of the Cuckoo."
(WSJ, 2/23/00, p.A20)
1952 Paul Bowles (b.1910)
published his novel: "Let It Come Down."
(SFC, 7/12/99, p.E3)
1952 Whitaker Chambers authored
"Witness," a chronicle of his role in the Alger Hiss case. In it he
declared that the essence of communism lay in its vision of mankind
emancipated from God.
(WSJ, 7/20/01, p.W15)
1952 Barnaby Conrad (30)
authored the bestseller "Matador," about the life of Manolete,
Spain's greatest bullfighter.
(SSFC, 11/16/03, p.E3)
1952 Jacques Cousteau wrote
"The Silent World." It was made into a film that gave Cousteau the
first of 3 Academy Awards.
(SFC, 6/26/97, p.A7)
1952 Philip K. Dick (d.1982)
wrote his short story "Paycheck." It was optioned for a movie in
1999.
(WSJ, 4/27/99, p.A20)
1952 Ralph Ellison (1914-1994)
wrote his classic novel "Invisible Man." It chronicled the harrowing
travels of a nameless black man in the South and New York’s Harlem.
(SFEC, 2/9/97, BR p.2)(SFC, 12/6/05, p.B5)
1952 Maria Flores wrote "The
Woman With the Whip," a biography of Eva Peron.
(WSJ, 11/14/96, p.A20)
1952 Che Guevara chronicled his
motorcycle trip around South America on a Norton 500. His memoir was
published as "The Motorcycle Diaries."
(SFC, 5/12/96, Z1p.4)
1952 Charles Einstein
(1926-2007), sportswriter and author, wrote “Bloody Spur,” based on
the crimes of William Heirens, the “Lipstick Killer,” who terrorized
Chicago in the mid-1940s. In 1956 Fritz Lang made the book into a
film noir set in NYC called “While the City Sleeps.”
(SSFC, 3/11/07, p.B6)
1952 Prof. Charles M. Hardin
(1908-1997) wrote "The Politics of Agriculture."
(SFC, 7/4/97, p.E2)
1952 Black author Chester Himes
(d.1984) published his book "Cast the First Stone," a somber tale of
prison life. He had written it in 1937 under the title "Yesterday
Will Make You Cry."
(SFEC, 3/1/98, BR p.7)(SSFC, 2/25/01, BR p.1)
1952 Eugene Ionesco wrote "The
Chairs." It was a dadaist parable of two fantasists preparing to
deliver an important message.
(WSJ, 5/16/97, p.A16)
1952 George Racey Jordan, USAF
(Ret.) with Richard L. Stokes authored "Major Jordan’s Diaries." It
was an account of Jordan’s experiences in the US-Russia Lend-Lease
program from 1942. The 2nd reference is a list of the lend-lease
items provided to the Soviet Union beginning in Oct 1941.
http://www.nexusmagazine.com/mjd1.html
www.topedge.com/panels/aircraft/sites/gustin/lendlse.html
1952 Frederick Knott, English
writer, wrote his thriller "Dial ‘M’ for Murder. It was made into a
film with Grace Kelly by Alfred Hitchcock.
(WSJ, 4/8/98, p.A20)
1952 C.S. Lewis (1898-1963),
Irish-born Anglican writer, authored “Mere Christianity,” an
explanation of the basic tenets of Christianity.
(WSJ, 8/15/08, p.W9)
1952 Norman Vincent Peale wrote
"The Power of Positive Thinking."
(SFEC, 12/8/96, Par p.21)
1952 Egor P. Popov (d.2001 at
88), Ukrainian born Prof. of Civil Engineering, published his
classic "Mechanics of Materials" at UC Berkeley.
(SFC, 4/27/01, p.D8)
1952 The first "Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" (DSM) was published. It
defined nervous breakdowns as "psychophysiologic nervous system
reactions."
(WSJ, 12/3/96, p.A1)
1952 Samuel Eilenberg (d.1998
at 84), mathematician and art collector, co-authored "Foundations of
Algebraic Topology" with Norman Steenrod of Princeton Univ. The
graduate text "General Topology" was written by John Kelley (d.1999
at 82) of UC Berkeley.
(SFC, 2/3/98, p.A15)(SFC, 12/6/99, p.B2)
1952 The French work "Le Pretre
Jean" (Prester John) was written.
(SFEC, 12/15/96, p.C5)
1952 British writer Mary Norton
wrote "The Borrowers," illustrated by Beth and Joe Krush. It was
published in 1953 and made into a movie in 1998.
(SFC, 2/13/98, p.C3)(SFEC, 2/27/00, BR p.12)
1952 Wolf Mankowitz published
his first novel "Make me an Offer." It was based on his experiences
in the porcelain trade.
(SFC, 5/29/98, p.D7)
1952 Terence Rattigan published
his play "The Deep Blue Sea."
(WSJ, 3/30/98, p.A16)
1952 Miriam Rothschild
(1908-2005) authored “Fleas, Flukes and Cuckoos,” a popular study of
parasitism.
(Econ, 2/5/05, p.80)
1952 In Germany Mrs.
Aicher-Scholl (e.1998 at 81) published "White Rose," a description
of the White Rose nonviolent student resistance to the Third Reich.
(SFC, 9/7/98, p.A21)
1952 John Steinbeck wrote his
novel "East of Eden."
(SFEC, 6/21/98, DB p.35)
1952 Telford Taylor published
"Sword and Swastika." He helped write the rules for Nuremberg
Trials.
(SFC, 5/26/98, p.B2)
1952 Edmund Wilson authored
“The Shores of Light.” It became recognized as a classic
introduction to the 1920s literature of America.
(WSJ, 6/16/07, p.P10)
1952 Herman Wouk wrote his
novel "Cain Mutiny." It became a film in 1954.
(SFC, 10/15/96, p.B1)
1953 Mar 19, Tennessee
Williams' "Camino Real," premiered in NYC.
(MC, 3/19/02)
1953 May 4, Pulitzer prize was
awarded to E. Hemingway (Old Man & The Sea).
(MC, 5/4/02)
1953 Jul 16, Joseph Hilaire
Pierre Belloc (82), author (Path to Rome), died.
(MC, 7/16/02)
1953 Oct 29, Harry Clement
Stubbs (d.2003), science fiction writer, authored "Mission of
Gravity." It was serialized in Astounding Science Fiction magazine.
(SFC, 11/1/03, p.A21)
1953 Eric Ambler wrote his spy
thriller "The Schirmer Inheritance."
(SFC, 10/24/98, p.A22)
1953 Poul Anderson (d.2001 at
74), authored 2 science fiction novels: "Three Hearts and Three
Lions" and "Brain Wave."
(SFC, 8/3/01, p.A24)
1953 Lars Valerian Ahlfors
(1907-1996), mathematician, published his mathematics textbook
"Complex Analysis. "
(SFC, 10/21/96, p.A17)
1953 Michael Avallone (d.1999
at 74) published "The Tall Dolores," the first of 36 novels
featuring detective Ed Moon.
(SFC, 3/2/99, p.A20)
1953 James Baldwin published
his autobiographical novel "Go Tell It on the Mountain."
(SFC, 12/30/98, p.A2)
1953 Samuel Beckett translated
his "En Attendant Godot" into English as "Waiting for Godot."
(WSJ, 8/5/96, p.A10)
1953 Sybille Bedford (b.1911),
German-born English novelist, published her 1st book, “A Visit to
Don Otavio,” a travelogue of Mexico.
(WSJ, 5/12/05, p.D8)
1953 Saul Bellow authored his
novel "The Adventures of Augie March," in which he defined the
immigrant experience in US literature.
(SFC, 9/15/03, p.D1)
1953 Isaiah Berlin wrote his
essay "The Hedgehog and the Fox." He ruminated on the words of the
Greek poet Archilochus who said: "The fox knows many things, but the
hedgehog knows one big thing.
(SFC,11/6/97, p.A28)
1953 Simone de Bouvier
(Beauvoir) published a British edition of "America Day by Day," a
journal of her travels in America from 1947. Her trip also began a
relationship with Nelson Algren. In 1999 the book "A Transatlantic
Love Affair" Letters to Nelson Algren" was published.
(WSJ, 1/18/98, p.A16)(SFEC, 2/28/99, BR p.4)
1953 Ray Bradbury wrote his
novel "Fahrenheit 451." It was made into a film in 1967 and another
version was planned in 1997.
(SFC, 1/31/97, p.D3)
1953 "Junkie" the first novel
by William Burroughs was published. In it appeared the character
Herbert who was the poet Herbert Huncke (1915-1996), who introduced
Burroughs to heroin.
(SFC, 8/9/96, p.A19)
1953 Herb Caen, SF newspaper
columnist, wrote his 4th book "Don’t Call It Frisco."
(SFEC, 2/2/97, p.A13)
1953 Raymond Chandler wrote the
detective novel "The Long Goodbye." He appears to have been the
first writer to put into print the phrase "You can’t win them all."
(SFC, 3/14/98, p.B7)
1953 Katherine Esau (1898-1997)
published her classic "Plant Anatomy," a leading text on plant
structure.
(SFC, 6/19/97, p.A22)
1953 British writer Ian Fleming
published his first James Bond book, "Casino Royale."
(WSJ, 4/24/98, p.W1)
1953 Rev Billy Graham published
"Peace With God," the first of his 18 books.
(SFEC, 9/21/97, Z1 p.3)
1953 Heinrich Harrer wrote his
memoir "Seven Years in Tibet."
(SFEC,12/14/97, BR p.4)
1953 Robert Heilbroner
(1919-2005) authored the 1st edition of his economics classic
“Worldly Philosophers.”
(WSJ, 1/11/05, p.A1)
1953 Joseph Heller began
writing "Catch-22." The book was initially titled Catch 18 and
contracted to Simon & Schuster in 1957. The agent, Candida
Donadio, chose 22, her birthday was Oct 22, to avoid conflict with
Mila 18, a novel by Leon Uris. Catch 22 was published in 1961. [see
Louis Fallstein, 1951, "Face of a Hero."]
(SFC, 4/28/98, p.A2)(SFC, 1/26/01, p.A21)
1953 Jack Kerouac wrote his
book "The Subterraneans." Though set in San Francisco it was
actually about characters from Fugazi’s Bar of Greenwich Village.
Anton Rosenberg (d.1998 at 71), a hipster painter and musician, was
portrayed as Julian Alexander. The book was not published until
1958.
(SFC, 2/23/98, p.A21)
1953 Alfred Kinsey published
"Sexual Behavior in the Human Female," the 1st major US survey on
women's sexual habits. He found that attitudes did not match
behavior.
(NW, 6/30/03, p.44)
1953 "The Conservative Mind" by
Russel Kirk, Michigan-born writer, was first published by Henry
Regnery (1912-1996), the godfather of modern conservatism. "The book
recovers a legacy of conservative ideas and also trumpets a
conservative future." In the book is described an "inclination to
cherish the permanent things in human existence." Kirk believed that
"political problems are, at bottom, religious and moral problems."
He lists six canons of conservatism the first of which is the
conviction that "there exists a transcendent order, or body of
natural law, which rules society as well as conscience. The book was
re-issued in 1995 in a 40th anniversary ed. by Regnery Publ.
(WSJ, 9/28/95, p.A-16)(SFC, 6/24/96, p.A15)
1953 Wolf Mankowitz published
"Wedgewood," the definitive handbook on the subject.
(SFC, 5/29/98, p.D7)
1953 James Michener (d.1997 at
90) wrote his novel "The Bridges at Toko-Ri."
(SFC,10/17/97, p.A17)
1953 Iris Murdoch published
"Sartre: Romantic Rationalist."
(SFC, 2/9/99, p.A20)
1953 Robert Musil (d.1942),
Austrian author, got published in short form in English his
unfinished book "The Man Without Qualities" set in Vienna around
1913. A full 2 volume set ($60) was published in 1995.
(WSJ, 4/12/95, A-12)
1953 Alain Robbe-Grillet
authored "Les Gommes" (The Erasers), a novel about a detective
investigating an apparent murder who ends up killing the victim. It
was seen in France as the debut of the "new novel."
(AP, 2/18/08)
1953 Jim Thompson authored the
classic noir thriller “The Killer Inside Me.”
(SSFC, 9/17/06, p.D7)
1953 Leon Uris (d.2003)
authored the novel "Battle Cry."
(AP, 6/24/03)(SFC, 6/25/03, p.A25)
1953 John Werthan authored
"Seduction of the Innocent," which linked comic books to juvenile
delinquency. This led to the creation of the Comics Code Authority.
EC Comics withdrew "Tales From the crypt" and many other titles.
(SFC, 1/21/04, p.D2)
1953 Richard Wright (d.1960)
authored the novel: "The Outsider."
(WSJ, 9/4/01, p.A20)
1953 Thomas Guinzburg, Donald
Hall, Harold Humes, Peter Matthiessen and George Plimpton founded
the Paris Review.
(SFC, 9/27/03, p.A2)
1953 Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
(b.1896), author of “The Yearling,” died. In 2005 Rodger L. Tarr
edited a collection of her letters to her husband, Norton S. Baskin:
“The Private Marjorie.”
(WSJ, 2/25/05, p.W8)
1954 Aug 3, Sidonie Gabrielle
Colette (b.1873), French actress, librettist, novelist (Claudine)
and critic, died. Her novels included "Le Ble en herbe" (The
Ripening Seed) and "Julie de Carneilhan (1941). In 1999 Judith
Thurman authored "Secrets of the Flesh," a biography of Colette.
(WSJ, 10/14/99, p.A24)(SC, 8/3/02)
1954 Kingsley Amis authored
“Lucky Jim,” his comic novel of academic life.
(WSJ, 2/16/08, p.W10)
1954 Harriette Arnow authored
“The Dollmaker.” The novel documented the move by Gertie Nevel from
self-sufficient poverty in Kentucky to urban poverty in Detroit. It
was made into a movie in 1984.
(Econ, 12/19/09,
p.58)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dollmaker)
1954 Kenneth Dodson (d.1999 at
91) published his WW II novel "Away All Boats."
(SFC, 6/2/99, p.C7)
1954 William Golding published
his "Lord of the Flies." It is about a group of schoolboys who get
marooned on an island and quickly degenerate to a state of savagery.
(WSJ, 10/5/95, p.A-12)
1954 Aldous Huxley authored
"The Doors of Perception," a book about hallucinogenic drugs. Jim
Morrison later named his band "The Doors" after this book.
(SSFC, 4/11/04, Par p.2)
1954 Louis L’Amour wrote his
western novel "Lance Kilkenny."
(USAT, 6/10/98, p.1D)
1954 Alan Le May (1899-1964)
authored his novel “The Searchers” (1954). The story was based on
Brit Johnson, a black Texas ranch foreman, who was killed by Kiowa
raiders in 1871.
(AH, 6/07,
p.64)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Searchers_%28film%29)
1954 James Michener (d.1997 at
90) wrote his novel "Sayanora."
(SFC,10/17/97, p.A17)
1954 The “Story of O” by
Pauline Reage was first published. She had written it at age 47 out
of fear that her married lover would leave her. He never left her
and saw to it that the novel got published.
(SSFC, 6/26/11, p.F3)
1954 Bud Schulberg wrote the
classic "On the Waterfront," a novel of labor and corruption in New
York City.
(SFC, 5/13/97, p.E5)
1954 John Steinbeck wrote his
novel "Sweet Thursday."
(SFEC, 6/21/98, DB p.35)
1954 Alice B. Toklas
(1877-1967) published her own literary memoir, a book that mixed
reminiscences and recipes under the title “The Alice B. Toklas
Cookbook.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_B._Toklas)
1954 Gore Vidal published his
satirical fantasy "Messiah."
(WSJ, 2/27/98, p.A12)
1955 May 2, Pulitzer prize was
awarded to Tennessee Williams for Cat on Hot Tin Roof.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1955 May 16, American author
and critic James Agee died in New York.
(AP, 5/16/01)
1955 Aug 12, Thomas Mann (80),
German writer (Dr. Faustus, Nobel 1929), died. Two biographies of
Mann were published in 1995: Thomas Mann: A Biography by Ronald
Hayman and Thomas Mann: A Life by Donald Prater.
(V.D.-H.K.p.367-368)(WSJ, 12/26/95, p. A-5)(MC,
8/12/02)
1955 Sep 15, Olympia Press in
Paris published Vladimir Nabokov’s novel “Lolita.”
(www.evergreenreview.com/100/nabokov2.html)
1955 James Baldwin authored
“Notes of a Native Son.”
(SSFC, 8/8/04, p.M4)
1955 Edward Latimer "Ned" Beach
(1918-2002), Navy captain, authored "Run Silent, Run Deep" (1955).
(SFC, 12/2/02, p.A19)
1955 William Gaddis (d.1998 at
75) published his first novel "The Recognitions."
(SFC, 12/18/98, p.A38)(SSFC, 10/20/02, p.M2)
1955 John O’Hara authored “Ten
Frederick North,” a novel about thwarted political ambition.
(WSJ, 3/15/08, p.W10)
1955 Alain Robbe-Grillet
authored won France's Critics Prize with "Le Voyeur" (The Voyeur),
about the world seen through the eyes of a sadistic killer.
(AP, 2/18/08)
1956 Jan 31, British author
A.A. Milne (74), creator of "Winnie-the-Pooh," died. He left the
rights to the honey-loving bear to five beneficiaries that included
the Garrick Club, Westminster School, The Royal Literary Fund, his
own family and illustrator E.H. Shepard.
(SFEC, 8/16/98, p.A20)(AP, 1/31/06)
1956 Apr 8, Poet Gary Snyder
resolved to write his opus Mountains and Rivers Without End.
(SFC, 9/1/96, DB p.31)
1956 May 20, Max Beerbohm,
caricaturist, writer (Yet Again), died.
(MC, 5/20/02)
1956 Aug 14, Bertold Brecht
(b.1898), German dramatist (Mother Courage), died. His first play
was "Baal." He also wrote "The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui," a
satire on Hitler’s rise to power. In 1959 Prof. Martin Esslin
(d.2002 at 83) authored "Brecht: A Choice of Evils."
(WSJ, 10/3/96, p.A12)(SFEC, 8/10/97, DB
p.15)(SFC, 2/28/02, p.A20)(MC, 8/14/02)
1956 John Hersey authored his
novel "A Single Pebble," about a trip through the Yangtze River
gorges.
(SSFC, 10/27/02, p.M3)
1956 Grace Metalious authored
her risque novel “Peyton Place.”
(SSFC, 1/1/06, p.B6)
1956 Indian writer Khushwant
Singh (b.1914) authored "Train to Pakistan," a short, powerful novel
about the horrors of partition, when colonial India was carved into
modern India and Pakistan and about 1 million people died amid the
chaos. It became a classic.
(AP, 1/1/10)
1957 Mar 29, Joyce A.L. Cary
(68), English writer (Horse's Mouth), died.
(MC, 3/29/02)
1957 Apr 3, Samuel Beckett's
"Endgame," premiered in London.
(V.D.-H.K.p.369)(MC, 4/3/02)
1957 May 6, Eugene O'Neill's
play "Long Day's Journey into Night" won the Pulitzer Prize for
drama; John F. Kennedy's "Profiles in Courage" won the Pulitzer for
biography or autobiography.
(AP, 5/6/07)
1957 May 29, George Bacovia
[Vasiliu] Romanian poet, composer (Plumb), died at 75.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1957 Jun 27, Malcolm Lowry
(b.1909), English novelist, died in Sussex, England. He is best
known for his novel “Under the Volcano” (1947). In 2007 Michael
Hofmann edited “The Voyage That Never Ends: Malcolm Lowry in His Own
Words.”
(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/mlowry.htm)(SFC, 9/3/07,
p.E2)
1957 Jul 23, Giuseppe Tomasi di
Lampedusa (b.1896), Sicilian aristocrat and writer, died. His
classic novel “Il Gattopardo” (The Leopard), was published in 1958.
It included the line: “If we want things to stay as they are, things
will have to change.” David Gilmour later authored the biography
“The Last Leopard” (1991).
(WSJ, 12/9/06, p.P24)(Econ, 12/12/09, p.61)
1957 Sep 5, Viking Press first
published "On the Road" by Jack Kerouac. Kerouac typed out the
manuscript in 20 days on a single roll of teletype paper. In 1997
his book of notes from the early 1950s: "Some of the Dharma" was
published.
(SFEC, 8/31/97, BR p.8)(SSFC, 1/30/05, p.A19)(AP,
9/5/07)
1957 Theodore Geisel (aka Dr.
Seuss) wrote "The Cat in the Hat" and "How the Grinch Stole
Christmas."
(SFC, 3/28/97, p.D2)(WSJ, 12/24/98, p.B1)
1957 C.Y. Lee authored his
novel "The Flower Drum Song," a story of San Francisco’s Chinatown.
It inspired a Rogers and Hammerstein musical and was made into a
film in 1961.
(SFC, 9/18/02, p.A1)
1957 Norman Mailer published
his essay "The White Negro" in Dissent.
(WSJ, 2/24/97, p.A20)
1957 James Michener (d.1997 at
90) wrote his novel "The Bridge at Andau," and co-authored "Rascals
in Paradise." He also published his "Selected Writings."
(SFC,10/17/97, p.A17)
1957 The book “The Sultan in
Oman” by Jan Morris (b.1926), British travel writer, was published.
It was set in 1955 and described the Sultan’s traveling party after
a brief war.
(www.hku.hk/english/courses2000/2045/morris.htm)
1957 Wright Morris won the
National Book Award for his epic novel "The Field of Vision."
(SFC, 5/1/98, p.D7)
1957 Vladimir Nabokov authored
his novel “Pnin,” the story of a master failer.
(WSJ, 2/16/08, p.W10)
1957 Vance Packard (1914-1996)
wrote "Hidden Persuaders," a critique of advertising and the
consumer society.
(SFC, 12/13/96, p.B6)
1957 Ayn Rand (1905-1982) wrote
her novel "Atlas Shrugged."
(SFEC, 7/26/98, BR p.3)
1957 Evelyn Waugh authored "The
Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold." "He abhorred plastics, Picasso,
sunbathing and Jazz—everything in fact that had happened in his
lifetime."
(WSJ, 1/4/02, p.A11)
1957 Peter B. Kyne (b.1880),
author, died. He wrote 25 novels and over 1,000 short stories, a
number of which were turned into Hollywood movies. Kyne was born in
San Francisco and grew up in San Mateo County where most of his work
was set.
(Ind, 7/19/03, p.3A)
1958 Mar 8, William Faulkner
said US schools had degenerated to become babysitters.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1958 May 5, A Pulitzer prize
awarded to James Agee for (Death in the Family).
(MC, 5/5/02)
1958 May 29, Juan Ramón
Jimenez (76), Spanish poet (Nobel 1956), died.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1958 Aug 18, The 1st US edition
of the novel "Lolita" by Vladimir Nabokov was published by Putnam.
The 1st French edition was in 1955.
(WSJ, 3/20/97,
p.A14)(www.loa.org/volume.jsp?RequestID=9§ion=notes)
1958 Sep 5, The novel "Doctor
Zhivago" by Russian author Boris Pasternak was published in the
United States for the first time.
(AP, 9/5/98)
1958 Chinua Achebe of Nigeria
authored the novel "Things Fall Apart." It was about the Igbo
tribe's efforts to guard its way of life against English colonialism
and was made into a theater production in 1997. It sold millions of
copies worldwide and was voted Africa's best book of the century. In
2004 Achebe rejected a Nigerian national honors award, protesting
conditions in the West African nation and saying renegades were
trying to turn his home state into "a bankrupt and lawless fiefdom."
(WSJ, 2/09/99, p.A20)(SFEC, 8/6/00, BR p.4)(P,
10/18/04)
1958 Jorge Amado (d.2001 at
88), Brazilian writer, published his novel "Gabriela, Clove and
Cinnamon."
(SFC, 8/9/01,
p.D2)(www.biography.com/search/article.do?id=9182926)
1958 Algis Budrys published his
sci-fi novel "Who," in which was described an artificial heart,
5-years before a working version was developed.
(SFEC, 11/24/96, Z1 p.2)
1958 Carlos Fuentes (b.1928),
Mexican author, published his first novel “Where the Air Is Clear.”
It was set in Mexico City in 1956-1957 when he was a student there
on the G.I. Bill.
(WSJ, 6/14/08, p.W10)
1958 Graham Greene published
his novel “Our Man in Havana.” It captured Cuba on the cusp of
sweeping change.
(WSJ, 8/25/06, p.A1)
1958 Nora Johnson (b.1933)
published her novel “The World of Henry Orient.” It was made into
film in 1964. her father was filmmaker Nunally Johnson.
(WSJ, 8/6/04, p.W8)
1958 Alan Sillitoe (1928-2010),
English writer, authored his novel “Saturday Night, Sunday Morning.”
(Econ, 5/1/10,
p.88)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Sillitoe)
1958 Alexander Solzhenitsyn
(1918-2008), Russian writer, completed the first draft of "In the
First Circle," a novel, set during Stalin's rule. It was about the
effects of incarceration and forced labor on the minds and souls of
innocent and intelligent men. He immediately put it through two
revisions. He wrote 4th draft in 1962. In 1968 it was first
published in the West. A Russian edition came out in 1978. A new
edition in 2009 included parts left out in earlier editions.
(http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204488304574431450891084972.html)
1959 Jan 27, Aldous Huxley
(64), British author of Brave New World (1932), attended a
conference at the Univ. of California Medical school and warned that
manipulation of personality by drugs is already here.
(SSFC, 1/25/09, DB p.50)
1959 Mar 26, Raymond Chandler
(71), American writer, best known for his Philip Marlowe detective
novels, died. He wrote seven Marlowe books that includes "Farewell
My Lovely," "The Long Goodbye" (1953) and "The Big Sleep" (1939). In
1976 Prof. Frank MacShane wrote "The Life of Raymond Chandler." In
1995 he was honored with a 2-volume issues of his works by the
Library of America. A CD-ROM was also made titled after a novel:
Trouble is My Business. In 1997 Tom Hiney wrote "Raymond Chandler: A
Biography." In 2001 Tom Hiney and Frank MacShane edited "The Raymond
Chandler Papers." In 2007 Judith Freeman authored “The Long Embrace:
Raymond Chandler and the Woman He Loved.”
(WSJ, 10/18/95, A-16)(SFC, 7/9/97, p.D5)(SFC,
3/14/98, p.B7)(SFC, 11/18/99, p.C8)(WSJ, 4/23/01, p.A20)(SS,
3/26/02)(SSFC, 11/4/07, p.M1)
1959 May 4, Pulitzer prize was
awarded to Archibald Macleish (again) for his poetic drama, JB based
on the Book of Job.
(MC, 5/4/02)
1959 Jun 2, Allen Ginsberg
wrote his poem "Lysergic Acid," in SF.
(SC, 6/2/02)
1959 Richard Condon (d.1996)
authored his novel "The Manchurian Candidate." It was made into a
film with Frank Sinatra in 1962. In 2003 it was revealed that
phrases and ideas were plagiarized from "I, Claudius," the 1934
historical novel by Robert Graves.
(SFC, 10/4/03, p.D1)
1959 Jack Kerouac published
"Doctor Sax" with Grove Press. He had begun the book while visiting
William Burroughs in Mexico City around 1951. In 2003 it was
released on CD based on a 1998 screenplay by Jim Sampas, Kerouac's
nephew.
(SSFC, 11/2/03, p.M2)
1959 Philip Roth authored his
coming-of-age novella “Goodbye Columbus.” The initial publication
included 5 other short stories.
(WSJ, 12/15/07, p.W10)
1959 Alan Sillitoe (1928-2010),
English writer, authored his novel “The Loneliness of a
Long-distance Runner.”
(Econ, 5/1/10,
p.88)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Sillitoe)
1959 Hunter Thompson spent time
working in San Juan as a journalist and based his novel "The Rum
Diary," published in 1998, on the experience. Plans for a film based
on the book developed in 2003.
(SFC, 11/7/03, p.D11)
1960 Jan 4, Albert Camus
(1913-1960), French writer, died in an automobile accident at age
46. He won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1957. His work included
the play “Caligula” and a collection of journalistic pieces for the
clandestine newspaper Combat (1944-1947). In 1997 Oliver Todd wrote
the biography “Albert Camus.” In 1979 Herbert Lottman also wrote a
biography: “Albert Camus.” In 2006 Camus’ WW II pieces, edited by
Jacqueline Levi-Valensi, were published as ”Camus at Combat.” In
2010 Virgil Tanase authored “Albert Camus.”
(SFC, 12/25/96, p.A22)(WSJ, 12/12/97, p.A16)(AP,
1/4/98)(WSJ, 2/11/06, p.P10)(Econ, 1/9/10, p.83)
1960 Mar 24, US appeals court
ruled the novel, "Lady Chatterly's Lover" by D.H. Lawrence, to be
not obscene.
(WSJ, 5/15/95, p. A-16)(MC, 3/24/02)
1960 May 2, Pulitzer prize was
awarded to Alan Drury (Advice & Consent).
(MC, 5/2/02)
1960 May 30, Boris Pasternak
(b.1890), Russian poet, novelist (Dr Zhivago) and translator, died
at age 70.
(WUD, 1994, p.1055)(MC, 5/30/02)
1960 John Barth authored his
novel “The Sot-Weed Factor.”
(SSFC, 12/18/05, p.M4)
1960 Daniel Bell (1919-2011)
authored “The End of Ideology: On the Exhaustion of Political Ideas
in the Fifties.”
(Econ, 12/3/05,
p.34)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Bell)
1960 Graham Green (1904-1991)
authored “A Burnt-Out Case,” centered on a leper colony in the
Congo.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Burnt-Out_Case)
1960 Harper Lee (b.1926),
American novelist, authored "To Kill a Mockingbird." It was made
into a film in 1962. In 2006 Charles J. Shields authored
“Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee.”
(HN, 4/28/99)(SSFC, 6/25/06, p.M3)
1960 Zora Neale Hurston
(b.1903), black author, died. Her 1942 autobiography was titled
"Dust Tracks on a Road." In 1977 Robert Hemenway authored a
biography of Hurston. In 2002 Cora Kaplan edited "Zora Neale
Hurston: A Life in Letters." In 2002 Valerie Boyd authored the
biography "Wrapped in Rainbows."
(WSJ, 12/20/02, p.W8)(SSFC, 12/29/02, p.M1)
1960 Yukio Mishima (1925-1970),
Japanese writer, authored “Utage No Ato “After the Banquet), a
somewhat disguised account of certain aspects of an actual political
campaign.
(Econ, 8/22/09,
p.35)(www.answers.com/topic/yukio-mishima)
1961 Jan 10,
Dashiell Hammett (66), author, died in NYC from throat cancer.
In 1983 Diane Johnson authored his biography. His books included
“The Maltese Falcon” and “The Thin Man,” both of which were turned
into films. He wrote “The Maltese Falcon” while living in San
Francisco at 891 Post St., which was also given as the address of
detective Sam Spade.
(www.imdb.com/name/nm0358591/)(SFC, 6/7/04, p.C2)
1961 Mar 16, "The Agony and the
Ecstasy" was published by Irving Stone.
(HN, 3/16/98)
1961 May 1, A Pulitzer prize
was awarded to Harper Lee, author of "To Kill a Mockingbird."
(MC, 5/1/02)
1961 Jun 2, George S. Kaufman
(72), playwright, director, Pulitzer prize winner, died.
(SC, 6/2/02)
1961 Jul 1, Louis-Ferdinand
Celine (b.1894), French physician, author, anti-Semite, died. His
books included “Journey to the End of Night” (1932).
(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/lfceline.htm)(WSJ, 9/23/06,
p.P8)
1961 Jul 2, Novelist E.
Hemingway shot himself in the head at his home in Ketchum, Idaho.
Boozing and physical trauma led to depression, electroshock therapy
and suicide. In 1964 his novel "A Moveable Feast was published. In
1974 Jose Luis Castillo-Puche published "Hemingway
in Spain." His novel "True at First Light" was based on his 1953
safari in Africa and was to be published Jul 21 1999, the centennial
of his birth. His book "The Garden of Eden" and "Islands in the
Stream" were also published after his death. His novel "Dangerous
Summer" was based on the rivalry between two matadors, Antonio
Ordonez (d.1998) and Luis Miguel Dominguin. In 1976 his son
Gregory (d.2001) authored "Papa: A Personal Memoir."
(SFC, 7/2/96, p.A11)(TMC, 1994, p.1961)(AP,
7/2/97)(SFC, 8/5/98, p.E3)(SFC, 8/25/98, p.A2)(SFC, 12/21/98,
p.B5)(WSJ, 6/18/99, p.W13)(SFC, 10/6/01, p.A18)
1961 Nov 2, James Thurber
(b.1894), humorist (The Male Animal), died at age 66. In 1975 Burton
Bernstein authored "Thurber: A Biography." In 2003 Harrison Kinney
and Rosemary A. Thurber edited "The Thurber Letters."
(MC, 11/2/01)(WSJ, 8/1/03, p.W10)
1961 Dec 12, Frantz Fanon
(b.1925), Martinique-born writer, psychiatrist, and revolutionary
died in Washington, DC. His work foretold of Third World liberation
struggles. His book “Wretched of the Earth” (1961) celebrated
anti-colonial revolutionaries. In 2008 John Edgar Wideman authored
his novel “Fanon” based on Fanon’s life.
(SSFC, 10/5/03, p.M2)(WSJ, 2/15/08,
p.W2)(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/fanon.htm)(Econ, 4/17/10, SR p.16)
1961 Ivo Andric of Yugoslavia
won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
(AP, 10/8/09)
1961 Irene Kampen (d.1998 at
75) wrote her first of ten books on her life following a divorce:
"Life Without George." The books became the basis for the TV sitcom:
"The Lucy Show" (1962-1974), which followed Lucille Ball’s divorce
with Desi Arnaz.
(SFC, 2/10/98, p.A22)
1961 William Saroyan published
his autobiography: "Here Comes There Goes You Know Who."
(SFEM, 4/27/97, p.11)
1961 "Academic Women" by Prof.
Jessie Bernard (1903-1996) was published. She soon retired but
continued writing. Her works included "The Sex Game," "The Female
World," "The Future of Marriage," and "The Future of Motherhood."
(SFC, 10/12/96, p.A21)
1961 Stanislaw Lem wrote
"Memoirs Found in a Bathtub." He pondered the growing vulnerability
of civilization to a disruption of its information flow.
(WSJ, 5/6/97, p.A23)
1961 Benjamin Quarles
(1904-1996), historian, published "The Negro in the American
Revolution."
(SFC, 11/19/96, p.B2)
1961 J.D. Salinger published
"Franny and Zooey."
(SFC, 3/22/99, p.A2)
1961 D.W. Sciama published his
book "The Unity of the Universe."
(TNG, Klein, p.154)
1961 Joseph Weber, prof. of
physics at Univ. of Maryland, published his "Gravitational
Relativity and Gravitational Waves."
(TNG, Klein, p.130)
1961 Gerald J. Whitrow (d.2000
at 87), mathematician and philosopher, published "The Nature of
Time."
(SFC, 6/27/00, p.A23)
1961 "The Soft Machine" by
William Burroughs was published.
(SFEC, 8/3/97, p.B6)
1961 The children’s classic
"James and the Giant Peach" by Roald Dahl was published.
(SFEC, 8/25/96, Par p.9)
1961 Joseph Heller published
"Catch-22."
(SFC, 4/28/98, p.A2)
1961 Richard Hughes authored
his historical novel "The Fox in the Attic," based on Hitler’s
failed 1923 putsch.
(NW, 8/20/01, p.56)
1961 Robert A. Heinlein
(1906-1988) authored his sci-fi masterpiece “Stranger in a Strange
Land.” It was about a human child raised on Mars by Martians and
brought to Earth.
(WSJ, 1/26/07, p.D7)
1961 Jane Jacobs authored "The
Death and Life of Great American Cities." It was based on her
experiences in Greenwich Village.
(SFEC, 6/25/00, BR p.4)(WSJ, 10/11/00, p.24)
1961 "The Phantom Tollbooth" by
Norton Juster was published. It was illustrated by Jules Feiffer.
(SFEC, 2/27/00, BR p.12)
1961 James Michener (d.1997 at
90) wrote "Report of the County Chairman."
(SFC,10/17/97, p.A17)
1961 Walker Percy authored his
novel "The Moviegoer."
(SSFC, 4/20/03, p.M3)
1961 Harold Robbins (d.1997)
wrote his novel "Carpetbaggers," based on the life of Howard Hughes.
(SFC,10/15/97, p.C4)
1961 J.D. Salinger published
"Franny and Zooey."
(SFC, 11/23/98, p.E2)
1961 Muriel Spark published her
novel "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie."
(WSJ, 4/11/97, p.A12)
1961 John Updike wrote "Rabbit
Run."
(SFEC, 9/28/97, BR p.3)
1961 Kurt Vonnegut wrote his
novel "Mother Night."
(SFC, 11/15/96, p.C3)
1962 Mar 20, C. Wright Mills
(45), US sociologist (Power Elite), died.
(MC, 3/20/02)
1962 May 7, A Pulitzer prize
was awarded to Theodore H. White (Making of President).
(MC, 5/7/02)
1962 May 12, Dick Calkins,
co-author of Buck Rogers, died at 67.
(SC, Internet, 5/12/97)
1962
Jul 6, William Cuthbert Faulkner (b.1897), US writer (Nobel 1949),
died in Oxford, Miss. In 2004 Jay Parini authored “One Matchless
Time: A Life of William Faulkner.”
(WSJ, 10/28/04,
p.A1)(www.olemiss.edu/depts/english/ms-writers/dir/faulkner_william/)
1962 Oct 1, Ludwig Bemelmans
(1898), Austrian-born writer of children’s books, died in NYC. His
1st Madeline book was published in 1939.
(www.kidsreads.com/series/series-madeline-author.asp)
1962 Helen Gurley Brown
(b.1922) authored "Sex and the Single Girl." In 2009 Jennifer
Scanlon authored “Bad Girls Go Everywhere: The Life of Helen Gurley
Brown.”
(NW, 6/23/03, p.65)(WSJ, 4/10/09, p.W7)
1962 Ken Kesey (1935-2001)
published his novel: "One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest."
(WSJ, 5/15/00, p.A46)(SSFC, 11/11/01, p.A1)
1962 Walker Percy (1916-1990),
physician, novelist (Lancelot), won the National Book Award for his
book "The Moviegoer."
(WSJ, 3/26/03, p.D8)
1962 Alexander Solzhenitsyn
(43) published "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch." It first
appeared in the Soviet magazine Novy Mir. In 1998 D.M. Thomas
published the biography: Alexander Solzhenitsyn: A Century in His
Life." In 1985 Michael Scammell published his biography:
"Solzhenitsyn."
(SFEC, 3/8/98, BR p.9)
1962 Dido Sotiriou authored
“Farewell Anatolia,” a novel of 2 shepherd boys, one Christian and
one Muslim, who go off to fight on opposite sides during the
Greek-Turkish war of 1919-22.
(Econ, 7/17/04, p.79)
1963 Nov 22, Aldous L. Huxley
(69), English author (Devils of Loudon, Brave New World), died in
Los Angeles.
(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/ahuxley.htm)
1963 Nov 22, C.S. Lewis,
English author the Narnia series and other books, died of
osteoporosis. In 2005 Alan Jacobs authored “The Narnian,” a
biography of Lewis.
(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/cslewis.htm)(WSJ, 10/15/05,
p.P13)
1963 May 6, A Pulitzer prize
was awarded to Barbara Tuchman (Guns of August).
(MC, 5/6/02)
1963 Jun 17, John Cowper Powys
(b.1872), English author, died. In 2007 Morine Krissdottir authored
“Descent of Memory: The Life of John Cowper Powys.” His 10 novels
included “Wolf Solent,” the story of a young man’s rebellion against
the modern world.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cowper_Powys)(WSJ, 9/8/07, p.P9)
1963 Oct 11, Jean Cocteau,
French author (La Voie Humaine), surrealist poet, artist and film
director, died at 73. His lover Lean Marais later published a
biography of Cocteau called "L’Inconcevable Jean Cocteau." In 2003
Claude Arnaud authored the biography "Jean Cocteau."
(SFC, 11/10/98, p.A24)(SFC, 10/6/03, p.D8)
1963 German playwright Rolf
Hochhuth produced "The Deputy." The work indicted Pope Pius XII for
Nazi complicity during WW II.
(WSJ, 4/25/97, p.A18)
1963 Hannah Arendt authored
"Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil."
(WSJ, 8/31/99, p.A22)
1963 Nora Beloff (1919-1997),
British political writer and foreign correspondent, wrote "The
General Says No: Britain’s Exclusion from Europe."
(SFC, 2/24/96, p.A17)
1963 Alton L. Blakeslee (d.1997
at 83) wrote "Your Heart has Nine Lives" with Dr. Jeremiah B.
Stamler. He was the chief science writer for the Associated Press
(AP) for 3 decades.
(SFC, 5/14/97, p.A22)
1963 John Campbell Bruce
(1906-1996) wrote "Escape From Alcatraz". It was based on a true
1962 escape. The book was turned into a film in 1979.
(SFC, 7/9/96, p.20)
1963 Donald Davidson (d.2003 at
86), Prof. of Philosophy at UC Berkeley, authored "Actions, Reasons
and Causes."
(SFC, 9/4/03, p.A23)
1963 John Fowles (1926-2005),
English novelist, authored "The Collector."
(Econ, 11/1/03, p.82)(SFC, 11/8/05, p.B5)
1963 The "Feminine Mystique" by
Betty Friedan (1921-2006) was published.
(SFC, 10/12/96, p.A21)(SSFC, 2/5/06, p.A6)
1963 Milton Friedman
(1912-2006) and Anna Jacobson Schwartz authored “A Monetary History
of the United States: 1867-1960.” They argued that the US depression
of the 1930s was the result of an inept Federal Reserve.
(WSJ, 12/7/05, p.A15)(Econ, 11/25/06, p.80)
1963 Abraham Maslow, a pioneer
of humanistic psychology, wrote "Eupsychian Management, A Journal."
It described the management style he witnessed at Non-Linear
Systems. He labeled it "enlightened management" to describe work
conditions that incorporated synergy and led to individual
"self-actualization."
(WSJ, 4/25/97, p.B1)(WSJ, 10/10/97, p.B1)
1963 Ernst Mayr wrote "Animal
Species and Evolution."
(NH, 2/97, p.69)
1963 Mary McCarthy authored her
novel “The Group.” It followed a group of Vassar graduates from 1933
to the start of WWII.
(WSJ, 4/19/08, p.W8)
1963 James Michener (d.1997 at
90) wrote his novel "Caravans," the fruit of wide-ranging trips to
Afghanistan in the mid-1950s.
(SFC,10/17/97, p.A17)(WSJ, 7/5/08, p.W8)
1963 "The American Way of
Death" by Jessica Mitford (d.7/24/96) was published. It was an
expose of the funeral industry in the US. A revised edition was
published in 1998.
(SFC, 6/30/96, Zone 1 p.3)(SFEC, 8/16/98, BR p.1)
1963 Daniel Patrick Moynihan,
later senator and ambassador, authored "Beyond the Melting Pot," a
description of the ethnic groups in NYC.
(SFC, 11/7/98, p.A2)
1963 Sir Lawrence van der Post
(1906-1996) wrote "The Seed and the Sower." It was filmed in 1983 as
Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence with David Bowie.
(SFC, 12/17/96, p.B4)
1963 Dawn Powell published the
novel "The Golden Spur."
(SFEC, 2/14/99, BR p.5)
1963 Alfred Pritchard Sloan
Jr., former head of General Motors Corp., authored "My Life With
General Motors."
(F, 10/7/96, p.132)(Econ, 12/22/07, p.123)
1963 Giorgos Seferis,
Turkish-born Greek, won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
(AP, 10/8/09)
1963 Ezra Solomon (d.2002 at
82), Stanford economics professor, authored "The Theory of Financial
Management."
(SFC, 12/21/02, p.A22)
1963 Jim Thompson authored his
novel "The Grifters." It was made into a film in 1990.
(WSJ, 8/27/01, p.A13)
1963 Charles Webb authored his
novel "The Graduate." It was turned into a movie in 1967.
(WSJ, 5/8/01, p.B1)
1964 Mar 20, Brendan Behan
(41), Irish writer, poet, died.
(MC, 3/20/02)
1964 Apr 14, Rachel L. Carson
(56), American biologist, author (Silent spring), died. She raised
public awareness of environmental pollution and ecological issues
with a number of best-selling books--notably Silent Spring (1962).
In 1997 Linda Gear wrote the biography: "Rachel Carson: Witness for
Nature."
(SFEC, 9/14/97, BR p.3)(HNQ, 4//01)(MC, 4/14/02)
1964 Apr 18, Ben Hecht (71),
playwright (Child of the Century), died.
(MC, 4/18/02)
1964 Aug 12, Ian L. Fleming
(56), British spy, journalist, writer (James Bond), died. He had
recently sold a 51% share of the copyright of his books to Sir Jock
Campbell, who chaired the Booker Brothers. In 2000 Fleming’s heirs
bought back the copyright to the books.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Fleming)(Econ,
5/31/08, p.90)
1964 Ken Kesey (1935-2001)
authored "Sometimes a Great Notion."
(SSFC, 11/11/01, p.A1)(SSFC, 11/30/03, p.E1)
1964 J.P. Martin (1879-1966),
English Methodist minister, published the 1st of his Uncle series of
children‘s books.
(Econ, 12/24/05,
p.113)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J.P._Martin)
1964 Aug 3, Flannery O'Connor
(b.1925), novelist and short story writer, died in Georgia of lupus,
an incurable, autoimmune disease. In 2009 Brad Gooch authored
“Flannery: A Life of Flannery O’Connor.”
(www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-498)(Econ,
2/28/09, p.89)
1964 Robert Heinlein
(1907-1988), libertarian sci-fi writer, published "Farnham's
Freehold."
(SFEC, 12/27/98, BR
p.3)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_A._Heinlein)
1964 Jane Rule (1931-2007),
American-born Canadian writer, authored her novel, “Desert of the
Heart.” It later became recognized as a landmark work of lesbian
fiction.
(SFC, 12/10/07, p.C5)
1965 Apr 8, Erik A. Blomberg
(70), Swedish art historian, poet, author, died.
(MC, 4/8/02)
1965 Apr 14, Perry E. Smith and
Robert E. Hickok, US murderers, were hanged. Their 1959 murder of a
Kansas farm family was described by Truman Capote (1924-1984) in his
1965 book: “In Cold Blood”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry_Smith_(murderer))(WSJ, 5/19/07,
p.P8)
1965 Jul 31, J. K. Rawling,
British writer, was born in Yate, Gloucestershire. She became famous
for her Harry Potter fantasy series.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._K._Rowling)
1965 Sep 14, Vasily Grossman
(b.1964, Soviet writer, died in Moscow. In 1961 his novel “Life and
Fate,” a book about Nazis and Soviets at war, was confiscated. A
copy was smuggled to the US and published in English 1985. In 2011
the BBC dramatized the book on Radio 4.
(Econ, 9/10/11,
p.98)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Grossman)
1965 Dec 16, Somerset Maugham
(91), author, died. His books included “The Moon and Sixpence”
(1919), a novel whose main character is based on Paul Gauguin. In
2004 Jeffrey Meyers authored "Somerset Maugham: A Life."
(SSFC, 2/29/04, p.M3)(Econ, 3/6/04, p.75)
1965 Irving Kristol
(1920-2009), political writer and publisher, and Daniel Bell
(1919-2011) founded the “Public Interest,” an American quarterly
public policy journal.
(Econ, 9/26/09,
p.100)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Public_Interest)
1966 Mar 21, Supreme Court
reversed Massachusetts ruling that Fanny Hill" is obscene.
(MC, 3/21/02)
1966 Apr 2, Cecil Scott
Forester (66), English author (Horatio Hornblower), died.
(MC, 4/2/02)
1966 Apr 10, Evelyn Waugh
(b.1903), British writer, satirist (Brideshead Revisited), died. He
also wrote “The Loved Ones,” a satire on California burial customs
and “Vile Bodies.” His correspondence with Nancy Mitford, novelist
of manners, was edited by Charlotte Mosley and published in 1997. In
2007 Alexander Waugh, grandson of Evelyn Waugh, authored “Fathers
and Sons,” his biography of the Waugh family.
(WSJ, 4/29/97, p.A18)(SFC, 9/11/04, p.E1)(WSJ,
5/26/07, p.P6)
1966 S.Y. Agnon (1888-1970),
Jewish writer, shared the Nobel Prize in Literature with Nelly
Sachs, a German-born Swede.
(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/agnon.htm)(AP, 10/8/09)
1966 Robert Heinlein
(1907-1988) published his novel “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.” His
setting was a penal colony on the moon in 2075.
(V.D.-H.K.p.383)(WSJ, 4/18/09, p.W8)
1966 Frederick Knott (d.2002 at
86), playwright, wrote "Wait Until Dark." It ran for 373
performances on Broadway. In 1967 Terence Young made it into a film.
(SFC, 12/24/02, p.A16)
1966 Naguib Mahfouz, Nobel
Prize (1988), published his novel "Adrift on the Nile."
(SSFC, 10/19/03, p.C11)
1967 Mar 7, Alice B. Toklas
(b.1877), the life partner of writer Gertrude Stein, died In Paris,
France. Her work included “The Alice B. Toklas Cookbook” (1954). In
2007 Janet Malcolm authored “Two Lives: Gertrude and Alice.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_B._Toklas)(WSJ, 9/25/07, p.D6)
1967 May 1, A Pulitzer prize
was awarded to Bernard Malamud (Fixer).
(MC, 5/1/02)
1967 May 22, J. Langston Hughes
(b.1902), poet laureate, US author (Tambourines to Glory), died.
(MC, 5/22/02)
1967 Jun 3, Arthur Ransome
(b.1884), English author of children’s adventure stories, died. He
is best known for writing the “Swallows and Amazons” series of
children's books. It is believed that he served as a double agent
and worked in the Russian service after the collapse of the Czarist
regime. In 1918 he wrote a propaganda pamphlet titled: “On Behalf of
Russia: An Open Letter to America.” In 2009 Roland Chambers authored
“The Last Englishman: The Double Life of Arthur Ransome.”
(Econ, 8/29/09,
p.73)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Ransome)
1967 Sep 29, Author Carson
McCullers died in Nyack, N.Y., at age 50.
(AP, 9/29/07)
1967 Miguel A. Asturias
(1899-1974) of Guatemala won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
(AP,
10/8/09))(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_%C3%81ngel_Asturias)
1967 John Gregory Dunne
(1932-2003) authored "Delano," an account of the California grape
strike.
(SFC, 1/1/04, p.A23)
1967 S.E. Hinton authored “The
Outsiders,” her 1st novel. In 1983 a film version starred Emilio
Estevez, Rob Lowe, C. Thomas Howell, Patrick Swayze, and Tom Cruise.
It was directed by Francis Ford Coppola and produced by Fred Roos.
{Writer, film}
(SFC, 9/20/05, p.E1)(www.sehinton.com/bio/)
1967 Margaret Lovett (b.1910),
English writer, authored "The Great and Terrible Quest," a
children's historical novel set in medieval Italy.
(Econ, 8/30/03, p.62)
1967 Norman Mailer (1923-2007),
American writer, authored “Why Are We in Vietnam.”
(SSFC, 11/11/07, p.A7)
1967 The book "A Hundred Years
of Solitude," by Colombian novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez (b.1927),
was published in Spanish.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Hundred_Years_of_Solitude)
1967 Author Alexander
Solzhenitsyn met with Olga Andreyev Carlisle in Moscow. She agreed
to get smuggled copies of "The First Circle" and "The Gulag
Archipelago" published in the West. The novel, completed in 1964,
was banned by Soviet officials. A shortened version came out in
English in 1968. After some years a feud ensued when Solzhenitsyn
accused Carlisle of being motivated only by profit and personal
acclaim. An unedited English version was scheduled for publication
in 2009.
(SSFC, 1/25/04, p.A1)(SFC, 7/16/08, p.E6)
1968 Apr 16, Edna Ferber
(b.1885), US author and playwright, died in NYC. Her novels included
“Show Boat” (1926), which was produced on Broadway in 1927 and later
adopted 4 times as a movie.
(www.apl.org/history/ferber/edna.bio.html)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edna_Ferber)
1968 May 8, William Styron
(1925-2006), a white author, received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
for “The Confessions of Nat Turner.” The book was based on the true
story of an 1831 slave revolt in Virginia. Some black intellectuals,
including Cornell historian John Henrik Clarke, published a critical
response to the book.
(www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/rfk/sfeature/sf_1968_text_05.html)
1968 Aug 19, George Gamow
(b.1904), physicist and writer, died. He popularized the idea of The
Big Bang.
(V.D.-H.K.p.335)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Gamow)
1968 Nov 25, Upton B. Sinclair
(b.1878), US novelist and social reformer (Jungle), died at age 90.
His work included almost 50 novels, over 20 nonfiction books, plays
and countless pieces of journalism. In 1975 Leon A. Harris Jr.
(d.2000) authored "Upton Sinclair, American Rebel." In 2006 Anthony
Arthur authored “Radical Innocent: Upton Sinclair.”
(www.americanwriters.org/writers/sinclair.asp)(WSJ, 2/23/06,
p.D8)(WSJ, 6/10/06, p.P8)
1968 Dec 10, Thomas Merton, a
Trappist monk writer, died in Bangkok, Thailand from accidental
electrocution. He had just finished his 7th journal "The Other side
of the Mountain." Merton was influenced by the Hindu scholar
Mahanambrata Brahmachari (d.1999). Merton's work also the spiritual
autobiography "The Seven Story Mountain." In 1978 Monica Furlong
(d.2003) authored a biography of Merton.
(SFC, 2/24/98, p.A22)(SFEC, 9/27/98, BR p.3)(SFC,
11/2/99, p.A26)(SFC, 2/3/03, p.B4)(WSJ, 3/26/03, p.D8)
1968 Dec 20, John Steinbeck
(b.1902), California-born author, died from a bad heart in New York
City at age 66. He won the Nobel Prize in 1940. In 1995 Jay Parini
published "John Steinbeck: A Biography."
(AP, 12/20/97)(SFEC, 6/21/98, DB
p.35)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Steinbeck)
1968 Roland Barthes
(1915-1980), French literary critic, published his essay “The Death
of the Author.” In his essay, Barthes criticizes the reader's
tendency to consider aspects of the author's identity—his political
views, historical context, religion, ethnicity, psychology, or other
biographical or personal attributes—to distill meaning from his
work.
(WSJ, 8/2/08,
p.W9)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_the_author)
1968 Richard Bradford
(1932-2002) authored his novel "Red Sky at Morning." A film version
was released in 1971.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Bradford)(SFC, 11/8/99,
p.C2)(SFC, 3/27/02, p.A21)
1968 Herb Caen (1916-1997), SF
newspaper columnist, wrote his 7th book: "City of Golden Hills."
(SFEC, 2/2/97, p.A13)
1968 Carlos Castaneda (d.1998
at 72) published his thesis: "The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way
of Knowledge," with the Univ. of Calif. Press. It became an int’l.
best seller. He went on to publish "A Separate Reality," "Journey to
Ixtlan," and others.
(SFC, 6/19/98, p.A2)
1968 "The Warrior Pharaohs" by
British author Leonard Cottrell (1913-1974) was published by Evans
Brothers Ltd, London.
(L.C.-W.P.,
1968)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Cottrell)
1968 Philip Dick (1928-1982)
authored his sci-fi novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep." In
1982 it was made into the film "Blade Runner."
(SFC, 6/25/02,
p.D1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_K._Dick)
1968 Frederick Exley
(1929-1992), American novelist, published his book "A Fan’s Notes,"
a fictional memoir of his failed life. In 1997 Jonathon Yardley
published: "Misfit: The Strange Life of Frederick Exley."
(SFEC, 8/17/97, BR
p.3)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Exley)
1968 Don Freeman (1908-1978),
painter and children’s writer, authored "Corduroy," the story of a
teddy bear named Corduroy, who is bought in a department store by a
girl named Lisa.
(SFEC, 2/27/00, BR
p.12)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Freeman)
1968 Graham Greene wrote
"Travels With My Aunt." In 1989 it was adopted for stage by Giles
Havergal, director of the Citizens’ Theater in Glasgow.
(SFEC, 1/5/97, DB p.25)
1968 Arthur Hailey (1920-2004)
author his best-selling novel ”Airport.”
(HN, 4/5/01)(SFC, 11/26/04, p.B3)
1968 H. Richard Hornberger
(1924-1997), under the pseudonym of Richard Hooker, collaborated
with W.C. Heinz on the Korean War novel "MASH." It was made into a
film in 1970 and a TV series (1972-1977).
(SFEC, 8/29/99, BR
p.3)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._Richard_Hornberger)
1968 Chuang Hua (1931-2000),
the pen name of Stella Yang Copley, authored her novel “Crossings,”
an experimental novel on the life of a first generation
Chinese-American woman.
(www.ndpublishing.com/books/chuanghuacrossings.html)
1968 James Michener
(1907-1997), American author, wrote his travel book "Iberia," a
detailed and illustrated exploration of Spain at it was during the
mid 1960s.
(SFC,10/17/97,
p.A17)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_A._Michener)
1968 Anton Myrer (1922-1996),
American writer, authored "Once an Eagle," a story of the US Army
from WW I to Vietnam. It pitted an honorable officer against a
self-serving officer and sold millions of copies.
(SFC, 8/20/99,
p.D7)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Myrer)
1968 William Safire
(1929-2009), conservative journalist and presidential speechwriter,
authored “Safire’s Political Dictionary.”
(Econ, 10/3/09, p.11)
1968 Tom Wolfe (b.1931),
American writer and journalist, authored "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid
Test." It was about the 1964 road trip by Ken Kesey and the Merry
Pranksters to the NY World’s Fair.
(SSFC, 11/11/01,
p.A16)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Wolfe)
1969 Mar 25, Max Forrester
Eastman (b.1883), US critic and essayist, died. His books
included “Love and Revolution: My Journey Through an Epoch”
(1964).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Eastman)
1969 Mar 26, Writer John
Kennedy Toole (b.1937) committed suicide at the age of 32. His
mother helped get his first and only novel, "A Confederacy of
Dunces," published. It went on to win the 1981 Pulitzer Prize.
(HN,
3/26/01)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kennedy_Toole)
1969 Mar 26, B. Traven
(b.1890), novelist and short-story writer, died. He lived most of
his life incognito in Mexico. His work included "The Treasure of the
Sierra Madre" (1934), "The Death Ship," The Rebellion of the Hanged"
and "The General from the Jungle." In 1976 Michael L. Baumann
authored "B. Traven, An Introduction." In 2000 Michael L. Baumann
authored "Mr. Traven, I Presume."
(SFEC, 10/15/00, BR
p.8)(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/traven.htm)
1969 May 4, F. Osbert S.
Sitwell (76), English poet (Who Killed Cock Robin?), died.
(MC, 5/4/02)
1969 May 5, A Pulitzer prize
was awarded to Norman Mailer (Armies of the Night).
(MC, 5/5/02)
1969 Aug 14, Leonard Sidney
Woolf (b.1880), English publisher, writer, died. He was the husband
of writer and critic Virginia Woolf (1882-1941). His books included
“The Village in the Jungle,” a novel based on his time in Sri Lanka
(1904-1911). In 2006 Victoria Glendinning authored “Leonard Woolf: A
Biography.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Woolf)(Econ, 9/16/06, p.93)
1969 Oct 21, Jack Kerouac (47),
Beat Generation chronicler, died of alcoholism in St. Petersburg,
Fla. He wrote "On the Road" (1957), "Desolation Angels," "Vanity of
Duluoz," and "Dharma Bums." Japhy Ryder the Zen hobo-poet in the
book was modeled after poet Gary Snyder. In 1979 Dennis McNally
authored the biography "Desolate Angel." In 1998 Ellis Amburn
published "Subterranean Kerouac: The Hidden Life of Jack Kerouac."
In 1999 Barry Miles published "Jack Kerouac, King of the Beats: A
Portrait." In 2004 Douglas Brinkley edited “Windblown World: The
Journals of Jack Kerouac.”
(SFC, 6/7/96, p.A22)(SFC, 9/1/96, DB p.30)(SFEC,
5/31/98, p.A17)(SFEC, 8/9/98, BR 9 p.3)(SFEC, 1/17/99, BR p.3)(SSFC,
8/11/02, p.M1)(SSFC, 10/17/04, p.M1)
1969 Nov 4, Author Alexander
Solzhenitsyn was expelled from Soviet Writers Union.
(http://files.osa.ceu.hu/holdings/300/8/3/text/66-1-414.shtml)
1969 George MacDonald Fraser
(1925-2008), British writer, authored the novel “Flashman,” the 1st
in a series celebrating the adventures of Sir Harry Paget Flashman.
Brigadier-General Sir Harry Paget Flashman is a fictional character
originally created by the author Thomas Hughes in his
semi-autobiographical work Tom Brown's Schooldays, first published
in 1857. In this book, set at Rugby School, Flashman is the
notorious bully, who persecutes its eponymous hero Tom Brown.
(WSJ, 11/5/05,
p.P8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Paget_Flashman)
1969 Clifford Irving (b.1930),
American writer, published "Fake," the story of Hungarian art forger
Elmyr de Hory (1906-1976). The int'l. de Hory scam became public in
1967. Irving and De Hory were featured in the 1975 Orson Welles film
"F" for Fake.
{USA, Books, Artist, Hungary}
(SFC, 7/29/99,
p.E6)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifford_Irving)
1969 James Michener
(1907-1997), American writer, authored "Presidential Lottery."
{Writer, USA, Books}
(SFC,10/17/97,
p.A17)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Michener)
1969 Mario Puzo (1920-1999)
wrote his novel "The Godfather." It was made into a hit movie in
1972.
(WSJ, 5/1/97, p.A16)
1969 Gay Talese (b.1932)
authored “The Kingdom and the Power,” an inside story of the NY
Times from the post war period through the 1960s.
{Journalism, NYC, USA, Books}
(WSJ, 1/21/06,
p.P11)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_Talese)
1969 Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007)
authored "Slaughterhouse-Five." It was set in Dresden, Germany,
during the allied bombing of the city on Feb 13, 1945. He also wrote
"Mother Night" (1961) which was made into a film in 1996.
(WSJ, 10/22/96, p.A20)(WSJ, 11/1/96, p.A11)
1970 Feb 17, S.Y. Agnon, Jewish
writer and Nobel Prize winner (1966) died in Jerusalem. His books
included “Days of Awe,” a compendium of Jewish practices, legends
and commentaries.
(WSJ, 9/22/07,
p.W6)(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/agnon.htm)
1970 Apr 11, John H. O'Hara
(b.1905), US journalist and novelist (Pal Joey, Rage to Live), died.
In 2003 Geoffrey Wolff authored "The Art of Burning Bridges: The
Life of John O'Hara."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_O%27Hara)(SSFC, 8/31/03, p.M2)
1970 May 22, Joseph W. Krutch
(b.1893), US writer, died. His books included “Measure of Man”
(1954).
(www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/323961/Joseph-Wood-Krutch)
1970 May 29, John Gunther
(b.1901), American journalist and author, died.
(www.hwwilson.com/Print/14gunther.html)
1970 Apr 11, John H. O'Hara
(b.1905), US journalist and novelist (Pal Joey, Rage to Live), died.
In 2003 Geoffrey Wolff authored "The Art of Burning Bridges: The
Life of John O'Hara."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_O%27Hara)(SSFC, 8/31/03, p.M2)
1970 May 22, Joseph W. Krutch
(b.1893), US writer, died. His books included “Measure of Man”
(1954).
(www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/323961/Joseph-Wood-Krutch)
1970 Jun 7, E.M. Forster
(b.1879 as Edward Morgan Forster), English novelist, died. His
novels included “A Room With a View” (1908) and “A Passage to India”
(1924). In 2010 Frank Kermode authored “Concerning E.M. Forster.”
Wendy Moffat authored “A Great Unrecorded History: A new Life of
E.M. Forster.”
(SFC,12/26/97,
p.C22)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._M._Forster)(Econ, 5/1/10,
p.87)
1970 Sep 25, Erich M. Remarque
(b.1898), German writer, died. His books included “Im West Nichts
Neues” (All Quiet on the Western Front), 1929.
(http://kirjasto.sci.fi/remarque.htm)
1970 Sep 28, John Roderigo Dos
Passos (b.1896), US writer (Manhattan Transfer), died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dos_Passos)
1970 Nov 25, Yukio Mishima
(45), Japanese author and nationalist (Hara-kiri), invaded military
headquarters in Tokyo and committed ritual suicide samurai-style.
His death was an act of protest after he failed to persuade the
country's Self Defense Force to stage a coup and renounce the
US-imposed postwar constitution that banned Japanese aggressive
military action. His books included "The Sound of Waves" and "The
Temple and the Golden Pavilion." In 1998 Jiro Fukushima published a
memoir that contained 15 letters from Mishima and descriptions of a
sexual liaison with Mishima. A lawsuit soon halted book sales.
(SFEC, 1/25/98, Z1 p.2)(SFC, 10/21/99, p.B7)
1970 Richard Bach (b.1936),
American writer, authored his novel "Jonathan Livingston Seagull."
(SFC, 6/27/00,
p.A23)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Bach)
1970 Jim Bouton (b.1939)
published his controversial "Ball Four."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_Four)
1970 Dee Brown (1908-2002),
American writer, published "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee," a
history of Native Americans in the American West in the late
nineteenth century and their displacement and slaughter by the
United States federal government.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bury_My_Heart_at_Wounded_Knee)
1970 J. Desmond Clark (d.2002),
professor at UC Berkeley, authored "The Pre-history of Africa."
(SFC, 2/16/02, p.A25)
1970 James Dickey (1923-1997),
American author, published his novel "Deliverance."
(SFC,1/21/97, p.A20)
1970 Germaine Greer (b.1939),
Australian academic writer, published "The Female Eunuch." The work
insisted on women's right to free sexuality and vaginal pleasure. In
1999 Christine Wallace published the biography: "Germaine Greer:
Untamed Shrew."
(SFEC, 7/4/99, BR
p.5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germaine_Greer)
1970 Tony Hillerman
(1925-2008), American writer, introduced Lt. Joe Leaphorn in his
first detective novel "The Blessing Way," as an experienced police
officer who understood, but did not share his people's traditional
belief in a rich spirit world. Officer Jim Chee, introduced in
"People of Darkness" (1978), was a younger officer studying to
become a "hathaali" — Navajo for "shaman."
(AP, 10/27/08)
1970 "Slag," the first major
play by English dramatist David Hare (b.1947), had its premier.
(WSJ, 7/16/97, p.A20)
1970 Dr. Arthur Janov authored
his int’l. bestseller “The Primal Scream,” a book that
revolutionized the world of psychotherapy.
(www.primaltherapy.com/SEO/items_books.shtml)
1970 Joseph Lieberman authored
"The Scorpion and the Tarantula: The Struggle to Control Atomic
Weapons 1945-1969." Lieberman stood as the Democratic candidate for
vice-president with Al Gore in 2000.
(WSJ, 8/30/00, p.A26)
1970 Susan Lydon (1943-2005)
authored the feminist essay “The Politics of Orgasm” in the Rolling
Stone rock magazine.
(SSFC, 7/24/05, p.A19)
1970 Malachi Martin (d.1999 at
78), an Irish-born former Jesuit, published "The Encounter," a study
of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
(SFC, 7/30/99, p.D8)
1970 James Michener (d.1997 at
90) wrote "The Quality of Life."
(SFC,10/17/97, p.A17)
1970 George L. Mosse
(1918-1999), a Univ. of Wisconsin historian, published "Germans and
Jews: The Right, the Left, and the Search for a 'Third Force' in
Pre-Nazi Germany."
(SFEC, 1/31/99,
p.D8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mosse)
1970 Lewis Mumford (1895-1990),
American historian of technology and science, published "The Myth of
the Machine."
(Wired, 8/96,
p.168)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Mumford)
1970 Michael Ondaatje, Sri
Lanka-born writer, authored his novel "The Collected Works of Billy
the Kid."
(SSFC, 9/9/01, DB p.70)
1970 Linus Pauling (1901-1994)
authored “Vitamin C and the Common Cold” in which he declared that
large doses of Vitamin C could ward off colds.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linus_Pauling)
1970 Robert Peterson
(1906-2006) authored “Only the Ball Was White,” the first history of
baseball’s US Negro Leagues.
(SFC, 2/21/06, p.B5)
1970 Harold Pinter (b.1930),
English playwright and actor, wrote his play "Old Times."
(SFC, 6/16/98, p.D1)
1970 Charles A. Reich (b.1928),
a professor at Yale Univ. Law School, published his "Greening of
America" first in the New Yorker and then as a book. In this work
Reich predicted that "something called Consciousness III would soon
create a social revolution by wiping out its ugly forbear,
Consciousness II." In 1995 he published a new book, "Opposing
the System," wherein he explained why the greening of America never
took place. In 2000 Roger Kimball followed the thread with "The Long
March." "…everything is sucked through the sieve of politics and the
ideology of victimhood."
(WSJ, 10/3/95, p.A-18)(WSJ, 6/28/00,
p.A20)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_A._Reich)
1970 Richard Scammon
(1915-2001) and Ben J. Wattenberg (b.1933) authored "The Real
Majority." They argued that the Democratic Party needed to focus on
social issues in order to survive.
(SSFC, 4/29/01, p.A27)
1970 Yasundo Takahashi
(1912-1996), professor at UC Berkeley, wrote his textbook "Control
and Dynamic Systems." It became a standard reference in the field of
control engineering, the study of how machines work.
(http://tinyurl.com/6qjaoo)(http://catalog.library.ksu.edu.sa/digital/153142.html)
1970 Alvin Toffler (b.1928)
"Future Shock," and argued that technology was changing so rapidly
that individuals could find themselves strangers in their own
cultures.
(HN, 10/4/00)(NW, 9/16/02, p.34D)
1971 Apr 3, Manfred Bennington
Lee (65), detective writer, died. Brooklyn cousins Daniel
Nathan, alias Frederic Dannay (1905-1982) and Manford Lepofsky,
alias Manfred Bennington Lee (b.1905), used Ellery Queen as both a
fictional character and a pseudonym.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellery_Queen)
1971 May 3, John Toland
(1912-2004), American author and historian, won a Pulitzer
prize for “Rising Sun” (1970) which chronicles Imperial Japan
from its Manchurian involvement following World War I to the end of
World War II.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Toland_(author))
1971 Jun 1, Reinhold Niebuhr
(b.1892), US theologist, died. His Serenity Prayer became widely
used by Alcoholics Anonymous: "God, give us grace to accept with
serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the
things which should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the
one from the other." His books included “Moral Man and Immoral
Society” (1932) and “Nature & Destiny of Man” (1942).
(SSFC, 5/4/03, p.F2)(WSJ, 12/29/07, p.W8)
1971 Al Alvarez (b.1929),
British writer, authored the best seller "The Savage God: A Study of
Suicide."
(WSJ, 12/27/00,
p.A10)(www.oundlesociety.org/AlAlvarez.asp)
1971 Jacques Barzun (b.1907)
and Wendell Hertig Taylor (1905-1985) authored “A Catalog of Crime.”
It became recognized as the best compendium of mystery and espionage
literature ever assembled.
(WSJ, 2/3/07,
p.P12)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Catalogue_of_Crime)
1971 Frederick Forsyth (b.1938)
published his thriller novel "The Day of the Jackal," about an
attempt to assassinate Charles de Gaulle. It was made into a film in
1973. It was remade into a 1997 film called "The Jackal" and another
film about Carlos the Jackal, unrelated to the book, called "The
Assignment."
(SFC, 11/6/96, p.B8)(SFC, 3/15/97, p.A19)(WSJ,
4/18/97, p.A16)(SFEC, 8/24/97, DB p.65)
1971 John Gardner (1933-1982),
American novelist, authored his novel "Grendel" based on the Beowulf
poem. It retold the story from the monster’s point of view.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R53)
1971 Ivan Illich (1926-2002),
Austrian philosopher, anarchist social critic and former Catholic
priest, authored "De-Schooling Society."
(SFC, 12/4/02,
p.A28)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Illich)
1971 Ursula LeGuin (b.1929),
American author, published "The Lathe of Heaven," a science fiction
novel where all the dreams of the main character come true.
(WSJ, 1/1/00,
p.R8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursula_K._Le_Guin)
1971 Robert Ludlum (1927-2001)
authored "The Scarlatti Inheritance," his 1st suspense novel.
(SFC, 3/13/01,
p.A25)(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/ludlum.htm)
1971 John McPhee (b.1931),
American pioneer of narrative non-fiction, authored "Encounters with
the Archdruid."
(SFC, 5/25/96,
p.A13)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McPhee)
1971 James Michener
(1907-1997), American writer, authored "Kent State: What Happened
and Why" as well as his novel "The Drifters."
(SFC,10/17/97,
p.A17)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Michener)
1971 Walker Percy (1916-1990),
American Southern writer, authored his novel "Love in the Ruins."
(SSFC, 4/20/03,
p.M3)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walker_Percy)
1971 Donald Richie (b.1924)
authored his novel ""The Inland Sea," about a lonely American
island-hopping across Japan’s Inland Sea.
(SSFC, 11/10/02,
p.C8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Richie)
1971 Anne Sexton (1928-1974),
American poet and writer, authored "Transformations." It retold
classic fairy stories with a Freudian twist and personal references
and formed the basis for Conrad Susa’s 1973 opera of the same name.
(WSJ, 7/2/97, p.A12)(SFC, 6/23/98,
p.D1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Sexton)
1971 Ngugi wa Thiongo, Kenyan
writer, published his novel “Petals of Blood.” He was soon
imprisoned by the government of Pres. Daniel arap Moi for his
satire. Upon his release he went into exile and established himself
as an American academic.
(Econ, 8/19/06, p.70)
1971 Hunter S. Thompson
(1937-2005), "gonzo journalist," wrote "Fear and Loathing in Las
Vegas." It was made into a film in 1998. The term gonzo was 1st
applied to Thompson by his journalist friend Bill Cardoso (d.1006 at
68). The term had kicked around Boston for some time and was used by
youth in the 1950s to describe something as over the top.
(SFC, 5/22/98, p.C1)(SSFC, 3/5/06, p.B7)
1972 Jan 7, John Berryman, US
poet (Imaginary Jew), died after he jumped off a bridge. His former
wife, Eileen Simpson, died in 2002. Simpson authored her memoir
"Poets in Their Youth" in 1982.
(MC, 1/7/02)(SFC, 10/26/02, p.A24)
1972 Feb 15, Edgar P. Snow
(b.1905), US journalist and author (Battle for Asia, Red Star Over
China), died in Switzerland.
(http://en.wikipedia.org)
1972 Apr 24, Natalie Clifford
Barney (b.1876), lesbian writer and US expatriate, died in Paris. In
2002 Suzanne Rodriguez authored "Wild Heart, A Life: Natalie
Clifford Barney’s Journey From Victorian America to the Literary
Salons of Paris."
(SSFC, 10/27/02,
p.M6)(www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7157)
1972 May 20, Walter Winchell
(75), columnist, narrator (Untouchables), died.
(MC, 5/20/02)
1972 Jun 12, Edmund Wilson
(b.1895), author and American literary critic, died. His novels
included “Memoirs of Hecate County” (1946). In 1995 Jeffrey Meyers
wrote a biography of Mr. Wilson, wherein he documented Wilson’s
relationships with four wives and numerous mistresses as well as his
writings. In 2005 Lewis M. Dabney authored “Edmund Wilson: A Life in
Literature.” In 2007 the Library of America published 2 volumes of
his literary criticism.
(WSJ, 4/26/95, p.A-14)(WSJ, 8/26/05,
p.W6)(www.nndb.com/people/238/000084983/)(WSJ, 9/28/07, p.W4)
1972 George Alec Affinger
(d.2002 at 55) authored his 1st novel "What Entropy Means to Me."
(SFC, 4/30/02, p.A24)
1972 Dr. Robert C. Atkins
(1930-2003), cardiologist, published his weight loss plan "Dr.
Atkins’ Diet Revolution," which allowed patients to eat fat but
restricted carbohydrates.
(SFC, 4/18/03, p.A1)
1972 John Berger (b.1926),
English art critic and novelist, authored his Booker Prize-winning
novel “G.” Berger won the Booker Prize for his novel "G." He later
authored "A Seventh Man."
(SSFC, 1/6/02, p.M2)(SSFC, 8/7/05,
p.C1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Berger)
1972 Heinrich Boll (1917-1985)
of West Germany won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
(AP,
10/8/09)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_B%C3%B6ll)
1972 Paul Bowles published his
autobiography: "Without Stopping." In 1999 Jennifer Baichul
premiered her documentary on Bowles: "Let It Come Down, The Life of
Paul Bowles."
(SFC, 7/12/99, p.E3)
1972 Carol (Dariff) Botwin
(d.1997 at 68) wrote "Sex and the Teenage Girl."
(SFC, 4/16/97, p.A21)
1972 Leo Buscaglia (d.1998 at
74), published his book "Love."
(SFC, 6/13/98, p.A21)
1972 Herb Caen, SF newspaper
columnist, wrote his 8th book "The Cable Car and the Dragons."
(SFEC, 2/2/97, p.A13)
1972 Alex Comfort (1920-2000),
British author, published his "Joy of Sex." The book sold 12 million
copies worldwide.
(SFC, 3/28/00, p.E1)
1972 Timothy Crouse authored
“The Boys on the Bus,” an account of the press pack covering the
1972 presidential campaigns of Richard Nixon and George McGovern.
(WSJ, 12/1/07,
p.W10)(www.mediabistro.com/articles/cache/a3133.asp)
1972 Thomas M. Disch authored
his science fiction novel "334," on events following the passage of
the Revised Genetic Testing Act of 2011.
(WSJ, 1/1/00, p.R8)
1972 Janet Flanner (1892-1978),
American writer, authored "Paris Was Yesterday." She served as the
Paris correspondent of The New Yorker magazine from 1925 until she
retired in 1975.
(SFC, 6/16/96,
T-5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Flanner)
1972 George V. Higgins (d.1999
at 59) published "The Friends of Eddie Coyle." It was made into a
1973 film with Robert Mitchum and Peter Boyle.
(SFEC, 11/7/99, p.C10)
1972 Vance Packard (1914-1996)
wrote "A Nation of Strangers," a critique of the decline of the
American family and loss of community ties.
(SFC, 12/13/96, p.B6)
1972 Ismael Reed (b.1938),
African-American writer, authored "Mumbo Jumbo."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishmael_Reed)
1972 Eudora Welty (1909-2001),
Mississippi based writer, authored "The Optimist’s Daughter." In
1973 it won her a Pulitzer Prize.
(SSFC, 3/29/09, p.G5)
1972 Yasunari Kawabata
(b.1899), a 1968 Nobel laureate in literature, committed suicide
without explanation.
(SFEC, 1/25/98, Z1 p.2)
1973 Feb 22, Elizabeth Bowen
(b.1899), Irish-British novelist and short story writer, died. Her
books included “A Time in Rome” (1959).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Bowen)(WSJ, 6/14/08, p.W10)
1973 Mar 6, Pearl Sydenstricker
Buck (b.1892), author, died in Vermont. Her books included “The Good
Earth” (1931), for which she won the 1938 Nobel Prize in Literature.
In 2010 Hilary Spurling authored “Pearl Buck in China: Journey to
the Good Earth.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_S._Buck)(Econ, 4/10/10, p.85)
1973 Mar 26, Noel Coward (73),
English playwright, died. He was called "The Master" and his work
included "The Vortex," "Hay Fever," "Private Lives," "Brief
Encounter" and "Blithe Spirit." "Noel Coward: A Biography" by Philip
Hoare was published in 1996. Another biography, "A Talent to Amuse"
by Sheridan Morley, published in 1974, was recommended. In 1970 he
was given knighthood.
(WSJ, 8/15/96, p.A10)(SFEC, 8/25/96, BR p.9)(SS,
3/26/02)
1973 Jun 9, John Creasey
(b.1908), British mystery writer, died. He authored at least 600
mystery novels under 28 pseudonyms. His novel Gideon’s Day was
turned into the film “Gideon of Scotland Yard” (1959).
(WSJ, 1/31/09,
p.W8)(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/creasey.htm)
1973 Aug 17, Conrad Aiken
(b.1889), American Pulitzer winning poet and novelist, died.
(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/caiken.htm)
1973 Sep 2, John R. R. Tolkien,
British story writer, died of ulcer at 81. His work included "The
Hobbit" and the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. In 2007 his son
Christopher Tolkien edited “The Children of Hurin,” compiled from
notes and material left by his father.
(WSJ, 7/15/96, p.B1)(Econ, 4/21/07, p.94)
1973 Dec 28, Alexander
Solzhenitsyn published "Gulag Archipelago" in Paris. It was an
expose of the Soviet prison system.
(AP, 12/28/97)(WSJ, 12/11/98, p.W15)
1973 Ernest Becker authored
"The Denial of Death." It reflected a cultural belief that the
denial of death in the US was a pathology responsible for Western
woes from materialism to militarism.
(SSFC, 12/8/02, p.M2)
1973 Daniel Bell (1919-2011)
authored “The Coming of Post-Industrial Society.”
(Econ, 2/5/11, p.80)
1973 Shaun Herron (1912-1989),
Ireland-born author, authored “The Whore-Mother,” a novel about the
Troubles in Northern Ireland.
(WSJ, 10/28/06,
p.P12)(www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/people/herron_s.shtml)
1973 Dr. Mary C. Raugust Howell
(1932-1998) contributed to the women’s medical guide: "Our Bodies,
Ourselves." The book arose out of a 35-cent, 136-page booklet called
Women and Their Bodies, published in 1970 by the New England Free
Press, and written by 12 Boston feminist activists.
(SFC, 2/6/98,
p.A23)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Bodies,_Ourselves)
1973 Erica Jong (b.1942),
American author, published her novel "Fear of Flying."
(WSJ, 8/31/98,
p.A17)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erica_Jong)
1973 Primo Levi (1920-1987)
authored "The Periodic Table," a memoir that incorporated many of
his experiences at the Auschwitz concentration camp.
(SSFC, 5/26/02, p.M1)
1973 James Michener
(1907-1997), American author, published "A Michener Miscellany."
(SFC,10/17/97,
p.A12)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_A._Michener)
1973 Jean Pasqualini
(1926-1997) authored "Prisoner of Mao" with journalist Rudolph
Chelminski. He told of his 7 years in China as a political prisoner
in a labor camp. He was born in Beijing to a Corsican father and
Chinese mother, Mr. Pasqualini was educated in French and British
schools in Tianjin and Shanghai. His Chinese name was Bao Ruowang.
(SFC, 10/14/97, p.A19)(http://tinyurl.com/4oc5vw)
1973 Thomas Pynchon (b.1937),
American author, published his 760-page novel "Gravity’s Rainbow."
(SFEC, 8/6/00, DB
p.39)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Pynchon)
1973 Patrick White (1912-1990),
British-born Australian, won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
(AP,
10/8/09)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_White)
1974 Sep 21, Jacqueline Susann
(b.1918), author, died of cancer. Her books included "Valley of the
Dolls" (1966). In 1987 Barbara Seaman authored Susann's biography:
"Lovely Me." In 2000 the film "Isn't She Great" starred Bette Midler
as Susann.
(SFC, 1/26/00,
p.B1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacqueline_Susann)
1974 Woodward and Bernstein
wrote "All the President's Men." A film based on the book was made
in 1976. In 2003 Woodward and Bernstein sold their Watergate
research papers to the Univ. of Texas for $5 million.
(SFC, 12/30/99, p.E3)(WSJ, 4/18/03, p.W13)
1974 Robert A. Caro authored
"The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York."
(WSJ, 5/1/02, p.D7)(SSFC, 5/5/02, p.M2)
1974 Cleveland Amory authored
"Man Kind," a seminal book on his work with animals.
(SFC, 10/16/98, p.D4)
1974 Doubleday published the
1st edition of "Jaws" by Peter Benchley (1940-2006). In 1975 Steven
Spielberg turned it into a movie.
(http://www3.isrl.uiuc.edu/~unsworth/courses/bestsellers/search.cgi?title=Jaws)(SFC,
2/13/06, p.B3)
1974 Raoul Berger (d.2000 at
99), constitutional scholar, authored "Executive Privilege," which
helped undermine Nixon's claims for executive privilege. Executive
privilege 1st gained recognition with a 1974 Supreme Court ruling
that endorsed a president's right to keep internal office
communications private.
(SFC, 9/27/00, p.A25)(SFC, 1/30/02, p.A10)
1974 Michael R. Best and Frank
H. Brightman edited "The Book of secrets of Albertus Magnus," which
contained a recipe for Greek Fire.
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.10)
1974 Heinrich Boll authored
“The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum.”
(Econ, 6/9/07, p.97)
1974 Steward Brand published
"II Cybernetic Frontiers."
(Wired, 5/97, p.101)
1974 Britannica under editor
Warren Preece (d.2007) published its 15th edition (Britannica 3),
which featured three parts: the Propaedia, the Micropaedia, and the
Macropaedia.
(SFC, 4/17/07, p.D7)
1974 Leo Buscaglia (d.1998 at
74), published his book "The Way of the Bull."
(SFC, 6/13/98, p.A21)
1974 British novelist John le
Carre authored his cold war thriller “Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy.”
In 1979 it was adopted by the BBC for television.
(Econ, 9/17/11,
p.92)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinker,_Tailor,_Soldier,_Spy)
1974 Victor Fuchs of Stanford
authored “Who Shall Live,” an examination of the American health
care system.
(Econ, 7/17/04, Survey p.9)
1974 Emily Hahn (1905-1997)
wrote: "Once Upon a Pedestal: An Informal History of Women's Lib."
(SFC, 2/19/96, p.A20)
1974 Prof. Charles M. Hardin
(1908-1997) wrote "Presidential Power and Accountability."
(SFC, 7/4/97, p.E2)
1974 Eyvind Johnson and Harry
Martinson of Sweden shared the Nobel Prize in Literature.
(AP, 10/8/09)
1974 Ken Kesey began a literary
journal titled "Spit in the Ocean." 6 of 7 issues were published by
1981.
(SSFC, 11/30/03, p.E7)
1974 Stephen Koch authored
“Stargazer,” a study of Andy Warhol as a filmmaker.
(SFC, 9/20/06, p.E5)
1974 Peter Maas (d.2001 at 72)
published his book "King of the Gypsies." It highlighted the
Tene-Bimbo Gypsy clan in New York City.
(SFC,11/6/97, p.A21)(SFC, 8/24/01, p.D7)
1974 Anica Vesel Mander
(d.2002), Yugoslavian-born prof. of Women's Studies, authored
"Feminism as Therapy."
(SFC, 6/22/02, p.A18)
1974 James Michener published
"Centennial."
(SFC,10/17/97, p.A12)
1974 Robert Nozick (d.2002 at
63), Harvard philosopher, authored "Anarchy, State and Utopia" in
which he attacked forms of paternalistic government.
(SFC, 1/25/02, p.A32)
1974 John Paterson (d.2002), UC
Berkeley professor, authored "The Novel as Faith: The Gospel
According to James, Hardy, Conrad, Joyce, Lawrence and Virginia
Woolf."
(SFC, 4/19/02, p.A27)
1974 Dr. John Weir Perry
(d.1998 at 84), psychiatrist, published "The Far Side of Madness."
He believed that psychotic states could lead to a higher state of
consciousness.
(SFC, 11/3/98, p.C2)
1974 Robert Pirsig published
"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance." "The real cycle you're
working on is a cycle called yourself."
(SFEC, 1/3/99, BR p.4)
1974 Jeraldine Saunders, cruise
ship director, authored “Love Boats.” This sparked the 1977 TV show
“The Love Boat.”
(SSFC, 8/7/05,
p.C5)(www.tvland.com/shows/loveboat/main.jhtml)
1974 Patricia Nell Warren
published the groundbreaking gay novel "The Front Runner." It was
about a gay track coach who falls in love with his star runner.
(SFC, 1/7/98, p.E3)
1974 Eleanor Cameron
(1912-1996) received the National Book Award for "The Court of the
Stone Children." She wrote 17 books for children and one novel, "The
Unheard Music," and 2 collections of criticism on children's
literature.
(SFEC, 10/13/96, p.B6)
1974 The book "Palinuro of
Mexico" by Fernando del Paso (b.1935) won the Premio de Mexico in
manuscript form but was not published in Mexico until 1980. The 1st
edition was published in Spain in 1977.
(SFEC, 10/6/96, BR
p.4)(www.complete-review.com/reviews/pasofd/palinuro.htm)
1975 Feb 14, Pelham Graham (PG)
Wodehouse (b.1881), English, US writer (Piccadilly Jim), died at age
93. 58 Penguin editions of his books were done by artist Jos
Armitage (d.1998 at 84), who also contributed to "Punch." In 2004
Robert McCrum authored “Wodehouse.”
(SFC, 2/7/98, p.21)(SFC, 11/19/04, p.W16)
1975 May 5, Michael Shaara won
Pulitzer Prize in fiction for his novel “Killer Angels.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1975_Pulitzer_Prize)
1975 Jun 28, Rod Serling
(b.1924), writer and director of the TV series "Twilight Zone" and
"Night Gallery," died. He was remembered in the 1995 PBS production
titled: "Submitted for Your Approval."
(WSJ, 11/27/95,
p.A-14)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_Serling)
1975 Jul 30, James Benjamin
Blish (b.1921), sci-fi author (Star Trek Reader, Black Sunday),
died. Blish also wrote criticism of science fiction using the
pen-name William Atheling Jr.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Blish)
1975 Nov 5, Lionel Trilling
(b.1905), American author and literary critic, died. His books
included “Beyond Culture” (1965), a collection of essays concerning
modern literary and cultural attitudes toward selfhood.
(SFC, 10/25/96,
p.A24)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionel_Trilling)
1975 Dec 7, Thornton Wilder
(b.1897), American novelist and playwright, died. In 2008 his
selected letters, edited by Robin G. Wilder and Jackson R. Bryer,
were published.
(HN, 4/17/99)(WSJ, 10/4/08, p.W8)
1975 Thomas Harris authored
“Black Sunday,” a novel set around a terrorist conspiracy targeting
the Super Bowl.
(WSJ, 10/28/06, p.P12)
1975 Paul Theroux (b.1941)
authored “The Great Railway Bazaar,” an account of his 1973 train
travels through Europe and Asia. In 2008 he authored “Ghost Train to
the Eastern Star,” a follow up to his 1973 itinerary.
(SFC, 8/6/08, p.E2)
1976 Jan 12, Dame Agatha
Christie (b.1890) (Agatha Mary Clarissa, Lady Mallowan),
English mystery writer, died in Wallingford, England. She also wrote
romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but is remembered for her
66 mystery novels. Her work with mystery novels, particularly
featuring detectives Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple, have given her
the title the “Queen of Crime” and made her one of the most
important and innovative writers in the development of the mystery
novel. Two of her most famous novels might be Murder on the Orient
Express (1934) and Death on the Nile (1937).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agatha_Christie)(SFC,12/26/97,
p.C22)(AP, 1/12/98)
1976 May 24, The SF Chronicle
published the 1st installment of "Tales of the City" by Armistead
Maupin (b.1944). The series continued in the Chronicle until 1983
and was serialized in the Examiner in 1986.
(SFC, 5/1/01, p.A1)(SSFC, 5/8/11, p.A13)
1976 Sep 10, Dalton Trumbo
(b.1905), US novelist and screenwriter, died at age 70. His books
included “Johnny Got His Gun” (1939). He used pseudonyms for a
number of Hollywood screenplays after he was blacklisted as one of
the “Hollywood Ten” by the House Un-American Activities Committee in
1947.
(www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAtrumbo.htm)
1976 Oct 25, Raymond Queneau
(b.1903), Parisian surrealist, died. His work included the prewar
novel "Les Enfants du Limon." In 1998 it was translated to English
as "Children of Clay."
(SFEC, 8/2/98, BR
p.4)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Queneau)
1976 Nov 23, Andre Malraux
(b.1901), author (Conquerors) and French Minister of Culture
(1958-1969), died.
(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/malraux.htm)
1976 Paul Bowles (1910-1999),
American-born composer and writer who lived in Tangier, Morocco,
wrote his short story Allal. In 1996 three of Bowles’ stories were
made into a film titled "Halfmoon" by Frieder Schlaich and Irene von
Alberti. Bertolucci had earlier transferred his novel "The
Sheltering Sky" into film. A biography of Bowles by Millicint
Dillon, "You Are Not I: A Portrait of Paul Bowles" was published in
1998.
(SFC, 6/14/96, p. C3)(SFEC, 4/5/98, BR
p.3)(www.paulbowles.org/bowlesbiography.html)
1976 Norman Maclean (1902-1990)
published "A River Runs Through It and Other Stories." It was a
story about fly fishing in Montana. Recorded books put out a
cassette version in 1993 with other stories that included "Logging
and Pimping and ‘Your Pal, Jim’," and "USFS 1919: The Ranger, the
Cook, and a Hole in the Sky."
(RB,
1993)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Maclean)
1976 A German edition of the
diaries of Austrian writer Robert Musil (1880-1942) was published.
In 1999 Philip Payne published an abridged version "Diaries
1899-1942."
(SFEC, 1/31/99, BR p.9)
1977 Mar 25, In Argentina
political writer Rodolfo Walsh was murdered one day after writing
the “Open Letter to the Military Junta” on the first anniversary of
the military coup. He had reported on tortures, mass killings, and
thousands of disappearances. In 2011 Alfredo Astiz (59), a former
navy spy known as "the Angel of Death," was convicted in the
kidnapping and disappearing of Rodolfo Walsh.
(http://americas.irc-online.org/am/3170)(AP,
10/26/11)
1977 Apr 11, Jacques Prevert
(77), French poet (La puil et le beau), died.
(MC, 4/11/02)
1977 Apr 19, Alex Haley
received a special Pulitzer Prize for his book "Roots."
(HN, 4/19/99)
1977 May 9, James Jones
(b.1921), US writer (From Here to Eternity), died. His work included
the pre-WW II novel "From Here to Eternity." His daughter later
wrote the novel "A Soldier’s Daughter never Cries," which was made
into a film with Kris Kristofferson as James Jones.
(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/jjones.htm)(SFEC, 7/12/98,
Par p.17)
1977 Jul 2, Vladimir Nabokov,
Russian-born author, died in Switzerland. In 1996 a 3-volume
collection of his prose work was issued by the Library of America.
In 1999 Kurt Johnson and Steven Coates authored "Nabokov's Blues:
The Scientific Odyssey of a Literary Genius."
(WSJ, 4/22/99, A20)(SFEC, 10/17/99, BR
p.4)(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/nabokov.htm)
1977 Oct 27, James M.
Cain (b.1892), US writer (Postman Always Rings Twice), died in
University Park, Maryland.
(www.britannica.com)
1977 Dec 9, Clarice Lispector
(b.1920), Ukraine-born Brazilian-Jewish writer, died in Brazil. From
1952-1959 she lived in the US. Her books included “The Passion
According to G.H” (1964). In 2009 Benjamin Moser authored “Why This
World: A Biography of Clarice Lispector.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarice_Lispector)
1977 John Cheever (1912-1982),
American writer, authored his novel “Falconer,” which soon became a
best seller.
(WSJ, 3/7/09, p.W8)
1977 John Gregory Dunne
(1932-2003) authored his novel "True Confessions." It was about the
Black Dahlia case, a 1947 murder in Los Angeles.
(SFC, 1/1/04, p.A23)(SFC, 1/2/04, p.D3)
1977 Emile Rogier Heier (d.1997
at 55), Belgian-born foreign correspondent for the Toronto Star, was
released from a Colombian prison. He returned to the US and began
his book "Down in Colombia" (2003). He later wrote "Lester Leaps
In," a biography of the jazz saxophonist Lester Young.
(SFC, 9/18/97, p.C2)
1977 Iris Murdoch (1919-1999),
Irish born writer and philosopher, authored "The Fire and the Sun:
Why Plato Banished the Artists." In 1994 Murdoch was diagnosed with
Alzheimer’s Disease. In 1998 her husband, John Bayley, published
"Elegy for Iris."
(WSJ, 2/17/98, p.A20)
1977 Carl Sagan (1934-1996)
authored "Dragons of Eden." In 1978 he won a Pulitzer Prize for the
book.
(SFC, 12/21/96, p.A1)
1978 Aug 9, James G. Cozzens
(b.1903), US writer (Guard of Honor, Pulitzer), died. His novels
included “The Last Adam” (1933), “The Just and the Unjust” (1942),
“Guard of Honor” (1948; Pulitzer Prize), “By Love Possessed” (1957),
and “Morning, Noon, and Night” (1968).
(http://libweb.princeton.edu/libraries/firestone/rbsc/aids/cozzens.html)
1978 Oct 5, Isaac Bashevis
Singer (1902-1991), Polish-born American author, was named winner of
the Nobel Prize for literature.
(AP, 10/5/98)
1978 Nov 7, Janet Flanner
(b.1892), American writer and journalist, died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Flanner)
1979 Feb 9, Allen Tate
(b.1899), poet and exponent of the New Criticism, died in Nashville.
(WSJ, 8/2/08, p.W9)(http://tinyurl.com/5g27ry)
1979 Jun 1, Janice Holt Giles
(b.1905), American historical novelist, died. Her 13 novels included
"Hannah Fowler" and "The Believers."
(WSJ, 7/29/99,
p.A24)(www.cumberlandbooks.com/janiceholtgiles.php)
1979 Jul 3, Helen Van Slyke,
English writer, died. She left a manuscript that was completed by
James Elward (1929-1996) titled "Public Smiles, Private Tears" that
became a best-seller. It was about a woman’s rise in the world of
retail fashion.
(SFC, 9/2/96, p.A20)(http://tinyurl.com/3bzrf3)
1979 Aug 22, James T. Farrell
(b.1904), author (Young Lonigan), died. In 2004 Robert K. Landers
authored "The Life and Times of James T. Farrell."
(SFC, 2/26/04, p.E1)
1979 Harmony Books published
“The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams. In the book
the British writer described the Babel fish, a live fish placed in
the ear that translates any form of language.
(www.technovelgy.com/ct/content.asp?Bnum=133)(SFC, 4/29/98, p.E1)
1979 Arthur C. Clarke authored
his science fiction novel “The Fountains of Paradise” about the
construction of a space elevator.
(Econ, 6/10/06, Survey p.4)
1979 English writer Penelope
Fitzgerald won the Booker Prize for her novel "Offshore."
(WSJ, 4/8/97, p.A20)
1979 Douglas Hofstadter
(b.1945) authored his book "Godel, Escher, Bach." In 1980 he won the
Pulitzer Prize for general non-fiction.
(WSJ, 7/15/99, p.A16)
1979 Lyall Watson (1939-2008),
South Africa-born scientist and author, proposed the hundredth
monkey theory in his book: Lifetide: A Biology of the Unconscious.”
(SFC, 7/22/08,
p.B5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundredth_Monkey)
1979 Penelope Mortimer
(1918-1999) won the Whitbread Prize for her memoir "About Time." The
2nd part of her autobiography was published in 1993.
(http://facstaff.unca.edu/moseley/whitbread.html)
1979 Marge Piercy authored her
science fiction novel "Woman on the Edge of Time," on travel to the
year 2137.
(WSJ, 1/1/00, p.R8)
1979 V.A. Pritchett
(1900-1997), English writer, published his collection of short
stories "On the Edge of the Cliff."
(SFC, 3/22/97, p.A21)
1979 William Styron authored
"Sophie’s Choice." In 1996 he gave composer Nicholas maw permission
to turn it into an opera. The opera premiered Dec 7, 2002 at the
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
(SFC, 12/11/02, p.D5)
1979-1981 James Lees-Milne (1908-1997), English
biographer, kept diaries during this period that were published in
2001 as "Deep Romantic Chasm: Diaries 1979-1981."
(SSFC, 8/12/01, DB p.63)
1980 Feb 25, Roland Barthes
(b.1915), French philosopher and writer, died. His books included
“Mythologies” (1957), a collection of his essays.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_Barthes)
1980 Apr 15, Existentialist
philosopher, novelist and dramatist, Jean-Paul Sartre (b.1905) died
in Paris at the age of 74. He won the 1964 Nobel Prize for
literature and his work included "Being and Nothingness."
Philosophical replies to this work were written by Claude
Levi-Strauss: "The Raw and the Cooked," a book that popularized
structuralism in France, and by Michael Foucault: "Words and
Things," ("The Order of Things" in the American edition). "If you're
lonely while you’re alone, you’re in bad company."
(WUD, 1994, p.1269)(SFEC, 4/19/98, BR p.8)(SFEC,
6/21/98, Z1 p.8) (AP, 4/15/99)
1980 May 1, American Book Award
went to William Styron for "Sophie's Choice" and T. Wolfe for "Right
Stuff."
(http://eightiesclub.tripod.com/id99.htm)
1980 Jun 7, Henry Miller (born
1891), writer, died in California at age 88. His books included
“Tropic of Cancer.”
(www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3118)
1980 Jul 1, Charles Percy Snow
(b.1905), British writer (Friends & Associates), died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._P._Snow)
1980 Dec 10, Czeslaw Milosz of
UC Berkeley, a Polish-born American, received the Nobel Prize in
literature from King Carl Gustaf in Sweden.
(SFC, 12/9/05, p.F2)(AP, 10/8/09)
1981 Mar 3, William S.
Burroughs Jr. (b.1947), writer, died. He bore the name of both his
father, a Beat writer, and his great grandfather, the original
inventor of the Burroughs adding machine. His 2 novels included
“Speed” and “Kentucky Ham.” In 2006 David Ohle edited and compiled
“Cursed From Birth: The short Unhappy Life of William S. Burroughs
Jr.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_S._Burroughs,_Jr.)(SSFC,
12/24/06, p.M3)
1981 Apr 13, Washington Post
reporter Janet Cooke received a Pulitzer Prize for her feature about
an 8-year-old heroin addict named "Jimmy."; Cooke relinquished the
prize two days later, admitting she had fabricated the story.
(AP, 4/13/00)
1981 May 9, Nelson Algren (72),
US writer (Man with the Golden Arm), died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Algren)
1981 May 18, William Saroyan
(b.1908), American writer, died in Fresno, Ca. He wrote some 60
books that included: "The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze"
(1934), "The Human Comedy," which became a 1943 film, and the 1939
play "The Time of Your Life." In 2002 John Leggett authored "A
Daring Young Man: A Biography of William Saroyan."
{Writer, USA, California, Biography}
(SFC, 5/23/96, p.A1)(HN, 8/31/00)(SFC, 4/1/02,
p.A11)(SSFC, 11/10/02, p.M1)
1981 Oct 25, Ariel
Durant (83), US author, died. She was co-author and collaborator on
several of her husband’s (Will Durant: 1885-1981) works. They
received the Pulitzer Prize for the eleven volume series: “The Story
of Civilization” (1935-1975). Born Chaya, which means "life" (Ida in
English) Kaufman on May 10, 1898 in Proskurov (now Khmelnitski)
Russia to Jewish parents, she immigrated with her mother, three
sisters and older brother to the US, landing in New York in November
of 1901. She married Will in 1913 when she was 15 and he was 28, and
preceded him in death by a matter of days.
(www.willdurant.com/ariel.htm)
1981 Daniel Halevi Bloom,
American-Jewish author, invented the characters Bubbie and Zadie,
Yiddish for grandma and grandpa, as an alternative to Santa Claus.
In 1985 he wrote “Bubbie and Zadie Come to My House” and invited
Jewish children to respond with letters.
(SFC, 12/22/06, p.A1)
1981 Elias Canetti (1905-1994),
Bulgarian-born British novelist and essayist, won the Nobel Prize in
Literature. His ancestors were Sephardic Jews who had been expelled
from Spain in 1492.
(AP,
10/8/09)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elias_Canetti)
1981 Lynne Cheney, wife of Dick
Cheney, authored a racy historical romance titled "Sisters." Plans
to reissue the novel in 2004 were cancelled.
(SFC, 4/3/04, p.A2)
1981 Martin Cruz Smith
introduced Russian police investigator Arkady Renko in his
best-selling novel “Gorky Park.”
(WSJ, 11/19/04, p.W16)
1982 Feb 18, Edith Ngaio Marsh
(b.1895), New Zealand detective writer, producer, died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ngaio_Marsh)
1982 Mar 2, Philip K. Dick
(53), science fiction writer, died. His work included dozens of
novels and over 100 short stories. His novel "Valis" (Vast Active
Living Intelligence System) was an autobiographical work. In 1989
Lawrence Sutin wrote the biography: "Divine Invasions: A Life of
Philip K. Dick." The 1982 film Blade Runner was loosely based on his
novel: "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep." The 2003 film
"Paycheck" was based on his 1953 same name novel. In 2004 Emmanuel
Carrere authored “I Am Alive and You Are Dead: A Journey Into the
Mind of Philip K. Dick.
(WSJ, 4/27/99, p.A20)(SFC, 6/25/02, p.D1)(SFC,
12/27/03, p.D1)(Econ, 4/17/04, p.83)
1982 Mar 6, Ayn Rand (b.1905),
author and founder of the Objectivist philosophy, died in NY. Her
novels included "Atlas Shrugged" and "The Fountainhead." In 1987
Barbara Branden wrote the biography titled "The Passion of Ayn
Rand." In 1999 Nathaniel Branden published "My Years With Ayn Rand,"
an account of his 18-year relationship with Rand. In 1999 the US
Postal Service issued a 33 cent stamp in her honor. In 2009 Anne
Heller authored “Ayn Rand and the World She Made,” and Jennifer
Burns authored “Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American
Right.”
(http://tinyurl.com/2nl7hk)(http://tinyurl.com/3a34t9)(SFEC,
8/18/96, PM p. 2)(SFC, 10/25/98, p.D8)(Econ, 10/24/09, p.95)
1982 May 10, Peter Weiss
(b.1916), German playwright (Marat-Sade), died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Weiss)
1982 Jun 18, John Cheever
(b.1912), American Pulitzer Prize winning writer, died. His work
included "the Wapshot Chronicle" and "the World of Apples." In 2009
Blake Bailey authored “Cheever: A Life.”
(BS, 5/3/98,
p.13E)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cheever)(WSJ, 3/7/09, p.W8)
1982 Sep 3, Frederic Dannay
(b.1905), US detective writer, died. He collaborated with Manfred
Lee under the joint pseudonym Ellery Queen.
(www.imdb.com/name/nm0200366/)
1982 Sep 14, John C. Gardner
(b.1933), US, writer (Life & Times of Chaucer High), was killed
in a motorcycle accident. In 2004 Barry Silesky authored "John
Gardner: Literary Outlaw."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gardner)(WSJ,
2/13/04, p.W8)
1983 Feb 24, Tennessee
Williams, US playwright born as Thomas Lanier Williams (1911), died
in NYC. He left a $10 million estate to support his sister and
directed that anything left go to support aspiring writers at the
Univ. of the South of Sewanee. His plays included “Cat on a Hot Tin
Roof” and “The Rose Tattoo” originally titled "The Eclipse of May
29, 1919." In 1995 Lyle Leverich (d.1999 at 79) published "Tom: The
Unknown Tennessee Williams," a definitive work on the playwright's
formative years. In 2007 editor Margaret Bradham Thornton published
“Notebooks: Tennessee Williams.”
(http://tinyurl.com/s8zm5)(SFC, 12/25/99,
p.B4)(SSFC, 5/13/07, p.M6)
1983 Feb 25, Tennessee Williams
(71), playwright, was found dead in his NYC hotel suite.
(AP, 2/25/08)
1983 Mar 1, Arthur Koestler
(b.1905), Hungary-born British writer (Dialogue With Death), died in
a double suicide with his wife in London. His novels included
"Darkness at Noon" (1940). In 1998 David Cesarani authored "Arthur
Koestler: The Homeless Mind." In 2009 Michael Scammell authored
“Koestler: The Literary and Political Odyssey of a Twentieth-Century
Skeptic.”
(SSFC, 1/3/10, Books
p.F3)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Koestler)
1983 Mar 15, Rebecca West (born
in 1892 as Cicily Fairfield), British writer, died. Her books
included "The Return of the Soldier" (1918) and "Black Lamb and Grey
Falcon," which was written following a trip through Yugoslavia. She
had a relationship with H.G. Wells that led to the birth of a son,
Anthony. In 1996 Carl Rollyson wrote her biography: "Rebecca West: A
Life." Her pen name came from a character in Ibsen’s play
"Rosmersholm." In 2000 the "Selected Letters of Rebecca West" was
edited by Bonnie Kime Scott. In 2003 Bernard Schweitzer edited and
introduced her work "Survivors in Mexico."
(WSJ, 3/6/00, p.A28)(SSFC, 6/8/03,
p.M3)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_West)
1983 Apr 18, Alice Walker
(b.1944) won a Pulitzer Prize for "The Color Purple."
(SSFC, 9/26/04, p.M1)
1983 May 21, Eric Hoffer
(b.1902), longshoreman-philosopher, died in SF. His writings
included "The True Believer" (1951), a critical view of mass
movements, "The Passionate State of Mind," "The Ordeal of Change,"
and "The Temper of the Time."
(SFC, 1/22/00,
p.A15)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Hoffer)
1983 Aug 29, William Goyen
(b.1915), Texas-born novelist and playwright, died in Los Angeles.
His 1st novel was “House of Breath” (1950).
(www.tsha.utexas.edu)(www.inthe80s.com/deaths/died1983.shtml)
1983 "Sisters In Affliction:
Circumcision and Infibulation of Women in Africa" by Raquiya H.
Abdalla was published.
(NH, 8/96, p.65)
1983 Edward Albee wrote his
play "The Man Who Had Three Arms."
(SFEC, 7/27/97, DB p.33)
1983 Charles Allen wrote "A
Mountain in Tibet."
(NH, 5/96, p.68)
1983 Daniel Boorstin, American
historian, published "The Discoverers." [see 1975-1987]
(WSJ, 3/29/96, p.A-9)
1983 Marion Zimmer Bradley
(d.1999 at 69) published "The Mists of Avalon," a woman's
perspective of the King Arthur legend.
(SFC, 9/29/99, p.C2)
1983 John le Carre authored
“The Little Drummer Girl,” a novel set amidst the conflict between
the Palestinians and Israelis.
(WSJ, 10/28/06, p.P12)
1983 Amy Clampitt (1920-1994),
American poet, published “The Kingfisher."
(WSJ, 11/7/97, p.A17)
1983 "The Return of Martin
Guerre" by Natalie Zemon Davis was published. It was a historical
account of a true story from 16th cent. France.
(WSJ, 7/17/96, p.A12)
1983 Umberto Eco authored "The
Name of the Rose," and established a new genre of learned who-dunit
novels.
(WSJ, 6/1/01, p.W12)(SSFC, 10/20/02, p.M1)
1983 Frederick Vanderbilt Field
(d.2000 at 94) published his autobiography: "From Right to Left."
(SFC, 2/12/00, p.A21)
1983 Derek Freeman published
"Margaret Mead in Samoa," in which he laid waste Mead's portrayal of
1920s Samoan society.
(WSJ, 3/3/99, p.A17)
1983 William Golding
(1911-1993), English author, received the Nobel Prize for
literature.
(WSJ, 10/5/95, p.A-12)
1983 Jane Goodall published "In
the Shadow of Man."
(SFEC, 12/15/96, zone 1 p.3)
1983 Seymour Hirsch published
"The Price of Power: Kissinger in the Nixon White House." It won a
National Book Critics Circle award.
(SFEC,11/9/97, p.A12)
1983 Joyce Johnson authored
"Minor Characters," a memoir of the Beat generation. In 2000 she
authored "Door Wide Open: A Beat Love Affair in Letters, 1957-1958,"
that covered her relationship with Jack Kerouac.
(SFEC, 6/18/00, BR p.7)
1983 Stanley Karnow published
"Vietnam: A History."
(SFC, 5/11/99, p.A19)
1983 Prof. William Webster
Lammers of USC (d.1997 at 60) published "Public Policy and Aging."
(SFC, 10/14/97, p.A19)
1983 David Landes, Harvard
historian, published "Revolution in Time: Clocks and the Making of
the Modern World."
(SFEC, 3/22/98, BR p.8)
1983 David Mamet, playwright,
wrote "Glengarry Glen Ross."
(SFEC, 5/30/99, DB p.37)
1983 Rigoberta Menchu,
Guatemalan-born Mayan Indian and human rights activist, authored her
book "I, Rigoberta Menchu." In 1992 she won the Nobel peace Prize.
In 1998 David Stoll, a US anthropologist, authored "Rigoberta Menchu
and the Story of All Poor Guatemalans." He asserted a number of
inaccuracies in Menchu’s original book.
(SFEC, 1/19/97, Par p.5)(SFC, 12/15/98, p.C20)
1983 James Michener wrote his
novel "Poland."
(SFC,10/17/97, p.A17)
1983 Amos Oz, novelist,
published "In the Land of Israel," a collection of essays.
(SFEC, 10/20/96, BR, p.4)
1983 Maynard Parker, editor of
Newsweek, authorized the publication of the spurious "Hitler
Diaries." The work was identified as "patent and obvious forgeries"
by Charles Hamilton (1914-1996), "philography" expert.
(WSJ, 8/23/96, p.A1)(SFC, 12/13/96, p.B6)
1983 Donald E. Russell and
Prof. Donald Savage (d.1999 at 81) wrote "Mammalian Paleofaunas of
the World," it was a compendium of mammals through the ages.
(SFC, 4/14/99, p.C5)
1983 Richard Shevell (d.2000 at
89), aeronautics professor at Stanford, authored the text
"Fundamentals of Flight."
(SFC, 4/27/00, p.A24)
1983 The book "I Will Go On
Living" by Japanese writer Chio Uno (1898-1996) was published.
(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A21)
1983 Lynda Van Devanter (d.2002
at 55) authored "Home Before Morning," the 1st major autobiography
by a woman veteran. It inspired the 1988-1991 TV series "China
Beach."
(SFC, 11/27/02, p.A26)
1983 Christa Wolf, East German
writer, authored her novel “Cassandra.”
(WSJ, 3/10/07, p.P6)
1983 "Quintessence" was
published. It described items whose design was so good that they
could not be improved upon.
(SFC, 7/3/96, zz-1,p.3)
1984 Apr 28, Silvia A. Warner,
writer, died.
(MC, 4/28/02)
1984 May 16, Irwin Shaw (71),
US writer (Rich Man, Poor Man), died.
(MC, 5/16/02)
1984 Jun 26, Carl Foreman (69),
producer, writer (Born Free, High Noon), died of cancer.
(MC, 6/26/02)
1984 Jun 30, Lillian Hellman
(b.1905), writer, died in Massachusetts. Her work included the play
"The Little Foxes" (1939), and her memoirs "Scoundrel Time" and
"Pentimento." The 1977 film "Julia" was based on a chapter from
Pentimento which described Muriel Gardiner, an American medical
student at the Univ. of Vienna active in anti-Nazi resistance. In
2005 Deborah Martinson authored “Lillian Hellman: A Life with Foxes
and Scoundrels.”
(WSJ, 12/16/98, p.A21)(WSJ, 4/26/99, p.A16)(WSJ,
5/24/99, p.A28)(Econ, 12/17/05, p.82)
1984 Aug 25, Truman Capote
(59), American novelist, playwright, and short story writer, died in
the arms and guest bedroom of Johnny Carson’s ex-wife, Joanne. His
autobiographical novella, "The Grass Harp," was made into a film
directed by Walter Matthau in 1996. He also authored "Other Voices,
Other Rooms," and "Breakfast At Tiffany’s." In 1997 George Plimpton
published his biography: "Truman Capote." In 2004 Gerald Clarke
edited: “Too Brief a Treat: The Letters of Truman Capote.”
(SFC, 10/11/96, p.C3)(WSJ, 12/11/97,
p.A21)(SFEC,12/14/97, p.D9)(AP, 8/25/99)(SSFC, 9/19/04, p.M3)
1984 Harriet Doerr (1910-2002)
won the American Book Award for 1st fiction for "Stone for Ibarra."
(SFC, 11/28/02, p.A30)
1984 Salim Moussa Achi
(b.1909), aka Dr. Dahesh, Lebanese author and humanist, died. His
art collection later formed the core of the Dahesh Museum of Art in
NYC.
(WSJ, 9/9/03, p.D6)(www.humanitiesweb.org)
1984 Richard Brautigan (49),
writer, died from self-inflicted gunshot wound in Bolinas, Ca. His
work included "Trout Fishing in America" and A Confederate General
from Big Sur." In 1989 Keith Abbott authored the biography:
"Downstream from Trout Fishing in America: A Memoir of Richard
Brautigan." In 1999 Edna Webster published "The Edna Webster
Collection of Undiscovered Writings." In 2004 Greg Keeler authored
“Waltzing with the Captain: Remembering Richard Brautigan.
(SFC, 10/7/99, p.E1)(SSFC, 8/22/04, p.M3)
1984 English writer Anita
Brookner authored “Hotel du Lac.” It won the 1984 Booker Prize.
(www.volume5.com/dulac/hotel_du_lac_book_review.html)
1985 May 8, Theodore Sturgeon
(b.1918), sci-fi author (Hugo, It, Caviar), died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Sturgeon)
1985 May 25, Robert Nathan
(91), US writer, poet (Portrait of Jennie), died.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1985 Sep 19, Italo Calvino
(b.1923), Italian writer, died. A collection of his essays was soon
published titled "The Literature Machine." In 1999 the
original 11 essays and 25 others were published under the title:
"Why Read the Classics," translated by Martin McLaughlin. In 2003
McLaughlin published “Hermit in Paris: Autobiographical Writings By
Italo Calvino.”
(SFEC, 10/24/99, BR p.5)(SSFC, 4/6/03, p.M4)
1985 Oct 1, E. B. White (Elwyn
Brooks White, b.1899), writer, author of “Charlotte's Web” and “The
Elements of Style,” died in Maine.
(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/ebwhite.htm)
1985 Nov 25, Elsa Morante
(b.1912), Italian writer, died. Her books included “House of Liars”
(1948). In 2008 Lily Tuck authored the biography “Woman of Rome: A
Life of Elsa Morante.”
(WSJ, 9/27/08, p.W11)
1985 Coleman Dowell (b.1925),
fiction writer, died. His work included "Island People" and "Jabez."
(WSJ, 2/11/03, p.D8)
1985 Dominick Dunne (1925-2009)
authored “The Two Mrs. Grenvilles,” based on the sensational
Woodward murder case of 1955. It was made into a television movie in
1987, directed by John Erman, and starring Genevieve Allenbury,
Ann-Margaret, Elizabeth Ashley, Claudette Colbert and Stephen
Collins. It proved to be Claudette Colbert's last film.
(SFC, 8/27/09, p.A9)
1985 Claude Simon (1913-2005,
French novelist, won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
(AP,
10/8/09)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Simon)
1986 Jan 4, Christopher
Isherwood, British born author, died of prostate cancer in Santa
Monica, Ca. He was best know for his 1935 semi-autobiographical "The
Berlin Stories," which was the basis for the 1966 musical Cabaret
and made into a 1972 film. His life-partner was painter Don
Bachardy. His "Diaries: Volume II, 1939-1960" were published in
1997. In 2005 Peter Parker authored “Isherwood: A Life Revealed.”
(www.booksfactory.com/writers/isherwood.htm)(SFC,
1/16/97, p.E3)(SFC, 5/11/99, p.B6)
1986 Feb 11, Frank Patrick
Herbert (b.1920), sci-fi author (Dune, 1965), died of cancer in
Wisconsin.
{Writer, USA}
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Herbert)
1986 Mar 18, Bernard Malamud
(b.1914), writer, died. His work included "Talking Horse: Bernard
Malamud on Life and Work," edited by Alan Cheuse and Nicholas
Delbanco (1997). In 2006 his daughter authored “My Father Is a Book:
A Memoir of Bernard Malamud.” In 2007 Philip Davis authored “Bernard
Malamud: A Writer’s Life.”
(www.nagasaki-gaigo.ac.jp/ishikawa/amlit/m/malamud21.htm)(SSFC,
3/19/06, p.M3)(WSJ, 1/15/08, p.D5)
1986 Apr 5, Manly Wade Wellman
(b.1903), sci-fi author (Devil's Planet), died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manly_Wade_Wellman)
1986 Apr 14, Simone de Beauvoir
(b.1908), French feminist author, died in Paris. Her books included
“The Second Sex” (1949). In 2008 her Wartime Diary was published in
English.
(AP, 4/14/02)(SFC, 12/23/08, p.E3)
1986 Apr 15, Jean Genet (75),
French playwright (Lesson Negres), was found dead in Paris.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Genet)
1986 Apr 17, Pulitzer prize
awarded to Larry McMurtry for "Lonesome Dove."
(http://tinyurl.com/s7rzf)
1986 May 14, Institute for War
documents published Anne Frank's complete diary.
(MC, 5/14/02)
1986 May 15, Theodore H. White
(71), US journalist (Making of Pres, Pulitzer), died.
(MC, 5/15/02)
1986 Jun 14, Jorge Luis Borges
(b.1899), Argentine author (Book of Sand), died in Geneva. In 1998 a
new English translation by Andrew Hurley of his "Collected Fictions"
was published. In 1999 Alexander Coleman edited "Selected Poems."
Also in 1999 Eliot Weinberger edited "Selected Non-Fictions." In
2004 Edwin Williamson authored “Borges: A Life.”
(SFEC, 12/13/98, BR p.1)(SFEC, 4/18/99, BR
p.3)(WSJ, 8/17/99, p.A18)(WSJ, 8/5/04, p.D8)
1986 Mark Mathabane authored
"Kaffir Boy," an account of the poverty, violence and racism under
apartheid. In 2000 his sister, Miriam Mathabane authored "Miriam’s
Song: A Memoir." The award-winning book was later frequently banned
in US schools due to two paragraphs describing child prostitution.
(SFEC, 7/9/00, BR p.7)(SFC, 4/12/07, p.A1)
1986 Vladimir Voynovich
(b.1932), Russian dissident writer, wrote his satirical dystopian
novel "Moscow 2042."
(WSJ, 7/15/97,
p.A18)(http://wapedia.mobi/en/Moscow_2042)
1987 Feb 12, Friends of the
poet Boris Pasternak and of Russian culture agreed that the 1958
resolution expelling Pasternak from the Writers' Union had to be
rescinded. People met and voted in the same ornate conference room
where, thirty years earlier, the great poet had been cast out of the
union.
(www.thenation.com/archive/search.mhtml)
1987 Apr 11, Erskine Caldwell
(83), novelist (Tobacco Road), died.
(www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-497)
1987 Apr 11, Primo Levi
(b.1920), Italian chemist, Auschwitz survivor and writer, died in
Italy. In 2002 Carole Angier authored: "Primo Levi: A Biography."
His books included the 1947 memoir "If This Is a Man" and "The
Periodic Table." In 2002 Carole Angier authored the biography "The
Double Bond."
(SSFC, 5/26/02, p.M1)(WSJ, 6/14/02,
p.W10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primo_Levi)
1987 Apr 16, Winners of the
1987 Pulitzer Prizes included August Wilson's "Fences" for drama and
Peter Taylor's "A Summons to Memphis" for fiction.
(AP, 4/16/97)
1987 Cleveland Amory authored
"The Cat Who Came for Christmas," a national best-seller about his
cat Polar Bear.
(SFC, 10/16/98, p.D4)
1987 Molefi K. Asante wrote
his: "The Afrocentric Idea."
(Civilization, July-Aug, 1995, p. 34)
1987 Ravi Batra authored "The
Great Depression of the 1990s."
(NW, 9/16/02, p.34BB)
1987 Virginia Reade Belmontez
(d.1998 at 68) authored "Mexico Barbarro 1987," a book that exposed
the past of Mexico’s Pres. Salinas and his party’s oppression of the
Mexican people.
(SFC, 11/7/98, p.C2)
1987 Martin Bernal wrote Vol. 1
of his "Black Athena." Vol. 2 came out in 1991.
(Civilization, July-Aug, 1995, p. 34)
1987 Allan Bloom, Prof. of
political philosophy at the Univ. of Chicago, published "The Closing
of the American Mind." In 2000 Saul Bellow authored the novel
"Ravelstein" based on the life of Bloom.
(WSJ, 1/7/98, p.W11)(WSJ, 2/2/00, p.A26)
1987 Stewart Brand wrote "The
Media Lab."
(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A17)
1987 Dorothy Bryant wrote her
historical novel "The Confessions of Madame Psyche."
(SFC, 12/13/96, p.C14)
1987 James Lee Burke published
his 1st Dave Robicheaux detective novel "Neon Rain."
(SFC, 9/11/00, p.B7)
1987 Lincoln Caplan authored
"The Tenth Justice: The Solicitor General and the Rule of Law."
(SFC, 10/13/99, p.C2)
1987 "Southern Food" by John
Egerton was published.
(SFC, 8/14/96, zz-1 p.1)
1987 Neil Folberg published "In
a Desert Land: Photographs of Israel, Egypt, and Jordan." It focused
on the Sinai Desert and was re-issued in 1998.
(SFEC, 4/26/98, BR p.6)
1987 Joseph Greenberg (d.2001),
Stanford linguist, authored "Language in the Americas." He assigned
the 650 native languages of North and South America to 3 groups.
(SFC, 5/15/01, p.C2)
1987 William Greider wrote
"Secrets of the Temple." It was a comprehensive general account of
how the Federal Reserve operates.
(WSJ, 1/17/97, p.A11)
1987 Thich Nhat Hanh,
Vietnamese Zen master, published "Being Peace," the first of his 35
books and tapes.
(SFC, 10/12/97, Z1 p.3)
1987 David Ignatius authored
his novel “Agents of Innocence.” It became a classic in the
espionage genre.
(WSJ, 4/7/07, p.P10)
1987 Kim Jong Il, son of North
Korean leader Kim Il Sung, authored the treatise: “Theory of
Cinematic Art.”
(www.korea-dpr.com/library/209.pdf)
1987 "Modern Geology Vol. II"
by Andrew Kitchener was published.
(NH, 8/96, p.58)
1987 Patricia Limerick
published "The Legacy of Conquest." She realigned standard history
to account for minorities and women in the unbroken settlement of
the US West.
(SFEC, 1/2/00, BR p.12)
1987 "Moon Tiger," a novel by
Penelope Lively won the Booker Prize.
(WSJ, 9/20/96, p.A12)
1987 Malachi Martin (d.1999 at
78), an Irish-born former Jesuit, published "The Jesuits."
(SFC, 7/30/99, p.D8)
1987 The "Food of Southern
Italy" by chef Carlo Middione won the Tastemaker Award in the
International Cookbook category.
(SFEM, 7/21/96, p.16)
1987 Toni Morrison wrote her
novel "Song of Solomon."
(SFEC, 12/15/96, DB p.61)
1987 In Japan Haruki Murakami
authored "Norwegian Wood." The novel experimented with reality. An
English translation was made in 1997. By 2010 the love story sold
more than 10 million copies in Japan and 2.6 million abroad in 36
languages. The film "Norwegian Wood," by Vietnamese-French director
Tran Anh Hung, opened in Japan in December, 2010.
(SFC, 1/1/01, p.B7)(AP, 11/26/10)
1987 V.S, Naipaul (b.1932),
Trinidad-born English novelist, authored "The Enigma of Arrival."
(SFC, 10/12/01, p.C1)
1987 M.I.T. Press published "A
Few Good Men from Univac." It was a history of the computer.
(WSJ, 11/22/96, p.A12)
1987 Caryl Phillips wrote "The
European Tribe," his "impressionistic tour of a continent with a
long history of persecuting Jews and ignoring blacks."
(WSJ, 5/21/97, p.A12)
1987 Richard Preston wrote
"First Light," a book on the romantic era of astronomy. A new
edition was published in 1996.
(SFEC, 1/5/97, BR p.7)
1987 Barbara Raskin (d.1999 at
63) published her novel "Hot Flashes."
(SFC, 7/27/99, p.A17)
1987 Richester Register,
student of Paolo Soleri, published his "Ecocity Berkeley: Building
Cities for a Healthy Future."
(PacDis, Spring/'94, p. 29)
1987 Leni Riefenstahl
(1902-2003), German director, published her autobiography: "Leni
Riefenstahl: A Memoir."
(SFC, 1/19/99, p.B5)
1987 George Seldes, former
Berlin correspondent for the Chicago Tribune, wrote his
autobiography: "Witness to a Century."
(SFEC, 7/27/97, p.T5)
1987 George Soros, businessman,
published "The Alchemy of Finance." It offered his ideas on a wide
range of subjects including his own success. The Quantum Fund is one
of Mr. Soros’ investment vehicles.
(WSJ, 2/27/95, p.A-10)
1987 Larry R. Squire authored
“Memory and Brain.” It became a classic in the biology of memory.
(WSJ, 4/7/07, p.P10)
1987 Choreographer Paul Taylor
published his autobiography "Public Domain."
(WSJ, 4/12/99, p.A21)
1987 Walter Weintz (1915-1996)
wrote his memoir "The Solid Gold Mailbox." He had been a pioneer of
direct mail advertising and used a Persian poet’s lines to sell the
Reader’s Digest: "If thou hast two pennies, spend one for bread."
Weintz sent out 100 million pennies in pairs and advertised that the
1st be kept for luck and the 2nd be used as a down payment to
Reader’s Digest.
(SFC, 12/25/96, p.A22)
1987 Chancellor Williams
published his work: "The Destruction of Black Civilization: Great
Issues of Race from 4500 BC to 2000 AD." He also wrote "The Re-Birth
of African Civilization," an account of his 1953-1957 research
project on the nature of education in Europe and Africa.
(Civilization, July-Aug, 1995, p. 34)
1987 "The Truly Disadvantaged"
by William Julius Wilson first discussed the "mismatch thesis,"
which points to the problem of unskilled inner-city workers trapped
in poverty and unqualified and unable to reach jobs in the hi-tech
urban environment. The problem continued to be discussed in his 1996
book: "When Work Disappears."
(WSJ, 9/3/96, p.A12)
1987 William Wilson (d.1999 at
51) authored "An Incomplete Education," designed to fill in
knowledge lacked by college graduates.
(SFC, 11/3/99, p.C6)
1987 Tom Wolfe published his
first novel "Bonfire of the Vanities" in book form, a complete
re-write after it was serialized in Rolling Stone Magazine. The
title referred to an event on Feb 7, 1497, when followers of the
priest Girolamo Savonarola collected and publicly burned thousands
of objects in Florence, Italy. Wolfe’s book was a story of
Reagan-era avarice.
(WSJ, 10/30/98,
p.W1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonfire_of_the_Vanities)
1987 Arthur Miller wrote his
play "I Can’t Remember Anything." He also authored in this year his
autobiography "Timebends."
(WSJ, 1/14/98, p.A17)(Econ, 11/1/03, p.82)
1988 Mar 31, The novel
"Beloved" by Toni Morrison was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for
fiction, while the Charlotte (N.C) Observer won the prize for public
service for its coverage of the Praise The Lord scandal.
(AP, 3/31/98)
1988 Apr 12, Alan Stewart Paton
(b.1903), South African writer (Cry The Beloved Country), died. He
founded and served as president of the Liberal Party (1953-68).
(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/apaton.htm)
1988 May 8, Science fiction
author Robert A. Heinlein died in Carmel, Calif., at age 80. His
books included “Starship Troopers” (1958) and “The Moon Is a Harsh
Mistress,” (1966).
(AP, 5/8/98)(WSJ, 1/26/07, p.D7)
1988 Aug 2, Raymond Carver
(b.1938), American poet, short story writer (Furious Season), died.
His books included “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love”
(1981). In 2009 Carol Sklenicka authored “Raymond Carver: A Writer’s
Life.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Carver)(SSFC, 11/22/09, Books
p.F1)
1988 Aug 24, Max Shulman (69),
author (Dobie Gillis, Tender Trap), died.
(MC, 8/24/02)
1988 Oct 13, Egyptian novelist
Naguib Mahfouz was named recipient of the Nobel Prize for
Literature.
(AP, 10/13/98)
1989 Jan 18, Bruce Chatwin
(b.1940), British travel writer, died of AIDS in France. His books
included "In Patagonia" (1984) "Songlines," "The Viceroy of Ouidah,"
and "On the Black Hill." In 1997 a collection of incidental writing
was published: "Anatomy of Restlessness."
(SFEC, 8/10/97, BR
p.3)(http://myweb.lsbu.ac.uk/stafflag/brucechatwin.html)
1989 Feb 12, Thomas Bernhard
(b.1931), Austrian novelist and playwright, died. He hated petty and
conservative Austrian qualities and was known as a teller of
difficult truths. His 1963 novel “Frost” was published in the US in
2006.
(SSFC, 10/22/06,
p.M4)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Bernhard)
1989 Mar 7, Iran dropped
diplomatic relations with Britain over Salmon Rushdie's book.
(MC, 3/7/02)
1989 Apr 19, Daphne Du Maurier
(b.1907), English writer, died. Her books included “Jamaica Inn”
(1936) and “Rebecca” (1938).
(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/dumaurie.htm)
1989 Jul 17, Isidore Feinstein
Stone (b.1907), author (I.F. Stone's Weekly), died in Boston. In
2006 Myra MacPherson authored “All Governments Lie,” a biography of
Stone. In 2009 D.D. Guttenplan authored “American Radical: The Life
and Times of I.F. Stone.”
(http://tinyurl.com/nm97z)(WSJ, 9/30/06,
p.P8)(Econ, 5/16/09, p.90)
1989 Jul 23, Donald Barthelme
(b.1931), US writer, died. His work included over a hundred short
stories and 4 novels. In 2009 Tracy Daugherty authored “Hiding Man:
A Biography of Donald Barthelme.”
(WSJ, 2/21/09,
p.W8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Barthelme)
1989 Aug 26, Irving Stone, US
writer born as Irving Tennenbaum (Love is Eternal, Lust for Life),
died in Los Angeles.
(http://www.britannica.com)
1989 Sep 4, Georges Simenon
(86), Belgian/French writer and director (Maigret), died. The
Belgian born writer, authored some 200 novels. Many featured the
crime-busting hero Inspector Maigret.
(SFC, 6/9/00, p.D5)(MC, 9/4/01)
1989 Ken Follett authored “The
Pillars of the Earth.” The 1,000-page novel became a best seller. In
2010 it was turned into a TV miniseries.
(SFC, 7/21/10,
p.E1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pillars_of_the_Earth)
1989 Joseph Garber (1943-2005)
authored his novel “Rascal Money.” It was initially intended as a
nonfiction work titled “In Search of Shabiness,” a response to the
Tom Peters book “In Search of Excellence.”
(SSFC, 6/5/05, p.A21)
1990 Mar 13, Bruno Bettelheim
(86), Austrian-US psychoanalyst, committed suicide. His books
included "The Empty Fortress" (1967), on infantile autism and "the
Use of Enchantment" (1976), a study of fairy tales. In 1996 Richard
Pollak wrote: "The Creation of Dr. B: A Biography of Bruno
Bettelheim." In 2002 Theron Raines authored "Rising to the Light: A
Portrait of Bruno Bettelheim."
(SFC, 12/29/96, BR p.1)(SSFC, 9/8/02, p.M4)(MC,
3/13/02)
1990 May 10, Walker Percy
(b.1916), Mississippi-raised physician, novelist (Lancelot), died of
cancer in Covington, Louisiana. His book "The Moviegoer" was the
1962 winner of the National Book Award." His last book, The Thanatos
Syndrome, appeared in 1987.
(www.olemiss.edu/depts/english/ms-writers/dir/percy_walker/)(WSJ,
3/26/03, p.D8)
1990 Jun 27, Salman Rushdie,
condemned to death by Iran, contributed $8600 to help their
earthquake victims.
(SC, 6/27/02)
1990 Aug 2, Norman Maclean
(b.1902), writer and professor of English, died in Chicago. His
books included "A River Runs Through It and Other Stories" (1976).
(RB,
1993)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Maclean)
1990 Aug 30, Edmund G. Love
(b.1912), Michigan-based writer, died in Flint. His book ''Subways
Are for Sleeping'' (1957) was the basis for the Broadway musical
(1961).
(LSA, Spring, 2009,
p.34)(http://tinyurl.com/c6rqnh)
1990 Nov 23, Roald Dahl
(b.1916), British short story author (Sweet Mystery of Life), died.
Dahl became widely know for “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and
“James and Giant Peach.” From 1953 to 1983 he was married to actress
Patricia Neal (1926-2010). In 2010 Donald Sturrock authored
“Storyteller: The Authorized Biography of Roald Dahl.”
(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/rdahl.htm)(SFC, 8/9/10,
p.A6)(SSFC, 10/3/10, p.F4)
1990 Dec 4, Eric Larrabee (68),
magazine editor, author, arts administrator, teacher and champion of
the arts, died at his home in Manhattan. His books included
“Commander in Chief: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, His Lieutenants, and
Their War” (1987).
(WSJ, 1/12/08, p.W9)(http://tinyurl.com/2j2tkr)
1990 Dec 14, Friedrich
Durrenmatt (b.1921), Swiss author and playwright, died. In 2006 the
Univ. of Chicago published a translation of his selected writings in
3 volumes. "What was once thought can never be unthought."
(AP,
11/15/00)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_D%C3%BCrrenmatt)
1990 John Guare wrote his play
"Six Degrees of Separation."
(SFEC, 5/30/99, DB p.37)
1990 The book "The Plains of
Passion" by Jean Auel (b.1936) was the best-selling fiction work of
the year.
(WSJ, 5/24/99,
p.R4)(www.geocities.com/auelpage/auel.html)
1990 Robert Bly published "Iron
John," an examination of male cultural passage through myth.
(USAT, 6/28/96, p.6D)
1990 Ron Chernow wrote "The
House of Morgan, " a biography of the banker.
(WSJ, 8/8/97, p.A11)
1990 Kenneth C. Davis published
"Don't Know Much About History."
(SFEC, 1/10/99, BR p.9)
1990 Wayne Dynes edited "An
Encyclopedia of Homosexuality."
(SFC, 2/27/98, p.A3)
1990 Bret Easton Ellis (26)
authored his novel "American Psycho." It was about a wall street
trader who moonlights as a serial killer. In 2000 the film version
made its premier.
(SFC, 4/12/00, p.E1)
1990 Sir Vivian Fuchs published
his autobiography "A Time to Speak." Fuchs had led an expedition
across Antarctica in 1958.
(SFC, 11/13/99, p.A22)
1990 Col. David H. Hackworth
(1931-2005), Vietnam war veteran, authored “About Face: The Odyssey
of an American Warrior.”
(SFC, 5/7/05, p.B5)
1990 Charles Kuralt (1934-1997)
wrote "A Life on the Road" and it became a No.1 nonfiction
bestseller.
(SFC, 7/5/97, p.A5)
1990 Richard Milner,
anthropologist, authored "Encyclopedia of Evolution." Milner later
developed the one-man musical show: "Darwin: Live & in Concert."
(WSJ, 5/8/02, p.AD9)
1990 Ray Monk wrote his
biography of "Ludwig Wittgenstein."
(WSJ, 9/27/96, p.A16)
1990 Roger Morris wrote the
biography: "Richard Milhaus Nixon."
(SFEC, 2/23/97, BR p.3)
1990 Hallie Crawford Stillwell
(d. 1997 at 99), a Big Bend Texas pioneer, wrote her autobiography.
A sequel was to be completed by her great niece.
(SFC, 8/21/97, p.C4)
1990 Adam Kufeld published "El
Salvador." He had made 8 trips to the country as a photographer
between 1985-1989.
(SFEM,11/16/97, p.28)
1990 James P. Womack and Daniel
T. Jones wrote "The Machine That Changed the World, a study of
Toyota Motor Corp.’s manufacturing methods."
(WSJ, 11/1/96, p.A11)
1990 "The Romance of the Three
Kingdoms," a 16th century fictional account of the wars of the three
rival kingdoms in China, was published in paperback.
(NH, 7/96, p.58)
1990 Charles Johnson wrote his
novel "Middle Passage," which won a National Book Award.
(SFEC, 4/19/98, BR p.1)
1990 Peter Matthiessen
published his novel "Killing Mr. Watson." It became the first of a
trilogy about a Florida homesteader, who murdered some 5 dozen
people over his lifetime.
(SFEC,12/797, p.B11)
1990 James Michener wrote his
novel "Pilgrimage" and "The Eagle and the Raven."
(SFC,10/17/97, p.A17)
1990 Julia Phillips (d.2001 at
57), movie producer, authored ""You’ll Never Eat Lunch in This Town
Again," an insider chronicle of Hollywood’s top echelons.
(SFC, 1/3/02, p.A16)
1990 Thomas Pynchon (b.1937)
wrote his novel "Vineland."
(SFEC, 4/27/97, BR
p.1)(www.pynchon.pomona.edu/bio/facts.html)
1990 John O’Brien (d.1994)
published his novel "Leaving Las Vegas." It was made into a 1995
film and was the semi-autobiographical account about an alcoholic
who goes to Las Vegas to drink himself to death.
(SFC, 8/20/98, p.B4)
1990 Ronald Reagan published
his memoir “An American Life.”
(SSFC, 6/6/04, A18)
1990 Chiyo Uno (1897-1996) was
awarded a title by the emperor and named a "person of cultural
merit." Her best know book was "Ohan" (1957).
(SFC, 6/11/96,
p.A21)(http://asian-literature.suite101.com/article.cfm/uno_chiyo)
1990 George Will, political
columnist, authored "Men at Work: The Craft of Baseball." He told of
how the game was played through extended portraits of manager Tony
La Russa, pitcher Orel Hershiser, hitter Tony Gwynn and fielder Cal
Ripken Jr.
(WSJ, 5/21/03, p.D10)
1990 Edward O. Wilson (b.1929)
published his Pulitzer prize book: "The Ants," written with Bert
Holldobler.
(WSJ, 3/30/98, p.A16)
1991 Apr 3, English novelist
Graham Greene died at age 86. His wife, Vivien Dayrell-Browning,
died in 2003 at age 98. Greene had told his wife that he had had 32
other women. His books included “The Quiet American” (1955). In his
so-called “Catholic” novels he challenged the idea that God is a
cruel, unstinting Rules Keeper. In 2004 Norman Sherry completed “The
Life of Graham Greene, Vol. III, 1955-1991.”
(AP, 4/3/01)(SFC, 8/25/03, p.B4)(SFC, 10/2/04,
p.E2)(WSJ, 10/6/04, p.D14)
1991 Apr 4, Max Frisch
(d.1991), Swiss architect and writer, died. His books included “I’m
Not Stiller” (1958), a look at the nature of identity.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Frisch)(WSJ,
4/25/09, p.W8)
1991 Apr 5, Kitty Kelly
published a book knocking Nancy Reagan.
(MC, 4/5/02)
1991 Apr 9, The 1991 Pulitzer
Prize for fiction was awarded to John Updike for "Rabbit at Rest";
the drama prize went to Neil Simon for "Lost in Yonkers." In
journalism, The Des Moines Register received the gold medal for
public service for its series about rape victim Nancy Ziegenmeyer,
who’d allowed her name and pictures to be used.
(AP, 4/9/01)
1991 May 3, Jersy Kosinski
(57), author (Being There), committed suicide.
(MC, 5/3/02)
1991 Jun 10, Vercors (b.1902)
[Jean Bruller], French writer (Silence of Mer), died.
(http://440.com/twtd/archives/feb26.html)
1991 Jul 12, A Japanese
professor who had translated Salman Rushdie’s "The Satanic Verses"
was found stabbed to death, nine days after the novel’s Italian
translator was attacked in Milan.
(AP, 7/12/01)
1991 Jung Chang (b.1952)
authored her family portrait “Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China,”
which soon became an international best seller.
(Econ, 2/21/09,
p.85)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Swans)
1991 The novel "Scarlet" by
Alexander Ripley (d.2004) was the best-selling hardcover book of the
year (2.1 mil copies). It was an official sequel to "Gone With the
Wind."
(WSJ, 5/24/99, p.R6)(SFC, 1/26/04, p.B4)
1992 Apr 6,
Isaac Asimov (72), science-fiction author, died in New York. He had
authored 467 books.
(AP, 4/6/97)(SFEC, 3/15/98, p.D1)
1992 Apr 7,
The Sacramento Bee, The New York Times and Newsday won two Pulitzer
prizes each; playwright Robert Schenkkan was honored for "The
Kentucky Cycle," novelist Jane Smiley for "A Thousand Acres."
(AP, 4/7/97)
1992 Apr 13, Wallace Stegner
(b.1909), novelist (Pulitzer 1972), died in New Mexico.
(http://sfpl.lib.ca.us/librarylocations/main/envir/wsbio.htm)
1992 Aug 29, Mary Norton
(88), children’s book author (Borrowers), died in England.
(www.sfsite.com/09b/bor41.htm)
1992 Nov 7, Richard Yates
(b.1926), US author, died in Birmingham, Ala. His books included
"Revolutionary Road" (1961), and "Disturbing the Peace" (1975). In
2003 Blake Bailey authored "Tragic Honesty: The Life and Work of
Richard Yates."
(WSJ, 7/3/03,
p.D8)(www.pshares.org/issues/article.cfm?prmarticleID=3460)
1992 Naguib Mahfouz, Nobel
Prize (1988) winning Egyptian author, published his novel "Sugar
Street." It was the most political and last book of his “Cairo
Trilogy.”
(WSJ, 9/1/07, p.P9)
1993 Mar 23, Hans Werner
Richter (b.1908), German writer, founder (Gruppe 47), died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Werner_Richter)
1993 Apr 13, Pulitzer Prizes
were awarded to David McCullough for his biography "Truman," to
Robert Olen Butler for his collection of short stories "A Good Scent
from a Strange Mountain" and to Tony Kushner for his drama "Angels
in America: Millennium Approaches." The gold medal for public
service went to The Miami Herald for its Hurricane Andrew coverage.
(AP, 4/13/98)
1993 Apr 15, Leslie Charteris
(85), British mystery writer (Saint), died.
(www.nndb.com/people/820/000104508/)
1993 May 9, Penelope Gilliatt
[Conner], British author, died.
(www.britannica.com/eb/article-9104302)
1993 May 18, Pamela M.
Cunnington (67), English architect, writer, died.
(SC, 5/18/02)
1993 Jun 19, Sir William
Golding (b.9/19/1911), English Nobel Prize-winning author (1983),
died at his home in Cornwall, England, at age 81. His novel “Lord of
the Flies” was published in 1954. other novels included “Pincher
Martin” (1956) and “The Inheritors” (1955). In 2009 John Carey
authored “William Golding: The Man Who Wrote Lord of the Flies.”
(AP,
6/19/98)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_G._Golding)(Econ,
9/5/09, p.93)
1993 Oct 20, James Leo Herlihy
(b.1927), gay author (Midnight Cowboy), committed suicide in Los
Angeles.
(www.lib.udel.edu/ud/spec/findaids/herlihy.htm)
1993 Dec 31, Samuel Morris
Steward (b.1909), also known by the pen name Phil Andros, died. He
was a novelist and tattoo artist later based in Oakland, California.
In 2010 Justin Spring authored “Secret Historian: The Life and Times
of Samuel Steward, Professor, Tattoo Artist, and Sexual Renegade.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Andros)(SSFC,
8/22/10, p.F1)
1993 Toni Morrison (b.1931,
American novelist, won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Her novels are
known for their epic themes, vivid dialogue, and richly detailed
black characters. Among her best known novels are “The Bluest Eye,”
“Song of Solomon,” and “Beloved,” which won the Pulitzer Prize for
Fiction in 1988.
(AP,
10/8/09)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toni_Morrison)
1993 Amin Maalouf (b.1949),
Lebanese writer, won France’s Prix Goncourt for his novel “The Rock
of Tanios.”
(Econ, 7/5/08, p.91)
1994 Mar 28, Absurdist
playwright Eugene Ionesco died in Paris at age 81.
(AP, 3/28/99)
1994 Apr 12, Playwright Edward
Albee won his third Pulitzer prize for "Three Tall Women"; the
Pulitzer prize for fiction went to E. Annie Proulx for "The Shipping
News"; the gold-medal award for public service journalism went to
the Akron Beacon-Journal of Ohio.
(AP, 4/12/99)
1994 Apr 16, Ralph Ellison
(b.1914), author of "Invisible Man" (1952), died in NYC of
pancreatic cancer at age 80. His unfinished novel "Juneteenth" was
published in 1999. His books also included "Living With Music." In
2002 Lawrence Jackson authored "Ralph Ellison: Emergence of Genius."
In 2007 Arnold Rampersad authored “Ralph Ellison.”
(AP, 4/16/99)(WSJ, 6/18/99, p.W13)(WSJ, 6/14/02,
p.W11)(SFC, 5/14/07, p.C2)
1994 Aug 15, Shepherd Mead
(80), author (How to Succeed at Business), died of stroke In London,
England.
(MC, 8/15/02)
1994 Sep 7, James Clavell
(b.1924), Australian-born author and director (King Rat, Shogun),
died in Switzerland.
(www.imdb.com/name/nm0165412/)
1994 Oct 14, Nobel
Prize-winning writer Naguib Mahfouz (1911-2006) was stabbed several
times in the neck by a 21-year-old assailant on a Cairo street.
Muslim militants were blamed in the attack. The wound resulted in
the paralysis of his writing hand.
(WSJ, 2/20/98, p.A16)(AP, 10/14/04)
1994 Nov 19, Julian Symons
(b.1912)), British detective writer (Death's Darkest Face), died.
(http://neptune.spaceports.com/~queen/Whodunit__writers.html)
1994 Nov 30, Guy Debord
(b.1931), French political theorist and filmmaker, died. His books
included “Society of the Spectacle” (1967).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Debord)
1994 John Berendt published
"Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil," his personal impressions
on the city of Savannah, Ga., which became a best-seller.
(SFEC, 3/23/97, p.T8)(SFEC, 3/15/98, p.T11)
1994 Louis de Bernieres
authored "Corelli’s Mandolin." It sold 2.5 million copies and won
the Granta Prize. In 2001 it was made into a film titled "Captain
Corelli’s Mandolin" with Nicolas Cage and Penelope Cruz.
(WSJ, 10/28/98, p.A20)(SFC, 8/17/01, p.C3)(SSFC,
8/15/04, p.M1)
1994 Harold Bloom published
"The Western Canon," a defense of the great books that were under
attack due to the current "political correctness."
(WSJ, 10/23/98, p.W8)
1994 Caleb Carr authored his
best seller “The Alienist.”
(www.salon.com/books/int/1997/10/cov_si_04carr.html)
1994 Taslima Nasreen (32),
Bangladeshi writer, authored her novel "Lajja" or "Shame," which
depicts violence against minority Hindus by Muslim fundamentalists
in Bangladesh. Muslims soon called for her execution for that and
other works. Nasreen went into hiding in India after receiving
threats from Islamic groups.
(AP, 11/28/07)
1994-1995 Haruki Murakami (b.1949) authored his
3-volume novel “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle,” a surreal 600-page
exploration of fear. An English version was published in 1997. In
2011 a stage version premiered in Edinburgh.
(Econ, 8/27/11,
p.75)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haruki_Murakami)
1995 Feb 4, Patricia Highsmith
(b.1921), American born novelist, died in Switzerland. Her first
novel, “Strangers on a Train” (1950) was made into a 1951 film by
Alfred Hitchcock. In 2009 Joan Schenkar authored “The Talented Miss
Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith.”
(SSFC, 12/13/09,
p.E3)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_Highsmith)
1995 Feb 19, Calder Willingham
(b.1922), novelist, scriptwriter (The Graduate), died of lung cancer
in New Hampshire.
(www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-1244)
1995 Mar 20, Sidney Kingsley,
US playwright (Pulitzer prize 1934), died.
(MC, 3/20/02)
1995 Apr 27, Willem Frederik
Hermans (b.1921), Dutch author, died. His 1966 novel “Beyond Sleep”
was considered to be one of the founding works of modern Dutch
literature. In 2007 an English translation became available.
(WSJ, 1/7/07,
p.P8)(http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willem_Frederik_Hermans)
1995 Jul 21, Elleston Trevor,
author, died.
(MC, 7/21/02)
1995 Oct 22, Sir Kingsley Amis
(73), British novelist and poet, died in London. His 25 novels
included “Lucky Jim” (1954) and “The Green Man” (1969). His work
also included "The King’s English: A Guide to Modern Usage" and 6
volumes of verse. In 1998 Eric Jacobs published the biography
"Kingsley Amis." In 2000 his son, Martin Amis, authored the memoir:
"Experience." In 2007 Zachary Leader authored “The Life of Kingsley
Amis.” In 2007 Zachary Leader authored “The Life of Kingsley Amis.”
(WSJ, 10/23/95, p.A1)(SFEC, 7/19/98, BR
p.3)(SFEC, 5/28/00, BR p.1)(AP, 10/22/05)(SSFC, 4/22/07,
p.P10)(Econ, 4/21/07, p.96)
1995 Dec 17, This year's
British Booker Prize in literature was awarded to Pat Barker for
"The Ghost Road," the third novel of a trilogy (1991-1995) that work
focused on psychologist W.H.R. Rivers and poet Siegfried Sassoon
(1886-1967) set during WW I.
(www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth15)(WSJ, 10/15/97,
p.A21)(WSJ, 12/18/95, p.A12)
1995 Monica Furlong (d.2003 at
72), Christian writer and feminist, authored her autobiography:
"Bird of Paradise."
(SFC, 2/3/03, p.B4)
1996 Apr 11, Daniel Wolf (80),
journalist, died.
(MC, 4/11/02)
1996 Apr 18, Piet Hein (80),
architect, poet, mathematician, inventor, died.
(MC, 4/18/02)
1996 Apr 23, Pamela Lyndon
Travers (96), Australia born writer (Mary Poppins), died in London.
(www.maryborough.qld.gov.au/index.aspx?page=678&mid=1)
1996 May 27, David Malouf,
Australian writer, won the $151,000 Int'l. IMPAC Dublin Literary
Award for his novel "Remembering Babylon."
(SFC, 5/27/96, p.B5)
1996 May 28, Eugenia Price,
American writer, died at age 79. She wrote historical novels for
women and her books were translated into 18 languages. Her "Beauty
for Ashes" made the NYT Best Seller List in 1995.
(SFC, 5/30/96, p.A16)
1996 Jul 23, Jessica Mitford
(78), author of "The American Way of Death," died. The 1963 book was
an expose of the funeral industry in the US. Her attorney husband,
Robert Treuhaft, died in 2001. In 2001 Mary S. Lovell authored "The
Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family." In 2006 “Decca: The
Letters of Jessica,” edited by Peter Y. Sussman was published. In
2010 Leslie Brody authored “Irrepressible: The Life and Times of
Jessica Mitford.”
(SFC, 6/30/96, Z1 p.3)(SFC, 11/12/01,
p.A18)(SSFC, 1/6/02, p.M1)(SFC, 11/3/06, p.E9)(SSFC, 11/14/10, p.F7)
1996 Aug 13, Mary Higgins
Clark, suspense writer, signed a 3-book contract with Simon &
Schuster for $3 mil per book.
(SFC, 8/13/96, p.B2)
1996 Dec 17, The Russian Booker
Prize for literature, inaugurated in 1992, was awarded to Andrei
Sergeyev for his book "Stamp Album."
(www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/1996/12/17/004.html)
1996 Stephen Ambrose authored
"Undaunted Courage," an account of the Lewis and Clark expedition.
(WSJ, 8/20/01, p.A8)
1996 William Gibson’s novel
"Idoru" was published. It was set in about 2036 and envisioned many
abandoned Web sites.
(WSJ, 3/11/97, p.B1)
1996 John Grisham published
"The Runaway Jury," the highest selling, fiction hardback of the
year (2.7 mil copies).
(WSJ, 5/24/99, p.R22)
1996 "Manual of the Perfect
Latin American Idiot" by Alvaro Vargas Llosa, Carlos Alberto
Montaner (Cuban novelist) and Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza was published
and became a best seller in Latin America.
(WSJ, 1/3/97, p.A9)
1996 James McBride authored
“The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother.
(SFC, 2/13/08, p.E5)
1996 The memoir "Angela's
Ashes" by Frank McCourt (1931-2009) was elected the number-one
nonfiction book by Time and Newsweek.
(WSJ, 9/17/99, p.W11)
1996 James Michener wrote "This
Noble Land: My Vision of America."
(SFC,10/17/97, p.A17)
1996 Patrick O’Brian published
his 18th volume of the Aubrey-Maturin series of historical novels of
seafaring voyages and extended naval battles of the Napoleonic wars.
(SFEC, 10/27/96, BR p.6)
1996 Sapphire (b.1950),
American performance poet born as Ramona Lofton, authored her
best-selling novel “Push.” In 2009 it was released in the US as a
film directed by Lee Daniels.
(Econ, 11/21/09,
p.87)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precious_%28film%29)
1997 Feb 19, Leo Rosten (88),
writer, humorist (Joys of Yiddish), died.
(www.nndb.com/people/842/000048698/)
1997 Mar 13, In Australia it
was revealed that the 1995 award-winning autobiography of an
Aboriginal woman, "My Own Sweet Time, " was actually written by a
47-year-old white man in Sidney named Leon Carmen.
(SFC, 3/14/97, p.A16)
1997 Mar 28, Robert Pinsky (56)
of Boston Univ. was named poet laureate of the United States by the
Library of Congress.
(SFC, 3/28/97, p.A7)
1997 Apr 5 Allen Ginsberg, the
counterculture guru who shattered conventions as poet laureate of
the Beat Generation, died in New York City at age 70. His last book
of poems "Death and Fame: Last Poems 1993-1997" was edited by Bob
Rosenthal, Peter Hale and Bill Morgan following his death. In 2000
Bill Morgan edited "Deliberate Prose: Selected Essays 1952-1995." In
2001 David Carter edited "Allen Ginsberg: Spontaneous Mind, The
Selected Interviews, 1958-1996."
(SFEC, 4/6/97, p.A11)(AP, 5/5/97)(WSJ, 4/2/99,
p.W6)(SFEC, 5/9/99, BR p.3)(SFEC, 3/5/00, DB p.4)(SSFC, 4/8/01, BR
p.2)
1997 Apr 7, The Pulitzer Prize
for fiction went to Steven Millhauser for "Martin Dressler: The Tale
of an American Dreamer," but no award was given for drama. The
Times-Picayune of New Orleans won two journalism Pulitzers,
including the public service prize, for a series examining how
overfishing and pollution are devastating the oceans.
(AP, 4/7/97)
1997 Apr 11, Michael Dorris
(52), writer, committed suicide.
(MC, 4/11/02)
1997 May 15, Saadallah Wannous,
Syrian playwright, died in Damascus. His plays included "A Night
Party for July 5," "Rituals of Signs and Changes," "The King Is the
King," and "The Rape," an adoption of a Spanish play that was
banned.
(SFC, 5/19/97, p.A24)
1997 Jun 4, Kurt Adler (91),
therapist, writer, died.
(MC, 6/4/02)
1997 Aug 2, William Burroughs
(1914-1997), writer, the godfather of the beat generation, died of a
heart attack at his home in Lawrence, Ka. His work included "Naked
Lunch" (1959), which was originally banned and published in the US
in 1962. He also wrote the books "Junkie" and "Queer."
(SFC, 8/4/97, p.E5)(AP, 8/2/98)(SFC, 8/31/04,
p.E7)
1997 Dec 28, James Lees-Milne
(b.1908), British biographer, architectural historian and
watercolorist, died. His work included a biography of British
politician Harold Nicolson. In 2001 Milne’s "Deep Romantic Chasm:
Diaries 1979-1981" was published. The final installment of his
diaries, The Milk of Paradise,” was published in 2006. In 2009
Michael Bloch authored “James Lees-Milne: The Life.”
(SSFC, 8/12/01, DB p.63)(WSJ, 7/1/06, p.P6)(Econ,
11/21/09, p.86)
1997 Kathy Acker (b.1948),
bad-girl writer, died. In 2002 Amy Scholder and Dennis Cooper edited
"Essential Acker: The Selected Writings of Kathy Acker."
(SSFC, 11/10/02, p.M4)
1997 Elspeth Huxley (b.1907),
English author, died. Her books included "The Flame Trees of Thika."
In 2003 C.S. Nicholls authored "Elspeth Huxley: A Biography."
(SSFC, 8/10/03, p.M2)
1998 Feb 7, Novelist Lawrence
Sanders died at age 78. His debut thriller "The Anderson Tapes"
launched his career, and his 38th book was due later this month.
(SFC, 2/13/98, p.D8)
1998 Feb 17, Ernst Juenger,
German writer, died at age 102.
(SFC, 2/18/98, p.A18)
1998 Apr 14, The Grand Forks
Herald of North Dakota won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of a
flood and fire despite a damaged printing plant. The fiction prize
went to Philip Roth, his first, for "American Pastoral."
(WSJ, 4/15/98, p.A1)(AP, 4/14/99)
1998 Apr 27, Carlos Castaneda
(72), author, died. His 1968 thesis: "The Teachings of Don Juan: A
Yaqui Way of Knowledge," published by the Univ. of Calif. Press
(1968), became an int’l. best seller. In 1997 his ex-wife Margaret
Runyan Castaneda authored "A Magical Journey With Carlos Castaneda."
In 2000 Richard DeMille authored "Castaneda's Journey: The Power and
the Allegory." In 2003 Amy Wallace, Castaneda's lover in the 1970s,
authored "The Sorcerer's Apprentice: My Life With Carlos Castaneda."
(SFC, 6/19/98, p.A2)(SSFC, 8/24/03, p.E2)
1998 Jun 5, Alfred Kazin
(b.1915), literary critic, died on his birthday. Kazin’s work
included 3 autobiographical volumes: “A Walker in the City,”
“Starting Out in the Thirties,” and “New York Jew.” In 2003
Ted Solotaroff edited "Alfred Kazin's America: Critical and Personal
Writings." In 2007 Richard M. Cook authored “Alfred Kazin: A
Biography.”
(SSFC, 10/19/03, p.M2)(WSJ, 1/12/08, p.W9)(SFC,
2/7/08, p.E2)
1998 Jul 23, In Colombia Manuel
Mejia Vallejo, novelist, died at age 75. His work included "It was
Us," "The Marked Day," and "the House of the Two Palms."
(SFC, 7/24/98, p.D5)
1998 Jul 27, Noel Behn (70),
novelist and screenwriter, died in Manhattan. His work included "The
Kremlin Letter," "The Big Stick-Up at Brink’s," and "The
Shadowboxer."
(SFC, 8/1/98, p.A19)
1998 Aug 13, Julien Green (97),
the first American to be elected to the Academie Francaise, died in
Paris. The Catholic and homosexual writer produced 18 novels that
included "Moira" and "Each in his Darkness." He also published 14
volumes of journals and 5 volumes of memoirs.
(SFC, 8/18/98, p.A18)
1998 Aug 22, Elena Garro (b.
1920), Mexican novelist, playwright and former wife of Octavio Paz,
died at age 77. Her foremost novel was "Recuerdos del Porvenir"
(Remembrances of the Future).
(SFEC, 8/23/98, p.D4)
1998 Dec 16, William Gaddis,
American writer, died at age 75. His work included "The
Recognitions" (1955) and "A Frolic of His Own." In 2002 his novel
"Agapé Agape" was published along with his essays: "The Rush
for Second Place."
(WSJ, 12/18/98, p.A1)(SSFC, 10/20/02, p.M2)
1998 Tristan Egolf (1972-2005)
authored “Lord of the Barnyard,” a sprawling story of a farm boy’s
misadventures.
(SFC, 5/12/05, p.B6)
1998 Martha Gellhorn (b.1908),
writer and the 3rd wife of Ernest Hemingway (1940), died at age 89.
Her work included the 1978 memoir "Travels With Myself and Another."
In 2003 Caroline Moorhead authored "Gellhorn: A Twentieth Century
Life."
(SSFC, 8/12/01, p.T4)(SSFC, 11/2/03, p.M1)
1999 Feb 8, Iris Murdoch
(b.1919), Dublin-born novelist, died. Her husband, John Bayley,
published "Iris: A Memoir of Iris Murdoch" in 1998. It was published
in the US as "Elegy for Iris."
(SFC, 2/9/99,
p.A20)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iris_Murdoch)
1999 Mar 8, Alice Munro of
Canada won the National Book Critics Circle award for fiction for
her short-story collection "The Love of a Good Woman." Philip
Gourevitch won the nonfiction award for "We Wish To Inform You That
Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families," a work on the Rwandan
genocide. Sylvia Nassar won the biography award for her work on John
Forbes Nash Jr., Nobel laureate in mathematics. Gary Giddins won the
award for criticism for "Visions of Jazz: The First Century."
(SFC, 3/9/99, p.C2)
1998 Michel Houellebecq
authored “Les Particules Elementaires” (The Elementary Particles), a
nihilist novel that looked at the current era from the year 2079. In
it 2 half brothers served as emblems of 2 self-destructive
tendencies in modern life: radical individual autonomy and
technological perfection. It created a literary scandal in France
and was denounced as racist, fascist, sexist, and homophobic. An
English translation came out in 2000.
(WSJ, 11/15/00, p.A24)(Econ, 9/17/05, p.87)(WSJ,
5/27/06, p.P8)
1998 Louis Sachar authored
"Holes," a novel about kids in prison in Texas. It was made into a
film in 2003.
(SFC, 5/5/03, p.D1)
1999 Jan 11, Brian Moore (59),
Irish born writer, died in California. His books included the novel
“Catholics” (1973).
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/253500.stm)
1999 Apr 13, In Chile Alejandra
Matus, author, launched her new book "The Black Book of Chilean
Justice." Police confiscated the books the next day and Matus fled
the country to Argentina.
(SFEC, 5/2/99, p.A26)
1999 Apr 14, The Pulitzer Prize
in literature went to Michael Cunningham for his novel "The Hours."
(WSJ, 4/16/99, p.W15)
1999 Jun 19, Mario Soldati
(b.1906), Italian writer and film director, died at age 92. He
started publishing novels in 1929 although his fame came with
“America primo amore” (1935), a diary about the time he spent
teaching at Columbia University. He won literary awards for the
work.
(SFC, 6/24/99,
p.A25)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Soldati)
1999 Jul 2, Mario Puzo, author
of "The Godfather," died on Long Island at age 78. His last book,
"Omerta," was scheduled for publication in 2000.
(SFC, 7/3/99, p.A21)
1999 Dec 12, Joseph Heller,
author of "Catch-22," died at age 76 in East Hampton, N.Y. His 1998
memoir was titled "Now and Then: From Coney Island to Here." Other
novels included "God Knows" (1984) and "Closing Time" (1994). His
final work was "Portrait of an Artist as an Old Man." In 2011 Tracy
Dougherty authored “Just One Catch: A Biography of Joseph Heller.”
(SFC, 12/14/99, p.A10)(WSJ, 6/9/00, p.W9)(SSFC,
8/21/11, p.F1)
1999 Breyten Breytenbach,
Afrikaner writer, authored "Dog Heart: A Memoir," a look at South
Africa since the 1994 elections.
(WSJ, 10/4/99, p.A40)
1999 Nadine Gordimer, South
Africa writer, authored "Living in Hope and History: Notes from Our
Century."
(SFEC, 12/12/99, BR p.5)
1999 Elizabeth Sparrow authored
“Secret Service: British Agents in France: 1792-1815.”
(WSJ, 12/9/06, p.P12)
2000 Jan 2, Patrick O'Brian,
(born in England as Richard Patrick Russ), celebrated novelist, died
at age 85 in Ireland while writing his 21st novel set during the
Napoleonic wars. His 1st Aubrey and Maturin novel was "Master and
Commander," begun in 1969 was published in 1970. His first novel was
"The Golden Ocean" written in 1956.
(SFC, 1/8/00, p.A19)(WSJ, 11/7/03, p.W15)
2000 Mar 8, In Italy Harold
Bloom’s new book "How To Read and Why" was published. The American
version came out in April. His other 24 books included "The Western
Canon."
(WSJ, 5/1/00, p.A24)
2000 Mar 28, Prof. Adam B. Ulam
of Harvard Univ., died at age 77. His 18 books included "Stalin: The
Man and His Era" (1973).
(SFC, 4/1/00, p.A26)
2000 Apr 4, Ha Jin, Prof. of
English at Emory Univ. won the PEN/Faulkner Prize for His novel
"Waiting." Jin had arrived in the US from China in 1985.
(SFC, 4/5/00, p.C3)
2000 Apr 10, David M. Kennedy
won a Pulitzer prize for "Freedom From Fear: The American People in
Depression and War, 1929-1945." Jhumpa Lahiri won the fiction award
for "Interpreter of Maladies." The Washington Post won three
Pulitzer Prizes, including the public service award for the second
year in a row; The Wall Street Journal took two honors, and The
Associated Press won for investigative reporting on the killing of
civilians by US troops at the start of the Korean War.
(SFC, 4/11/00, p.A2)(AP, 4/10/01)
2000 Apr 13, Giorgio Bassani,
Italian author, died at age 84. His books included "The Garden of
the Finzi-Continis."
(SFC, 4/14/00, p.D5)
2000 May 21, In Britain Dame
Barbara Cartland (98), author of 723 romance novels, died.
(SFC, 5/22/00, p.A14)
2000 Jul 21, Marc Reisner,
author of "Cadillac Desert," died in Marin, Ca., at age 51. His 1986
book was an angry indictment of water depletion in the American
West.
(SFC, 7/24/00, p.A21)
2000 Jul 31, William Maxwell
(b.1908) novelist and editor for the New Yorker, died in NYC. In
2008 the Library of America published a 2-volume edition of his
fiction.
(WSJ, 9/5/08,
p.W6)(www.answers.com/topic/maxwell-william-keepers-jr)
2000 JT Leroy authored his 1st
book “Sarah. The narrator, a 12-year-old boy, has renamed himself
Sarah after his whorish mother because he has learned from her
example that "Most anything you want in this world is easier when
you're a pretty girl." In 2005 it was revealed that the author was a
fake identity created by SF residents Laura Albert, her husband
Geoffrey Knoop and Geoffrey’s sister Savannah. In 2006 Knoop
acknowledged that Laura Albert wrote “Sarah,“ and followed up in
2001 with “The heart Is Deceitful Above All Things.”
(http://tinyurl.com/cqvnn)(SFC, 1/10/06,
p.A8)(SFC, 2/7/06, p.A3)
2000 The Caine Prize for
African Writing, named in memory of the late Sir Michael Harris
Caine (1927-1999), was first awarded to Leila Aboulela (b.1964) of
Sudan at the Zimbabwe International Book Fair 2000 in Harare. Caine
was a former Chairman of Booker plc., Chairman of Africa 95, and
Chairman of the Booker Prize management committee for almost 25
years.
(www.caineprize.com/about.php)
2000 Mario Vargos Llosa of Peru
authored his historical novel “The Feast of the Goat.” It explored
the cruel regime of General Trujillo in the Dominican Rep.
(Econ, 10/16/10, p.44)
2001 Mar 12, Robert Ludlum
(73), suspense novelist, died in Naples, Fla. His books included
"The Scarlatti Inheritance," "The Chancellor Manuscript," the Bourne
trilogy, "The Matlock Paper," "Trevayne" and others.
(SFC, 3/13/01, p.A25)(AP, 3/12/02)
2001 Apr 16, The Oregonian of
Portland won two Pulitzer Prizes, including public service for its
examination of widespread abuses by the Immigration and
Naturalization Service. In breaking news reporting, The Miami Herald
won for its coverage of the pre-dawn raid by federal agents who took
custody of Elian Gonzalez; the story also produced the breaking news
photography award for Alan Diaz of The Associated Press. Michael
Chabon won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel "The Amazing Adventures
of Kavalier and Clay"; David Auburn won for his play "Proof."
(SFC, 4/17/01, p.A1)(WSJ, 4/17/01, p.A1)(AP,
4/16/02)
2001 May 11, Douglas Adams
(b.1952), English author of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,"
died in Santa Barbara, Calif. He was buried at London’s Highgate
Cemetery.
(AP, 5/11/02)(AP, 9/29/09)
2001 Jul 3, Mordecai Richler,
Canadian social critic and novelist, died at age 70. His work
included the novel "The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz" (1959).
(SFC, 7/5/01, p.D3)
2001 Jul 23, Eudora Welty
(b.1909), Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, died in Jackson, Miss. Her
work included the 1941 collection "A Curtain of Green and Other
Stories" and the 1973 Pulitzer Prize winning "The Optimist’s
Daughter." In 1998 Ann Waldron authored the biography “Eudora”
against the writer’s wishes. In 2005 Suzanne Marrs authored the
biography “Eudora Welty.”
(WSJ, 7/24/01, p.A1)(SFC, 7/24/01, p.A17)(WSJ,
8/5/05, p.W6)
2001 Jul 31, Poul Anderson,
science fiction writer, died at age 74.
(WSJ, 8/3/01, p.A1)
2001 Aug 1, Robert Henry
Rimmer, author of the 1960s novel "The Harrad Experiment," died at
age 84.
(SFC, 8/11/01, p.A17)
2001 Aug 6, Jorge Amado
(b.1912), author of 32 novels, died at age 88. He was considered
Brazil’s greatest contemporary writer.
(SFC, 8/9/01,
p.D2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorge_Amado)
2001 Aug 13, Elizabeth Cavanna
Harrison (aka Betsy Allen or Elizabeth Headley), American romance
writer, died in France at age 92. Her over 80 romances included
"Going on Sixteen" (1945), and "Spice Island Mystery" 1970.
(SFC, 8/14/01, p.A18)
2001 Aug 23, Peter Maas,
novelist and non-fiction writer, died at age 72. His work included
"The Valachi Papers" (1969), "Serpico," "The King of Gypsies," and
"Underboss: Sammy the Bull Gravano’s Story of Life in the Mafia."
(SFC, 8/24/01, p.D7)
2001 Nov 10, Ken Kesey
(b.1935), author, died in Eugene, Oregon. His books included "One
Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest" (1962) and "Sometimes a Great Notion"
(1964).
(SSFC, 11/11/01, p.A1)(NW, 12/31/01, p.109)
2001 Dec 14, W.G. Sebald
(b.1944), German-born British author, died in a car accident. His
books included "The Emigrants" (1996) and "The Rings of Saturn"
(1998). His novel "Austerlitz" (2001) had just recently been awarded
The National Books Critics Award for 2002.
(SSFC, 12/23/01, p.M4)(SFC, 3/12/02, p.A2)
2001 Jonathan Franzen authored
his novel “The Corrections.” It spent 29 weeks on the New York Times
bestseller list and won the 2001 National Book Award.
(Econ, 8/28/10, p.72)
2001 Manu Herbstein (b.1936), a
South African resident of Ghana, authored “Ama: A Story of the
Atlantic Slave Trade.”
(www.nathanielturner.com/amastoryofatlanticslavetrade.htm)
2001 Mario Vargas Llosa,
Peruvian writer, authored “The Feast of the Goat,” a portrayal of
the last days of the Trujillo regime in the Dominican Republic.
(WSJ, 9/1/07, p.P9)
2001 Ian McEwan, a British
writer, authored his novel “Atonement.” In 2007 it was made into a
film starring James McAvoy and directed by Joe Wright.
(SFC, 12/4/07, p.E1)
2001 Carlos Ruiz Zafon authored
“The Shadow of the Wind.” It became a best seller in Spain and in
2004 was translated into English by Lucia Graves.
(Econ, 4/3/04, p.87)
2001 Dare Wright (b.1914),
author, died. He books included “The Lonely Doll.“ In 2004 Jean
Wright authored “The Secret Life of the Lonely Doll.“
(SSFC, 9/5/04, p.M1)
2002 Mar 11, The National Book
Critics Circle (f.1974) awarded top honors to W.G. Sebald (d.2001)
for his novel "Austerlitz." Nicholson Baker won the nonfiction
category for "Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on
Paper." Martin Amis won the criticism category for "The War
Against Cliché." Albert Goldbarth won the poetry category for
"Saving Lives." Adam Sisman won the biography category for
"Boswell’s Presumptuous Task: The Making of the Life of Dr.
Johnson."
(SFC, 3/12/02, p.A2)
2002 Apr 8, The Pulitzer Prizes
were announced. Arts winners included Louis Menand in history for
"The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America," David
McCullough for his biography "John Adams," and composer Henry Bryant
(88) for "Ice Field."
(SFC, 4/9/02, p.A2)
2002 Apr 15, Damon Knight (79),
science fiction writer and editor, died in Eugene. His work included
"The Futurians" (1977), a memoir of a group of budding writers that
included Asimov, Wollheim, Pohl and himself. His 1950 story "To
Serve Man" was made into a Twilight Zone episode in 1962.
(SFC, 4/19/02, p.A27)
2002 May 20, Steven Jay Gould
(60), polymath, paleontologist and writer, died of cancer in NYC. He
and Niles Eldredge were proponents of the theory of punctuated
evolution, an update on Darwin’s theory of evolution. His books
included "The Mismeasure of Man" (1988). His book "The Hedgehog, the
Fox and the Magister’s Pox: Mending the Gap Between Science and the
Humanities" was published posthumously in 2003.
(SFC, 5/21/02, p.A6)(SSFC, 4/13/03, p.M1)
2002 May 28, Mildred Wirt
Benson (96), newspaperwoman and creator of the "Nancy Drew"
children's mystery stories (1930), died in Toledo, Ohio. She wrote
under the direction of Edward Stratemeyer and used the pen name
Carolyn Keene.
(WSJ, 5/31/02, p.A13)(AP,
5/28/03)(http://tinyurl.com/e39rt)
2002 Jun 11, Quincy Troupe
(62), prof. of creative writing at UC San Diego, was named
California state poet laureate. Troupe resigned Oct 18 after he
acknowledged that he lied in his resume about graduating from
college.
(SFC, 6/12/02, p.D5)(SSFC, 10/20/02, p.A14)
2002 Jul 23, Chaim Potok (73),
rabbi and author of novels that included "The Chosen," died at his
home in suburban Philadelphia. "Literature presents you with
alternative mappings of the human experience."
(SFC, 7/24/02, p.A1)
2002 Jul 23, William Pierce
(d.2002), white supremacist author of the 1978 "Turner Diaries,"
died in Hillsboro, West Virginia.
(WSJ, 7/24/02, p.A1)
2002 Aug 5, Winifred Watson
(95), a popular writer of the 1930s who found a new readership in
the 21st century, died in England. His work included the humorous
and risqué novel "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day" (1938).
(AP, 8/14/02)
2002 Aug 27, Stanley R.
Greenberg (74), writer, died. His work included over 40 plays for
stage, film and TV including the screenplay for the 1973 film
"Soylent Green."
(SFC, 8/28/02, p.A19)(MoTV, 1977, p.667)
2002 Sep 2, Jerry Boyd
(b.1930), boxing trainer and author (pen name F.X. Toole), died. Two
of his short stories were adopted for the 2004 film “Million Dollar
Baby.”
(SSFC, 8/6/06,
p.M1)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F.X._Toole)
2002 Oct 3, Wu-chi Liu (95),
China-born scholar, died in Menlo Park, Ca. His books included "A
Short History of Confucian Philosophy" and "An Introduction to
Chinese Literature." He was also the senior editor of "Sunflower
Splendor," an anthology that encompassed 3,000 years of Chinese
poetry in translation.
(SFC, 10/18/02, p.A26)
2002 Oct 31/Nov 1, Inmates at
San Quentin performed the verse drama "John Brown’s Body" by Stephen
Vincent Benet under the direction of Joseph De Francesca.
(SFC, 11/19/02, p.D1)(EW)
2002 Nov 4, Jerry Sohl (88),
science fiction author, died in Thousand Oaks, California. His books
included "The Transcendent Man" and "The Altered Ego."
(SFC, 11/11/02, p.A20)
2002 Nov 24, Harriet Doerr
(b.1910), author of "Stone for Ibarra" (1984), died in Pasadena.
(SFC, 11/28/02, p.A30)
2002 Dec 21, In Spain Jose
Hierro (80), a poet who won the Spanish-speaking world's highest
literary award while writing in a Madrid coffee shop, died.
(AP, 12/21/02)
2002 David L. Ulin edited
"Writing Los Angeles: A Literary Anthology."
(SSFC, 10/12/02, p.M1)
2002 Michael Crichton authored
"Prey," an novel that portrayed a mayhem of nanotechnology mixed
with biotechnology.
(WSJ, 11/22/02, p.W10)
2002 Carlos Fuentes published
his novel “La silla del aguila,” in Mexico. In 2006 an English
translation by Kristina Cordero was published as “The Eagle’s
Throne.”
(SSFC, 5/27/06, p.M1)
2002 Caroline Knapp (42),
author of "Drinking: A Love Story" (1996), died. In 2003 her book
"Appetites: Why Women Want," was published.
(SSFC, 5/18/03, p.M1)
2002 "The Sexual Life of
Catherine M.” by Catherine Millet was published in the US following
a successful introduction in France.
(NW, 5/27/02, p.70)
2002 China banned the novel "K:
The Art of Love" by Chen Hongying following a lawsuit by a British
woman who said the book insulted her late parents. The book was
based on letters and journals of Julian Bell (d.1937), a nephew of
Virginia Woolf, and his affair with poet named Lin.
(SFC, 12/13/02, p.K2)
2003 Jan 3, Jose Maria
Gironella (85), Spanish author, died. His work included "The
Cypresses Believe in God," a trilogy based on the 1936-1939 Civil
War, for which he won the 1953 National Literary prize.
(SFC, 2/10/03, p.B5)
2003 Jan 29, Leslie Fiedler
(85), author and literary critic, died in Buffalo, NY. His 1960
"Love and Death in the American Novel" analyzed the work of mark
Twain, Ernest Hemingway and others.
(SFC, 1/31/03, p.A26)
2003 Feb 8, Augusto Monterosso
(81), Honduras-born Guatemalan writer, died in Mexico City. His work
included "Perpetual Movement" (1972); "The Letter E: Fragments of a
Diary" (1987); and "The Magic Word" (1983).
(SFC, 2/10/03, p.B5)
2003 Feb 23, Robert K. Merton
(b.1910), writer and sociologist, died. In 1965 he authored “On the
Shoulders of Giants” (OTSOG), wherein he traced the eponymous title,
usually attributed to Isaac Newton, to Bernard of Chartres in about
1130. [see 1159]
(www.asanet.org/footnotes/mar03/indextwo.html)
2003 Feb 26, The
National Book Critics Circle for general nonfiction went to Samantha
Power for "A Problem from Hell: American and the Age of Genocide."
(SFC, 2/27/03, A2)
2003 Mar 8, Michael
Moore won best original screenplay for "Bowling for Columbine" in
the 55th annual Writer’s Guild Awards.
(SFC, 3/10/03, p.D2)
2003 Mar 12, Howard Fast
(b.1914), historical fiction author, died in Old. Greenwich, Conn.
His books included "Citizen Tom Paine" (1943), "Freedom Road"
(1944), "Spartacus" (1953) and "The Naked God" (1957).
(SFC, 3/13/03, p.A21)
2003 Mar 14, Amanda Davis (32),
writing professor at Mills College in Oakland, Ca., was killed in a
small plane crash near Ashville, NC, along with her parents. She was
on a book signing tour for her novel "Wonder When You’ll Miss Me."
(SFC, 1/19/02, p.D4)
2003 Mar 10, Carolyn Doty
(b.1941), novelist and prof. of English at U. of Kansas, died. Her 4
novels included "A Day Later" (1980). "She managed to peer into
corners of human behaviour that others overlooked."
(SFC, 3/29/03, p.A12)
2003 Jun 21, Leon Uris (78),
author, died on New York's Shelter Island. His books included
"Battle Cry" (1953), the best-selling "Exodus" (1958) and "Mila 18"
(1960).
(AP, 6/24/03)(SFC, 6/25/03, p.A25)
2003 Jul 8, Antonis Samarakis
(84), Greek writer and children's rights activist, died. His books
included the novel "Mistake" (1965).
(SFC, 8/11/03, p.A17)
2003 Jul 9, Winston Graham
(93), author of the hugely popular Poldark novels, died in Sussex,
England. His other novels included "Marnie" (1961).
(AP, 7/11/03)
2003 Jul 15, Roberto Bolano
(b.1953), Chilean author, died in Spain. His novel “2666” was
published posthumously in 2006. In 2007 his novel “The Savage
Detectives” (1998) was made available in English.
(www.absoluteastronomy.com/enc3/roberto_bola%C3%B1o)(SSFC, 4/1/07,
p.M1)
2003 Jul 16, Carol Shields
(68), the Pulitzer-prize winning author who wrote "The Stone
Diaries" (1995) and more than 20 other books, died at her home in
Victoria, British Columbia.
(AP, 7/17/03)(SFC, 7/18/03, p.A29)
2003 Aug 4, Brazilian novelist
Rubem Fonseca (b.1925) won Mexico's prestigious Juan Rulfo Prize for
literature.
(AP, 8/4/03)
2003 Aug 23, Marion Hargrove
(83), American writer, died in Long Beach, Calif. She was noted for
the bestselling World War II comedy novel “See Here, Private
Hargrove,” which was made into a 1944 movie with Robert Walker as
Hargrove and Donna Reed as his love interest.
(AP,
8/30/04)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marion_Hargrove)
2003 Aug 24, Sir Wilfred
Thesiger (93), writer, explorer and chronicler of the world's
vanishing ways of life, died. Thesiger's most famous books were
"Arabian Sands," about his travels with the Bedu people across the
Empty Quarter of southern Arabia in the 1940s, and "The Marsh
Arabs," the story of the Shiite marsh dwellers of southern Iraq.
(AP, 8/26/03)
2003 Sep 4, Mario Monteforte
Toledo, Guatemalan writer and activist, died. His work included the
1952 novel "En Donde Acaban los Caminos" (Where the Roads End).
(SFC, 9/5/03, p.A23)
2003 Sep 25, George Plimpton
(b.1927), writer and participatory journalist, died in NYC at age
76. He helped found the Paris Review in 1953. His books included
"Paper Lion" (1966).
(SFC, 9/27/03, p.A2)
2003 Sep 25, Edward Said (67),
Palestinian American journalist, critic and author, died. His books
included "Orientalism" and "Culture and Imperialism."
(SSFC, 12/28/03, p.E9)(Econ, 10/4/03, p.84)
2003 Oct 29, Harry Clement
Stubbs (81), science fiction writer, died. His books included
"Mission of Gravity" (1953).
(SFC, 11/1/03, p.A21)
2003 Oct, Vol. 1 of Osamu
Tezuka's "Buddha" series was published in the US. The 8-volume epic
was about the life and times of Siddartha.
(SSFC, 4/4/04, p.F1)
2003 Nov 15, Mohamed Choukri
(68), a Moroccan writer whose tales about his experiences with drugs
and homosexuality were banned at home, died in Tangiers. His
best-known work, "For Bread Alone" (1981), was published in
Paris and told of his difficult adolescence.
(AP, 11/16/03)
2003 Dec 11, Ahmadou Kourouma,
Ivorian writer, died. His 5th novel, incomplete, was published in
French in 2004.
(Econ, 8/28/04, p.76)
2003 Dec 18, Charles Berlitz
(90), linguist and author, died in Florida. His books included "The
Bermuda Triangle" (1974), and "Native Tongues," a compendium of
language history.
(SFC, 1/5/04, p.B5)
2003 Dec 27, Juan Garcia Ponce
(71), a renowned Mexican art critic, translator and prize-winning
novelist, died. Ponce was born in Merida, the capital of Yucatan
state, on Sept. 22, 1932. The author of at least 50 books, Ponce
wrote novels, plays, screenplays and essays and was considered a
master of erotic literature.
(AP, 12/28/03)(SFC, 12/29/03, p.A12)
2003 Dec 30, John Gregory Dunne
(b.1932), author, screenwriter and husband of Joan Didion, died in
NYC. His novels included "True Confessions" (1977).
(SFC, 1/1/04, p.A23)
2003 Dan Brown authored the
best-seller thriller novel "The Da Vinci Code." The story held that
Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and fathered a daughter; that
the Bible was put together by a 4th century emperor with a thing
against women; and that the Catholic Church is a criminal
conspiracy.
(SFC, 8/30/03, p.D1)(Econ, 5/20/06, p.34)
2003 Paul Elie authored "The
Life You Save May Be Your Own: An American Pilgrimage." It was a
group biography of Doris Day, Thomas Merton, Flannery O’Connor and
Walker Percy.
(SSFC, 4/20/03, p.M3)
2003 The purported memoir “A
Million Little Pieces” by James Frey was published. In 2005 it was
endorsed by Oprah Winfrey and became a best seller. In 2006 Frey
acknowledged that much of the book was falsified.
(SFC, 1/27/06, p.A2)
2003 DBC Pierre won the 2003
Booker Prize for his novel "Vernon God Little."
(SSFC, 10/26/03, p.M3)
2003 Vikas Swarup, Indian
diplomat, authored his novel “Q&A” while in London. The novel
was turned into the successful film “Slumdog Millionaire” (2008).
(Econ, 1/31/09, p.90)
2004 Jan 15, Olivia Goldsmith
(54), author of "The First Wives Club" (1992), died in NYC of
complications from plastic surgery. Her book became a revenge
fantasy for wives tossed aside in favor of younger women. It became
a No. 1 film in 1996 starring Goldie Hawn, Diane Keaton and Bette
Midler.
(AP, 1/16/04)(SFC, 1/17/04, p.A17)
2004 Jan 29, Janet Frame
(b.1924), author, died in Dunedin, New Zealand. Her 3-volume
autobiography was dramatized in the 1990 film "An Angel at My
Table."
(SFC, 1/31/04, p.A1)
2004 Mar 27, Robert Merle (95),
French author, died. His books included "The Day of the Dolphin,"
which was made into a 1973 film.
(SFC, 4/1/04, p.B7)
2004 Mar 29, Margaret McCord
Nixon (87), South-African-born author of "The Calling of Katie
Makanya" (1997), died in Venice, Ca.
(SFC, 4/13/04, p.B7)
2004 Mar 30, Alistair Cooke
(b.1908), television host and author, died in NYC at age 95. His
books included "Alistair Cooke's America" (1972).
(Econ, 4/3/04, p.89)
2004 Apr 26, Denis Hills (90),
the writer sentenced to death by Idi Amin for describing the Ugandan
dictator as a "black Nero" and "village tyrant," died in southern
England.
(AP, 5/1/04)
2004 Apr 26, Hubert Selby Jr.
(b.1928), author of "Last Exit to Brooklyn," died in LA.
(SFC, 4/27/04, p.B7)
2004 Jun 17, Tahar Ben Jelloun
(59), a Moroccan-born novelist and poet, won the Int’l. IMPAC Dublin
Literary Award for the best work of English fiction for 2002. Linda
Coverdale, translator of “This Blinding Absence of Light,” received
a quarter of the $120,000 prize.
(SFC, 6/18/04, p.E2)
2004 Aug 11, Ngugi wa Thiongo
(b.1938), exiled Kenyan writer, was accosted by assailants during a
return trip to Nairobi. His face was burned with cigarettes and his
wife was raped.
(Econ, 8/19/06,
p.70)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ngugi_wa_Thiongo)
2004 Sep 23, Nigel Nicolson
(87), English writer and publisher, died. His mother was Vita
Sackville-West.
(Econ, 10/2/04, p.87)
2004 Sep 24, French author
Francoise Sagan (69), who shot to fame with her first novel "Bonjour
Tristesse" (1954) at the age of 18 and courted controversy
throughout her life, died. She was a longstanding friend of late
President Francois Mitterrand and was convicted of taking drugs and
for tax evasion.
(Reuters, 9/24/04)(SSFC, 9/26/04, p.B5)
2004 Oct 19, Britain’s Man
Booker Prize and a $90,000 check was awarded to Alan Hollinghurst
for his novel “The Line of Beauty.”
(SFC, 10/20/04, p.E2)(SSFC, 10/31/04, p.M1)
2004 Nov 9, Iris Chang
(b.1968), author of the 1997 book "The Rape of Nanking: The
Forgotten Holocaust of WW II," died by suicide in California. In
2007 Paula Kamen authored “Finding Iris Chang: Friendship, Ambition
and the Loss of an Extraordinary Mind.” In 2011 Her mother Ying-Ying
Change authored “The Woman Who Could Not Forget: Iris Change Before
and Beyond The Rape of Nanking.”
(Econ, 11/27/04, p.91)(SFCM, 4/17/05, p.5)(SSFC,
11/11/07, p.M1)(SSFC, 5/15/11, p.G1)
2004 Nov 9, Stieg Larsson
(b.1954), Swedish novelist, died of a heart attack. By 2009 his “The
Millennium Trilogy,” published posthumously, had sold more than 12
million copies around the world. The books centered on the heroine
Lisbeth Salander, a tattooed bisexual waif with autistic tendencies,
a profound distrust of authority, as well as astonishing computer
skills and physical courage. The first book in the trilogy, “The
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” was released as a film in 2010.
(Econ, 10/31/09,
p.98)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stieg_Larsson)(Econ, 3/13/10,
p.85)
2004 Nov 24, Arthur Hailey
(b.1920), author of the 1968 novel “Airport,” died in the Bahamas.
(SFC, 11/26/04, p.B3)
2004 Dec 26, John Kimbro (75),
gothic novelist, died in SF. His more than 40 books included the
series “Saga of the Phenwick Women.”
(SFC, 1/4/05, p.B5)
2004 Dec 28, Susan Sontag (71),
writer, filmmaker and social critic, died of leukemia in NYC. Her 17
books included “Against Interpretation, and Other Essays.” In 2011
Sigrid Nunez authored “A Memoir of Susan Sontag.”
(SFC, 12/29/04, p.A1)(Econ, 1/8/05, p.77)(SSFC,
4/3/11, p.G1)
2004 Gabriel Garcia Marquez
authored his novel “Memoria de mis Putas Tristes” (A Memoir of My
Sad Whores.”
(Econ, 12/4/04, p.85)
2005 Feb 10, Arthur Miller
(b.1915), the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, died. His most
famous fictional creation, Willy Loman in "Death of a Salesman"
(1949), came to symbolize the American Dream gone awry.
(AP, 2/11/05)(SFC, 2/12/05, p.A12)(Econ, 2/19/05,
p.84)
2005 Feb 20, Hunter S. Thompson
(b.1937), gonzo journalist, committed suicide in Aspen, Colo. The
hard-living writer inserted himself into his accounts of America's
underbelly and popularized a first-person form of journalism in
books such as “The Rum Diary” (1998) and "Fear and Loathing in Las
Vegas" (1972).
(AP, 2/21/05)(SFC, 2/21/05, p.A8)(Econ, 2/26/05,
p.86)
2005 Apr 5, Saul Bellow (89),
Nobel winning novelist, died in Brookline, Mass. His books included
“The Dangling Man” (1944), “Herzog” (1964), and “Ravelstein” (2000).
(SFC, 4/6/05, p.A1)(Econ, 4/16/05, p.76)
2005 Jun 3, Albanian novelist
Ismail Kadare (b.1936) won the first international version of
Britain's prestigious Man Booker literary prize. Kadare became
famous in his homeland with the 1963 publication of his first novel,
"The General of the Dead Army" (1963). His other works include "The
Concert" (1988) and "The Palace of Dreams" (1981). David Bellos won
the accompanying translator’s prize.
(AP, 6/3/05)(Econ, 9/10/11, p.96)
2005 Jul 16, J.K. Rawling’s
latest book, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” the 6th of
the series, went on sale.
(SSFC, 7/17/05, p.A1)
2005 Aug 31, Orhan Pamuk, a
Turkish novelist, was charged with insulting his country's national
character and could face prison. In February Pamuk was quoted as
saying in an interview with a Swiss newspaper magazine:
"Thirty-thousand Kurds and one million Armenians were killed in
these lands and nobody but me dares to talk about it."
(AP, 8/31/05)
2005 Sep, The novel “The Girls
of Riyadh” by Rajaa al-Sanie (23) was published in Lebanon. Only
pirated copies were available in Saudi Arabia. Rajaa Alsanea wrote
the novel as a series of anonymous e-mails about the protagonists.
In 2007 the book became available in English.
(SFC, 12/16/05, p.A29)(WSJ, 6/29/07, p.W2)
2005 Nov 5, John Fowles
(b.1926), English novelist, died at his home in Lyme Regis, Dorset.
His books included "The Collector" (1963), “The Magus” (1965) and
“The French Lieutenant's Woman” (1969). Volume I of his journals
(1949-1965) was published in May. Volume II (1966-1990) was
published in 2006.
(SFC, 11/8/05, p.B5)(Econ, 11/19/05, p.92)(SSFC,
10/29/06, p.M1)
2005 Dec 16, In Turkey a trial
against novelist Orhan Pamuk opened in Istanbul. It was then
adjourned to February. Charges were dropped on Jan 23.
(Econ, 12/24/05, p.71)
2005 Stephenie Meyer (b.1973),
American novelist, authored the first of her vampire romance series
“Twilight.” By 2009 the series consisted of 4 books, of which two
were made into movies.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephenie_Meyer)
2005 Orhan Pamuk authored
“Istanbul,” a personal memoir and cultural history of the city.
(Econ, 4/9/05, p.71)
2006 Jan 23, A Turkish court
dropped charges against Orhan Pamuk, the country's best-known
novelist, for insulting "Turkishness," ending a high-profile trial
that outraged Western observers and cast doubt on Turkey's
commitment to free speech. He had been charged under articles 301
and 305 of the penal code.
(AP, 1/23/06)(Econ, 1/28/06, p.50)
2006 Feb 11, Peter Benchley
(65), "Jaws" author, died in Princeton, N.J.
(AP, 2/11/07)
2006 Feb 24, Octavia Butler
(b.1947), African-American sci-fi writer, died in Seattle. Her 12
books included “Kindred” (1979).
(SFC, 3/2/06,
p.B5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octavia_Butler)
2006 Apr 13, Dame Muriel Spark
(b.1918) died in Tuscany, Italy. Her spare and humorous novels made
her one of the most admired British writers of the post World War II
years. Her work of 23 novels, included the autobiographical "The
Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" (1961), which was later adapted for a
Broadway hit (1966) and a movie. In 2010 Martin Stannard authored
“Muriel Spark: The Biography.”
(AP, 4/15/06)(Econ, 4/22/06, p.83)(SFC, 6/12/10,
p.E2)
2006 Jan 28, Maurice Lever
(b.1935), French writer, died in Paris of cancer. His work included
a biography of Marquis de Sade (1994), “Bloody Rumors” (1993), a
history of violent news stories, and “Scepter and Bauble” (1909), a
history of court jesters.
(SFC, 5/30/09,
p.E2)(www.imdb.com/name/nm1927840/bio)
2006 Jul 10, Fred Wander
(b.1917), writer and Holocaust survivor, died in Vienna. His 1970
novel, “The Seventh Well,” describes his survival. The German
edition was translated to English in 2007.
(SFC, 12/11/07,
p.D2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Wander)
2006 Jul 17, Mickey Spillane
(b.1918), American mystery writer, died in South Carolina. His 13
Mike Hammer novels began with “I, the Jury” (1946). A number of his
books were made into films including “The Girl Hunters” in which he
played the starring role.
(SFC, 7/18/06, p.B5)
2006 Jul 28, David Gemmell
(b.1948), British writer of fantasy novels, died. He wrote over 30
novels.
(WSJ, 1/23/08,
p.D8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Gemmell)
2006 Aug 11, German novelist
Guenter Grass (78) admitted in an interview that he served in the
Waffen SS, the combat arm of Adolf Hitler's dreaded paramilitary
forces, during World War II. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature
in 1999 for works including his 1959 novel, "The Tin Drum." His new
memoir about the war years, Peeling the Onion” was published in
September, 2006. The English translation came out in 2007.
(AP, 8/11/06)(SSFC, 7/8/07, p.M1)
2006 Aug 30, Naguib Mahfouz
(94), Arab writer, died in Cairo. He became the first Arab writer to
win the Nobel Prize in Literature (1988) for his novels depicting
modern Egyptian life. Across the span of 34 novels, hundreds of
short stories and essays, dozens of movie scripts and five plays,
Mahfouz depicted with startling realism the Egyptian "Everyman"
balancing between tradition and the modern world.
(AP, 8/30/06)
2006 Sep 9, Elisabeth Ogilvie
(89), writer, died at her home in Cushing, Maine. Her 46 books
included the Tide trilogy, which centered on the Bennet family and
lobster-trapping life.
(SFC, 9/15/06, p.B9)
2006 Sep 30, André
Schwarz-Bart (b.1928), French novelist of Polish-Jewish origins,
died in Guadeloupe. His books included the novel “The Last of the
Just” (1960), based on the Jewish teaching that the fate of the
world lies with 36 just men.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andre_Schwarz-Bart)(WSJ, 12/9/06,
p.P12)
2006 Oct 10, Britain’s Man
Booker Prize was won by Indian writer Kiran Desai (35) for “The
Inheritance of Loss,” a cross-continental saga that moves from the
Himalayas to NYC.
(SFC, 10/11/06, p.A16)
2006 Oct 12, Turkish novelist
Orhan Pamuk won the Nobel literature prize for his works dealing
with the symbols of clashing cultures. His uncommon lyrical gifts
and uncompromising politics have brought him acclaim worldwide and
prosecution at home.
(AP, 10/12/06)
2006 Nov 1, William Styron
(81), novelist from the American South, died in Massachusetts. His
books included “The Confessions of Nat Turner” (1967) and “Sophie’s
Choice” (1979).
(SFC, 11/2/06, p.B7)
2006 Nov 4, Ernestine Gilbreth
Carey (98), co-author of "Cheaper by the Dozen," died in Fresno,
Calif.
(AP, 11/4/07)
2006 Nov 27, Bebe Moore
Campbell (56), novelist, died of cancer in Los Angeles. Her novels
centered on race relations and included “Your Blues Ain’t Like Mine”
(1992), which was rooted in the (1955) murder of Emmett Till.
(SFC, 11/28/06, p.B7)
2006 Dec 16, John Rae (b.1931),
English novelist and educator, died. In 2009 his diaries were
published under the title: “The Old Boys’ Network: A Headmaster’s
Diaries 1970-1986.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Rae_(educator))(Econ, 4/25/09,
p.87)
2006 Dave Eggers authored “What
Is the What: The Autobiography of Achak Deng.” Deng, a Sudanese
“lost boy,” managed to escape to Ethiopia and work his way to Kenya
and ultimately America in 2001. Eggers’ novel is based on interviews
with Deng.
(SSFC, 12/24/06, p.M1)
2007 Jan 23, Ryszard
Kapuscinski (b.1932), Belarus-born Polish writer and journalist,
died following heart surgery. He gained international acclaim for
his books chronicling wars, coups and revolutions in Africa, the
Middle East and other parts of the world. His books included "The
Emperor" (1978), a chronicle of the decline of Haile Selassie's
regime in Ethiopia. In 1981 he published "Shah of Shahs," a book
about the 1979 Islamic revolution that toppled Iran's Shah Mohammad
Reza Pahlavi. His last book “Travels With Herodotus” was published
shortly after his death.
(AP, 1/24/07)(WSJ, 6/9/07, p.P8)(SSFC, 7/22/07,
p.M1)
2007 Jan 24, Jean-Francois
Deniau (b.1928), a former French government minister, diplomat,
sailor and novelist, died. His novel "Un Hero Tres Discret" (A Very
Discreet Hero) told of an ordinary man who reinvented himself as a
hero of the World War II Resistance. The book was adapted into a
movie by director Jacques Audiard and given the English-language
title "A Self Made Hero."
(AP, 1/24/07)
2007 Jan 30, Sidney Sheldon
(89), American writer, died. He won awards in three careers,
Broadway theater, movies and television, then at age 50 turned to
writing best-selling novels about stalwart women who triumph in a
hostile world of ruthless men.
(AP, 1/31/07)
2007 Feb 22, Lothar-Guenther
Buchheim (89), the German author and art collector best known for
his 1973 autobiographical novel, "Das Boot," died. In 1981, the book
was turned into an acclaimed German film starring Juergen Prochnow
that detailed the hopelessness of war and its effect on sailors
living in the cramped confines of their submarine.
(AP, 2/23/07)
2007 Mar 2, Henri Troyat (95),
French writer, died. He fled Russia's revolution as a child and went
on to become one of France's most prolific, popular and respected
authors.
(AP, 3/5/07)
2007 Apr 11, Kurt Vonnegut
(b.1922), regarded by many critics as a key influence in shaping
20th-century American literature, died in NYC. He mixed the bitter
and funny with a touch of the profound in books such as
"Slaughterhouse-Five," "Cat's Cradle," and "Hocus Pocus." In 2009
Loree Rackstraw, a former student, authored “Love as Always, Kurt:
Vonnegut As I Knew Him.”
(AP, 4/12/07)(Econ, 4/21/07, p.98)(WSJ, 3/16/09,
p.A17)
2007 Apr, The International
Prize for Arabic Fiction was officially launched in Abu Dhabi,
capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In 2008 the Philanthropy
in Abu Dhabi awarded the 1st annual Int’l. Prize for Arabic Fiction
to Bahaa Taher for “Sunset Oasis.”
(Econ, 3/26/11,
p.95)(http://librarian.lishost.org/?p=1064)
2007 May 30, Mark Harris
(b.1922 as Mark Harris Finkelstein), American author, died in
Goleta, Ca. His 13 novels and 5 nonfiction books included “Bang The
Drum Slowly” (1956), a baseball novel that he adopted for the 1973
movie of the same name.
(SFC, 6/1/07, p.B9)
2007 Jun 6, Nigeria's
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie won Britain's Orange Prize for fiction by
women for her book “Half of a Yellow Sun,” becoming the first
African to take the award in its 12-year history.
(AP, 6/6/07)(Econ, 11/24/07, p.54)
2007 Jun 13, In London Chinua
Achebe (76), a Nigerian novelist, won the Booker Int’l. Prize for
fiction, awarded every 2 years for a body of fiction. He is best
known for his 1st book “Things Fall Apart” (1958).
(SFC, 6/13/07, p.E5)
2007 Jul 6, Kathleen E.
Woodiwiss (b.1939), author of steamy genre novels, died in
Princeton, Minn. She was widely credited with having founded the
historical romance in its modern carnal incarnation. “The Flame and
the Flower” (1972) was the 1st of her 13 novels.
(SFC, 7/13/07, p.B8)
2007 Jul 21, The protracted
suspense finally lifted for Harry Potter fans who flooded bookshops
worldwide to grab the series finale, "Harry Potter and the Deathly
Hallows," and find out whether author J.K. Rowling slays or spares
the boy wizard.
(AFP, 7/21/07)(AP, 7/21/08)
2007 Milan Kundera (b.1929),
Czechoslovakia born writer, authored “The Curtain: An Essay in Seven
Parts,” an extended essay on the art of the novel.
(WSJ, 2/10/07, p.P8)(Econ, 3/10/07, p.83)
2007 Sep 6, Madeleine L’Engle
(b.1918), author, died in Litchfield, Conn. Her more than 60 books
included “A Wrinkle in Time” (1962), winner of the 1963 Newberry
Medal for best American children’s book.
(SFC, 9/8/07, p.A2)
2007 Oct 16, Anne Enright,
Irish author, won the Man Booker prize for her novel “The
Gathering.”
(SFC, 10/17/07, p.A2)
2007 Nov 7, A novel by a former
radio broadcaster in Canada's north won the 2007 Scotiabank Giller
Prize, Canada's most lucrative and prestigious prize for fiction.
Elizabeth Hay's "Late Nights on Air" details the loves and rivalries
of a cast of eccentric characters at a small radio station in
Yellowknife, near Canada's Arctic.
(Reuters, 11/7/07)
2007 Nov 10, Norman Mailer
(84), writer, died. The macho prince of American letters reigned for
decades as the country's literary conscience and provocateur with
such books as "The Naked and the Dead" (1948) and "The Executioner's
Song" (1979).
(AP, 11/10/07)(SSFC, 11/11/07, p.A7)
2007 Nov 12, Ira Levin (78),
author, died in Manhattan. His work included the best-selling horror
and suspense novels "Rosemary's Baby" (1967), "The Stepford Wives"
(1972), and "The Boys from Brazil" (1976), all later made into
popular films. Levin also wrote for the stage, including "No Time
for Sergeants," starring a young Andy Griffith, and the long-running
"Deathtrap." Both were later adapted to the screen.
(Reuters, 11/14/07)
2007 Nov 27, Jane Rule,
American-born Canadian writer, died at her home on Galiano Island in
British Columbia. Her 1964 novel, “Desert of the Heart,” is
considered a landmark work of lesbian fiction.
(SFC, 12/10/07, p.C5)
2007 Dec 22, French author
Julien Gracq (97), one of the last links with the pre-World War II
Surrealist movement, died.
(AP, 12/23/07)
2007 Joshua Ferris (b.1974)
authored his novel ”Then We Came to the End,” a satire of office
life in an advertising firm.
(Econ, 1/30/10, p.91)
2008 Jan 2, George MacDonald
Fraser (82), English author of the "Flashman" series of historical
adventure yarns, died. "Flashman," published in 1969, introduced
readers to an enduring literary antihero: the roguish, irrepressible
Harry Flashman. Fraser’s work also included over 30 movie scripts
including “The Three Musketeers” (1973).
(AP, 1/3/08)(WSJ, 1/17/08, p.D7)(Econ, 1/12/08,
p.78)
2008 Feb 18, Alain
Robbe-Grillet (85), avant-garde French author, died. He dispensed
with conventional storytelling as a pioneer of the postwar "new
novel" movement.
(AP, 2/18/08)
2008 Mar 19, Arthur C. Clarke
(b.1917), English-born science fiction writer, died in Sri Lanka.
Clarke wrote or collaborated on close to 100 books and had moved to
Sri Lanka in 1956. He had just finished his last novel, co-authored
with Frederik Pohl, titled “The Last Theorem.”
(AP, 3/19/08)(SFC, 3/19/08, p.A2)(SSFC, 8/10/08,
Books p.7)
2008 Mar 24, Rafael Azcona
(b.1926), Spanish novelist and scriptwriter, died. He was known for
films such as the Oscar-winning comedy "Belle Epoque" and Luis
Garcia Berlanga's "The Executioner."
(AP,
5/21/08)(http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafael_Azcona)
2008 May 12, Oakley Hall
(b.1920), prolific author and writing teacher, died in Nevada City.
His books included “Warlock” (1958) and “The Art and Craft of Novel
Writing” (1994).
(SFC, 5/14/08, p.A1)
2008 Jul 10, Salman Rushdie's
novel "Midnight's Children" was named as the greatest Booker Prize
winner ever, scooping a special "best of the best" award for the
second time.
(AP, 7/10/08)
2008 Aug 3, Alexander
Solzhenitsyn (b.1918), Russian Nobel literature laureate (1970),
died of heart failure in his Moscow home. His books, which included
“One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” (1962) and "Gulag
Archipelago" (1973), chronicled the horrors of dictator Josef
Stalin's slave labor camps. In 1974, he was stripped of his
citizenship and put on a plane to West Germany for refusing to keep
silent about his country's past.
(Reuters, 8/4/08)(WSJ, 8/9/08, p.W12)
2008 Aug 17, Dave Freeman (47),
co-author of "100 Things to Do Before You Die" (1999), a travel
guide and ode to odd adventures that inspired readers and imitators,
died after hitting his head in a fall at his home in Venice, Ca.
(AP, 8/26/08)
2008 Sep 12, David Foster
Wallace (b.1962), the author best known for his 1996 novel "Infinite
Jest," was found dead in his home in Claremont, Ca.
(AP, 9/13/08)(SSFC, 9/14/08, p.B7)
2008 Sep 16, James Crumley
(1939), American novelist, died in Missoula, Montana. His books
included “The Last Good Kiss” (1978). The opening line of that book
has been widely called the best in crime fiction.
(SFC, 9/20/08,
p.B5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Crumley)
2008 Oct 9, The Swedish Academy
announced French novelist Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio (b.1940)) as
the 2008 Nobel Prize in literature for his poetic adventure and
"sensual ecstasy." Le Clezio made his breakthrough as a novelist
with "Desert," in 1980.
(AP, 10/9/08)
2008 Oct 14, Indian author
Aravind Adiga (b.1974) won the 2008 Booker Prize with his first
novel: “The White Tiger.” The book follows Balram Halwai, the son of
a rickshaw puller, who dreams of better things than life as teashop
worker and driver.
(AFP, 10/15/08)
2008 Oct 26, Tony Hillerman
(b.1925), author of the acclaimed Navajo Tribal Police mystery
novels and creator of two of the unlikeliest of literary heroes —
Navajo police officers Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee — died of pulmonary
failure.
(AP, 10/27/08)
2008 Oct 31, Studs Terkel
(b.1912), Chicago radio personality and writer, died. His books
included “The Good War,” which won a Pulitzer Prize in 1984.
(SFC, 11/1/08, p.A2)
2008 Nov 4, Michael Crichton
(b.1942), doctor turned author and film director, died in LA. His
books included “The Andromeda Strain” (1969), “The Great Train
Robbery” (1975) and “Jurassic Park” (1990), all of which were made
into popular films. He also created the TV series ER in 1994.
(SFC, 11/6/08, p.A4)
2008 Nov 10, Afghan writer Atiq
Rahimi won France's top book prize, the Goncourt, for a novel penned
in French, "Syngue Sabour", or Stone of Patience.
(AFP, 11/10/08)
2008 Nov 18, George C. Chesbro,
US writer, died. His 27 novels included a detective series featuring
Mongo, a dwarf detective. “Shadow of a Broken Man” (1977) starred
Mongo and proved to be Chesbro’s breakout hit.
(SFC, 11/27/08, p.B8)
2008 Nov 27, In Spain novelist
Juan Marse (75), known for his descriptions of hardship in Catalonia
during the Spanish civil war (1936-1939), won the Cervantes Prize,
the Spanish speaking world’s highest literary prize.
(SFC, 11/28/08, p.E10)
2008 Dec 18, Conor Cruise
O’Brien (89), Irish diplomat and man of letters, died. His books
included “To Katanga and Back” (1962) and “Religion and Politics”
(1984).
(SSFC, 12/21/08, p.B6)
2008 Dec 24, Harold Pinter
(78), a Nobel Prize-winning British playwright, died. He was one of
theater's biggest names for nearly half a century. His 32 plays
included "The Birthday Party", "The Dumb Waiter" and "The
Homecoming". His first play, "The Room," appeared in 1957 and his
breakthrough came with "The Caretaker" in 1960. In 2010 Antonia
Fraser published “Must You Go? My Life With Harold Pinter.”
(AFP, 12/25/08)(SSFC, 11/7/10, p.F4)
2008 Dec 30, Paul Hofmann (96),
Austria-born writer, died in Rome. During WWII he informed on his
Nazi commanders in occupied Rome and later became a New York Times
correspondent. Hofmann authored over a dozen books, including "That
Fine Italian Hand," "The Seasons of Rome: A Journal" and "O Vatican!
A Slightly Wicked View of the Holy See."
(AP, 1/1/09)
2008 Patrick French authored
“The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V. S.
Naipaul.” V.S, Naipaul (b.1932), English novelist born in
Chaguana, Trinidad, won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2001.
(SFC, 10/12/01, p.C1)(WSJ, 11/7/08, p.W10)
2008 Jonah Goldberg authored
“Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left from
Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning.”
(WSJ, 1/4/08, p.W5)
2008 Jay Parini authored
“Promised Land: Thirteen Books That Changed America.”
(WSJ, 11/8/08, p.W8)
2008 Slavoj Zizek, Slovenian
writer, authored “Violence.” It was a smaller offspring of his
larger book “In Defense of Lost Causes,” also published this year.
(SSFC, 9/28/08, Books p.7)
2009 Jan 11, Arne Naess
(b.1912), Norwegian philosopher, writer and mountaineer, died. He
was best known for launching the concept of "deep ecology,"
promoting the idea that Earth as a planet has as much right as its
inhabitants, such as humans, to survive and flourish.
(AP, 1/13/09)
2009 Jan 16, John Mortimer
(b.1923), British lawyer and writer, died. He was the creator of the
curmudgeonly criminal lawyer Rumpole of the Bailey.
(AP, 1/16/09)
2009 Jan 19, In Thailand Harry
Nicolaides (41), an Australian writer, was sentenced to three years
in prison for insulting Thailand's royal family in his novel, a rare
conviction of a foreigner amid a crackdown on people and Web sites
deemed critical of the monarchy. Bangkok's Criminal Court sentenced
Nicolaides to six years behind bars but reduced the term because he
had entered a guilty plea. His 2005 book “Verisimilitude” had sold 7
copies.
(AP, 1/19/09)(SFC, 1/20/09, p.A3)
2009 Jan 27, John Updike
(b.1932), American writer and poet, died of lung cancer. He released
more than 60 books, including 28 novels, in a career that started in
the 1950s, winning virtually every literary prize.
(AP, 1/28/09)(Econ, 1/31/09, p.89)
2009 Feb 17, Sudanese writer
Tayeb Salih (b.1929), one of the most respected Arab novelists of
the 20th century, died in London where he spent most of his life.
His books included the classic "Season of Migration to the North"
(1966) about a Sudanese man's experiences of life and love in
Britain in the 1960s.
(AFP, 2/18/09)
2009 Feb 20, Christopher Nolan
(43), an Irish poet and novelist, died in Dublin. He had refused to
let cerebral palsy get in the way of his writing. Using a "unicorn
stick" strapped to his forehead to tap the keys of a typewriter,
Nolan laboriously wrote out messages and, eventually, poems and
books as well. His autobiography, "Under the Eye of the Clock: The
Life Story of Christopher Nolan," won the prestigious Whitbread
Award in 1988.
(AP, 2/22/09)(Econ, 2/28/09, p.91)
2009 Apr 11, Corin Tellado
(81), a well-known Spanish author of more than 4,000 romance novels,
died while celebrating the Easter holidays with her family.
(AP, 4/11/09)
2009 Apr 14, French author
Maurice Druon (b.1918), a fighter for France's World War II
Resistance movement and writer of one of its anthems, died. After
the conflict he wrote historical novels including the "Rois Maudits"
(Accursed Kings) series.
(AP, 4/15/09)
2009 Apr 19, Author J.G.
Ballard (b.1930), a China-born author and survivor of a Japanese
prison camp, died in London. His vision was so dark and distinctive
it was labeled "Ballardian." His first novel, "The Wind From
Nowhere" (1962) sold well enough for Ballard to become a full-time
writer. Other works included the novels "The Drowned World" and "The
Crystal World" and the story collection "Vermilion Sands." He
reached a wide audience with the autobiographical "Empire of the
Sun" (1984), adapted as a film (1987) by Steven Spielberg.
(AP, 4/20/09)(WSJ, 4/25/09, p.W12)
2009 May 17, Mario Benedetti
(b.1920), a prolific Uruguayan writer, died. His novels and poems
reflect the idiosyncrasies of Montevideo's middle class and a social
commitment forged by years in exile from a military dictatorship.
Benedetti's 1960 novel "The Truce" was translated into 19 languages
and along with "Thank You for the Fire" (1965), heralded his
inclusion in the Latin American literary boom in the 1960s. In 1973
he joined thousands of other Uruguayans fleeing the nation's
military dictatorship, spending 12 years in exile in Havana, Madrid,
Lima and Buenos Aires.
(AP, 5/17/09)
2009 May 25, Israeli writer
Amos Elon (82), one of the country's leading chroniclers and
critics, died in his adopted home of Italy. His best-known book,
"The Israelis: Founders and Sons" (1971), stood out as one of the
first works by an Israeli to deal with the national aspirations of
the Palestinians.
(AP, 5/26/09)
2009 May 27, Alice Munro (77),
Canadian short writer, won the Man Booker international prize.
(Econ, 5/30/09, p.86)
2009 Jul 6, Vasily Aksyonov
(b.1932), Russian novelist and Soviet dissident, died in Moscow. He
was forced into exile in 1980 after being branded as “anti-Soviet”
and lived in the US for over two decades. His over 20 novels
included “The Moscow Saga” (1994), which was adopted for a popular
TV series in 2004.
(SFC, 7/8/09, p.D5)
2009 Jul 19,
Frank McCourt (78), former NYC teacher and Irish-born author, died
of cancer. He won a Pulitzer Prize for his memoir “Angela’s Ashes”
(1996).
(SFC, 7/20/09, p.C5)
2009 Jul 23, E. Lynn Harris
(b.1955), pioneer of gay black fiction, died while promoting his
latest book in Los Angeles. Long before the secret world of closeted
black gay men came to light in America, Harris introduced a
generation of black women to the phenomenon known as the "down low."
His debut "Invisible Life" (1994) was a coming-of-age story that
dealt with the then-taboo topic.
(AP, 7/24/09)
2009 Aug 5, Amos Kenan
(b.1927), Israeli artist and writer, died in Tel Aviv. As a member
of Israel's founding generation his writing and art helped define
modern Israeli culture. Kenan was party to several efforts to create
an alliance with the Palestinians. He helped pen a 1957 manifesto
calling for the creation of a Palestinian state in federation with
Israel at a time when few Israelis acknowledged the Palestinians'
existence as a national group.
(AP, 8/5/09)
2009 Aug 26, Dominick Dunne
(b.1925), novelist and Vanity Fair columnist, died. His books
included “The Two Mrs. Grenvilles” (1985), based on the 1955
Woodward murder case.
(SFC, 8/27/09, p.A9)
2009 Sep 5, Keith Waterhouse
(80) a prolific British author, journalist and playwright, died.
Waterhouse was best known for the 1959 novel Billy Liar -- the story
of a day-dreamer who plans his escape from a depressing job as an
undertaker. It was made into a film in 1963.
(AFP, 9/5/09)
2009 Oct 9, Jacques Chessex
(b.1934), one of French-speaking Switzerland's leading novelists and
the first non-Frenchman to receive the prestigious Prix Goncourt,
died. He was honored in 1973 with the Prix Goncourt literary award
for his novel "L'ogre" ("The Ogre"), a largely autobiographical
account of a difficult father-son relationship.
(AP, 10/10/09)
2009 Nov 2, French-born writer
Marie Ndiaye (b.1967) won France's top literary prize for "Three
Strong Women," her moving tale of the struggles of women in Europe
and Africa. She was born in Pithiviers, to a French mother and a
Senegalese father and currently lived in Berlin.
(AP, 11/2/09)
2009 Nov 3, Claude Levi-Strauss
(b.1908), Brussels-born French intellectual, died. He was widely
considered the father of modern anthropology for work that included
theories about commonalities between tribal and industrial
societies. His books included literary and anthropological classics
such as "Tristes Tropiques" (1955), "The Savage Mind" (1963) and
"The Raw and the Cooked" (1964).
(AP, 11/3/09)(Econ, 11/14/09, p.106)
2009 Nov 3, Francisco Ayala
(103), Spanish novelist and sociologist, died in Madrid. He was one
of Spain's leading scholars and had gone into exile during the
country's decades of dictatorship. Ayala published his first book,
"Tragicomedia de un hombre sin espiritu" (Tragicomedy of a Man
Without Spirit), in 1925. The collapse of moral order and the
hopelessness of human relations are also common themes in
pessimistic and satirical novels such as "Muertes de Perro" (Death
as a Way of Life) and "El Jardin de Las Delicias" (Garden of
Delights).
(AP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 15, Dr. Brooke
Magnanti (34), who works for The Bristol Initiative for Research of
Child Health, revealed herself to be the woman behind the nom de
plume "Belle de Jour," which is the title of a 1967 French film
starring Catherine Deneuve. Magnanti kept a weblog of her antics in
2003-2004, which were turned into a best-selling book, "The Intimate
Adventures of a London Call Girl." Her memoirs were adapted into a
hit 16-episode television series "Secret Diary of a Call Girl,"
which starred Billie Piper and was screened in countries around the
world.
(AFP, 11/16/09)
2009 Nov 18, In NYC the 60th
annual Book Awards honored Gore Vidal with its lifetime achievement
award. David Eggers won the Literarian Award. Colum McCann won the
fiction prize for his novel “Let the Great world Spin.” T.J. Styles
won the nonfiction award for “The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of
Cornelius Vanderbilt.”
(SFC, 11/20/09, p.F8)
2009 Yusef Zeidan, Egyptian
writer, won the Arabic Booker Prize for his novel “Azazil” (2008).
It centered on a fifth-century debate between Nestorius, Patriarch
of Constantinople, and Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria, over various
arcane ecclesiastical and theological issues.
(Econ, 5/15/10, p.54)
2009 Turkish novelist Orhan
Pamuk, 2006 Nobel literature prize winner, authored his 8th novel:
“The Museum of Innocence.
(AP, 10/12/06)
2010 Jan 4, Irish writer Colm
Toibin was named novelist of the year in Britain's lucrative Costa
Book Awards for his emigrant saga "Brooklyn."
(AP, 1/4/10)
2010 Jan 12, Kenn Allan Davis
(78), newspaper illustrator and mystery novel writer, died at his
home in Placer County, Ca. His 8 detective novels featured Carver
Bascombe, an African American private eye. The first in the series
was titled “The Dark Side” (1976), co-written with John Stanley.
(SFC, 1/19/10, p.C3)
2010 Jan 17, Erich Segal
(b.1937), former Yale professor and author of “Love Story” (1970),
died at his home in London.
(SFC, 1/20/10, p.C7)
2010 Jan 18, Robert B. Parker
(77), crime novelist and author of the popular Spencer novels, died
in Cambridge, Mass. Parker reinvigorated the detective novel genre
with “The Godwulf Manuscript” (1973).
(SSFC, 1/24/10, p.F6)(SFC, 5/14/10, p.F6)
2010 Jan 27, J.D. Salinger
(b.1919), author of “Cather in the Rye” (1951), died at his home in
Cornish, New Hampshire.
(SFC, 1/29/10, p.A1)
2010 Jan 31, In Argentina Tomas
Eloy Martinez (75), author and journalist famed for his writings
about former President Juan Domingo Peron and his glamorous wife
Eva, died.
(AP, 1/31/10)
2010 Feb 14, British author
Dick Francis (b.1920), a former jockey whose thrillers rode high in
best-selling lists for decades, died at his Caribbean home in Grand
Cayman. His first book was a 1957 autobiography titled “The sport of
Queens.” His first novel, “Dead Cert,” came out in 1962 and was
followed by 41 more.
(AFP,
2/14/10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Francis)(SFC, 2/15/10,
p.C3)
2010 May 25, In Washington
state James Fogle was arrested for armed robbery at a pharmacy in
Redmond. The 1989 film "Drug Store Cowboy" was based on a book by
Fogle written while serving time in prison.
(SFC, 5/27/10, p.A8)
2010 Jun 18, Jose Saramago
(b.1922), 1998 Nobel-winning Portuguese writer, died at his home in
the Canary Islands. He had moved there following a 1992 spat with
the government, which he accused of censorship.
(SFC, 6/19/10, p.C6)
2010 Jul 2, Dame Beryl
Bainbridge, English novelist, died. Her 18 novels included “Injury
Time,” for which she won the Whitbread Prize in 1977.
(Econ, 7/17/10, p.90)
2010 Aug 13, Geral Rosen (71),
American novelist, died in SF. His 7 books included “Blues for a
Dying Nation” (1972) and his autobiography “Cold Eye, Warm Heart”
(2009).
(SFC, 8/25/10, p.C8)
2010 James Ellroy (b.1948),
American crime novelist, authored “The Hilliker Curse: My Pursuit of
Women.” It was a sort of companion piece to “My Dark Places,” a 1996
account of his obsessive search for his mother’s killer (1958).
(SSFC, 9/12/10,
p.F1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Ellroy)
2010 Canadian first-time
novelist Johanna Skibsrud, author of "The Sentimentalists," was a
surprise winner of the C$50,000 Scotiabank Giller Prize. Nova
Scotia-based specialty publisher Gaspereau Press could produce only
1,000 copies a week of the finely bound book, using an old-fashioned
press.
(Reuters, 11/11/10)
2011 Jan 17, John Ross (72), US
poet, author, journalist and political activist who lived in Mexico
and wrote extensively on its leftist political movements, died of
liver cancer. His books included "Rebellion from the Roots:
Zapatista Uprising in Chiapas."
(AP, 1/18/11)
2011 Jan 10, John Gross
(b.1935) English literary critic, author, and anthologist, died. His
work included the book: “The Rise and Fall of the Man of Letters”
(1969).
(Econ, 1/29/11,
p.85)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gross)
2011 Feb 22, Ion Hobana (80),
Romania's best-known science fiction writer, died in Bucharest. His
works were translated abroad has died. His last book, a history of
French science fiction before 1900, was published in November.
(AP, 2/23/11)
2011 Feb 18, SF-based novelist
Victor Martinez (56), died of cancer. His book “Parrot in the Over:
Mi Vida” was awarded the 1996 National Book Award for Young People’s
Literature.
(SFC, 3/4/11, p.C5)
2011 Mar 14, The 4th $50
thousand International Prize for Arabic Fiction was split between
Mohammed Achaari of Morocco, author of “The Arch and the Butterfly,”
and Raja Alem of Saudi Arabia, author of “The Dove’s Necklace.” Alem
was the first women winner.
(Econ, 3/26/11, p.95)
2011 Apr 30, Argentine writer
Ernesto Sabato (b.1911), who led the government's probe of crimes
committed by Argentina's dictatorship, died. His books included "One
and the Universe" (1945), his first novel "The Tunnel" (1948), and
"The Angel of Darkness" (1974).
(AP, 4/30/11)
2011 Jun 2, In London
Nobel-winning writer V.S. Naipaul (78) faced criticism for saying he
does not regard any female authors as his equal, even famed novelist
Jane Austen, because they are "sentimental."
(AFP, 6/2/11)
2011 Jul 5, Theodore Roszak
(b.1933), American writer, died in Berkeley, Ca. His books included
“The making of a Counter-Culture” (1969) and “Where the Wasteland
Ends” (1972).
(SFC, 7/13/11, p.C4)
2011 Sep 29, In the Netherlands
author Hella Haasse (93), an award-winning author best known for
chronicling colonial life in the Dutch East Indies, died. Haasse's
first novel, "Oeroeg" (1948), was an instant hit and has been read
at school by generations of Dutch children.
(AP, 9/30/11)
2011 Oct 16, Internationally
acclaimed Algerian author Boualem Sansal (62) received the annual
German Book Trade Peace Prize and said that people everywhere were
rising up against dictatorship.
(AFP, 10/16/11)
2011 Oct 18, British writer
Julian Barnes (65) won the Booker Prize for fiction for his novel
“The Sense of an Ending.”
(SFC, 10/19/11, p.E4)
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Subject = Writers
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