1955 in literature

none September 2026 1955 literature poetry This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1955. Events February 8 – Jin Yong's first wuxia novel, The Book and the Sword (書劍恩仇錄), begins publication in the New Evening Post (Hong Kong), where he is an editor. March 3 – Jean Cocteau is elected to the Académie française (inducted October 20); on January 8 he has been elected to the Académie royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique (inducted October 1). April 16 – Sir Laurence Olivier's film version of Shakespeare's Richard III is released in the cinemas of the United Kingdom. June – J. P. Donleavy's novel The Ginger Man is published in Paris by Olympia Press, but he is angered when he finds they have produced it under their imprint for pornography, 'The Traveller's Companion Series'.Associated Press Author J.P. Donleavy, who met scorn and then celebration with 'The Ginger Man,' dies at 91 http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-j-p-donleavy-20170914-story.html 2017-09-14 Los Angeles Times 2017-09-14 It is prohibited in both the author's adoptive and native countries, the Republic of Ireland and the United States, for obscenity. Set in postwar Dublin it features the character Sebastian Dangerfield. July 10 – Jorge Luis Borges is appointed Director of the National Library of the Argentine Republic. July 14 – Director Stephen Joseph sets up Britain's first theatre in the round at Scarborough, North Yorkshire, predecessor of the Stephen Joseph Theatre.Simon Murgatroyd Scarborough In The Round http://www.theatre-in-the-round.co.uk/index.html 2015-11-23 July 30 – The English poet Philip Larkin, having become University Librarian at the University of Hull on March 21, is inspired on a train from Hull to Grantham to write a poem, "The Whitsun Weddings".Contrary to his later recollection of the event. Burnett, Archie The Complete Poems of Philip Larkin London Faber 2012 978-0-571-24006-7 411 His collection The Less Deceived is published in November (dated October). August The American speculative fiction author Charles Beaumont's short story "The Crooked Man", depicting a homosexual society where heterosexuality is persecuted, is published in Playboy magazine after being rejected by Esquire.https://globalnews.ca/news/3773886/hugh-hefner-the-cooked-man/ How a controversial sci-fi story put Hugh Hefner on the map for human rights Dangerfield Katie 2017-09-28 Global News 2017-10-15 An article in the British Journal of Education criticises Enid Blyton's novels as formulaic.Robert Druce This Day Our Daily Fictions: An Enquiry Into the Multi-million Bestseller Status of Enid Blyton and Ian Fleming https://books.google.com/books?id=DlctAAAAIAAJ 1992 Rodopi 978-90-5183-401-7 36 August 3 – The English-language première of Samuel Beckett's play Waiting for Godot, directed by Peter Hall, opens at the Arts Theatre, London. The initial reaction is hostile, but "[e]verything changed on Sunday 7 August 1955 with Kenneth Tynan's and Harold Hobson's reviews in The Observer and The Sunday Times. Beckett was always grateful to the two reviewers for their support ... which more or less transformed the play overnight into the rage of London."Knowlson James Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett London Bloomsbury 1996 415 August 27 – The first hardback edition of The Guinness Book of Records appears in London.Guinness Book History 1950 – Present http://spyhunter007.com/spy_guinness_book_history.htm 2012-02-10 2006-05-13 https://web.archive.org/web/20060513093133/http://spyhunter007.com/spy_guinness_book_history.htm dead September – Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita appears in Paris three years before its US publication.Brian Boyd Vladimir Nabokov: The American Years Princeton University Press 1991 0-691-06797-X 226 registration https://archive.org/details/vladimirnabokova00boyd September 26 – The Madan Puraskar is established as an annual award for outstanding books in the Nepali language, endowed by Rani Jagadamba Kumari Devi (first awards 1956). November – Frank Herbert's first novel The Dragon in the Sea begins as a three-part serial, Under Pressure, in the monthly Astounding Science-Fiction.http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/fherbert.htm Frank (Patrick) Herbert Books and Writers Petri Liukkonen Kuusankoski Public Library Finland https://web.archive.org/web/20140427010107/http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/fherbert.htm 2014-04-27 dead November 28 – Ray Lawler's Summer of the Seventeenth Doll is first staged by the Union Theatre Repertory Company in Melbourne with the playwright in a lead. It is the first authentically naturalistic drama in the theatre of Australia.Peter Fitzpatrick After The Doll: Australian Drama Since 1955 Edward Arnold Australia Melbourne 1979 Studies in Australian culture 0726720402 vii https://archive.org/details/afterthedollaust0000fitz unknown date Violette Leduc's novel Ravages is issued in France but the publisher, Éditions Gallimard, suppresses the opening section depicting a semi-autobiographical lesbian awakening, which will be published as a novella, Thérèse et Isabelle, in 1966.Brioude Mireille 2007 Violette Leduc du mythe à la mystification Lesbian Inscriptions in Francophone Society and Culture Günther Renate Michallat Wendy Durham University 9780907310624 Durham Modern Languages Series 103–120 The Indian guru Mani Madhava Chakyar performs Koodiyattam outside a temple for the first time.Bhargavinilayam Das Mani Madhaveeyam Department of Cultural Affairs, Government of Kerala 1999 81-86365-78-8 New books Fiction thumb|1st ed. Kingsley Amis – That Uncertain Feeling Isaac Asimov The End of Eternity The Martian Way and Other Stories Elisabeth Augustin – Labyrinth (Auswege) Nigel Balchin – The Fall of the SparrowClive James At the Pillars of Hercules Pan Macmillan 2013 151 Margot Bennett – The Man Who Didn't Fly John Bingham – The Paton Street Case Antoine Blondin – L'Humeur vagabonde Leigh Brackett – The Long Tomorrow Ray Bradbury – The October Country Christianna Brand – Tour de Force Victor Canning – His Bones are Coral Henry Cecil – Brothers in Law Louis-Ferdinand Céline – Conversations with Professor Y (Entretiens avec le professeur Y) Agatha Christie – Hickory Dickory Dock Arthur C. Clarke – Earthlight Ivy Compton-Burnett – Mother and Son Thomas B. Costain – The Tontine Marco Denevi – Rosaura a las 10 (Rosaura at 10 O'Clock) Patrick Dennis – Auntie Mame John Dickson Carr – Captain Cut-Throat J. P. Donleavy – The Ginger Man Friedrich Dürrenmatt – Once a Greek (Grieche sucht Griechin) Mircea Eliade – The Forbidden Forest (Noaptea de Sânziene) Ian Fleming – Moonraker André Franquin – La Corne de rhinocéros Gillian Freeman – The Liberty Man William Gaddis – The Recognitions Gao Yubao (with Guo Yongjiang) – Gao Yubao David Garnett – Aspects of Love William Golding – The Inheritors Richard Gordon – Doctor at Large Graham Greene The Quiet AmericanGreene Graham The Quiet American 1955 2004 Vintage p xv 978-0-09-947839-3 Loser Takes All L.P. Hartley – A Perfect WomanDinah Birch Margaret Drabble The Oxford Companion to English Literature en Gwasg Prifysgol Rhydychen 2009 463 Robert A. Heinlein – Tunnel in the Sky Georgette Heyer – Bath Tangle Patricia Highsmith – The Talented Mr. RipleyMilligan Michael Edgar Award Winners and Nominees Database http://www.theedgars.com/edgarsDB/index.php Mystery Writers of America September 23, 2012 2011 September 27, 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20180927165310/http://www.theedgars.com/edgarsDB/index.php dead Robert E. Howard and L. Sprague de Camp – Tales of Conan Aldous Huxley – The Genius and the Goddess Mac Hyman – No Time for Sergeants Roger Ikor – Les Eaux mêléesDictionnaire de la littérature française contemporaine André Bourin Jean Rousselot Librairie Larousse 1966 135 Michael Innes – The Man from the Sea Robin Jenkins – The Cone Gatherers Ruth Prawer Jhabvala – To Whom She Will MacKinlay Kantor – Andersonville Nikos Kazantzakis – The Last Temptation of Christ (O Teleutaios Peirasmos) Yaşar Kemal – Memed, My Hawk (İnce Memed)Douglas Arthur Howard The History of Turkey https://books.google.com/books?id=Ay-IkMqrTp4C&pg=PA115 2001 Greenwood Publishing Group 978-0-313-30708-9 115 Margaret Kennedy – The Oracles Alexander Lernet-Holenia – Count Luna E. C. R. Lorac – Ask a Policeman Józef Mackiewicz Droga donikąd (The Road to Nowhere) Karierowicz Alistair MacLean – HMS Ulysses Norman Mailer – The Deer Park Gabriel García Márquez The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor (Relato de un náufrago) Leaf Storm (La Hojarasca) Ngaio Marsh – Scales of Justice J. J. Marric – Gideon's Day Gladys Mitchell – Watson's Choice Brian Moore – Judith Hearne Smith, Dinitia Dinitia Smith Brian Moore, Prolific Novelist on Diverse Themes, Dies at 77 http://partners.nytimes.com/library/books/011299obit-moore.html The New York Times 12 January 1999 4 November 2011 19 March 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20120319144512/http://partners.nytimes.com/library/books/011299obit-moore.html live Vladimir Nabokov – LolitaBoyd Brian Vladimir Nabokov: The American Years Princeton, New Jersey Princeton University Press 1991 978-0-691-06797-1 292 Flannery O'Connor – A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories (including "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" and "Good Country People") John O'Hara – Ten North Frederick Pier Paolo Pasolini – Ragazzi di vita Anthony Powell – The Acceptance World Marin Preda – Moromeții, Vol. 1 Barbara Pym – Less than AngelsWyatt-Brown Anne M Barbara Pym: A Critical Biography. https://archive.org/details/barbarapymcritic00wyat registration Columbia University of Missouri Press 1992 978-0826208200 Alain Robbe-Grillet – Le Voyeur Juan Rulfo – Pedro Páramo Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio – El Jarama Isaac Bashevis Singer – Satan in Goray Howard Spring – These Lovers Fled Away Mary Stewart – Madam, Will You Talk? Rex Stout – Before Midnight Jim Thompson – After Dark, My Sweet Morton Thompson – Not as a Stranger J. R. R. Tolkien – The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Henry Wade – A Dying Fall Alec Waugh – Island in the Sun Evelyn Waugh – Officers and Gentlemen Anthony West – Heritage Patrick White – The Tree of Man Leonard Wibberley – The Mouse That Roared Sloan Wilson – The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit Herman Wouk – Marjorie Morningstar John Wyndham – The Chrysalids Frank Yerby – The Treasure of Pleasant Valley Children and young people Rev. W. Awdry – Four Little Engines (tenth in The Railway Series of 42 books by him and his son Christopher Awdry) BB (Denys Watkins-Pitchford) – The Forest of Boland Light Railway Paul Berna – Le Cheval sans tête (Horse without a Head, translated as A Hundred Million Francs) Dick Bruna – Miffy (Nijntje) Crockett Johnson – Harold and the Purple Crayon C. S. Lewis – The Magician's Nephew William Mayne – A Swarm in May Janet McNeill – My Friend Specs McCann Iona and Peter Opie – The Oxford Nursery Rhyme Book Philippa Pearce – Minnow on the Say Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (died 1953) – The Secret River Barbara Sleigh – Carbonel: The King of the Cats Drama Enid Bagnold – The Chalk Garden Samuel Beckett – Waiting for Godot (English version) Bertolt Brecht – Trumpets and Drums (Pauken und Trompeten; adaptation of Farquhar's The Recruiting Officer, 1706) João Cabral de Melo Neto – Morte e Vida Severina (Severine Life and Death, verse) John Dighton – Man Alive! Sonnie Hale – The French Mistress William Inge – Bus Stop Eugène Ionesco Jack, or The Submission (Jacques ou la soumission) The New Tenant (Le Nouveau locataire) Ray Lawler – Summer of the Seventeenth Doll Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee – Inherit the Wind Philip Mackie – The Whole Truth Arthur Miller A View from the Bridge (one-act verse version) A Memory of Two Mondays J. B. Priestley – Mr. Kettle and Mrs. Moon Reginald Rose – Twelve Angry Men (stage version) Jean-Paul Sartre – Nekrassov Ariano Suassuna – O Auto da Compadecida (The Compassionate Self) Orson Welles – Moby Dick—Rehearsed Thornton Wilder The Matchmaker A Life in the Sun Tennessee Williams – Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Carl Zuckmayer – The Cold Light (Das kalte Licht) Musical theater Cole Porter's musical Silk Stockings opens at Imperial Theatre New York City for 461 performances Poetry 1955 in poetry Emily Dickinson (died 1886), edited by Thomas H. Johnson – The Poems of Emily Dickinson Philip Larkin – The Less Deceived R.S. Thomas – Song at the Year's Turning Non-fiction Richard Aldington – Lawrence of Arabia: A Biographical Inquiry James Baldwin – Notes of a Native Son Frank Barlow – The Feudal Kingdom of England Ivan Bunin (died 1953) – About Chekhov G. D. H. Cole – Studies in Class Structure Thomas E. Gaddis – Birdman of Alcatraz Antonio Gramsci – Gli intellettuali e l'organizzazione della cultura (Intellectuals and Cultural Organization) Robert Graves – The Greek Myths The Guinness Book of Records, 1st edition Langston Hughes – The Sweet Flypaper of Life Morris K. Jessup – The Case for the UFO R. K. Kelsall – Higher Civil Servants in Britain T. E. Lawrence (352087 A/c Ross; died 1935) – The Mint: A day-book of the R.A.F. Depot between August and December 1922, with later notes (written 1928; 1st trade edition) C. S. Lewis – Surprised by Joy Walter Lippmann – Essays in the Public Philosophy Walter Lord – A Night to Remember Herbert Marcuse – Eros and Civilization Alan Marshall – I Can Jump Puddles Garrett Mattingly – Renaissance Diplomacy Meher Baba – God Speaks J. H. Plumb – Studies in Social History RAND – A Million Random Digits with 100,000 Normal Deviates Donald J. West – Homosexuality Births January 11 – Max Lucado, American religious writer January 12 – Rockne S. O'Bannon, American writer and producer January 13 – Jay McInerney, American novelist January 27 – Alexander Stuart, English-born American novelist and screenwriter February 2 – Leszek Engelking, Polish poet, fiction writer and translator February 8 – John Grisham, American novelisthttps://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/john-grisham-1089/ The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture John Grisham (1955–) June 22, 2022 February 17 – Mo Yan, Chinese fiction writer February 23 – Francesca Simon, American-born children's fiction writer March 11 – D. J. MacHale, American writer March 19 – John Burnside, Scottish poet and fiction writer March 23 – Lloyd Jones, New Zealand novelist March 27 – Patrick McCabe, Irish novelist April 8 – Barbara Kingsolver, American novelist, essayist and poethttps://www.john-adams.nl/barbara-kingsolver/ Barbara Kingsolver John Adams Institute 1 October 2026 April 30 – Zlatko Topčić, Bosnian author and screenwriter May 13 – Mark Abley, Canadian poet and non-fiction writer May 30 – Colm Tóibín, Irish novelist, playwright and poethttps://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb123053349 Notice de personne catalogue.bnf.fr fr 8 February 2026 June 4 – Val McDermid, Scottish crime novelist June 16 – J. Jill Robinson, Canadian fiction writer June 20 – Tor Nørretranders, Danish science author July 1 Candia McWilliam, Scottish fiction writer Lisa Scottoline, American writer of legal thrillers July 5 Sebastian Barry, Irish novelist, playwright and poet Mia Couto (António Emílio Leite Couto), Mozambican fiction writer and poet July 6 Michael Boyd, British theatre director William Wall, Irish author and poet July 7 – Suzanne Weyn, American children's and young-adult writer July 10 – Regina Yaou, Ivory Coast novelist (died 2017)fr Macaire Etty Macaire Etty Oraison funèbre prononcée par le président de l'AECI aux obsèques de Feue Régina Yaou http://aeci.ci/index.php?page=read&show_source=270 aeci.c 2 December 2017 9 December 2020 July 12 – Robin Robertson, Scottish-born poet, novelist and editor July 24 – Brad Watson, American author and academic (died 2020) August 2 – Caleb Carr, American writer August 7 – Vladimir Sorokin, Russian writer August 8 – Iain Pears, English writer August 14 - Mary E. Pearson, American young-adult fiction writer September 6 – Raymond Benson, American novelist September 13 – Hiromi Itō (伊藤 比呂美), Japanese poet, essayist and translator October 19 – Jason Shinder, American poet and editor (died 2008) November 6 – Catherine Asaro, American science fiction and fantasy authorSFE: Asaro, Catherine https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/asaro_catherine 2025-12-26 sf-encyclopedia.com November 12 – Katharine Weber, American author and academic November 23 – Steven Brust, American fantasy author December 28 – Liu Xiaobo (刘晓波), Chinese critic, writer and activist (died 2017) unknown date – Wang Xiaoni (王小妮), Chinese poet Deaths January 18 – Saadat Hasan Manto, Pakistani fiction writer (born 1912; cirrhosis)http://www.pakpost.gov.pk/philately/stamps2005/saadat_manto.html Saadat Hasan Manto (1912-1955) Men of Letters Pakistan Post https://web.archive.org/web/20171225080251/http://www.pakpost.gov.pk/philately/stamps2005/saadat_manto.html 25 December 2017 January 20 – Robert P. Tristram Coffin, American poet, essayist and novelist (born 1892) The life of Robert Peter Tristram Coffin and family 1963 Annie Coffin Sanborn University of Michigan February 23 – Paul Claudel, French poet, dramatist and diplomat (born 1868) April 10 – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, French philosopher and essayist (born 1881)Smulders Pieter Frans https://archive.org/details/designofteilhard0000smul The design of Teilhard de Chardin: an essay in theological reflection 1967 Newman Press registrationNovember 2017 May 16 – James Agee, American writer (born 1909; heart attack)James Agee (1909–1955) https://web.archive.org/web/20181027224319/http://www.ageefilms.org/ageebio.html October 27, 2018 Chronology of his Life and Work June 6 – Joseph Jefferson Farjeon, English crime writer (born 1883) June 17 – Constance Holme, English novelist and dramatist (born 1880) June 19 – Adrienne Monnier, French poet and publisher (born 1892; suicide)Monnier Adrienne Adrienne Monnier McDougall Richard The Very Rich Hours of Adrienne Monnier 1996 1976 University of Nebraska Press Lincoln, NE 978-0-8032-8227-8 64 June 21 – Roger Mais, Jamaican novelist (born 1905) June 30 – Gilbert Cannan, British writer (born 1884) July 3 – Beatrice Chase, English writer (born 1874) August 1 – Charles Shaw, Australian writer (born 1900) August 2 – Wallace Stevens, American poet (born 1879) August 12 – Thomas Mann, German novelist (born 1875) Bollinger A 1999 [The death of Thomas Mann: consequence of erroneous angiologic diagnosis?] Wiener Medizinische Wochenschrift 149 2–4 30–32 10378317 August 14 – Herbert Putnam, American Librarian of Congress (born 1861) August 29 – Hong Shen (洪深), Chinese dramatist (born 1894) September 7 – Mary Tracy Earle , American author and essayist (born 1864)http://www.chinaculture.org/gb/cn_zgwh/2004-06/28/content_50091.htm Hong Shen (1894—1955) Ministry of Culture of China Chinese 15 May 2015 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20160304085738/http://www.chinaculture.org/gb/cn_zgwh/2004-06/28/content_50091.htm 4 March 2016 September 20 – Robert Riskin, American dramatist and screenwriter (born 1897) October 18 – José Ortega y Gasset, Spanish philosopher (born 1883) November 1 – Dale Carnegie, American writer (born 1888) November 12 – Tin Ujević, Croatian poet (born 1891) November 14 Ruby M. Ayres, English romance novelist (born 1881) Robert E. Sherwood, American playwright (born 1896) December – Al. T. Stamatiad, Romanian poet (born 1885) Awards Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Eleanor Farjeon, The Little Bookroom Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels: Hermann Hesse Frost Medal: Leona Speyer James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Ivy Compton-Burnett, Mother and Son James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: R. W. Ketton-Cremer, Thomas Gray Newbery Medal for children's literature: Meindert DeJong, The Wheel on the School Nobel Prize for Literature: Halldór Laxness Premio Nadal: Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio, El Jarama Prix Goncourt: Roger Ikor, Les eaux mêléesJohn Flower Historical Dictionary of French Literature https://books.google.com/books?id=Kd6tAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA255 2013 Scarecrow Press 978-0-8108-7945-4 255 Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Tennessee Williams, Cat on a Hot Tin RoofElizabeth A. Brennan Elizabeth C. Clarage Who's who of Pulitzer Prize Winners https://books.google.com/books?id=63nvmt4HqTEC&pg=PA108 1999 Greenwood Publishing Group 978-1-57356-111-2 108 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: William Faulkner, A Fable Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Wallace Stevens, Collected Poems Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: Ruth Pitter References 30em External links Popular Books of 1955 at Goodreads Published 1955 Books at Goodreads 1955 Books at Goodreads