1920 in literature

See also: 1919 in literature, other events of 1920, 1921 in literature, List of years in literature.

Contents

1 Events 2 New books 3 Births 4 Deaths 5 Awards

Events

• Hercule Poirot makes his first appearance.
• Beyond the Horizon, Eugene O'Neill's first full-length play, opens at a special matinee at the Morosco Theater on February 2 – partly as an experiment on the part of the producer, partly to quiet the pleading of actor Richard Bennett who has demanded a chance to play the lead role. Reviewers hail the play and O'Neill becomes famous. The Emperor Jones is staged in November.
• This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald is published. It is a sensation, immediately establishing Fitzgerald as a writer and celebrity. Though the book's reputation will dim in later years, Dorothy Parker will recall that it was regarded as an innovative work when it first appeared.
• The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton is published.
• Main Street by Sinclair Lewis is published.
• D.H. Lawrence publishes Women in Love.
• Hart Crane publishes his poem My Grandmother's Love Letters in The Dial. This is his first real step towards recognition as a poet.
• Van Wyck Brooks publishes The Ordeal of Mark Twain, arguing that Twain's genius was perverted by the conditions and culture of late 19th-century America. This is the beginning of the reassessment of Mark Twain, who until this point has been regarded primarily as a humorous entertainer. The 1920s will force a reconsideration of many 19th-century writers, most importantly Melville and Dickinson.

New books

• The Age of Innocence - Edith Wharton
• Black and White Tangled Threads - Zara Wright
• The Bridal Wreath - Sigrid Undset
• The Burning Glass - Marjorie Bowen
• Chéri - Colette
• A Few Figs From Thistles - Edna St. Vincent Millay
• A Fool in Her Folly - Rhoda Broughton
• The Frontier in American History - Frederick Jackson Turner
• Harvest - Mary Augusta Ward
• Hugh Selwyn Mauberly - Ezra Pound
• Main Street - Sinclair Lewis
• Miscellaneous Poems - Robert Frost
• Miss Lulu Bett - Zona Gale
• Mountain Interval - Robert Frost
• Mysterious Affair of Styles - Agatha Christie (first Hercule Poirot mystery)
• The Outline of History - H.G. Wells
• Picture Show - Siegfried Sassoon
• Poems - T.S. Eliot (Twelve poems including “Lune de Miel” and “The Hippopotamus.”)
• Poor White - Sherwood Anderson
• Prejudices: Second Series - H.L. Mencken
• A Straight Deal - Owen Wister
• Smoke and Steel - Carl Sandburg
• This Side Of Paradise - F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Women in Love - D.H. Lawrence

Births

• January 2 - Isaac Asimov, author (d. 1992)
• February 11 - Daniel Francis Galouye, American science fiction author (d. 1976)
• March 10 - Boris Vian, French novelist (d. 1959)
• April 5 - Arthur Hailey, novelist (d. 2004)
• July 12 - Pierre Berton, Canadian author
• August 16 - Charles Bukowski, American writer (d. 1994)
• August 22 - Ray Bradbury, American science fiction writer
• October 8 - Frank Herbert, American science fiction author
• October 15 - Mario Puzo, author of The Godfather (d. 1999)

Deaths

• March 26 - Mary Augusta Ward, author
• May 11 - William Dean Howells, writer
• June 5 - Rhoda Broughton, author

Awards

• Nobel Prize for Literature: Knut Hamsun
• Pulitzer Prize for the Novel : no award given
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: No award given
• Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Eugene O'Neill, Beyond the Horizon

See also: 1920 in literature, 1919 in literature, 1920, 1921 in literature, 1959, 1976, 1992, 1994, 1999, 2004