1938 in literature
See also: 1937 in literature, other events of 1938, 1939 in literature, list of years in literature.
| Contents |
Events
A very good year in books:
- The trilogy, U.S.A. by John Dos Passos, is published containing his three novels The 42nd Parallel (1930), 1919 (1932), and The Big Money (1936).
- Scoop by Evelyn Waugh is published.
- The Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen is published.
- Jorge Luis Borges is injured in an accident and develops blood poisoning in December. While recovering next year he will write the first short story in his later characteristic style.
- Samuel Beckett's first completed novel Murphy is published.
New books
- Aunt Sara's Wooden God - Mercedes Gilbert
- Being Geniuses Together, 1920-1930 – Robert McAlmon
- Beyond The River - George Hamlin Ross
- The Bridge in The Jungle - B. Traven
- Brighton Rock - Graham Greene
- Count Belisarius - Robert Graves
- The Death of the Heart - Elizabeth Bowen
- Dynasty of Death - Taylor Caldwell
- Epitaph for A Spy - Eric Ambler
- Gas Light - Patrick Hamilton
- Homage to Catalonia - George Orwell
- Hope of Heaven - John O'Hara
- Invitation To A Beheading - Vladimir Nabokov
- Lassie Come-Home - Eric Knight
- Nausea (La Nausée) - Jean-Paul Sartre
- Out of Africa - Isak Dinesen
- Out of the Silent Planet - C. S. Lewis
- Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier
- Scoop - Evelyn Waugh
- Thieves' Carnival (Le bal des voleurs) - Jean Anouilh
- U.S.A. trilogy - John Dos Passos
- The White Stag - Kate Seredy
- The Yearling - Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
- Anthem - Ayn Rand
Births
- February 12 - Judy Blume, author
- April 29 - Larry Niven, author
- July 19 - Dom Moraes, poet and columnist
- October 12 - Anne Perry, historical novelist
- October 13 - Hugo Young, journalist
- date unknown - Christopher Booker, journalist and editor
- date unknown - Charles L. Mee, dramatist
- date unknown - M. K. Wren, novelist
Deaths
- January 19 - Branislav Nusic, novelist and dramatist
- March 1 - Gabriele D'Annunzio, poet and novelist
- April 19 - Sir Henry Newbolt, poet
- April 21 - Lady Ottoline Morrell, literary hostess
- May 26 - James Forbes, dramatist and screenwriter
- June 26 - James Weldon Johnson
- June 26 - E. V. Lucas, essayist and biographer
- August 7 - Konstantin Stanislavski, theatre director
- September 15 - Thomas Wolfe, novelist
- December 25 - Karel Capek, science fiction author and dramatist
Awards
- Newbery Medal for children's literature: Kate Seredy, The White Stag
- Nobel Prize for literature: Pearl S. Buck
- Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Thornton Wilder, Our Town
- Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Marya Zaturenska: Cold Morning Sky
- Pulitzer Prize for the Novel: John Phillips Marquand - The Late George Apley