istoryworld
Events relating to literature
R.K. Narayan's novel Swami and Friends is the first set in his fictional town of Malgudi
British publisher Allen Lane launches a paperback series to which he gives the name Penguin Books
García Lorca writes his play The House of Bernarda Alba in the last year of his short life
US author Margaret Mitchell publishes her one book, which becomes probably the best-selling novel of all time – Gone with the Wind
William Faulkner's novel Absalom, Absalom! chronicles the violently destructive rise and fall of a poor Southern white, Thomas Sutpen
John Maynard Keynes defines his economics in The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money
In Language, Truth and Logic 26-year-old A.J. Ayer produces a classic exposition of Logical Positivism
Terence Rattigan's first play, French without Tears, is performed in London
French-born US author Anaïs Nin publishes her first novel, The House of Incest
John Steinbeck publishes Of Mice and Men, a novel about two itinerant farm labourers in California
Danish author Karen Blixen publishes her autobiographical novel Out of Africa
C.S. Forester's central character, Horatio Hornblower, features for the first time – in The Happy Return
George Orwell reveals the harsh realities of contemporary British life in The Road to Wigan Pier
Thornton Wilder's play Our Town opens on Broadway
British author Evelyn Waugh publishes a classic Fleet Street novel, Scoop, introducing Lord Copper, proprietor of The Beast
Delmore Schwartz publishes his first book of poems, In Dreams Begin Responsibilities
French writer Jean-Paul Sartre succeeds with his first novel, La Nausée ('Nausea')
In Homage to Catalonia George Orwell describes his experiences fighting for the International Brigade in the Spanish Civil War
British author Graham Greene publishes Brighton Rock, a novel following 17-year-old Pinkie in the criminal underworld of the seaside town
Maxim de Winter's house, Manderley, holds dark secrets in Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca
Irish author Samuel Beckett publishes his first novel, Murphy
W.H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood emigrate together to the USA, later becoming US citizens
James Joyce's Finnegans Wake is published after 17 years in the making
US author Henry Miller publishes in Paris Tropic of Capricorn, about his adolescence in New York
James Thurber publishes his short story The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
