1938 in literature

Events

• January
  • The John Dos Passos trilogy U.S.A. is published, containing his novels The 42nd Parallel (1930), 1919 (1932), and The Big Money (1936).
  • Samuel Beckett is stabbed in the chest in Paris and nearly killed.
• February 21 – The gay American writer and composer Paul Bowles marries the lesbian American writer Jane Auer at a Reformed Church in Manhattan.
• March 7 – Samuel Beckett's first completed novel Murphy is published in London.
• July 11 – The first live drama adaptation in Orson Welles' The Mercury Theatre on the Air series on CBS Radio in the United States is broadcast: Bram Stoker's Dracula.
• August – Muslims protest in London against passages they see as disrespectful to their religion in H. G. Wells' A Short History of the World (1922).
• September 13 – The first production in Britain of a play by Bertolt Brecht, Mrs Carrar's Rifles, opens at the Unity Theatre, London.
• October 30 – Orson Welles' radio adaptation of The War of the Worlds (with script by Howard Koch) is broadcast in The Mercury Theatre on the Air series.
• December 24 – Jorge Luis Borges is injured in an accident and develops blood poisoning. While recovering the following year he will write the first short story in his later characteristic style.
• Uncertain dates
  • The first complete performance of both parts of Goethe's Faust (1808/32) is given at the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland.
  • The avant-garde musician and theoretician Pierre Schaeffer begins his writing career as an essayist for a number of French musical journals.

New books

Fiction

• Margery Allingham – The Fashion in Shrouds
• Eric Ambler
  • Cause for Alarm
  • Epitaph for a Spy
• Vladimir Bartol – Alamut
• Anthony Berkeley – Not to Be Taken
• Elizabeth Bowen – The Death of the Heart
• Dorothy Bowers – Postscript to Poison
• Lynn Brock – The Silver Sickle Case
• Edgar Rice Burroughs – Tarzan and the Forbidden City
• Taylor Caldwell – Dynasty of Death
• Victor Canning – Mr. Finchley Goes to Paris
• John Dickson Carr
  • The Four False Weapons, Being the Return of Bencolin
  • To Wake the Dead
  • The Crooked Hinge
  • The Judas Window (as Carter Dickson)
  • Death in Five Boxes (as Carter Dickson)
• Peter Cheyney
  • Can Ladies Kill?
  • The Urgent Hangman
• Agatha Christie
  • Hercule Poirot's Christmas
  • Appointment with Death
• Albert Cohen – Nailcruncher
• Freeman Wills Crofts
  • Antidote to Venom
  • The End of Andrew Harrison
• J.J. Connington
  • For Murder Will Speak
  • Truth Comes Limping
• René Daumal – A Night of Serious Drinking (La Grande Beuverie)
• Cecil Day-Lewis – The Beast Must Die
• John Dos Passos – The Big Money (completing the U.S.A. trilogy)
• Daphne du Maurier – Rebecca
• Lawrence Durrell – The Black Book
• Mircea Eliade – Marriage in Heaven (Nuntă în cer)
• William Faulkner – The Unvanquished
• Rachel Field – All This and Heaven Too
• C. S. Forester
  • A Ship of the Line
  • Flying Colours
• Anthony Gilbert – Treason in My Breast
• Julien Gracq – The Castle of Argol (Au château d'Argol)
• Robert Graves – Count Belisarius
• Graham Greene – Brighton Rock
• Walter Greenwood
  • Only Mugs Work
  • The Secret Kingdom
• Cyril Hare – Death Is No Sportsman
• Xavier Herbert – Capricornia
• Robin Hyde – The Godwits Fly (semi-autobiographical)
• Michael Innes – Lament for a Maker
• Margaret Kennedy – The Midas Touch
• Alan Kennington – She Died Young
• Emilio Lussu – Un anno sull'altopiano
• C. S. Lewis – Out of the Silent Planet
• Norman Lindsay – Age of Consent
• Ngaio Marsh
  • Artists in Crime
  • Death in a White Tie
• Gladys Mitchell – St Peter's Finger
• Vladimir Nabokov
  • The Gift (Дар)
  • Invitation to a Beheading (Приглашение на казнь; serialization concludes)
• E. Phillips Oppenheim – The Colossus of Arcadia
• Kate O'Brien – Pray for the Wanderer
• John O'Hara – Hope of Heaven
• Ellery Queen
  • The Devil to Pay
  • The Four of Hearts
• Graciliano Ramos – Vidas Secas (Barren Lives)
• Ayn Rand – Anthem
• Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings – The Yearling
• Clayton Rawson – Death from a Top Hat
• Joseph Roth – The Emperor's Tomb
• Jean-Paul Sartre – Nausea (La Nausée)
• Georges Simenon
  • The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By
  • Marie of the Port
• Esphyr Slobodkina – Caps for Sale: A Tale of a Peddler, Some Monkeys and Their Monkey Business
• Eleanor Smith – The Spanish House
• Howard Spring – My Son, My Son
• John Steinbeck – The Long Valley
• Rex Stout – Too Many Cooks
• Cecil Street
  • The Bloody Tower
  • Death at Low Tide
  • Invisible Weapons
• Kressmann Taylor – Address Unknown (short story)
• Phoebe Atwood Taylor
  • The Annulet of Gilt
  • Banbury Bog
  • The Cut Direct (as by Alice Tilton)
  • Murder at the New York World's Fair (as by Freeman Dana)
• B. Traven – The Bridge in the Jungle
• S. S. Van Dine – The Gracie Allen Murder Case
• – Na krásné samotě
• Henry Wade – Released for Death
• Winifred Watson – Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
• Evelyn Waugh – Scoop
• Ethel Lina White – Step in the Dark
• T. H. White – The Sword in the Stone
• Gale Wilhelm – Torchlight to Valhalla
• Francis Brett Young – Dr. Bradley Remembers

Children and young people

• BB (Denys Watkins-Pitchford) – Wild Lone: The Story of a Pytchley Fox
• Claire Huchet Bishop – The Five Chinese Brothers
• Enid Blyton – The Secret Island
• Eleanor Graham – The Children Who Lived in a Barn
• Joan Kahn – "Ladies and Gentlemen," said the Ringmaster
• Eric Knight – Lassie Come-Home
• Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings – The Yearling
• Kate Seredy – The White Stag
• Noel Streatfeild – The Circus Is Coming
• T. H. White – The Sword in the Stone
• John F. C. Westerman – John Wentley Takes Charge (first in the John Wentley trilogy)
• Ursula Moray Williams – Adventures of the Little Wooden Horse

Drama

• Jean Anouilh – Thieves' Carnival (Le Bal des Voleurs)
• Robert Ardrey – Casey Jones
• Max Catto – They Walk Alone
• Paul Claudel – L'Histoire de Tobie et de Sara (The History of Tobit and Sara, first version)
• M. J. Farrell – Spring Meeting
• Patrick Hamilton – Gaslight
• H.M. Harwood – The Innocent Party
• Esther McCracken – Quiet Wedding
• Kaj Munk – Han sidder ved Smeltediglen (He sits by the melting pot)
• Michael Pertwee – Death on the Table
• J. B. Priestley – When We Are Married
• Gordon Sherry – The Bare Idea
• Robert E. Sherwood – Abe Lincoln in Illinois
• Dodie Smith – Dear Octopus
• Stephen Spender – Trial of a Judge
• Lesley Storm – Tony Draws a Horse
• Arnold Sundgaard
  • Spirochete: A History
  • with Marc Connelly – Everywhere I Roam
• Rodolfo Usigli – El gesticulador
• Theodore Ward – Big White Fog
• Thornton Wilder – Our Town
• Emlyn Williams – The Corn is Green
• Tennessee Williams – Not About Nightingales (written; first performed 1998)
• W. B. Yeats – Purgatory

Poetry

Main article: 1938 in poetry

• Alfred Kreymborg – The Planets: A Modern Allegory (radio play in verse)
• Mary Pettibone Poole – A Glass Eye at a Keyhole

Non-fiction

• Crane Brinton – The Anatomy of Revolution
• Hall Caine (died 1931) – Life of Christ
• Cyril Connolly – Enemies of Promise
• Geoffrey Faber – The Romance of a Bookshop 1904–1938
• Robert Newton Flew – Jesus and His Church. A study of the idea of the Ecclesia in the New Testament
• Edgar Innes Fripp (died 1931) – Shakespeare, Man and Artist
• Elie Halévy – The Era of Tyrannies
• Johan Huizinga – Homo Ludens
• Agnes Hunt – This Is My Life (autobiography of pioneer orthopedic nurse)
• C. L. R. James – The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution
• Claude Scudamore Jarvis – Desert and Delta. An account of modern Egypt
• Jomo Kenyatta – Facing Mount Kenya
• Anne Morrow Lindbergh – Listen! The Wind
• Robert McAlmon – Being Geniuses Together, 1920–1930
• Thomas Mann – The Coming Victory of Democracy
• George Orwell – Homage to Catalonia
• Nichita Smochină – Republica Moldovenească a Sovietelor (The Moldavian Republic of Soviets)
• Derek A. Traversi – An Approach to Shakespeare
• H. G. Wells – World Brain
• Virginia Woolf – Three Guineas

Births

• January 2 – Hans Herbjørnsrud, Norwegian short story writer (died 2023)
• January 5 – Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (also known as James Ngigi), Kenyan novelist (died 2025)
• January 6 – Mario Rodríguez Cobos ("Silo"), Argentine author and spiritualist (died 2010)
• January 13 – Nabaneeta Dev Sen, Indian novelist, children's author and poet (died 2019)
• January 20 – Liz Calder, English publisher and editor
• February 7 – Andrea Newman, English novelist and screenwriter (died 2019)
• February 9 – Jovette Marchessault, French Canadian writer and artist (died 2012)
• February 12
  • Judy Blume, American children's author
  • Tor Obrestad, Norwegian novelist, poet and documentary writer (died 2020)
• February 22 – Ishmael Reed, American poet, essayist and novelist
• March 1 – Michael Kurland, American author of sci-fi and detective fiction
• March 14 – Eleanor Bron, English humorous writer and actress
• March 24 – Ian Hamilton, English critic, biographer and poet (died 2001)
• March 27 – Hansjörg Schneider, Swiss novelist (died 2016)
• April 20 – Chiung Yao, Taiwanese romance novelist (died 2024)
• April 25 – John Nagenda, Ugandan writer and sportsman (died 2023)
• April 30 – Larry Niven, American sci-fi author
• May 13 – Norma Klein, American author (died 1989)
• May 15 – Nancy Garden, American author (died 2014)
• May 16 – Marco Aurelio Denegri, Peruvian literature critic, television host and sexologist (died 2018)
• May 25
  • Raymond Carver, American short-story writer and poet (died 1988)
  • Margaret Forster, English novelist and biographer (died 2016)
• May 26 – Lyudmila Petrushevskaya, Russian novelist and playwright
• June 5
  • Allan Ahlberg, English children's author (died 2025)
  • M. K. Wren (Martha Kay Renfroe), American novelist (died 2016)
• June 16 – Joyce Carol Oates, American novelist
• June 24 – Lawrence Block, American crime fiction writer
• June 26 – Maria Velho da Costa, Portuguese writer (died 2020)
• July 15 – Josephine Cox, English novelist (died 2020)
• July 19
  • Nicholas Bethell, English historian and politician (died 2007)
  • Dom Moraes, Indian poet and columnist (died 2004)
  • Tom Raworth, English poet (died 2017)
  • Mary-Kay Wilmers, American-born editor
• July 28 – Robert Hughes, Australian critic and historian (died 2012)
• August 15 – Janusz Zajdel, Polish writer (died 1985)
• August 21 – Mudrooroo (Colin Johnson), Australian novelist (died 2019)
• August 25 – Frederick Forsyth, English thriller writer (died 2025)
• August 30 – Dorota Terakowska, Polish writer and journalist, author of fantasy books for children and young adults (died 2004)
• September 3 – Caryl Churchill, English dramatist
• September 12 – Richard Booth, Welsh bookseller (died 2019)
• September 15 – Charles L. Mee, American dramatist
• September 18 – Poornachandra Tejaswi, Kannada writer (died 2007)
• September 19 – Keorapetse Kgositsile, South African Poet Laureate (died 2018)
• October 12 – Anne Perry (Juliet Marion Hulme), English historical novelist (died 2023)
• October 13 – Hugo Young, English journalist (died 2003)
• October 17 – Les Murray, Australian poet (died 2019)
• October 19 – Allan Massie, Singapore-born Scottish writer
• November 3 – Terrence McNally, American playwright (died 2020)
• November 4 – Daniel Snowman, English non-fiction writer and historian
• December 14 – Leonardo Boff (Genézio Darci Boff), Brazilian philosopher and theologian
• December 21 – Frank Moorhouse, Australian journalist, author and screenwriter (died 2022)
• December 31 – Basudeb Dasgupta, Bengali novelist (died 2005)
• unknown date – Gabriel Ruhumbika, Tanzanian novelist

Deaths

• January 4 – Paola Drigo, Italian writer (born 1876)
• January 16 – Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay (Sarat Chandra Chattergee), Bengali novelist (born 1876)
• January 19 – Branislav Nušić, Serbian novelist and dramatist (born 1864)
• January 29 – Armando Palacio Valdés, Spanish novelist and critic (born 1853)
• February 13 – Momčilo Nastasijević, Serbian poet, novelist and dramatist (born 1894)
• March 6 – Eva Allen Alberti, American dramatics teacher (born 1856)
• March 27 – Helen M. Winslow, American editor, author and publisher (born 1851)
• March 31 – Willem Kloos, Dutch poet and critic (born 1859)
• April 19 – Sir Henry Newbolt, English poet (born 1862)
• April 21 – Lady Ottoline Morrell, English literary hostess (born 1873)
• May 26 – James Forbes, Canadian American dramatist and screenwriter (born 1871)
• June 9 – Ovid Densusianu, Romanian poet, philologist and literary historian (born 1873)
• June 26
  • James Weldon Johnson, American politician, poet and activist (born 1871)
  • E. V. Lucas, English essayist and biographer (born 1868)
• July 21 – Owen Wister, American Western fiction writer and historian (born 1860)
• August 7 – Konstantin Stanislavski, Russian theatre director (born 1863)
• August 26 – Millosh Gjergj Nikolla, Albanian poet and writer (tuberculosis, born 1911)
• September 15 – Thomas Wolfe, American novelist (tuberculosis, born 1900)
• October 3 – Olivia Shakespear, British novelist, playwright and patron of the arts (born 1863)
• October 27 – Lascelles Abercrombie, English poet and literary critic (born 1881)
• December 13 – Virginia Frazer Boyle, American author and poet (born 1863)
• December 23 – Robert Herrick, American realist novelist (born 1868)
• December 25 – Karel Čapek, Czech science fiction author and dramatist (pneumonia, born 1890)
• December 27 – Osip Mandelstam, Russian poet and essayist (in detention, born 1891)

Awards

• Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Noel Streatfeild, The Circus Is Coming
• Hawthornden Prize – David Jones, In Parenthesis
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: C. S. Forester, A Ship of the Line and Flying Colours
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Sir Edmund Chambers, Samuel Taylor Coleridge
• Newbery Medal for children's literature: Kate Seredy, The White Stag
• Newdigate prize: Michael Thwaites
• Nobel Prize in 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

References

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