1974 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1974.

Events

February – Novelist Juan Carlos Onetti is one of a group arrested by the Uruguayan dictatorship for selecting as a competition prizewinner and publishing in the newspaper Marcha a short story implicitly critical of the military regime. He subsequently goes into exile in Spain.^[1]
February 12 – After publication at the end of 1973 of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago (Архипелаг ГУЛАГ), the author is arrested for treason; the following day he is deported from the Soviet Union. In spring and summer the first translations into French and English begin to appear.
August 8 – The first of Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City is published as a serial in The Pacific Sun (Marin County, California).
October 21 – New Guildhall Library opens in the City of London.^[2]
unknown dates
- The Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics is founded by Allen Ginsberg and Anne Waldman.^[3]
- German writer Uwe Johnson moves to Sheerness on the English Isle of Sheppey.^[4]

New books

Fiction

Eric Ambler – Doctor Frigo
Kingsley Amis – Ending Up
René Barjavel – Les Dames à la licorne
Augusto Roa Bastos – I, the Supreme (Yo el supremo)
Peter Benchley – Jaws
Hal Bennett – Wait Until the Evening
Heinrich Böll – The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum (Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum oder: Wie Gewalt entstehen und wohin sie führen kann)
Anthony Burgess – The Clockwork Testament, or Enderby's End
Andrés Caicedo – "Maternidad"
Agatha Christie – Poirot's Early Cases
Roald Dahl – Switch Bitch
Philip K. Dick – Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said
Annie Dillard – Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
Lawrence Durrell – Monsieur
Frederick Forsyth – The Dogs of War
John Fowles – The Ebony Tower
Donald Goines – Crime Partners
Imil Habibi – The Secret Life of Saeed: The Pessoptimist (الوقائع الغريبة في اختفاء سعيد أبي النحس المتشائل, Al-Waqāʾiʿ al-gharībah fī 'khtifāʾ Saʿīd Abī 'l-Naḥsh al-Mutashāʾil)
John Hawkes – Death Sleep
Joseph Heller – Something Happened
James Herbert – The Rats
Hammond Innes – North Star
Anna Kavan – Let Me Alone
Stephen King – Carrie
Manuel Mujica Láinez
- El laberinto
- El viaje de los siete demonios
Derek Lambert
- Blackstone and the Scourge of Europe
- The Yermakov Transfer
Margaret Laurence – The Diviners
John le Carré – Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Ursula K. Le Guin – The Dispossessed
Madeleine L'Engle – A Wind in the Door
H. P. Lovecraft and August Derleth – The Watchers Out of Time and Others
Robert Ludlum – The Cry of the Halidon
Brian Lumley – Beneath the Moors
Ngaio Marsh – Black as He's Painted
Colleen McCullough – Tim
Nicholas Meyer – The Seven-Per-Cent Solution
James A. Michener – Centennial
Elsa Morante – La Storia (History. A Novel, 1978)
Gerald Murnane – Tamarisk Row
Meja Mwangi – Carcase for Hounds
Vladimir Nabokov – Look at the Harlequins!
Edith Pargeter – Sunrise in the West (first in the Brothers of Gwynedd quartet)
Robert B. Parker – God Save the Child
Ellen Raskin – Figgs & Phantoms
Ishmael Reed – The Last Days of Louisiana Red
Brigitte Reimann (died 1973) – Franziska Linkerhand
Harold Robbins – The Pirate
Fran Ross – Oreo
Leonardo Sciascia – Todo modo
Tom Sharpe – Porterhouse Blue
Sidney Sheldon – The Other Side of Midnight
C. P. Snow – In Their Wisdom

Children and young people

Richard Adams – Shardik^[5]
Stan and Jan Berenstain – The Berenstain Bears' New Baby
Robert Cormier – The Chocolate War
Paula Danziger – The Cat Ate My Gymsuit
Fynn (Sydney Hopkins) – Mister God, This Is Anna
Virginia Hamilton – M. C. Higgins, the Great
Diana Wynne Jones – The Ogre Downstairs
Ruth Manning-Sanders – A Book of Sorcerers and Spells
Jill Murphy – The Worst Witch
Bill Peet – Merle the High Flying Squirrel
Miriam Roth – A Tale of Five Balloons (מעשה בחמישה בלונים)
Richard Scarry – The Best Rainy Day Book Ever
Jill Paton Walsh – The Emperor's Winding Sheet
Mary E. Wilkins-Freeman – Collected Ghost Stories

Drama

Nezihe Araz – Bozkır Güzellemesi (An Ode to the Steppe)
Michael Cook – Jacob's Wake
Dario Fo – Can't Pay? Won't Pay! (Non Si Paga! Non Si Paga!)
Paavo Haavikko
- Ratsumies (The Horseman)
- Kuningas lähtee Ranskaan (The King Goes Forth to France)
- Harald Pitkäikäinen
Ira Levin – Veronica's Room
Mustapha Matura – Play Mas^[6]
Harold Pinter – No Man's Land
David Rudkin – Penda's Fen (television play)
Tom Stoppard – Travesties

Poetry

Duncan Bush, Tony Curtis, Nigel Jenkins – Three Young Anglo-Welsh Poets

Non-fiction

Maya Angelou – Gather Together in My Name
Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward – All the President's Men
Augusto Boal – Teatro del oprimido y otras poéticas políticas (translated as Theatre of the Oppressed 1979)
Vincent Bugliosi with Curt Gentry – Helter Skelter
Robert A. Caro – The Power Broker
David Clark – Social Therapy in Psychiatry
Shelby Foote – The Civil War: A Narrative – Vol 3: Red River to Appomattox
The Freud/Jung Letters
Dumas Malone – Jefferson the President: Second Term, 1805-1809
Robert M. Pirsig – Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Erin Pizzey – Scream Quietly or the Neighbours Will Hear
Jonathan Raban – Soft City
Piers Paul Read – Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors
Barbu Solacolu – Evocări. Confesiuni. Portrete (Memoirs. Confessions. Portraits)
Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia (Հայկական Սովետական Հանրագիտարան, Haykakan sovetakan hanragitaran; begins publication)
Lewis Thomas – The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher
Studs Terkel – Working
Joseph Wambaugh – The Onion Field

Births

January 6 – Romain Sardou, French novelist
January 26 – Shannon Hale, American fantasy author
February 15 – Miranda July (née Grossinger), American filmmaker, performance artist and fiction writer
April 13 – K. Sello Duiker, South African novelist (died 2005)^[7]
June 12 – Chika Unigwe, Nigerian novelist writing in English and Dutch
August 7 – Faisal Tehrani, Malaysian novelist
August 9 – Ryūsui Seiryōin (清涼院流水), Japanese novelist
August 18 – Nicole Krauss, American novelist
August 23 – Serhiy Zhadan, Ukrainian poet, novelist and essayist
September 20 – Owen Sheers, Fijian-born Welsh poet, playwright and novelist
November 4 – Carlos Be, Spanish playwright
December 26 – Joshua John Miller, American novelist and screenwriter
unknown dates
- Naomi Alderman, English novelist^[8]
- Sarah Hall, English novelist
- Joanna Kavenna, English novelist and travel writer
- Joe Meno, American novelist and journalist
- Roger Williams, Welsh dramatist and screenwriter

Deaths

January 20 – Edmund Blunden, English poet and critic (born 1896)
January 25 – James Pope-Hennessy, English biographer (murdered, born 1916)
January 29
- H. E. Bates, English novelist (born 1905)
- Sheila Stuart, Scottish author and children's writer (born 1892)^[9]
February 2 – Marieluise Fleißer, German dramatist (born 1901)
February 24 – Martin Armstrong, English poet and short story writer (born 1882)
March 3 – Carl Jacob Burckhardt, Swiss historian (born 1891)
March 8 – Buddhadeb Bosu, Bengali poet and writer (born 1908)^[10]
March 19 – Austin Clarke, Irish poet, playwright and novelist (born 1896)
March 24 – Olive Higgins Prouty, American novelist (born 1882)
April 14 – Howard Pease, American novelist (born 1894)
May 9 – L. T. C. Rolt, English biographer and writer of ghost stories (born 1910)
May 13 – Arthur J. Burks, American writer (born 1898)
June 2 – Tom Kristensen, Danish novelist and poet (born 1893)^[11]
June 11 – Julius Evola, Italian esotericist, journalist and philosopher (born 1898)
June 9 – Miguel Ángel Asturias, Guatemalan Nobel Prize-winning novelist (born 1899)
July 3 – Samuel Roth, American publisher (born 1893)
July 4 – Georgette Heyer, English novelist (born 1902)
July 16 – Oduvaldo Vianna Filho, Brazilian playwright (born 1936)^[12]
July 29 - Erich Kästner, German children's author (born 1899)
August 7 – Rosario Castellanos, Mexican writer and diplomat (electric shock, born 1925)
August 11 – Jan Tschichold, German-born typographer and writer (born 1902)
August 17 – Emma L. Brock, American children's author and illustrator (born 1886)^[13]
September 11 – Lois Lenski, American author and illustrator (born 1893)^[14]
September 21 – Jacqueline Susann, American novelist (born 1918)^[15]
October 4 – Anne Sexton, American poet (born 1928)
October 28 – David Jones, Anglo-Welsh poet and artist (born 1895)^[16]
October 29 – Victor E. van Vriesland, Dutch writer (born 1892)
November 5 – William Gardner Smith, expatriate American novelist and journalist (born 1927)
November 7 – Eric Linklater, Welsh-born Scottish novelist and travel writer (born 1899)
November 26 – Cyril Connolly, English critic and writer (born 1903)
December 14 – Walter Lippmann, American writer (born 1889)

Awards

Nobel Prize for Literature: Eyvind Johnson and Harry Martinson

Canada

See 1974 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.

France

Prix Goncourt: Pascal Lainé, La Dentellière
Prix Médicis French: Porporino ou les Mystèrs de Naples
Prix Médicis International: Julio Cortázar, Libro de Manuel

United Kingdom

Booker Prize: Nadine Gordimer, The Conservationist and Stanley Middleton, Holiday.
Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Mollie Hunter, The Stronghold
Cholmondeley Award: D.J. Enright, Vernon Scannell, Alasdair Maclean
Eric Gregory Award: Duncan Forbes, Roger Garfitt, Robin Hamilton, Frank Ormsby, Penelope Shuttle
Newdigate prize: Alan Hollinghurst
James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Lawrence Durrell, Monsieur, or the Prince of Darkness
James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: John Wain, Samuel Johnson
Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: Ted Hughes

United States

Frost Medal: John Hall Wheelock
Hugo Award: Arthur C. Clarke, Rendezvous with Rama
Nebula Award: Ursula K. Le Guin, The Dispossessed
Newbery Medal for children's literature: Paula Fox, The Slave Dancer
Pulitzer Prize for Drama: no award given
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: no award given
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Robert Lowell, The Dolphin

Elsewhere

Miles Franklin Award: Ronald McKie, The Mango Tree
Premio Nadal: Luis Gasulla, Culminación de Montoya
Viareggio Prize: Clotilde Marghieri, Amati enigmi

References

^ Adrian Nathan West (November 7, 2019). "Uruguay's detective of despair". Washington Examiner. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
^ "History of Guildhall Library". City of London. Archived from the original on 2014-04-05. Retrieved 2014-04-07.
^ Elizabeth H. Oakes (2004). American Writers. Infobase Publishing. p. 352. ISBN 978-1-4381-0809-4.
^ D. G. Bond (1993). German History and German Identity: Uwe Johnson's Jahrestage. Rodopi. p. 199. ISBN 90-5183-459-4.
^ Hahn, Daniel (2015). The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature (2nd ed.). Oxford. University Press. p. 3. ISBN 9780198715542.
^ Bourne, Stephen. "The Black Presence on the London Stage" (PDF). London: Talawa Theatre Company. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 14, 2014. Retrieved 2015-02-23.
^ McGregor, Liz (2005-02-07). "Kabelo Duiker (obituary)". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2015-02-23.
^ William D. Rubinstein; Michael Jolles; Hilary L. Rubinstein (22 February 2011). The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 21. ISBN 978-1-4039-3910-4.
^ Anne Commire (1977). Something about the Author: Facts and Pictures about Contemporary Authors and Illustrators of Books for Young People. Gale. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-8103-0072-9.
^ Calcutta Municipal Gazette. Superintendent of Printing, Corporation Press. 1973. pp. 313–314.
^ Byram, Michael S. (1982). Tom Kristensen. Boston. ISBN 9780805764918.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^ Leslie Hawkins Damasceno (1996). Cultural Space and Theatrical Conventions in the Works of Oduvaldo Vianna Filho. Wayne State University Press. p. 244. ISBN 9780814325957.
^ Thornley, Stew (2004). Six Feet Under: A Graveyard Guide to Minnesota. St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Historical Society Press. p. 8. ISBN 0-87351-514-5.
^ Commire, Anne; Klezmer, Deborah, eds. (2001). Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Vol. 9. Waterford: Yorkin Publications, Gale Group. p. 380. ISBN 978-0-78764-068-2.
^ "Valley of the Dolls: 40 years since the death of Jacqueline Susann". The Conversation. May 4, 2014. Retrieved August 9, 2022.
^ "David Jones dies; Poet and Painter". New York Times. 30 October 1974. Retrieved 7 May 2022.

[1] Adrian Nathan West (November 7, 2019). "Uruguay's detective of despair". Washington Examiner. Retrieved 26 December 2020.

[2] "History of Guildhall Library". City of London. Archived from the original on 2014-04-05. Retrieved 2014-04-07.

[3] Elizabeth H. Oakes (2004). American Writers. Infobase Publishing. p. 352. ISBN 978-1-4381-0809-4.

[4] D. G. Bond (1993). German History and German Identity: Uwe Johnson's Jahrestage. Rodopi. p. 199. ISBN 90-5183-459-4.

[5] Hahn, Daniel (2015). The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature (2nd ed.). Oxford. University Press. p. 3. ISBN 9780198715542.

[6] Bourne, Stephen. "The Black Presence on the London Stage" (PDF). London: Talawa Theatre Company. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 14, 2014. Retrieved 2015-02-23.

[7] McGregor, Liz (2005-02-07). "Kabelo Duiker (obituary)". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2015-02-23.

[8] William D. Rubinstein; Michael Jolles; Hilary L. Rubinstein (22 February 2011). The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 21. ISBN 978-1-4039-3910-4.

[9] Anne Commire (1977). Something about the Author: Facts and Pictures about Contemporary Authors and Illustrators of Books for Young People. Gale. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-8103-0072-9.

[10] Calcutta Municipal Gazette. Superintendent of Printing, Corporation Press. 1973. pp. 313–314.

[11] Byram, Michael S. (1982). Tom Kristensen. Boston. ISBN 9780805764918.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

[12] Leslie Hawkins Damasceno (1996). Cultural Space and Theatrical Conventions in the Works of Oduvaldo Vianna Filho. Wayne State University Press. p. 244. ISBN 9780814325957.

[13] Thornley, Stew (2004). Six Feet Under: A Graveyard Guide to Minnesota. St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Historical Society Press. p. 8. ISBN 0-87351-514-5.

[14] Commire, Anne; Klezmer, Deborah, eds. (2001). Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Vol. 9. Waterford: Yorkin Publications, Gale Group. p. 380. ISBN 978-0-78764-068-2.

[15] "Valley of the Dolls: 40 years since the death of Jacqueline Susann". The Conversation. May 4, 2014. Retrieved August 9, 2022.

[16] "David Jones dies; Poet and Painter". New York Times. 30 October 1974. Retrieved 7 May 2022.

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