1926 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1926.

February 8 – Seán O'Casey's play The Plough and the Stars opens at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. At the February 11 performance there is a near-riot: one audience member strikes an actress.^[1]
February 12 – The Irish Free State Minister for Justice, Kevin O'Higgins, appoints a Committee on Evil Literature.
February 26 – The future English novelist Graham Greene is received into the Catholic Church.
April 1 – Hugo Gernsback launches his pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories in the United States.
May 11 – C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien first meet in Oxford.^[2]
October 10 – Mikhail Bulgakov's novel The White Guard (Белая гвардия), partly serialized in Rossiya before the magazine's suppression earlier in the year, opens as a dramatic adaptation, The Days of the Turbins, at the Moscow Art Theatre. It is enjoyed by Stalin.
October 14 – The children's book Winnie-the-PoohbyA. A. Milne first appears, published by Methuen in London.
December 3 – The English detective story writer Agatha Christie disappears from her home in Surrey. On December 14 she is found at a Harrogate hotel by the journalist Ritchie Calder, staying under her husband's mistress's surname.
December – Thomas Mann begins writing Die Geschichten JaakobsinMunich, first of the tetralogy Joseph and His Brothers (Joseph und seine Brüder), on which he will work until January 1943.
unknown dates
- Antonin Artaud and Roger Vitrac establish the Théatre Alfred-Jarry in Paris to produce surrealist drama.
- The Bread Loaf Writers' Conference is founded in Middlebury, Vermont.
- Vsevolod Meyerhold stages an expressionistic production of Gogol's satirical comedy The Government Inspector (Ревизор, 1836) in Moscow.^[3]
- Margaret Mitchell begins the novel Gone with the Wind, which will appear 1936.
- The remains of the English poet Isaac Rosenberg (killed in battle in 1918) are re-interred at Bailleul Road East Cemetery, Plot V, St. Laurent-Blangy, Pas de Calais, France.
- Peter Llewelyn Davies establishes the London publishing house Peter Davies Ltd.

Fiction

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Ion Agârbiceanu – Legea trupului
Marcel Arland – Monique
Roberto Arlt – Mad Toy (El juguete rabioso)
Isaac Babel – Red Cavalry («Конармия», short stories)
Henry Bellamann – Petenera's Daughter
Anthony Berkeley – The Wychford Poisoning Case
Louis Bromfield – Early Autumn
Edgar Rice Burroughs – The Moon Maid
Willa Cather – My Mortal Enemy
Marjorie Bowen – Mistress Nell Gwynne
G. K. Chesterton – The Incredulity of Father Brown
Agatha Christie – The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
J.J. Connington – Death at Swaythling Court
Freeman Wills Crofts – The Cheyne Mystery
James R. Crowell and Samuel C. Hildreth – The Spell of the Turf
Ramón del Valle-Inclán – Tirano Banderas: novela de tierra caliente (Tyrant Banderas)
Arthur Conan Doyle – The Land of Mist
Joseph Jefferson Farjeon – Number 17
William Faulkner – Soldiers' Pay
Ronald Firbank – Concerning the Eccentricities of Cardinal Pirelli
F. Scott Fitzgerald – All the Sad Young Men
Ford Madox Ford – A Man Could Stand Up (third book of the four-volume Parade's End)
C. S. Forester – Payment Deferred
Dion Fortune – The Secrets of Dr. Taverner
Zona Gale – Preface to Life
Hugo Gernsback – Ralph 124C 41+ (in book form)
Ellen Glasgow – The Romantic Comedians
Ricardo Güiraldes – Don Segundo Sombra
H. Rider Haggard – The Treasure of the Lake
Ernest Hemingway
- The Sun Also Rises
- The Torrents of Spring
Harold Heslop – Pod vlastu uglya (Under the Sway of Coal, translation of Goaf)
Georgette Heyer – These Old Shades
Sydney Horler – The House of Secrets
Mikheil Javakhishvili – The White Collar (თეთრი საყელო, Tetri sakelo)
Franz Kafka – The Castle
Yasunari Kawabata (川端康成) – "The Dancing Girl of Izu" (伊豆の踊子, "Izu no odoriko", short story)
D. H. Lawrence – The Plumed Serpent
Agnes Mure Mackenzie – The Quiet Lady
Compton Mackenzie – Fairy Gold
Hope Mirrlees – Lud-in-the-Mist
George Moore – Ulich and Soracha
Vladimir Nabokov (as V. Sirin) – Mary («Машенька», Mashen'ka)
Carola Oman – King Heart
E. Phillips Oppenheim
- The Golden Beast
- Prodigals of Monte Carlo
Baroness Orczy – The Celestial City
Cassiano Ricardo – Vamos caçar papagaios
Grigol Robakidze – The Snake's Skin (გველის პერანგი)
Sagitta (John Henry Mackay) – Der Puppenjunge (The Pansy; in English as The Hustler)
Marquis de Sade – Dialogue Between a Priest and a Dying Man
Dorothy L. Sayers – Clouds of Witness
Arthur Schnitzler – Dream Story (Traumnovelle)
Thorne Smith – Topper (aka The Jovial Ghosts)
Cecil Street – Dr. Priestley's Quest
A. H. Tammsaare – Tõde ja Õigus (Truth and Justice, begins publication)
Sylvia Thompson – The Hounds of Spring
B. Traven – The Death Ship (Das Totenschiff)
S. S. Van Dine – The Benson Murder Case (the first Philo Vance mystery)
Henry Wade – The Verdict of You All
Edgar Wallace
- The Avenger
- Barbara on Her Own
- The Northing Tramp
- The Terrible People
- The Yellow Snake
Sylvia Townsend Warner – Lolly Willowes
H. G. Wells – The World of William Clissold
Walter F. White – Flight

Children and young people

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Angela Brazil – Joan's Best Chum
Will James – Smoky the Cowhorse
A. A. Milne – Winnie-the-Pooh
Ruth Plumly Thompson – The Hungry Tiger of Oz (20th in the Oz series overall and the sixth written by her)

Germán List Arzubide – El movimiento estridentista
Benedictine Vulgate (begins publication)
Angela Brazil – My Own Schooldays
Arthur Conan Doyle – The History of Spiritualism
H. Rider Haggard – The Days of My Life
T. E. Lawrence – Seven Pillars of Wisdom
Otto Schmidt (chief editor) – Great Soviet Encyclopedia (Большая советская энциклопедия, Bolshaya sovetskaya entsiklopediya; begins publication)
Dan Simonescu – Încercări istorico-literare (Literary and Historical Essays)
R. H. Tawney – Religion and the Rise of Capitalism
Helen Thomas – As It Was
W. B. Yeats – Autobiographies
Paul Zarifopol – Din registrul ideilor gingașe (A Register of Tender Ideas)
Alfred Eckhard Zimmern – The Third British Empire

January 5 – W. D. Snodgrass, American poet (died 2009)
January 12 – Shumon Miura, Japanese novelist (died 2017)
January 13 – Michael Bond, English fiction writer and creator of Paddington Bear (died 2017)^[4]
January 14 – Tom Tryon, American actor and novelist (died 1991)
January 27 – Fritz Spiegl, Austrian-born musician and writer (died 2003)^[5]
February 3 – Richard Yates, American novelist (died 1992)
February 8 – Neal Cassady, American writer and poet (died 1968)
February 20 – Richard Matheson, American science fiction writer (died 2013)
March 3 – James Merrill, American poet (died 1995)
March 7 – Chemmanam Chacko, Indian poet (died 2018)
March 24 – Dario Fo, Italian dramatist and actor (died 2016)^[6]
March 27 – Frank O'Hara, American poet (died 1966)
March 31 – John Fowles, English novelist (died 2005)^[7]
April 3 – Luís de Sttau Monteiro, Portuguese novelist and dramatist (died 1993)
April 12 – Khozh-Akhmed Bersanov, Chechen ethnographer (died 2018)
April 13 – Egon Wolff, Chilean dramatist (died 2016)
April 23
- J. P. Donleavy, Irish American novelist (died 2017)
- Éva Janikovszky, Hungarian novelist and children's writer (died 2003)
April 28 – Harper Lee, American novelist (died 2016)^[8]
April 30 – Edmund Cooper, British poet and author (died 1982)^[9]
May 15 – English twins
- Anthony Shaffer, dramatist and screenwriter (died 2001)
- Peter Shaffer, dramatist (died 2016)
May 21 – Robert Creeley, American author (died 2005)
June 3 – Allen Ginsberg, American Beat Generation poet (died 1997)^[10]
June 4 – Ain Kaalep, Estonian poet, playwright and critic (died 2020)
June 13
- Kanam EJ, Malayalam novelist and lyricist (died 1982)
- Dalmiro Sáenz, Argentinian writer (died 2016)
June 19 – Giangiacomo Feltrinelli, Italian publisher (died 1972)
July 7 – Spencer Holst, American writer and storyteller (died 2001)
July 11 – Frederick Buechner, American author and minister (died 2022)
July 18 – Elizabeth Jennings, English poet (died 2001)
August 6 – Elisabeth Beresford, English children's author (died 2010)^[11]
August 12 – Wallace Markfield, American comic novelist (died 2002)
August 13 – Roy Heath, Guyanese novelist (died 2008)^[12]
August 14
- Alice Adams, American short story writer (died 1999)
- René Goscinny, French writer and co-creator of Astérix (died 1977)
September 3 – Alison Lurie, American novelist and academic (died 2020)
September 6 – Clancy Sigal, American writer (died 2017)
September 14 – Michel Butor, French writer (died 2016)
September 16 – John Knowles, American novelist (died 2001)^[13]
October 2 – Jan Morris, born James Morris, Anglo-Welsh historian and travel writer (died 2020)
October 15 – Evan Hunter, American author and screenwriter (died 2005)
November 5 – John Berger, English art critic and novelist (died 2017)^[14]
November 11
- José Manuel Caballero, Spanish novelist and poet (died 2021)
- Harold Perkin, English social historian (died 2004)
November 19 – Barry Reckord, Jamaican playwright (died 2011)
November 20 – John Gardner, English thriller writer (died 2007)
November 25 – Poul Anderson, American science fiction writer (died 2001)
December 23 – Robert Bly, American writer (died 2021)

January 14
- René Boylesve, French author (born 1867)
- August Sedláček, Czech historian (born 1843)
January 26 – Bucura Dumbravă, Romanian novelist and spiritualist (malaria, born 1868)
February 1 – Ishibashi Ningetsu (石橋忍月), Japanese author and critic (born 1865)
February 6 – Wolf Wilhelm Friedrich von Baudissin, German theologian (born 1847)
February 12 – Radu Rosetti, Romanian politician, historical novelist and memoirist (born 1853)
March 3 – Sir Sidney Lee, English biographer (born 1859)
May 9 – J. M. Dent, English publisher (born 1849)
May 21 – Ronald Firbank, English novelist (born 1886)
May 23 – Sigrid Elmblad, Swedish author and translator (born 1860)^[15]
May 26 – Srečko Kosovel, Slovenian Expressionist poet (meningitis, born 1904)
June 27 – Addie C. Strong Engle, American author and publisher (born 1845)
July 8 – Karel Václav Rais, Czech realist novelist (born 1859)
July 11 – Fran Detela, Slovenian academic and writer (born 1850)
July 14 – Elisabeth Cavazza, American author, journalist, and music critic (born 1849)
July 19 – Ada Cambridge, English/Australian writer and poet (born 1844)
July 22 – John Burland Harris-Burland, British writer (born 1870)
August 1 – Israel Zangwill, English poet (born 1864)
October 5 – Javier de Viana, Uruguayan writer (born 1868)
October 9 – Helena Nyblom, Danish-born poet and writer of fairy tales (born 1843)
October 11 – Albert Robida, French illustrator and novelist (born 1848)
November 10 – Lyubov Dostoyevskaya, Russian memoirist (born 1869)
December 8 – Sarah Doudney, English novelist, children's writer and hymnist (born 1841)
December 12 – Jean Richepin, French poet, dramatist and novelist (born 1849)
December 29 – Rainer Maria Rilke, German poet (born 1875)^[16]
unknown date
- Emma Whitcomb Babcock, American litterateur and author (born 1849)
- Susanne Vandegrift Moore, American editor and publisher (born 1848)

James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Radclyffe Hall, Adam's Breed
James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Herbert Brook Workman, John Wyclif: A Study of the English Medieval Church
Newbery Medal for children's literature: Arthur Bowie Chrisman, Shen of the Sea
Nobel Prize for Literature: Grazia Deledda
Pulitzer Prize for Drama: George Kelly, Craig's Wife
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Amy Lowell, What's O'Clock
Pulitzer Prize for the Novel: Sinclair Lewis, Arrowsmith
Blindman International Poetry Prize: Ruth Manning-Sanders, The City

^ Harold Bloom (2009). Dramatists and Dramas. Infobase Publishing. p. 195. ISBN 978-0-7910-9374-0.

^ "Biography of J. R. R. Tolkien". Planet Tolkien. Archived from the original on 2013-10-19. Retrieved 2013-06-14.

^ Nikolaĭ Vasilʹevich Gogolʹ (1996). Government Inspector. p. 58. ISBN 978-0-7734-8840-3.

^ "Michael Bond obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 June 2017.

^ "Fritz Spiegl". The Daily Telegraph. 25 March 2003. Retrieved 22 April 2012.

^ Mitchell, Tony (1989). File on Fo. London Portsmouth, N.H., U.S.A: Methuen Drama HEB Inc. p. 7. ISBN 9780413174307.

^ Higgins, Charlotte. "Reclusive novelist John Fowles dies at 79". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 October 2014.

^ "Harper Lee obituary". The Guardian. 19 February 2016. Retrieved 3 January 2017.

^ Smith, Curtis (1986). Twentieth-century science-fiction writers. Chicago: St. James Press. p. 153. ISBN 9780912289274.

^ Hampton, Wilborn (April 6, 1997). "Allen Ginsberg, Master Poet Of Beat Generation, Dies at 70". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 11, 2008. Retrieved April 14, 2008.

^ "Elisabeth Beresford: Children's author who created the Wombles". The Independent. 3 January 2011. Archived from the original on 2022-05-01. Retrieved 10 January 2022.

^ Louis James, "Heath, Roy Aubrey Kelvin (1926–2008)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, January 2012. Retrieved 2 March 2015.

^ Honan, William H. (2001-12-01). "John Knowles, 75, Novelist Who Wrote 'A Separate Peace'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-10-25.

^ "John Berger obituary". The Guardian. 2 January 2017. Retrieved 8 January 2017.

^ Bohman, Nils; Dahl, Torsten (1955). Svenska män och Kvinnor: Biografisk Uppslagsbok (in Swedish). Stockholm: Bonnier. p. 394. OCLC 1137575928.

^ Rainer Maria Rilke (14 April 2011). Selected Poems: with parallel German text. OUP Oxford. p. 2. ISBN 978-0-19-162017-1.

1926 in literature

Contents

Events

New books

Fiction

Children and young people

Drama

Poetry

Non-fiction

Births

Deaths

Awards

References

Languages