1942 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1942.

January 1 – The U.K. Book Production War Economy Agreement comes into force.^[1]
February 20 – Jean Bruller's novella Le Silence de la mer (Silence of the Sea), about resistance to the Nazi occupation of France, is issued clandestinely as the first publication of Les Éditions de Minuit in Paris, under the pseudonym "Vercors". A hundred copies are distributed from late summer; the rest are destroyed by the occupying authorities.^[2]
February 22 – The Austrian-born novelist Stefan Zweig and his wife Lotte are found dead of a barbiturate overdose in their home in Petrópolis, Brazil, leaving notes indicating despair at the future of European civilization. The manuscript of Zweig's autobiography The World of Yesterday, posted to his publisher a day earlier, is first published in Stockholm later in the year as Die Welt von Gestern.^[3]
March – Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics are introduced in his short story "Runaround", published in Astounding Science-Fiction.
March 1 – The Canadian novelist Robertson Davies begins a 13-year spell as editor of the Peterborough ExaminerinOntario.
March 28 – The Spanish poet Miguel Hernández dies of tuberculosis as a political prisoner in a prison hospital, having scrawled his last verse on the wall.
April 29 – The newspaper Asia Raja is first published in the Dutch East Indies under Japanese occupation; it will publish a number of literary works.
May – The German novelist Thomas Mann moves to California.
May 4 – The French novelist André Gide moves to Tunis.
May 8 – The English novelist David Garnett marries as his second wife, the painter and writer Angelica Bell, daughter of Garnett's lover Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell.
June 4 – The film Mrs. Miniver is released, for which the novelist James Hilton will share an Academy Award for Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay) on 4 March 1943.
June 12 – Anne Frank, on her 13th birthday, makes the first entry in her new diary in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam.
August – The French Resistance unit to which expatriate Irish writer Samuel Beckett belongs is betrayed. He has to flee from occupied Paris on foot to Roussillon, Vaucluse in south-eastern France, where he continues work on his novel Watt.
August 9 – The New York Times launches the national version of its influential New York Times Best Seller list.^[4]
August 28 – Polish writer Zofia Kossak-Szczucka, as head of the underground organization Front for the Rebirth of Poland, publishes in Warsaw her Protest! leaflet against the mass murder of Jews in German-occupied Poland.
Autumn – Vasily Grossman attends the Battle of Stalingrad as a reporter for the Soviet Army newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda. The experience later governs his novels Stalingrad («Сталингра́д», original Russian publication 1952) and Life and Fate («Жизнь и судьба», completed 1959).
October – The English poet Keith Douglas takes part in the Second Battle of El Alamein, against orders.^[5]
November 19 – The Polish Jewish writer and artist Bruno Schulz is shot dead by a Gestapo officer, while walking through the "Aryan quarter" of his home town, Drohobych.

Fiction

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Samuel Hopkins Adams – The Harvey Girls^[6]
Martha Albrand – No Surrender
Nelson Algren – Never Come Morning^[7]
Charlotte Armstrong – Lay On, Mac Duff!^[8]
Nigel Balchin – Darkness Falls from the Air^[9]
John Brophy – Immortal Sergeant
John Bude – Death Knows No Calendar
Albert Camus – The Stranger (L'Étranger)^[10]
John Dickson Carr
- The Emperor's Snuff-Box
- The Gilded Man (as by Carter Dickson)
Camilo José Cela – The Family of Pascual Duarte (La Familia de Pascual Duarte)
Raymond Chandler – The High Window
Peter Cheyney
- Dark Duet^[11]
- Never a Dull Moment
- Sorry You've Been Troubled
Agatha Christie
- The Body in the Library
- Five Little Pigs
- The Moving Finger
J.J. Connington – No Past Is Dead
James Gould Cozzens – The Just and the Unjust
John Creasey – The Toff Goes to Market
Freeman Wills Crofts – Fear Comes to Chalfont
Lloyd C. Douglas – The Robe
Daphne du Maurier – Frenchman's Creek
Rachel Field – And Now Tomorrow
Anthony Gilbert – Something Nasty in the Woodshed
Natalia Ginzburg (as Alessandra Tornimparte) – La strada che va in città (The Road to the city)
James Gunn – Deadlier Than the Male
Robert A. Heinlein – Beyond This Horizon
Robert Hichens – A New Way of Life
Robert Hillyer – My Heart for Hostage
Anne Hocking – One Shall Be Taken
Michael Innes – The Daffodil Affair
Kalki Krishnamurthy
- Magudapathi
- Parthiban Kanavu (பார்த்திபன் கனவு, Parthiban's Dream)
Maura Laverty – Never No More
C. S. Lewis – The Screwtape Letters (Christian apologetics)
E. C. R. Lorac
- Rope's End, Rogue's End
- The Sixteenth Stair
Mary McCarthy – The Company She Keeps
Sándor Márai – Embers (A gyertyák csonkig égnek)^[12]
Gladys Mitchell – Laurels are Poison
David Leslie Murray – Enter Three Witches
J. B. Priestley – Blackout in Gretley
Ellery Queen – Calamity Town
Raymond Queneau – Pierrot mon ami
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings – Cross Creek
Clayton Rawson – No Coffin for the Corpse
Anna Seghers – The Seventh Cross (Das siebte Kreuz)^[13]
Nevil Shute – Pied Piper
Georges Simenon – Young Cardinaud
Curt Siodmak – Donovan's Brain
Clark Ashton Smith – Out of Space and Time
Eleanor Smith
- Caravan
- The Man in Grey
John Steinbeck – The Moon is Down
Rex Stout – Black Orchids^[14]
Cecil Street
- The Fourth Bomb
- Night Exercise
- This Undesirable Residence
Antal Szerb (as A. H. Redcliff) – Oliver VII (VII. Olivér)
Tomita Tsuneo (富田常雄) – Sanshiro Sugata (姿三四郎)
Vercors – Le Silence de la mer
Hugh Walpole (died 1941) – The Killer and the Slain
Evelyn Waugh – Put Out More Flags
Franz Werfel – The Song of Bernadette
Ethel Lina White – Midnight House
Cornell Woolrich – Black Alibi
Wu Cheng'en (吳承恩), translated by Arthur Waley – Monkey (15th century)
Xiao Hong (蕭紅) – Hulanhe zhuan (呼兰河传, Tales of the Hulan River)
Francis Brett Young – A Man About the House

Children and young people

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BB (Denys Watkins-Pitchford) – The Little Grey Men
Enid Blyton
- Five on a Treasure Island
- Mary Mouse and the Doll's House
Eleanor Estes – The Middle Moffat
Janette Sebring Lowrey – The Poky Little Puppy
Diana Ross – The Little Red Engine Gets a Name (first in the Little Red Engine series of nine books)
David Severn – Rick Afire
Solomon Simon – Di Helden fun Khelm (The Heroes of Chełm)
Hildegarde Swift – The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge
Elizabeth Gray Vining (as Elizabeth Janet Gray) – Adam of the Road
Ursula Moray Williams – Gobbolino, the Witch's Cat

January 7 – Terenci Moix, Spanish writer (died 2003)^[17]
January 7 – Božin Pavlovski, Macedonian-Australian author
January 9 – Enrique Estrázulas, Uruguayan writer, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist and diplomat (died 2016)
January 19 – Paul-Eerik Rummo, Estonian poet, playwright and politician
January 31 – Derek Jarman, English film director, writer and diarist (died 1994)^[18]
February 1 – Terry Jones, Welsh comedic actor and writer (died 2020)^[19]
February – David Williamson, Australian playwright
March 2 – John Irving, American novelist and screenwriter^[20]
March 28 – Daniel Dennett, American philosopher, writer and cognitive scientist
April 1 – Samuel R. Delany, American novelist, essayist and critic^[21]
April 4 – Kitty Kelley, American biographer and journalist
April 20 – Arto Paasilinna, Finnish novelist and journalist (died 2018)^[22]
April 27 – Ruth Glick, American cookery author and novelist
May 6 – Ariel Dorfman, Argentine/Chilean novelist, playwright and essayist^[23]
May 11 – Rachel Billington, English author^[24]
June 25 – Michel Tremblay, French Canadian novelist and playwright
July 2 – Mukhtar Shakhanov, Kazakh writer and lawmaker
August 2 – Isabel Allende, Chilean novelist^[25]
August 7 – Garrison Keillor, American humorous writer and broadcaster^[26]
August 9 – David Steinberg, Canadian comedian, actor, writer, director, and author^[27]
August 22 – Uğur Mumcu, Turkish journalist and writer (died 1993)
September 1 – António Lobo Antunes, Portuguese novelist and physician
September 14 – Bernard MacLaverty, Irish writer
September 21, Luis Mateo Díez, Spanish writer
October 16 – Joseph Bruchac, Native American author
October 20 – Bob Graham, Australian children's writer and illustrator
October 23
- Michael Crichton, American writer and director (died 2008)^[28]
- Douglas Dunn, Scottish poet and scholar
October 24 – Frank Delaney, Irish-born novelist, journalist and broadcaster (died 2017)^[29]
November 7 – Helen Garner, Australian writer
November 8 – Fernando Sorrentino, Argentine writer^[30]
November 19 – Sharon Olds, American poet
November 24 – Craig Thomas, Welsh novelist (died 2011)^[31]
December 6 – Peter Handke, Austrian novelist and playwright
unknown date – Ghada al-Samman, Syrian writer^[32]

January 8 – Chaudhry Afzal Haq, Indian writer and humanitarian (born 1891)^[33]
January 14 – Porfirio Barba-Jacob, Colombian writer (born 1883)
February 2 – Daniil Kharms, Russian poet, writer and dramatist (died in prison, born 1905)
February 18 – Henri Stahl, Romanian historian, short story writer, memoirist and stenographer (born 1877)
March 16 – Rachel Field, American author and poet (born 1894)^[34]
March 26 – Carolyn Wells, American novelist and poet (born 1862)^[35]
March 28 – Miguel Hernández, Spanish poet (died in prison, born 1910)^[36]
April 24 – Lucy Maud Montgomery, Canadian novelist and children's writer (born 1874)^[37]
May 11 – Sakutarō Hagiwara (萩原朔太郎), Japanese poet (born 1886)^[38]
May 20 – Nini Roll Anker, Norwegian novelist and playwright (born 1873)^[39]
May 26 – Libero Bovio, Neapolitan dialect poet (born 1883)
May 29 – Akiko Yosano (与謝野晶子, Yosano Shiyo), Japanese poet and feminist (born 1878)
May – Jakob van Hoddis (Hans Davidsohn) German poet (died in extermination camp, born 1887)
June 30 – Léon Daudet, French writer and journalist (born 1867)^[40]
July 1 – Peadar Toner Mac Fhionnlaoich, Irish writer in Irish (born 1857)
August 17 – Irène Némirovsky, Russian-born French novelist (died in concentration camp, born 1903)
August 27 – Lev Nussimbaum, Russian and Azerbaijani novelist (gangrene; born 1905)^[41]
September 26 – Oskar Kraus, Czech philosopher (born 1872)^[42]
October 14 – Cosmo Hamilton, English dramatist and novelist (born 1870)^[43]
October 20 – Friedrich Münzer, German classicist (born 1868)^[44]
October 29 – Màrius Torres, Catalan Spanish poet (born 1910)
November 4
- Eleanor Stackhouse Atkinson, American novelist and textbook and children's writer (born 1863)^[45]
- Clementine Krämer, German poet and short-story writer (died in concentration camp, born 1873)
December 23 – Konstantin Balmont, Russian Symbolist poet and translator (born 1867)^[46]

Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Denys Watkins-Pitchford, The Little Grey Men
Frost Medal: Edgar Lee Masters
James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Arthur Waley, Translation of MonkeybyWu Cheng'en
James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede, Henry Ponsonby: Queen Victoria's Private Secretary
Newbery Medal for children's literature: Walter D. Edmonds, The Matchlock Gun
Nobel Prize for literature: not awarded
Pulitzer Prize for Drama: not awarded
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: William Rose Benet, The Dust Which Is God
Pulitzer Prize for the Novel: Ellen Glasgow, In This Our Life

^ "Typography versus Hitler — The Book Production War Economy Agreement". Chris Forster. 2013-06-27. Retrieved 2017-04-10.

^ Bruller, Jean (1967). La Bataille du silence.

^ Davis, Darién J.; Marshall, Oliver, eds. (2010). Stefan and Lotte Zweig's South American Letters: New York, Argentina and Brazil, 1940-42. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 41. Laurent Seksik's 2010 novel Les Derniers Jours de Stefan Zweig is set at this time.

^ Ralph E. Hanson (2005). Mass Communication: Living in a Media World. McGraw-Hill. p. 71. ISBN 978-0-07-234177-5.

^ Armor. U.S. Armor Association. 1997. p. 9.

^ Wisconsin Library Bulletin. Division of Library Services, Department of Public Instruction. 1943. p. 28.

^ O'Hagan, Andrew (November 7, 2019). "Singing the Back Streets". The New York Review of Books. Retrieved October 21, 2019. (subscription required)

^ Cypert, Rick (2008). The Virtue of Suspense: The Life and Works of Charlotte Armstrong. Associated University Press. p. 43.

^ Lawrence Phillips (2004). The Swarming Streets: Twentieth-century Literary Representations of London. Rodopi. p. 85. ISBN 90-420-1663-9.

^ Pierre-Louis Rey (1991). L'Étranger (1942).: Camus : analyse critique. Hatier.

^ Panek, LeRoy (1981). The Special Branch: The British Spy Novel, 1890-1980. Popular Press. p. 174.

^ Shapiro, Anna (13 January 2002). "Older - and much wiser". The Observer. Retrieved 20 July 2017.

^ Sonja Hilzinger (2004). Anna Seghers, Das siebte Kreuz. P. Reclam. ISBN 978-3-15-016042-8.

^ Joseph Arditti (1977). Orchid Biology, Reviews and Perspectives. Comstock Pub. Associates. p. 230. ISBN 978-0-88192-170-0.

^ Jonathan Judaken; Robert Bernasconi (2012). Situating Existentialism: Key Texts in Context. Columbia University Press. p. 127. ISBN 978-0-231-14774-3.

^ Eric Shanes (22 December 2011). Dalí. Parkstone International. p. 93. ISBN 978-1-78160-588-2.

^ Michael Eaude (11 April 2003). "Terenci Moix". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 February 2024.

^ Tony Peake, Derek Jarman: A Biography (Woodstock: Overlook Press, 1999), pp. 12–13.

^ Stolworthy, Jacob. "Terry Jones death: Monty Python star and Life of Brian director dies, aged 77". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2022-05-01.

^ Jay Parini (2004). The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature. Oxford University Press. p. 267. ISBN 978-0-19-515653-9.

^ Jessie Carney Smith (1999). Notable Black American Men. Gale Research. p. 286. ISBN 978-0-7876-0763-0.

^ "Arto Paasilinna 20.4.1942–15.10.2018" (in Finnish). WSOY.

^ Vineta Colby; H. W. Wilson (1995). World Authors, 1985-1990. H.W. Wilson. p. 220. ISBN 978-0-8242-0875-2.

^ Contemporary Novelists. St. James Press. 1991. p. 108. ISBN 978-1-55862-036-0.

^ Tim McNeese (2006). Isabel Allende. Infobase Publishing. p. 100. ISBN 978-1-4381-0680-9.

^ Judith Yaross Lee (1991). Garrison Keillor. Univ. Press of Mississippi. p. 3. ISBN 978-1-61703-399-5.

^ "David Steinberg – Northern Stars". 2002. Archived from the original on June 12, 2010. Retrieved 2010-01-12.

^ Paul T. Hellmann (14 February 2006). Historical Gazetteer of the United States. Routledge. p. 278. ISBN 1-135-94859-3.

^ Jennifer Curry (2007). World Authors, 2000-2005. H.W. Wilson. p. 164. ISBN 978-0-8242-1077-9.

^ Clark M. Zlotchew (1995). Voices of the River Plate: Interviews with Writers of Argentina and Uruguay. Borgo Press. p. 67. ISBN 978-0-89370-317-2.

^ Meic Stephens (20 September 2012). Welsh Lives - Gone but Not Forgotten. Y Lolfa. p. 190. ISBN 978-1-84771-605-7.

^ Raḍwá ʻĀshūr; Ferial Jabouri Ghazoul; Hasna Reda-Mekdashi; Mandy McClure (2008). Arab Women Writers: A Critical Reference Guide, 1873-1999. American Univ in Cairo Press. p. 484. ISBN 978-977-416-146-9.

^ Attaul Haq Qasmi (1 September 2012). "Chaudhry Afzal Haq marhoom aur punjab hakumat". PakColumnist. Archived from the original on 26 June 2015. Retrieved 5 September 2012.

^ Fordyce, Rachel (1978). "Field, Rachel (Lyman)". In Kirkpatrick, D.L. (ed.). Twentieth-century Children's Writers. London: Macmillan. p. 445. ISBN 978-0-33323-414-3.

^ "Carolyn Wells | American writer". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 22 January 2020.

^ Geraldine Cleary Nichols (1978). Miguel Hernandez. Twayne Publishers. p. 12. ISBN 978-0-8057-6301-0.

^ "Montgomery, L. M. (Lucy Maud), 1874-1942". id.loc.gov. Retrieved 16 March 2019.

^ Sakutarō Hagiwara (2002). Howling at the Moon: Poems and Prose of Hagiwara Sakutarō. Green Integer. p. 53. ISBN 978-1-931243-01-8.

^ Matthew J. Bruccoli; Richard Layman (2004). Twentieth-century Norwegian Writers. Gale. p. 8. ISBN 978-0-7876-6834-1.

^ Philippe Michel-Thiriet; Dominique Frémy (1989). The Book of Proust. Chatto & Windus. p. 173. ISBN 978-0-7011-3360-3.

^ "The Lives of Two Writers - Yusif Vazir Chamanzaminli and Lev Nussimbaum". Azerbaijan International. 15 (2–4): 39. 2011.

^ Christian Zentner; Friedemann Bedurftig (21 August 1997). The Encyclopedia Of The Third Reich. Hachette Books. p. 512. ISBN 978-0-306-80793-0.

^ Who's who in the Theatre. Pitman. 1947. p. 1877.

^ E. A. Judge (1998). Ancient History in a Modern University: The ancient Near East, Greece, and Rome. Ancient History Documentary Research Centre, Macquarie University. p. 372. ISBN 978-0-8028-3840-7.

^ Stanley Kunitz (1955). Twentieth Century Authors: A Biographical Dictionary of Modern Literature. Supplement. H. W. Wilson. p. 32.

^ Richard D. Schupbach (1991). Stanford Slavic Studies. Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, Stanford University. p. 406.

1942 in literature

Contents

Events

New books

Fiction

Children and young people

Drama

Poetry

Non-fiction

Births

Deaths

Awards

References

Languages