- 1959 in literature
The year 1959 in literature involved some significant events and new books.
Events
*
April 30 - Theatrical première ofBertolt Brecht 's "Saint Joan of the Stockyards ", originally performed on radio in 1932.
*Aldous Huxley turns down the offer of aknighthood .
*First appearance ofAstérix the Gaul.
*Colin Dexter begins teaching at Corby Grammar School.
*Frank Herbert begins researching "Dune".
*Frederik Pohl becomes editor of "Galaxy" magazine.
*Marcel Achard is elected to theAcadémie française .
*D. H. Lawrence 's "Lady Chatterly's Lover " (1928) legally circulates in the U.S. after a 31 year obscenity ban. (See Grove Press, Inc. v. Christenberry)New books
*
Isaac Asimov - "Nine Tomorrows "
*Saul Bellow - "Henderson the Rain King "
*Robert Bloch - "Psycho"
*Ray Bradbury - "A Medicine for Melancholy "
*John Brunner
**"Echo in the Skull "
**"The World Swappers "
*Algis Budrys - "The Falling Torch "
*William S. Burroughs - "Naked Lunch "
*Taylor Caldwell - "Dear and Glorious Physician "
*Ivy Compton-Burnett - "A Heritage and Its History "
*Richard Condon - "The Manchurian Candidate "
*Alexander Cordell - "Rape of the Fair Country "
*Julio Cortázar - "Las armas secretas " (short stories)
*Richard Crichton - "The Great Impostor"
*Allen Drury - "Advise and Consent "
*Alfred Duggan - "Children of the Wolf "
*Gerald Durrell - "My Family and Other Animals "
*Lawrence Durrell - "Mountolive "
*Ian Fleming - "Goldfinger"
*Paul Gallico - "Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris "
*William Golding - "Free Fall"
*Günter Grass - "The Tin Drum "
*Robert A. Heinlein
**"The Menace From Earth"
**"Starship Troopers "
**"The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag"
*Shirley Jackson - "The Haunting of Hill House "
*William J. Lederer andEugene L. Burdick - "The Ugly American "
*H. P. Lovecraft and Divers Hands - "The Shuttered Room and Other Pieces "
*John Lymington - "Night of the Big Heat "
*Naguib Mahfouz - "The Children of Gebelaawi "
*Norman Mailer - "Advertisement for Myself "
*James A. Michener - "Hawaii"
*Mervyn Peake - "Titus Alone "
*Robert Randall (pseudonym ofRobert Silverberg andRandall Garrett ) - "The Dawning Light "
*Mordecai Richler - "The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz"
*Philip Roth - "Goodbye, Columbus "
*Robert Ruark - "Poor No More "
*Terry Southern - "The Magic Christian"
*Rex Stout - "Plot It Yourself "
*John Updike - "The Same Door"
*Leon Uris - "Exodus"
*Kurt Vonnegut - "The Sirens of Titan "New drama
*
John Arden - "Serjeant Musgrave's Dance "
*William Gibson - "The Miracle Worker"
*Eugène Ionesco - "Rhinoceros"
*Tennessee Williams - "Sweet Bird of Youth "Non-fiction
*
Kenneth Anger - "Hollywood Babylon "
*Thomas B. Costain - "The Three Edwards " (Third book in the Plantagenet or Pageant of England series)
*L. Sprague de Camp - "Engines"
*August Derleth
**""
**"Some Notes on H. P. Lovecraft "
*Savitri Devi - "Impeachment of Man "
*C. S. Forester - "Sink the Bismarck! " aka "The Last Nine Days of the Bismarck"
*Erving Goffman - "The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life "
*Miguel León-Portilla - ""
*Garrett Mattingly - "The Defeat of the Spanish Armada "
*Karl Popper - "The Logic of Scientific Discovery "
*Cornelius Ryan - "The Longest Day"
*William Strunk Jr. andE. B. White - "The Elements of Style "Births
*
March 15 -Ben Okri , poet and novelist
*March 18 -Frédéric-Yves Jeannet , novelist and critic
*May 3 -Ben Elton , British comedian and author
*October 31 -Neal Stephenson - science fiction writer
*"date unknown
**Paul Anderson, journalist
**Maurice Georges Dantec , science fiction author
**R. A. Salvatore ,science fiction andfantasy authorDeaths
*
January 3 -Edwin Muir , poet, novelist and translator
*January 29 -Pauline Smith , novelist
*February 22 -Percy F. Westerman , children's author
*February 23 -Luis Palés Matos , poet
*February 28 -Maxwell Anderson , playwright, film writer
*March 26 -Raymond Chandler , American novelist
*April 14 -Julien Josephson , screenwriter
*May 18 -Apsley Cherry-Garrard , explorer and memoirist
*June 23 -Boris Vian , French novelist
*June 30 -José Vasconcelos , political writer
*September 18 -Benjamin Péret , poet
*"date unknown"
**Olga Knipper , widow ofAnton Chekhov and star of many of his plays
**Alfred Schütz , philosopher and sociologistAwards
*
Hugo Award for Best Novel :James Blish , "A Case of Conscience "
*James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction:Morris West , "The Devil's Advocate"
*James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography:Christopher Hassall , "Edward Marsh "
*Miles Franklin Award :Vance Palmer , "The Big Fellow"
*Newbery Medal forchildren's literature :Elizabeth George Speare , "The Witch of Blackbird Pond "
*Nobel Prize for literature :Salvatore Quasimodo
*Premio Nadal : Ana María Matute, "Primera memoria"
*Pulitzer Prize for Drama :Archibald MacLeish , "J. B. "
*Pulitzer Prize for Fiction :Robert Lewis Taylor , "The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters "
*Pulitzer Prize for Poetry :Stanley Kunitz , "Selected Poems 1928-1958"
*Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry :Francis Cornford
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