1951 in literature
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If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1951.
- January 12 – Janie Moore, C. S. Lewis' so-called adoptive mother, dies.[1]
- March – The American writer Flannery O'Connor leaves hospital after being diagnosed with lupus at the age of 25.[2]
- March 12 – Hank Ketcham's U.S. Dennis the Menace appears for the first time in 16 United States newspapers.
- March 17 – The homonymous U.K. Dennis the Menace comic strip first appears in the children's comic The Beano.
- Spring – Arthur C. Clarke's short story "The Sentinel", which will form a basis for the film 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and a subsequent novel, is published as "Sentinel of Eternity" in the only issue ever produced of the American science fiction and fantasy pulp magazine 10 Story Fantasy.
- May – Joe Orton enters the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, where he meets his lover and ultimate murderer Kenneth Halliwell.
- June 18 – Frank Hardy is acquitted of criminal libel in the Australian state of Victoria over his self-published 1950 roman à clef on corruption in Melbourne political life, Power Without Glory.[3]
- July 16 – J. D. Salinger's coming-of-age story The Catcher in the Rye is published by Little, Brown and Company in New York City.
- September 6 – William S. Burroughs shoots and kills his common-law wife Joan Vollmer, apparently by accident, in Mexico City.[4]
- December 16 – Noël Coward leaves his home, White Cliffs, on the south coast of England, having sold it to Ian Fleming.[5]
- unknown dates
- E. E. Cummings and Rachel Carson are awarded Guggenheim Fellowships. It is Cummings' second.[6]
- Janet Frame's first book, The Lagoon and Other Stories, is published by the Caxton Press (New Zealand) (dated 1952) while the author is a patient in Seacliff Lunatic Asylum, Seacliff, New Zealand, scheduled for a lobotomy. It is awarded the Hubert Church Memorial Award, at the time one of New Zealand's most prestigious literary prizes. This results in the cancellation of Frame's operation.[7]
- Béla Hamvas completes his epic novel Karnevál. He is banned from publication in Hungary at the time, so that it will appear only in 1985, 17 years after his death.
- A Question of Upbringing, the first book in Anthony Powell's twelve-novel series A Dance to the Music of Time, is published by Heinemann in the U.K.
- The custom of performing medieval mystery plays is revived at York and Chester, England.[8]
- The Théâtre national de la Colline in Paris is founded.[9]
New books
Fiction
- Martha Albrand – Desperate Moment
- Sholem Asch – Moses
- Isaac Asimov
- Nigel Balchin – A Way Through the Wood
- Samuel Beckett – Molloy
- Ray Bradbury – The Illustrated Man (collection of short stories)[10]
- Taylor Caldwell – The Balance Wheel
- Morley Callaghan – The Loved and the Lost
- Truman Capote – The Grass Harp
- L. Sprague de Camp
- John Dickson Carr – The Devil in Velvet
- Henry Cecil – The Painswick Line
- Camilo José Cela – The Hive (La Colmena)
- James Hadley Chase – But a Short Time to Live
- Peter Cheyney – Ladies Won't Wait
- Agatha Christie
- Arthur C. Clarke – Prelude to Space
- Beverly Cleary – Ellen Tebbits
- Julio Cortázar – Bestiario
- Robertson Davies – Tempest-Tost
- August Derleth – The Memoirs of Solar Pons
- Heimito von Doderer – Die Strudlhofstiege, oder Melzer und die Tiefe der Jahre (The Strudelhof Steps)
- Daphne du Maurier – My Cousin Rachel
- Friedrich Dürrenmatt – Suspicion
- Howard Fast – Spartacus
- Per Anders Fogelström – Sommaren med Monika
- Anthony Gilbert – Lady Killer
- Michael Gilbert – Death Has Deep Roots
- Julien Gracq – Le Rivage des Syrtes (The Opposing Shore)
- Graham Greene – The End of the Affair
- Henri René Guieu – Le Pionnier de l'atome
- Cyril Hare – An English Murder
- John Hawkes – The Beetle Leg
- Robert A. Heinlein – The Puppet Masters
- Elizabeth Jane Howard and Robert Aickman – We Are for the Dark: Six Ghost Stories
- Laurence Hyde – Southern Cross (wordless novel)
- James Jones – From Here to Eternity
- Margaret Kennedy – Lucy Carmichael
- A. M. Klein – The Second Scroll
- Wolfgang Koeppen – Tauben im Gras (Pigeons on the Grass)
- Kalki Krishnamurthy
- Poiman Karadu
- Ponniyin Selvan (பொன்னியின் செல்வன், The Son of Ponni; publication begins)
- Louis L'Amour – The Rustlers of the West Fork
- Eric Linklater – Laxdale Hall
- John Masters – Nightrunners of Bengal[11]
- James A. Michener – Return to Paradise[12]
- Nancy Mitford – The Blessing
- Gladys Mitchell – The Devil's Elbow
- Nicholas Monsarrat – The Cruel Sea
- Alberto Moravia – The Conformist (Il conformista)
- Robert Pinget – Entre Fantoine et Agapa
- Anthony Powell – A Question of Upbringing
- J. B. Priestley – Festival at Farbridge
- Ernest Raymond – A Chorus Ending
- J. D. Salinger – The Catcher in the Rye[13]
- Ernst von Salomon – The Questionnaire (Der Fragebogen)
- Ooka Shohei (大岡 昇平) – Fires on the Plain (野火, Nobi)
- Vern Schneider – The Teahouse of the August Moon[14]
- Georges Simenon
- Margit Söderholm – Meeting in Vienna
- Cardinal Spellman – The Foundling
- Howard Spring – The Houses in Between
- John Steinbeck – The Log from the Sea of Cortez
- Rex Stout
- William Styron – Lie Down in Darkness[15]
- Elizabeth Taylor – A Game of Hide and Seek
- Josephine Tey – The Daughter of Time[16]
- Anne de Tourville – Jabadao
- Henry Wade – Diplomat’s Folly
- Herman Wouk – The Caine Mutiny
- John Wyndham – The Day of the Triffids[17]
- Frank Yerby – A Woman Called Fancy
- Marguerite Yourcenar – Memoirs of Hadrian (Mémoires d'Hadrien)[18]
- Juan Eduardo Zúñiga – Inútiles totales (Totally useless)
Children and young people
- M. E. Atkinson – Castaway Camp (first in the Fricka series of five books)
- Rev. W. Awdry – Henry the Green Engine (sixth in The Railway Series of 42 books by him and his son Christopher Awdry)
- Viola Bayley – The Dark Lantern
- Margaret Biggs – The Blakes Come to Melling
- Anne de Vries – Into the Darkness (De Duisternis in, first in the Journey Through the Night – Reis door de nacht – series of four books)
- Eleanor Estes – Ginger Pye[19]
- Rumer Godden – The Mousewife
- Cynthia Harnett – The Wool-Pack[20]
- C. S. Lewis – Prince Caspian[21]
- Elinor Lyon – We Daren't Go A'Hunting
- Gianni Rodari – l romanzo di Cipollino (The Adventures of the Little Onion)
- Sydney Taylor – All-of-a-Kind Family[22]
Drama
- Muriel Box and Sydney Box – The Seventh Veil
- Agatha Christie – The Hollow
- Ian Hay – The White Sheep of the Family
- Lillian Hellman - The Autumn Garden
- Kenneth Horne – And This Was Odd
- Michael Clayton Hutton – The Happy Family
- Eugène Ionesco – The Lesson (La Leçon)
- Ronald Jeans – Count Your Blessings
- Maryat Lee – Dope!
- A. A. Milne – Before the Flood
- Lawrence Riley – Kin Hubbard
- Jean-Paul Sartre – The Devil and the Good Lord (Le Diable et le Bon Dieu)
- Peter Ustinov
- John Van Druten – I Am a Camera
- John Whiting
- A Penny for a Song
- Saint's Day (first performance)
- Tennessee Williams – The Rose Tattoo
Poetry
- Clark Ashton Smith – The Dark Chateau
- Frank O'Hara – A City Winter and Other Poems
- Iona and Peter Opie – The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes
Non-fiction
- Nelson Algren – Chicago: City on the Make (essay)
- Lou Andreas-Salomé (died 1937) – Lebensrückblick (Looking Back)
- Hannah Arendt – The Origins of Totalitarianism
- Albert Camus – The Rebel (L'Homme révolté)
- Rachel Carson – The Sea Around Us
- Nirad C. Chaudhuri – The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian
- Wolfgang Clemen – The Development of Shakespeare's Imagery
- Thomas B. Costain – The Magnificent Century (second book in the Plantagenet or Pageant of England series)
- Daphne du Maurier (ed.) – The Young George du Maurier: a selection of his letters 1860–67
- James A. Frost – Life On The Upper Susquehanna 1783-1860
- Jacquetta Hawkes
- A Land
- A Guide to the Prehistoric and Roman Monuments in England and Wales
- Eric Hoffer – The True Believer: Thoughts On The Nature Of Mass Movements
- Karl Huber (executed 1943) – Leibniz
- Dumas Malone – Jefferson and the Rights of Man
- C. Wright Mills – White Collar: The American Middle Classes
- Vladimir Nabokov – Speak, Memory
- J. A. Schumpeter – Imperialism and Social Classes
- Tran Duc Thao – Phénoménologie et matérialisme dialectique
Births
- January 1 – Ashfaq Hussain, Urdu poet
- January 3 – Ken Bruen, Irish crime fiction writer (died 2025)
- January 13 – Nigel Cox, New Zealand novelist
- January 22 – Steve J. Spears, Australian actor, singer, and playwright (died 2007)
- February 13 – Katja Lange-Müller, German novelist
- February 17 – Jagadish Mohanty, Indian novelist (died 2013)[23]
- March 4 – Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, South Korean-born novelist and artist (died 1982)
- March 12 – Susan Musgrave, Canadian poet and children's writer
- March 17 – Lian Tanner, Australian children's writer
- March 22 – Sigrid Nunez, American writer and essayist[24]
- April 5 – Guy Vanderhaeghe, Canadian author[25]
- April 16 – Ioan Mihai Cochinescu, Romanian novelist and essayist
- April 19 – Pierre Lemaitre, French suspense novelist
- May 3 – Tatyana Tolstaya, Russian novelist, essayist and TV presenter
- May 9
- Christopher Dewdney, Canadian poet[26]
- Joy Harjo, Native American poet
- May 15 – David Almond, English writer for children and young adults
- May 20 – Christie Blatchford, Canadian newspaper columnist, journalist, writer and broadcaster (died 2020)[27]
- May 21 – Al Franken, American comedian, actor, writer and politician
- June 15 – Amir Barghashi, Iranian-born Swedish actor and dramatist[28]
- June 22 – Rosario Murillo, Nicaraguan poet and political activist
- June 29 – Don Rosa, American writer and artist of Disney comics
- August 20 – Greg Bear, American science fiction writer[29]
- August 24 – Orson Scott Card, American science fiction writer[30]
- September 14 – Volodymyr Melnykov, Ukrainian poet, writer, songwriter and composer[31]
- September 15 – Jared Taylor, American author and journalist[32]
- September 20 – Javier Marías, Spanish novelist[33]
- September 29 – Andrés Caicedo, Colombian novelist and cinema critic (suicide 1977)[34]
- October 3 – Bernard Cooper, American writer
- October 11 – Louise Rennison, English author and comedian (died 2016)[35]
- October 12 – Peter Flannery, English dramatist[36]
- October 17 – Clark Parent, Haitian novelist, musician and politician
- November 18 - Dennis Foon, Canadian playwright, screenwriter and novelist
- December 6 – Tomson Highway, Canadian and Cree playwright, novelist and children's author[37]
- December 8 – Bill Bryson, American travel writer[38]
- December 20 – Peter May, Scottish novelist and television dramatist
- December 22 – Charles de Lint, Canadian fantasy author and Celtic folk musician
- Unknown dates
- Mohammed Achaari, Moroccan writer[39]
- Carol Birch, English novelist
Deaths
- January 6 – Maila Talvio, Finnish writer, nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature (born 1871)
- January 7 – René Guénon, French philosophical writer (born 1886)
- January 10 – Sinclair Lewis, American novelist (born 1885)
- January 29 – James Bridie, Scottish dramatist (born 1888)
- February 13 – Lloyd C. Douglas, American author (born 1877)
- February 16 – Henri-René Lenormand, French dramatist (born 1882)
- February 19 – André Gide, French author (born 1869)[40]
- February 28 – Vsevolod Vishnevsky, Russian dramatist and screenwriter (born 1900)
- March 11 – János Zsupánek, Prekmurje Slovene poet and author (born 1861)
- March 25 – Oscar Micheaux, African American author, film director and producer (born 1884)
- April 3 – Henrik Visnapuu, Estonian poet and dramatist (born 1890)[41]
- April 9 – Sadegh Hedayat, Iranian-born novelist (born 1903; suicide)
- April 12 - Henry De Vere Stacpoole. Irish author (born 1863)
- April 29 – Ludwig Wittgenstein, Austrian philosopher (born 1889)
- May 2 – Alphonse de Châteaubriant, French writer (born 1877)
- May 25 – Paula von Preradović, Austrian poet and writer (born 1887)[42]
- May 30 – Hermann Broch, Austrian writer (born 1886)[43]
- June 10 – Håkon Evjenth, Norwegian children's writer (born 1894)
- June 11 – W. C. Sellar, Scottish humorist (born 1898)
- August 14 – William Randolph Hearst, American newspaper tycoon (born 1863)
- August 18 – Richard Malden, English editor, classical and Biblical scholar, and ghost story writer (born 1879)
- August 31 – Abraham Cahan, American Jewish journalist and novelist (born 1860)
- September 2 – Antoine Bibesco, Romanian dramatist (born 1878)[44]
- September 7 – F. G. Loring, English writer and naval officer (born 1869)
- September 28 – Petre P. Negulescu, Romanian philosopher (born 1870)
- October 20 – Vincent Duffey, American playwright (born 1893)[45][46]
- November 5 – I. C. Vissarion, Romanian novelist, dramatist, poet and science writer (born 1879)
- November 27 – Timrava (Božena Slančíková), Slovak novelist, short story writer and playwright (born 1867)
- December 4 – Pedro Salinas, Spanish poet (born 1891)[47]
- December 10 – Algernon Blackwood, English novelist and journalist (born 1869)