1952 in literature

Last updated July 05, 2025

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1952.

Events

February – The historical periodical Past & Present is launched in Oxford, U.K.
February 29 – Derek J. de Solla Price reveals his discovery of a lost medieval scientific work entitled Equatorie of the Planetis, initially attributed to Geoffrey Chaucer, in the Times Literary Supplement.^[1]
March 3 – J. L. Carr takes over as Headmaster of Highfields Primary School, Kettering, which will later feature in his novel The Harpole Report .^[2]
May – The works of André Gide are placed on the Catholic Church's Index of Forbidden Books by Pope Pius XII.^[3]
July 10 – The first issue of Mad appears, edited by Harvey Kurtzman and published by William M. Gaines' EC Comics.
August 12 – The Night of the Murdered Poets brings the execution of 13 Soviet Jews in Lubyanka Prison, Moscow, including several writers.
September 6 – The Universal Copyright Convention is adopted at Geneva.
October 17 – Samuel Beckett's play Waiting For Godot is published in Paris as En attendant Godot by Les Éditions de Minuit.
October 28 – E. E. Cummings delivers the first of his Charles Eliot Norton lectures at Harvard University.^[4]
November 25 – Agatha Christie's play The Mousetrap opens at the New Ambassadors Theatre, London. It will still be running as of 2021, next door at St Martin's Theatre from 1974.^[5]
unknown dates
- The publisher Diogenes Verlag is founded in Zürich, Switzerland, by Daniel Keel.
- The National Library of Burma is established in Rangoon.

New books

Poetry

Paul Celan – Poppy and Memory (German : Mohn und Gedächtnis)^[7]
David Jones – The Anathemata: fragments of an attempted writing
Gabriela Mistral – Los sonetos de la muerte y otros poemas elegíacos^[8]
Sean O Riordain – Eireaball Spideoige^[9]

Non-fiction

Roland Bainton – The Reformation of the Sixteenth Century
L. Sprague de Camp and Willy Ley – Lands Beyond
Dorothy Day – The Long Loneliness
Lawrence Gowing – Vermeer
Heinrich Harrer – Sieben Jahre in Tibet. Mein Leben am Hofe des Dalai Lama ( Seven Years in Tibet , 1954)
Aldous Huxley
- The Devils of Loudun
- Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow
Shepherd Mead – How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
Maurice Nicoll – Psychological Commentaries on the Teachings of G. I. Gurdjieff and P. D. Ouspensky
Norman Vincent Peale – The Power of Positive Thinking
Gwen Raverat – Period Piece
P. R. Reid – The Colditz Story
Jean-Paul Sartre – Saint Genet, comédien et martyr
Pierre Schaeffer – In Search of a Concrete Music (À la Recherche d'une Musique Concrète)
F. Sherwood Taylor – The Alchemists
Paul Tillich – Courage To Be
Immanuel Velikovsky – Ages in Chaos
J. M. Wallace-Hadrill – The Barbarian West, 400–1000
Raymond Williams – Drama from Ibsen to Eliot

Births

January 4 – Michele Wallace, American feminist author
January 12 – Walter Mosley, American novelist
January 21 – Louis Menand, American author and academic
February 10 – Gail Rebuck, English publisher
February 19
- Ryū Murakami (村上龍), Japanese novelist, essayist and filmmaker
- Amy Tan, American novelist
February 29 – Tim Powers, American fantasy author
March 5 – Robin Hobb (Margaret Astrid Lindholm Ogden, Megan Lindholm), American fantasy author
March 7 – William Boyd, Gold Coast-born Scottish novelist and screenwriter
March 11 – Douglas Adams, English science fiction author (died 2001)
March 13 – Ágnes Rapai, Hungarian poet, writer and translator
March 23 – Kim Stanley Robinson, American science fiction author
March 26 – T. A. Barron, American novelist
May 5 – Hafsat Abdulwaheed, Nigerian author and poet
May 31 – Carole Achache, French writer, photographer and actress (died 2016)^[10]
June 4 – Dambudzo Marechera, Zimbabwean writer (died 1987)
June 7 – Orhan Pamuk, Turkish novelist and Nobel laureate
June 20
- Vince Gotera, American poet and critic
- Vikram Seth, Indian novelist
June 29 – Breece D'J Pancake (Breece Dexter Pancake), American short story writer (suicide 1979)
July 3 – Rohinton Mistry, Indian-born Canadian novelist
July 6 – Hilary Mantel, English novelist (died 2022)^[11]
July 10 – Candice F. Ransom, American children's and young-adult author
July 18 – Per Petterson, Norwegian novelist
August 28 – Rita Dove, American poet
September 29 - Pete Hautman, American young-adult novelist
October 18 – Bảo Ninh, Vietnamese author
November 15 – Rick Atkinson, American journalist, historian and author
November 21 – Pedro Lemebel, Chilean novelist
December 19 – Sean O'Brien, English poet
December 22 – Mick Inkpen, English children's writer and illustrator
December 28 – Hemant Shesh, Indian Hindi writer^[12]

Deaths

January 22 – Roger Vitrac, French poet and dramatist (born 1899)
January 26 – Lodewijk van Deyssel, Dutch novelist (born 1864)
January 28 – Nicolae Constantin Batzaria, Ottoman-born Romanian humorist, novelist, editor, and journalist (spinal cancer, born 1874)
February 7 – Norman Douglas, Austrian-born Scottish novelist (born 1868)
February 13 – Josephine Tey (Elizabeth MacKintosh), Scottish crime novelist (born 1896)
February 19 – Knut Hamsun, Norwegian novelist and Nobel laureate (born 1859)
March 1
- Mariano Azuela, Mexican novelist, dramatist and critic (born 1873)
- Masao Kume (久米正雄), Japanese playwright, novelist and haiku poet (born 1891)
March 27 – Ioan A. Bassarabescu, Romanian short story writer and politician (born 1870)
April 1 – Ferenc Molnár (Ferenc Neumann), Hungarian dramatist and novelist (born 1878)
April 30 – Alexandru Tzigara-Samurcaș – Romanian art historian, ethnographer and journalist (born 1872)
May 17 – Paul Bujor, Romanian politician, zoologist and short story writer (born 1862)
May 26 – Eugene Jolas, American/French writer, literary translator and critic (born 1894)
June 1 – John Dewey, American philosopher and psychologist (born 1859)
July 1 – A. S. W. Rosenbach, American book collector (born 1876)
July 8 – August Alle, Estonian writer (born 1890)
August 9 – Jeffery Farnol, English historical novelist (born 1878)
August 22 – H. J. Massingham, English countryside writer (born 1888)
September 26 – George Santayana, Spanish philosopher, poet and novelist writing in English (born 1863)
October 4 – Keith Murdoch, Australian journalist (born 1885)
October 6 – Teffi (Nadezhda Alexandrovna Buchinskaya), Russian humorist (born 1872)
November 3 – Louis Verneuil, French playwright (suicide, born 1893)
November 4 – Gilbert Frankau, English novelist (born 1884)
November 13 – Margaret Wise Brown, American children's author (embolism, born 1910)
November 16 – Charles Maurras, French poet and critic (born 1868)
November 18 – Paul Éluard, French surrealist poet (heart attack, born 1895)
November 23 – Aaro Hellaakoski, Finnish poet (born 1893)
December 6 – Cicely Hamilton, English dramatist and suffragist (born 1872)

Awards

References

↑ Geoffrey Chaucer (2002). A Treatise on the Astrolabe. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 344. ISBN 978-0-8061-3413-0.
↑ Byron Rogers (1 December 2011). The Last Englishman: The Life of J.L. Carr. Aurum Press. pp. 106–8. ISBN 978-1-84513-813-4.
↑ Andre Gide, The Immoralist (1902); commentary by Anais Aigner (1998). Retrieved 12 February 2012.
↑ Bethany K. Dumas (1974). E. E. Cummings: a Remembrance of Miracles. Barnes & Noble. p. 43. ISBN 978-0-06-491822-0.
↑ "New Ambassadors Theatre". arthurlloyd.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2007-11-09. Retrieved 2007-12-04. Performances were suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom.
↑ Keating, H. R. F. (1982). Whodunit? – a guide to crime, suspense and spy fiction. London: Windward. ISBN 0-7112-0249-4.
↑ Kerrel, Sorbel (2003). Jewish Writers of the Twentieth Century. New York: Fitzroy Dearborn. p. 212. ISBN 9781579583132.
↑ "The Nobel Prize in Literature 1945 – Gabriela Mistral – Bibliography". Nobelprize.org. 2011. Retrieved 2013-09-02.
↑ Crotty, Patrick, ed. (1995). Modern Irish Poetry: An Anthology . Belfast: Blackstaff Press. ISBN 0-85640-561-2.
↑ "Achache, Carole (1952-....)". Bibliothèque nationale de France (in French). Retrieved 1 December 2023.
↑ Knight, Lucy (23 September 2022). "Hilary Mantel, celebrated author of Wolf Hall, dies aged 70". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 September 2022.
↑ "हेमंत शेष को बिरला फाउंडेशन के बिहारी पुरस्कार". Dainik Jagran (in Hindi). Jagran Prakashan Ltd. Retrieved 8 September 2011.

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[1] Geoffrey Chaucer (2002). A Treatise on the Astrolabe. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 344. ISBN 978-0-8061-3413-0.

[Rogers2011-2] Byron Rogers (1 December 2011). The Last Englishman: The Life of J.L. Carr. Aurum Press. pp. 106–8. ISBN 978-1-84513-813-4.

[3] Andre Gide, The Immoralist (1902); commentary by Anais Aigner (1998). Retrieved 12 February 2012.

[4] Bethany K. Dumas (1974). E. E. Cummings: a Remembrance of Miracles. Barnes & Noble. p. 43. ISBN 978-0-06-491822-0.

[5] "New Ambassadors Theatre". arthurlloyd.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2007-11-09. Retrieved 2007-12-04. Performances were suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom.

[6] Keating, H. R. F. (1982). Whodunit? – a guide to crime, suspense and spy fiction. London: Windward. ISBN 0-7112-0249-4.

[7] Kerrel, Sorbel (2003). Jewish Writers of the Twentieth Century. New York: Fitzroy Dearborn. p. 212. ISBN 9781579583132.

[8] "The Nobel Prize in Literature 1945 – Gabriela Mistral – Bibliography". Nobelprize.org. 2011. Retrieved 2013-09-02.

[9] Crotty, Patrick, ed. (1995). Modern Irish Poetry: An Anthology . Belfast: Blackstaff Press. ISBN 0-85640-561-2.

[10] "Achache, Carole (1952-....)". Bibliothèque nationale de France (in French). Retrieved 1 December 2023.

[11] Knight, Lucy (23 September 2022). "Hilary Mantel, celebrated author of Wolf Hall, dies aged 70". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 September 2022.

[12] "हेमंत शेष को बिरला फाउंडेशन के बिहारी पुरस्कार". Dainik Jagran (in Hindi). Jagran Prakashan Ltd. Retrieved 8 September 2011.

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1952 in literature

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