1968 in literature

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This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1968.

Events

• January 1 – Cecil Day-Lewis is announced as the new Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom. ^[1]
• April – The American edition of Andrew Garve's thriller The Long Short Cut becomes the first book printed completely by electronic composition. ^{[2] [3]}
• May – The Action Theater in Munich is disbanded after its building is wrecked by one of its founders, jealous of director Rainer Werner Fassbinder's growing power in the group. ^[4]
• June 17 – Tom Stoppard's parodic comedy The Real Inspector Hound opens at the Criterion Theatre in London's West End, starring Richard Briers and Ronnie Barker. ^[5]
• July 28 – Last Exit to Brooklyn is cleared of obscenity in the English appeal court. John Mortimer appears for the defence. ^[6]
• September 26 – Theatres Act 1968 (royal assent July 26) ends censorship of the theatre in the United Kingdom. ^{[7] [8]}
• November – The English novelist Anthony Burgess and his new wife Liana settle in Lija on Malta. ^[9]
• unknown dates
  • The first translations and book-length discussion of the Sumerian Enheduanna's work is published. ^[10]
  • Dean R. Koontz's first novel, Star Quest , is published by Ace Books in the United States. ^[11]
  • The Arvon Foundation is established by young poets John Fairfax and John Moat in the UK to promote creative writing. ^[12]

New books

Fiction

• Ayi Kwei Armah – The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born ^[13]
• Elizabeth Bowen – Eva Trout ^[14]
• Anthony Burgess – Enderby Outside ^[15]
• Victor Canning – The Melting Man ^[16]
• Per Anders Fogelström – Stad i världen ^[17]
• Michael Innes – Appleby at Allington ^[18]
• John Irving – Setting Free the Bears ^[19]
• Halldór Laxness – Kristnihald undir jökli (Christianity under the Glacier) ^[20]
• John le Carré – A Small Town in Germany ^[21]
• Helen MacInnes – The Salzburg Connection ^[22]
• Ngaio Marsh – Clutch of Constables ^[23]
• N. Scott Momaday – House Made of Dawn ^[24]
• Brian Moore – I Am Mary Dunne ^[25]
• Fănuș Neagu – Îngerul a strigat ("The Angel Has Shouted") ^[26]
• Anthony Powell – The Military Philosophers ^[27]
• Giorgio Scerbanenco – I ragazzi del massacro ^[28]
• Robert Silverberg – The Masks of Time ^[29]
• Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn – Cancer Ward («Раковый Корпус», Rakovy Korpus) ^[30]
• Muriel Spark – The Public Image ^[31]

Children and young people

• Lloyd Alexander – The High King ^[32]
• Joan Aiken – The Whispering Mountain ^[33]
• Don Freeman – Corduroy ^[34]
• Russell Hoban – The Mouse and His Child ^[35]
• Ted Hughes – The Iron Man ^[36]
• Judith Kerr – The Tiger Who Came to Tea ^[37]
• Alexander Key – Escape to Witch Mountain ^[38]
• David McKee – Elmer the Patchwork Elephant ^[39]
• Robert C. O'Brien – The Silver Crown ^[40]
• Jill Tomlinson – The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark ^[41]
• Paul Zindel – The Pigman (first in The Pigman trilogy) ^[42]

Drama

• Michel Tremblay – Les Belles-Sœurs ^[43]

Poetry

Main article: 1968 in poetry

Non-fiction

• Eldridge Cleaver – Soul on Ice ^[44]
• Joan Didion – Slouching Towards Bethlehem ^[45]
• Esther Hautzig – The Endless Steppe (autobiography) ^[46]
• Bevis Hillier – Art Deco of the 20s and 30s
• Pauline Kael – Kiss Kiss Bang Bang ^[47]
• Peter Maas – The Valachi Papers ^[48]
• Erich von Däniken – Chariots of the Gods? (Erinnerungen an die Zukunft) ^[49]
• Gwyn Thomas – A Few Selected Exits ^[50]
• James D. Watson – The Double Helix ^[51]

Births

• October 7 – Rachel Kushner, American writer
• unknown dates
  • Brock Clarke, American writer^{[ citation needed ]}
  • K. V. Johansen, Canadian children's author ^[52]

Deaths

• January 21 – Will Lang, Jr., American journalist (born 1914) ^[53]
• March 23 – Edwin O'Connor, American journalist, novelist, and radio commentator (born 1918) ^[54]
• April 4 - Muhammad Taha al-Huwayzi, Iranian-Iraqi Ja'fari jurist, religious teacher and poet (born 1889) ^[55]
• April 16 – Edna Ferber, American novelist, short story writer and playwright (born 1885) ^[56]
• April 27 – Vasily Azhayev, Soviet writer (born 1915) ^[57]
• April 29 – Anthony Boucher, American author, critic, and editor (born 1911) ^[58]
• May 1 – Sir Harold Nicolson, British biographer (born 1886) ^[59]
• May 30 – Constantin S. Nicolăescu-Plopșor, Romanian anthropologist, ethnographer and children's writer (born 1900) ^[60]
• May 31 – Abel Bonnard, French poet, novelist and politician (born 1883) ^[61]
• June 1 – Helen Keller, deaf-blind American author, activist and lecturer (born 1880) ^[62]
• August 21 - Germaine Guèvremont, Canadian writer (born 1893) ^[63]
• November 17 – Mervyn Peake, English novelist (dementia, born 1911) ^[64]
• November 25 – Upton Sinclair, American novelist and politician (born 1878) ^[65]
• November 28 – Enid Blyton, English author and poet (born 1897) ^[66]
• December 5 – Anna Kavan, British novelist, short story writer and painter (born 1901) ^[67]
• December 20 – John Steinbeck, American novelist (congestive heart failure, born 1902) ^[68]
• December 24 – D. Gwenallt Jones, Welsh poet (born 1899) ^[69]

References

1. Marshall, Rita (January 2, 1968). "C. Day Lewis Is Poet Laureate". The Times . No. 57138. London. p. 1.
2. Altbach, Philip Gabriel; Hoshino, Edith S. (1995). International Book Publishing: An Encyclopedia. Garland Publishing. p. 65. ISBN   978-0-8153-0786-0.
3. Kane, Joseph Nathan (1997). Famous First Facts: A Record of First Happenings, Discoveries, and Inventions in American History (5th ed.). The H.W. Wilson Company. p.  67. ISBN   0-8242-0930-3.
4. Elsaesser, Thomas (1996). Fassbinder's Germany: History, Identity, Subject. Amsterdam University Press. p. 301. ISBN   90-5356-059-9.
5. Stephen Hu (1989). Tom Stoppard's Stagecraft. P. Lang. p. 253. ISBN   978-0-8204-0709-8.
6. Sutherland, John; Fender, Stephen (2011). Love, Sex, Death & Words: surprising tales from a year in literature. London: Icon. pp. 283–4. ISBN   978-184831-247-0.
7. The Hutchinson Factfinder. Helicon. 1999. ISBN   978-1-85986-000-7.
8. Text of the Theatres Act 1968 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk .
9. "Going into Exile: Anthony Burgess in Malta". International Anthony Burgess Foundation. June 26, 2018. Retrieved May 17, 2020.
10. Hallo, William W.; Van Dijk, J. J. A. (1968). The Exaltation of Inanna. New Haven: Yale University Press.
11. Christopher P. Stephens (1992). A Checklist of Dean R. Koontz. Ultramarine Publishing. p. 7. ISBN   978-0-89366-133-5.
12. Miranda H. Ferrara (2004). The Writers Directory: Vol. 1: A-L. 2004. St. James Press. p. 434. ISBN   978-1-55862-525-9.
13. Sherwood, Harriet (April 18, 2022). "The God of Small Things to Shuggie Bain: the Queen's jubilee book list". The Guardian. Retrieved June 14, 2022.
14. Moving Out. 1975. p. 39.
15. Kirkpatrick, D. L. (1991). Reference Guide to English Literature: Introductions; Writers A-G. St. James Press. p. 325. ISBN   978-1-55862-078-0.
16. John M. Reilly (2015). Twentieth Century Crime & Mystery Writers. Springer. p. 254.
17. Fogelström, Per Anders. "Stad i världen / Per Anders Fogelström". Stockholmskällan (in Swedish). Retrieved October 28, 2017.
18. George L. Scheper (1986). Michael Innes. Ungar. p. 186.
19. Jim O'Loughlin (March 26, 2019). Kurt Vonnegut Remembered. University of Alabama Press. p. 219. ISBN   978-0-8173-2011-9.
20. Scandinavian Studies: Publication of the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study. The Society. 1985. p. 88.
21. BOSTON, RICHARD (October 27, 1968). "What Became Of Harting?". The New York Times . Retrieved September 16, 2016.
22. Hubin, Allen J. (September 15, 1968). "Blackmail unlimited". The New York Times. The New York Times. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
23. Richardson, Maurice (October 27, 1968). "Crime Ration". The Observer . p. 29.
24. Scarberry-García, Susan. Landmarks of Healing: a Study of House Made of Dawn. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico, 1990. Print.
25. Fulford, Robert (January 12, 1999). "Brian Moore: A writer who never failed to surprise his readers". The Globe and Mail . Retrieved February 6, 2016.
26. Raicu, Lucian (1968). "Mișcarea literară 1968. Romanul total". România Literară (11): 1.
27. Barnes, Simon, "Magic in Action: Coincidences in A Dance to the Music of Time." Secret Harmonies 10 (Spring 2023):149-157.
28. "Formats and Editions of I ragazzi del massacro". WorldCat . Retrieved November 29, 2016.
29. Chapman, Edgar L. (1999). The road to Castle Mount: the science fiction of Robert Silverberg. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. p. 45. ISBN   0-313-26145-8.
30. Frank Northen Magill (1989). Cyclopedia of World Authors II. Salem Press. p. 4391. ISBN   978-0-89356-516-9.
31. The Edinburgh Companion to Muriel Spark. Edinburgh University Press. 2010. p. 21. ISBN   9780748637706.
32. Hahn 2015, p. 14.
33. Hahn 2015, p. 10.
34. Hahn 2015, p. 142.
35. Hahn 2015, p. 264.
36. "The Iron Man by Ted Hughes". www.bl.uk. Retrieved January 10, 2022.
37. Eyre, Charlotte (February 5, 2018). "HarperCollins to celebrate 50 years of 'Tiger Who Came to Tea'". The Bookseller . Archived from the original on February 6, 2018. Retrieved May 23, 2019.
38. The Palgrave Handbook of Children's Film and Television. Springer International Publishing. 2019. p. 45. ISBN   9783030176204.
39. "The evolution of Elmer the Patchwork Elephant". BBC News. July 9, 2014. Retrieved January 20, 2022.
40. The Essential Guide to Children's Books and Their Creators. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 331. ISBN   9780547348896.
41. Hahn 2015, p. 436.
42. "Obituary: Paul Zindel". The Guardian. April 2, 2003.
43. Lachance, François (2002), "Tremblay, Michel", glbtq.com , archived from the original on August 14, 2007, retrieved August 18, 2007
44. College Language Association (U.S.) (1977). CLA Journal. College Language Association. p. 556.
45. "Slouching Towards Bethlehem". Macmillan Publishers.
46. "YIVO News" (PDF). No. 206. YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. Spring 2010. p. 12. Retrieved December 2, 2023.
47. Ronald Gottesman; Harry M. Geduld (1972). Guidebook to Film: An Eleven-in-one Reference. Holt, Rinehart and Winston. p. 22.
48. Prologue: The Journal of the National Archives. National Archives and Records Service, General Services Administration. 1990. p. 104.
49. Story, Ronald (1976). The space-gods revealed : a close look at the theories of Erich von Däniken . New York: Harper & Row. p.  2. ISBN   0-06-014141-7. Citing Der Spiegel, in issue 12/1969 (March 17, 1969), p. 184 and issue 12/1973 (March 19, 1973), p. 145.
50. The Cambridge History of Welsh Literature. Cambridge University Press. 2019. p. 403. ISBN   9781107106765.
51. Feldman, Burton (2001). The Nobel prize: a history of genius, controversy, and prestige. Arcade Publishing. p. 263. ISBN   1-55970-592-2.
52. Book Review Digest. H.W. Wilson Company. December 2001. p. 90.
53. "Will Lang, Headed Life News Bureaus". The New York Times. January 23, 1968. p. 43.
54. Charles F. Duffy (2003). A Family of His Own: A Life of Edwin O'Connor. CUA Press. p. 353. ISBN   978-0-8132-1337-8.
55. Al-Khaqani, Abdullah (2000). Mawsūʻat al-Najaf al-Ashrafموسوعة النجف الأشرف[Encyclopedia of Najaf] (in Arabic). Vol. 20 (first ed.). Beirut, Lebanon: Dar Al-Adhwa. p. 143.
56. R. Baird Shuman (2002). Great American Writers: Twentieth Century. Marshall Cavendish. p. 503. ISBN   978-0-7614-7240-7.
57. Andreas Lahusen; Thomas Lahusen; Gene Kuperman (1993). Late Soviet Culture: From Perestroika to Novostroika. Duke University Press. p. 141. ISBN   978-0-8223-1290-1.
58. Michael Ashley (2000). The History of the Science-fiction Magazine. Liverpool University Press. p. 300. ISBN   978-0-85323-779-2.
59. Derek Drinkwater; Visiting Fellow Department of International Relations Derek Drinkwater (February 17, 2005). Sir Harold Nicolson and International Relations: The Practitioner as Theorist. OUP Oxford. p. 33. ISBN   978-0-19-927385-0.
60. "Constantin S. Nicolăescu-Plopșor". România Liberă. May 31, 1968. p. 5.
61. Olivier Mathieu (1988). Abel Bonnard, une aventure inachevée (in French). Paris: Léon Degrelle. p. 371.
62. Nigel Starck (January 1, 2006). Life After Death: The Art of the Obituary. Melbourne Univ. Publishing. p. 188. ISBN   978-0-522-85256-1.
63. Kuiper, Kathleen (1995). Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature. Springfield: Merriam-Webster. p. 498. ISBN   978-0-87779-042-6.
64. Sahlas, Demetrios J. (2003). "Dementia With Lewy Bodies and the Neurobehavioral Decline of Mervyn Peake". Archives of Neurology . 60 (6): 889–892. doi: 10.1001/archneur.60.6.889 . PMID   12810496.
65. Jay Parini (2004). The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature. Oxford University Press. p. 3. ISBN   978-0-19-515653-9.
66. Greenfield, George (1999). Enid Blyton. Oxford: Isis. p. xiv. ISBN   978-0-75310-720-1.
67. Ironside, Virginia. "Kavan, Anna [née Helen Emily Woods; married name Helen Emily Ferguson] (1901–1968)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/76072.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
68. "John Steinbeck Biography". National Steinbeck Centre. Archived from the original on March 5, 2010.
69. Brynley Francis Roberts. "Jones, David James ('Gwenallt'; 1899-1968), poet, critic and scholar". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved December 17, 2020.

Sources

• Hahn, Daniel (2015). The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature (2nd ed.). Oxford. University Press. ISBN   9780198715542.