1974 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1974.

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Events

• February – Novelist Juan Carlos Onetti is one of a group arrested by the Uruguayan dictatorship for selecting as a competition prizewinner and publishing in the newspaper Marcha a short story implicitly critical of the military regime. He subsequently goes into exile in Spain.^[1]
• February 12 – After publication at the end of 1973 of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago (Архипелаг ГУЛАГ), the author is arrested for treason; the following day he is deported from the Soviet Union. In spring and summer the first translations into French and English begin to appear.
• August 8 – The first of Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City is published as a serial in The Pacific Sun (Marin County, California).
• October 21 – New Guildhall Library opens in the City of London.^[2]
• unknown dates
  • The Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics is founded by Allen Ginsberg and Anne Waldman.^[3]
  • German writer Uwe Johnson moves to Sheerness on the English Isle of Sheppey.^[4]

New books

Fiction

• Eric Ambler – Doctor Frigo
• Kingsley Amis – Ending Up
• René Barjavel – Les Dames à la licorne
• Augusto Roa Bastos – I, the Supreme (Yo el supremo)
• Peter Benchley – Jaws
• Hal Bennett – Wait Until the Evening
• Heinrich Böll – The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum (Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum oder: Wie Gewalt entstehen und wohin sie führen kann)
• Anthony Burgess – The Clockwork Testament, or Enderby's End
• Andrés Caicedo – "Maternidad"
• Agatha Christie – Poirot's Early Cases
• Roald Dahl – Switch Bitch
• Philip K. Dick – Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said
• Annie Dillard – Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
• Lawrence Durrell – Monsieur
• Frederick Forsyth – The Dogs of War
• John Fowles – The Ebony Tower
• Donald Goines – Crime Partners
• Imil Habibi – The Secret Life of Saeed: The Pessoptimist (الوقائع الغريبة في اختفاء سعيد أبي النحس المتشائل, Al-Waqāʾiʿ al-gharībah fī 'khtifāʾ Saʿīd Abī 'l-Naḥsh al-Mutashāʾil)
• John Hawkes – Death Sleep
• Joseph Heller – Something Happened
• James Herbert – The Rats
• Hammond Innes – North Star
• Anna Kavan – Let Me Alone
• Stephen King – Carrie
• Manuel Mujica Láinez
  • El laberinto
  • El viaje de los siete demonios
• Derek Lambert
  • Blackstone and the Scourge of Europe
  • The Yermakov Transfer
• Margaret Laurence – The Diviners
• John le Carré – Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
• Ursula K. Le Guin – The Dispossessed
• Madeleine L'Engle – A Wind in the Door
• H. P. Lovecraft and August Derleth – The Watchers Out of Time and Others
• Robert Ludlum – The Cry of the Halidon
• Brian Lumley – Beneath the Moors
• Ngaio Marsh – Black as He's Painted
• Colleen McCullough – Tim
• Nicholas Meyer – The Seven-Per-Cent Solution
• James A. Michener – Centennial
• Elsa Morante – La Storia (History. A Novel, 1978)
• Gerald Murnane – Tamarisk Row
• Meja Mwangi – Carcase for Hounds
• Vladimir Nabokov – Look at the Harlequins!
• Edith Pargeter – Sunrise in the West (first in the Brothers of Gwynedd quartet)
• Robert B. Parker – God Save the Child
• Ellen Raskin – Figgs & Phantoms
• Ishmael Reed – The Last Days of Louisiana Red
• Brigitte Reimann (died 1973) – Franziska Linkerhand
• Harold Robbins – The Pirate
• Fran Ross – Oreo
• Leonardo Sciascia – Todo modo
• Tom Sharpe – Porterhouse Blue
• Sidney Sheldon – The Other Side of Midnight
• C. P. Snow – In Their Wisdom

Children and young people

• Richard Adams – Shardik^[5]
• Stan and Jan Berenstain – The Berenstain Bears' New Baby
• Robert Cormier – The Chocolate War
• Paula Danziger – The Cat Ate My Gymsuit
• Fynn (Sydney Hopkins) – Mister God, This Is Anna
• Virginia Hamilton – M. C. Higgins, the Great
• Diana Wynne Jones – The Ogre Downstairs
• Ruth Manning-Sanders – A Book of Sorcerers and Spells
• Jill Murphy – The Worst Witch
• Bill Peet – Merle the High Flying Squirrel
• Miriam Roth – A Tale of Five Balloons (מעשה בחמישה בלונים)
• Richard Scarry – The Best Rainy Day Book Ever
• Jill Paton Walsh – The Emperor's Winding Sheet
• Mary E. Wilkins-Freeman – Collected Ghost Stories

Drama

• Nezihe Araz – Bozkır Güzellemesi (An Ode to the Steppe)
• Michael Cook – Jacob's Wake
• Dario Fo – Can't Pay? Won't Pay! (Non Si Paga! Non Si Paga!)
• Paavo Haavikko
  • Ratsumies (The Horseman)
  • Kuningas lähtee Ranskaan (The King Goes Forth to France)
  • Harald Pitkäikäinen
• Ira Levin – Veronica's Room
• Mustapha Matura – Play Mas^[6]
• Harold Pinter – No Man's Land
• David Rudkin – Penda's Fen (television play)
• Tom Stoppard – Travesties

Poetry

Main article: 1974 in poetry

• Duncan Bush, Tony Curtis, Nigel Jenkins – Three Young Anglo-Welsh Poets

Non-fiction

• Maya Angelou – Gather Together in My Name
• Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward – All the President's Men
• Augusto Boal – Teatro del oprimido y otras poéticas políticas (translated as Theatre of the Oppressed 1979)
• Vincent Bugliosi with Curt Gentry – Helter Skelter
• Robert A. Caro – The Power Broker
• David Clark – Social Therapy in Psychiatry
• Shelby Foote – The Civil War: A Narrative – Vol 3: Red River to Appomattox
• The Freud/Jung Letters
• Dumas Malone – Jefferson the President: Second Term, 1805-1809
• Robert M. Pirsig – Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
• Erin Pizzey – Scream Quietly or the Neighbours Will Hear
• Jonathan Raban – Soft City
• Piers Paul Read – Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors
• Barbu Solacolu – Evocări. Confesiuni. Portrete (Memoirs. Confessions. Portraits)
• Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia (Հայկական Սովետական Հանրագիտարան, Haykakan sovetakan hanragitaran; begins publication)
• Lewis Thomas – The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher
• Studs Terkel – Working
• Joseph Wambaugh – The Onion Field

Births

• January 6 – Romain Sardou, French novelist
• January 26 – Shannon Hale, American fantasy author
• February 15 – Miranda July (née Grossinger), American filmmaker, performance artist and fiction writer
• April 13 – K. Sello Duiker, South African novelist (died 2005)^[7]
• June 12 – Chika Unigwe, Nigerian novelist writing in English and Dutch
• August 7 – Faisal Tehrani, Malaysian novelist
• August 9 – Ryūsui Seiryōin (清涼院 流水), Japanese novelist
• August 18 – Nicole Krauss, American novelist
• August 23 – Serhiy Zhadan, Ukrainian poet, novelist and essayist
• September 20 – Owen Sheers, Fijian-born Welsh poet, playwright and novelist
• November 4 – Carlos Be, Spanish playwright
• December 26 – Joshua John Miller, American novelist and screenwriter
• unknown dates
  • Naomi Alderman, English novelist^[8]
  • Sarah Hall, English novelist
  • Joanna Kavenna, English novelist and travel writer
  • Joe Meno, American novelist and journalist
  • Roger Williams, Welsh dramatist and screenwriter

Deaths

• January 20 – Edmund Blunden, English poet and critic (born 1896)
• January 25 – James Pope-Hennessy, English biographer (murdered, born 1916)
• January 29
  • H. E. Bates, English novelist (born 1905)
  • Sheila Stuart, Scottish author and children's writer (born 1892)^[9]
• February 2 – Marieluise Fleißer, German dramatist (born 1901)
• February 24 – Martin Armstrong, English poet and short story writer (born 1882)
• March 3 – Carl Jacob Burckhardt, Swiss historian (born 1891)
• March 8 – Buddhadeb Bosu, Bengali poet and writer (born 1908)^[10]
• March 19 – Austin Clarke, Irish poet, playwright and novelist (born 1896)
• March 24 – Olive Higgins Prouty, American novelist (born 1882)
• April 14 – Howard Pease, American novelist (born 1894)
• May 9 – L. T. C. Rolt, English biographer and writer of ghost stories (born 1910)
• May 13 – Arthur J. Burks, American writer (born 1898)
• June 2 – Tom Kristensen, Danish novelist and poet (born 1893)^[11]
• June 11 – Julius Evola, Italian esotericist, journalist and philosopher (born 1898)
• June 9 – Miguel Ángel Asturias, Guatemalan Nobel Prize-winning novelist (born 1899)
• July 3 – Samuel Roth, American publisher (born 1893)
• July 4 – Georgette Heyer, English novelist (born 1902)
• July 16 – Oduvaldo Vianna Filho, Brazilian playwright (born 1936)^[12]
• July 29 - Erich Kästner, German children's author (born 1899)
• August 7 – Rosario Castellanos, Mexican writer and diplomat (electric shock, born 1925)
• August 11 – Jan Tschichold, German-born typographer and writer (born 1902)
• August 17 – Emma L. Brock, American children's author and illustrator (born 1886)^[13]
• September 11 – Lois Lenski, American author and illustrator (born 1893)^[14]
• September 21 – Jacqueline Susann, American novelist (born 1918)^[15]
• October 4 – Anne Sexton, American poet (born 1928)
• October 28 – David Jones, Anglo-Welsh poet and artist (born 1895)^[16]
• October 29 – Victor E. van Vriesland, Dutch writer (born 1892)
• November 5 – William Gardner Smith, expatriate American novelist and journalist (born 1927)
• November 7 – Eric Linklater, Welsh-born Scottish novelist and travel writer (born 1899)
• November 26 – Cyril Connolly, English critic and writer (born 1903)
• December 14 – Walter Lippmann, American writer (born 1889)

Awards

• Nobel Prize for Literature: Eyvind Johnson and Harry Martinson

Canada

• See 1974 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.

France

• Prix Goncourt: Pascal Lainé, La Dentellière
• Prix Médicis French: Porporino ou les Mystèrs de Naples
• Prix Médicis International: Julio Cortázar, Libro de Manuel

United Kingdom

• Booker Prize: Nadine Gordimer, The Conservationist and Stanley Middleton, Holiday.
• Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Mollie Hunter, The Stronghold
• Cholmondeley Award: D.J. Enright, Vernon Scannell, Alasdair Maclean
• Eric Gregory Award: Duncan Forbes, Roger Garfitt, Robin Hamilton, Frank Ormsby, Penelope Shuttle
• Newdigate prize: Alan Hollinghurst
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Lawrence Durrell, Monsieur, or the Prince of Darkness
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: John Wain, Samuel Johnson
• Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: Ted Hughes

United States

• Frost Medal: John Hall Wheelock
• Hugo Award: Arthur C. Clarke, Rendezvous with Rama
• Nebula Award: Ursula K. Le Guin, The Dispossessed
• Newbery Medal for children's literature: Paula Fox, The Slave Dancer
• Pulitzer Prize for Drama: no award given
• Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: no award given
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Robert Lowell, The Dolphin

Elsewhere

• Miles Franklin Award: Ronald McKie, The Mango Tree
• Premio Nadal: Luis Gasulla, Culminación de Montoya
• Viareggio Prize: Clotilde Marghieri, Amati enigmi

References

1. Adrian Nathan West (November 7, 2019). "Uruguay's detective of despair". Washington Examiner. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
2. "History of Guildhall Library". City of London. Archived from the original on 2014-04-05. Retrieved 2014-04-07.
3. Elizabeth H. Oakes (2004). American Writers. Infobase Publishing. p. 352. ISBN 978-1-4381-0809-4.
4. D. G. Bond (1993). German History and German Identity: Uwe Johnson's Jahrestage. Rodopi. p. 199. ISBN 90-5183-459-4.
5. Hahn, Daniel (2015). The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature (2nd ed.). Oxford. University Press. p. 3. ISBN 9780198715542.
6. Bourne, Stephen. "The Black Presence on the London Stage" (PDF). London: Talawa Theatre Company. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 14, 2014. Retrieved 2015-02-23.
7. McGregor, Liz (2005-02-07). "Kabelo Duiker (obituary)". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2015-02-23.
8. William D. Rubinstein; Michael Jolles; Hilary L. Rubinstein (22 February 2011). The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 21. ISBN 978-1-4039-3910-4.
9. Anne Commire (1977). Something about the Author: Facts and Pictures about Contemporary Authors and Illustrators of Books for Young People. Gale. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-8103-0072-9.
10. Calcutta Municipal Gazette. Superintendent of Printing, Corporation Press. 1973. pp. 313–314.
11. Byram, Michael S. (1982). Tom Kristensen. Boston. ISBN 9780805764918.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
12. Leslie Hawkins Damasceno (1996). Cultural Space and Theatrical Conventions in the Works of Oduvaldo Vianna Filho. Wayne State University Press. p. 244. ISBN 9780814325957.
13. Thornley, Stew (2004). Six Feet Under: A Graveyard Guide to Minnesota. St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Historical Society Press. p. 8. ISBN 0-87351-514-5.
14. Commire, Anne; Klezmer, Deborah, eds. (2001). Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Vol. 9. Waterford: Yorkin Publications, Gale Group. p. 380. ISBN 978-0-78764-068-2.
15. "Valley of the Dolls: 40 years since the death of Jacqueline Susann". The Conversation. May 4, 2014. Retrieved August 9, 2022.
16. "David Jones dies; Poet and Painter". New York Times. 30 October 1974. Retrieved 7 May 2022.