Neha Patil (Editor)

1972 in literature

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This article presents lists of the literary events and publications in 1972.

Contents

Events

  • May 22Cecil Day-Lewis, Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, dies at Lemmons, the home of novelists Kingsley Amis and Elizabeth Jane Howard on the northern edge of London, which he has been sharing with his wife and son, actors Jill Balcon and Daniel Day-Lewis, and (at weekends) Kingsley's writer son Martin Amis, amongst others.
  • June 4 – Poet Joseph Brodsky is expelled from the Soviet Union.
  • October 6–7 – New Staatstheater Darmstadt opened.
  • October 8 – The play Sizwe Bansi is Dead is premiered at the Space Theatre (Cape Town) in South Africa before a multiracial audience. Playwright Athol Fugard directs with co-writers John Kani and Winston Ntshona in the lead roles.
  • October 10 – Sir John Betjeman is appointed Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, the first knight ever to be appointed to the post.
  • Fiction

  • Dritëro AgolliThe Rise and Fall of Comrade Zylo (Shkëlqimi dhe Rënja e Shokut Zylo, published in the magazine Hosteni)
  • Srikrishna AlanahalliKaadu
  • Jorge AmadoTeresa Batista Cansada da Guerra ("Tereza Batista: Home from the Wars")
  • Martin AmisThe Rachel Papers
  • Isaac AsimovThe Gods Themselves
  • Taylor CaldwellCaptains and the Kings
  • Italo CalvinoInvisible Cities (Le città invisibili)
  • John Dickson CarrThe Hungry Goblin: A Victorian Detective Novel
  • Angela CarterThe Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman
  • Agatha ChristieElephants Can Remember
  • Brian CleeveTread Softly in this Place
  • Michael CrichtonThe Terminal Man
  • Robertson DaviesThe Manticore
  • L. Sprague de Camp and Catherine Crook de Camp, editors – 3000 Years of Fantasy and Science Fiction
  • R. F. Delderfield – To Serve Them All My Days
  • Frederick ForsythThe Odessa File
  • Günter GrassAus dem Tagebuch einer Schnecke ("From the Diary of a Snail")
  • Graham GreeneThe Honorary Consul
  • Peter HandkeA Sorrow Beyond Dreams (Wunschloses Unglück)
  • James HerriotAll Creatures Great and Small
  • Georgette HeyerLady of Quality
  • George V. HigginsThe Friends of Eddie Coyle
  • P. D. James – An Unsuitable Job for a Woman
  • Dan JenkinsSemi-Tough
  • Thomas KeneallyThe Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith
  • Carl JacobiDisclosures in Scarlet
  • Halldór LaxnessGuðsgjafaþula ("Mantra of God's Gift")
  • Ira LevinThe Stepford Wives
  • Frank Belknap LongThe Rim of the Unknown
  • Robert LudlumThe Osterman Weekend
  • David McCulloughThe Great Bridge
  • John D. MacDonaldThe Scarlet Ruse
  • Barry N. MalzbergBeyond Apollo
  • Vladimir NabokovTransparent Things
  • Kenzaburō Ōe (大江 健三郎) – The Day He Himself Shall Wipe My Tears Away (みずから我が涙をぬぐいたまう日, Mizukara Waga Namida o Nugui Tamau Hi)
  • Chaim PotokMy Name Is Asher Lev
  • Josef Škvorecký – The Miracle Game (Mirákl)
  • David StoreyPasmore
  • Arkady and Boris StrugatskyRoadside Picnic («Пикник на обочине», Piknik na obochine)
  • Paul TherouxSaint Jack
  • Hunter S. ThompsonFear and Loathing in Las Vegas
  • Irving WallaceThe Word
  • Children and young people

  • Richard AdamsWatership Down
  • Gillian Avery – A Likely Lad
  • Roald DahlCharlie and the Great Glass Elevator
  • Rumer Godden
  • The Diddakoi (also Gypsy Girl)
  • The Old Woman Who Lived in a Vinegar Bottle
  • Tove JanssonThe Summer Book
  • Michael de LarrabeitiThe Redwater Raid
  • James MarshallGeorge and Martha (first in a series of seven eponymous books)
  • Graham OakleyThe Church Mouse (first in the Church Mice series of twelve books)
  • Bill Peet
  • The Ant and the Elephant
  • Countdown to Christmas
  • Mary RenaultThe Persian Boy
  • Marjorie W. SharmatNate the Great
  • Judith ViorstAlexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
  • Drama

  • Alan AyckbournAbsurd Person Singular
  • Samuel BeckettNot I
  • Hanay GeiogamahBody Indian
  • Eugène IonescoMacbett
  • Vijay Tendulkar
  • Ghashiram Kotwal
  • Sakharam Binder
  • Non-fiction

  • The American Museum of Natural History – An Introduction
  • Jacob BronowskiThe Ascent of Man
  • L. Sprague de Camp
  • Great Cities of the Ancient World
  • With Catherine Crook de CampDarwin and His Great Discovery'
  • Carlos CastanedaJourney to Ixtlan: The Lessons of Don Juan
  • Michael KammenPeople of Paradox: An Inquiry Concerning the Origins of American Civilization
  • Richard MabeyFood for Free
  • Robert Newton PeckA Day No Pigs Would Die
  • Frances YatesThe Rosicrucian Enlightenment
  • John Howard YoderThe Politics of Jesus
  • Births

  • January 1Maile Meloy, American novelist and short story writer
  • February 11Noboru Yamaguchi (山口 登), Japanese light novelist and game scenario author
  • August 18Adda Djørup, Danish poet and fiction writer
  • September 6China Miéville, English science fiction novelist
  • September 19Cheryl B (Cheryl Burke), American poet and spoken word artist
  • Unknown dates
  • Shimon Adaf, Israeli poet and novelist
  • Rabee Jaber, Lebanese novelist
  • Marente de Moor, Dutch novelist and columnist
  • Ben Rice, English novelist
  • Deaths

  • January 1Eberhard Wolfgang Möller, German playwright and poet (born 1906)
  • January 7John Berryman, American poet (suicide, born 1914)
  • February 2Natalie Clifford Barney, American writer and patron (born 1876)
  • February 15Edgar Snow, American political writer (cancer, born 1905)
  • March 4Richard Church, English poet and novelist (born 1893
  • March 9Violet Trefusis, English writer (born 1894)
  • March 11Fredric Brown, American genre novelist (born 1906
  • March 14Giangiacomo Feltrinelli, Italian publisher (born 1926)
  • April 10Laurence Manning, Canadian science fiction author (born 1899)
  • May 22Cecil Day-Lewis, Irish-born Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom and (as Nicholas Blake) novelist (born 1904)
  • June 24 – R. F. Delderfield, English novelist and playwright (born 1912)
  • August 2Helen Hoyt (Helen Lyman), American poet (born 1887)
  • August 17Alexander Vampilov, Russian dramatist (drowned fishing, born 1937)
  • August 22Ernestine Hill, Australian travel writer (born 1899)
  • September 21Henry de Montherlant, French essayist, novelist and dramatist (born 1895)
  • September 27 – S. R. Ranganathan, Indian mathematician and librarian (born 1892)
  • November 1Ezra Pound, American poet (born 1885)
  • November 29Victor Bridges (Victor George de Freyne), English genre novelist, playwright and poet (born 1878)
  • December 10Mark Van Doren, American poet, writer and critic (born 1894)
  • December 13 – L. P. Hartley, English novelist (born 1895)
  • December 23Abraham Joshua Heschel, Polish-born American theologian and rabbi (born 1907)
  • Unknown date
  • Wasif Jawhariyyeh, Palestinian Arab diarist, poet, and composer (born 1897)
  • Donar Munteanu, Romanian poet and magistrate (born 1886)
  • Awards

  • Nobel Prize for Literature: Heinrich Böll
  • Canada

  • See 1972 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
  • France

  • Prix Goncourt: Jean Carrière, L'Epervier de Maheux
  • Prix Médicis French: Maurice Clavel, Le Tiers des étoiles
  • United Kingdom

  • Booker Prize: John Berger, G.
  • Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Richard Adams, Watership Down
  • Cholmondeley Award: Molly Holden, Tom Raworth, Patricia Whittaker
  • Eric Gregory Award: Tony Curtis, Richard Berengarten, Brian Oxley, Andrew Greig, Robin Lee, Paul Muldoon
  • James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: John Berger, G
  • James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Quentin Bell, Virginia Woolf
  • United States

  • American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for the novel, Eudora Welty
  • Hugo Award: Philip José Farmer, To Your Scattered Bodies Go (1971)
  • Nebula Award: Isaac Asimov, The Gods Themselves
  • Newbery Medal for children's literature: Robert C. O'Brien, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
  • Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Not awarded
  • Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Wallace StegnerAngle of Repose
  • Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: James Wright, Collected Poems
  • Elsewhere

  • Miles Franklin Award: Thea Astley, The Acolyte
  • Premio Nadal: José María Carrascal, Groovy
  • Viareggio Prize: Romano Bilenchi, Il bottone di Stalingrado
  • References

    1972 in literature Wikipedia


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