Girish Mahajan (Editor)

1984 in literature

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1984 in literature

This article presents lists of the literary events and publications in 1984.

Contents

Events

  • April 4 – The narrative of George Orwell's dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) begins, causing it to be widely discussed this year. G. K. Chesterton's The Napoleon of Notting Hill (1904) is also set in this year.
  • June 16Cirque du Soleil founded in Baie-Saint-Paul, Quebec, by two former street performers, Guy Laliberté and Gilles Ste-Croix.
  • July – Tom Wolfe's novel The Bonfire of the Vanities begins serialization in Rolling Stone.
  • December 19Ted Hughes' appointment as Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom in succession to Sir John Betjeman is announced, Philip Larkin having turned down the post.
  • Prvoslav Vujčić's second collection of poems, Kastriranje vetra ("Castration of the wind"), written during a week's imprisonment in Tuzla for criticising the state, is prohibited in Yugoslavia.
  • Of Mice and Men, the 1937 novel by John Steinbeck, is removed from Tennessee public schools when the School Board Chair promises to remove all "filthy books" from public school curricula and libraries.
  • Redu in Belgium becomes a book town.
  • Saqi Books, independent U.K. publisher, is founded by Mai Ghoussoub.
  • Fiction

  • Warren AdlerRandom Hearts
  • Kingsley AmisStanley and the Women
  • Martin AmisMoney
  • V. C. Andrews – Seeds of Yesterday
  • Jeffrey ArcherFirst Among Equals
  • Richard Bachman (Stephen King) – Thinner
  • J. G. Ballard – Empire of the Sun
  • Iain BanksThe Wasp Factory
  • René BarjavelL'Enchanteur
  • Julian BarnesFlaubert's Parrot
  • J. J. Benitez – Caballo de Troya
  • Thomas BernhardWoodcutters (Holzfällen)
  • Michael Bishop
  • One Winter in Eden
  • Who Made Stevie Crye?
  • Simon BrettA Shock to the System
  • David BrinThe Practice Effect
  • Anita BrooknerHotel du Lac
  • Sandra CisnerosThe House on Mango Street
  • Tom ClancyThe Hunt for Red October
  • Maryse Condé – Segou: les murailles de terre
  • Bernard & Judy Cornwell (as Susannah Kells) – Fallen Angels
  • Michel DéonJe vous écris d'Italie
  • Marguerite DurasL'Amant
  • Louise ErdrichLove Medicine
  • Howard FastThe Outsider
  • Leon ForrestTwo Wings to Veil My Face
  • Frederick ForsythThe Fourth Protocol
  • John Gardner – Role of Honour
  • William GibsonNeuromancer
  • William Golding – "The Paper Men"
  • Alasdair Gray1982, Janine
  • Kent HarufThe Tie That Binds
  • Frank HerbertHeretics of Dune
  • David HughesThe Pork Butcher
  • John JakesLove and War
  • Stephen King, Peter StraubThe Talisman
  • Russell KirkWatchers at the Strait Gate
  • Jaan KrossProfessor Martens' Departure (Professor Martensi ärasõit)
  • Milan KunderaThe Unbearable Lightness of Being (first published in French as L'Insoutenable légèreté de l'être)
  • Robert LudlumThe Aquitaine Progression
  • Norman MailerTough Guys Don't Dance
  • Ruth Manning-SandersA Book of Magic Horses
  • M. T. Vasudevan Nair – Randamoozham (രണ്ടാമൂഴം, Second Turn)
  • Salomé Mitiarjuk Nappaaluk – Sanaaq
  • Robert B. ParkerValediction
  • Ellis Peters
  • Dead Man's Ransom
  • The Pilgrim of Hate
  • Mario PuzoThe Sicilian
  • Thomas PynchonSlow Learner: Early Stories
  • Christoph RansmayrThe Terrors of Ice and Darkness
  • Bob Shea and Robert Anton WilsonThe Illuminatus! Trilogy (collected edition)
  • Michael SladeHeadhunter
  • Danielle SteelFull Circle
  • Neal StephensonThe Big U (debut novel)
  • Botho Strauß – The Young Man
  • Robert SwindellsBrother in the Land
  • Antonio TabucchiIndian Nocturne (Notturno indiano, novella)
  • John UpdikeThe Witches of Eastwick
  • Gore VidalLincoln
  • Tim WintonShallows
  • Janusz ZajdelParadyzja
  • Children and young people

  • Chris Van Allsburg - The Mysteries of Harris Burdick
  • Helen CresswellThe Secret World of Polly Flint
  • Kevin Eastman and Peter LairdTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (comic book)
  • Mem Fox - Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge
  • Patricia Reilly GiffThe Beast in Ms. Rooney's Room (first in Polk Street School series)
  • Michelle MagorianBack Home
  • Dr. Seuss – The Butter Battle Book
  • Bill Peet - Pamela Camel
  • J. R. R. Tolkien (with Michael Hague) - The Hobbit
  • Drama

  • Howard BarkerScenes from an Execution
  • Dario FoElizabeth: Almost by Chance a Woman
  • Beth HenleyThe Miss Firecracker Contest
  • Elfriede JelinekKrankheit oder Moderne Frauen
  • Joshua Sobol – Ghetto
  • Tom StoppardRough Crossing
  • Poetry

  • John AshberyA Wave
  • Louise ErdrichJacklight
  • Christopher GilbertAcross the Mutual Landscape
  • Paulette JilesCelestial Navigation
  • Sharon OldsThe Dead and the Living
  • Non-fiction

  • Morrill Cody & Hugh Ford – The Women of Montparnasse, the Americans in Paris.
  • Roald DahlBoy an autobiography
  • Louise HayYou Can Heal Your Life
  • Lee IacoccaIacocca: An Autobiography.
  • Steven LevyHackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution.
  • Derek ParfitReasons and Persons.
  • Joan PetersFrom Time Immemorial: The Origins of the Arab-Jewish Conflict over Palestine.
  • Herbert Jay SternJudgment in Berlin.
  • Births

  • April 16Amelia Atwater-Rhodes, American novelist
  • May 9Ezra Klein, American journalist and columnist
  • May 21Jackson Pearce, American young-adult novelist
  • June 5Simon Rich, American humorist, novelist and screenwriter
  • July 12Amanda Hocking, American fantasy novelist
  • August 8 – Owen Jones, English columnist and author and commentator
  • November 20Halley Feiffer, American playwright and actress
  • December 10Helen Oyeyemi, English novelist and playwright
  • Deaths

  • February 12Julio Cortázar, Argentine novelist, short story writer and essayist (born 1914)
  • February 21 – Michail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov, Russian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1905)
  • February 22Jessamyn West, American novelist (born 1902)
  • March 4Odd Bang-Hansen, Norwegian novelist and children's writer (born 1908)
  • March 8Eleanor Graham, English children's writer and editor (born 1896)
  • March 12Arnold Ridley, English playwright and actor (born 1896)
  • March 26 – Branko Ćopić, Bosnian Serb writer (suicide, born 1915)
  • April 1Elizabeth Goudge, English writer (born 1900)
  • April 15Alexander Trocchi, Scottish writer (born 1925)
  • April 21
  • Marcel Janco, Romanian–Israeli artist, art theorist, essayist and poet (born 1895)
  • Manuel Mujica Láinez, Argentine novelist (born 1910)
  • May 16Irwin Shaw, American playwright, screenwriter and novelist (born 1913)
  • May 19John Betjeman, English poet laureate (born 1906)
  • June 10Halide Nusret Zorlutuna, Turkish poet and novelist (born 1901)
  • June 30Lillian Hellman, American playwright (born 1905)
  • July 6Denys Val Baker, Welsh novelist and short story writer (born 1917)
  • August 14 – J. B. Priestley, English novelist and playwright (born 1894)
  • August 25Truman Capote (Truman Streckfus Persons), American fiction writer (born 1924)
  • September 7Liam O'Flaherty, Irish novelist and short story writer (born 1896)
  • October 31Eduardo De Filippo, Italian playwright (born 1900)
  • November 6Gastón Suárez, Bolivian novelist and dramatist (born 1929)
  • November 10Xavier Herbert, Australian novelist (born 1901)
  • November 12Chester Himes, American writer (born 1909)
  • December 6Gray Barker, American writer on paranormal (born 1925)
  • December 14Vicente Aleixandre, Spanish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1898)
  • Awards

  • Nobel Prize in Literature: Jaroslav Seifert
  • Australia

  • The Australian/Vogel Literary Award: Kate Grenville, Lilian's Story
  • Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Les Murray, The People's Other World
  • Miles Franklin Award: Tim Winton, Shallows
  • Canada

  • See 1984 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
  • France

  • Prix Goncourt: Marguerite Duras, L'Amant
  • Prix Médicis French: Bernard-Henri Lévy, Le Diable en tête
  • Prix Médicis International: Elsa Morante, Aracoeli
  • Spain

  • Miguel de Cervantes Prize: Ernesto Sabato
  • United Kingdom

  • Booker Prize: Anita Brookner, Hotel du Lac
  • Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Margaret Mahy, The Changeover
  • Cholmondeley Award: Michael Baldwin, Michael Hofmann, Carol Rumens
  • Eric Gregory Award: Martyn Crucefix, Mick Imlah, Jamie McKendrick, Bill Smith, Carol Ann Duffy, Christopher Meredith, Peter Armstrong, Iain Bamforth
  • James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: J. G. Ballard, Empire of the Sun, and Angela Carter, Nights at the Circus
  • James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Lyndall Gordon, Virginia Woolf: A Writer's Life
  • Whitbread Best Book Award: James Buchan, A Parish of Rich Women
  • United States

  • Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: Arthur Smith, Elegy on Independence Day
  • Frost Medal: Jack Stadler
  • Nebula Award: William Gibson, Neuromancer
  • Newbery Medal for children's literature: Beverly Cleary, Dear Mr. Henshaw
  • Pulitzer Prize for Drama: David Mamet, Glengarry Glen Ross
  • Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: William J. KennedyIronweed
  • Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Mary Oliver: American Primitive
  • Elsewhere

  • Premio Nadal: José de Tomás García – La otra orilla de la droga
  • References

    References

    1984 in literature Wikipedia


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