This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1928.
Events
January The Soviet magazine Oktyabr begins publishing Mikhail Sholokhov's novel And Quiet Flows the Don («Тихий Дон», Tikhiy Don) in instalments. Ford Madox Ford publishes Last Post in the U.K., as the last in his World War I tetralogy Parade's End, which has been appearing since 1924. January 16 – The English novelist and poet Thomas Hardy's ashes are interred in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey, London. Pallbearers include Stanley Baldwin, J. M. Barrie, John Galsworthy, Edmund Gosse, A. E. Housman, Rudyard Kipling, Ramsay MacDonald and George Bernard Shaw. Meanwhile, Hardy's heart is interred where he wished to be buried, in the grave of his first wife, Emma, in the churchyard of his parish of birth, Stinsford ("Mellstock") in Dorset. Later in the year, his widow Florence publishes the first part of a biography, The Early Life of Thomas Hardy, 1840–1891 (Macmillan), in fact largely dictated by Hardy. February – Weird Tales magazine publishes H. P. Lovecraft's story "The Call of Cthulhu" in the United States. March 31 – Stockholm Public Library, designed by Gunnar Asplund, opens. April 19 – Publication of the Oxford English Dictionary is completed. Spring – George Orwell moves from London to Paris; his first articles as a professional writer appear later in the year. June – The literary magazine Contemporáneos is first published in Mexico by Jaime Torres Bodet, giving a name to the group Los Contemporáneos. June 27 – The English writer Evelyn Waugh marries Evelyn Gardner, daughter of Lady Winifred Burghclere, in St Paul's Church, Portman Square, London, with only Harold Acton, Alec Waugh (the author's brother) and Pansy Pakenham present. They move into a flat in Canonbury Square, Islington. In September the author's first completed novel, the satire Decline and Fall, is published by Chapman & Hall, of which his father, Arthur Waugh, is managing director. It is illustrated by the author. It reaches a third impression by the end of the year. The marriage lasts until the following September. July – D. H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover is published in Florence. It will not be published unexpurgated in Britain until 1960. August 27 – Taibhdhearc na Gaillimhe in Galway is founded as the national Irish-language theater, opening with Micheál Mac Liammóir's version of Dhiarmada agus Ghráinne. August 31 – The Threepenny Opera (Die Dreigroschenoper), adapted by Bertolt Brecht, Elisabeth Hauptmann and composer Kurt Weill (with set designer Caspar Neher) from The Beggar's Opera, is launched at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm in Berlin, with Harald Paulsen and Lotte Lenya in the principal rôles. September S. S. Van Dine's "Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories" are published in The American Magazine. Leslie Charteris's Meet the Tiger, the first adventure of Simon Templar ("the Saint"), is published in the U.K.. Charteris will write dozens of novels and stories with the character in 1928–1963; successor writers will continue until 1983. September 21 – The Gorseth Kernow is set up at Boscawen-Un in Cornwall by Henry Jenner (Gwas Myghal) and others. October W. H. Auden goes to Berlin and is soon joined by Christopher Isherwood. Luk Phu Chai (A Real Man), perhaps the first major original Thai novel, is published by Siburapha (Kulap Saipradit). October 14 – The Gate Theatre in Dublin is founded by English actors and lovers Micheál Mac Liammóir and Hilton Edwards, initially using the Abbey Theatre's Peacock studio to stage works by European and American dramatists. November–December – Erich Maria Remarque's antiwar novel All Quiet on the Western Front (Im Westen nichts Neues) appears in the German newspaper Vossische Zeitung. Hans Herbert Grimm's Schlump is also published (anonymously) by Kurt Wolff in Berlin this year. November 1 – Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, President of Turkey, introduces the Roman-based 29-letter Turkish alphabet to replace the Ottoman script as the official writing system for the Turkish language. November 6 – Xu Zhimo writes his poem 再別康橋 (Zài Bié Kāngqiáo, "On Leaving Cambridge Once More"). November 9–16 – Radclyffe Hall's novel The Well of Loneliness, published on July 27 by Jonathan Cape in London with an appreciation by Havelock Ellis, is tried and convicted at Bow Street Magistrates' Court on the grounds of obscenity under the Hicklin test, for its theme of lesbian love, after a campaign against it by James Douglas in the Sunday Express. The presiding magistrate, Sir Chartres Biron, holds that the book contains "not one word which suggested that anyone with the horrible tendencies described was in the least degree blameworthy. All the characters in the book were presented as attractive people and put forward with admiration." Other lesbian literature published in England this year evades prosecution: Elizabeth Bowen's novel The Hotel, Virginia Woolf's fictional Orlando: A Biography, and Compton MacKenzie's satirical Extraordinary Women. Djuna Barnes' novel Ladies Almanack, published in Paris, also alludes to the controversy. December 9 – R. C. Sherriff's drama Journey's End, set on the Western Front (World War I), is premièred by the Incorporated Stage Society at the Apollo Theatre in London, with Laurence Olivier in a principal rôle.
December 10 – Danish-born Norwegian novelist Sigrid Undset is awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "principally for her powerful descriptions of Northern life during the Middle Ages."The Nobel Prize in Literature 1928 nobelprize.org December 19 – Italo Svevo (Aron Schmitz), returning from an Alpine resort to Trieste, suffers a car accident. He dies next day leaving his novel Il Vegliardo (The Old Man) unfinished in mid-word. unknown dates Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay's novel Pather Panchali first appears as a serial in a Calcutta periodical. The clerihew, a comic pseudo-biographical verse form associated with Edmund Clerihew Bentley, is first mentioned in print.In The Week-end Book – Oxford English Dictionary. It is claimed that one in four of all secular books printed and sold in England this year are the work of Edgar Wallace.
New books Fiction Leslie Barringer – Joris of the Rock Vicki Baum – Helene Willfüer, Student of Chemistry Marjorie Bowen – General Crack André Breton – Nadja Lynn Brock – The Slip-Carriage Mystery Mary Butts – Armed with Madness Ferreira de Castro – Emigrantes (Emigrants) Agatha Christie – The Mystery of the Blue Train G.D.H. Cole and Margaret Cole – The Man from the River Colette – Break of Day (La Naissance du jour) J.J. Connington Mystery at Lynden Sands The Case with Nine Solutions Freeman Wills Crofts – The Sea Mystery Clemence Dane – Enter Sir John Frank Parker Day – Rockbound Franklin W. Dixon – Hunting for Hidden Gold Jessie Redmon Fauset – Plum Bun: A Novel Without a Moral Esther Forbes – A Mirror for Witches Rosita Forbes – King's Mate Ford Madox Ford – Last Post E. M. Forster – The Eternal Moment and Other Stories R. Austin Freeman – As a Thief in the Night August Gailit – Toomas Nipernaadi Anthony Gilbert – The Murder of Mrs. Davenport Maxim Gorky – The Life of Klim Samgin (second volume, translated as The Magnet; «Жизнь Клима Самгина», Zhizn', Klima Samgina) Reşat Nuri Güntekin – Yeşil Gece Radclyffe Hall – The Well of Loneliness Thea von Harbou – The Rocket to the Moon Georgette Heyer – The Masqueraders James Hilton – The Silver Flame Sydney Horler – The Curse of Doone Aldous Huxley – Point Counter Point Ilf and Petrov – The Twelve Chairs («Двенадцать стульев», Dvenadtsat stulyev) Mikheil Javakhishvili – Givi Shaduri (გივი შადური) Joseph Kessel – Belle de Jour Ronald Knox –The Footsteps at the Lock Kwee Tek Hoay – Drama dari Krakatau (serialization) Selma Lagerlöf – Anna Svärd Nella Larsen – Quicksand D. H. Lawrence – Lady Chatterley's Lover Claude McKay – Home To Harlem Wyndham Lewis - The Childermass: Section I Compton Mackenzie – Extremes Meet W. Somerset Maugham – Ashenden: Or the British Agent Abdul Muis – Salah Asuhan Dhan Gopal Mukerji – Gay Neck, the Story of a Pigeon Vladimir Nabokov (as V. Sirin) – King, Queen, Knave («Король, дама, валет», Korol', dama, valet) Baroness Orczy – Skin o' My Tooth Anthony Powell – The Barnard Letters Premchand – Nirmala Jenaro Prieto – The Partner Erich Maria Remarque – All Quiet on the Western Front Siegfried Sassoon – Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man (anonymous in 1st impression) Dorothy L. Sayers Lord Peter Views the Body The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club Arthur Schnitzler – Therese Nan Shepherd – The Quarry Wood Cecil Street – The Murders in Praed Street Păstorel Teodoreanu – Hronicul Măscăriciului Vălătuc S. S. Van Dine The Greene Murder Case The Bishop Murder Case Henry Wade – The Missing Partners Hugh Walpole – Wintersmoon Mika Waltari – Suuri illusioni Evelyn Waugh – Decline and Fall H. G. Wells – Mr. Blettsworthy on Rampole Island Franz Werfel – Class Reunion (Der Abituriententag) Valentine Williams – The Crouching Beast Virginia Woolf – Orlando: A Biography S. Fowler Wright – Deluge Francis Brett Young The Key of Life My Brother Jonathan
Children and young people Edgar Rice Burroughs – Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle Wanda Gág – Millions of Cats A. A. Milne – The House at Pooh Corner Felix Salten – Bambi, A Life in the Woods (Bambi. Eine Lebensgeschichte aus dem Walde, 1923) Ruth Plumly Thompson – The Giant Horse of Oz
Drama Jacinto Benavente – Pepa Doncel Charles Bennett Blackmail The Last Hour Bertolt Brecht – The Threepenny Opera Joe Corrie – In Time o' Strife Eduardo De Filippo – Filosoficamente Nikolai Erdman – The Suicide («Самоубийца», written) Marieluise Fleißer – Pioneers in Ingolstadt (Pioniere in Ingolstadt) Garrett Fort – Jarnegan Agha Hashar Kashmiri – Sita Banbas (published) Kwee Tek Hoay (郭德懷)– Korbannja Yi Yong Toen (Victims of Yi Yong Toen, published serially) Patrick Hastings – The Moving Finger Monckton Hoffe – Many Waters Daniil Kharms – Elizabeth Bam («Елизавета Бам») Miroslav Krleža – The Glembays (Gospoda Glembajevi) John Howard Lawson – The International Alexander Lernet-Holenia, as Clemens Neydisser, and Stefan Zweig – Gelegenheit macht Liebe (Opportunity creates love) or Quiproquo Federico García Lorca – The Love of Don Perlimplín and Belisa in the Garden (Amor de Don Perlimplín con Belisa en su jardín, written) Walter Hackett – Other Men's Wives W. Somerset Maugham – The Sacred Flame Ivor Novello – The Truth Game Eugene O'Neill – Strange Interlude Eugen Ortner – Meier Helmbrecht Ouyang Yuqian (欧阳予倩) – Pan Jinlian (潘金蓮) R. C. Sherriff – Journey's End Ben Travers – Plunder Sophie Treadwell – Machinal John Van Druten – The Return of the Soldier Louis Verneuil – Monsieur Lamberthier Roger Vitrac – Victor, or Power to the Children (Victor, ou les enfants au pouvoir) Edgar Wallace The Lad The Man Who Changed His Name The Squeaker Carl Zuckmayer – Katharina Knie
Poetry
Stephen Vincent Benét – John Brown's Body Robert Frost – West-Running Brook Robinson Jeffers – Cawdor Federico García Lorca – Gypsy Ballads (Romancero Gitano) Siegfried Sassoon – The Heart's Journey
Non-fiction Max Aitken – Politicians and the War Clive Bell – Civilization: An Essay Edmund Blunden – Undertones of War (autobiography) Hall Caine – Recollections of Rossetti (second expanded version) Julius Evola – Imperialismo Pagano (Pagan Imperialism) Sidney Bradshaw Fay – Origins of the World War Dion Fortune – Esoteric Orders and Their Work Harold Lloyd – An American Comedy (autobiography) Dora Marsden – The Definition of the Godhead Margaret Mead – Coming of Age in Samoa Paul Morand – Black Magic Tomas O'Crohan – Allagar na h-Inise (Island Cross-Talk) Edgar Wallace – The Trial of Patrick Herbert Mahon H. G. Wells – The Open Conspiracy Stefan Zweig – Drei Dichter ihres Lebens. Casanova – Stendhal – Tolstoi (Adepts in Self-Portraiture: Casanova, Stendhal, Tolstoy)
Births January 1 – Iain Crichton Smith, Scottish writer (died 1998)