This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1938.
Events
January The John Dos Passos trilogy U.S.A. is published, containing his novels The 42nd Parallel (1930), 1919 (1932), and The Big Money (1936). Samuel Beckett is stabbed in the chest in Paris and nearly killed. February 21 – The gay American writer and composer Paul Bowles marries the lesbian American writer Jane Auer at a Reformed Church in Manhattan. March 7 – Samuel Beckett's first completed novel Murphy is published in London. July 11 – The first live drama adaptation in Orson Welles' The Mercury Theatre on the Air series on CBS Radio in the United States is broadcast: Bram Stoker's Dracula. August – Muslims protest in London against passages they see as disrespectful to their religion in H. G. Wells' A Short History of the World (1922). September 13 – The first production in Britain of a play by Bertolt Brecht, Mrs Carrar's Rifles, opens at the Unity Theatre, London. October 30 – Orson Welles' radio adaptation of The War of the Worlds (with script by Howard Koch) is broadcast in The Mercury Theatre on the Air series. December 24 – Jorge Luis Borges is injured in an accident and develops blood poisoning. While recovering during the following year, Borges will write the first short story in his later characteristic style. Uncertain dates The first complete performance of both parts of Goethe's Faust (1808/32) is given at the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland. The avant-garde musician and theoretician Pierre Schaeffer begins his writing career as an essayist for a number of French musical journals.
New books Fiction Margery Allingham – The Fashion in Shrouds Eric Ambler Cause for Alarm Epitaph for a Spy Vladimir Bartol – Alamut Anthony Berkeley – Not to Be Taken Elizabeth Bowen – The Death of the Heart Dorothy Bowers – Postscript to Poison Lynn Brock – The Silver Sickle Case Edgar Rice Burroughs – Tarzan and the Forbidden City Taylor Caldwell – Dynasty of Death Victor Canning – Mr. Finchley Goes to Paris John Dickson Carr The Four False Weapons, Being the Return of Bencolin To Wake the Dead The Crooked Hinge The Judas Window (as Carter Dickson) Death in Five Boxes (as Carter Dickson) Peter Cheyney Can Ladies Kill? The Urgent Hangman Agatha Christie Hercule Poirot's Christmas Appointment with Death Albert Cohen – Nailcruncher Freeman Wills Crofts Antidote to Venom The End of Andrew Harrison J.J. Connington For Murder Will Speak Truth Comes Limping René Daumal – A Night of Serious Drinking (La Grande Beuverie) Cecil Day-Lewis – The Beast Must Die John Dos Passos – The Big Money (completing the U.S.A. trilogy) Daphne du Maurier – Rebecca Lawrence Durrell – The Black Book Mircea Eliade – Marriage in Heaven (Nuntă în cer) William Faulkner – The Unvanquished Rachel Field – All This and Heaven Too C. S. Forester A Ship of the Line Flying Colours Anthony Gilbert – Treason in My Breast Julien Gracq – The Castle of Argol (Au château d'Argol) Robert Graves – Count Belisarius Graham Greene – Brighton Rock Walter Greenwood Only Mugs Work The Secret Kingdom Cyril Hare – Death Is No Sportsman Xavier Herbert – Capricornia Robin Hyde – The Godwits Fly (semi-autobiographical) Michael Innes – Lament for a Maker Margaret Kennedy – The Midas Touch Alan Kennington – She Died Young Emilio Lussu – Un anno sull'altopiano C. S. Lewis – Out of the Silent Planet Norman Lindsay – Age of Consent Ngaio Marsh Artists in Crime Death in a White Tie Gladys Mitchell – St Peter's Finger Vladimir Nabokov The Gift (Дар) Invitation to a Beheading (Приглашение на казнь; serialization concludes) E. Phillips Oppenheim – The Colossus of Arcadia Kate O'Brien – Pray for the Wanderer John O'Hara – Hope of Heaven Ellery Queen The Devil to Pay The Four of Hearts Graciliano Ramos – Vidas Secas (Barren Lives) Ayn Rand – Anthem Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings – The Yearling Clayton Rawson – Death from a Top Hat Joseph Roth – The Emperor's Tomb Jean-Paul Sartre – Nausea (La Nausée) Georges Simenon The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By Marie of the Port Esphyr Slobodkina – Caps for Sale: A Tale of a Peddler, Some Monkeys and Their Monkey Business Eleanor Smith – The Spanish House Howard Spring – My Son, My Son John Steinbeck – The Long Valley Rex Stout – Too Many Cooks Cecil Street The Bloody Tower Death at Low Tide Invisible Weapons Kressmann Taylor – Address Unknown (short story) Phoebe Atwood Taylor The Annulet of Gilt Banbury Bog The Cut Direct (as by Alice Tilton) Murder at the New York World's Fair (as by Freeman Dana) B. Traven – The Bridge in the Jungle S. S. Van Dine – The Gracie Allen Murder Case – Na krásné samotě Henry Wade – Released for Death Winifred Watson – Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day Evelyn Waugh – Scoop Ethel Lina White – Step in the Dark T. H. White – The Sword in the Stone Gale Wilhelm – Torchlight to Valhalla Francis Brett Young – Dr. Bradley Remembers
Children and young people BB (Denys Watkins-Pitchford) – Wild Lone: The Story of a Pytchley Fox Claire Huchet Bishop – The Five Chinese Brothers Enid Blyton – The Secret Island Eleanor Graham – The Children Who Lived in a Barn Joan Kahn – "Ladies and Gentlemen," said the Ringmaster Eric Knight – Lassie Come-Home Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings – The Yearling Kate Seredy – The White Stag Noel Streatfeild – The Circus Is Coming T. H. White – The Sword in the Stone John F. C. Westerman – John Wentley Takes Charge (first in the John Wentley trilogy) Ursula Moray Williams – Adventures of the Little Wooden Horse
Drama Jean Anouilh – Thieves' Carnival (Le Bal des Voleurs) Robert Ardrey – Casey Jones Max Catto – They Walk Alone Paul Claudel – L'Histoire de Tobie et de Sara (The History of Tobit and Sara, first version) M. J. Farrell – Spring Meeting Patrick Hamilton – Gaslight H.M. Harwood – The Innocent Party Esther McCracken – Quiet Wedding Kaj Munk – Han sidder ved Smeltediglen (He sits by the melting pot) Michael Pertwee – Death on the Table J. B. Priestley – When We Are Married Gordon Sherry – The Bare Idea Robert E. Sherwood – Abe Lincoln in Illinois Dodie Smith – Dear Octopus Stephen Spender – Trial of a Judge Lesley Storm – Tony Draws a Horse Arnold Sundgaard Spirochete: A History with Marc Connelly – Everywhere I Roam Rodolfo Usigli – El gesticulador Theodore Ward – Big White Fog Thornton Wilder – Our Town Emlyn Williams – The Corn is Green Tennessee Williams – Not About Nightingales (written; first performed 1998) W. B. Yeats – Purgatory
Poetry
Alfred Kreymborg – The Planets: A Modern Allegory (radio play in verse) Mary Pettibone Poole – A Glass Eye at a Keyhole
Non-fiction Crane Brinton – The Anatomy of Revolution Hall Caine (died 1931) – Life of Christ Cyril Connolly – Enemies of Promise Geoffrey Faber – The Romance of a Bookshop 1904–1938 Robert Newton Flew – Jesus and His Church. A study of the idea of the Ecclesia in the New Testament Edgar Innes Fripp (died 1931) – Shakespeare, Man and Artist Elie Halévy – The Era of Tyrannies Johan Huizinga – Homo Ludens Agnes Hunt – This Is My Life (autobiography of pioneer orthopedic nurse) C. L. R. James – The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution Claude Scudamore Jarvis – Desert and Delta. An account of modern Egypt Jomo Kenyatta – Facing Mount Kenya Anne Morrow Lindbergh – Listen! The Wind Robert McAlmon – Being Geniuses Together, 1920–1930 Thomas Mann – The Coming Victory of Democracy George Orwell – Homage to Catalonia Nichita Smochină – Republica Moldovenească a Sovietelor (The Moldavian Republic of Soviets) Derek A. Traversi – An Approach to Shakespeare H. G. Wells – World Brain Virginia Woolf – Three Guineas
Births January 2 – Hans Herbjørnsrud, Norwegian short story writer (died 2023) January 5 – Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (also known as James Ngigi), Kenyan novelist (died 2025) January 6 – Mario Rodríguez Cobos ("Silo"), Argentine author and spiritualist (died 2010) January 13 – Nabaneeta Dev Sen, Indian novelist, children's author and poet (died 2019) January 20 – Liz Calder, English publisher and editor February 7 – Andrea Newman, English novelist and screenwriter (died 2019) February 9 – Jovette Marchessault, French Canadian writer and artist (died 2012) February 12 Judy Blume, American children's author Tor Obrestad, Norwegian novelist, poet and documentary writer (died 2020) February 22 – Ishmael Reed, American poet, essayist and novelist March 1 – Michael Kurland, American author of sci-fi and detective fiction March 14 – Eleanor Bron, English humorous writer and actress March 24 – Ian Hamilton, English critic, biographer and poet (died 2001) March 27 – Hansjörg Schneider, Swiss novelist (died 2016) April 20 – Chiung Yao, Taiwanese romance novelist (died 2024) April 25 – John Nagenda, Ugandan writer and sportsman (died 2023) April 30 – Larry Niven, American sci-fi author May 13 – Norma Klein, American author (died 1989) May 15 – Nancy Garden, American author (died 2014) May 16 – Marco Aurelio Denegri, Peruvian literature critic, television host and sexologist (died 2018) May 25 Raymond Carver, American short-story writer and poet (died 1988) Margaret Forster, English novelist and biographer (died 2016) May 26 – Lyudmila Petrushevskaya, Russian novelist and playwright June 5 Allan Ahlberg, English children's author (died 2025) M. K. Wren (Martha Kay Renfroe), American novelist (died 2016) June 16 – Joyce Carol Oates, American novelist June 24 – Lawrence Block, American crime fiction writer June 26 – Maria Velho da Costa, Portuguese writer (died 2020) July 15 – Josephine Cox, English novelist (died 2020) July 19 Nicholas Bethell, English historian and politician (died 2007) Dom Moraes, Indian poet and columnist (died 2004) Tom Raworth, English poet (died 2017) Mary-Kay Wilmers, American-born editor July 28 – Robert Hughes, Australian critic and historian (died 2012) August 15 – Janusz Zajdel, Polish writer (died 1985) August 21 – Mudrooroo (Colin Johnson), Australian novelist (died 2019) August 25 – Frederick Forsyth, English thriller writer (died 2025) August 30 – Dorota Terakowska, Polish writer and journalist, author of fantasy books for children and young adults (died 2004) September 3 – Caryl Churchill, English dramatist September 12 – Richard Booth, Welsh bookseller (died 2019) September 15 – Charles L. Mee, American dramatist September 18 – Poornachandra Tejaswi, Kannada writer (died 2007) September 19 – Keorapetse Kgositsile, South African Poet Laureate (died 2018) October 12 – Anne Perry (Juliet Marion Hulme), English historical novelist (died 2023) October 13 – Hugo Young, English journalist (died 2003) October 16 – Allan Massie, Singapore-born Scottish writer (died 2026) October 17 – Les Murray, Australian poet (died 2019) November 3 – Terrence McNally, American playwright (died 2020) November 4 – Daniel Snowman, English non-fiction writer and historian December 14 – Leonardo Boff (Genézio Darci Boff), Brazilian philosopher and theologian December 21 – Frank Moorhouse, Australian journalist, author and screenwriter (died 2022) December 31 – Basudeb Dasgupta, Bengali novelist (died 2005) unknown date – Gabriel Ruhumbika, Tanzanian novelist
Deaths January 4 – Paola Drigo, Italian writer (born 1876) January 16 – Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay (Sarat Chandra Chattergee), Bengali novelist (born 1876) January 19 – Branislav Nušić, Serbian novelist and dramatist (born 1864) January 29 – Armando Palacio Valdés, Spanish novelist and critic (born 1853) February 13 – Momčilo Nastasijević, Serbian poet, novelist and dramatist (born 1894) March 6 – Eva Allen Alberti, American dramatics teacher (born 1856) March 27 – Helen M. Winslow, American editor, author and publisher (born 1851) March 31 – Willem Kloos, Dutch poet and critic (born 1859) April 19 – Sir Henry Newbolt, English poet (born 1862) April 21 – Lady Ottoline Morrell, English literary hostess (born 1873) May 26 – James Forbes, Canadian American dramatist and screenwriter (born 1871)