This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1964.
Events
January 10 – Federico García Lorca's play The House of Bernarda Alba, completed just before his assassination in 1936, receives its first performance in Spain.House of Bernarda Alba – Premiere in Madrid (Spanish). Accessed 27 November 2013. January 12 – The Royal Shakespeare Company Experimental Group open a four-week Theatre of Cruelty season at the LAMDA Theatre Club, London. January 23 – Arthur Miller's play After the Fall opens at the ANTA Washington Square Theatre Off-Broadway in New York City, directed by Elia Kazan and starring Jason Robards and Kazan's wife Barbara Loden. A semi-autobiographical work, it arouses controversy over Miller's portrayal of his late ex-wife Marilyn Monroe. February 11 – A London retailer, in the case of R. v. Gold, is found guilty under section 3 of the Obscene Publications Act 1959 of stocking a 1963 edition of John Cleland's novel Fanny Hill (Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, 1748–1749). February 28 – The Dutch comic artist and writer Jan Cremer publishes his autobiographical novel I, Jan Cremer, which provokes controversy for its frank content and style and becomes a bestseller. April 23 – Shakespeare Birthplace Trust opens the Shakespeare Centre in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, to house its library and research facilities. April 29 – Peter Weiss's play with music Die Verfolgung und Ermordung Jean Paul Marats dargestellt durch die Schauspielgruppe des Hospizes zu Charenton unter Anleitung des Herrn de Sade (The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade, known as Marat/Sade) premières at the Schiller Theater in West Berlin. In August it receives its English-language première by the Royal Shakespeare Company in London at the Aldwych Theatre. May – Michael Moorcock becomes editor of the science fiction magazine New Worlds. May 5 – W. H. Auden's preface to the anthology The Protestant Mystics describes the supernatural "Vision of Agape" he experienced in June 1933. May 6 – Joe Orton's black comedy Entertaining Mr Sloane premières at the New Arts Theatre in London with Dudley Sutton in the title rôle. May 29 – Le Théâtre du Soleil is established as a collective avant-garde stage ensemble by Ariane Mnouchkine, Philippe Léotard and fellow students of L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris. It opens with Les Petits Bourgeois (adapted from Maxim Gorky's Мещане), at Théâtre Mouffetard. June 22 – Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer is allowed to circulate legally in the United States by the U.S. Supreme Court three decades after its publication in France, after the U.S. Supreme Court, in Grove Press, Inc. v. Gerstein, cites Jacobellis v. Ohio (decided the same day) and overrules state court findings that the book is obscene. August 11 – Ian Fleming walks to the Royal St George's Golf Club near Sandwich, Kent, for lunch with friends, collapsing shortly afterward with a heart attack. His last recorded words are an apology to the ambulance drivers: "I am sorry to trouble you chaps. I don't know how you get along so fast with the traffic on the roads these days." Fleming dies next day. September – The Everyman Theatre opens in Liverpool, England. September 28 – Brian Friel's play Philadelphia, Here I Come! is premièred at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin. October 22 – French author Jean Paul Sartre declines the Nobel Prize in Literature for literary and political reasons, explaining his belief that an author must not accept official awards from any institution.Sartre Explains Stand nytimes.com October 28 – The Wednesday Play is broadcast for the first time on BBC1 television, presenting original one-off contemporary social drama, mostly written for television.
New books
Fiction Chinua Achebe – Arrow of God José Agustín – La Tumba Eric Ambler – A Kind of Anger Poul Anderson – Time and Stars Louis Auchincloss – The Rector of Justin J. G. Ballard – The Terminal Beach Simone de Beauvoir – A Very Easy Death (Une Mort très douce) Saul Bellow – Herzog Thomas Berger – Little Big Man Elizabeth Bowen – The Little Girls Leigh Brackett People of the Talisman The Secret of Sinharat Ray Bradbury – The Machineries of Joy John Braine – The Jealous God Richard Brautigan – A Confederate General From Big Sur John Brunner To Conquer Chaos The Whole Man Edgar Rice Burroughs – Tarzan and the Madman William S. Burroughs – Nova Express J. Ramsey Campbell – The Inhabitant of the Lake and Less Welcome Tenants Victor Canning – The Scorpio Letters John Dickson Carr – Most Secret Agatha Christie – A Caribbean Mystery Louis-Ferdinand Céline – London Bridge: Guignol's Band II A. J. Cronin – A Song of Sixpence Cecil Day-Lewis – The Sad Variety Len Deighton – Funeral in Berlin R. F. Delderfield – Too Few For Drums August Derleth (editor) – Over the Edge Michel Droit – Le Retour Ralph Ellison – Shadow and Act Ian Fleming – You Only Live Twice Max Frisch – Gantenbein Daniel F. Galouye – Simulacron-3 (Counterfeit World) William Golding – The Spire Richard Gordon – Nuts in May L. P. Hartley – The Brickfield Hartley Howard – Department K Bohumil Hrabal – Dancing Lessons for the Advanced in Age (Taneční hodiny pro starší a pokročilé) Carl Jacobi – Portraits in Moonlight B. S. Johnson – Albert Angelo Ken Kesey – Sometimes a Great Notion Richard E. Kim – The Martyred James Leasor – Passport to Oblivion Etienne Leroux – Een vir Azazel (One for Azazel, translated as One for the Devil) Liang Yusheng (梁羽生) – Datang Youxia Zhuan (大唐游俠傳) Clarice Lispector – The Passion According to G.H. (A paixão segundo G.H.) H. P. Lovecraft – At the Mountains of Madness and Other Novels John D. MacDonald The Deep Blue Good-by A Purple Place For Dying The Quick Red Fox Ngaio Marsh – Dead Water James Mayo – Hammerhead Gladys Mitchell – Death of a Delft Blue Iris Murdoch – The Italian Girl Sterling North – Rascal Vladimir Nabokov – The Defense Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (also known as James Ngigi) – Weep Not, Child Kenzaburō Ōe (大江 健三郎) – A Personal Matter (個人的な体験; Kojinteki na taiken) Anthony Powell – The Valley of Bones Mario Puzo – Fortunate Pilgrim Ellery Queen – And On the Eighth Day Jean Ray – Saint-Judas-de-la-nuit Ruth Rendell – From Doon With Death Karl Ristikivi – Imede saar Hubert Selby Jr. – Last Exit to Brooklyn Ryōtarō Shiba (司馬 遼太郎) – Moeyo Ken (燃えよ剣, Burn, O Sword) Howard Spring – Winds of the Day Clark Ashton Smith – Tales of Science and Sorcery Wilbur Smith – When the Lion Feeds Rex Stout Trio for Blunt Instruments A Right to Die Julian Symons – The End of Solomon Grundy Jim Thompson – Pop. 1280 Leon Uris – Armageddon Jack Vance The Houses of Iszm The Killing Machine Star King Gore Vidal – Julian Irving Wallace – The Man Raymond Williams – Second Generation Maia Wojciechowska – Shadow of a Bull
Children and young people Lloyd Alexander – The Book of ThreeHahn 2015, p. 14 Rev. W. Awdry – Mountain Engines (nineteenth in The Railway Series of 42 books by him and his son Christopher Awdry) Nina Bawden – On the Run (also Three on the Run) Christianna Brand – Nurse Matilda Hesba Fay Brinsmead – Pastures of the Blue Crane Jeff Brown – Flat Stanley Roald Dahl – Charlie and the Chocolate FactoryHahn 2015, p. 117 Louise Fitzhugh – Harriet the Spy Ian Fleming – Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang: The Magical Car Rumer Godden – Home is the Sailor Irene Hunt – Across Five AprilsHahn 2015, p. 3 Ervin Lázár – A kisfiú meg az oroszlánok (The Little Boy and the Lions) Rhoda Levine – Harrison Loved His Umbrella Ruth Manning-Sanders – A Book of Dwarfs J. P. Martin – Uncle (first in a series of six books) Jean Merrill – The Pushcart War Ruth Park – The Muddle-Headed Wombat on Holiday Bill Peet Ella Randy's Dandy Lions Shel Silverstein – The Giving TreeHahn 2015, p. 232 Miriam Young – Miss Suzy
Drama Ama Ata Aidoo – The Dilemma of a Ghost David Campton – Dead and Alive William Douglas Home – The Reluctant Peer Brian Friel – Philadelphia Here I Come! Girish Karnad – Tughlaq Robert Lowell – The Old Glory Arthur Miller After the Fall Incident At Vichy Joe Orton – Entertaining Mr Sloane Alexander Vampilov – Farewell in June Peter Weiss – Marat/Sade
Poetry
Joseph Payne Brennan – Nightmare Need Leonard Cohen – Flowers for Hitler Mehr Lal Soni Zia Fatehabadi – Husn-e-Ghazal (The Beauty of Ghazal) Philip Larkin – The Whitsun Weddings Oodgeroo Noonuccal – We are Going: Poems Ion Vinea – Ora fântânilor (The Hour of Fountains) Donald Wandrei – Poems for Midnight Up The Line To Death: The War Poets 1914-1918 (anthology)
Non-fiction Nelson Algren – Conversations with Nelson Algren (interviews by H. E. F. Donohue) Eric Berne – Games People Play Allan Bloom with Harry V. Jaffa – Shakespeare's Politics L. Sprague de Camp Ancient Ruins and Archaeology (with Catherine Crook de Camp) Elephant Hilda Ellis Davidson – Gods and Myths of Northern Europe Aileen Fox – South West England (Ancient peoples and places series)Henrietta Quinnell, "Fox, Aileen Mary, Lady Fox (1907–2005)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford, UK: OUP, 2009) Retrieved 21 November 2017 Dick Gregory – Nigger: An Autobiography Ernest Hemingway – A Moveable Feast Michael Holroyd – Hugh Kingsmill: A Critical Biography John F. Kennedy (k. 1963) – A Nation of Immigrants Martin Luther King Jr. – Why We Can't Wait Jan Kott – Shakespeare, Our Contemporary Violette Leduc – La Bâtarde Mao Zedong – Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung (毛主席语录, Máo Zhǔxí Yǔlù) Herbert Marcuse – One-Dimensional Man Marshall McLuhan – Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man Jürgen Moltmann – Theology of Hope (Theologie der Hoffnung) V. S. Naipaul – An Area of Darkness Sayyid Qutb – Ma'alim fi al-Tariq (معالم في الطريق, Milestones) Ayn Rand – The Virtue of Selfishness The Warren Commission – The Warren Report Evelyn Waugh – A Little Learning
Births January 26 – Peter Braunstein, American journalist and playwright February 23 – Joseph O'Neill, Irish-born writer March 7 – Bret Easton Ellis, American novelist, screenwriter and short-story writer March 21 – Kaori Ekuni (江國 香織), Japanese novelist April 9 – Margaret Peterson Haddix, American children's author June 5 – Rick Riordan, American young-adult author June 7 – Petr Hruška, Czech poet June 11 – Dan Chaon, American novelist and short-story writer June 22 – Dan Brown, American novelist and mystery writer June 26 – Conor Kostick, Irish historian and children's author July 3 – Joanne Harris, English novelist July 7 – Karina Galvez, Ecuadorian poet July 16 – Anne Provoost, Flemish novelist and essayist August 22 – Diane Setterfield, British author September 9 – Aleksandar Hemon, Bosnian novelist and short-story writer September 19 Patrick Marber, English comedian, playwright, director, puppeteer, actor and screenwriter Yvonne Vera, Zimbabwean novelist (died 2005) September 25 Carlos Ruiz Zafón, Spanish novelist (died 2020) Gareth Thompson, English children's author December 12 – J. R. Moehringer, American journalist and ghostwriter December 26 – Elizabeth Kostova, American author December 29 – Christine Leunens, American-born Belgian-New Zealand novelist unknown dates Ros Barber, English novelist and poet Ge Fei (格非, real name: Liu Yong, 刘勇), Chinese novelist Mai Jia (real name: Jiǎng Běnhǔ, 蒋本浒), Chinese novelist Nell Zink, American novelist
Deaths January 17 – T. H. White, English novelist (heart condition, born 1906) February 1 – Sigge Stark (Signe Björnberg), Swedish writer (born 1896) February 3 – Clarence Irving Lewis, American philosopher (born 1883) February 15 – Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, French theologian (born 1877) February 25 – Grace Metalious (Marie Grace DeRepentigny), American novelist (cirrhosis of liver, born 1924) March 1 – Davíð Stefánsson, Icelandic poet (born 1895) March 17 – Păstorel Teodoreanu, Romanian poet and satirist (lung cancer, born 1894)