This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1957.
Events
January 10 – T. S. Eliot marries his secretary Valerie Fletcher, 30 years his junior, in a private church ceremony in London. His first wife, Vivienne Haigh-Wood, died in 1947. January 15 – The film Throne of Blood, a reworking of Macbeth by Akira Kurosawa (黒澤明), is released in Japan. March – The Cat in the Hat, written and illustrated by Theodor Geisel as 'Dr. Seuss' as a more entertaining alternative to traditional literacy primers for children, is first published in a trade edition in the United States, initially selling an average of 12,000 copies a month, a figure which rises rapidly. March 13 – A 1950 Japanese translation of D. H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover by Sei Itō (伊藤整) is found on appeal to be obscene. March 15 – Élet és Irodalom (Life and Literature) is first published in Hungary as a literary magazine. March 21 – C. S. Lewis marries Joy Gresham in a Christian ceremony at her bedside in the Churchill Hospital, Oxford, England. March 25 – Copies of Allen Ginsberg's Howl and Other Poems (first published 1 November 1956) printed in England are seized by United States Customs Service officials in San Francisco on grounds of obscenity. On October 3, in People v. Ferlinghetti, a subsequent prosecution of publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti in the city, the work is ruled not to be obscene. April – John Updike moves to Ipswich, Massachusetts, the model for the fictional New England town of Tarbox in his 1968 novel Couples. June 2 – Joe Orton submits The Last Days of Sodom, a novel jointly written with Kenneth Halliwell, to a publisher; it is rejected within three days and they give up working in partnership. July 1 – The opening performance is held at the Stratford Shakespearean Festival's Festival Theatre in Stratford, Ontario, with its thrust stage designed by Tanya Moiseiwitsch. July 19 – The largely autobiographical novel The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold by Evelyn Waugh is published. August 7 – Italo Calvino's letter of resignation from the Italian Communist Party appears in l'Unità. October – The first American Beat Generation (poets Allen Ginsberg and Peter Orlovsky) stay at the "Beat Hotel" (Hotel Rachou) in Paris. November 22 – Boris Pasternak's novel Doctor Zhivago is first published, in Italian translation, by Giangiacomo Feltrinelli in Milan, having been rejected for publication in the Soviet Union. unknown dates Justine, the first novel in Lawrence Durrell's The Alexandria Quartet, is published. The last will be published in 1960. Dorothy Parker begins writing book reviews for Esquire. E. E. Cummings gains a special citation from the National Book Award Committee in the United States for his Poems, 1923–1954. Malcolm Muggeridge is replaced by Bernard Hollowood as editor of the British Punch magazine. The Harry Ransom Center for research in the humanities is founded in the University of Texas at Austin by Harry Ransom. John Sandoe opens a bookshop in Chelsea, London. Noh is inscribed as an Intangible Cultural Property (Japan). Three neo-Grotesque sans-serif typefaces are released: Folio (designed by Konrad Bauer and Walter Baum), Neue Haas Grotesk (Max Miedinger) and Univers (Adrian Frutiger); which will influence the International Typographic Style of graphic design.
New books Fiction Caridad Bravo Adams – Corazón salvaje James Agee – A Death in the Family Lars Ahlin – Natt i marknadstältet (Night in the Market Tent) Isaac Asimov Earth Is Room Enough The Naked Sun John Bingham – Murder Off the Record Ray Bradbury – Dandelion Wine John Braine – Room at the Top Fredric Brown – Rogue in Space Pearl S. Buck – Letter from Peking Michel Butor – La Modification John Dickson Carr – Fire, Burn! Louis-Ferdinand Céline – Castle to Castle (D'un château l'autre) John Cheever – The Wapshot Chronicle Agatha Christie – 4:50 from Paddington Mark Clifton and Frank Riley – They'd Rather Be Right Ivy Compton-Burnett – A Father and His Fate Thomas B. Costain – Below the Salt James Gould Cozzens – By Love Possessed L. Sprague de Camp – Solomon's Stone Freeman Wills Crofts – Anything to Declare? Cecil Day-Lewis – End of Chapter Daphne du Maurier – The Scapegoat Lawrence Durrell – Justine Shusaku Endo (遠藤 周作) – The Sea and Poison (海と毒薬) Ian Fleming The Diamond Smugglers From Russia, with Love Janet Frame – Owls Do Cry Sarah Gainham The Cold Dark Night The Mythmaker Jean Giono – The Straw Man (Le Bonheur fou) José Giovanni – The Break (Le Trou) Martyn Goff – The Plaster Fabric Richard Gordon – Doctor in Love Winston Graham – Greek Fire L.P. Hartley – The Hireling Bill Hopkins – The Divine and the Decay Aldous Huxley – Collected Short Stories James Jones – Some Came Running Anna Kavan – Eagle's Nest Jack Kerouac – On the Road Frances Parkinson Keyes – Blue Camellia Christopher Landon – Ice Cold in Alex Halldór Laxness – The Fish Can Sing (Brekkukotsannáll) Chin Yang Lee – The Flower Drum Song Meyer Levin – Compulsion H. P. Lovecraft and August Derleth – The Survivor and Others John D. MacDonald – The Executioners Compton Mackenzie – Rockets Galore Józef Mackiewicz – Kontra Alistair MacLean The Guns of Navarone South by Java Head Naguib Mahfouz – Sugar Street Bernard Malamud – The Assistant Richard Mason – The World of Suzie Wong James A. Michener – Rascals in Paradise Gladys Mitchell – The Twenty-Third Man Nancy Mitford – Voltaire in Love C. L. Moore – Doomsday Morning Elsa Morante – L'isola di Arturo Sławomir Mrożek – Słoń (The Elephant, short stories) Iris Murdoch – The Sandcastle Vladimir Nabokov – Pnin Björn Nyberg and L. Sprague de Camp – The Return of Conan Marcel Pagnol – Le Château de ma mère Boris Pasternak – Doctor Zhivago Anthony Powell – At Lady Molly's Maurice Procter – The Midnight Plumber Qu Bo (曲波) – Tracks in the Snowy Forest (林海雪原) Ayn Rand – Atlas Shrugged Robert Randall (pseudonym of Robert Silverberg and Randall Garrett) – The Shrouded Planet Alain Robbe-Grillet – La Jalousie Douglas Rutherford – The Long Echo Nevil Shute – On the Beach Robert Paul Smith – Where Did You Go? Out. What Did You Do? Nothing Muriel Spark – The Comforters Howard Spring – Time and the Hour John Steinbeck – The Short Reign of Pippin IV Rex Stout Three for the Chair If Death Ever Slept Julian Symons – The Colour of Murder Elizabeth Taylor – Angel Kay Thompson – Eloise in Paris Roger Vailland – La Loi Jack Vance – Big Planet Arved Viirlaid – Seitse kohtupäeva (Seven Days of Trial) Henry Wade – The Litmore Snatch Evelyn Waugh – The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold Patrick White – Voss Angus Wilson – A Bit Off the Map John Wyndham – The Midwich Cuckoos Ivan Yefremov – Andromeda Nebula Frank Yerby – Fairoaks
Children and young people Mabel Esther Allan – Ballet for DrinaHahn 2015, p. 20 Gillian Avery – The Warden's NieceHahn 2015, p. 43 Rev. W. Awdry – The Eight Famous Engines (twelfth in The Railway Series of 42 books by him and his son Christopher Awdry) Narain Dixit – Khar Khar Mahadev (serialized) Aileen Fisher – A Lantern in the Window Edward Gorey – The Doubtful Guest Éva Janikovszky – Csip-csup (Piffling) Tove Jansson – Moominland Midwinter (Trollvinter) Harold Keith – Rifles for WatieHahn 2015, p. 321 Elinor Lyon – Daughters of Aradale William Mayne – A Grass RopeHahn 2015, p. 382 Otfried Preußler – Die kleine Hexe (The Little Witch) Dr. Seuss The Cat in the HatHahn 2015, p. 528 How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Pat Smythe – Jacqueline Rides for a Fall (first of the Three Jays series of seven books) Elizabeth George Speare – Calico Captive Tomi Ungerer – The Mellops Go Flying Dare Wright – The Lonely Doll
Drama Samuel Beckett – Endgame and Act Without Words I (first performed); All That Fall and From an Abandoned Work (first broadcast of both) Dorothy and Michael Blankfort – Monique Emilio Carballido – El censo William Douglas Home – The Iron Duchess Christopher Fry – The Dark is Light Enough Jean Genet – The Balcony (Le Balcon) Günter Grass – Flood (Hochwasser) Graham Greene – The Potting Shed Michael Clayton Hutton – Silver Wedding William Inge – The Dark at the Top of the Stairs Errol John – Moon on a Rainbow Shawl Bernard Kops – The Hamlet of Stepney Green John Osborne The Entertainer Epitaph for George Dillon Harold Pinter – The Dumb Waiter (written) N. F. Simpson – A Resounding Tinkle Wole Soyinka – The Invention Boris Vian – Les Bâtisseurs d'Empire (The Empire Builders) Tennessee Williams Baby Doll Orpheus Descending
Poetry Robert E. Howard – Always Comes Evening Ted Hughes – The Hawk in the Rain Pier Paolo Pasolini – Le ceneri di Gramsci Octavio Paz – Piedra de Sol Jibanananda Das – Rupasi Bangla Robert Penn Warren – Promises: Poems, 1954–1956. Won National Book Award for Poetry – Won 1958 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
Non-fiction Abdelmajid Benjelloun – Fī l-Ṭufūla B. R. Ambedkar (died 1956) – The Buddha and His Dhamma G. E. M. Anscombe – Intention Catherine Drinker Bowen – The Lion and the Throne: The Life and Times of Sir Edward Coke (1552–1634). Wins 1958 National Book Award for Nonfiction Gerald Brenan – South from Granada: Seven Years in an Andalusian Village M. Đilas – The New Class Will Durant – The Reformation. Nominated for National Book Award for Nonfiction Elisabeth Elliot – Through Gates of Splendor Charles Evans – Kangchenjunga: The Untrodden Peak Douglas Southall Freeman – George Washington: A Biography. Wins 1958 Pulitzer Prize for Biography; nominated for National Book Award for Nonfiction Northrop Frye – Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays Patience Gray and Primrose Boyd – Plats du jour, illustrated by David Gentleman Louis M. Hacker – Alexander Hamilton in the American. Nominated for National Book Award for Nonfiction Bray Hammond – Banks and Politics in America. Won 1958 Pulitzer Prize for History Gilbert Highet – Poets in a Landscape. Nominated for 1958 National Book Award for Nonfiction Richard Hoggart – The Uses of Literacy Eric John Holmyard – Alchemy Stuart Holroyd – Emergence from Chaos Ernst Kantorowicz – The King's Two Bodies Henry Kissinger – Nuclear Weapons and Foreign Policy. Nominated for National Book Award for Nonfiction Primo Levi – If This Is a Man (Se Questo è un Uomo) Art Linkletter – Kids Say the Darndest Things Christopher Lloyd – The Mixed Border Mary McCarthy – Memories of a Catholic Girlhood. Nominated for National Book Award for Nonfiction Tom Maschler (ed.) – Declaration (anthology) Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley – The Untouchables Iris Origo – The Merchant of Prato (life and commercial career of Francesco di Marco Datini) Walt Whitman Rostow & Max F. Milliken – A Proposal: Key to an Effective Foreign Policy. Nominated for National Book Award for Nonfiction Jean-Paul Sartre – Search for a Method (Questions de méthode) David Schoenbrun – As France Goes. Nominated for National Book Award for Nonfiction Rodolfo Walsh – Operación Masacre Ian Watt – The Rise of the Novel: Studies in Defoe, Richardson and Fielding Alan Watts – The Way of Zen K. A. Wittfogel – Oriental Despotism
Births January 7 – Nicholson Baker, American novelist January 16 – Stella Tillyard, English writer and historian January 22 – Francis Wheen, English journalist and author January 27 – Frank Miller, American comic-book cartoonist and scriptwriter February 11 – Mitchell Symons, English writer and journalist February 15 – Shahriar Mandanipour, Iranian writer March 3 – Nicholas Shakespeare, English novelist and biographer March 7 – Robert Harris, English novelist and current-affairs writer March 20 – John Grogan, American journalist and non-fiction writer March 23 – Ananda Devi, Mauritian francophone fiction writer and poet March 26 – Paul Morley, English music journalist March 29 – Elizabeth Hand, American science fiction and fantasy writer April 3 Rainer Karlsch, German historian Unni Lindell, Norwegian novelist May 13 – Koji Suzuki, Japanese author and screenwriter May 17 – Peter Høeg, Danish novelist May 23 – Craig Brown, English satirist