This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1934.
Events
January 7 – The first Flash Gordon comic strip is created and illustrated by Alex Raymond and published in the United States. January 25 – James Joyce's novel Ulysses, after a December acquittal (upheld on appeal in February) in United States v. One Book Called Ulysses, is first published in an authorized edition in the Anglophone world by Random House of New York City. It has 12,000 advance sales. January – B. Traven's novel The Death Ship (Die Totenschiff, 1926) first appears in English. February – Stefan Zweig flees Austria and settles in London. February 6 – The February 6 riots in France, partly provoked by a performance of Shakespeare's Coriolanus by the Comédie-Française, will become the focus of a cult in the works of far-right authors, notably Death on Credit by Louis-Ferdinand Céline (1936) and Gilles by Pierre Drieu La Rochelle (1939). Also in 1934, Drieu announces his conversion to fascism, with the essay Socialisme fasciste. March 16 and October 5 – P. G. Wodehouse's Thank You, Jeeves and Right Ho, Jeeves, the first full-length novels to feature Jeeves, are published. April – F. Scott Fitzgerald's fourth and final completed novel, Tender Is the Night, appears in book form in New York, after serialization since January in the monthly Scribner's Magazine. April 3 – The English literary biographer Thomas Wright (of Olney) first publishes, in the Daily Express, some facts about Charles Dickens' relations with the actress Ellen Ternan. April 6 – Rudyard Kipling and W. B. Yeats are awarded the Gothenburg Prize for Poetry. May 1 – The first officially designated Thingplatz for the performance of Thingspiele is dedicated in the Brandberge in Halle (Nazi Germany). May 16–17 – In the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin orders the NKVD to "preserve but isolate" Osip Mandelstam, after having been informed of the "Stalin Epigram"; Mandelstam is then arrested. A protest by literary figures, including Anna Akhmatova and Boris Pasternak, prompts Stalin to declare that he might "review the case" (he never will). His admiration for Pasternak as a poetic genius is strengthened when the latter asks for a private meeting to discuss "life and death" — although he never grants it, he instructs the NKVD to "leave that cloud-dweller [Pasternak] alone". June A medieval manuscript of Le Morte d'Arthur used by Caxton is identified in the Fellows' Library of Winchester College (England) by the bibliophile Walter Fraser Oakeshott. The English poet Laurie Lee walks out one midsummer morning from his Gloucestershire home, bound for Spain. Two notable gentleman detectives of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, set in England, appear for the first time in print, later to have whole series written about them. The first to feature Inspector Roderick Alleyn of Scotland Yard is A Man Lay Dead by Ngaio Marsh, at this time resident in her native New Zealand, published in London. The first Sir Henry Merrivale locked room mystery, The Plague Court Murders, appears from John Dickson Carr, at this time resident in the UK and writing as "Carter Dickson", in New York around early June. It is followed in December by The White Priory Murders. July 17 – The circular Manchester Central Library, England, opens. August – Boris Pasternak and Korney Chukovsky are among those at the first Congress of the Union of Soviet Writers. September – Henry Miller's novel Tropic of Cancer is published in Paris by the Obelisk Press. The United States Customs Service prohibits imports of it. September 4 – Evelyn Waugh's novel A Handful of Dust is first published in full. October 22 – A new Cambridge University Library, designed by Giles Gilbert Scott, opens in England. October 24 – The first of Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe detective novels, Fer-de-Lance, is published in New York, and abridged in the November The American Magazine as "Point of Death." November 20 – Lillian Hellman's first successful play, The Children's Hour, dealing with a theme of accusations of lesbianism, opens at the Maxine Elliott Theatre on Broadway in New York, where it will run for two years. December 25 – The Romanian novelist Panait Istrati, a former communist, begins his collaboration with the quasi-fascist Cruciada Românismului with a polemic against antisemitism. The weekly newspaper, edited by Mihai Stelescu and Alexandru Talex, later hosts pieces by Constantin Virgil Gheorghiu. Unknown date – The first three volumes of Mikhail Sholokhov's novel And Quiet Flows the Don first appear in English under this title.
New books Fiction M. Ageyev – Cocain Romance (Roman s kokainom) Edwin Balmer and Philip Wylie – After Worlds Collide Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay – Pother Kanta Samuel Beckett – More Pricks Than Kicks Phyllis Bottome – Private Worlds Marjorie Bowen – Moss Rose Ernest Bramah – The Bravo of London James Branch Cabell – Smirt John Brophy – Waterfront James M. Cain – The Postman Always Rings Twice Morley Callaghan – Such Is My Beloved Victor Canning – Mr. Finchley Discovers His England Willy Corsari – (Return to Thera, introduces Inspector Lund, the archetypal Dutch detective) John Dickson Carr The Blind Barber The Eight of Swords The Bowstring Murders (as Carr Dickson/Carter Dickson) The Plague Court Murders (as Carter Dickson) The White Priory Murders (as Carter Dickson) Devil Kinsmere (as Roger Fairbairn) Gabriel Chevallier – Clochemerle Agatha Christie Murder on the Orient Express (book publication, features Hercule Poirot) Why Didn't They Ask Evans? (full book publication) The Listerdale Mystery (short stories) Parker Pyne Investigates (short stories) Unfinished Portrait (as Mary Westmacott) G.D.H. Cole and Margaret Cole – Death in the Quarry Colette – Duo J.J. Connington – The Ha-Ha Case Freeman Wills Crofts The 12.30 from Croydon Mystery on Southampton Water Henry de Montherlant – Les Célibataires (The Bachelors) Isak Dinesen – Seven Gothic Tales Pierre Drieu La Rochelle – The Comedy of Charleroi (La Comédie de Charleroi, linked short stories) Max Ernst – Une semaine de bonté (A Week of Kindness, graphic novel) F. Scott Fitzgerald – Tender Is the Night Carlo Emilio Gadda – Il castello di Udine Jeanne Galzy – Jeunes Filles en serre chaude (Young girls in a greenhouse) Anthony Gilbert – An Old Lady Dies Jean Giono – The Song of the World Robert Graves – I, Claudius Graham Greene – It's a Battlefield Walter Greenwood – His Worship the Mayor Harold Heslop The Crime of Peter Ropner Goaf (English version) Robert Hichens – The Power To Kill James Hilton – Goodbye, Mr. Chips Richard Hull – The Murder of My Aunt Zora Neale Hurston – Jonah's Gourd Vine: A Novel F. Tennyson Jesse – A Pin to See the Peepshow D. Gwenallt Jones – Plasau'r Brenin John Knittel – Via Mala Ronald Knox – Still Dead Halldór Laxness – Independent People (Sjálfstætt fólk) — Part I, Icelandic Pioneers (Landnámsmaður Íslands) Alexander Lernet-Holenia – The Standard Eiluned Lewis – Dew on the Grass Eric Linklater – Magnus Merriman E. C. R. Lorac Murder in Chelsea Murder in St. John's Wood Marie Belloc Lowndes Another Man's Wife The Chianti Flask Compton Mackenzie – The Darkening Green Ngaio Marsh – A Man Lay Dead Alan Melville Quick Curtain Weekend at Thrackley Henry Miller – Tropic of Cancer Gladys Mitchell – Death at the Opera Leopold Myers – Rajah Amar Vladimir Nabokov – Despair Carolina Nabuco – A Sucessora John O'Hara – Appointment in Samarra E. Phillips Oppenheim The Man Without Nerves The Spy Paramount The Strange Boarders of Palace Crescent George Orwell – Burmese Days John Cowper Powys Autobiography Weymouth Sands Ellery Queen – The Chinese Orange Mystery Henry Roth – Call It Sleep Rafael Sabatini – Venetian Masque Dorothy L. Sayers – The Nine Tailors Bruno Schulz – The Street of Crocodiles (short stories, Sklepy cynamonowe – Cinnamon Shops – in December 1933, dated 1934) Mihail Sebastian – De două mii de ani (For Two Thousand Years) J. Slauerhoff – Het leven op aarde (Life on Earth) Howard Spring – Shabby Tiger Irving Stone – Lust for Life Rex Stout – Fer-de-Lance Cecil Street Poison for One The Robthorne Mystery Shot at Dawn Ruth Suckow – The Folks Phoebe Atwood Taylor The Mystery of the Cape Cod Tavern Sandbar Sinister 'Torquemada' – Cain's Jawbone Thomas F. Tweed – Blind Mouths S. S. Van Dine The Casino Murder Case The Dragon Murder Case Simon Vestdijk – Terug tot Ina Damman (Return to Ina Damman, first published of the Anton Wachter cycle) Henry Wade – Constable Guard Thyself Evelyn Waugh – A Handful of Dust Nathanael West – A Cool Million Dennis Wheatley – The Devil Rides Out Dorothy Whipple – They Knew Mr. Knight P. G. Wodehouse Thank You, Jeeves Right Ho, Jeeves S. Fowler Wright David Prelude in Prague: The War of 1938 Who Else But She? (as Sydney Fowler) V. M. Yeates – Winged Victory Francis Brett Young – This Little World Marguerite Yourcenar – A Coin in Nine Hands (Denier du rêve) Louis Aragon – The Bells of Basel (Les Cloches de Bâle)
Children and young people Edgar Rice Burroughs – Tarzan and the Lion Man Elena Fortún – Celia en el mundo (Celia in the World) Hergé – Cigars of the Pharaoh (Les Cigares du pharaon) Capt. W. E. Johns – Biggles of the Camel Squadron Lorna Lewis – The Little French Poodle Constantin S. Nicolăescu-Plopșor – Paramiseà romanè (anthology) Arthur Ransome – Coot Club Hilda van Stockum – A Day on Skates William Woodthorpe Tarn – The Treasure of the Isle of Mist P. L. Travers – Mary Poppins (first in Mary Poppins series of eight books) Geoffrey Trease – Bows Against the Barons
Drama Tawfiq al-Hakim – Shahrazad (Scheherazade) James Bridie – Mary Read Cao Yu – Thunderstorm (雷雨, Léiyǔ) Winifred Carter – The Queen Who Kept Her Head Max Catto – French Salad Jean Cocteau – The Infernal Machine Federico García Lorca – Yerma Ian Hay – Admirals All Lillian Hellman – The Children's Hour Frederick J. Jackson – The Bishop Misbehaves Pär Lagerkvist – Bödeln (The Hangman; dramatization) Eberhard Wolfgang Möller – Rothschild siegt bei Waterloo Ayn Rand – Night of January 16th (first performed as Woman on Trial) Lawrence Riley – Personal Appearance Dodie Smith – Touch Wood John Van Druten – Flowers of the Forest Paul Vulpius (Ladislas Fodor and Hans Adler) – Youth at the Helm
Poetry
Vladimir Cavarnali – Poesii (Poems) Constantin S. Nicolăescu-Plopșor – Ghileà romanè (anthology) Dylan Thomas – 18 Poems
Non-fiction Ruth Benedict – Patterns of Culture Maud Bodkin – Archetypal Patterns of Poetry: Psychological Studies of Imagination Marjorie Bowen – The Scandal of Sophie Dawes Martí de Riquer i Morera L'humanisme català (1388–1494) Humanisme i decadència en les lletres catalanes Pierre Drieu La Rochelle – Socialisme fasciste (Fascist Socialism) Daphne du Maurier – Gerald: A Portrait Julius Evola – Il Mistero del Graal e la Tradizione Ghibellina dell'Impero (The Mystery of the Grail) Emma Goldman – Living My Life Aldous Huxley – Beyond the Mexique Bay Nicolae Iorga Byzance après Byzance Histoire de la vie byzantine Orizonturile mele. O viață de om așa cum a fost Hugh Kingsmill – The Sentimental Journey: A Life of Charles Dickens Cornelia Meigs – Invincible Louisa: The Story of the Author of Little Women A. A. Milne – Peace with Honour Paul Otlet – Traité de Documentation Karl Popper – The Logic of Scientific Discovery J. B. Priestley – English Journey Amber Reeves – The Nationalisation of Banking Antal Szerb – A magyar irodalom története (History of Hungarian literature) H. G. Wells – An Experiment in Autobiography
Births January 4 – Hellmuth Karasek, German journalist, literary critic and novelist (died 2015) January 8 – Alexandra Ripley, American novelist (died 2004) January 12 Ebrahim Nafae, Egyptian journalist (died 2018) Alan Sharp, Scottish-American screenwriter and author (died 2013) January 18 – Raymond Briggs, English writer and illustrator (died 2022) February 10 Fleur Adcock, New Zealand-born poet (died 2024)