As a soviet student, I grew up in foreign literature, mainly American and English. James Baldwin's Notes of a Native Son, Graham Green's Quiet American, Somerset Maugham, every novel -were very popular in my 1955-1960 in Russia. Also, Hemingway came a little later to me. Our translators worked very fast. The rest of the novelists I read only here because they were banned in Soviet Russia for political or individualistic points of view. Thank you for your article. It was so nostalgic to me.
It was also a heck of a year in theatre! Orson Welles’ play Moby Dick—Rehearsed premiered in London in 1955. It starred Welles, Christopher Lee, and the much underrated Patrick McGoohan. Hate I missed it.
Also published in 1955: 'The Winds of Heaven' by Monica Dickens. She writes with wonderfully non-judgemental tenderness for the character of Louise. A skilful novelist's kind of empathy. Her best novel, I think.
Glad you mentioned 'The Painted Veil' — Somerset Maugham's best novel, too.
You just know Muriel Spark must been doing something important in 1955 but she didn't actually publish anything. She did wrote her first novel, 'The Comforters' in 1955.
What a great post! I could live in 1955 -- and once did. I wonder if any of the most radiant New Yorker fiction -- O'Hara, Cheever, Salinger -- first appeared in 1955? It was the year I first came to consciousness. Great year for American sitcoms with ladies: Lucy, Joan Davis, Betty White. Anne Jeffreys in Topper -- and on it goes!
I enjoyed the article. I'm curious what you and others use to learn about literary chronology. I check Wikipedia's literature timeline (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_of_years_in_literature) with somewhat embarrassing frequency. (As an aside, I'm often tempted to fill in detail, but I fear that editing Wikipedia might be an even greater life-destroying distraction than Substack.)
1955: you left out The Night of the Hunter and Kiss Me Deadly!
As a soviet student, I grew up in foreign literature, mainly American and English. James Baldwin's Notes of a Native Son, Graham Green's Quiet American, Somerset Maugham, every novel -were very popular in my 1955-1960 in Russia. Also, Hemingway came a little later to me. Our translators worked very fast. The rest of the novelists I read only here because they were banned in Soviet Russia for political or individualistic points of view. Thank you for your article. It was so nostalgic to me.
It was also a heck of a year in theatre! Orson Welles’ play Moby Dick—Rehearsed premiered in London in 1955. It starred Welles, Christopher Lee, and the much underrated Patrick McGoohan. Hate I missed it.
I reckon the ‘The Painted Veil’ has the claim to the best film adaptation as well, of all the books up for their centenary. Ed Norton is sublime.
agree, great film
Also published in 1955: 'The Winds of Heaven' by Monica Dickens. She writes with wonderfully non-judgemental tenderness for the character of Louise. A skilful novelist's kind of empathy. Her best novel, I think.
Glad you mentioned 'The Painted Veil' — Somerset Maugham's best novel, too.
You just know Muriel Spark must been doing something important in 1955 but she didn't actually publish anything. She did wrote her first novel, 'The Comforters' in 1955.
omg I LOVE The Comforters! Francis Wilson has a new Spark biog coming out this year too!!
What a great post! I could live in 1955 -- and once did. I wonder if any of the most radiant New Yorker fiction -- O'Hara, Cheever, Salinger -- first appeared in 1955? It was the year I first came to consciousness. Great year for American sitcoms with ladies: Lucy, Joan Davis, Betty White. Anne Jeffreys in Topper -- and on it goes!
70th anniversary of The Chrysalids! Although aside from that and Dick’s The Solar Lottery it’s a forgettable year for SF.
And of course, it was the year of me!
I enjoyed the article. I'm curious what you and others use to learn about literary chronology. I check Wikipedia's literature timeline (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_of_years_in_literature) with somewhat embarrassing frequency. (As an aside, I'm often tempted to fill in detail, but I fear that editing Wikipedia might be an even greater life-destroying distraction than Substack.)
yeh stuff like that, general knowledge, literary histories…. anything really