1939: Abraham Lincoln: the War Years to The Day of the Locust

Chronology of World, British and American Literature

Carl Sandburg. American. 1939. Biography. Abraham Lincoln: The War Years. For Sandburg, Lincoln was the archetypal American. Won Pulitzer Prize.

Aldous Huxley. British. 1939. Novel. After Many a Summer Dies the Swan. Discovers English earl who has used a rejuvenating system; he’s 200 years old and a filthy ape. Reverse evolution.

Thomas Mann. German. 1939. Novel. The Beloved Returns. Goethe’s youthful love returns to Weimar and encounters the old, established Goethe.

Nathanael West. American. 1939. Novel. The Day of the Locust. Hollywood. Appalling misfits living lives of monotony and boredom.