1920 in literature

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The year 1920 in literature involved some significant events and new books.

[edit] Events

"Hercule Poirot" makes his first appearance.
Beyond the Horizon, Eugene O'Neill's first full-length play, opens at a special matinee at the Morosco Theater on February 2 – partly as an experiment on the part of the producer, partly to quiet the pleading of actor Richard Bennett who has demanded a chance to play the lead role. Reviewers hail the play and O'Neill becomes famous. The Emperor Jones is staged in November.
This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald is published. It is a sensation, immediately establishing Fitzgerald as a writer and celebrity. Though the book's reputation will dim in later years, Dorothy Parker will recall that it was regarded as an innovative work when it first appeared.
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton is published.
Main Street by Sinclair Lewis is published.
D. H. Lawrence publishes Women in Love.
Hart Crane publishes his poem My Grandmother's Love Letters in The Dial. This is his first real step towards recognition as a poet.
Van Wyck Brooks publishes The Ordeal of Mark Twain, arguing that Twain's genius was perverted by the conditions and culture of late 19th-century America. This is the beginning of the reassessment of Mark Twain, who until this point has been regarded primarily as a humorous entertainer. The 1920s will force a reconsideration of many 19th-century writers, most importantly Melville and Dickinson.

January 2 - Paul Adam, French novelist (b. 1862
January 4 - Benito Pérez Galdós, Spanish novelist (b. 1843))
January 18 - Giovanni Capurro, Italian poet (b. 1825)
March 15 - Edith Holden, diarist and illustrator (b. 1871) (drowned)
March 26 - Mary Augusta Ward, novelist (b. 1981)
May 11 - William Dean Howells, American writer (b. 1837)
May 21 - Eleanor H. Porter, American novelist (b. 1868)
June 5
- Rhoda Broughton, Welsh novelist (b. 1840)
- Julia A. Moore, American poet (b. 1847)
June 14 - Max Weber, German political economist (b. 1864)
June 27 - Adolphe Basile Routhier, Canadian poet (b. 1839)
October 19 - John Reed, American journalist (b. 1887)
November 22 - Manuel Pérez y Curis, Uruguayan poet (b. 1884)