1955 in literature

Events

• First issue of "The Guinness Book of Records[?]" published.

• The Ginger Man[?] by J. P. Donleavy[?] is published. In 2001, the book would be named as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century by the editorial board of the American Modern Library.

• Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov is published. In 2001, the novel would be one of two books by Nabokov to be on the list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century as selected by the editorial board of the American Modern Library.

New Books

• The Acceptance World[?] - Anthony Powell
• Andersonville - MacKinlay Kantor[?]
• Auntie Mame - Patrick Dennis[?]
• Bonjour Tristesse[?] - Françoise Sagan[?]
• The Chrysalids[?] - John Wyndham
• The End of Eternity - Isaac Asimov
• Essays in the Public Philosophy[?] - Walter Lippmann
• The Ginger Man[?] - J. P. Donleavy[?]
• A Good Man is Hard to Find[?] - Flannery O'Connor
• Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
• The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne[?] - Brian Moore[?]
• The Lord of the Rings : The Return of the King - J. R. R. Tolkien
• The Magician's Nephew - C.S. Lewis
• The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit[?] - Sloan Wilson[?]
• Marjorie Morningstar[?] - Herman Wouk[?]
• Moonraker - Ian Fleming
• No Time for Sergeants[?] - Mac Hyman[?]
• Not As a Stranger[?] - Morton Thompson[?]
• Notes of a Native Son[?] - James Baldwin
• The October Country[?] - Ray Bradbury
• Pedro Paramo[?] - Juan Rulfo
• The Quiet American[?] - Graham Greene
• Scuffy the Tugboat[?] - Gertrude Crampton[?]
• Something of Value[?] - Robert Ruark[?]
• The Talented Mr. Ripley[?] - Patricia Highsmith
• Ten North Frederick[?] - John O'Hara
• The Tontine[?] - Thomas B. Costain
• The Tree of Man[?] - Patrick White
• Tunnel in the Sky - Robert Heinlein

Births

• January 12 - Rockne O'Bannon, writer, producer
• January 13 - Jay McInerney[?], writer
• February 8 - John Grisham, novelist
• Tor Norretranders, science author

Deaths

• January 20 - Robert P. Tristram Coffin[?], poet, essayist, novelist
• August 12 - Thomas Mann

Awards

• Newberry Medal for children's literature: Meindert Dejong[?], The Wheel on the School
• Nobel Prize for Literature: Halldór Kiljan Laxness
• Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Tennessee Williams, Cat on A Hot Tin Roof
• Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: William Faulkner - A Fable
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Wallace Stevens: Collected Poems