1839 in literature
Encyclopedia
The year 1839 in literature involved some significant new books.
Events
- Washington IrvingWashington IrvingWashington Irving was an American author, essayist, biographer and historian of the early 19th century. He was best known for his short stories "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle", both of which appear in his book The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. His historical works...
begins contributing regularly to The KnickerbockerThe KnickerbockerThe Knickerbocker, or New-York Monthly Magazine, was a literary magazine of New York City, founded by Charles Fenno Hoffman in 1833, and published until 1865 under various titles, including:...
, and will publish thirty new pieces in the magazine — including "The Creole Village," in which he will coin the phrase "the almighty dollar" — through March 18411841 in literatureThe year 1841 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:*Horace Greeley begins publication of the New York Tribune.*Punch magazine is founded in London.-New books:*William Harrison Ainsworth - Old St...
. - John RobertonJohn Roberton (1776)John Roberton was a Scottish physician and social reformer. A radical and fringe figure in the medical profession, he is best remembered for advocating the founding of a medical police to promote health and social welfare and for authoring a book that became the centre of a notorious legal...
's pseudo-medical work On Diseases of the Generative System (1811) is declared to be indecent and becomes the centre of the important British constitutional case of Stockdale v. HansardStockdale v. HansardStockdale v Hansard 9 Ad & El 1 was a case in which the Parliament of the United Kingdom unsuccessfully challenged the common law of parliamentary privilege, leading to legislative reform.-Facts:...
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New fiction
- William Harrison AinsworthWilliam Harrison AinsworthWilliam Harrison Ainsworth was an English historical novelist born in Manchester. He trained as a lawyer, but the legal profession held no attraction for him. While completing his legal studies in London he met the publisher John Ebers, at that time manager of the King's Theatre, Haymarket...
- Jack SheppardJack Sheppard (novel)Jack Sheppard is a novel by William Harrison Ainsworth serially published in Bentley's Miscellany from 1839 to 1840, with illustrations by George Cruikshank... - Charles DickensCharles DickensCharles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
- Nicholas Nickleby - Frederick MarryatFrederick MarryatCaptain Frederick Marryat was an English Royal Navy officer, novelist, and a contemporary and acquaintance of Charles Dickens, noted today as an early pioneer of the sea story...
-- Diary in America
- The Phantom ShipThe Phantom ShipThe Phantom Ship is a Gothic novel by Frederick Marryat which explores the legend of the Flying Dutchman and, in one chapter, features a werewolf....
- Harriet MartineauHarriet MartineauHarriet Martineau was an English social theorist and Whig writer, often cited as the first female sociologist....
- Deerbrook - Edgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
-- "The Fall of the House of UsherThe Fall of the House of Usher"The Fall of the House of Usher" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in September 1839 in Burton's Gentleman's Magazine. It was slightly revised in 1840 for the collection Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque...
" - "William WilsonWilliam Wilson (short story)"William Wilson" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1839, with a setting inspired by Poe's formative years outside of London. The tale follows the theme of the doppelgänger and is written in a style based on rationality...
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- "The Fall of the House of Usher
- Jules SandeauJules SandeauLeonard Sylvain Julien Sandeau was a French novelist.He was born at Aubusson , and was sent to Paris to study law, but spent much of his time in unruly behaviour with other students. He met George Sand, then Madame Dudevant, at Le Coudray in the house of a friend, and when she came to Paris in...
- Marianna - StendhalStendhalMarie-Henri Beyle , better known by his pen name Stendhal, was a 19th-century French writer. Known for his acute analysis of his characters' psychology, he is considered one of the earliest and foremost practitioners of realism in his two novels Le Rouge et le Noir and La Chartreuse de Parme...
- The Charterhouse of ParmaThe Charterhouse of ParmaThe Charterhouse of Parma is a novel published in 1839 by Stendhal.-Plot summary:The Charterhouse of Parma tells the story of the young Italian nobleman Fabrice del Dongo and his adventures from his birth in 1798 to his death... - Philip Meadows TaylorPhilip Meadows TaylorColonel Philip Meadows Taylor CSI , an Anglo-Indian administrator and novelist, was born in Liverpool, England....
- Confessions of a ThugConfessions of a Thug (novel)Confessions of a Thug is an English novel written by Philip Meadows Taylor in 1839 based on the Thuggee cult in British India. Ameer Ali, the anti-hero protagonist of Confessions of a Thug, was said to be based on a real Thug called Syeed Amir Ali , whom the author was acquainted with.Confessions...
Poetry
- Henry Wadsworth LongfellowHenry Wadsworth LongfellowHenry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline...
-- HyperionHyperion (Longfellow)Hyperion: A Romance is one of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's earliest works, published in 1839. It is a prose romance which was published alongside his first volume of poems, Voices of the Night.-Overview:...
- Voices of the Night
- Hyperion
Non-fiction
- Louis BlancLouis BlancLouis Jean Joseph Charles Blanc was a French politician and historian. A socialist who favored reforms, he called for the creation of cooperatives in order to guarantee employment for the urban poor....
- L'Organisation du Travail - Charles DarwinCharles DarwinCharles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
- The Voyage of the BeagleThe Voyage of the BeagleThe Voyage of the Beagle is a title commonly given to the book written by Charles Darwin and published in 1839 as his Journal and Remarks, bringing him considerable fame and respect... - George W. M. ReynoldsGeorge W. M. ReynoldsGeorge William MacArthur Reynolds was a British author and journalist.He was born in Sandwich, Kent, the son of Captain Sir George Reynolds, a flag officer in the Royal Navy. Reynolds was educated first at Dr. Nance's school in Ashford, Kent, and then passed on to the Royal Military College,...
- Grace Darling; or, the Heroine of the Ferne Islands - Jared SparksJared SparksJared Sparks was an American historian, educator, and Unitarian minister. He served as President of Harvard University from 1849 to 1853.-Biography:...
- Life of Washington - John TallisJohn TallisJohn Tallis was an English cartographic publisher. His company, John Tallis and Company, published views, maps and atlases in London from roughly 1838 to 1851....
- Tallis DirectoryTallis DirectoryThe Tallis Directory is the commonly used name for: A comprehensive gazetteer of Gravesend with its environs being a complete guide for visitors...to which is added a general directory of Gravesend and illustrations on steel...
Births
- January 7 - OuidaOuidaOuida was the pseudonym of the English novelist Maria Louise Ramé .-Biography:...
, English novelist (d. 1908) - February 1 - James HerneJames HerneJames A. Herne , was an American playwright, born James Ahearn. Considered by some critics to be the "American Ibsen," his controversial play Margaret Fleming is often credited with having begun modern drama in America....
, American dramatist (d. 1901) - February 22 - Francis Pharcellus ChurchFrancis Pharcellus ChurchFrancis Pharcellus Church was an American publisher and editor. He was a member of the Century Association.-Biography:...
, American editor and publisher (d. 1906) - March 16 - Sully PrudhommeSully PrudhommeRené François Armand Prudhomme was a French poet and essayist, winner of the first Nobel Prize in Literature, in 1901....
, French poet and essayist, winner of the first Nobel Prize in LiteratureNobel Prize in LiteratureSince 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...
(d. 1907) - April 18 - Henry KendallHenry Kendall (poet)Thomas Henry Kendall was a nineteenth century Australian poet.-Biography:Kendall was born near Ulladulla, New South Wales. He was registered as Thomas Henry Kendall, but never appears to have used his first name. His three volumes of verse were all published under the name of "Henry Kendall". His...
, Australian poet (d. 1882) - June 21 - Joaquim Maria Machado de AssisJoaquim Maria Machado de AssisJoaquim Maria Machado de Assis , often known as Machado de Assis, Machado, or Bruxo do Cosme Velho , was a Brazilian novelist, poet, playwright and short story writer. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer of Brazilian literature, but he did not gain widespread popularity outside Brazil in...
, Brazilian poet and novelist (d. 1908) - August 4 - Walter PaterWalter PaterWalter Horatio Pater was an English essayist, critic of art and literature, and writer of fiction.-Early life:...
, English writer (d. 1894) - August 9 - Gaston ParisGaston ParisBruno Paulin Gaston Paris , known as Gaston Paris, was a French writer and scholar.He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1901, 1902 and 1903.-Biography:Paris was born at Avenay...
, French writer and scholar (d. 1903) - September 10 - Charles Sanders Peirce, American philosopher (d. 1914)
- November 29 - Ludwig AnzengruberLudwig AnzengruberLudwig Anzengruber was an Austrian dramatist, novelist and poet. He was born and died in Vienna.- Origins:...
, Austrian dramatist (d. 1889)
Deaths
- April 11 - John Galt, Scottish novelist (b. 1779)
- May 17 - Archibald AlisonArchibald Alison (Scottish author)Archibald Alison FRS FRSE was a Scottish episcopalian priest and essayist.-Early life:He was born at Edinburgh on 13 November, 1757, to Patrick Alison, the provost of the Diocese of Edinburgh, himself a younger son of an Alison of Newhall, near Coupar Angus.After studying at the University of...
, Scottish author (b. 1757) - May 21 - José María Heredia y Campuzano, Cuban poet (b. 1803)
- September 4 - Hermann OlshausenHermann OlshausenHermann Olshausen was a German theologian.-Biography:Olshausen was born at Oldeslohe in Holstein. He was educated at the universities of Kiel and Berlin , where he was influenced by Schleiermacher and Neander...
, German theologian (b. 1796) - October 22 - Alexander OdoevskyAlexander OdoevskyAlexander Ivanovich Odoevsky was a Russian poet and playwright, one of the leading figures of the 1825 Decembrist revolt...
, Russian poet (b. 1802)