1841 in literature
Encyclopedia
The year 1841 in literature involved some significant new books.
Events
- Horace GreeleyHorace GreeleyHorace Greeley was an American newspaper editor, a founder of the Liberal Republican Party, a reformer, a politician, and an outspoken opponent of slavery...
begins publication of the New York TribuneNew York TribuneThe New York Tribune was an American newspaper, first established by Horace Greeley in 1841, which was long considered one of the leading newspapers in the United States...
. - PunchPunch (magazine)Punch, or the London Charivari was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and engraver Ebenezer Landells. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 50s, when it helped to coin the term "cartoon" in its modern sense as a humorous illustration...
magazine is founded in London.
New books
- 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...
- Old St. Paul'sOld St. Paul's (novel)Old St. Paul's is a novel by William Harrison Ainsworth serially published in 1841. It is a historical romance that describes the events of the Great Plague of London and the Great Fire of London.-Background:... - Gertrudis Gomez de AvellanedaGertrudis Gómez de AvellanedaGertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda y Arteaga was a 19th century Cuban writer.-Life:Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda y Arteaga, widely known as la Avellaneda, was born in Santa María de Puerto Príncipe , Cuba...
- Sab - Honoré de BalzacHonoré de BalzacHonoré de Balzac was a French novelist and playwright. His magnum opus was a sequence of short stories and novels collectively entitled La Comédie humaine, which presents a panorama of French life in the years after the 1815 fall of Napoleon....
- A Shady Business - Edward George Bulwer-Lytton - Night and Morning
- James Fenimore CooperJames Fenimore CooperJames Fenimore Cooper was a prolific and popular American writer of the early 19th century. He is best remembered as a novelist who wrote numerous sea-stories and the historical novels known as the Leatherstocking Tales, featuring frontiersman Natty Bumppo...
- The Deerslayer - Catherine CroweCatherine CroweCatherine Ann Crowe, née Stevens, , was an English novelist, story writer and playwright.-Life:...
- Susan Hopley - 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...
- The Old Curiosity ShopThe Old Curiosity ShopThe Old Curiosity Shop is a novel by Charles Dickens. The plot follows the life of Nell Trent and her grandfather, both residents of The Old Curiosity Shop in London....
- Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of 'Eighty
- Master Humphrey's ClockMaster Humphrey's ClockMaster Humphrey's Clock was a weekly periodical edited and written entirely by Charles Dickens and published from April 4, 1840—December 4, 1841. It began with a frame story in which Master Humphrey tells about himself and his small circle of friends , and their penchant for telling stories...
- The Old Curiosity Shop
- Catherine GoreCatherine GoreCatherine Grace Frances Gore was a British novelist and dramatist, daughter of a wine merchant at Retford, where she was born. She is amongst the well-known of the silver fork writers - authors of the Victorian era depicting the gentility and etiquette of high society.-Biography:Gore was born in...
- Adventures of a Coxcomb
- Season in Paris
- Jeremias GotthelfJeremias GotthelfAlbert Bitzius , Swiss novelist, best known by his pen name of Jeremias Gotthelf, was born at Murten, where his father was pastor.In 1804 the home was moved to Utzenstorf, a village in the Bernese Emmental...
- Uli der Knecht - 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...
- Biography and Poetical Remains of the Late Margaret Miller Davidson - 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...
- Joseph Rushbroo
- Masterman Ready
- Theodor MundtTheodor Mundtthumb|200px|Theodor MundtTheodor Mundt was a German critic and novelist. He was a member of the Young Germany group of German writers.-Biography:Born at Potsdam, Mundt studied philology and philosophy at Berlin...
- Thomas Münzer - 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 Murders in the Rue MorgueThe Murders in the Rue Morgue"The Murders in the Rue Morgue" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe published in Graham's Magazine in 1841. It has been claimed as the first detective story; Poe referred to it as one of his "tales of ratiocination". Two works that share some similarities predate Poe's stories, including Das...
" (short story) - Eugène SueEugène SueJoseph Marie Eugène Sue was a French novelist.He was born in Paris, the son of a distinguished surgeon in Napoleon's army, and is said to have had the Empress Joséphine for godmother. Sue himself acted as surgeon both in the Spanish campaign undertaken by France in 1823 and at the Battle of Navarino...
- Mathilde - Charlotte Elizabeth TonnaCharlotte Elizabeth TonnaCharlotte Elizabeth Tonna was an English evangelical Protestant writer and novelist who wrote as Charlotte Elizabeth.- Life :...
- Conformity
- Falsehood and Truth
- Helen Fleetwood: Tales of the Factories
New drama
- Dion BoucicaultDion BoucicaultDionysius Lardner Boursiquot , commonly known as Dion Boucicault, was an Irish actor and playwright famed for his melodramas. By the later part of the 19th century, Boucicault had become known on both sides of the Atlantic as one of the most successful actor-playwright-managers then in the...
- London Assurance - Robert BrowningRobert BrowningRobert Browning was an English poet and playwright whose mastery of dramatic verse, especially dramatic monologues, made him one of the foremost Victorian poets.-Early years:...
- Pippa PassesPippa PassesPippa Passes is a dramatic piece, as much play as poetry, by Robert Browning. It was published in 1841 as the first volume of his Bells and Pomegranates series, in a very inexpensive two-column edition for sixpence, and next republished in Poems in 1848, when it received much more critical attention... - Mary Russell MitfordMary Russell MitfordMary Russell Mitford , was an English author and dramatist. She was born at Alresford, Hampshire. Her place in English literature is as the author of Our Village...
- Inez de Castro
Poetry
- Alexander Pushkin - The Bronze HorsemanThe Bronze HorsemanThe Bronze Horseman is an equestrian statue of Peter the Great in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Commissioned by Catherine the Great, it was created by the French sculptor Étienne Maurice Falconet. It is also the name of a narrative poem written by Aleksandr Pushkin about the statue in 1833, widely...
- Mikhail LermontovMikhail LermontovMikhail Yuryevich Lermontov , a Russian Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called "the poet of the Caucasus", became the most important Russian poet after Alexander Pushkin's death in 1837. Lermontov is considered the supreme poet of Russian literature alongside Pushkin and the greatest...
- The Demon: An Eastern Tale - James Russell LowellJames Russell LowellJames Russell Lowell was an American Romantic poet, critic, editor, and diplomat. He is associated with the Fireside Poets, a group of New England writers who were among the first American poets who rivaled the popularity of British poets...
- A Year's Life - 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...
- ExcelsiorExcelsior (Longfellow)Excelsior is a brief poem written and published in 1841 by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The famous Sam Loyd chess problem, Excelsior, was named after this poem....
Non-fiction
- Thomas CarlyleThomas CarlyleThomas Carlyle was a Scottish satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher during the Victorian era.He called economics "the dismal science", wrote articles for the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, and became a controversial social commentator.Coming from a strict Calvinist family, Carlyle was...
- On Heroes, Hero Worship and the Heroic in History - Ralph Waldo EmersonRalph Waldo EmersonRalph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century...
- Essays - Ludwig Feuerbach - Das Wesen des Christentums (The Essence of ChristianityThe Essence of ChristianityThe Essence of Christianity is a book written by Ludwig Feuerbach and first published in 1841. It explains Feuerbach's philosophy and critique of religion. Feuerbach's theory of alienation would later be used by Karl Marx.- Influence :...
) - 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...
- Biography and Poetical Remains of the Late Margaret Miller Davidson - Søren KierkegaardSøren KierkegaardSøren Aabye Kierkegaard was a Danish Christian philosopher, theologian and religious author. He was a critic of idealist intellectuals and philosophers of his time, such as Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling and Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel...
- On the Concept of Irony with Continual Reference to SocratesOn the Concept of Irony with Continual Reference to SocratesOn the Concept of Irony with Continual Reference to Socrates is Søren Kierkegaard's university thesis paper that he submitted in 1841...
Births
- February 28 - Jean Mounet-SullyJean Mounet-SullyMounet-Sully , a French actor, was born at Bergerac. His birth name was Jean-Sully Mounet: "Mounet-Sully" was a stage name....
, actor (d. 1904) - April 6 - Ivan SurikovIvan SurikovIvan Zakharovich Surikov was a self-taught peasant poet, best known for his folklore-influenced ballads, some of which were put to music by well-known composers , while some became real folk songs.-Biography:Ivan Surikov was born in Novosyolovo village near Uglich, son of Zakhar Adrianovich...
, poet (d.1880) - May 22 - Catulle MendèsCatulle MendèsCatulle Mendès was a French poet and man of letters.Of Portuguese Jewish extraction, he was born in Bordeaux. He early established himself in Paris and promptly attained notoriety by the publication in the Revue fantaisiste of his Roman d'une nuit, for which he was condemned to a month's...
, poet (d. 1909) - June - Hermann Eduard von HolstHermann Eduard von HolstHermann Eduard von Holst was a German-American historian.-Biography:Holst was a Baltic German born at Fellin in Russian Livonia. He was the seventh of ten children of a Lutheran minister...
, historian (d. 1904) - August 4 - William Henry HudsonWilliam Henry HudsonWilliam Henry Hudson was an author, naturalist, and ornithologist.- Life and work :Hudson was born in the Quilmes, a borough of the greater Buenos Aires, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, son of settlers of U.S. origin...
, naturalist and author (d. 1922) - August 18 - Robert Williams BuchananRobert Williams BuchananRobert Williams Buchanan was a Scottish poet, novelist and dramatist.- Early life and education :He was the son of Robert Buchanan , Owenite lecturer and journalist, and was born at Caverswall, Staffordshire, England...
, author (d. 1901) - October 6 - Clement ScottClement ScottClement Scott was an influential English theatre critic for the Daily Telegraph, and a playwright and travel writer, in the final decades of the 19th century...
, critic and travel writer (d. 1916) - November 8 - John Charles DentJohn Charles DentJohn Charles Dent was a Canadian journalist, author and historian.He was born in Kendal, Westmorland, England. Shortly after his birth, his family emigrated to Canada West....
, journalist and historian (d. 1888) - November 13 - William Black, novelist (d. 1898)
Deaths
- April - James Browne, journalist and critic
- May 7 - Thomas BarnesThomas Barnes (journalist)Thomas Barnes was a British journalist, essayist, and editor. He is best known for his work with The Times which he edited from 1817 until his death in 1841.-Early life and education:...
, editor of The TimesThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International... - May 20 - Joseph Blanco WhiteJoseph Blanco WhiteJoseph Blanco White, born José María Blanco Crespo , was a Spanish theologian and poet....
, poet and theologian - July 27 - Mikhail LermontovMikhail LermontovMikhail Yuryevich Lermontov , a Russian Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called "the poet of the Caucasus", became the most important Russian poet after Alexander Pushkin's death in 1837. Lermontov is considered the supreme poet of Russian literature alongside Pushkin and the greatest...
, poet - August 11 - Johann Friedrich HerbartJohann Friedrich HerbartJohann Friedrich Herbart was a German philosopher, psychologist, and founder of pedagogy as an academic discipline....
, philosopher - September 16 - Thomas John DibdinThomas John DibdinThomas John Dibdin was an English dramatist and song-writer.Dibdin was the son of Charles Dibdin, a song-writer and theatre manager, and of Mrs Davenet, an actress whose real name was Harriet Pitt. He was apprenticed to his maternal uncle, a London upholsterer, and later to William Rawlins,...
, dramatist - October 31 - Georg Anton Friedrich AstGeorg Anton Friedrich AstGeorg Anton Friedrich Ast was a German philosopher and philologist.He was born at Gotha. Educated there and at the University of Jena, he became a privatdozent at Jena in 1802. In 1805 he became professor of classical literature in the University of Landshut, where he remained until 1826, when it...
, philologist and philosopher - December 12 - Denis-Luc FrayssinousDenis-Luc FrayssinousDenis-Antoine-Luc, comte de Frayssinous was a French prelate and statesman, orator and writer. He was the eighth member elected to occupy Seat 3 of the Académie française in 1822.-Biography:...
, theologian- Märta Helena ReenstiernaMärta Helena ReenstiernaMärta Helena Reenstierna , also von Schnell, known as Årstafrun , was a Swedish diary writer. Her diaries were written in the period 1793-1839, and are kept at the archives of Nordiska museet in Stockholm. They were published in 1946-1953 as Årstadagboken...
, diarist
- Märta Helena Reenstierna