1853 in literature
Encyclopedia
The year 1853 in literature involved some significant new books.
Events
- 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...
writes Bleak HouseBleak HouseBleak House is the ninth novel by Charles Dickens, published in twenty monthly installments between March 1852 and September 1853. It is held to be one of Dickens's finest novels, containing one of the most vast, complex and engaging arrays of minor characters and sub-plots in his entire canon...
, the first English novel to feature a detective. - William Wells BrownWilliam Wells BrownWilliam Wells Brown was a prominent African-American abolitionist lecturer, novelist, playwright, and historian. Born into slavery in the Southern United States, Brown escaped to the North in 1834, where he worked for abolitionist causes and was a prolific writer...
becomes the first African AmericanAfrican AmericanAfrican Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
novelist to be published.
New books
- Charlotte BrontëCharlotte BrontëCharlotte Brontë was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood, whose novels are English literature standards...
- VilletteVillette (novel)Villette is a novel by Charlotte Brontë, published in 1853. After an unspecified family disaster, protagonist Lucy Snowe travels to the fictional city of Villette to teach at an all-girls school where she is unwillingly pulled into both adventure and romance... - William Wells BrownWilliam Wells BrownWilliam Wells Brown was a prominent African-American abolitionist lecturer, novelist, playwright, and historian. Born into slavery in the Southern United States, Brown escaped to the North in 1834, where he worked for abolitionist causes and was a prolific writer...
- Clotel; or, The President's DaughterClotelClotel; or, The President's Daughter is an 1853 novel by U.S. author and playwright William Wells Brown, an escaped slave from Kentucky who was active on the anti-slavery circuit... - Martha Haines Butt - Antifanaticism: A Tale of the SouthAntifanaticism: A Tale of the SouthAntifanaticism: A Tale of the South is an 1853 plantation fiction novel by Martha Haines Butt.- Overview :Antifanaticism is one of several examples of the plantation literature genre that appeared in reaction to the anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, which had been...
- Philip J. Cozans - Little Eva: The Flower of the SouthLittle Eva: The Flower of the SouthLittle Eva: The Flower of the South is an 1853 children's novel written by Philip J. Cozans.- Background :Little Eva is unique in being one of few known examples of children's literature that also contains elements of plantation literature, a pro-slavery literary genre that emerged in the Southern...
- 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...
- Bleak HouseBleak HouseBleak House is the ninth novel by Charles Dickens, published in twenty monthly installments between March 1852 and September 1853. It is held to be one of Dickens's finest novels, containing one of the most vast, complex and engaging arrays of minor characters and sub-plots in his entire canon... - Alexandre Dumas, pèreAlexandre Dumas, pèreAlexandre Dumas, , born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie was a French writer, best known for his historical novels of high adventure which have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world...
- The Countess de Charny - Elizabeth GaskellElizabeth GaskellElizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, née Stevenson , often referred to simply as Mrs Gaskell, was a British novelist and short story writer during the Victorian era...
- CranfordCranford (novel)Cranford is one of the better-known novels of the 19th century English writer Elizabeth Gaskell. It was first published in 1851 as a serial in the magazine Household Words, which was edited by Charles Dickens.-Plot:...
- RuthRuth (novel)Ruth is a novel by Elizabeth Gaskell, first published in three volumes in 1853.-The plot:Ruth is a young orphan girl working in a respectable sweatshop for the overworked Mrs Mason. She is selected to go to a ball to repair torn dresses. At the ball she meets the aristocratic Henry Bellingham, a...
- Cranford
- Sarah Josepha HaleSarah Josepha HaleSarah Josepha Buell Hale was an American writer and an influential editor. She is the author of the nursery rhyme "Mary Had a Little Lamb"...
- Liberia; or, Mr. Peyton's ExperimentsLiberia; or, Mr. Peyton's ExperimentsLiberia; or, Mr. Peyton's Experiments is an 1853 novel by Sarah Josepha Hale, the author of the nursery rhyme "Mary Had a Little Lamb", who wrote the novel under the name of Sara J... - Caroline Lee HentzCaroline Lee HentzCaroline Lee Whiting Hentz was an American novelist and author, most noted for her opposition to the abolitionist movement and her widely-read rebuttal to the popular anti-slavery book, Uncle Tom's Cabin...
- Helen and Arthur - Victor HugoVictor HugoVictor-Marie Hugo was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....
- Les ChâtimentsLes ChâtimentsLes Châtiments is a collection of poems by Victor Hugo that fiercely attack the grandeur of Napoléon III's Second Empire.- Historical background :... - Charles KingsleyCharles KingsleyCharles Kingsley was an English priest of the Church of England, university professor, historian and novelist, particularly associated with the West Country and northeast Hampshire.-Life and character:...
- Hypatia - Sheridan Le FanuSheridan Le FanuJoseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu was an Irish writer of Gothic tales and mystery novels. He was the leading ghost-story writer of the nineteenth century and was central to the development of the genre in the Victorian era....
- An Account of Some Strange Disturbances in Aungier Street - Maria McIntosh - The Lofty and the Lowly, or Good in All and None All GoodThe Lofty and the Lowly, or Good in All and None All GoodThe Lofty and the Lowly, or Good in All and None All Good is a novel by Maria J. McIntosh published by D. Appleton & Company in 1853. It was one of many anti-Tom novels published in response to Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. The story is set is Georgia and tells of a plantation owner's...
- Herman MelvilleHerman MelvilleHerman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. He is best known for his novel Moby-Dick and the posthumous novella Billy Budd....
- Bartleby, the Scrivener - Susanna MoodieSusanna MoodieSusanna Moodie, born Strickland , was an English-born Canadian author who wrote about her experiences as a settler in Canada, which was a British colony at the time.-Biography:...
- Life in the Clearings - J. W. Page - Uncle Robin, in His Cabin in Virginia, and Tom Without One in BostonUncle Robin, in His Cabin in Virginia, and Tom Without One in BostonUncle Robin, in His Cabin in Virginia, and Tom Without One in Boston is an 1853 novel written by J.W. Page and released by J. W...
- Charles ReadeCharles ReadeCharles Reade was an English novelist and dramatist, best known for The Cloister and the Hearth.-Life:Charles Reade was born at Ipsden, Oxfordshire to John Reade and Anne Marie Scott-Waring; William Winwood Reade the influential historian , was his nephew. He studied at Magdalen College, Oxford,...
- Christie JohnstoneChristie Johnstone (novel)Christie Johnstone is a 1853 romantic drama novel by the British writer Charles Reade. It follows the adventures of the young and wealthy aristocrat Viscount Ipsden who falls for a woman named Christie Johnstone.-Adaptation:...
- Peg Woffington
- Christie Johnstone
- Robert Smith SurteesRobert Smith SurteesRobert Smith Surtees was an English editor, novelist and sporting writer. He was the second son of Anthony Surtees of Hamsterley Hall, a member of an old County Durham family.-Early life:...
- Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour - Vidi - Mr. Frank, the Underground Mail-AgentMr. Frank, the Underground Mail-AgentMr. Frank, the Underground Mail-Agent is an 1853 parody novel written by an unknown author credited as "Vidi".- Background :Mr. Frank is an example of the pro-slavery plantation literature genre that emerged from the Southern United States in response to the abolitionist novel Uncle Tom's Cabin in...
- George J. Whyte-Melville - Digby Grand
- Charlotte Mary YongeCharlotte Mary YongeCharlotte Mary Yonge , was an English novelist, known for her huge output, now mostly out of print.- Life :Charlotte Mary Yonge was born in Otterbourne, Hampshire, England, on 11 August 1823 to William Yonge and Fanny Yonge, née Bargus. She was educated at home by her father, studying Latin, Greek,...
- The Heir of RedclyffeThe Heir of RedclyffeThe Heir of Redclyffe was the first of Charlotte M. Yonge's bestselling romantic novels. Its religious tone derives from the High Church background of her family and from her friendship with a leading figure in the Oxford Movement, John Keble, who closely supervised the writing of the book. The...
Poetry
- Álvares de AzevedoÁlvares de AzevedoManuel Antônio Álvares de Azevedo was a Brazilian Romantic poet, short story writer, playwright and essayist...
- Lira dos Vinte AnosLira dos Vinte AnosLira dos Vinte Anos is a poetry anthology written by Brazilian Romantic author Álvares de Azevedo. Originally part of a project that would be written in partnership with Aureliano Lessa and Bernardo Guimarães called As Três Liras , it was published in 1853...
(published posthumously) - Matthew ArnoldMatthew ArnoldMatthew Arnold was a British poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the famed headmaster of Rugby School, and brother to both Tom Arnold, literary professor, and William Delafield Arnold, novelist and colonial administrator...
- The Scholar GipsyThe Scholar Gipsy"The Scholar Gipsy" is a poem by Matthew Arnold, based on a 17th century Oxford story found in Joseph Glanvill's The Vanity of Dogmatizing...
Non-fiction
- Johann Herzog - Encyclopedia of Protestant Theology
- Theodor MommsenTheodor MommsenChristian Matthias Theodor Mommsen was a German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician, archaeologist, and writer generally regarded as the greatest classicist of the 19th century. His work regarding Roman history is still of fundamental importance for contemporary research...
- History of Rome - Karl Rosenkrantz - Aesthetic of UglinessAesthetic of UglinessAesthetic of Ugliness is a book by German philosopher Karl Rosenkrantz, written in 1853. It is among the earliest writings on the philosophy of ugliness and "draws an analogy between ugliness and moral evil"....
- Hippolyte TaineHippolyte TaineHippolyte Adolphe Taine was a French critic and historian. He was the chief theoretical influence of French naturalism, a major proponent of sociological positivism, and one of the first practitioners of historicist criticism. Literary historicism as a critical movement has been said to originate...
- Essai sur les fables de La Fontaine
Births
- April 23 - Thomas Nelson PageThomas Nelson PageThomas Nelson Page was a lawyer and American writer. He also served as the U.S. ambassador to Italy during the administration of President Woodrow Wilson, including the important period of World War I.-Biography:...
, novelist (+ 1922) - May 3 - Edgar Watson Howe, author and editor (+ 1937)
- May 14 - Hall CaineHall CaineSir Thomas Henry Hall Caine CH, KBE , usually known as Hall Caine, was a Manx author. He is best known as a novelist and playwright of the late Victorian and the Edwardian eras. In his time he was exceedingly popular, and at the peak of his success his novels outsold those of his...
, author (+ 1931) - William Herrick Macaulay
Deaths
- January 3 - János MajláthJános MajláthJános Majláth, or Count John , Hungarian historian and poet, was born at Pest.First educated at home, he subsequently studied philosophy at Eger and law at Gyor , his father, Count Joseph Majlath, an Austrian minister of state, eventually obtaining for him an appointment in the public service...
, poet and historian - January 26 - Sylvester JuddSylvester JuddSylvester Judd was an American novelist.-Biography:Sylvester Judd III was born on July 23, 1813, in Westhampton, Massachusetts to Sylvester Judd II and Apphia Hall. He studied at Hopkins Academy in Hadley, Massachusetts, graduated from Yale College in 1836, and from Harvard Divinity School in 1840...
, novelist - February 3 - August KopischAugust KopischAugust Kopisch , was a German poet and painter.-Biography:Kopisch was born on 26 May 1799 in Breslau, Prussia...
, poet - April 4 - James ScholefieldJames ScholefieldJames Scholefield , English classical scholar, was born at Henley-on-Thames.He was educated at Christ's Hospital and Trinity College, Cambridge, and was in 1825 appointed professor of Greek in the university...
, classicist - April 28 - Ludwig TieckLudwig TieckJohann Ludwig Tieck was a German poet, translator, editor, novelist, writer of Novellen, and critic, who was one of the founding fathers of the Romantic movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.-Early life:...
, poet, novelist and translator - May 3 - Juan Donoso CortésJuan Donoso CortésJuan Donoso Cortés, marqués de Valdegamas , Spanish author, political theorist, and diplomat, was born at Valle de la Serena...
, political author - September 5 - Georges DeppingGeorges DeppingGeorges Bernard Depping , also known as Georg Bernhard Depping, born in Münster, was a German-French historian.He went to Paris in 1803, where he lived as teacher and writer...
, historian - October 29 - Thomas Jonathan WoolerThomas Jonathan WoolerThe publisher Thomas Jonathan Wooler was active in the Radical movement of early 19th century Britain, best known for his satirical journal The Black Dwarf....
, satirist - December 2 - Amelia OpieAmelia OpieAmelia Opie, née Alderson , was an English author who published numerous novels in the Romantic Period of the early 19th century, through 1828.-Life and work:...
, poet and novelist