1855 in literature
Encyclopedia
The year 1855 in literature involved some significant new books.
Events
- July 4 - In Brooklyn, New York, Walt WhitmanWalt WhitmanWalter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse...
's first edition of his book of poems titled Leaves of GrassLeaves of GrassLeaves of Grass is a poetry collection by the American poet Walt Whitman . Though the first edition was published in 1855, Whitman spent his entire life writing Leaves of Grass, revising it in several editions until his death...
is published. - Thomas Babington Macaulay's best-selling History of EnglandHistory of EnglandThe history of England concerns the study of the human past in one of Europe's oldest and most influential national territories. What is now England, a country within the United Kingdom, was inhabited by Neanderthals 230,000 years ago. Continuous human habitation dates to around 12,000 years ago,...
in four volumes is completed. - 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...
publishes the first installment of Little DorritLittle DorritLittle Dorrit is a serial novel by Charles Dickens published originally between 1855 and 1857. It is a work of satire on the shortcomings of the government and society of the period....
(in installments through 1857). - The Daily Telegraph newspaper begins publication.
New books
- Gustav FreytagGustav FreytagGustav Freytag was a German novelist and playwright.-Life:Freytag was born in Kreuzburg in Silesia...
- Debit and Credit - 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...
- North and South - Mary Virginia Hawes - The Hidden Path
- 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...
- Robert Graham - 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...
- Wolfert's Roost - 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:...
- Westward Ho!Westward Ho! (novel)Westward Ho! is an 1855 British historical novel by Charles Kingsley, inspired in part by an Elizabethan travelogue by privateer Admiral Sir Richard Hawkins and by the Crimean War.-Plot summary:... - 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....
- Israel PotterIsrael PotterIsrael Potter: His Fifty Years of Exile is a novel by Herman Melville published in installments in Putnam's Monthly Magazine from July 1854 through March 1855, in book form by George Palmer Putnam in New York in March 1855, and in a pirated edition by George Routledge in London in May 1855...
- The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids
- Israel Potter
- Gérard de NervalGérard de NervalGérard de Nerval was the nom-de-plume of the French poet, essayist and translator Gérard Labrunie, one of the most essentially Romantic French poets.- Biography :...
- Aurelia - Ann Sophia StephensAnn S. StephensAnn Sophia Stephens was an American novelist and magazine editor. She was the author of dime novels and is credited as the progenitor of that genre.- Early life :...
- The Old HomesteadThe Old HomesteadThe Old Homestead is a 1935 American romantic western musical film directed by William Nigh.-Cast:*Mary Carlisle ... Nancy Abbott*Lawrence Gray ... Bob Shackleforth*Willard Robertson ... Uncle Jed*Dorothy Lee ... Elsie Wilson... - William Makepeace ThackerayWilliam Makepeace ThackerayWilliam Makepeace Thackeray was an English novelist of the 19th century. He was famous for his satirical works, particularly Vanity Fair, a panoramic portrait of English society.-Biography:...
- The NewcomesThe NewcomesThe Newcomes is an novel by William Makepeace Thackeray, first published in 1855.-Publication:The Newcomes was published serially over about two years, as Thackeray himself says in one of the novel's final chapters... - Leo TolstoyLeo TolstoyLev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...
- Sebastopol SketchesSebastopol SketchesSevastopol Sketches are three historical fiction short stories written by Leo Tolstoy and published in 1855 to record his experiences during the Siege of Sevastopol . The name originates from Sevastopol, a city in Crimea... - Anthony TrollopeAnthony TrollopeAnthony Trollope was one of the most successful, prolific and respected English novelists of the Victorian era. Some of his best-loved works, collectively known as the Chronicles of Barsetshire, revolve around the imaginary county of Barsetshire...
- The WardenThe WardenThe Warden is the first novel in Anthony Trollope's series known as the "Chronicles of Barsetshire", published in 1855. It was his fourth novel.-Synopsis:...
New drama
- Émile AugierÉmile AugierGuillaume Victor Émile Augier was a French dramatist. He was the thirteenth member to occupy seat 1 of the Académie française on 31 March 1857.-Biography:...
- Ménage d'Olympe - Léon GozlanLéon GozlanLéon Gozlan , was a French Jewish novelist and playwright. He was born in Marseille....
- Le Gâteau des reines - Henrik IbsenHenrik IbsenHenrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...
- The Feast at SolhaugThe Feast at SolhaugThe Feast at Solhaug is the first publicly successful drama by Henrik Ibsen. It was written in 1855 and had its premier at Det norske Theater in Bergen on January 2, 1856... - Ivan TurgenevIvan TurgenevIvan Sergeyevich Turgenev was a Russian novelist, short story writer, and playwright. His first major publication, a short story collection entitled A Sportsman's Sketches, is a milestone of Russian Realism, and his novel Fathers and Sons is regarded as one of the major works of 19th-century...
- A Month in the CountryA Month in the Country (play)A Month in the Country is a comedy in five acts by Ivan Turgenev. It was written in France between 1848 and 1850 and was first published in 1855...
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...
- The Song of HiawathaThe Song of HiawathaThe Song of Hiawatha is an 1855 epic poem, in trochaic tetrameter, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, featuring an Indian hero and loosely based on legends and ethnography of the Ojibwe and other Native American peoples contained in Algic Researches and additional writings of Henry Rowe Schoolcraft... - Walt WhitmanWalt WhitmanWalter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse...
- Leaves of GrassLeaves of GrassLeaves of Grass is a poetry collection by the American poet Walt Whitman . Though the first edition was published in 1855, Whitman spent his entire life writing Leaves of Grass, revising it in several editions until his death...
Non-fiction
- David BrewsterDavid BrewsterSir David Brewster KH PRSE FRS FSA FSSA MICE was a Scottish physicist, mathematician, astronomer, inventor, writer and university principal.-Early life:...
- Memoirs of the Life, Writings and Discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton - 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...
- The Life of George WashingtonGeorge WashingtonGeorge Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
, Volumes 1 and 2 - Eliphas LeviEliphas LeviEliphas Lévi, born Alphonse Louis Constant , was a French occult author and purported magician."Eliphas Lévi," the name under which he published his books, was his attempt to translate or transliterate his given names "Alphonse Louis" into Hebrew although he was not Jewish.His second wife was...
- Dogme et Rituel de la Haute MagieDogme et Rituel de la Haute MagieDogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie is the title of Eliphas Levi's first published treatise on ritual magic, which appeared in 1855.Levi's Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie was translated into English by Arthur Edward Waite as Transcendental Magic, its Doctrine and Ritual... - George SandGeorge SandAmantine Lucile Aurore Dupin, later Baroness Dudevant , best known by her pseudonym George Sand , was a French novelist and memoirist.-Life:...
- The Story of My Life (Histoire de ma vie) - Alfred Russel WallaceAlfred Russel WallaceAlfred Russel Wallace, OM, FRS was a British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist and biologist...
- On the Law Which has Regulated the Introduction of Species
Births
- May 1 - Marie CorelliMarie CorelliMarie Corelli was a British novelist. She enjoyed a period of great literary success from the publication of her first novel in 1886 until World War I. Corelli's novels sold more copies than the combined sales of popular contemporaries, including Arthur Conan Doyle, H. G...
(Mary Mackay) (+ 1924) - May 21 - Emile VerhaerenEmile VerhaerenEmile Verhaeren was a Belgian poet who wrote in the French language, and one of the chief founders of the school of Symbolism....
, Symbolist poet (+ 1916) - May 24 - Sir Arthur Wing PineroArthur Wing PineroSir Arthur Wing Pinero was an English actor and later an important dramatist and stage director.-Biography:...
, dramatist (+ 1934) - July 7 - Ludwig GanghoferLudwig GanghoferLudwig Ganghofer was a German writer who became famous for his homeland novels.-Biography:Born in Kaufbeuren, he graduated from a gymnasium in 1873 and subsequently worked as a fitter in Augsburg engine works...
, novelist (+ 1920) - September 12 - William SharpWilliam Sharp (writer)William Sharp was a Scottish writer, of poetry and literary biography in particular, who from 1893 wrote also as Fiona MacLeod, a pseudonym kept almost secret during his lifetime...
, poet and biographer (+ 1905) - October 30 - Pyotr GnedichPyotr GnedichPyotr Petrovich Gnedich , known also as Gnedich-Smolensky, was a Russian writer, poet, dramatist, translator, theater entrepreneur and art history scholar.He was a grandnephew of Russian poet and translator Nikolay Gnedich...
, writer and poet (+ 1925) - November 4 - William Ritchie SorleyWilliam Ritchie SorleyWilliam Ritchie Sorley was a Scottish philosopher. A Gifford Lecturer, he was one of the British Idealist school of thinkers, with interests in ethics.-Life:...
, philosopher (+ 1935) - December 15 - Maurice BouchorMaurice BouchorMaurice Bouchor was a French poet and sculptor.He was born in Paris. He published in succession Chansons joyeuses , Poèmes de l'amour et de la mer , Le Faust moderne in prose and verse, and Les Contes parisiens in verse...
, poet and sculptor (+ 1929) - December 28 - Juan Zorrilla de San MartínJuan Zorrilla de San MartínJuan Zorrilla de San Martín was a Uruguayan epic poet - he is referred as "National Poet of Uruguay" -and political figure . He is featured on the 20-peso note.-Well-known poems:...
, poet - date unknown - Solomon CleaverSolomon CleaverSolomon Cleaver was a Winnipeg minister and storyteller best known for his adaptation of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, published in 1935 as Jean Val Jean...
, storyteller and novelist
Deaths
- January 10 - 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...
, English writer - January 25 - Dorothy WordsworthDorothy WordsworthDorothy Mae Ann Wordsworth was an English author, poet and diarist. She was the sister of the Romantic poet William Wordsworth, and the two were close for all of their lives...
, poet and diarist, sister of William WordsworthWilliam WordsworthWilliam Wordsworth was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads.... - January 26 - Gérard de NervalGérard de NervalGérard de Nerval was the nom-de-plume of the French poet, essayist and translator Gérard Labrunie, one of the most essentially Romantic French poets.- Biography :...
, poet and essayist - February 4 - Gottfried Christian Friedrich LückeGottfried Christian Friedrich LückeGottfried Christian Friedrich Lücke , was a German theologian.Lucke was born at Egeln near Magdeburg, where his father was a merchant. He studied theology at Halle and Göttingen...
, theologian - March 31 - 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...
, novelist and poet - June 29 - Delphine de GirardinDelphine de GirardinDelphine de Girardin , pen name Vicomte Delaunay, was a French author.She was born at Aachen, and christened Delphine Gay. Her mother, the well-known Madame Sophie Gay, brought her up in the midst of a brilliant literary society...
, poet and novelist - November 11 - 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...
, Danish philosopher - November 26 - Adam MickiewiczAdam MickiewiczAdam Bernard Mickiewicz ) was a Polish poet, publisher and political writer of the Romantic period. One of the primary representatives of the Polish Romanticism era, a national poet of Poland, he is seen as one of Poland's Three Bards and the greatest poet in all of Polish literature...
, Poland's greatest poet - date unknown - Robert MontgomeryRobert Montgomery (poet)Robert Montgomery was an English poet, the son of Robert Gomery. He was educated at a private school in Bath, Somerset, and founded an unsuccessful weekly paper in that city. In 1828 he published The Omni-presence of the Deity, which hit popular religious sentiment so exactly that it ran through...
, poet