1858 in literature
Encyclopedia
The year 1858 in literature involved some significant new books.
Poetry
Events
- 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...
marries and becomes creative director of OsloOsloOslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
's National Theater. - Charles BaudelaireCharles BaudelaireCharles Baudelaire was a French poet who produced notable work as an essayist, art critic, and pioneering translator of Edgar Allan Poe. His most famous work, Les Fleurs du mal expresses the changing nature of beauty in modern, industrializing Paris during the nineteenth century...
's study on Théophile GautierThéophile GautierPierre Jules Théophile Gautier was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, art critic and literary critic....
is published in Revue contemporaine. - John RuskinJohn RuskinJohn Ruskin was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects ranging from geology to architecture, myth to ornithology, literature to education, and botany to political...
meets Rose la ToucheRose la ToucheRose La Touche was the pupil, cherished student, "pet," and ideal from which John Ruskin based Sesame and Lilies .- Introduction to John Ruskin :...
. - The third Royal Opera HouseRoyal Opera HouseThe Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
in Covent GardenCovent GardenCovent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
, designed by Edward Middleton BarryEdward Middleton BarryEdward Middleton Barry was an English architect of the 19th century.-Biography:Edward Barry was the third son of Sir Charles Barry, born in his father's house, 27 Foley Place, London. In infancy he was delicate, and was placed under the care of a confidential servant at Blackheath...
, opens on May 15. It was rebuilt after the fire of 1856 destroyed the second theatre (as the fire of 1808 had destroyed the first).
New books
- Bjørnstjerne BjørnsonBjørnstjerne BjørnsonBjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson was a Norwegian writer and the 1903 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. Bjørnson is considered as one of The Four Greats Norwegian writers; the others being Henrik Ibsen, Jonas Lie, and Alexander Kielland...
- Arne - George EliotGeorge EliotMary Anne Evans , better known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, journalist and translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era...
- Scenes of Clerical LifeScenes of Clerical LifeScenes of Clerical Life is the title under which George Eliot's first published fictional work, a collection of three short stories, was released in book form, and the first of her works to be released under her famous pseudonym...
(first published in Blackwood's MagazineBlackwood's MagazineBlackwood's Magazine was a British magazine and miscellany printed between 1817 and 1980. It was founded by the publisher William Blackwood and was originally called the Edinburgh Monthly Magazine. The first number appeared in April 1817 under the editorship of Thomas Pringle and James Cleghorn...
the previous year as three short stories) - Ernest-Aimé FeydeauErnest-Aimé FeydeauErnest-Aimé Feydeau was a French writer and the father of the notorious comic playwright Georges Feydeau.He was born in Paris, and he began his literary career in 1844, by the publication of a volume of poetry, Les Nationales...
- Fanny - 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...
- HeckingtonHeckingtonHeckington is a village and civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It lies between Sleaford and Swineshead Bridge, south of the A17 road. Heckington, with 1491 households, is one of the largest villages in Lincolnshire.-History:... - Catharine Maria Sedgwick - Memoir of Joseph Curtis
- 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...
- Doctor ThorneDoctor ThorneDoctor Thorne is the third novel in Anthony Trollope's series known as the "Chronicles of Barsetshire".It is mainly concerned with the romantic problems of Mary Thorne, niece of Doctor Thomas Thorne , and Frank Gresham, the only son of the local squire, although Trollope as... - George MacDonaldGeorge MacDonaldGeorge MacDonald was a Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister.Known particularly for his poignant fairy tales and fantasy novels, George MacDonald inspired many authors, such as W. H. Auden, J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, E. Nesbit and Madeleine L'Engle. It was C.S...
- PhantastesPhantastesPhantastes: A Faerie Romance for Men and Women is a fantasy novel written by George MacDonald, first published in London in 1858. It was later reprinted in paperback by Ballantine Books as the fourteenth volume of the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series in April 1970.The story centres on the character...
New drama
- Tom TaylorTom TaylorTom Taylor was an English dramatist, critic, biographer, public servant, and editor of Punch magazine...
- Our American CousinOur American CousinOur American Cousin is an 1858 play in three acts by English playwright Tom Taylor. The play is a farce whose plot is based on the introduction of an awkward, boorish but honest American, Asa Trenchard, to his aristocratic English relatives when he goes to England to claim the family estate... - Thomas Holley ChiversThomas Holley ChiversThomas Holley Chivers was an American doctor-turned-poet from the state of Georgia. He is best known for his friendship with Edgar Allan Poe and his controversial defense of the poet after his death....
- The Sons of Usna: a Tragic Apotheosis in Five Acts, published this year
PoetryPoetryPoetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
- 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...
- Merope - Alphonse DaudetAlphonse DaudetAlphonse Daudet was a French novelist. He was the father of Léon Daudet and Lucien Daudet.- Early life :Alphonse Daudet was born in Nîmes, France. His family, on both sides, belonged to the bourgeoisie. The father, Vincent Daudet, was a silk manufacturer — a man dogged through life by misfortune...
- Les Amoureuses - 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 Courtship of Miles StandishThe Courtship of Miles StandishThe Courtship of Miles Standish is an 1858 narrative poem by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow about the early days of Plymouth Colony, the colonial settlement established in America by the Mayflower Pilgrims.-Overview:... - William MorrisWilliam MorrisWilliam Morris 24 March 18343 October 1896 was an English textile designer, artist, writer, and socialist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts Movement...
- The Defence of Guinevere, and other Poems
Non-fiction
- William H. PrescottWilliam H. PrescottWilliam Hickling Prescott was an American historian and Hispanist, who is widely recognized by historiographers to have been the first American scientific historian...
- History of Philip II, volume 3 - Alfred Russel WallaceAlfred Russel WallaceAlfred Russel Wallace, OM, FRS was a British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist and biologist...
- On the Tendency of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely From the Original Type - Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. was an American physician, professor, lecturer, and author. Regarded by his peers as one of the best writers of the 19th century, he is considered a member of the Fireside Poets. His most famous prose works are the "Breakfast-Table" series, which began with The Autocrat...
- The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table
Births
- January 22 - Beatrice WebbBeatrice WebbMartha Beatrice Webb, Lady Passfield was an English sociologist, economist, socialist and social reformer. Although her husband became Baron Passfield in 1929, she refused to be known as Lady Passfield...
, political writer, wife and collaborator of Sidney Webb - March 12 - Adolph Ochs, newspaper publisher
- April 15 - Émile DurkheimÉmile DurkheimDavid Émile Durkheim was a French sociologist. He formally established the academic discipline and, with Karl Marx and Max Weber, is commonly cited as the principal architect of modern social science and father of sociology.Much of Durkheim's work was concerned with how societies could maintain...
, sociologist - June 25 – Georges CourtelineGeorges CourtelineGeorges Courteline was a French dramatist and novelist.Born Georges Victor Marcel Moinaux, in Tours in the Indre-et-Loire département, his family moved to Paris shortly after his birth...
, dramatist and novelist (d. 1929) - July 24 - Wolfgang KappWolfgang KappWolfgang Kapp was a Prussian civil servant and journalist. He was a strict nationalist, and a nominal leader of the so-called Kapp Putsch.-Early life:...
, journalist - August 3 - Paul SabatierPaul SabatierPaul Sabatier , was a French clergyman and historian who produced the first modern biography of St. Francis of Assisi. He is the brother of Auguste Sabatier....
, religious writer - November 20 - Selma LagerlöfSelma LagerlöfSelma Ottilia Lovisa Lagerlöf was a Swedish author. She was the first female writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, and most widely known for her children's book Nils Holgerssons underbara resa genom Sverige ....
Swedish writer (+ 1940) - date unknown - Sir Owen Morgan EdwardsOwen Morgan EdwardsOwen Morgan Edwards was a Welsh historian, educationalist and writer. He is often known as O. M. Edwards....
, historian and educator (+ 1920) - date unknown - William WatsonWilliam Watson (poet)Sir William Watson , was an English poet, popular in his time for the political content of his verse. He was born in Burley, in West Yorkshire....
, poet
Deaths
- January 15 - Louisa Cranstoun NisbettLouisa Cranstoun NisbettLouisa Cranstoun Nisbett , English actress, was the daughter of Frederick Hayes Macnamara, an actor, whose stage name was Mordaunt....
("Miss Mordaunt"), actress - February 13 - Hermann Heinrich GossenHermann Heinrich GossenHermann Heinrich Gossen was a Prussian economist who is often regarded as the first to elaborate a general theory of marginal utility.-Life and work:...
, economist - February 26 - Thomas TookeThomas TookeThomas Tooke was an English economist known for writing on money and his work on economic statistics. After Tooke's death the Statistical Society endowed the Tooke Chair of economics at King's College London, and a Tooke Prize.In business, he served several terms between 1840 and 1852 as governor...
, economist - May 3 - Julien Auguste Pélage BrizeuxJulien Auguste Pélage BrizeuxJulien Auguste Pélage Brizeux was a French poet. He was said to belong to a family of Irish origin, long settled in Brittany...
, poet - May 12 - Georg Benedikt WinerGeorg Benedikt WinerGeorg Benedikt Winer , German Protestant theologian, was born at Leipzig.He studied theology at Leipzig, where eventually he became professor ordinarius. From 1824 to 1830 he edited with J. G. V...
, theologian - May 17 - Frank ForesterHenry William HerbertHenry William Herbert , pen name Frank Forester, was an English novelist and writer on sport.-Biography:The son of the Hon. and Rev. William Herbert, Dean of Manchester , Herbert was born in London.He was educated at Eton College and at Caius College, Cambridge, where he graduated BA in 1830...
, novelist and sports writer - June 3 - Edward MoxonEdward MoxonEdward Moxon was a British poet and publisher, significant in Victorian literature.Moxon was born at Wakefield in Yorkshire, where his father Michael worked in the wool trade. In 1817 he left for London, joining Longman in 1821...
, poet and publisher - June 28 - Jane MarcetJane MarcetJane Marcet was a successful writer of popular introductory science books.-Life:She was born in London, one of twelve children of the merchant and banker Anthony Francis Haldimand and his wife Jane , and was tutored at home with her brothers...
, author of science textbooks - November 15 - Johanna KinkelJohanna KinkelJohanna Kinkel was a German composer, writer, and revolutionary.Kinkel was born in Bonn. In 1840, after five months of unhappy marriage, she was divorced from the Cologne bookseller Matthieux. Her second marriage, in 1843, was to the German poet Gottfried Kinkel. They had four children...
, writer and composer, wife of Gottfried KinkelGottfried KinkelJohann Gottfried Kinkel was a German poet also noted for his revolutionary activities and his escape from a Prussian prison in Spandau with the help of his friend Carl Schurz.-Early life:... - date unknown - Harriet Taylor MillHarriet Taylor MillHarriet Taylor Mill was a philosopher and women's rights advocate. Her second husband was John Stuart Mill, one of the pre-eminent thinkers of the 19th century...
, philosopher - date unknown - Robert Stephen RintoulRobert Stephen RintoulRobert Stephen Rintoul , British journalist, was born at Tibbermore, Perthshire, in 1787, and educated at the Aberdalgie parish school...
, journalist