1859 in literature
Encyclopedia
The year 1859 in literature involved some significant new books.
Events
- 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...
's novel Adam BedeAdam BedeAdam Bede, the first novel written by George Eliot , was published in 1859. It was published pseudonymously, even though Evans was a well-published and highly respected scholar of her time...
is accused of being the "vile outpourings of a lewd woman's mind" in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and IrelandUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and IrelandThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....
and was consequently withdrawn from libraries. - 30 April - 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...
's new weekly magazine All the Year RoundAll the Year RoundAll the Year Round was a Victorian periodical, being a British weekly literary magazine founded and owned by Charles Dickens, published between 1859 and 1895 throughout the United Kingdom. Edited by Dickens, it was the direct successor to his previous publication Household Words, abandoned due to...
is published for the first time, succeeding Household WordsHousehold WordsHousehold Words was an English weekly magazine edited by Charles Dickens in the 1850s which took its name from the line from Shakespeare "Familiar in his mouth as household words" — Henry V.-History:...
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New books
- R. M. BallantyneRobert Michael BallantyneR. M. Ballantyne was a Scottish juvenile fiction writer.Born Robert Michael Ballantyne in Edinburgh, he was part of a famous family of printers and publishers. At the age of 16 he went to Canada and was six years in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company...
-The World of Ice - 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...
- A Tale of Two CitiesA Tale of Two CitiesA Tale of Two Cities is a novel by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. With well over 200 million copies sold, it ranks among the most famous works in the history of fictional literature.... - Fyodor DostoevskyFyodor DostoevskyFyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoyevsky was a Russian writer of novels, short stories and essays. He is best known for his novels Crime and Punishment, The Idiot and The Brothers Karamazov....
- The Village of StepanchikovoThe Village of StepanchikovoСело Степанчиково и его обитатели or The Village of Stepanchikovo is a novel written by Fyodor Dostoyevsky and first published in 1859... - 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...
- Adam BedeAdam BedeAdam Bede, the first novel written by George Eliot , was published in 1859. It was published pseudonymously, even though Evans was a well-published and highly respected scholar of her time...
- The Lifted VeilThe Lifted VeilThe Lifted Veil is a novella by George Eliot, first published in 1859. Quite unlike the realistic fiction for which Eliot is best known, The Lifted Veil explores themes of extrasensory perception, the essence of physical life, possible life after death, and the power of fate...
- Adam Bede
- Ivan GoncharovIvan GoncharovIvan Alexandrovich Goncharov was a Russian novelist best known as the author of Oblomov .- Biography :Ivan Goncharov was born in Simbirsk ; his father was a wealthy grain merchant and respected official who was elected mayor of Simbirsk several times...
- OblomovOblomovOblomov is the best known novel by Russian writer Ivan Goncharov, first published in 1859. Oblomov is also the central character of the novel, often seen as the ultimate incarnation of the superfluous man, a symbolic character in 19th-century Russian literature... - Mary Jane Holmes - Dora Deane
- Hector MalotHector MalotHector Malot was a French writer born in La Bouille, Seine-Maritime. He studied law in Rouen and Paris, but eventually literature became his passion. He worked as a dramatic critic for Lloyd Francais and as a literary critic for L'Opinion Nationale.His first book, published in 1859, was Les...
- Les AmantsLes AmantsThe Lovers is a 1958 French film about adultery and rediscovering human love, directed by Louis Malle and starring Jeanne Moreau. It was Malle's second feature film, made when he was 25 years old. The film was a box office hit in France when released theatrically gaining 2,594,160 Admissions in... - George MeredithGeorge MeredithGeorge Meredith, OM was an English novelist and poet of the Victorian era.- Life :Meredith was born in Portsmouth, England, a son and grandson of naval outfitters. His mother died when he was five. At the age of 14 he was sent to a Moravian School in Neuwied, Germany, where he remained for two...
- The Ordeal of Richard FeverelThe Ordeal of Richard FeverelThe Ordeal of Richard Feverel: A History of Father and Son is the earliest full-length novel by George Meredith; its subject is the inability of systems of education to control human passions... - Viktor RydbergViktor RydbergAbraham Viktor Rydberg was a Swedish writer and a member of the Swedish Academy, 1877-1895...
- The Last Athenian - Harriet Beecher StoweHarriet Beecher StoweHarriet Beecher Stowe was an American abolitionist and author. Her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin was a depiction of life for African-Americans under slavery; it reached millions as a novel and play, and became influential in the United States and United Kingdom...
- The Minister's WooingThe Minister's WooingThe Minister's Wooing is a historical novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe, first published in 1859. Set in 18th-century New England, the novel explores New England history, highlights the issue of slavery, and critiques the Calvinist theology in which Stowe was raised... - 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...
- Family HappinessFamily HappinessFamily Happiness is an 1859 novella written by Leo Tolstoy, first published in The Russian Messenger. The story concerns the love and marriage of a young girl, Mashechka, and the much older Sergey Mikhaylych, an old family friend. After a somewhat awkward courtship, the two are married and move to... - 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...
- Home of the GentryHome of the GentryHome of the Gentry is a novel by Ivan Turgenev published in the January 1859 issue of Sovremennik. It was enthusiastically received by the Russian society and remained his least controversial and most widely-read novel until the end of the 19th century...
(Дворянское гнездо) - Harriet E. WilsonHarriet E. WilsonHarriet E. Wilson is traditionally considered the first female African-American novelist as well as the first African American of any gender to publish a novel on the North American continent...
- Our Nig
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...
- The OctoroonThe OctoroonThe Octoroon is a play by Dion Boucicault, which opened in 1859 at The Winter Garden Theatre. Boucicault adapted the play from the novel The Quadroon by Thomas Mayne Reid . It concerns the residents of a Louisiana plantation called Terrebonne. The play was very popular in its day, and sparked... - Dinabandhu MitraDinabandhu MitraDinabandhu Mitra the Bengali dramatist, was born in 1830 at village Chouberia in Gopalnagar P.S., 24 Parganas and was the son of Kalachand Mitra. His given name was Gandharva Narayan, but he changed it to Dinabandhu Mitra.-Early life:Dinabandhu Mitra's education started at a village pathshala...
- Nil DarpanNil DarpanNil Durpan is a Bengali play written by Dinabandhu Mitra in 1858-1859... - Alexander Ostrovsky - The Storm
- Aleksey PisemskyAleksey PisemskyAleksey Feofilaktovich Pisemsky was a Russian novelist and dramatist who was regarded as an equal of Ivan Turgenev and Fyodor Dostoevsky during his lifetime, but whose reputation suffered a spectacular decline in the 20th century. A realistic playwright, along with Aleksandr Ostrovsky he was...
- Gorkaya sudbina (A Bitter FateA Bitter FateA Bitter Fate , also translated as A Bitter Lot, is an 1859 realistic play by Aleksey Pisemsky. The play tackles serfdom in Russia and the social and moral divisions that it creates by means of a story that focuses on a provincial ménage à trois...
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Poetry
- See also 1859 in poetry1859 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-United Kingdom:* William Barnes:** Hwomely Rhymes ** The Song of Solomon in the Dorset Dialect...
- Edward FitzgeraldEdward FitzGerald (poet)Edward FitzGerald was an English writer, best known as the poet of the first and most famous English translation of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. The spelling of his name as both FitzGerald and Fitzgerald is seen...
-The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám - Alfred Tennyson - Idylls of the KingIdylls of the KingIdylls of the King, published between 1856 and 1885, is a cycle of twelve narrative poems by the English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson which retells the legend of King Arthur, his knights, his love for Guinevere and her tragic betrayal of him, and the rise and fall of Arthur's kingdom...
Non-fiction
- 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...
- On the Origin of SpeciesThe Origin of SpeciesCharles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, published on 24 November 1859, is a work of scientific literature which is considered to be the foundation of evolutionary biology. Its full title was On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the... - William Henry HarveyWilliam Henry HarveyWilliam Henry Harvey was an Irish botanist who specialised in algae.- Biography :William Henry Harvey was born at Summerville near Limerick, Ireland, in 1811, the youngest of 11 children. His father Joseph Massey Harvey, was a Quaker and prominent merchant...
- Phycologia AustralicaPhycologia AustralicaPhycologia Australica, written by William Henry Harvey, is one of the most important works on phycology of the 19th century.The work, published in five separate volumes between 1858 and 1863, is the result of Harvey’s extensive collecting along the Australian shores during a three year sabbatical... - 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...
, Volume 5 - 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...
- The Point of View of My Work as an AuthorThe Point of View of my Work as an AuthorThe Point of View For my Work as an Author is an autobiographical account of the 19th century Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard's use of his pseudonyms. It was written in 1848, published in part in 1851 , and published in full posthumously in 1859...
(published posthumously; first full publication) - Karl MarxKarl MarxKarl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
- Preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy - John Stuart MillJohn Stuart MillJohn Stuart Mill was a British philosopher, economist and civil servant. An influential contributor to social theory, political theory, and political economy, his conception of liberty justified the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state control. He was a proponent of...
- On LibertyOn LibertyOn Liberty is a philosophical work by British philosopher John Stuart Mill. It was a radical work to the Victorian readers of the time because it supported individuals' moral and economic freedom from the state.... - Samuel SmilesSamuel Smiles-Early life:Born in Haddington, East Lothian, Scotland, the son of Samuel Smiles of Haddington and Janet Wilson of Dalkeith, Smiles was one of eleven surviving children. The family were strict Cameronians, though when Smiles grew up he was not one of them...
- Self Help
Births
- March 8 - Kenneth GrahameKenneth GrahameKenneth Grahame was a Scottish writer, most famous for The Wind in the Willows , one of the classics of children's literature. He also wrote The Reluctant Dragon; both books were later adapted into Disney films....
, children's author (d. 1932) - March 26 - A. E. HousmanA. E. HousmanAlfred Edward Housman , usually known as A. E. Housman, was an English classical scholar and poet, best known to the general public for his cycle of poems A Shropshire Lad. Lyrical and almost epigrammatic in form, the poems were mostly written before 1900...
, poet (d. 1936) - May 2 - Jerome K. JeromeJerome K. JeromeJerome Klapka Jerome was an English writer and humorist, best known for the humorous travelogue Three Men in a Boat.Jerome was born in Caldmore, Walsall, England, and was brought up in poverty in London...
, humorous writer (d. 1927) - May 22 - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, physician and prolific writer (d. 1930)
- June 8 – Mary CholmondeleyMary CholmondeleyMary Cholmondeley was an English novelist.The daughter of the vicar at St Luke's Church in the village of Hodnet, Market Drayton, Shropshire, England, where she was born, Cholmondeley spent much of the first thirty years of her life taking care of her sickly mother...
, English writer (d. 1925) - August 4 - Knut HamsunKnut HamsunKnut Hamsun was a Norwegian author, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920. He was praised by King Haakon VII of Norway as Norway's soul....
, Nobel-Prize-winning author (d. 1952) - September 26 - Irving BachellerIrving BachellerAddison Irving Bacheller was an American journalist and writer who founded the first modern newspaper syndicate in the United States.- Birth and education :...
, journalist and writer (d. 1950) - October 18 - Henri BergsonHenri BergsonHenri-Louis Bergson was a major French philosopher, influential especially in the first half of the 20th century. Bergson convinced many thinkers that immediate experience and intuition are more significant than rationalism and science for understanding reality.He was awarded the 1927 Nobel Prize...
, French philosopher and winner of the 1927 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. 1941) - December 15 - L. L. ZamenhofL. L. ZamenhofLudwig Lazarus Zamenhof December 15, 1859 – April 14, 1917) was the inventor of Esperanto, the most successful constructed language designed for international communication.-Cultural background:...
, Russo-Polish initiator of EsperantoEsperantois the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto , the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887...
(d. 1917)
Deaths
- January 20 - Bettina von ArnimBettina von ArnimBettina von Arnim , born Elisabeth Catharina Ludovica Magdalena Brentano, was a German writer and novelist....
, novelist - January 21 - Henry HallamHenry HallamHenry Hallam was an English historian.-Life:The only son of John Hallam, canon of Windsor and dean of Bristol, Henry Hallam was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, graduating in 1799...
, historian - February 13 - Eliza ActonEliza ActonElizabeth "Eliza" Acton was an English poet and cook who produced one of the country's first cookbooks aimed at the domestic reader rather than the professional cook or chef, Modern Cookery for Private Families. In this book she introduced the now-universal practice of listing the ingredients and...
, cookbook author - April 14 - Lady MorganLady MorganSydney, Lady Morgan , was an Irish novelist, best known as the author of The Wild Irish Girl.-Early life:...
, novelist - April 16 - Alexis de TocquevilleAlexis de TocquevilleAlexis-Charles-Henri Clérel de Tocqueville was a French political thinker and historian best known for his Democracy in America and The Old Regime and the Revolution . In both of these works, he explored the effects of the rising equality of social conditions on the individual and the state in...
, historian and political author - April 29 - Dionysius LardnerDionysius LardnerDionysius Lardner , was an Irish scientific writer who popularised science and technology, and edited the 133-volume Cabinet Cyclopedia.-Early life in Dublin:...
, scientific writer - July 23 - Marceline Desbordes-ValmoreMarceline Desbordes-ValmoreMarceline Desbordes-Valmore was a French poet.She was born in Douai. Following the French Revolution, her family emigrated to Guadeloupe. In 1817 she married her second husband, the actor Prosper Lanchantin-Valmore....
, poet - September 2 - Delia BaconDelia BaconDelia Bacon was an American writer of plays and short stories, a sister of the Congregational minister Leonard Bacon...
, Shakespearean scholar - October 4 - Karl BaedekerKarl BaedekerKarl Baedeker was a German publisher whose company Baedeker set the standard for authoritative guidebooks for tourists.- Biography :...
, publisher - November 7 - Auguste Hilarion, politician and writer
- November 16 - William SpaldingWilliam SpaldingWilliam Spalding , British author, was born in Aberdeen.He was educated at the grammar school there and at Marischal College, and he went in 1830 to Edinburgh, where he was called to the bar in 1833...
, literary critic - November 20 - Mountstuart ElphinstoneMountstuart ElphinstoneMountstuart Elphinstone was a Scottish statesman and historian, associated with the government of British India. He later became the Governor of Bombay where he is credited with the opening of several educational institutions accessible to the Indian population...
, historian - November 28 - 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...
, author - December 8 - Thomas de QuinceyThomas de QuinceyThomas Penson de Quincey was an English esssayist, best known for his Confessions of an English Opium-Eater .-Child and student:...
, opium-eating author - December 16 - Wilhelm GrimmWilhelm GrimmWilhelm Carl Grimm was a German author, the younger of the Brothers Grimm.-Life and work:...
, collector of fairy-tales - December 28 - Thomas Macaulay, poet, historian and politician