1865 in literature
Encyclopedia
The year 1865 in literature involved some significant new books.
Events
- June 9 - 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...
is involved in the Staplehurst rail crashStaplehurst rail crashThe Staplehurst rail crash was a railway accident at Staplehurst, Kent, England, which occurred on 9 June 1865 and in which ten passengers were killed and 40 injured...
. - November 18 - Mark TwainMark TwainSamuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
's story The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras CountyThe Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County"The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" is an 1865 short story by Mark Twain, his first great success as a writer, bringing him national attention. The story has also been published as "Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog" and "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County"...
is published in a New York weekly, The Saturday PressThe Saturday Press (literary newspaper)The Saturday Press was the name of a literary weekly newspaper, published in New York from 1858 to 1860 and again from 1865 to 1866, edited by Henry Clapp, Jr....
. - Edwin Abbott AbbottEdwin Abbott AbbottEdwin Abbott Abbott , English schoolmaster and theologian, is best known as the author of the satirical novella Flatland .-Biography:...
becomes headmaster of the City of London SchoolCity of London SchoolThe City of London School is a boys' independent day school on the banks of the River Thames in the City of London, England. It is the brother school of the City of London School for Girls and the co-educational City of London Freemen's School...
at the age of 26. - Our Young Folks, an American periodical for children, publishes its first issue.
New books
- José de AlencarJosé de AlencarJosé Martiniano de Alencar was a Brazilian lawyer, politician, orator, novelist and dramatist. He is one of the most famous writers of the first generation of Brazilian Romanticism, writing historical, regionalist and Indianist romances — being the most famous The Guarani...
- IracemaIracemaIracema is one of the three indigenous novels by José de Alencar. It was first published in 1865.-Plot introduction:The story revolves around the relationship between the Tabajara indigenous woman, Iracema; and the Portuguese colonist, Martim, who was allied with the Tabajara nation's enemies, the... - 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 Lighthouse - Wilhelm BuschWilhelm BuschWilhelm Busch was an influential German caricaturist, painter, and poet who is famed for his satirical picture stories with rhymed texts....
- Max und MoritzMax and MoritzMax and Moritz is a German language illustrated story in verse. This highly inventive, blackly humorous tale, told entirely in rhymed couplets, was written and illustrated by Wilhelm Busch and published in 1865... - Lewis CarrollLewis CarrollCharles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
- Alice's Adventures in WonderlandAlice's Adventures in WonderlandAlice's Adventures in Wonderland is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures... - 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...
- Our Mutual FriendOur Mutual FriendOur Mutual Friend is the last novel completed by Charles Dickens and is one of his most sophisticated works, combining psychological insight with social analysis. It centres on, in the words of critic J. Hillis Miller, "money, money, money, and what money can make of life" but is also about human... - Mary Mapes DodgeMary Mapes DodgeMary Mapes Dodge was an American children's writer and editor, best known for her novel Hans Brinker.-Biography:...
- Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates - Edmond de Goncourt - Germinie Lacerteux
- 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:...
- Hereward the Wake - 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....
- Guy Deverell - 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...
- Alec Forbes of HowglenAlec Forbes of HowglenAlec Forbes of Howglen is a novel by George MacDonald, first published in 1865 and is primarily concerned with Scottish country life.-Synopsis:... - 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. Facey Romford's Hounds - Jules VerneJules VerneJules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...
- From the Earth to the MoonFrom the Earth to the MoonFrom the Earth to the Moon is a humorous science fantasy novel by Jules Verne and is one of the earliest entries in that genre. It tells the story of the president of a post-American Civil War gun club in Baltimore, his rival, a Philadelphia maker of armor, and a Frenchman, who build an enormous... - Emile ZolaÉmile ZolaÉmile François Zola was a French writer, the most important exemplar of the literary school of naturalism and an important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalism...
- La Confession de Claude
New drama
- Francis BurnandFrancis BurnandSir Francis Cowley Burnand , often credited as F. C. Burnand, was an English comic writer and dramatist....
- Windsor Castle - 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...
- BrandBrand (play)Brand is a play by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It is a verse tragedy, written in 1865 and first performed in Stockholm on 24 March 1867. Brand was an intellectual play that provoked much original thought....
Non-fiction
- Annals of Joseon DynastyAnnals of Joseon DynastyThe Annals of the Joseon Dynasty are the annual records of the Joseon Dynasty of Korea, which were kept from 1413 to 1865. The annals, or sillok, comprise 1,893 volumes and are thought to cover the longest continual period of a single dynasty in the world...
(final volume) - P. T. BarnumP. T. BarnumPhineas Taylor Barnum was an American showman, businessman, scam artist and entertainer, remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and for founding the circus that became the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus....
- The Humbugs of the World - 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...
- The Life of Charlotte BronteThe Life of Charlotte BronteThe Life of Charlotte Brontë is the posthumous biography of Charlotte Brontë by fellow novelist Elizabeth Gaskell. Although quite frank in many places, Gaskell suppressed details of Charlotte's love for Constantin Héger, a married man, on the grounds that it would be too great an affront to... - Jacob GrimmJacob GrimmJacob Ludwig Carl Grimm was a German philologist, jurist and mythologist. He is best known as the discoverer of Grimm's Law, the author of the monumental Deutsches Wörterbuch, the author of Deutsche Mythologie and, more popularly, as one of the Brothers Grimm, as the editor of Grimm's Fairy...
- Deutsche Sagen - 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...
- Value, Price and Profit - 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...
- Examinations of Sir William Hamilton's Philosophy - James Hutchison StirlingJames Hutchison StirlingJames Hutchison Stirling , philosopher, born in Glasgow, and educated there and at Edinburgh, where he studied medicine, which he practised until the death of his father in 1851, after which he devoted himself to philosophy....
- The Secret of HegelThe Secret of HegelThe Secret of Hegel: Being the Hegelian System in Origin Principle, Form and Matter is a philosophy book by James Hutchison Stirling.The book has influenced many British philosophers and helped to create the movement known as British idealism....
: Being the Hegelian System in Origin Principle, Form and Matter - James Hudson Taylor - China's Spiritual Need and ClaimsChina's Spiritual Need and ClaimsChina’s Spiritual Need and Claims is a book written by James Hudson Taylor, the founder of the China Inland Mission, in October, 1865. It is arguably the most significant work regarding Christian missions to China in the 19th century...
Births
- February 21 - John Haden BadleyJohn Haden BadleyJohn Haden Badley , author, educator, and founder of Bedales School, which claims to have become the first coeducational public boarding school in England in 1893....
, teacher and writer (+ 1967) - March 15 - Edith Maude EatonEdith Maude EatonSui Sin Far was an author known for her writing about Chinese people in North America and the Chinese American experience...
(Sui-Sin Far) (+ 1914) - March 20 - Arthur BayldonArthur BayldonArthur Bayldon was born in 1865, at Leeds, England. He emigrated to Australia in 1889. He was a professional athlete as well as a poet. He died in 1958.-Bibliography:*Poems *The Eagles *Collected Poems...
, poet (+ 1958) - March 29 - Stephen BonsalStephen BonsalStephen Bonsal was an American journalist, war correspondent, author, diplomat and translator.-Early life:Bonsal was born in Baltimore, Maryland. He was educated at St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire. He continued his studies in Germany at Heidelberg, Bonn and Vienna. Bonsal traveled...
, diplomat and writer (+ 1951) - June 13 - William Butler YeatsWilliam Butler YeatsWilliam Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and playwright, and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years he served as an Irish Senator for two terms...
(+ 1939) - June 26 - Bernard BerensonBernard BerensonBernard Berenson was an American art historian specializing in the Renaissance. He was a major figure in pioneering art attribution and therefore establishing the market for paintings by the "Old Masters".-Personal life:...
, art historian (+ 1959) - August 14 - Pietro GoriPietro GoriPietro Gori was an Italian lawyer, journalist, intellectual and anarchist poet. He is known for his political activities, and as author of some of the most famous anarchist songs of the late 19th century, including Addio a Lugano , Stornelli d'esilio , Ballata per Sante Caserio Pietro Gori (14...
, poet (+ 1911) - September 11 - RainisRainisRainis was the pseudonym of Jānis Pliekšāns was a Latvian poet, playwright, translator, and politician. Rainis' works include the classic plays Uguns un nakts and Indulis un Ārija , and a highly regarded translation of Goethe's Faust...
, poet and dramatist (+ 1929) - December 30 - Rudyard KiplingRudyard KiplingJoseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...
(+ 1936) - date unknown - Enrico CorradiniEnrico CorradiniEnrico Corradini was an Italian novelist, essayist, journalist and nationalist political figure.-Biography:Corradini was born near Montelupo Fiorentino, Tuscany....
, novelist and journalist (+ 1931)
Deaths
- January 11 - Jean-Baptiste-Antoine FerlandJean-Baptiste-Antoine FerlandJean-Baptiste-Antoine Ferland was a French Canadian historian.-Life:He studied at the college of Nicolet and was ordained 1828. He ministered to country parishes until 1841, when he was made director of studies in the college of Nicolet. He became its superior in 1848...
, historian - January 18 - Charles Cavendish Fulke GrevilleCharles Cavendish Fulke GrevilleCharles Cavendish Fulke Greville was an English diarist and an amateur cricketer who played first-class cricket from 1819 to 1827...
, diarist - January 19 - Pierre-Joseph ProudhonPierre-Joseph ProudhonPierre-Joseph Proudhon was a French politician, mutualist philosopher and socialist. He was a member of the French Parliament, and he was the first person to call himself an "anarchist". He is considered among the most influential theorists and organisers of anarchism...
, philosopher - January 21 - Joseph Xavier Saintine, novelist and dramatist
- February 6 - Isabella BeetonMrs BeetonIsabella Mary Beeton , universally known as Mrs Beeton, was the English author of Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management, and is one of the most famous cookery writers.-Background:...
, household management expert - February 25 - Otto Ludwig, German novelist/playwright
- April 2
- John CassellJohn CassellJohn Cassell was an English publisher, printer, writer and editor, who founded the firm Cassell & Co, famous for its educational books and periodicals, and which pioneered the serial publication of novels. He was also a well-known tea and coffee merchant and a general business entrepreneur...
, publisher - Richard CobdenRichard CobdenRichard Cobden was a British manufacturer and Radical and Liberal statesman, associated with John Bright in the formation of the Anti-Corn Law League as well as with the Cobden-Chevalier Treaty...
, political writer
- John Cassell
- April 15 - Abraham LincolnAbraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
, 16th President of the United States of America - May 14 - Pierre François Xavier de RamPierre François Xavier de RamPierre François Xavier de Ram , was a Belgian churchman, and historian, best known for being the first rector of the new Catholic University of Mechlin and then of the new Catholic University of Leuven .-Biography:De Ram entered the seminary at Mechelen, where he was ordained in 1827...
, historian - June 10 - Lydia SigourneyLydia SigourneyLydia Huntley Sigourney , née Lydia Howard Huntley, was a popular American poet during the early and mid 19th century. She was commonly known as the "Sweet Singer of Hartford". Most of her works were published with just her married name Mrs. Sigourney.-Early life:Mrs...
, poet - September 30 - Dudley CostelloDudley CostelloDudley Costello , English journalist and novelist, son of Colonel JF Costello, was born in Ireland.He was educated for the army at Sandhurst, and served for a short time in India, Canada and the West Indies. His literary and artistic tastes led him to quit the army in 1828, and he then passed some...
, journalist and novelist - November 12 - 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...
, novelist - December 1 - Abraham Emanuel FröhlichAbraham Emanuel FröhlichAbraham Emanuel Fröhlich was a Swiss poet.-Biography:He was born in Brugg in the canton of Aargau, where his father was a teacher....
, poet - December 3 - Joseph Marie QuérardJoseph Marie QuérardJoseph Marie Quérard , was a French bibliographer.He was born at Rennes, where he was apprenticed to a bookseller...
, bibliographer - December 20 - Barton BouchierBarton Bouchier-Biography:He was born in 1794, was a younger son of the vicar of Epsom, Surrey, the Rev. Jonathan Boucher. Barton changed his name from Boucher to Bouchier after 1822. He was educated at Balliol College, Oxford. In 1816 he married Mary, daughter of the Rev. Nathaniel Thornbury, of Avening,...
, English religious writer. - date unknown - William Edmonstoune AytounWilliam Edmonstoune AytounWilliam Edmondstoune Aytoun FRSE was a Scottish lawyer and poet.Born in Edinburgh, he was the only son of Joan Keith and Roger Aytoun , a writer to the signet, and was related to Sir Robert Aytoun...
, poet and humorist