1887 in literature
Encyclopedia
The year 1887 in literature involved some significant new books.
Events
- Futabatei ShimeiFutabatei Shimeiwas a Japanese author, translator, and literary critic. Born Hasegawa Tatsunosuke in Edo , Futabatei's works are in the realist style popular in the mid- to late-19th century...
writes The Drifting CloudThe Drifting CloudThe Drifting Cloud, known as Ukigumo in Japanese, was a novel written in 1887 by Futabatei Shimei, often called the first modern Japanese novel. The novel was published in two sections in 1887 and 1888. The novel only contains four characters, prioritising the development of characters over plot...
, the first modern novel in JapanJapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
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New books
- Mary Elizabeth BraddonMary Elizabeth BraddonMary Elizabeth Braddon was a British Victorian era popular novelist. She is best known for her 1862 sensation novel Lady Audley's Secret.-Life:...
- Cut by the County - 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...
- The Deemster - 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...
- Thelma - F. Marion Crawford - SaracinescaSaracinescaSaracinesca is a novel by F. Marion Crawford, first published as a serial in Blackwood's Magazine and then as a book in New York and Edinburgh in 1887...
- Anna Bowman Dodd - The Republic of the FutureThe Republic of the FutureThe Republic of the Future: or, Socialism a Reality is a novella by the American writer Anna Bowman Dodd, first published in 1887. The book is a dystopia written in response to the utopian literature that was a dramatic and noteworthy feature of the second half of the nineteenth...
- Arthur Conan DoyleArthur Conan DoyleSir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...
- A Study in ScarletA Study in ScarletA Study in Scarlet is a detective mystery novel written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, introducing his new character of Sherlock Holmes, who later became one of the most famous literary detective characters. He wrote the story in 1886, and it was published the next year... - Benito Pérez GaldósBenito Pérez GaldósBenito Pérez Galdós was a Spanish realist novelist. Considered second only to Cervantes in stature, he was the leading Spanish realist novelist....
- Fortunata y JacintaFortunata y JacintaFortunata y Jacinta , was written by Benito Pérez Galdós in 1887. It is, together with Leopoldo Alas y Ureña's La Regenta , one of the most popular and representative novels of Spanish literary realism. Born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, the author went to Madrid, the capital, to... - Enrique GasparEnrique Gaspar y RimbauEnrique Lucio Eugenio Gaspar y Rimbau was a Spanish diplomat and writer, who wrote plays, zarzuelas , and novels.-Biography:...
- El anacronópete, the first work of fiction to feature a time machineTime MachineA time machine is a fictional/hypothetical device used to achieve time travel. The term may also refer to:-Novels and films:* The Time Machine, an 1895 novel by H. G... - H. Rider HaggardH. Rider HaggardSir Henry Rider Haggard, KBE was an English writer of adventure novels set in exotic locations, predominantly Africa, and a founder of the Lost World literary genre. He was also involved in agricultural reform around the British Empire...
- Allan QuatermainAllan QuatermainAllan Quatermain is the protagonist of H. Rider Haggard's 1885 novel King Solomon's Mines and its various prequels and sequels. Allan Quatermain was also the title of a book in this sequence.- History :...
- Jess
- SheShe (novel)She, subtitled A History of Adventure, is a novel by Henry Rider Haggard, first serialized in The Graphic magazine from October 1886 to January 1887. She is one of the classics of imaginative literature, and with over 83 million copies sold in 44 different languages, one of the best-selling books...
- Thomas HardyThomas HardyThomas Hardy, OM was an English novelist and poet. While his works typically belong to the Naturalism movement, several poems display elements of the previous Romantic and Enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural.While he regarded himself primarily as a...
- The WoodlandersThe WoodlandersThe Woodlanders is a novel by Thomas Hardy. It was published in 1887.-Plot summary:The story takes place in a small woodland village called Little Hintock, and concerns the efforts of an honest woodsman, Giles Winterborne, to marry his childhood sweetheart, Grace Melbury... - W. H. HudsonWilliam Henry HudsonWilliam Henry Hudson was an author, naturalist, and ornithologist.- Life and work :Hudson was born in the Quilmes, a borough of the greater Buenos Aires, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, son of settlers of U.S. origin...
- A Crystal AgeA Crystal AgeA Crystal Age is a utopian novel written by W. H. Hudson, first published in 1887. The book has been called a "significant S-F milestone" and has been noted for its anticipation of the "modern ecological mysticism" that would evolve a century later.... - Joris-Karl HuysmansJoris-Karl HuysmansCharles-Marie-Georges Huysmans was a French novelist who published his works as Joris-Karl Huysmans . He is most famous for the novel À rebours...
- En radeEn radeEn rade is a novel by the French writer Joris-Karl Huysmans. It first appeared as a serial in the magazine La revue indépendante between November 1886 and April 1887. It was published in book form on 26 April, 1887 by Tresse et Stock... - Paolo MantegazzaPaolo MantegazzaPaolo Mantegazza was a prominent Italian neurologist, physiologist and anthropologist, noted for his experimental investigation of coca leaves into its effects on the human psyche. He was also an author of fiction.-Life:...
- Testa - Appu NedungadiAppu NedungadiAppu Nedungadi is the name of Rao Bahadur T.M. Appu Nedungadi, author of Kundalatha, which was published in 1887, making it one of the earliest novels in Malayalam language, spoken in Kerala state, South India.....
- KundalathaKundalathaKundalatha is a novel by Appu Nedungadi, published in 1887. It is considered to be the first Malayalam novel.-External links:* *... - José RizalJosé RizalJosé Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda , was a Filipino polymath, patriot and the most prominent advocate for reform in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial era. He is regarded as the foremost Filipino patriot and is listed as one of the national heroes of the Philippines by...
- Noli Me TangereNoli Me Tangere (novel)Noli Me Tangere is a novel by Filipino polymath José Rizal and first published in 1887 in Berlin, Germany. Early English translations used titles like An Eagle Flight and The Social Cancer, but more recent translations have been published using the original Latin title.Though originally written in... - Futabatei ShimeiFutabatei Shimeiwas a Japanese author, translator, and literary critic. Born Hasegawa Tatsunosuke in Edo , Futabatei's works are in the realist style popular in the mid- to late-19th century...
- The Drifting CloudThe Drifting CloudThe Drifting Cloud, known as Ukigumo in Japanese, was a novel written in 1887 by Futabatei Shimei, often called the first modern Japanese novel. The novel was published in two sections in 1887 and 1888. The novel only contains four characters, prioritising the development of characters over plot... - August StrindbergAugust StrindbergJohan August Strindberg was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg's career spanned four decades, during which time he wrote over 60 plays and more than 30 works of fiction, autobiography,...
- HemsöbornaNatives of HemsöThe People of Hemsö is a 1887 novel by August Strindberg about the life of people of the island Hemsö in the Stockholm archipelago. Hemsö is a fictional island, but it is based on Kymmendö where Strindberg had spent time in his youth. Strindberg wrote the book to combat his homesickness while... - 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...
- The Flight to FranceThe Flight to FranceThe Flight to France is an adventure novel written by Jules Verne. Several English language editions were published with the subtitle, The Flight to France; or, The Memoirs of a Dragoon. A Tale of the Day of Dumouriez.-Publication history:...
- North Against South
- The Flight to France
- 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 TerreLa TerreLa Terre is a novel by Émile Zola, published in 1887. It is the fifteenth novel in Zola's Rougon-Macquart series. The action takes place in a rural community in La Beauce, an area of northern France...
New drama
- Anton ChekhovAnton ChekhovAnton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
- Ivanov - August StrindbergAugust StrindbergJohan August Strindberg was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg's career spanned four decades, during which time he wrote over 60 plays and more than 30 works of fiction, autobiography,...
- The Father
Non-fiction
- Mikhail BakuninMikhail BakuninMikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin was a well-known Russian revolutionary and theorist of collectivist anarchism. He has also often been called the father of anarchist theory in general. Bakunin grew up near Moscow, where he moved to study philosophy and began to read the French Encyclopedists,...
- God and the StateGod and the StateGod and the State is the best-known literary work of Russian anarchist, Mikhail Bakunin.-Composition:God and the State was written between February and March 1871. It was originally written as Part II of a greater work that was going to be called The Knouto-Germanic Empire and the Social Revolution... - 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...
- Life of Samuel Coleridge Taylor - 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...
- The Autobiography of Charles DarwinThe Autobiography of Charles DarwinThe Autobiography of Charles Darwin is the autobiography of the British naturalist Charles Darwin which was published in 1887, five years after his death....
(posthumously published) - Franz HartmannFranz HartmannFranz Hartmann was a German physician, theosophist, occultist, geomancer, astrologer, and author. His works include several books on esoteric studies and biographies of Jakob Böhme and Paracelsus. He translated the Bhagavad Gita into German and was the editor of the journal Lotusblüten...
- The Life of Philippus Theophrastus Bombast of Hohenheim, better known by the name of Paracelsus, and the substance of his teachings. - Friedrich NietzscheFriedrich NietzscheFriedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher, poet, composer and classical philologist...
- On the Genealogy of MoralityOn the Genealogy of MoralityOn the Genealogy of Morality, or On the Genealogy of Morals , subtitled "A Polemic" , is a work by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, composed and first published in 1887 with the intention of expanding and following through on certain new doctrines sketched out in his previous work Beyond... - 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:...
- Unua LibroUnua LibroThe Unua Libro was the first publication to describe the international language Esperanto . It was first published in Russian on July 26, 1887 in Warsaw, by Dr. L.L. Zamenhof, the creator of Esperanto. Over the next few years editions were published in Russian, Hebrew, Polish, French, German,...
Births
- February 1 - Charles NordhoffCharles NordhoffCharles Bernard Nordhoff was an English-born American novelist and traveler.-Early life:Charles Nordhoff was born in London, England, on February 1, 1887, to American parents. His father was Walter Nordhoff, a wealthy businessman and author of The Journey of the Flame penned under the name...
, author (died 19471947 in literatureThe year 1947 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*The Diary of Anne Frank is published for the first time.*Jack Kerouac makes the journey which he will later chronicle in his book On the Road....
) - February 3 - Georg TraklGeorg TraklGeorg Trakl was an Austrian poet. He is considered one of the most important Austrian Expressionists.- Life and work :Trakl was born and lived the first 18 years of his life in Salzburg, Austria...
, poet (d. 19141914 in literatureThe year 1914 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*The literature of World War I makes its first appearance.*November 7 - The first issue of The New Republic magazine is published....
) - February 11 - John van MelleJohn van MelleJohn van Melle was the pen name of a Dutch-born South African author. His real name was Johannes van Melle....
, South African writer (d. 19531953 in literatureThe year 1953 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* January 22 - The Crucible, a drama by Arthur Miller, opens on Broadway....
) - February 18 - Nikos KazantzakisNikos KazantzakisNikos Kazantzakis was a Greek writer and philosopher, celebrated for his novel Zorba the Greek, considered his magnum opus...
, poet (d. 19571957 in literatureThe year 1957 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Lawrence Durrell publishes the first volume of The Alexandria Quartet. The final of the four volumes will be published in 1960....
) - March 3 - Rupert BrookeRupert BrookeRupert Chawner Brooke was an English poet known for his idealistic war sonnets written during the First World War, especially The Soldier...
, poet (d. 19151915 in literatureThe year 1915 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* May 3 - In Flanders Fields is written by Canadian poet John McCrae....
) - March 14 - Sylvia BeachSylvia BeachSylvia Beach , born Nancy Woodbridge Beach, was an American-born bookseller and publisher who lived most of her life in Paris, where she was one of the leading expatriate figures between World War I and II.-Early life:...
, publisher (d. 19621962 in literatureThe year 1962 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*January 7 - In an article in the New York Times Book Review, Gore Vidal calls Evelyn Waugh "our time's first satirist."...
) - June 2 - Orrick Johns, poet & playwright (d. 19461946 in literatureThe year 1946 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*November 7 - Walker Percy marries Mary Bernice Townsend.*Launch in the United Kingdom of Penguin Classics under the editorship of E. V...
) - September 1 - Blaise CendrarsBlaise CendrarsFrédéric Louis Sauser , better known as Blaise Cendrars, was a Swiss novelist and poet naturalized French in 1916. He was a writer of considerable influence in the modernist movement.-Early years:...
, writer (d. 19611961 in literatureThe year 1961 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*First English production of Bertolt Brecht's The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui*Michael Halliday publishes his seminal paper on the systemic functional grammar model....
)
Deaths
- February 10 - Mrs Henry WoodEllen Wood (author)Ellen Wood , was an English novelist, better known as "Mrs. Henry Wood". She is best known for her 1861 novel East Lynne.-Life:...
, novelist (born 18141814 in literatureThe year 1814 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:* In England, a revolutionary steam-powered press prints the Times newspaper at a rate of 1100 copies per hour.-New books:*Jane Austen — Mansfield Park...
) - April 23 - John Ceiriog HughesJohn Ceiriog HughesJohn Ceiriog Hughes , was a Welsh poet and well-known collector of Welsh folk tunes. Sometimes referred to as the "Robert Burns of Wales"...
, poet (b. 18321832 in literatureThe year 1832 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* The Houghton Mifflin publishing house founded in Boston, Massachusetts* Publishers begin the use of a paper jacket to wrap book covers...
) - May 4 - William MurdochWilliam Murdoch (poet)William Murdoch was a Scottish-Canadian poet.Born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, Murdoch migrated to Canada in 1854, aged 31. The following year, he was appointed manager of the gasworks on Partridge Island in 1855...
, poet (b. 18231823 in literatureThe year 1823 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Clement Clarke Moore's poem, A Visit from St. Nicholas introduces the character named "Santa Claus"....
) - August 20 - Jules LaforgueJules LaforgueJules Laforgue was an innovative Franco-Uruguayan poet, often referred to as a Symbolist poet. Critics and commentators have also pointed to Impressionism as a direct influence and his poetry has been called "part-symbolist, part-impressionist".-Life:...
, French poet (b. 18601860 in literatureThe year 1860 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:*January - First issue of the Cornhill Magazine*June 9 ****- Malaeska: The Indian Wife of the White Hunter becomes the first dime novel to be published....
) - October 12 - Dinah CraikDinah CraikDinah Maria Craik was an English novelist and poet. She was born at Stoke-on-Trent and brought up in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire.After the death of her mother in 1845, Dinah Maria Mulock settled in London about 1846...
, novelist and poet (b. 18261826 in literatureThe year 1826 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* The Juvenile Miscellany, an American magazine for children, begins publishing in Boston...
) - November 2 - Alfred DomettAlfred DomettAlfred Domett, CMG was an English colonial statesman and poet. He was New Zealand's fourth Premier.-Early life:He was born at Camberwell, Surrey; his father was a ship-owner...
, poet (b. 18111811 in literatureThe year 1811 in literature involved some significant new books, including Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility.-New books:*Jane Austen - Sense and Sensibility*Amelia Beauclerc - Eva of Cambria*Mary Brunton - Self-Control...
) - November 19 - Emma LazarusEmma LazarusLazarus began to be more interested in her Jewish ancestry after reading the George Eliot novel, Daniel Deronda, and as she heard of the Russian pogroms in the early 1880s. This led Lazarus to write articles on the subject. She also began translating the works of Jewish poets into English...
, American poet (b. 18491849 in literatureThe year 1849 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:*La Tribune des Peuples, a pan-European romantic nationalist periodical, is published between March and November by Adam Mickiewicz.*Who's Who is published for the first time....
) - December 5 - Eliza Roxcy SnowEliza Roxcy SnowEliza Roxcy Snow Young was one of the most celebrated Latter-day Saint women of the nineteenth century. A renowned poet, she chronicled history, celebrated nature and relationships, and expounded scripture and doctrine...
, American poet (b. 18041804 in literatureThe year 1804 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*John Keats' father dies from a fractured skull after falling from his horse.*Samuel Taylor Coleridge re-locates to Malta....
) - date unknown
- Frances BrowneFrances BrowneFrances Browne was an Irish poet and novelist, best remembered for her collection of short stories for children: Granny's Wonderful Chair.-Early life:...
, poet and novelist (b. 18161816 in literatureThe year 1816 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:* July - Lord Byron, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, Percy Bysshe Shelley and John Polidori, gathered at the Villa Diodati by Lake Geneva in a rainy Switzerland in this 'Year Without a Summer', tell each other tales...
) - Emilia TennysonEmilia TennysonEmilia Tennyson , known simply as Emily within her family, was a younger sister of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and the fiancée of Arthur Henry Hallam, for whom Tennyson's great poem, In Memoriam A.H.H., was written. Tennyson met Hallam through her brother, and they were engaged in 1832. They were never...
, sister of Alfred Tennyson and fiancée of Arthur HallamArthur HallamArthur Henry Hallam was an English poet, best known as the subject of a major work, In Memoriam A.H.H., by his best friend and fellow poet, Alfred Tennyson...
(b. 18111811 in literatureThe year 1811 in literature involved some significant new books, including Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility.-New books:*Jane Austen - Sense and Sensibility*Amelia Beauclerc - Eva of Cambria*Mary Brunton - Self-Control...
)
- Frances Browne