istoryworld
Events relating to literature
Robert Louis Stevenson introduces a dual personality in his novel The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Thomas Hardy publishes his novel The Mayor of Casterbridge, which begins with the future mayor, Michael Henchard selling his wife and child at a fair
Joseph Conrad becomes naturalized as a British subject and continues his career at sea in the far East
Sherlock Holmes features in Conan Doyle's first novel, A Study in Scarlet
23-year-old Irish author William Butler Yeats publishes his first volume of poems, The Wanderings of Oisin
The Fabian Society publishes Essays in Socialisman influential volume of essays edited by Bernard Shaw
Poems is the first of six collections of Emily Dickinson's poetry, found among her papers on her death and published posthumously
Henrik Ibsen publishes his play Hedda Gabler, with its powerfully manipulative central character, a year before it is first produced (in Germany)
Scottish anthropologist James Frazer publishes The Golden Bough, a massive compilation of contemporary knowledge about ritual and religious custom
9-year-old Daisy Ashford imagines an adult romance and high society in The Young Visiters
A Gaelic pressure group, the Highland Association, is founded to preserve the indigenous poetry and music of Scotland
Herman Melville dies in obscurity in New York, with an unpublished manuscript of Billy Budd (not printed till 1924)
Oscar Wilde publishes his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray in which the ever-youthful hero's portrait grows old and ugly
Thomas Hardy publishes his novel Tess of the Durbervilles, with a dramatic finale at Stonehenge
Oscar Wilde's comedy Lady Windermere's Fan is a great success with audiences in London's St. James Theatre
W.B. Yeats founds the National Literary Society in Dublin, with Douglas Hyde as its first president
W.B. Yeats publishes a short play The Countess Cathleen, his first contribution to Irish poetic drama
Bernard Shaw's first play, Widowers' Houses, deals with the serious social problem of slum landlords
Leaves of Grass, still growing, is published in its ninth edition in the year of Walt Whitman's death
Belgian playwright Maurice Maeterlinck publishes his play Pelléas et Mélisande
Mr Pooter is the suburban anti-hero of the The Diary of a Nobody, by George and Weedon Grossmith
US author Stephen Crane cannot find a publisher for his first novel, Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, so issues it privately
French-born artist and author George du Maurier publishes his novel Trilby
Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book surrounds the child Mowgli with a collection of vivid animal guardians
Oscar Wilde's most brilliant comedy, The Importance of Being Earnest is performed in London's St. James Theatre
