Editing 1891 in literature

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{{Year nav topic5|1891|literature|poetry}}

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of '''1891'''.

==Events==
[[File:Sherlock Holmes - The Man with the Twisted Lip (colored).jpg|thumb|Portrait of [[Sherlock Holmes]] by [[Sidney Paget]] from "[[The Man with the Twisted Lip]]" in ''[[The Strand Magazine]]'' for December]]
*January – ''[[The Strand Magazine]]'' is first published in [[London]]. On [[June 25]] [[Arthur Conan Doyle]]'s private consulting detective [[Sherlock Holmes]] appears in it for the first time, in the story "[[A Scandal in Bohemia]]" (issue dated July).<ref name="Pocket On This Day">{{Cite book |title=Penguin Pocket On This Day |publisher=Penguin Reference Library |isbn=0-14-102715-0 |year=2006}}</ref>
*[[January 31]] – [[Henrik Ibsen]]'s play ''[[Hedda Gabler]]'' published in 1890 is first performed, at the [[Cuvilliés Theatre|Königliches Residenz-Theater]] in [[Munich]], the city where it was written. The lead is played by Clara Heese (1861–1921), but Ibsen is displeased with her performance. The first British performance is on [[April 20]] at the recently reopened [[Vaudeville Theatre]], London, with [[Elizabeth Robins]] as Hedda and co-directing.
*[[March 13]] – [[Henrik Ibsen]]'s play ''[[Ghosts (play)|Ghosts]]'' (published in [[1881 in literature|1881]]) achieves a single London performance, its English-language stage première (at the [[Royalty Theatre]]). To evade the [[Lord Chamberlain's Office]]'s [[censorship]], it has to be staged privately by the [[Independent Theatre Society]], but still attracts strong criticism on moral grounds.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/lma_learning/theatreland/timelines19.asp#1869 |title=Theatreland Timeline |publisher=[[London Metropolitan Archives]] |accessdate=2007-10-11 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071101092221/http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/lma_learning/theatreland/timelines19.asp |archivedate=2007-11-01 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=English first performances |url=http://www.ibsen.net/index.gan?id=90071&subid=0 |work=Ibsen.net |date=2004-05-12 |accessdate=2013-02-08}}</ref>
*April – [[Oscar Wilde]]'s novel ''[[The Picture of Dorian Gray]]'' is first published in book format by [[Ward Lock & Co|Ward and Lock]] in London with the aphoristic preface originally published in the March 1 issue of ''[[The Fortnightly Review]]''.
*May – [[William Morris]] establishes the [[Kelmscott Press]] as a [[private press]] at [[Hammersmith]] (London) and produces its first book, the first edition in book format of his [[fantasy]] novel ''[[The Story of the Glittering Plain]]''.
*[[May 21]] – [[Maurice Maeterlinck]]'s play ''[[Intruder (play)|Intruder]] (L'Intruse)'' is premièred at [[Paul Fort]]'s Théâtre d'Art in Paris.
*c. Late June – In a meeting of [[decadent poets]] in London, [[Oscar Wilde]] is first introduced to [[Lord Alfred Douglas]] by [[Lionel Johnson]] at Wilde's [[Tite Street]] home.<ref>{{Cite book |authorlink=H. Montgomery Hyde |first=H. Montgomery |last=Hyde |title=Lord Alfred Douglas: a biography |publisher=Methuen |location=London |year=1984 |isbn=0-413-50790-4 |pages=24–25}}</ref>
*[[July 1]] – The [[International Copyright Act of 1891]] comes into effect in the United States, permitting foreign authors to register their works for [[copyright]]. On July 3, the first such work, the play ''Saints and Sinners'' by English author [[Henry Arthur Jones]], is registered.
*[[July 4]]–[[December 26]] – [[Thomas Hardy]]'s novel ''[[Tess of the d'Urbervilles]]'' is serialized in [[Expurgation|expurgated]] form in the weekly illustrated newspaper ''[[The Graphic]]''<ref>Vol. '''XLIV'''.</ref> (London); in November the first (unexpurgated) book edition is published in London.<ref>{{Cite book |editor=Skilton, David |chapter=Note on the text |title=Tess of the D'Urbervilles |url=https://archive.org/details/tessofdurbervill00thom |url-access=registration |publisher=Penguin |year=1978}}</ref>
*[[August 22]] – [[Israel Zangwill]]'s ''The Big Bow Mystery'', the first classic full-length [[locked room mystery]], begins serialization in [[The Star (1888)|''The Star'' (London)]].
*[[September 4]] – [[Ambrose Bierce]] dates the preface of ''[[Tales of Soldiers and Civilians]]'' for this day, although it will not actually be issued (in [[San Francisco]]) until [[1892 in literature|1892]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ambrosebierce.org/soldiersandcivilians.htm |title=Tales of Soldiers and Civilians |work=The Ambrose Bierce Project |accessdate=2014-05-28}}</ref> It includes "[[An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge]]", one of his best known works.
*October – [[Tristan Bernard]] has his first work published in ''La Revue Blanche'', which returns to Parisian publication this month, and adopts his pseudonym.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec|author2=Herbert D. Schimmel|title=The Letters of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1GvrAAAAMAAJ|year=1991|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-817214-7|page=270}}</ref>
*[[October 9]] – [[Émile Zola]]'s stage adaptation of his novel ''[[Thérèse Raquin]]'' (first performed in [[1873 in literature|1873]]) achieves a single London performance, its English stage première (at the Royalty Theatre). To evade the Lord Chamberlain's Office's censorship it has to be staged privately by the Independent Theatre Society, but still attracts criticism on moral grounds.
*December – Thomas Hardy writes "The Son's Veto", which he regards as his best short story.
*[[December 7]] – Maurice Maeterlinck's play ''[[The Blind (play)|The Blind]] (Les aveugles)'' is premièred.
*''unknown dates''
**Sophia Alice Callahan's ''Wynema, a Child of the Forest'' is published, the first work of fiction by a Native American woman in English.
**Publication of the first complete one-volume popular German translation of [[Shakespeare]]'s plays
*''probable'' – [[Edmund Clerihew Bentley]], [[G. K. Chesterton]] and fellow pupils of [[St Paul's School, London]], compose the first pseudo-biographical comic verses which become known as [[clerihew]]s.<ref>{{Cite book |first=E. Clerihew |last=Bentley |chapter=The History of the Clerihew |title=The First Clerihews|publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1982 |isbn=0-19-212980-5 |page=xv}}</ref>

==New books==
===Fiction===
*[[Grant Allen]] – ''The Great Taboo''
*[[Hall Caine]] – ''The Scapegoat''
*[[J. M. Barrie]] – ''The Little Minister''<ref>{{Cite book |first=Q. D. |last=Leavis |authorlink=Q. D. Leavis |title=Fiction and the Reading Public |edition=2nd |location=London |publisher=Chatto & Windus |year=1965}}</ref>
*[[Mary Elizabeth Braddon]] – ''Gerard; or, The World, the Flesh and the Devil'' ("by the author of ''Lady Audley's Secret''")
*[[Gabriele D'Annunzio]] – ''[[Giovanni Episcopo]]''
*[[Machado de Assis]] – ''[[Quincas Borba]]'' (translated as ''Philosopher or Dog?'')
*[[Sophia Alice Callahan]]  – ''[[Wynema, a Child of the Forest]]''
*[[Arthur Conan Doyle]] – ''[[The White Company]]''<ref>{{cite book|author=Andrew Lycett|title=The Man Who Created Sherlock Holmes: The Life and Times of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hN9aK1yW1OkC&pg=PA221|date=18 November 2008|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-0-7432-7525-5|pages=221}}</ref>
*[[George du Maurier]] – ''[[Peter Ibbetson (novel)|Peter Ibbetson]]''
*[[Helen H. Gardener]] – ''Is This Your Son, My Lord?'' (in ''[[The Arena (magazine)|The Arena]]'')
*[[André Gide]] – ''Les Cahiers d'André Walter''
*[[George Gissing]] – ''[[New Grub Street]]''
*[[Thomas Hardy]]
**''[[A Group of Noble Dames]]'' (collected short stories)
**''[[Tess of the d'Urbervilles]]''
*[[J.-K. Huysmans]] – ''[[Là-bas (novel)|Là-bas]]''
*[[Henry James]] – "[[The Pupil (short story)|The Pupil]]" (short story in ''[[Longman's Magazine]]'')
*[[Jerome K. Jerome]] – ''[[Diary of a Pilgrimage]]''
*[[Selma Lagerlöf]] – ''[[Gösta Berling's Saga]]''
*[[Jean Lorrain]] – ''Sonyeuse'' (novella)
*[[Lucas Malet]] (Mary St Leger Kingsley) – ''The Wages of Sin''
*[[Herman Melville]] – ''Timoleon''
*[[Georges Ohnet]] – ''Dernier Amour''
*[[Daniel Owen]] – ''[[Enoc Huws]]''
*[[Henrik Pontoppidan]] – ''Det forjættede Land'' (The Promised Land; publication begins)
*[[Howard Pyle]] – ''[[Men of Iron]]''
*[[José Rizal]] – ''[[El filibusterismo]]''
*[[Jules Verne]] – ''[[Mistress Branican]]''
*Joseph Jeffrey Walters – ''[[Guanya Pau: A Story of an African Princess]]''
*[[Oscar Wilde]] – ''[[Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories]]''
*[[Margaret L. Woods]] – ''Esther Vanhomrigh''
*[[Charlotte M. Yonge]]
**''Two Penniless Princesses''
**''Unknown to History''
*[[Émile Zola]] – {{Lang|fr|[[L'Argent]]}}

===Children and young people===
*[[Hedda Anderson]] – ''Rolfs sommarferier'' (Rolf's Summer Holiday)
*[[Selma Lagerlöf]] – ''[[Gösta Berlings Saga]]'' (The Story of Gosta Berling)
*[[Laura E. Richards]] – ''[[Captain January (novel)|Captain January]]''
*[[Molly Elliot Seawell]] – ''Midshipman Paulding''
*[[William Gordon Stables]] – ''The Cruise of the Crystal Boat''

===Drama===
*[[Carlo Favetti]] – ''{{lang|fur|Fusilir e granatir, un scherz comic}}'' (The Fusilier and the Grenadier: A Satirical Play)
*[[Jacob Mikhailovich Gordin]] – ''Siberia''
*[[Maurice Maeterlinck]] – ''[[Intruder (play)|Intruder]]'' (first production)
*[[Henrik Ibsen]] – "[[Hedda Gabler]]"
*[[Victorien Sardou]] – ''[[Thermidor (play)|Thermidor]]''
*[[Rosario de Acuña Villanueva de la Iglesia|Rosario de Acuña]] – ''El padre Juan''
*[[Frank Wedekind]] – ''[[Spring Awakening (play)|Spring Awakening]] (Frühlings Erwachen)''
*[[Oscar Wilde]]
**''[[The Duchess of Padua]]'' (first production)
**''[[Salome (play)|Salome]]'' (written, in French)

===Poetry===
{{main|1891 in poetry}}
*[[William Morris]] – ''Poems by the Way''

===Non-fiction===
*[[Mirza Muhammad Yusuf Ali]] – ''Dugdha Sarobar'' (The Lake of Milk)<ref>{{cite Banglapedia|article=Nur-al-Iman Samaj|author=[[Wakil Ahmed|Ahmed, Wakil]]}}</ref>
*[[Marie Bashkirtseff]] – ''Lettres''
*''[[Black's Law Dictionary]]'', 1st edition
*[[John Churton Collins]] – ''The Study of English Literature: a plea for its recognition and organization at the Universities''
*[[John Gibson (editor and journalist)|John Gibson]] – ''The Emancipation of Women''
*[[Edmond de Goncourt]] – ''[[Utamaro]]''
*[[George Holyoake]] – ''The Co-operative Movement of To-day''
*[[Frederic G. Kenyon]] (ed.)
**''Aristotelous Ἀθηναιων Πολιτεια: [[Aristotle]] on the [[Constitution of the Athenians (Aristotle)|Constitution of Athens]]''
**''Classical Texts from Papyri in the British Museum; including the newly discovered poems of [[Herodas]], with autotype facsimiles of MSS''
*[[Errico Malatesta]] – ''[[Anarchy (book)|Anarchy]]'' (''L'anarchia'')
*[[George W. E. Russell]] – ''The Right Honourable William Ewart Gladstone''
*[[George Bernard Shaw]] – ''[[Quintessence of Ibsenism]]''
*[[Grigore Sturdza]] – ''Lois fondamentales de l'univers'' (Fundamental Laws of the Universe)
*[[A. E. Waite]] – ''The Occult Sciences''
*[[Oscar Wilde]] – ''Intentions''

==Births==
*[[January 7]] – [[Zora Neale Hurston]], American [[Harlem Renaissance]] novelist (died [[1960 in literature|1960]])<ref>{{cite book | last = Bloom | first = Harold | title = Zora Neale Hurston | publisher = Chelsea House | location = Philadelphia | year = 2003 | isbn = 9781438115535 |page=129}}</ref>
*[[January 8]] – (Margaret) [[Storm Jameson]], English novelist (died [[1986 in literature|1986]])<ref>{{Cite ODNB|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-39834|title=Jameson, Margaret Ethel [Storm] (1891–1986), novelist {{!}} Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|year=2004|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/39834|access-date=2020-02-19}}</ref>
*[[January 9]] – [[August Gailit]], Estonian journalist and author (died [[1960 in literature|1960]])
*[[January 15]] – [[Osip Mandelstam]], Russian poet and essayist  (died [[1938 in literature|1938]])
*[[January 22]] – [[Antonio Gramsci]], Italian Communist writer and politician (died [[1937 in literature|1937]])<ref>{{cite book | last = Bellamy | first = Richard | title = Gramsci and the Italian state | publisher = Manchester University Press Distributed by St. Martin's Press | location = Manchester, UK New York | year = 1993 | isbn = 9780719033421 | page=xiv}}</ref>
*[[January 23]] – [[Pavlo Tychyna]], Ukrainian poet (died [[1967 in literature|1967]])
*[[February 10]] – [[Elliot Paul]], American writer (died [[1958 in literature|1958]])
*[[February 13]] – [[Kate Roberts (author)|Kate Roberts]], Welsh writer (died [[1985 in literature|1985]])
*[[March 9]] – [[Doris Leslie]], English novelist (died [[1982 in literature|1982]])
*[[March 13]] – [[Felix Aderca]], Romanian novelist, critic, poet and journalist (died [[1962 in literature|1962]])
*[[March 27]] – [[Lajos Zilahy]], Hungarian novelist and dramatist (died [[1974 in literature|1974]])
*[[April 29]] – [[Bharathidasan]], Tamil poet and rationalist (died [[1964 in literature|1964]])<ref>{{cite book|author=Pāppaṇṇā Paramēsvaran̲|title=Bharathidasan: Life|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sOwxAAAAMAAJ|year=1991|publisher=Anu Pathippagam|page=9}}</ref>
*[[May 15]] 
** [[Mikhail Bulgakov]], Russian novelist and playwright (died [[1940 in literature|1940]])<ref>{{cite book|author=Nadine Natov|title=Mikhail Bulgakov|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lftfAAAAMAAJ|year=1985|publisher=Twayne Publishers|isbn=978-0-8057-6598-4|pages=1–2}}</ref>
** [[Hjalmar Dahl]], Finnish journalist, translator and writer (died [[1960 in literature|1960]])<ref>[https://litteraturbanken.se/%C3%B6vers%C3%A4ttarlexikon/artiklar/Hjalmar_Dahl Hjalmar Dahl] – Svenskt översättarlexikon (in Swedish)</ref>
*[[June 14]] – [[Alexander Melentyevich Volkov]], Russian novelist (died [[1977 in literature|1977]])
*[[July 5]] – [[Tin Ujević]], Croatian poet (died [[1955 in literature|1955]])
*[[August 1]] – [[Edward Streeter]], American humorist (died [[1976 in literature|1976]])
*[[August 12]] – [[C. E. M. Joad]], English philosopher and broadcaster (died [[1953 in literature|1953]])
*[[August 25]] – [[David Shimoni]], Russian-born Israeli poet and writer (died [[1956 in literature|1956]])
*[[September 18]] – [[Rafael Pérez y Pérez]], Spanish writer (died [[1984 in literature|1984]])
*[[September 23]] – [[Arthur Graeme West]], English military writer and poet (killed in action [[1917 in literature|1917]])
*[[October 6]] – [[John Metcalfe (writer)|John Metcalfe]], English writer (died [[1965 in literature|1965]])
*[[November 14]] – [[Josef Magnus Wehner]], German poet and playwright (died [[1973 in literature|1973]])
*[[November 17]] – [[Sigurd Christiansen]], Norwegian novelist and dramatist (died [[1947 in literature|1947]])
*[[November 23]] – [[Masao Kume]], Japanese playwright, novelist and haiku poet (died [[1952 in literature|1952]])
*[[December 9]] – [[Maksim Bahdanovič]], Belarusian poet (died [[1917 in literature|1917]])<ref>{{cite book|title=Гістарычны шлях беларускай нацыі і дзяржавы|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BwghAQAAMAAJ|year=2005|publisher=Vydavets Zmitser Kolas|isbn=978-985-6783-06-0|page=409|language=ru}}</ref>
*[[December 10]] – [[Nelly Sachs]], German-Swedish poet, dramatist and Nobel Prize winner (died [[1970 in literature|1970]])<ref>{{cite book|author=S. Lillian Kremer|title=Holocaust Literature: Lerner to Zychlinsky, index|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BAQ2VtfH3awC&pg=PA1067|year=2003|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-415-92984-4|pages=1067}}</ref>
*[[December 17]] – [[Hu Shih]] (胡適), Chinese Nobel Prize winning philosopher and language reformer (died [[1962 in literature|1962]])
*[[December 26]] – [[Henry Miller]], American novelist (died [[1980 in literature|1980]])<ref>{{cite book|author1=Lawrence Durrell|author2=Henry Miller|title=Durrell-Miller Letters, 1935-1980|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FFBeeREKoDwC&pg=PR13|date=September 1998|publisher=New Directions Publishing|isbn=978-0-8112-1730-9|pages=13}}</ref>

==Deaths==
*[[January 13]] – [[Mary Spear Tiernan]], American writer (born [[1835 in literature|1835]])<ref>{{cite web|title=Tiernan, Mary Spear (1836–1891)|url=https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Tiernan_Mary_Spear_1836-1891#start_entry|publisher=Encyclopedia Virginia, a publication of [[Virginia Foundation for the Humanities]]|access-date=28 September 2017|language=en}}</ref>
*[[February 3]] – [[Élie Berthet]], French novelist (born [[1815 in literature|1815]])
*[[February 7]] – [[Marie Louise Andrews]], American editor (born [[1849 in literature|1849]])<ref>{{cite book|author=Enos Boyd Heiney|title=Poets and Poetry of Indiana: A Representative Collection of the Poetry of Indiana During the First Hundred Years of Its History as Territory and State, 1800 to 1900|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lV9KAAAAIAAJ|year=1900|publisher=Silver, Burdett|isbn=978-0-7222-0809-0|page=417}}</ref>
*[[March 13]] – [[Théodore de Banville]], French writer (born [[1823 in literature|1823]])<ref>{{cite book|author1=Merriam-Webster, Inc|author2=MERRIAM-WEBSTER STAFF|author3=Encyclopaedia Britannica Publishers, Inc. Staff|title=Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eKNK1YwHcQ4C&pg=PA104|year=1995|publisher=Merriam-Webster|isbn=978-0-87779-042-6|pages=104}}</ref>
*[[April 9]] – [[Frederick G. Maeder]], American playwright (born [[1840 in literature|1840]])<ref>{{cite news|title=Obituary: Frederick G. Maeder|work=[[New York Sun]]|date=April 10, 1891|page= 2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Oxford Companion to American Theatre (3 ed.)|chapter=Maeder, Frederick G[eorge] (1840–91), playwright and actor|first=Gerald|last=Bordman|first2= Thomas S.|last2= Hischak|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|isbn= 9780195169867|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780195169867.001.0001/acref-9780195169867-e-1972}}{{subscription}}</ref>
*[[April 24]] – [[Rebecca Agatha Armour]], Canadian novelist (born [[1845 in literature|1845]])
*[[April 27]] – [[Joachim Oppenheim]], Czech rabbi and author (born [[1832 in literature|1832]])<ref>{{cite book|title=The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zsP1CdNdlVsC|year=1925|publisher=Funk and Wagnalls|page=410}}</ref>
*June – [[Teodor Boldur-Lățescu]], Romanian journalist and publisher (born [[1837 in literature|1837]])<ref>"Știrĭ", in ''[[Universul]]'', 29 May (June 10), 1891, p. 3. See also Stoian, p. 107</ref>
*[[July 17]] – [[Jean Lombard]], French novelist (born [[1854 in literature|1854]])
*[[July 19]] – [[Pedro Antonio de Alarcón]], Spanish novelist (born [[1833 in literature|1833]])
*[[August 12]] – [[James Russell Lowell]], American poet and essayist (born [[1819 in literature|1819]])<ref>{{cite news |title=The Last Tribute Paid. James Russell Lowell Laid At Rest. Buried Under Hornbeam Trees In The Spot He Had Himself Selected And Near The Grave Of Longfellow At Mount Auburn |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1891/08/15/archives/the-last-tribute-paid-james-russell-lowell-laid-at-rest-buried.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=August 15, 1891 |access-date=March 23, 2010 }}</ref>
*[[August 22]] – [[Jan Neruda]], [[Czechs|Czech]] writer (born [[1834 in literature|1834]])
*[[September 15]] – [[Ivan Goncharov]], Russian writer (born [[1812 in literature|1812]])<ref>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Goncharov, Ivan Alexandrovich |volume=12}}</ref>
*[[September 28]] – [[Herman Melville]], American novelist (born [[1819 in literature|1819]])<ref>{{cite book|author=Hershel Parker|title=Herman Melville: A Biography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XRwAEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA920|date=15 August 2005|publisher=JHU Press|isbn=978-0-8018-8186-2|pages=920}}</ref>
*[[October 15]] – [[Gilbert Arthur à Beckett]], English writer (born [[1837 in literature|1837]])<ref>{{cite book|title=The Law Journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6ekuAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA655|year=1891|publisher=E.B. Ince|pages=655}}</ref>
*[[November 10]] – [[Arthur Rimbaud]], French poet (cancer, born [[1854 in literature|1854]])<ref>{{cite book|author=Enid Starkie|title=Arthur Rimbaud, 1854-1954|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LzAWAAAAMAAJ|year=1954|publisher=Clarendon Press|page=9}}</ref>

==Awards==
*[[Newdigate Prize]] – [[Laurence Binyon]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

{{Year in literature article categories}}