1839 in literature: Difference between revisions

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This article contains information about the literary events and publications of '''1839'''.

*[[January 21]] – [[Åbo Svenska Teater]] in Åbo ([[Turku]]), Finland, opens with a performance of the Swedish-language play ''Gubben i Bergsbygden''.

*March – [[W. Harrison Ainsworth]] takes over editorship of ''[[Bentley's Miscellany]]'' from [[Charles Dickens]] at the end of the year. Until April serializations of their respective novels ''[[Jack Sheppard (novel)|Jack Sheppard]]'' and ''[[Oliver Twist]]'' have been running simultaneously in the magazine.<ref>{{cite book|title=Cartoon Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Men of the Day|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MNdFAQAAMAAJ&pg=PT9|year=1874|publisher=Tinsley Brothers|pages=9}}</ref>

*April – [[Washington Irving]] begins contributing regularly to ''[[The Knickerbocker]]'', and will publish thirty new pieces in the magazine through March [[1841 in literature|1841]] — including "The Creole Village," where he coins the phrase "[[the almighty dollar]]".<ref>{{cite book|author=David Schuyler|title=Sanctified Landscape: Writers, Artists, and the Hudson River Valley, 1820–1909|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2Vw4B7E2muQC&pg=PA184|date=6 April 2012|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=978-0-8014-6470-6|pages=184}}</ref>

*[[May 31]] – An important [[British constitution]]al case of ''[[Stockdale v Hansard]]'' begins when publisher [[John Joseph Stockdale]] sues for libel after [[John Roberton (1776)|John Roberton]]'s pseudo-medical work ''On Diseases of the Generative System'' (1811) is declared in a parliamentary report to be [[morality|indecent]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Loveland |first=Ian |pages=21–22 |title=Political Libels: A Comparative Study |location=Oxford |publisher=Hart Publishing |isbn=1-84113-115-6 |year=2000 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I-0KdQrIS8QC&dq=stockdale+v+hansard&pg=PA21}}</ref>

*September – The first known London production of ''[[Love's Labour's Lost]]'' after Shakespeare's era opens at the [[Theatre Royal, Covent Garden]], with [[Lucia Elizabeth Vestris|Madame Vestris]] as Rosaline.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Covent-Garden Theatre|newspaper=[[The Times]]|location=London|date=1839-10-01|page=5|quote=The manner in which it was played last night destroyed the brilliancy completely, and left a residuum of insipidity...}}</ref>

*''unknown dates''

**[[Mikhail Lermontov]] publishes the first two parts of ''[[A Hero of Our Time]]'' (Герой нашего времени, ''Geroy nashevo vremeni'') in ''[[Otechestvennye Zapiski]]''. The novel comes to be seen as a pioneering classic of Russian psychological realism.

**''[[Sir Gawain and the Green Knight]]'', a late 14th-century [[Middle English]] [[Alliterative verse|alliterative]] [[chivalric romance|romance]] by the '[[Pearl Poet]]', is first published complete in ''Syr Gawayne'', a collection of early romance poems by Scottish and English authors relating to that knight of the Round Table, edited by [[Frederic Madden]] for the [[Bannatyne Club]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Turville-Petre |first=Thorlac |title=The Alliterative Revival |location=Woodbridge |publisher=Brewer |year=1977 |pages=126–129 |isbn=0-85991-019-9}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Burrow |first=J. A. |title=Ricardian Poetry |location=London |publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul |year=1971 |isbn=0-7100-7031-4 |pages=4–5}}</ref>

**[[George Bell (publisher)|George Bell]] establishes the London publisher [[George Bell & Sons]] as an educational bookseller in [[Bouverie Street]].

* [[Alexandre Dumas]] – ''[[Captain Pamphile]]''

*[[Catherine Gore]] – ''[[The Cabinet Minister (novel)|The Cabinet Minister]]''

*[[Catherine Sinclair]] – ''[[Holiday House (novel)|Holiday House: A Book for the Young]]''

*[[Hans Christian Andersen]] – ''[[Fairy Tales Told for Children. New Collection#Fairy Tales Told for Children. New Collection. Second Booklet|Fairy Tales Told for Children. New Collection. Second Booklet]]'' (''Eventyr, fortalte for Børn. Ny Samling. Andet Hefte'') comprising "[[The Garden of Paradise]]" ("Paradisets have"), "[[The Flying Trunk]]" ("Den flyvende Kuffert") and "[[The Storks]]" ("Storkene")

* [[James Sheridan Knowles]] – ''[[Love (play)|Love]]''

*[[Philip James Bailey]] (anonymous) – ''Festus''<ref>{{Cite book |first=Robert |last=Birley |authorlink=Robert Birley |title=Sunk Without Trace: some forgotten masterpieces reconsidered |url=https://archive.org/details/sunkwithouttrace0000birl |url-access=registration |location=London |publisher=Rupert Hart-Davis |year=1962 |chapter=Philip James Bailey, ''Festus'' |pages=[https://archive.org/details/sunkwithouttrace0000birl/page/172 172–208]}}</ref>

*[[March 9]] – [[Františka Stránecká]], Czech writer and collector of Moravian folklore (died [[1888 in literature|1888]])

*[[March 28]] – [[Emily Lee Sherwood Ragan]], American author and journalist (died [[1916 in literature|1918]])<ref>{{cite book|last1=Leonard|first1=John William|last2=Marquis|first2=Albert Nelson|title=Who's who in America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NlpNAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA657|edition=Public domain|volume=1|year=1899|publisher=Marquis Who's Who|page=657}}</ref>

*[[June 22]] – [[Clara Augusta Jones Trask]], American dime novelist (died [[1905 in literature|1905]])<ref>{{cite web| title=Trask, Clara Augusta Jones| url=http://www.ulib.niu.edu/badndp/trask_clara.html| publisher=Northern Illinois University| access-date=16 April 2017}}</ref>

*[[July 5]] – [[Helen Stuart Campbell]], American author, editor, and reformer (died [[1918 in literature|1918]])<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Helen Stuart Campbell profile|encyclopedia=American Women Writers: A Critical Reference Guide from Colonial Times to the Present|publisher=Frederick Ungar Publishing Co.|author=Moe, Phyllis|editor=Mainiero, Lina|year=1979|volume=1|location=New York, New York|pages=287–89}}</ref>

*[[July 21]] – [[Emma Rood Tuttle]], American author and poet (died [[1916 in literature|1916]])

*[[April 11]] – [[John Galt (novelist)|John Galt]], Scottish novelist and entrepreneur (born [[1779 in literature|1779]])<ref>{{Cite book |title=The English Cyclopædia: A New Dictionary of Universal Knowledge |date=1856 |publisher=Bradbury and Evans |page=22 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_7dCAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA22|language=en}}</ref>

*[[October 11]] – [[Leonor de Almeida Portugal, 4th Marquise of Alorna]], Portuguese noblewoman, painter, and poet (born [[1750 in literature|1750]])<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Avila e de Bolama |first1=Antonio José de Avila |title=A marqueza d'Alorna; algumas noticias authenticas para a historia da muito illustre e eminente escriptora que os poetas seus contemporaneos denominaram Alcipe |date=1916 |publisher=Lisboa Impr. de M.L. Torres |page=[https://archive.org/details/marquezadalornaa00avil/page/52 52] |url=https://archive.org/details/marquezadalornaa00avil |accessdate=24 March 2019}}</ref>

*''unknown dates''

**[[Mary Pilkington]], English novelist, poet and children's writer (born [[1761 in literature|1761]])<ref name="LLC.2014">{{cite book|author=Book Builders LLC.|title=Encyclopedia of British Writers, 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2J7XGzpSCncC&pg=RA1-PA191|date=14 May 2014|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-1-4381-0869-8|pages=191–192}}</ref>

*[[Newdigate prize]] – [[John Ruskin]]<ref>{{cite book|author=Edward T. Cook|title=The Life of John Ruskin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cuwcQ4_A1cQC&pg=PA599|year=1968|publisher=Ardent Media|pages=68}}</ref>