The Season of Edgar Allan Poe
Here, we revisit the first publication of his poetic masterpiece, "The Raven" and the tragic circumstances that led to him writing it.
books
"If one cannot state a matter clearly enough so that even an intelligent twelve-year-old can understand it, one should remain within the cloistered walls of the university and laboratory until one gets a better grasp of one's subject matter."
Margaret Mead died #OTD in 1978.
In November 1848.
William Makepeace Thackeray's novel The History of Pendennis begins its serial publication. The publication was paused for 3 months following the author’s illness after the September 1849 part.
The History of Pendennis at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/7265
“To Eat This Big Universe as Her Oyster”
Margaret Fuller and the First Major Work of American Feminism
By Randall Fuller via @publicdomainrev
https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/margaret-fuller-and-the-first-major-work-of-american-feminism/?utm_source=newsletter
In November 1850
A new edition of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Poems is published by Chapman & Hall in London, including in volume 2 her Sonnets from the Portuguese.
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/21161
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2002
#OTD in 1850.
Charles Dickens's novel David Copperfield concludes serial publication and on November 14 appears complete in book form from Bradbury and Evans in London.
#OTD in 1895
Thomas Hardy's last completed novel, Jude the Obscure is published by Osgood, McIlvaine, and Co. in London, dated 1896, on completion of an expurgated serialization under the title Hearts Insurgent in Harper's Magazine.
"Man is free at the instant he wants to be."
French writer, deist and philosopher Voltaire was born #OTD in 1694. He established himself as one of the leading writers of the enlightenment.
Books by Voltaire at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/913
#OTD in 1748.
The first instalment of Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, also known as Fanny Hill, is published anonymously by John Cleland to raise money to free himself from the London debtors' prison. It is considered by some to be the first modern erotic novel.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanny_Hill
Memoirs of Fanny Hill at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/25305
Abby Morton Diaz was born #OTD in 1821.
Born in Plymouth, Massachusetts, she became involved in the reform movements of the 19th century, particularly those related to women's suffrage, education, and labor.
Abby Morton Diaz at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/2166
In November 1887.
Arthur Conan Doyle's first detective novel, A Study in Scarlet, is published in Beeton's Christmas Annual by Ward Lock & Co. in London, introducing the consulting detective Sherlock Holmes & his friend & chronicler Dr. Watson.
In November 1874.
After completing a four-year prison sentence for thefts and frauds at Waldheim, Saxony, Karl May has his first story, "Die Rose von Ernstthal" ("The Story of Rose Ernstthal"), published.
8 Famous Women Writers Who Wrote Under Male Pseudonyms.
Historically, women faced barriers to publication and prejudicial attitudes, leading some to adopt male pseudonyms.
https://www.thecollector.com/famous-women-writers-under-male-pseudonyms/
Herman Melville’s Great American Novel, ‘Moby-Dick,’ Only Got Mixed Reviews When It First Hit Bookstores
By Eli Wizevich
#OTD in 1910.
Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy dies of pneumonia aged 82 at Astapovo railway station, after a day's train journey south, fleeing from his home.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Tolstoy
Books by Leo Tolstoy at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/136
![Leo Tolstoy in his office. CREATED/PUBLISHED: [1908 May]; CREATOR: Prokudin-Gorskii, Sergei Mikhailovich, 1863-1944, photographer. REPOSITORY: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA.](/proxy/post_attachment/518491/e7b27576ac.jpeg "Leo Tolstoy in his office. CREATED/PUBLISHED: [1908 May]; CREATOR: Prokudin-Gorskii, Sergei Mikhailovich, 1863-1944, photographer. REPOSITORY: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA.")
#OTD in 1906.
Frank Wedekind's play Spring Awakening: A Children's Tragedy (Frühlings Erwachen), completed 1901, receives its first staging, directed by Max Reinhardt.
The Awakening of Spring at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/35242
#OTD in 1902.
J. M. Barrie's comedy The Admirable Crichton is first performed, at the Duke of York's Theatre in London, starring H. B. Irving, Henry Kemble and Irene Vanbrugh.
José-Maria de Heredia was born #OTD in 1842.
He published in 1893 Les Trophées comprising 198 sonnets that retrace the history of the world or depict privileged moments as well as four longer poems.
José-Maria de Heredia at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/5697
#OTD in 1900.
August Strindberg's To Damascus (Till Damaskus, first two parts) receives its première at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm with August Palme and Harriet Bosse, Strindberg's future wife, in the leading rôles.
#OTD in 1850.
Alfred Tennyson is named Poet Laureate of the UK in succession to William Wordsworth, but only after Samuel Rogers has declined the offer because of his age and Tennyson is assured that birthday odes will not be required of him.
Edited 296d ago
#OTD in 1918.
Wilfred Owen is killed in action aged 25, at the Sambre–Oise Canal, with only five of his poems published. News of his death reaches his parents in Shrewsbury a week later on Armistice Day.
Endre Ady was born #OTD in 1877.
Some of his notable poetry collections include "Új versek" (New Poems, 1906), "A Holnap" (Tomorrow, 1908), and "A halottak élén" (At the Head of the Dead, 1918).
Books by Endre Ady at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/39489
#OTD in 1862.
Charles Dodgson sends the handwritten manuscript of Alice's Adventures Underground to Alice Liddell.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice%27s_Adventures_in_Wonderland
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Liddell
French and American writer, journalist and pianist Ève Curie was born #OTD in 1904.
She is best known for writing a biography of her mother, Madame Curie (1937). Ève was the only member of her family who did not choose a career as a scientist and did not win a Nobel Prize, although her husband, Henry Richardson Labouisse Jr., did collect the Nobel Peace Prize in 1965 on behalf of UNICEF.
#OTD in 1893.
Arthur Conan Doyle surprises the reading public by revealing in the story "The Adventure of the Final Problem", published in The Strand Magazine, that Sherlock Holmes had apparently died at the Reichenbach Falls on 4 May 1891.
