1789 in literature
Encyclopedia
Events
- Friedrich SchillerFriedrich SchillerJohann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright. During the last seventeen years of his life , Schiller struck up a productive, if complicated, friendship with already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang von Goethe...
is appointed professor of history and philosophy at JenaJenaJena is a university city in central Germany on the river Saale. It has a population of approx. 103,000 and is the second largest city in the federal state of Thuringia, after Erfurt.-History:Jena was first mentioned in an 1182 document...
. - The Children's Magazine, the first American periodical for children, is published in Hartford, Connecticut. It lasts only three months.
New books
- Elizabeth BonhôteElizabeth BonhôteElizabeth Bonhôte, née Mapes was an English novelist and essayist .She was born Elizabeth Mapes in Bungay, Suffolk in 1744 and married one Daniel Bonhote, a member of the local gentry, by whom she bore two daughters. She wrote several elegies and poems in praise of the monarchy before writing her...
- Darnley Vale, or, Emelia Fitzroy - William Hill BrownWilliam Hill BrownWilliam Hill Brown was an American novelist, the author of what is usually considered the first American novel, The Power of Sympathy and "Harriot, Or The Domestick Reconciliation" as well as the serial essay "The Reformer" published in Isaiah Thomas' Massachusetts Magazine.In both, Brown proves an...
's sentimental epistolatory novel The Power of Sympathy: or, The Triumph of NatureThe Power of SympathyThe Power of Sympathy: or, The Triumph of Nature is an eighteenth-century American sentimental novel written in epistolary form by William Hill Brown; it is widely considered to be the first American novel. Published by Isaiah Thomas in January 1789, The Power of Sympathy was Brown's first novel...
, usually considered the first American novel, is published in BostonBostonBoston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
. - Richard CumberlandRichard Cumberland (dramatist)Richard Cumberland was a British dramatist and civil servant. In 1771 his hit play The West Indian was first staged. During the American War of Independence he acted as a secret negotiator with Spain in an effort to secure a peace agreement between the two nations. He also edited a short-lived...
- Arundel - Ann RadcliffeAnn RadcliffeAnne Radcliffe was an English author, and considered the pioneer of the gothic novel . Her style is romantic in its vivid descriptions of landscapes, and long travel scenes, yet the Gothic element is obvious through her use of the supernatural...
- The Castles of Athlin and DunbayneThe Castles of Athlin and DunbayneThe Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne. A Highland Story is a gothic novel by Ann Radcliffe first published in London by Thomas Hookham in 1789.... - James WhiteJames White (writer and translator)James White , historical novelist, was born in Dublin. He became a scholar of Trinity College, Dublin, in 1778 and graduated BA in 1780...
- Earl Strongbow
New drama
- Elizabeth InchbaldElizabeth InchbaldElizabeth Inchbald was an English novelist, actress, and dramatist.- Life :Born on 15 October 1753 at Standingfield, near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, Elizabeth was the eighth of the nine children of John Simpson , a farmer, and his wife Mary, née Rushbrook. The family, like several others in the...
- The Married Man - Ann YearsleyAnn YearsleyAnn Yearsley née Cromartie was an English poet and writer.Born in Bristol to John and Anne Cromartie , Ann married John Yearsley, a yeoman, in 1774. A decade later the family were rescued from destitution by the charity of Hannah More and others. More organized subscriptions for Yearsley to...
- Earl GoodwinEarl GoodwinEarl Goodwin was a professional football player from Paducah, Texas. After going to high school in Colorado, Goodwin attended Bucknell University and West Texas A&M University. Goodwin made his National Football League debut in 1928 with the Pottsville Maroons. He would go onto play eight games...
New poetry
- William BlakeWilliam BlakeWilliam Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age...
- Songs of Innocence - William Lisle BowlesWilliam Lisle BowlesWilliam Lisle Bowles was an English poet and critic.-Life and career:He was born at King's Sutton, Northamptonshire, where his father was vicar. At the age of fourteen he entered Winchester College, the headmaster at the time being Dr Joseph Warton...
- Sonnets
Non-fiction
- Olaudah EquianoOlaudah EquianoOlaudah Equiano also known as Gustavus Vassa, was a prominent African involved in the British movement towards the abolition of the slave trade. His autobiography depicted the horrors of slavery and helped influence British lawmakers to abolish the slave trade through the Slave Trade Act of 1807...
- The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah EquianoThe Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah EquianoThe Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African, first published in 1789, is the autobiography of Olaudah Equiano.-Plot introduction:...
Births
- January 11 - John Payne CollierJohn Payne CollierJohn Payne Collier , English Shakespearian critic and forger, was born in London.-Reporter and solicitor:...
- November 15 - James ScholefieldJames ScholefieldJames Scholefield , English classical scholar, was born at Henley-on-Thames.He was educated at Christ's Hospital and Trinity College, Cambridge, and was in 1825 appointed professor of Greek in the university...
- December 28 – Catharine SedgwickCatharine SedgwickCatharine Maria Sedgwick , was an American novelist of what is now referred to as "domestic fiction". She promoted Republican motherhood.-Biography:...
, American writer (d. 1867)