1857 - 1858: The Confidence Man.... to A Thousand Souls

Chronology of World, British and American Literature

Herman Melville. American. 1857. Novel. The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade. Mississippi river boat. Plotless satire. Characters are different manifestations of the confidence man, without principle.

Anthony Trollope. British. 1857. Novel. Barchester Towers. Novel of clerical intrigue. Struggle between Mrs. Proudie, the bishop’s wife, and the insidious chaplain, Slope.

Oliver Wendell Holmes. American. 1858. Essays. The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table. Conversations that become monologues; epigrammatic; social, theological, scientific topics.

John Greenleaf Whittier. American. 1858. Poetry. “Telling the Bees.” Custom of draping hives when someone is dead. Lover discovers that the dead person is his beloved.

Aleksey Pisemsky. Russian. 1858. Novel. A Thousand Souls. Marries woman who has 1000 serfs in order to further his career.