1866 - 1867: Crime and Punishment to Peer Gynt

Chronology of World, British and American Literature

Dostoevsky. Russian. 1866. Novel. Crime and Punishment. Rationalizes murder. Conscience works on him. Lacks qualities of amoral superman. Detective waits for the confession he knows is coming. Astute psychological observation and analysis by Dostoevsky.

John Henry Newman. British. 1866. Poetry. “A Dream of Gerontius.” Gerontius makes his last journey to God, carried by his guardian angel through the world of good and evil spirits.

Pierre Loti. French. 1866. Novel. An Iceland Fisherman. Loneliness, bitter struggle between fishermen and the sea off the shores of Iceland.

John Greenleaf Whittier. American. 1866. Poem. Snow Bound. A winter idyll. Memory of being snowed in on his father’s Massachusetts farm.

Henrik Ibsen. Norwegian. 1867. Poetic Drama. Peer Gynt. Boastful, capricious, irresponsible Peer has no personality, no true self. Saved by someone in whose mind he existed as a real personality.