1885 - 1886: "The Swan" to Princess Casamassina.

Chronology of World, British and American Literature.

Stephane Mallarme. French. 1885. Poetry. “The Swan.” Swan trapped in frozen lake; held in pure, mysterious state of unrealized possibility. Can’t fly.

Robert Louis Stevenson. British. 1885. Poetry. A Child’s Garden of Verses. Written from the child’s point of view. “My Shadow.” “The Lamplighter.”

Robert Louis Stevenson. British. 1886. Novel. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Dual personality. Tries to separate good and evil into two distinctive personalities. Unmitigated evil personality predominates. Commits suicide.

Leo Tolstoy. Russian. 1886. Play. The Power of Darkness. Peasant drama showing their faults and vices. Epigraph of the play: “When one claw is caught, the whole bird is doomed.”

Henry James. American/British. 1886. Novel. The Princess Casamassina. Radical makes way into upper class society. Grows to appreciate civilization. Rather than commit assassination, he commits suicide.