1852 - 1853: Blithedale Romance to Villette

Chronology of World, British and American Literature

Nathaniel Hawthorne. American. 1852. Novel. The Blithedale Romance. Intellectual woman loses man to cuddly, clingy, pretty girl. Setting is a Utopian farm.

Herman Melville> American. 1852. Novel. Pierre, or the Ambiguities. In the pursuit of truth, author causes the deaths of his mother, fiancée and sister.

Wm. Makepeace Thackeray. British. 1852. Historical Novel. The History of Henry Esmond, Esquire. Tangled plot. Henry Esmond thinks he is illegitimate; actually, he is the lawful heir to the Esmond estate.

Leo Tolstoy. Russian. 1852/54/57. Autobiography. Childhood, Boyhood and Youth. Trilogy. Descriptions of life on provincial estate; among best depictions of nature in Russian literature.

Charlotte Bronte. British 1853. Novel. Villette. English girl teaches at a girls’ boarding school; secret love for a doctor. Recognizes true destiny with embittered headmaster, to whom she becomes engaged.