1860: The Storm to The Marble Faun

Chronology of World, British and American Literature

Aleksandr Ostrovsky. Russian. 1860. Play. The Storm. Tragedy of young wife trying to break out of stifling atmosphere of her life. Dull, merchant-class milieu; love affair; confesses; hounded; suicide.

George Eliot. British. 1860. Novel. The Mill on the Floss. Brother intrudes on his sister’s life and lovers; they both drown in a flood on the Floss.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. American. 1860. Poetry. “The Children’s Hour.” Devoted to his three daughters by first wife, Mary Potter.

Ivan Turgenev. Russian. 1860. Novel. On the Eve. Heroine finds fulfillment in fighting for social justice with her radical husband.

Nathaniel Hawthorne. American. 1860. Novel. The Marble Faun. Naively joyous male commits crime and matures into a true human. Fortunate fall. Setting is Rome.

1859: Friend of the Family to Idylls of the King

Chronology of World, British and American Literature

Dostoevsky. Russian. 1859. Novel. The Friend of the Family. Russian Tartuffe. Petty, talentless ex-toady rules the household by playing on guilt feelings.

George Sand. British. 1859. Novel. Elle et lui (He and She). Sand’s interpretation of her love affair with Alfred de Musset and its complexities.

Charles Darwin. British. 1859. Nonfiction. Origin of Species. Theory of evolution by natural selection and survival of the fittest.

Aleksey Pisemsky. Russian. 1859. Play. A Hard Lot. Tragic conflicts caused by the love affair between the estate owner and the wife of one of his serfs. Realistic.

Alfred Lord Tennyson. British. 1859/85. Poetry. Idlylls of the King. Based on the Arthurian legend. Introduction of evil into hitherto unblemished Camelot through Lancelot’s sin.

1859: The Ordeal of Richard Feveral to "Out of the Cradle...."

Chronology of World, British and American Literature

George Meredith. British. 1859. Novel. The Ordeal of Richard Feveral. Father attempts to educate his son to be a perfect specimen of manhood. Fails tragically. Problem is his attempt to keep him away from women.

Ivan Turgenev. Russian. 1859. Novel. A Nest of the Greatfolk. Tragic love affair ended because his wife who was thought to be dead returns and he must resume his duty. Evokes the peaceful atmosphere of a provincial Russian estate.

George Eliot. British. 1859. Novel. Adam Bede. Principled Adam loves pretty, superficial Hetty Sorrel who is seduced by Squire Donnithorne; she kills the baby. Adam eventually marries Dinah Morris, a young Methodist preacher.

Ivan Goncharov. Russian. 1859. Oblomov. Hero is the embodiment of physical and mental laziness.

Walt Whitman. American. 1859. Poetry. “Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking.” Interprets the song of a bird at seaside to mean death.

1858 - 1859: Our American Cousin to Tale of Two Cities

Chronology of World, British and American Literature

Tom Taylor. American. 1858. Play. Our American Cousin. Play that Abraham Lincoln was watching when he was assassinated.

Oliver Wendell Holmes. American. 1858. Poetry. “The Deacon’s Masterpiece, or, The Wonderful ‘One-Hoss Shay.’ ” Satirizing Calvinist dogma or any inflexible though highly logical system designed for permanence. The shay did not break down. It just fell apart all at once.

Oliver Wendell Holmes. American. 1858. Poetry. “The Chambered Nautilus.” Sea creature that enlarges its shell as it grows is example to the human being.

Henry W. Longfellow. American. 1858. Poetry. “The Courtship of Miles Standish.” Standish sends John Alden to woo Priscilla for him. She prefers John. Miles Standish gives his blessing.

Charles Dickens. British. 1859. Novel. A Tale of Two Cities. French Revolution. London and Paris. Descriptions taken from Carlyle’s French Revolution. Darnay and Carlton are look alikes; the latter substitutes for the former on the guillotine. Carton also Loves Lucy. Completely cynical about himself.

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.

1856 - 1857: Mozart.... to Tom Brown's School Days

Chronology of World, British and American Literature

Eduard Morike. German. 1856. Novel. Mozart auf der Reise nach Prag (Mozart on His Trip to Prague). Mood: essential joy in Mozart’s creative energy and melancholy premonition of death.

Dinah Maria Mulock Craik. British. 1856. Novel. John Halifax, Gentleman. Orphan by perseverance, fortitude, establishes himself in life despite humble origin.

Thackeray. British. 1857. Novel. The Virginians. Twin grandsons; boyhood in America; various experiences in England. Through American Revolution in which each fights on a different side.

Charles Baudelaire. French. 1857. Poetry. The Flowers of Evil (Les fluers du mal). Conflict of good, evil; seeks beauty or good in perverse, grotesque, morbid.

Thomas Hughes. British. 1857. Novel. Tom Brown’s School Days. Life in an English public school. Shy, homesick boy develops manly, robust qualities.

1855 - 1856: Chronicles of Barsetshire to Madame Bovary

Chronology of World, British and American Literature

Anthony Trollope. British. 1855/67. Novels. Chronicles of Barsetshire. Cathedral town. Agitations among clerical families disturb the placidity of Barchester. Mrs. Proudie, etc.

Herman Melville. American. 1856. Stories. The Piazza Tales. Artist attempts to rival the power of God, Customer refuses to buy lightning rod: If you cannot control God, why fear him? Descriptive sketches based on 1841 voyage to the Galapagos Island.

Ivan Turgenev. Russian. 1856. Novel. Rudin. Traces the ineffectual career of the hero who impresses with brilliant, high-minded talk. However, he is unable to take decisive action. Frightened by the demands of love. When he tries to act, he loses his life. Hero represents the Russian “Superfluous Man.”

Walt Whitman. American. 1856. Poetry. “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry.” Feels himself to be one with all those who cross on the ferry regardless of time and space.

Gustave Flaubert. French. 1856. Novel. Madame Bovary. Life of ordinary woman. Technique of amassing precise detail is key in development of the novel. Married to good-hearted, stupid village doctor. Romantic dreams unfulfilled. Adultery, debts, suicide.