British Literature Events

1726 'Gulliver's Travels' is Published
Gulliver's Travels is a misanthropic anatomy of human nature; a sardonic looking-glass. It asks its readers to refute it, to deny that it has not adequately characterized human nature and...
1811 'Sense and Sensibility' is Published
From 1799 to 1809, little is known of Austen's life or literary endeavors, other than that upon her father's retirement she moved unhappily from her beloved home in Steventon to Bath; tha...
1812 Feb 7 Charles Dickens is born
Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812 in Portsmouth. His parents were John and Elizabeth Dickens. Charles was the second of their eight children . John was a clerk in a payroll ...
1813 Jan 28 'Pride and Prejudice' is Published
Jane Austen began writing the novel which later became Pride and Prejudice in October of 1796 and finished it by August of the following year; she was then twenty-one years old. Little is...
1818 Jan 1 'Frankenstein' is Published
Over the course of time, Frankenstein's monster has usurped the very name of his creator, Victor Frankenstein, the precocious student of natural philosophy from Geneva, where Mary Shelley...
1847 'Wuthering Heights' is Published
It is not simply in contrast to its origins that Wuthering Heights strikes us as so unique, so unanticipated. This great novel, though not inordinately long, and, contrary to general assu...
1847 Oct 16 'Jane Eyre' is Published
Jane Eyre is a wildly emotional romance, with a lonely heroine and a tormented Byronic hero, pathetic orphans, dark secrets, and a mad-woman in the attic. When it was published in 1847 it...
1865 Nov 26 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' is Published
Like most nineteenth-century children's books, the pictures for Alice were created by transferring the artist's drawings to woodblocks, But with Alice, the original blocks served as maste...
1866 Sep 21 H. G. Wells is Born
Herbert George Wells was born in Bromley, Kent. His father was a shopkeeper and a professional cricketer until he broke his leg. In his early childhood, Wells developed love for literatur...
1882 Jan 18 A.A. Milne Is Born
Alan Alexander Milne (pronounced /ˈmɪln/) (18 January 1882 – 31 January 1956) was an English author, best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh and for various children...
1932 'Brave New World' is Published
Huxley's 1932 work — about a drugged, dull and mass-produced society of the future — has been challenged for its themes of sexuality, drugs and suicide. The book parodies H.G. Wells' utop...
1990 Nov 23 Roald Dahl Dies
On this day in 1990, Roald Dahl, the best-selling author of such children’s books as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach, both of which were adapted for the bi...
1998 Jul 2 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Released in the UK
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, is the second novel in the Harry Potter series written by J. K. Rowling. It continues the story of Harry Potter during his second year at Hogwarts...
1998 Sep 1 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Released in the US
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is the first novel in the Harry Potter series written by J. K. Rowling and featuring Harry Potter, a young wizard. It describes how Harry discovers h...
1999 Jun 2 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Released in the US
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, is the second novel in the Harry Potter series written by J. K. Rowling. It continues the story of Harry Potter during his second year at Hogwarts...