1791 in literature
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This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1791.
Events
- May 16 â James Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson is published[1] in 2 volumes in London on the 28th anniversary of their first meeting.
- September 10 â The Scottish poet and exciseman Robert Burns moves to Dumfries.[2]
- unknown dates
- Chinese writer and publisher Gao E and his partner Cheng Weiyan claim to have discovered Cao Xueqin's lost novel Dream of the Red Chamber.
- The English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge begins his course at Jesus College, Cambridge. He marks his transfer from Christ's Hospital school by composing the poem "On Quitting School".[3]
New books
Fiction
- Cao Xueqin (æ¹éªè¹) and others â Dream of the Red Chamber (ç´ æ¨å¤¢, first printed edition)
- Jean-Baptiste Louvet de Couvrai â Ãmilie de Varmont
- Elizabeth Inchbald â A Simple Story
- Ann Radcliffe â The Romance of the Forest
- Susanna Rowson â Charlotte, a Tale of Truth
- Marquis de Sade â Justine ou Les Malheurs de la vertu
- Charlotte Turner Smith â Celestina
Drama
Poetry
- Robert Burns â "Tam o' Shanter"
- Erasmus Darwin â The Botanic Garden
- Christopher Smart â The Poems of the late Christopher Smart
Non-fiction
- James Boswell â Life of Samuel Johnson
- Olympe de Gouges â Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen
- Isaac D'Israeli â Curiosities of Literature (Volume 1)
- Georg Forster â Views from the Lower Rhine (Volume 1)[4]
- William Gilpin â Remarks on Forest Scenery and Other Woodland Views (3 volumes)
- Thomas Paine â Rights of Man (Part 1)
- Petrarch's View of Life (Latin dialogues De remediis utriusque fortunae translated by Susannah Dobson)
- Helen Maria Williams â Letters on the French Revolution
Births
- January 15 â Franz Grillparzer, Austrian dramatist (died 1872)
- March 15 â Charles Knight, English publisher and author (died 1873)
- July 5 â Samuel Bailey, English philosopher and author (died 1870)
- August 17 â Richard Lalor Sheil, Irish politician, author and orator (died 1851)
- September 21 â István Széchenyi, Hungarian politician, writer and diarist (died 1860)
- October 26 â Charles Sprague, American poet and banker (died 1875)
- December 24 â Eugène Scribe, French dramatist (died 1861)
Deaths
- January 11 â William Williams Pantycelyn, Welsh religious writer and hymnist (born 1717)
- March 2 â John Wesley, English preacher and religious writer (born 1703)
- April 2 â Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau, French revolutionary and writer (born 1749)
- April 19 â Richard Price, Welsh moral philosopher and preacher (born 1723)
- June 12 â Francis Grose, English antiquary and lexicographer (born c. 1730)
- June 30 â Jean-Baptiste Descamps, French writer and painter (born 1714)
- July 1 - Charles O'Conor, Irish historian and antiquarian (born 1710)
- July 2 â Søren Abildgaard, Danish naturalist and writer (born 1718)
- November 22 â Johann Silberschlag, German theologian (born 1721)[5]