1798 in literature
Encyclopedia
New books
- Charles Brockden BrownCharles Brockden BrownCharles Brockden Brown , an American novelist, historian, and editor of the Early National period, is generally regarded by scholars as the most ambitious and accomplished US novelist before James Fenimore Cooper...
- Alcuin: a Dialogue
- Wieland: or, The Transformation; an American TaleWieland (novel)Wieland: or, The Transformation: An American Tale, usually simply called Wieland, is the first major work by Charles Brockden Brown. First published in 1798, it distinguishes the true beginning of his career as a writer. Wieland is the first - and most famous - American Gothic novel. It has often...
- Emily ClarkEmily ClarkEmily Marie Clark was not an English novelist of the 18th century.*Ianthé, or the Flower of Caernarvon *Ermina Montrose or The Cottage of the Vale *The Banks of the Douro, or, The Maid of Portugal *Poems...
- Ianthé, or the Flower of Caernarvon - William GodwinWilliam GodwinWilliam Godwin was an English journalist, political philosopher and novelist. He is considered one of the first exponents of utilitarianism, and the first modern proponent of anarchism...
- Memoirs of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of WomanMemoirs of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of WomanMemoirs of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman is William Godwin's biography of his wife Mary Wollstonecraft, the author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman .... - Regina Maria RocheRegina Maria RocheRegina Maria Roche is considered today to be a minor Gothic novelist who wrote very much in the shadow of Ann Radcliffe. She was, however, a best seller in her own time...
- Clermont: a TaleClermont (novel)Clermont is a Gothic novel by Regina Maria Roche. It was first published in 1798 by the sensationalist Minerva Press.- Plot :Clermont relates the story of the beautiful Madeline, who lives in seclusion with her eponymous father until they are visited by a mysterious Countess from Clermont's... - Mary WollstonecraftMary WollstonecraftMary Wollstonecraft was an eighteenth-century British writer, philosopher, and advocate of women's rights. During her brief career, she wrote novels, treatises, a travel narrative, a history of the French Revolution, a conduct book, and a children's book...
- Posthumous Works (edited by William GodwinWilliam GodwinWilliam Godwin was an English journalist, political philosopher and novelist. He is considered one of the first exponents of utilitarianism, and the first modern proponent of anarchism...
); includes Maria: or, The Wrongs of WomanMaria: or, The Wrongs of WomanMaria: or, The Wrongs of Woman is the 18th century British feminist Mary Wollstonecraft's unfinished novelistic sequel to her revolutionary political treatise A Vindication of the Rights of Woman...
)
New drama
- Richard CumberlandRichard Cumberland (dramatist)Richard Cumberland was a British dramatist and civil servant. In 1771 his hit play The West Indian was first staged. During the American War of Independence he acted as a secret negotiator with Spain in an effort to secure a peace agreement between the two nations. He also edited a short-lived...
- The Eccentric LoverThe Eccentric LoverThe Eccentric Lover is a comedy play by the British writer Richard Cumberland. It was first performed at Covent Garden Theatre on 30 April 1798.-Bibliography:* Mudford, William. The Life of Richard Cumberland. Sherwood, Neely & Jones, 1812.... - Friedrich von Schiller - Wallensteins Lager
New poetry
- Samuel Taylor ColeridgeSamuel Taylor ColeridgeSamuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet, Romantic, literary critic and philosopher who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. He is probably best known for his poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla...
and William WordsworthWilliam WordsworthWilliam Wordsworth was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads....
- Lyrical BalladsLyrical BalladsLyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems is a collection of poems by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, first published in 1798 and generally considered to have marked the beginning of the English Romantic movement in literature...
(published anonymously)
Non-fiction
- Hannah Webster FosterHannah Webster FosterHannah Webster Foster was an American novelist.Her epistolary novel, The Coquette; or, The History of Eliza Wharton, was published anonymously in 1797. Although it sold well in the 1790s, it was not until 1866 that her name appeared on the title page...
- The Boarding School; or, Lessons of a Preceptress to Her PupilsThe Boarding School; or, Lessons of a Preceptress to Her PupilsThe Boarding School; or, Lessons of a Preceptress to Her Pupils is a novel written by Hannah Webster Foster which was published in 1798.-Background:... - Thomas MalthusThomas MalthusThe Reverend Thomas Robert Malthus FRS was an English scholar, influential in political economy and demography. Malthus popularized the economic theory of rent....
- An Essay on the Principle of PopulationAn Essay on the Principle of PopulationThe book An Essay on the Principle of Population was first published anonymously in 1798 through J. Johnson . The author was soon identified as The Reverend Thomas Robert Malthus. While it was not the first book on population, it has been acknowledged as the most influential work of its era...
Births
- January 5 - David Macbeth MoirDavid Macbeth MoirDavid Macbeth Moir , Scottish physician and writer, was born at Musselburgh.He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, taking his degree in 1816. Entering into partnership with a Musselburgh doctor he practised there until his death...
, poet and humorist - February 17 - Auguste ComteAuguste ComteIsidore Auguste Marie François Xavier Comte , better known as Auguste Comte , was a French philosopher, a founder of the discipline of sociology and of the doctrine of positivism...
- March 30 - Luise HenselLuise HenselLuise Hensel was a German religious author and poet.- Life :Luise Hensel, the sister of Wilhelm Hensel and the sister-in-law of the composer of Fanny Mendelssohn was born on March 30, 1798 in the small town of Linum in the German Federal State of Brandenburg. After the death of her father in 1809,...
- June 29 - Count Giacomo LeopardiGiacomo LeopardiGiacomo Taldegardo Francesco di Sales Saverio Pietro Leopardi was an Italian poet, essayist, philosopher, and philologist...
, Italian poet
Deaths
- June 4 - Giacomo CasanovaGiacomo CasanovaGiacomo Girolamo Casanova de Seingalt was an Italian adventurer and author from the Republic of Venice. His autobiography, Histoire de ma vie , is regarded as one of the most authentic sources of the customs and norms of European social life during the 18th century...
, librarian - June 20 - Jeremy BelknapJeremy BelknapJeremy Belknap was an American clergyman and historian. His great achievement was the "History of New Hampshire", published in three volumes between 1784 and 1792. This work is the first modern history written by an American, embodying a new rigor in research, annotation, and reporting.Jeremy was...
, historian of New Hampshire - December 16 - Thomas PennantThomas PennantThomas Pennant was a Welsh naturalist and antiquary.The Pennants were a Welsh gentry family from the parish of Whitford, Flintshire, who had built up a modest estate at Bychton by the seventeenth century...
, traveller