1905 in literature

This article presents lists of the literary events and publications in 1905.

Events

• January–September – L. Frank Baum's Animal Fairy Tales are published in The Delineator magazine.
• January 5 – Baroness Emma Orczy's play The Scarlet Pimpernel, adapted by Julia Neilson and Fred Terry (who play the leads), makes its London debut at the New Theatre, followed shortly by publication of the novel.
• January 16 – Neil Munro begins publishing his Vital Spark stories in the Glasgow Evening News.
• February – Upton Sinclair's novel The Jungle begins serialization in the American socialist newspaper Appeal to Reason.^[1]
• July – Beatrix Potter becomes engaged to her editor Norman Warne, but on August 25 he dies unexpectedly of pernicious anemia. Soon afterwards she completes the purchase of her Lake District home, Hill Top.
• October 13 – English actor-manager Sir Henry Irving collapses on stage in the role of Thomas Becket while on tour in Bradford, dying soon afterwards.
• December 10 – O. Henry's short story "The Gift of the Magi" is first published (as "Gifts of the Magi") in The New York Sunday World.
• The first of several chapters of I Am a Cat (吾輩は猫である) by Natsume Sōseki are published serially in Hototogisu (ホトトギス, Lesser cuckoo).
• The group Noor-Eesti ("Young Estonia") is formed to promote the Estonian national awakening in language and literature.
• The National Library of Thailand is created as the "Vajirayanana Library for the Capital City" in Bangkok through the merger of the Mandira Dharma Library, the Vajirayanana Library and the Buddhasasana Sangaha Library by royal decree.
• 22-year-old Belle da Costa Greene is appointed as librarian to J. P. Morgan in New York City.

New books

Births

• January 6 – Idris Davies, Anglo-Welsh poet (died 1953)
• January 25 – Margery Sharp, English novelist and children's writer (died 1991)
• January 31 – John O'Hara, American writer (died 1970)
• February 2 – Ayn Rand (Alisa Zinov'yevna Rosenbaum), Russian-American novelist, playwright and screenwriter (died 1982)
• February 7 – Paul Nizan, French philosopher and writer (died 1940)
• February 26 – Robert Byron, English travel writer (torpedoed 1941)
• March 2 – Geoffrey Grigson, English poet and critic (died 1985)
• March 23 – Joseph Henry Reason, African-American librarian (died 1997)
• March 31 – Kulap Saipradit (Siburapha), Thai novelist (died 1974)
• May 1 – Emmanuel Mounier, French philosopher, journalist and theologian (died 1950)
• May 16 – H. E. Bates, English novelist (died 1974)
• May 20 – Gerrit Achterberg, Dutch poet (died 1962)
• May 24 – Mikhail Sholokhov, Soviet Russian novelist (died 1984)
• June 20 – Lillian Hellman, American dramatist (died 1984)
• June 21 – Jean-Paul Sartre, French philosopher, novelist and playwright (died 1980)
• July 25
  • Elias Canetti, Bulgarian-born novelist and playwright writing in German (died 1994)
  • Denys Watkins-Pitchford, English children's writer (died 1990)
• September 5 – Arthur Koestler, Hungarian-born English novelist and social philosopher (suicide 1983)
• October 15 – C. P. Snow, English novelist (died 1980)
• October 17 – Lev Nussimbaum, Russian and Azerbaijani novelist (died 1942)
• October 31 - Elizabeth Jenkins, English author (died 2010)^[3]
• November 10 – Kurt Eggers, German writer, poet, songwriter and playwright (killed in action 1943)
• December 4 – Munro Leaf, American children's author (died 1974)
• December 12
  • Mulk Raj Anand, Indian novelist (died 2004)
  • Vasily Grossman, Russian novelist and writer (died 1964)
• December 21 – Anthony Powell, English novelist (died 2000)
• December 22 – Kenneth Rexroth, American poet and critic (died 1982)
• December 30 (December 17 OS) – Daniil Kharms, born Daniil Ivánovich Yuvatchov, Russian surrealist, children's writer, absurdist poet, short prose author and dramatist (died 1942)

Deaths

• January 19 – Debendranath Tagore, Hindu philosopher and religious reformer (born 1817)
• February 15 – Lew Wallace, American novelist and general (born 1827)
• March 20 – Antonin Proust, French journalist and politician (born 1832)
• March 25 – Jules Verne, French novelist (born 1828)
• April 9 – Sarah Chauncey Woolsey (Susan Coolidge), American children's writer (born 1839)
• April 18 – Juan Valera y Alcalá-Galiano, Spanish realist novelist (born 1824)
• May 23 – Mary Livermore, American journalist and women's rights activist (born 1820)
• August 14 – Gertrude Bloede (Stuart Sterne), American poet (born 1845)
• August 22 – David Binning Monro, Scottish Homeric scholar (born 1836)
• September 18 – George MacDonald, Scottish poet, writer and minister (born 1824)
• October 6 – Hibbard H. Shedd, Danish-born American politician and novelist (born 1847)
• October 28 – Alphonse Allais, French humorist (born 1854)
• December 3 – John Bartlett, American lexicographer and publisher (born 1820)
• December 9 – Sir Richard Claverhouse Jebb Scottish classicist and politician (born 1841)
• December 11 – Paul Meurice, French novelist and playwright (born 1818)
• December 12 – William Sharp, Scottish poet, biographer and novelist (born 1855)
• December 20 – Henry Harland (Sidney Luska), American novelist and editor (tuberculosis, born 1861)
• December 29 – Victor Daley (Creeve Roe), Australian poet (tuberculosis, born 1858)

Awards

• Nobel Prize for Literature: Henryk Sienkiewicz

References