1854 in literature

List of years in literature (table)
... 1844 ^. 1845 ^. 1846 ^. 1847 ^. 1848 ^. 1849 ^. 1850 ... 1851 1852 1853 -1854- 1855 1856 1857 ... 1858 ^. 1859 ^. 1860 ^. 1861 ^. 1862 ^. 1863 ^. 1864 ... In poetry: 1851 1852 1853 -1854- 1855 1856 1857

Art ^. Archaeology ^. Architecture ^. Literature ^. Music ^. Philosophy ^. Science +...

The year 1854 in literature involved some significant literary events and new books.

Events

Tolstoy during the Crimean War, c. 1854

April 1–August 12 - Charles Dickens's novel Hard Times is serialised in his magazine Household Words. From September 2, it is followed in the magazine by Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South, another social novel based in the Lancashire manufacturing district.
November - Crimean War: Future novelist Leo Tolstoy arrives to take part as a defending soldier in the Siege of Sevastopol (1854–55).^[1]
John Rollin Ridge's The Life and Adventures of Joaquín Murieta, The Celebrated California Bandit is published, the first novel by a Native American in the United States (writing as "Yellow Bird"), although concerning a Mexican immigrant.^[2]
The Polyglotta Africana, an early classification of African languages based on field work under freed slaves in Freetown, Sierra Leone, is published by Sigismund Wilhelm Koelle.
Samuel French begins his publishing business, origin of the theatrical publisher Samuel French, Inc., in New York City.

George Boole - The Laws of Thought
Ludwig Feuerbach - The Essence of Christianity (Das Wesen des Christentums)
Kuno Fischer - History of Modern Philosophy (Geschichte der neueren Philosophie) vol. 1
Elisha Kane - The U.S. Grinnell Expedition in Search of Sir John Franklin: a Personal Narrative^[4]
Eliphas Levi - Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie ("Dogma and Ritual of High Magic") vol. 1, Dogme
Theodor Mommsen - History of Rome (Römische Geschichte) vol. 1
Henry David Thoreau - Walden, or Life in the Woods

March 13 – Kolachalam Srinivasa Rao, Indian dramatist (died 1919)
June 10
- François, Vicomte de Curel, French dramatist (died 1928)
- Sarah Grand, Irish author and women's rights advocate (died 1943)
August 2 – Francis Marion Crawford, American novelist (died 1909)
October 16 – Oscar Wilde, Irish dramatist, poet and wit (died 1900)
October 20 – Arthur Rimbaud, French poet (died 1891)

January 5 – Gottschalk Eduard Guhrauer, German philologist and biographer (born 1809)
February 4 – George Watterston, American librarian of Congress (born 1783)
April 3 – John Wilson, Scottish poet and journalist (born 1785)
April 7 – Pierre-François Tissot, French historian and memoirist (born 1768)
April 16 – Julia Nyberg, Swedish poet (born 1784)
April 24 – Gabriele Rossetti, Italian poet (born 1783)
April 30 – James Montgomery, Scottish-born poet and hymnist (born 1771)
July 20 – Caroline Anne Southey (Caroline Anne Bowles), English poet (born 1786)
October 14 – Samuel Phillips, English journalist (born 1814)
November 5 – Susan Edmonstone Ferrier, Scottish novelist (born 1782)
November 25 – John Kitto, English Biblical commentator (born 1804)
December 9 – Almeida Garrett, Portuguese poet, novelist and dramatist (born 1799)
Unknown date – Abraham John Valpy, English printer and publisher (born 1787)