1689 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1689.

Events

• April 30 – Thomas Shadwell becomes Poet Laureate and Historiographer Royal in England.
• April/May – Jonathan Swift becomes secretary to Sir William Temple.
• May 26 – Matsuo Bashō begins the journey described in Oku no Hosomichi (Narrow Road to the Deep North).

New books

Prose

• Richard Cox – '
• George Hickes – '
• John Locke
• Two Treatises of Government (anonymous)
• A Letter Concerning Toleration (as by 'P.A.P.O.I.L.A.', in Latin)
• An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (dated 1690)
• John Selden (died 1654) – Table Talk
• Johann Weikhard von Valvasor – The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola (Die Ehre deß Hertzogthums Crain)

Drama

• Aphra Behn – The Widow Ranter
• James Carlile – The Fortune Hunters
• Sor Juana – (Love the Greater Labyrinth)
• Nathaniel Lee – The Massacre of Paris
• William Mountfort – The Successful Strangers
• Thomas Shadwell – Bury Fair
• Nahum Tate – Dido and Aeneas
• Matthew Taubman – London's Great Jubilee

Births

• January 18 – Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu, French satirist (died 1755)
• January 21 – Daniel Henchman, Colonial American bookseller and publisher (died 1761)
• May 26 – Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, English poet and letter-writer (died 1762)
• July 9 – Alexis Piron, French epigrammatist (died 1773)
• August 19 (bapt.) – Samuel Richardson, English novelist (died 1761)

Deaths

• January – William Chamberlayne, English poet and playwright (born c. 1619)
• February 21 – Isaac Vossius, Dutch-born collector of manuscripts (born 1618)
• April 16 – Aphra Behn, English dramatist, poet and novelist (born 1640)
• August 21 – William Cleland, Scottish soldier and poet (killed in battle, born c. 1661)
• November 13 – Philipp von Zesen, German poet and hymn-writer (born 1619)
• December 13 – Zbigniew Morsztyn, Polish poet (born c. 1628)
• Unknown date – Pjetër Bogdani, Albanian-language author (born c. 1630)

References