This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1902.
Events
- January 5
- The political drama Danton's Death (Dantons Tod, completed and published in 1835) by Georg Büchner (died 1837), is first performed, at the Belle-Alliance-Theater in Berlin by the Vereins Neue Freie Volksbühne.
- George Bernard Shaw's controversial 1893 play Mrs. Warren's Profession receives its first performance at a private London club.
- January 23 â The first example of a Sherlockian game â a study of inconsistencies of dates in Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles (the serialisation of which in The Strand Magazine concludes in April) by publisher Frank Sidgwick â appears in The Cambridge Review.
- April â Mark Twain buys a home in Tarrytown, New York. On June 4 he receives an honorary doctorate of literature from the University of Missouri.
- June 16 â Bertrand Russell writes to Gottlob Frege about the mathematical problem to become known as Russell's paradox.
- July 1 â The Romanian language literary review LuceafÃÂrul begins publication in Budapest.
- August 6 â ÃÂn sat sau la oraà(In the Village or in the City), by the Romanian peasant leader Constantin Dobrescu-ArgeÃÂ, is performed in his native MuÃÂÃÂteÃÂti, in front of an audience comprising Education Minister Spiru Haret and some 2,000 villagers.
- September 9 â P. G. Wodehouse leaves his job at the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Company in London to become a freelance writer. On September 18, his first published novel, the St. Austin's school story The Pothunters, is published in London by A & C Black, as a truncation of the version in their Public School Magazine from January to March.
- Early October â Beatrix Potter's self-illustrated children's book The Tale of Peter Rabbit (originally published privately a year earlier) appears in its first trade edition with Frederick Warne & Co in London. It sells 28,000 copies by the end of the year.
- October 5 â Thousands attend the funeral of the French novelist ÃÂmile Zola at the Cimetière de Montmartre, Paris. They include Alfred Dreyfus, given special permission by Mme Zola to attend.
- November 4 â J. M. Barrie's comedy The Admirable Crichton is first performed, at the Duke of York's Theatre in London, starring H. B. Irving, Henry Kemble and Irene Vanbrugh. It runs for 828 performances.
- December 5 â Leo Tolstoy's drama The Power of Darkness (ëÃÂûðÃÂÃÂàÃÂÃÂüÃÂû, Vlast' t'my, written in 1886) has its Russian-language première at the Moscow Art Theatre by Konstantin Stanislavski with some success, although Stanislavski is self-critical.
- December 18 â Maxim Gorky's drama The Lower Depths â Scenes from Russian Life (ëÃÂð ôýõû, Na dne) is first performed, at the Moscow Art Theatre, as a first major success for Konstantin Stanislavski as director and star.
- unknown date â The poet ÃÂtefan PeticÃÂ's cycle Fecioara în alb is published, marking a maturing of Romanian Symbolism.
New books
Fiction
Children and young people
Drama
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Poetry
Non-fiction
Births
- January 1 - Muhammad Zaki Abd al-Qadir, Egyptian journalist and writer (d. 1981)
- January 5 â Stella Gibbons, English novelist (died 1989)
- January 20 â Nazim Hikmet, Turkish lyricist and dramatist (died 1963)
- January 30 â Nikolaus Pevsner, German-born architectural historian (died 1983)
- February 13 â Fernando Chaves, Ecuadorian novelist, essayist, and journalist (died 1999)
- February 16 â Ion CÃÂlugÃÂru, Romanian novelist, short story writer and journalist (died 1956)
- February 19 â Kay Boyle, American writer, educator and political activist (died 1992)
- February 27 â John Steinbeck, American novelist and journalist (died 1968)
- March 10 â Stefan Inglot, Polish historian (died 1994)
- March 29 â Marcel Aymé, French novelist and short-story writer (died 1967)
- April 2 â Jan Tschichold, German-born typographer (died 1974)
- April 6 â Julien Torma, French poet and dramatist (died 1933)
- April 9 â Lord David Cecil, English literary critic and biographer (died 1986)
- April 23 â Halldór Laxness, Icelandic novelist (died 1998)
- June 5 â Hugo Huppert, Austrian poet, writer and translator (died 1982)
- July 10 â Nicolás Guillén, Afro-Cuban poet (died 1989)
- July 8 â Gwendolyn B. Bennett, African American writer and artist (died 1981)
- August 15 â Katharine Brush, American short story writer (died 1952)
- August 16 â Georgette Heyer, English novelist (died 1974)
- August 19 â Ogden Nash, American poet and humorist (died 1971)
- August 24
- Felipe Alfau, Spanish-American fiction writer, poet and translator (died 1999)
- Fernand Braudel, French historian (died 1985)
- October 13 â Arna Bontemps, African American poet (died 1973)
- October 23 â Dadie Rylands (George Rylands), English Shakespeare scholar (died 1999)
- October 26 â Beryl Markham (Beryl Clutterbuck), English-born Kenyan adventurer and memoirist (died 1986)
- October 31 â Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Brazilian poet (died 1987)
- November 1 â Nordahl Grieg, Norwegian poet and author (killed in action 1943)
- November 2
- Hu Feng (è¡é£Â), Chinese novelist (died 1985)
- Gyula Illyés, Hungarian author (died 1983)
- November 29 â Carlo Levi, Italian writer (died 1975)
- December 20 â Jolán Földes, Hungarian novelist and playwright (died 1963)
Deaths
- January 7 â Wilhelm Hertz, German poet and translator (born 1835)
- April 6 â Gleb Uspensky, Russian writer (born 1843)
- April 20 â Frank R. Stockton, American writer and humorist (born 1834)
- April 21 â Ethna Carbery, Irish poet (born 1866)
- May 5 â Bret Harte, American author and poet (born 1836)
- May 6 â Emma Augusta Sharkey, American dime novelist (born 1858)
- May 17/18 â Harriet Abbott Lincoln Coolidge, American philanthropist, author and reformer (b. 1849)
- June 10 â Jacint Verdaguer, Catalan poet (born 1845)
- June 18 â Samuel Butler, English novelist (born 1835)
- August 31 â Mathilde Wesendonck, German poet (born 1828)
- September 11 â Ernst Dümmler, German historian (born 1830)
- September 19 â Masaoka Shiki (æ£岡 Ã¥ÂÂè¦Â), Japanese haiku poet (born 1867)
- September 29
- William McGonagall, Scottish doggerel poet (born 1825)
- ÃÂmile Zola, French novelist (carbon monoxide poisoning, born 1840)
- October 7 â George Rawlinson, English historian (born 1812)
- October 13 â John George Bourinot, Canadian historian (born 1836)
- October 25 â Frank Norris, American novelist (peritonitis, born 1870)
- October 31 â Cornélie Huygens, Dutch writer, social democrat and feminist (born 1848)
- November 16 â G. A. Henty, English historical novelist (born 1832)
- December 26 â Mary Hartwell Catherwood, American author and poet (born 1849)
Awards
References