1842 in literature

The year 1842 in literature involved some significant new books.

Events

• Fanny Burney's diary and letters are posthumously published.
• The Book of Abraham is published in two installments in the Times and Seasons.
• Washington Irving presides over a public dinner for Charles Dickens in New York.

New books

• Honoré de Balzac - The Black Sheep
• Edward George Bulwer-Lytton -Zanoni
• James Fenimore Cooper - The Two Admirals
• Nikolai Gogol
• Dead Souls
• The Overcoat
• Catherine Gore - The Ambassador's Wife
• Victor Hugo - Le Rhin
• Samuel Lover - Handy Andy
• Frederick Marryat - Percival Keene
• George Sand - Consuelo
• Albert Smith - The Adventures of Mr Ledbury

New drama

• Isabel Hill - Brian the Probationer
• Johann Nestroy - Einen Jux will er sich machen

Poetry

• Robert Browning - Dramatic Lyrics
• Alfred Tennyson - Locksley Hall

Non-fiction

• Charles Dickens - American Notes
• Ralph Waldo Emerson - The Transcendentalist
• Udney Hay Jacob - Peace Maker
• Henry David Thoreau - A Walk to Wachusett

Births

• February 4 - Arrigo Boito, poet (+ 1918)
• February 25 - Karl May, writer (+ 1912)
• June 24 - Ambrose Bierce (+ 1914)

Deaths

• March 23 - Stendhal, novelist
• July 28 - Clemens Brentano, poet and novelist
• October 23 - Wilhelm Gesenius, Biblical commentator
• November 6 - William Hone, publisher and bookseller
• December 7 - Thomas Hamilton, novelist
• date unknown - Charlotte Dacre, novelist

Awards