This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1903.
Events
January–December – Henry James's novel The Ambassadors is published as a serial in the monthly North American Review. May 22 – Japanese philosophy student Misao Fujimura (藤村操, born 1886) carves a poem into a tree at Kegon Falls before committing suicide over unrequited love.Suicide note (in Japanese). June 20 – Jack London's novel The Call of the Wild begins serial publication in the Saturday Evening Post. October 24 – Mark Twain sets out for Florence (Italy). December – The Prix Goncourt for French literature is awarded for the first time, to John Antoine Nau for his novel Force ennemie. December 16 – The London County Council erects a plaque to novelist Charles Dickens (d. 1870) on his former home in Doughty Street. December 19 – The first of G. K. Chesterton's short stories in the series The Club of Queer Trades, "The Tremendous Adventures of Major Brown", appears in Harper's Weekly. unknown date – William Foyle and his brother Gilbert establish the London bookselling business of Foyles.
New books
Fiction Pío Baroja – El Mayorazgo de Labraz (Lord of Labraz, second of La Tierra Vasca – The Basque Country trilogy, 1900–1909) Ioan A. Bassarabescu – Nuvele Thio Tjin Boen – Tjerita Oeij Se René Boylesve – Enfant à la Balustrade Samuel Butler (died 1902) – The Way of All Flesh Erskine Childers – The Riddle of the Sands Joseph Conrad – Typhoon and Other Stories (U. K. book publication) Joseph Conrad and Ford Madox Hueffer – Romance Florence Converse – Long Will Grazia Deledda – Elias Portolu Isabelle Eberhardt – Trimardeur (serialization begins) John Fox, Jr. – The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come Mary E. Wilkins Freeman – The Wind in the Rose Bush George Gissing – The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft Henry James – The Ambassadors Jack London – The Call of the Wild John Antoine Nau – Force ennemie Frank Norris (died 1902) – The Pit Marmaduke Pickthall – Said the Fisherman Bram Stoker – The Jewel of Seven Stars Jules Verne – Travel Scholarships (Bourses de voyage) Mary Augusta Ward – Lady Rose's Daughter Émile Zola – Vérité Jerzy Żuławski – Na Srebrnym Globie (On the Silver Globe, first in the Trylogia Księżycowa – Lunar Trilogy)
Children and young people L. Frank Baum – The Enchanted Island of Yew Beatrix Potter The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin The Tailor of Gloucester Herminie Templeton – Darby O'Gill and the Good People (book publication) Kate Douglas Wiggin – Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
Drama Dusé Mohamed Ali – The Jew's Revenge Jacinto Benavente – La noche del sábado (Saturday Night) Haralamb Lecca – Cancer la inimă André de Lorde – Le Système du docteur Goudron et du professeur Plume W. Somerset Maugham – A Man of Honour René Morax – La Dîme Ștefan Petică – Frații Florencio Sánchez – M'hijo el dotor (My son, the doctor) George Bernard Shaw – Man and Superman (published) J. M. Synge – In the Shadow of the Glen Pierre Wolff – The Secret of Polichinelle (Le Secret de Polichinelle) Stanisław Wyspiański – Wyzwolenie (Liberation)
Poetry
Giovanni Pascoli – Canti di Castelvecchio Thomas Traherne (died 1674) – Poetical Works W. B. Yeats – In the Seven Woods, being poems of the Irish heroic age
Non-fiction James Allen – As a Man Thinketh Ada Cambridge – Thirty Years in Australia E. K. Chambers – The Mediaeval Stage W. E. B. Du Bois – The Souls of Black Folk Helena Rutherfurd Ely – A Woman's Hardy Garden Auguste Escoffier – Le Guide culinaire Helen Keller – The Story of My Life (book publication) G. E. Moore – Principia Ethica John Morley – The Life of Gladstone Alois Riegl – Der moderne Denkmalkultus, sein Wesen, seine Entstehung (The Modern Cult of Monuments, Its Character and Origin) W. B. Yeats – Ideas of Good and Evil (essays)
Births January 10 – E. Arnot Robertson, English novelist and broadcaster (died 1961) February 11 – Alan Paton, South African novelist and activist (died 1988) February 13 – Georges Simenon, Belgian crime writer (died 1989) February 17 – Sadegh Hedayat, Iranian-born novelist (suicide 1951) February 21 Anaïs Nin, French-American novelist and diarist (died 1977) Raymond Queneau, French poet (died 1976) February 22 – Morley Callaghan, Canadian writer (died 1990) February 24 Vladimir Bartol, Slovene author (died 1967) Irène Némirovsky, Russian-born French novelist (died 1942) June 8 – Marguerite Yourcenar, Belgian novelist (died 1987) June 18 – Raymond Radiguet, French author (died 1923) June 25 – George Orwell, English novelist and journalist (died 1950) July 3 – Oliver Stonor, English novelist (died 1987) July 10 – John Wyndham, English science fiction writer (died 1969) September 5 – János Kemény, American-born Transylvanian Hungarian writer (died 1971) September 9 – Edward Upward, English novelist and short story writer (died 2009) September 10 – Cyril Connolly, English critic and writer (died 1974) September 14 – Mart Raud, Estonian poet, playwright and writer (died 1980) October 17 G. E. Trevelyan, English novelist (died 1941) Nathanael West, American novelist and screenwriter (died 1940) October 28 – Evelyn Waugh, English novelist and critic (died 1966) December 6 (November 23 OS) – Gaito Gazdanov, Russian-born novelist (died 1971) December 10 Mary Norton, English children's writer (died 1992) William Plomer (Robert Pagan), South African-born novelist, poet, literary editor and librettist (died 1973) December 13 – Todhunter Ballard, American novelist (died 1980) December 24 – Nancy Brysson Morrison, Scottish novelist (died 1986) December 29 – Sergiu Dan, Romanian novelist and journalist (died 1976) Uncertain date – Kathleen Lindsay, prolific English-born romance novelist (died 1973)
Deaths January 22 – Augustus Hare, English biographer and travel writer (born 1834) February 8 – Ada Ellen Bayly, English novelist (born 1857) March 4 – Joseph Henry Shorthouse, English novelist (born 1834) March 6 – Gaston Paris, French literary critic and scholar (born 1839) March 8 – Josefina Wettergrund, Swedish writer (born 1830) March 9 – Minnie Mary Lee, American author of poems, stories, sketches and novels (born 1825) March 14 – Ernest Legouvé, French dramatist (born 1807) April 28 — Frances Augusta Conant, American journalist (born 1841) April 29 – Paul Du Chaillu, French American travel writer (born c. 1831) May 12 – Richard Henry Stoddard, American critic and poet (born 1825) May 24 – Max O'Rell (Léon Paul Blouet), French journalist (born 1847) June 12 – Claymoor, Romanian fashion and entertainment critic (peptic ulcer; born c. 1842)Lucreția Angheluță, Salomeea Rotaru, Liana Miclescu, Marilena Apostolescu, Marina Vazaca, Bibliografia românească modernă (1831–1918). Vol. IV: R–Z, p. 722. Bucharest: Editura științifică și enciclopedică, 1996. July 11 – W. E. Henley, English poet (tuberculosis, born 1847) August 31 – William Hastie, Scottish theologian (born 1842) September 1 – Charles Bernard Renouvier, French philosopher (born 1815) October 4 – Otto Weininger, Austrian philosopher (suicide, born 1880) November 1 – Theodor Mommsen, German classical scholar and historian (born 1817) November 11 — Lavilla Esther Allen, American author (born 1834) November 19 – Hugh Stowell Scott (Henry Seton Merriman), English novelist (born 1862) December 28 – George Gissing, English novelist (emphysema, born 1857)Pierre Coustillas, 'Gissing, George Robert (1857–1903)' (), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, online), Oxford University Press, 2004. Accessed 12 July 2024. Awards Prix Goncourt: John Antoine Nau for Force ennemie Nobel Prize for Literature: Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson
References
External links Popular Books of 1903 at Goodreads Published 1903 Books at Goodreads 1903 Books at Goodreads