1903 in literature

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.
* 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 – 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 (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''
*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''
*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 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 and literary editor (died 1973)
*December 13 – Todhunter Ballard, American novelist (died 1980)
*December 29 – Sergiu Dan, Romanian novelist and journalist (died 1976)
*''Uncertain dates'' – 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)
*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 10 – Constantin Dobrescu-Argeș, Romanian journalist, playwright and peasant activist (paralysis, born 1856)
*December 28 – George Gissing, English novelist (emphysema, born 1857)

Awards

*Prix Goncourt: John Antoine Nau for ''Force ennemie: Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson

References

{{Year in literature article categories

Years of the 20th century in literature