1897 in literature

See also: 1896 in literature, other events of 1897, 1898 in literature, list of years in literature.

Events

• January 2 – Newspapers in London, England erroneously report the death of Mark Twain. It is believed that the rumors began when Twain's cousin had become ill. Twain makes his famous statement "the report of my death was an exaggeration."
• July 25 – Writer Jack London sails to join the Klondike Gold Rush where he will write his first successful stories.
• The comedy play Im weißen Rößl (The White Horse Inn) by Oscar Blumenthal and Gustav Kadelburg opens in Berlin. Decades later it will be turned into a popular and successful musical play.

New books

• The Beth Book – Sarah Grand
• Captains Courageous – Rudyard Kipling
• The Christian – Hall Caine
• Cyrano de Bergerac – Edmond Rostand
• Dariel – Richard Doddridge Blackmore
• Dear Faustina – Rhoda Broughton
• The Descendant – Ellen Glasgow
• Dracula – Bram Stoker
• The Evolution of the Idea of God – Grant Allen
• The Invisible Man – H. G. Wells
• Jerome – Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
• Liza of Lambeth – W. Somerset Maugham
• The Nigger of the 'Narcissus' – Joseph Conrad
• A Night in Acadie – Kate Chopin
• What Maisie Knew – Henry James
• The Whirlpool – George Gissing
• The Wooing of Malkatoon – Lew Wallace

Births

• September 25: William Faulkner

Deaths

• March 7 – Harriet Ann Jacobs, African-American writer
• June 25 – Margaret Oliphant, writer

Awards