Tuesday, October 23, 2007

1833 to 1834

Society
1833. Parliament orders abolition of slavery in the British colonies.

1833. A factory act voted by Parliament forbids employment of children under age 9 and enacts several other reforms.

1833. English mathematician Charles Babbage proposes an "analytical engine," a large-scale digital calculator.

1833. The Oxford Movement to restore High Church traditions of the 17th century in the Church of England. John Henry Newman publishes Tracts for the Times. So much opposition is aroused that Newman will leave the Church of England and become a Roman Catholic.

1833. Oberlin (Ohio) College opens and admits qualified blacks and women, becoming the first coeducational U.S. college.

Literature
"The Queen of Spades." Aleksandr Pushkin. Russian. 1833. Story. Calm, matter-of-fact telling of the mental breakdown of a gambler.

Eugenie Grandet. Honore de Balzac. French. 1833. Novel. Father, embodiment of greed and domestic tyranny, condemns his daughter to futile, joyless existence.

Sartor Resartus. Thomas Carlyle. British. 1833. Satire. Idealist finally realizes that the here and actual are the true ideal. "Tailor Retailored."

The County Doctor. Honore de Balzac. French. 1833. Novel. Kindly spirit and indefatigable efforts on behalf of people of his village. Universally beloved.

The Bronze Horseman. Aleksandr Pushkin. Russian. 1833. Poetry. Ordinary individual vs. the power of the state. Curses statue of Peter the Great. Blames him for his fiancee's death.

Tracts for the Times. JH Newman. British. 1833/41 Nonfiction. Designed to arrest the advance of liberalism in religious thought.

"In Memoriam." Alfred Lord Tennyson. British. 1833/50. Poetry. In addition to an elegy for Hallam, themes include the decline of faith, rise of skepticism, and scientific materialism.

Society
1834. A new British Poor Law limits the pay of charitable doles to sick and aged paupers. It establishes workhouses where able-bodied paupers are put to work.

1834. Unskilled U.S. workers demonstrate against abolitionists in fear that they will be displaced by black freemen. Rioting continues for more than a week, and churches and houses are destroyed.

1834. The Spanish Inquisition instituted in the 13th century is finally abolished.

1834. Hansom cabs are introduced in London.

1834. The Braille system of raised point writing devised by French educator Louis Braille gains acceptance throughout the world.

1834. Fire destroys London's Houses of Parliament and part of the city.

Literature
Pere Goriot. Honore de Balzac. French. 1834. Novel. Father does everything for his two ungrateful daughters. They don't even attend his funeral.

No comments: