A Controversial Day in Literature:
Today is notable for three writers who stirred a fair bit of stink in their day:
It’s the birthday of Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, most famous for his play A Doll’s house. First performed in 1879, A Doll’s House is the story of the unraveling of a marriage which ends with Nora, the heroine, leaving her husband with the slam of a door. In it’s day, it left audience’s agast which is focus on domestic life rather than epic drama, on dialogue rather than monologue and its lack of faith in the exhalted Victorian institution of marriage.
Writer Kathryn Harrison was also born today. Harrison’s 1998 memoir The Kiss concerned an incestuous relationship with her father.
Today is also the anniversary of the publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the bestselling book of the 19th century behind the Bible and the novel often credited with laying the groundwork for the Civil War. Published first in abolishonist newspapers, Uncle Tom’s Cabin has been labelled racist and banned more than nearly any book in the history of American literature. As testament to its impact, when President Lincoln met its author, Harriet Beecher Stowe, he said “So you’re the little lady who wrote the book that started this great war.”
(via The Writer’s Alamanac)