1781 in literature

See also: 1780 in literature, other events of 1781, 1782 in literature, list of years in literature.

Events

• Friedrich Schiller arrested after the first performance of his play, The Robbers

New Books

• Volumes II and III of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Edward Gibbon
• Critique of Pure Reason - Immanuel Kant
• The British Prison-Ship (poetry) - Philip Freneau
• Julia de Roubignei by Henry Mackenzie

Births

• January 26 - Achim von Arnim
• January 30 - Adelbert von Chamisso, poet
• November 6 - Lucy Aikin

Deaths

• April 4 - Henry Thrale, friend of Samuel Johnson and husband of Hester Thrale