History via Literature

Geoffry Chaucer 1343 - 1400


• first work: "The Book of the Duchess", c. 1369-1374


• best known work: "The Canterbury Tales", c. 1387



(interval between best known works: 214 years)


William Shakespeare 1564 - 1616


• first work: "Henry VI, Part 1", 1590


• best known work: "Hamlet", 1601



(interval between best known works: 242 years)


Charles Dickens 1812 - 1870


• first work: "Sketches by Boz", 1833


• best known work: "A Christmas Carol", 1843



(interval between best known works: 42 years)


Mark Twain 1835 - 1910


• first work: "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County", 1865


• best known work: "The Adventures of Huckelberry Finn", 1885



(interval between best known works: 27 years)


George Bernard Shaw 1856 - 1950


• first work: "Cashel Byron's Profession", 1886


• best known work: "Pygmlion", 1912



(interval between best known works: 27 years)


John Steinbeck 1902 - 1968


• first work: "Cup of Gold", 1929


• best known work: "Grapes of Wrath", 1939



(interval between best known works: 21 years)


John Updike 1932 -


• first work: "The Poorhouse fair", 1959


• best known work: "Rabbit, Run", 1960

Edit: Who'd I miss?