1657 in literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1657.
Events
- January – Madame de la Fayette returns to Paris, where she is introduced to, and becomes friends with, Madame de Sévigné.
- March 2 – The Great Fire of Meireki in Edo, Japan, burns down the city's theatres, forcing actors to move to Osaka.
New books
Prose
- "William Allen" – Killing No Murder
- Cave Beck – The Universal Character
- Theodore Haak – The Dutch Annotations Upon the Whole Bible
- Li Yu – The Carnal Prayer Mat
- Richard Ligon – A True and Exact History of the Island of Barbadoes
- Jeremy Taylor – Discourse of the Nature, Offices and Measures of Friendship
- Brian Walton, Bishop of Chester – Polyglot Bible
- Baltasar Gracián – El criticón
- François Hédelin, abbé d'Aubignac – Pratique du théâtre
- Cyrano de Bergerac – L'Autre Monde: ou les États et Empires de la Lune
- Christiaan Huygens – De ratiociniis in ludo aleae
- Nihon Ōdai Ichiran
- Paul Scarron – ''Roman comique''
Children
''Les Jeux et plaisirs de l'enfance''Drama
- Anonymous – Lust's Dominion
- Richard Brome – The Queen's Exchange
- Sir Aston Cockayne – The Obstinate Lady
- Lodowick Carlell
- *The Fool Would be a Favorite, or The Discreet Lover
- *The Tragedy of Osmond the Great Turk, or the Noble Servant
- George Gerbier d'Ouvilly – The False Favourite Disgraced, and the Reward of Loyalty
- Franciscus van den Enden – Philedonius
- Andreas Gryphius – Katharina von Georgien
- Thomas Jordan – Fancy's Festivals
- Thomas Middleton
- *No Wit, No Help Like a Woman's
- *Two New Plays; first publication of Women Beware Women and ''More Dissemblers Besides Women''
Poetry
- William Davenant – Poems on Several Occasions
- Angelus Silesius – ''Heilige Seelenlust''
Births
- February 11 – Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle French author
- March 24 – Arai Hakuseki, Japanese scholar-bureaucrat and writer
- November 26 – William Derham, English natural philosopher and cleric
- unknown date – Matthew Tindal, English deist writer
Deaths
- March 7 – Hayashi Razan, Japanese philosopher
- April ? – Richard Lovelace, English Cavalier poet
- August 29 – John Lilburne, English writer and agitator
- November 18 – Luke Wadding, Irish historian
- November 19 – Théodore Tronchin, Swiss theologian
- unknown dates
- *Junije Palmotić, Ragusan dramatist and poet
- *Thomas Tuke, English controversialist and cleric
- probable – Thomas Bayly, English religious controversialist