1711 in literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1711.
Events
- March 1 – The periodical The Spectator is founded by Joseph Addison and Richard Steele in London.
- May 23 – Robert Harley, author, statesman and friend to the "Tory wits," who has been involved in Anne, Queen of Great Britain's ministry for some time, is created Earl of Oxford.
- July – After defeat at the Battle of Stănileşti during the Pruth River Campaign, Dimitrie Cantemir flees to Russia and begins writing his most important works.
- December – Charles Gildon becomes editor of The British Mercury.
- unknown date – The English fairy tale Jack the Giant-Killer appears in print for the first time.
New books
Prose
- Francis Atterbury – Representation of the State of Religion
- Richard Blackmore – The Nature of Man
- Pierre Boileau – The Works of Monsieur Boileau, vol. 1
- Laurent Bordelon – Gomgam, ou l'Homme prodigieux transporté dans l'air, sur la terre et sous les eaux
- Abel Boyer – The Political State of Great Britain
- Cornelis de Bruijn – Reizen over Moskovie, door Persie en Indie
- Jean Chardin – Voyages de monsieur le chevalier Chardin en Perse et autres lieux de l'orient
- Giuseppe Colombani – Unnamed treatise on the use of the spadone
- Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury – Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times
- Daniel Defoe
- *The British Visions
- *An Essay on the History of Parties
- *An Essay on the South-Sea Trade
- *The Present State of the Parties in Great Britain
- *The Secret History of the October Club
- John Dennis – Reflections Critical and Satyrical, Upon a Late Rhapsody call'd, An Essay upon Criticism
- John Gay – The Present State of Wit
- William King – The History of the Heathen Gods
- George Mackenzie – Several Proposals Conducing to a Further Union of Britain
- Samuel Richter – Theo-Philosophica Theoretica et Practica
- Richard Steele, Joseph Addison, Eustace Budgell, et al. – The Spectator
- John Strype – The Life and Acts of Matthew Parker
- Jonathan Swift
- *Miscellanies in Prose and Verse
- *The Conduct of the Allies
- Thormodus Torfæus – Historia Rerum Norvegicarum
- Ned Ward – The Life and Notable Adventures of that Renown'd Knight Don Quixote de la Mancha
- William Whiston – Primitive Christianity Revived, vol. 1
Drama
- Chikamatsu Monzaemon – The Courier for Hell
- Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon – Rhadamiste et Zénobie
- Charles Johnson –
- * The Generous Husband
- * The Wife's Relief
- Elkanah Settle – The City Ramble
- Richard Steele – ''The Man of Mode''
Poetry
Births
- April 26 – Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont, French novelist
- May 7 – David Hume, Scottish philosopher
- May 18 – Roger Joseph Boscovich, Ragusan poet and polymath
- May 31 – Johann Heinrich Samuel Formey, German philosopher writing in French
- October 12 – William Tytler, Scottish historian
- October 17 – Jupiter Hammon, American poet
- November 19 – Mikhail Lomonosov, Russian writer and polymath
- December 6 – Kitty Clive, English actress and writer of farce
- unknown date – William Smith, English classicist and Anglican dean
Deaths
- January 5 – Mary Rowlandson, American autobiographer
- February 10 – Richard Duke, English poet and cleric
- March 13 – Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux, French poet and critic
- March 19 – Bishop Thomas Ken, English theologian and hymnist
- April 11 – François Lamy, French Benedictine apologist
- May 2 – Laurence Hyde, 1st Earl of Rochester, English writer and statesman
- June 7 – Henry Dodwell, Irish theologian
- June 10 – Johannes Munnicks, Dutch medical writer
- September 4 – John Caryll, English poet, dramatist and diplomat
- October 3 – Richard Bulstrode, English memoirist
- November 3 – John Ernest Grabe, German-born English theologian