50 Fictional Days Immortalized in Literature
When Did Alice Go Down That Rabbit Hole, Anyway?
Today is April 4th, the day on which George Orwell’s 1984 famously begins—in the year 1984, of course (a year that seems rather closer than usual right now). Inspired by this literary holiday of sorts, I went out in search of other notable fictional dates—that is, specific days on which something interesting happens in literature (as opposed to actual events that are reported in novels, as background or otherwise). I’m sure there are an infinite number of these out there, but there are also an infinite number of books in which the author never pins down the events at all, rather letting them float in the reader’s imagination—an approach that certainly has its merits. But if you are an obsessive planner and list-maker (like certain people, not me, not me at all), you enjoy knowing exactly what has happened, and what will happen, and when—even if said events are made up. So without any further ado, below please find a selection of fictional events set on actual dates, for all your reading, reminiscing, and party-planning needs.
January 1, almost every year — Aaliya begins a new translation, An Unnecessary Woman, Rabih Alameddine
January 1, 1975 — Archie Jones decides not to kill himself, White Teeth, Zadie Smith
January 1, 2021 — The last human being to be born on earth is killed in a bar fight at the age of twenty-five, The Children of Men, P.D. James
January 4, 1995 — The skeleton of a woman is found in a field, only one of 112 women discovered dead in Santa Teresa and painstakingly documented in this section, 2666, Roberto Bolaño
January 7 — The young Orlando meets Princess Marousha Stanilovska Dagmar Natasha Iliana Romanovitch, Orlando, Virginia Woolf
January 8, 1960 — Calliope Stephanides is born, 19 inches long, seven pounds 4 oz, and assigned female, Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides
January 12, 1997 — HAL 9000 goes online, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke
February 2, 1808 — The date of Two Spells to Make an Obstinate Man Leave London, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, Susanna Clarke
February 11, 1910 — Ursula Todd is born for the first (and second, and tenth) time, Life After Life, Kate Atkinson
February 15, 2003 — The events of Saturday, Ian McEwan
February 15, 1933 — Franklin Roosevelt is assassinated by Giuseppe Zangara, The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
February 17, 1936 — Mary Foxe writes to St. John Fox to find out why his books don’t have author photos (“Are you particularly ugly, particularly shy, or is it simply that you transcend physical existence?”), Mr. Fox, Helen Oyeyemi
March 4, 1881 — Sherlock Holmes gets his first (Watson-recorded) case, A Study in Scarlet, Arthur Conan Doyle
March 15 (or perhaps early on the 16th) — Lisbeth Salander gives Nils Bjurman a tattoo, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson
March 15 — Hood Day, The Sellout, Paul Beatty
March 21 — Nell realizes she’s in love with Bankson, Euphoria, Lily King
April 2, Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment — the Near Eastern Medical Attaché’s wife comes home and finds him in his recliner, unresponsive, then turns her head to see what he was looking at, Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace
April 4, 1984 — The first day of 1984, George Orwell
April 23, 1985 — Coca-Cola-addicted Benji hears that they’re changing the formula and starts stockpiling Old Coke, Sag Harbor, Colson Whitehead
April 24 — Bunny Corcoran “disappears,” The Secret History, Donna Tartt
May 2, 1998 — The Battle of Hogwarts, which ends the Second Wizarding War, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling
May 4 — Alice goes down the rabbit hole (this is also the real Alice’s birthday), Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
May 5 — Jonathan Harker meets Count Dracula, Dracula, Bram Stoker
May 21, 2061 — The last question is asked of the Multivac, “The Last Question,” Isaac Asimov
May 23, “at different hours in separate years” — Eric, Donovan, Roger, Lester, Larry, Clinton, Drake, Gregory, Leon, Kevin, and Jack, over ten percent of the 100 brothers, are born, The Hundred Brothers, Donald Antrim
June 9, 1976 — The first time Dana goes back in time, Kindred, Octavia Butler
June 13, 1980 — The clock stops in the Project Blue lab, The Stand, Stephen King
June 16, 1904 — The events of Ulysses, James Joyce
June 27 — The lottery, “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson
June 29, 1931 — Frobisher’s first letter so Sixsmith, Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell
July 2 — Tom Buchanan takes Nick to a party and punches Myrtle in the face, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
July 20, 1866 — The steamer Governor Higginson encounters a mysterious sea creature, one of a run of such encounters, Twenty Thousand Years Under the Sea, Jules Verne
July 31, 1990 (or 1991, depending on who you trust) — Hagrid arrives to tell Harry Potter he’s a wizard, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, J.K. Rowling
August 14, 1984 — Three children disappear in the woods of Knocknaree, In the Woods, Tana French
August 15, 1947 — Saleem Sinai is born at the very moment India becomes independent, Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie
September 2 — The first bum of many asks “Who is John Galt?,” Hank Rearden and Dagny Taggart go on vacation, Francisco D’Anconia makes a speech, D’Anconia Copper is nationalized, but the date on the giant calendar is changed to “Brother, you asked for it!,” Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand (this is also the date she started writing the novel)
September 6, 1958 — The events of Billiards at Half-Past Nine, Heinrich Boll
September 9, 1958 — Where the portal takes you (at 11:58 am), 11/22/63, Stephen King
September 29, 1935 — Josef attempts his first daring escape at the Charles Bridge, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon
October 9, 2001 — Hugo Whittier writes his first journal entry, The Epicure’s Lament, Kate Christensen
October 19, 1985 — Dr. Manhattan quits Earth and heads to Mars, Watchmen, Alan Moore
November 2, 1938 — The events of Under the Volcano, Malcolm Lowry
November 4 — Through the Looking-Glass begins, and also Alice’s half-birthday, Lewis Carroll
November 5, 1940 — Charles Lindbergh is elected president, beating out Franklin Delano Roosevelt, The Plot Against America, Philip Roth
November 23 — Dickie Greenleaf and Tom Ripley go to San Remo, where Tom will brain him in a boat and steal his identity, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Patricia Highsmith
November 27 — Bravo squad is sent to the Dallas Cowboy’s game, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, Ben Fountain
December 3, 1994 — Chris Kraus and Sylvère Lotringer have dinner with Dick _______, I Love Dick, Chris Kraus
December 10 — The events, one imagines, of “Tenth of December” by George Saunders
December 25, 1952 — Lolita dies giving birth to a stillborn child, a week before her eighteenth birthday, Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
December 31, 1979 — Winona George’s New Year’s Eve Party, Tuesday Nights in 1980, Molly Prentiss
Emily Temple
Emily Temple is the managing editor at Lit Hub. Her first novel, The Lightness, was published by William Morrow/HarperCollins in June 2020. You can buy it here.
