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.

Prose

 * "William Allen" – Killing No Murder (variously attributed to Colonel Silius Titus, Edward Sexby or William Allen, an English Republican; Sexby admits authorship under duress)
 * Cave Beck – The Universal Character
 * Theodore Haak (translator) – The Dutch Annotations Upon the Whole Bible (original 1637)
 * Li Yu (probable author) – The Carnal Prayer Mat (published 1693)
 * 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 (third part)
 * François Hédelin, abbé d'Aubignac – Pratique du théâtre
 * Cyrano de Bergerac (posthumous) – L'Autre Monde: ou les États et Empires de la Lune (Comical History of the States and Empires of the Moon)
 * Christiaan Huygens – De ratiociniis in ludo aleae
 * Nihon Ōdai Ichiran (日本王代一覧, Table of the Rulers of Japan)
 * Paul Scarron – Roman comique (Comic romance, publication concluded)

Children
Les Jeux et plaisirs de l'enfance

Drama

 * Anonymous – Lust's Dominion (published, falsely attributed in some impressions to Marlowe; probably by Dekker and others, written c.1600)
 * Richard Brome – The Queen's Exchange (published)
 * Sir Aston Cockayne – The Obstinate Lady (published)
 * Lodowick Carlell
 * The Fool Would be a Favorite, or The Discreet Lover (published)
 * The Tragedy of Osmond the Great Turk, or the Noble Servant (published)
 * George Gerbier d'Ouvilly – The False Favourite Disgraced, and the Reward of Loyalty (published)
 * Franciscus van den Enden – Philedonius
 * Andreas Gryphius – Katharina von Georgien
 * Thomas Jordan – Fancy's Festivals (masque) (published)
 * Thomas Middleton (died 1627)
 * No Wit, No Help Like a Woman's (published)
 * 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 (collection of hymns)

Births

 * February 11 – Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle French author (died 1757)
 * March 24 – Arai Hakuseki, Japanese scholar-bureaucrat and writer (died 1725)
 * November 26 – William Derham, English natural philosopher and cleric (died 1735)
 * unknown date – Matthew Tindal, English deist writer (died 1733)

Deaths

 * March 7 – Hayashi Razan (林羅山), Japanese philosopher (born 1583)
 * April ? – Richard Lovelace, English Cavalier poet (born 1617)
 * August 29 – John Lilburne, English writer and agitator (born c. 1614)
 * November 18 – Luke Wadding, Irish historian (born 1588)
 * November 19 – Théodore Tronchin, Swiss theologian (born 1582)
 * unknown dates
 * Junije Palmotić, Ragusan (Dubrovnik) dramatist and poet (born c. 1606)
 * Thomas Tuke, English controversialist and cleric (born c. 1580)
 * probable – Thomas Bayly, English religious controversialist (born early 17th century)