The New York Public Library Literature Companion
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Interwoven throughout the more than 2,500 succinct and insightful entries on Creators, Works of Literature, and Literary Facts and Resources are the fascinating facts and quirky biographical details that make literature come alive. Readers will discover, for instance, that Walt Whitman was fired from his government job after his personal copy of Leaves of Grass was discovered in his desk by the Secretary of the Interior, who was scandalized by it; that James Baldwin remembered listening to blues singer Bessie Smith ("playing her till I fell asleep") when he was writing his first book; and that a publisher turned down the serialization rights to Gone with the Wind, saying, "Who needs the Civil War now -- who cares?"
Looking for information about book burning or how many Nobel laureates have come from Japan? You'll find it here. Trying to remember the name of that movie based on a favorite book? Read the "Variations" section -- you'll be amazed at the pervasive presence of great literature in today's entertainment. From Aristophanes to Allende, from Bergson to Bloom, the biographical entries will inform readers about the men and women who have shaped -- and are shaping -- the literary world. Look into "Works of Literature" to discover the significance of Beowulf, The Fountainhead, Doctor Zhivago, and nearly 1,000 other titles. Check the "Dictionary of Literature" to find out what the critics and theorists are talking about. And if you wish to delve even deeper, "Websites for Literature" and "Literary Factbooks and Handbooks" are just two of the bibliographies that will point readers in the right direction.
Unique in scope and design and easy to use, The New York Public Library Literature Companion will be at home on every reader's shelf. Whether you are immersed in Stephen King or King Lear, this book has the insights, facts, and fascinating stories that will enrich your reading forever.
With four major research centers and 85 branch libraries, The New York Public Library is internationally recognized as one of the greatest institutions of its kind. Founded in 1895, the library now holds more than 50 million items, including several world-renowned collections of literary manuscripts and rare books. Among the books published from the library in recent years are The New York Public Library Desk Reference (1998); The Hand of the Poet (1997); Letters of Transit: Reflections on Exile, Identity, Language, and Loss (1999); A Secret Location on the Lower East Side: Adventures in Writing, 1960-1980 (1998); and Utopia: The Search for the Ideal Society in the Western World (2000).
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The New York Public Library Literature Companion - Staff of The New York Public Library
THE FREE PRESS
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Copyright © 2001 by The Stonesong Press, Inc. and The New York Public Library
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
New York Public Library.
The New York Public Library literature companion/by the staff of the New York Public Library; edited by Anne Skillion.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Literature—Dictionaries. 2. Literature—Bio-bibliography. 3. Characters and characteristics in literature—Dictionaries. I. Skillion, Anne. II. Title
PN41.N49 2001 2001034219
803-cd21
ISBN 0-684-86890-3
ISBN-13: 978-0-684-86890-5
eISBN: 978-1-439-13721-5
PERMISSIONS
Still I Rise
by Maya Angelou, from And Still I Rise by Maya Angelou, copyright © 1978 by Maya Angelou. Used by permission of Random House, Inc.
The More Loving One,
copyright © 1957 by W. H. Auden, from W. H. Auden: Collected Poems by W. H. Auden. Used by permission of Random House, Inc.
A Song in the Front Yard
from Blacks by Gwendolyn Brooks, copyright 1987 by Gwendolyn Brooks, reprinted by permission of Third World Press, Inc., Chicago, Illinois.
The lines from i sing of Olaf glad and big
Copyright 1931, © 1959, 1991 by the Trustees for the E. E. Cummings Trust. Copyright © 1979 by George James Firmage, from Complete Poems: 1904-1962 by E. E. Cummings, edited by George J. Firmage. Used by permission of Liveright Publishing Corporation.
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,
from Collected Poems 1909-1962 by T. S. Eliot. Published by Harcourt, Inc.
Howl
from Collected Poems 1947-1980 by Allen Ginsberg, copyright © 1955 by Allen Ginsberg. Used by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
Resume,
copyright 1926, 1928, renewed 1954, © 1956 by Dorothy Parker, from The Portable Dorothy Parker by Dorothy Parker. Used by permission of Viking Penguin, a division of Penguin Putnam Inc.
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
Paul LeClerc, President
Michael J. Zavelle, Senior Vice President for Administration, Finance and Business Affairs
William D. Walker, Senior Vice President and the Andrew W. Mellon Director of The Research Libraries
Mary K. Conwell, Senior Vice President and Director of The Branch Libraries
Karen Van Westering, Director of Publications
THE STONESONG PRESS
Paul Fargis, President
Ellen Scordato, Vice President, Editorial
Alison Fargis, Vice President, Production
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY LITERATURE COMPANION
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Anne Skillion
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Barbara Bergeron
NYPL PROJECT MANAGER
Kenneth Benson
SENIOR WRITERS
Michelle Alpern
Kenneth Benson
Barbara Bergeron
Kathie Coblentz
Melinda Corey
Justin Cronin
Ruth Greenstein
Jeff Hacker
Lara Merlin
George Ochoa
Anne Skillion
Amy Stoller
OTHER CONTRIBUTORS
Kerry Acker
Bill Bennett
Celia Bland
Liz Denlinger
Bonnie Fetterman
Kathryn Hilt
Brendan January
Sarah Parvis
Rodney Phillips
Warren Platt
Marshall Robinson
Jack Rummel
Sarah Scheffel
Nina Sonenberg
Tom Wiloch
Jennifer Woolf
Robert Workoff
Special thanks to the many NYPL staff members who offered their review, information, and suggestions, including Fernando Acosta-Rodriguez, Robert Armitage, Usha Bhasker, Robert Davis, Elizabeth Diefendorf, Denise Hibay, Robert Kent, Chungsoo Kim, Wojciech Siemaszkiewicz, Michael Terry, Todd Thompson, and Qi Xie.
Contents
• FOREWORD
• EDITOR’S NOTE
I CREATORS
1 • Authors
2 • Other Influential Figures
BIOGRAPHERS, CRITICS, EDITORS, PUBLISHERS, THINKERS, TRANSLATORS
3 • Authors’ Awards
ADDITIONAL SOURCES OF INFORMATION
4 • Sources in Literary Biography
II WORKS OF LITERATURE
1 • Works of Literature
NOVELS, PLAYS, POEMS, STORIES, ESSAYS
2 • Book Awards
3 • Influential Literary Periodicals
4 • Variations
ADAPTATIONS INTO OTHER MEDIA
5 • Recommended Reading: Great Books Lists
6 • Landmarks in Literary Censorship
ADDITIONAL SOURCES OF INFORMATION
7 • General Literary Sources
III LITERARY FACTS AND RESOURCES
1 • Characters
2 • Dictionary of Literature
TERMS, STYLES, MOVEMENTS, GENRES
3 • Chronology of World Literature
FROM THE INVENTION OF WRITING TO THE YEAR 2000
ADDITIONAL SOURCES OF INFORMATION
4 • Websites for Literature
5 • Libraries with Significant Literary Holdings
6 • Literary Factbooks and Handbooks
• INDEX
For over one hundred years The New York Public Library has collected, preserved, and made accessible the written records of the world’s literary heritage. Through its vast collections and myriad programs and initiatives, in its four research centers and its extensive system of neighborhood branches, the Library has served the world of literary scholarship and nurtured the love of literature for generations of readers.
From the beginning, writers and scholars have mined the Library’s magisterial holdings in literature, which are both breathtaking in scope and brilliant in detail. The collections have long featured some of the rarest and most precious monuments of world literature, from beautiful illuminated medieval works to the first three folio editions of Shakespeare, as well as significant literary manuscripts by Nathaniel Hawthorne, William Makepeace Thackeray, Virginia Woolf, Langston Hughes, and many others. The continued generosity of donors has dramatically enriched the Library’s literature collections, which now encompass rare books, critical works, manuscripts, notebooks, letters, and personal effects of authors from virtually all historical periods and in hundreds of languages.
All of those associated with the Library, either as users or staff members, have their favorites within this huge universe—perhaps the original manuscript of T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land, the autograph poems of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, the archives of The New Yorker magazine, or some other item from the many special caches of manuscripts, diaries, and letters of writers as various as Charles Dickens, Jack Kerouac, and Zora Neale Hurston.
The Library’s dynamic relationship with literature and the writing life extends well beyond its famous collections and expert staff of librarians and curators, however. Its active publishing program produces books related to literature for both scholarly and general audiences, including volumes inspired by the Library’s exhibitions, such as Books of the Century and The Hand of the Poet, and lists of recommended reading, such as Books to Remember, a popular annual selection that has been published for more than 40 years.
This splendid new reference work, The New York Public Library Literature Companion, is the latest embodiment of the Library’s longtime and passionate commitment to the world of literature. Indeed, when it comes to its manifold contributions to literature and the literary life, one might with justification say that The New York Public Library is, to paraphrase Voltaire, the best of all possible libraries.
PAUL LECLERC
President, The New York Public Library
This one-volume companion to literature is organized both for ease of use and to enhance the reader’s opportunities for browsing, discovery, and pleasure. The book is divided into three major parts—Creators, Works of Literature, and Literary Facts and Resources—each with a number of sections and special features.
Wide-ranging in scope, The New York Public Library Literature Companion covers major figures and works of literature from around the world and all historical periods. English-language literature predominates, but the coverage of literature in other languages is significant, although in general focusing on authors and works currently available in English translation or whose historical importance mandated inclusion.
Authors and Other Influential Figures: Many of the writers listed in the Authors section have played multiple literary roles, just as many of the biographers, critics, editors, publishers, thinkers, and translators found in the section headed Other Influential Figures are or were also literary authors—that is, poets, playwrights, novelists, or writers of stories. The decision to place the entry for a given individual in one section or the other was based on a sense of where his or her greatest reputation and influence seem to reside today, without implying any judgment of that person’s work in other genres.
Essays and Other Diversions: A unique feature of the book is the array of short historical and anecdotal essays, gatherings of quotations and excerpts, matching quizzes, and lists scattered throughout the book (set off by background shading), whose main purpose is to amuse and intrigue, but which may also sometimes have the effect of increasing awareness of the presence of literature in unsuspected places. These features are listed at the end of the index.
Pointers to Additional Resources: Readers who would like to delve more deeply into the lives of their favorite authors, the plot of a favorite book, or the critics’ assessments of a poem or story will find guidance, based on the extensive experience of New York Public Library librarians, toward the best sources for further research on these and myriad other matters in the bibliographies included in each section. The bibliography of Websites for Literature lists some of the best and most authoritative literary sites on the Web (admittedly a constantly growing and fluctuating universe) as this book went to press.
Reading Lists: Those in search of suggestions to guide their own reading will find them not only in the section titled Recommended Reading, but also in the bibliography of Notable Biographical Works included in Sources in Literary Biography in Part I; in the Authors’ and Book Awards lists; and in several of the essays and other diversions.
Editorial Practices
Alphabetization is letter-by-letter, not word-by-word.
Cross-references: The sections for Authors, Other Influential Figures, and Works of Literature include cross-references (in SMALL CAPITAL LETTERS) to persons who have their own entries in the Authors or Other Influential Figures sections, to works with separate entries in the Works of Literature section, to periodicals included in the Influential Literary Periodicals section, and to literary characters with individual entries in the Characters section.
Dates: Dates after a title refer in all cases except plays to first publication; in the case of plays, dates refer to the first staged production unless otherwise stated. In the case of works first published in a language other than English, the date refers to first publication in the original language. Novels first published serially are cited by the date of first complete book publication. In entries for Russian individuals or titles, New Style dates only are given.
Personal Names: The boldface entry name is that under which the figure is most commonly known. Additional elements—the spelling out of a full name represented by an initial, official first names, titles (e.g., Sir, Comte), etc.—are supplied between brackets. Middle and other names that do not form a part of the commonly known name are not supplied. Further information about personal names is preceded by the following italicized notes: pen name, original name, known as, in full, etc.
Prizes: Major prizes (including the Nobel Prize in Literature, the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Booker Prize, and the Prix Goncourt) are generally noted within entries in the Authors, Other Influential Figures, and Works sections. But the reader should consult the sections on Authors’ Awards and on Book Awards for more extensive coverage of awards and prizes.
Titles of Works: Titles in the Works of Literature section are usually given in conventional shortened form (e.g., Tristram Shandy, rather than The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman), and, for multipart works, under the collective title, e.g., Remembrance of Things Past; more detailed information is provided within the entry. For non-English-language works, the title of the standard English-language translation is given first, followed in parentheses by the title in its original language, and by alternate published translated titles where appropriate. For works never to our knowledge published separately in English, the original title is followed in parentheses by a literal translation of the title in roman type.
Abbey, Edward (January 29, 1927-March 14, 1989). American essayist and novelist. Born and raised on a Pennsylvania farm, Abbey studied at the University of New Mexico before joining the National Park Service full time. His best-known work, Desert Solitaire (1968), a nonfiction account of his experiences as a ranger in Utah, is a meditation on the beauty of the Southwestern desert and the human practices that threaten it. This book and The Monkey Wrench Gang (1975), a novel about a band of radical environmentalists, quickly became revered guides for the environmental movement. Other novels include The Brave Cowboy (1958), Fire on the Mountain (1962), The Fool’s Progress (1988), and Hayduke Lives! (1990), a sequel to The Monkey Wrench Gang.
Abbott, George (June 25, 1887-January 31, 1995). American playwright and screenwriter. Over the course of an exceptionally long career on Broadway (he worked well into his 90s and lived to be 107), Abbott coauthored and staged many popular farces and musical comedies. Born in Forestville, New York, Abbott studied at the University of Rochester and began his theater career as an actor. His productions—often collaborations—include such hits as Broadway (1926, cowritten with Philip Dunning), Three Men on a Horse (1935, cowritten with John Cecil Holm), and the musicals The Pajama Game (1954, cowritten with Richard Bissell), Damn Yankees (1955, cowritten with Douglas Wallop), and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Fiorello! (1959, cowritten with Jerome Weidman). Revivals of Abbott’s musicals On Your Toes (1936, cowritten with Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart) and Damn Yankees in recent decades reveal the popular appeal and staying power of this artist’s comic vision. In the 1920s and 1930s he wrote a number of screenplays, including the Academy Award-nominated All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), cowritten with Maxwell Anderson and Del Andrews. Mister Abbott (1963) is his autobiography.
Abe, Kōobō, pen name of Abe Kimifusa (March 7, 1924-January 22, 1993). Japanese novelist and playwright. One of the few Japanese writers to achieve international popularity, Abe created works detached from place and distinguished by a surrealist and absurdist sensibility. Their recurrent themes of isolation and alienation in modern urban life give them universal relevance. Abe grew up in Japanese-occupied Manchuria, and trained as a doctor in Tokyo, although he never practiced. In the late 1940s, he established a reputation as a writer of experimental allegories. His best-known work, THE WOMAN IN THE DUNES (Suna no Onna, 1962), is often cited as one of the finest Japanese novels of the post-World War II period. Other notable works include the novels The Face of Another (Tanin no Kao, 1964), The Ruined Map (Moetsukita Chizu, 1967), THE BOX MAN (Hakootoko, 1973), The Secret Rendezvous (Mikkai, 1977), The Ark Sakura (Hakobune Sakura Maru, 1984), and The Kangaroo Notebook (Kangarū Notō, 1991). Many of Abe’s works, including The Woman in the Dunes, have been made into films. A collection of his stories in English translation, Beyond the Curve, appeared in 1991.
Achebe, Chinua, in full Albert Chinualumogu Achebe (November 16, 1930- ). Nigerian novelist, short-story writer, essayist, poet, and editor. One of Africa’s best-known English-language writers, Achebe explores the impact of colonialism on traditional African life; his works reflect his firm belief that the writer should serve as both critic and conscience of his community. Educated at the University of Ibadan, Achebe worked at the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation, cofounded a publishing company, and has held professorships at the University of Nigeria and at several American universities. As an editor and publisher, he has played an important role in bringing contemporary African literature to the West. Achebe came to international prominence after the publication of his enormously popular first novel, THINGS FALL APART (1958). His other novels include No Longer at Ease (1960), Arrow of God (1964), A Man of the People (1966), and Anthills of the Savannah (1987). He has also published collections of essays, stories, poems, and several children’s books based on Igbo folktales.
Aciman, André (January 2, 1951- ). American memoirist, essayist, and critic. Born and raised in Alexandria, Egypt, Aciman also lived in Italy and France before settling in the United States in 1968. He took a doctorate from Harvard, and has taught French and comparative literature at several colleges and universities, including Harvard, Princeton, New York University, and Bard. His much-acclaimed memoir, Out of Egypt (1995), tells the story of his cultured, urbane Jewish family’s 60-year sojourn in Egypt, from their arrival in Alexandria in 1905 to their final expulsion in 1965, just before he turned 15. Aciman’s lyrical, witty reflections on place, time, and memory have appeared in many publications, including The New York Times and THE NEW YORKER, and were collected in False Papers: Essays on Exile and Memory (2000), a book that led one critic to call him our contemporary Proust.
He also contributed to and edited the collection of essays Letters of Transit: Reflections on Exile, Identity, and Loss (1999). Aciman’s literary criticism has appeared in PARTISAN REVIEW, THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS, and THE NEW REPUBLIC, among other journals.
Writing has become my way of finding a space and of building a home for myself, my way of taking a shapeless, marshy world and firming it up with paper, the way the Venetians firm up eroded land by driving wooden piles into it.
André Aciman, A Literary Pilgrim Progresses to the Past,
The New York Times (August 28, 2000)
Ackroyd, Peter (October 5, 1949- ). English novelist, biographer, and critic. Blurring the boundaries between past and present, fact and fiction, Ackroyd’s innovative novels are marked by his idiosyncratic conception of history and the nature of time. Ackroyd was born in London and educated at Cambridge and Yale, returning in 1973 to London, where he began a career in literary journalism. Among his novels are The Great Fire of London (1982), The Last Testament of Oscar Wilde (1983), the popular and award-winning Hawksmoor (1985), Chatterton (1987), English Music (1992), and The Trial of Elizabeth Cree: A Novel of the Limehouse Murders (1994). Ackroyd’s distinguished biographies include Ezra Pound and His World (1980), T. S. Eliot: A Life (1984), Dickens (1990), Blake (1995), and The Life of Thomas More (1998). London: The Biography appeared to critical acclaim in 2000.
Adams, Henry (February 16, 1838-March 27, 1918). American biographer, historian, and editor. The great-grandson of John Adams and the grandson of John Quincy Adams, both U.S. presidents, Adams chose the life of a reform-minded scholar instead of that of a statesman. His autobiography, THE EDUCATION OF HENRY ADAMS (1907), is one of the great works of American letters. Adams was born in Boston and educated at Harvard. During the Civil War, he worked in London as a secretary to his father, who was an ambassador to Britain. Back in the United States he worked for political reform as a journalist and, from 1870 to 1876, as editor of THE NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW. At the same time, he accepted a professorship in medieval history at Harvard. A remarkably productive scholar, Adams published two biographies and two novels—Democracy, an American Novel (1880), published anonymously, and Esther (1884), published pseudonymously—before turning to his monumental nine-volume History of the United States of America During the Administrations of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison (1889-91). Adams’s exploration of the medieval world-view, MONT-SAINT-MICHEL AND CHARTRES (1904), also stands among his finest achievements.
Æ, pen name of George William Russell (April 10, 1867-July 17, 1935). Irish poet. An ardent nationalist, Russell led the early 20th-century Irish Literary Renaissance along with poet W. B. YEATS and playwright John Millington SYNGE, contributing to a revitalization of Irish literature and culture. Russell’s mystical poetry, incorporating visions and magical themes, was first published in Homeward: Songs by the Way in 1894. He followed with The Earth Breath (1897), The Divine Vision (1904), Gods of War (1915), Midsummer Eve (1928), and the Celtic-themed The House of the Titans (1934). Russell edited the magazine The Irish Homestead from 1904 to 1923 and the more political journal, The Irish Statesman, from 1923 to 1930. Russell also wrote prolifically on political, economic, and social issues, including agricultural reform, cooperative societies, and the Irish question, as well as on mysticism. The Living Torch (1937) collects A.E.’s table-talk,
reprinted primarily from his columns in The Irish Statesman; an autobiography, The Candle of Vision, narrates the poet’s efforts to relate his own vision to the vision of the seers and writers of the sacred books.
Russell received his unusual pen name by accident: in 1888, he wrote a letter to the editor of Lucifer signed Aeon
(Latin, meaning age or lifetime; from the Greek aion), and the printer could decipher only the first two letters—thus Æ
was born.
Aeschylus, in Greek Aischylos (525 B.C.-456 B.C.). Greek playwright. The first distinguished playwright of ancient Athens, Aeschylus markedly changed the dramatic form of tragedy by increasing the number of actors to two and diminishing the role of the chorus, thereby making possible true dialogue and action. Born to an aristocratic family in Eleusis, northwest of Athens, Aeschylus was wounded at the battle of Marathon (490 B.C.) and probably fought the Persians again at Salamis in 480 B.C. He was a major competitor in the Dionysia, Athens’s premier dramatic contest, which he first won in 484 B.C. after more than a decade of competing. His plays were noted for their august and lyrical language, moral and religious themes, and spectacular costumes and effects. He lost the Dionysia to Sophocles in 468 B.C., but had a final grand victory in 458 B.C. with his masterpiece, the ORESTEIA, a trilogy composed of Agamemnōn, The Libation Bearers (Choēphoroi), and The Furies (Eumenides). Only seven of his plays out of some 80 or 90 are extant; the others are The Suppliants (Hiketides, c. 423 B.C.), THE PERSIANS (Persai, 472 B.C.), SEVEN AGAINST THEBES (Hepta epi Thēbas, 467 B.C.), and PROMETHEUS BOUND (Prometheus Desmōtēs, date unknown). According to a popular story, Aeschylus died in Sicily when an eagle dropped a tortoise on his bald head, fulfilling a prophecy that he would be killed by a blow from heaven.
Aesop, in Greek Aisōpos. Greek fabulist. The Western tradition of fables, or moral tales with animal characters, began with the stories we now attribute to Aesop, some 200 of which—including The Fox and the Grapes
and The Tortoise and the Hare
—are collected in modern editions. There has been considerable speculation as to Aesop’s identity and whether in fact he existed at all, but many scholars today believe that Aesop was simply a name invented to provide an author for an accumulating body of fables. The earliest surviving collections were gathered by Greek poets and Latin translators, who added Oriental and other ancient stones to form AESOP’S FABLES. The collection made by Phaedrus in the 1st century A.D. greatly influenced Jean de LA FONTAINE and other later fable writers.
Agee, James (November 27, 1909-May 16, 1955). American novelist, film critic, and screenwriter. Agee is remembered for his influential film criticism, his sensitive and lyrical autobiographical fiction, and his insights into the plight of America’s poor. Agee grew up in Tennessee’s Cumberland Mountains region and was educated at Harvard. His first book, Permit Me Voyage, a collection of poetry, was published in the Yale Series of Younger Poets in 1934. Two years later, he and photographer Walker Evans lived among sharecroppers in Alabama for a Fortune magazine piece; out of this experience came not an article, but the book Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (1941). In 1957, his posthumously published novel, A DEATH IN THE FAMILY (1957), won the Pulitzer Prize. After 1948, Agee concentrated on film reviewing and screenwriting, producing scripts for The African Queen (1951), The Night of the Hunter (1955), and other films. His film criticism and several screenplays are collected in the two-volume Agee on Film (1958, 1960).
Agnon, S. Y., pen name of Shmuel Yosef Halevi Czaczkes (July 17, 1888-February 17, 1970). Israeli novelist and short-story writer. Celebrated for reintroducing traditional Hebrew literary styles and considered by many to be modern Hebrew fiction’s greatest virtuoso, Agnon became the first Hebrew-language writer to win the Nobel Prize (shared with Nelly Sachs, in 1966). Born in Galicia, where he received a traditional Jewish education, Agnon initially wrote in both Yiddish and Hebrew, but when he immigrated to Palestine in 1907, he adopted the surname Agnon and began to write exclusively in Hebrew. Among his best-known works are The Bridal Canopy (Hakhnasat Kallah, 1931), a story featuring a Hasidic wanderer in the Old World ghettos of Russia and Eastern Europe; Days of Awe (Yamim Noraim, 1937), an anthology of folktales inspired by the High Holy Days; A Guest for the Night (Ore’ah Natah Lalun, 1939), about the dissolution of European Jewish life after World War I; and Only Yesterday (Tmol Shilshom, 1945), an epic about Israel’s early immigrant pioneers.
Aiken, Conrad (August 5, 1889-August 17, 1973). American poet, short-story writer, novelist, and critic. Aiken was born in Savannah, Georgia, and suffered a childhood trauma that had an undeniable impact on his life and work: the loss of his parents by a murder-suicide perpetrated by his father, the 11-year-old discovering their bodies. A later interest in psychoanalytic theory may be traced in part to this event. Aiken attended Harvard, along with his friend and fellow poet T. S. ELIOT, and began publishing soon after graduating in 1911. His Selected Poems (1929) won a Pulitzer Prize. Some of his finest poems, including Preludes to Definition
and Morning Song of Senlin,
are gathered in Collected Poems (1953). Short-story collections include Bring! Bring! (1925) and Among the Lost People (1934). Ushant (1952), an autobiography, and The Selected Letters of Conrad Aiken (1978) shed light on Aiken’s life and the literary figures he knew, including E. E. CUMMINGS, Wallace STEVENS, and EDMUND WILSON. As editor of Emily DICKINSON’S Selected Poems (1924), Aiken played a key role in establishing her reputation.
Akhmatova, Anna, pen name of Anna Andreyevna Gorenko (June 23, 1889-March 5, 1966). Russian poet. A poet whose work is deeply informed by the textures and traditions of European, English, and of course her native Russian poetry, and whose life has become emblematic of the intellectual unbowed before the forces of totalitarianism, Akhmatova is now ranked as one of the greatest poets of the 20th century. Born near Odessa, Akhmatova became a key member, along with her first husband, Nikolay Gumilyov, and the poet Osip MANDELSHTAM, of the Acmeist school of poets, which championed precision, clarity, and a style of concrete realism in reaction to the Symbolist mysticism that prevailed in contemporary Russian poetry. The lyrical love poems in Evening (Vecher, 1912) formed her first book; her second collection, Rosary (Chetki, 1914), made her famous. Although she included poems with patriotic themes in her next three volumes—White Flock (Belaya Staya, 1917), Plantain (Podorozhnik, 1921), and Anno Domini MCMXXI (1922)—Stalinist officials judged her work to be too preoccupied with love and God. From 1923 to 1940, no volume of her work was published in the Soviet Union, but she continued to write, including the long poem REQUIEM (REKVIEM, completed 1940, published 1963), written in response to her husband’s execution and her son’s 1937 imprisonment. (She later discovered at public readings that many in the audience could recite her clandestinely circulated poem from memory.) In 1946 she was expelled from the Writers’ Union, but in the following decade, under Khrushchev’s less restrictive regime, she was able to publish again. Her longest work, Poem Without a Hero (Poema bez Geroya, 1965), is widely regarded as a masterpiece. A landmark edition, The Complete Poems of Anna Akhmatova, with facing English and Russian texts, was published in 1990.
Aksyonov, Vasily or Vassily (August 20, 1932-). Russian novelist and short-story writer. A leader among the post-World War II generation of Soviet writers, Aksyonov has led a life deeply marked by the ravages of Soviet history. His parents spent years in Stalin’s labor camps and he lived part of his childhood in exile in Siberia, an experience he later fictionalized in The Burn (Ozhog, 1980). After briefly practicing medicine, Aksyonov began writing full time, publishing three novels during the more lenient thaw
era, including A Ticket to the Stars (Zvezdnyĭ Bilet, 1961), a notorious slang-filled account of the adventures of rebellious Soviet youth. But he eventually met with difficulties in publishing his ever-more avant-garde and satirical work. He resigned from the Writers’ Union in 1979 and was soon forced into exile, returning to his homeland for the first time only in 1990. Aksyonov, who had previously taught at Johns Hopkins University and Goucher College, became professor of Russian literature and writing at George Mason University in 1988. His later works include The Island of Crimea (Ostrov Krym, 1981); Generations of Winter (vols. 1 and 2 of the trilogy Moskovskaya Saga, 1993), a sprawling saga of a Moscow family during the Stalinist era; and the comic novel The New Sweet Style (Novyĭ Sladostnyĭ Stil’), chronicling the picaresque adventures of a Russian émigré, a singer/composer/playwright reviled by the Communist powers-that-be, who comes to America to make a fresh start in life.
Albee, Edward (March 12, 1928- ). American playwright. Appearance versus reality, domination versus submission, and violence as an undeniable component of love are some of the dualities explored in Albee’s dramas. Born somewhere in Virginia, Albee was adopted in Washington, D.C., at the age of two weeks by Reed and Frances Albee; his father was part-owner of the Keith-Albee circuit of vaudeville theaters. He graduated from Choate School and spent one year at Trinity College in Connecticut, then began writing plays in the late 1950s. Albee became closely identified with the Theater of the Absurd through his experimental, often bleak one-acts, including THE ZOO STORY (1959), The Sandbox (1960), and THE AMERICAN DREAM (1961). His first full-length play, WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? (1962), a harrowing portrayal of married life, is his best-known work. Other important works include three Pulitzer Prize winners, A Delicate Balance (1966), Seascape (1975), and THREE TALL WOMEN (1991); and Tiny Alice (1964) and The Play About the Baby (1998). Albee has also adapted for the stage the works of several other writers, including THE BALLAD OF THE SAD CAFé (1963), from the Carson MCCULLERS novella.
Alcott, Louisa May (November 29, 1832-March 6, 1888). American novelist, short-story writer, and children’s author. Alcott is most famous for her novel Little Women (1868), a loving but realistic portrait of a family very much like her own. She spent most of her life in Massachusetts and is especially associated with Concord, where her father, the radical Transcendentalist philosopher Bronson Alcott, moved his family in 1840 after the failure of his experimental school in Boston. Alcott received a haphazard education, but she read voraciously and was strongly influenced by her father’s friends Ralph Waldo EMERSON and Henry David THOREAU. She first achieved literary success with her lively Hospital Sketches (1863), cast from the letters she wrote home from Washington, D.C., while serving as a volunteer nurse during the Civil War. (Her tour of duty was cut short when she contracted typhoid fever, and she never fully recovered her health.) Throughout the 1860s, Alcott churned out sensationalistic potboilers for the money, all published either anonymously or pseudonymously. The enormous financial success of Little Women guaranteed that Alcott (and her family) would thereafter live comfortably. From 1870 onward, Alcott produced a steady succession of healthy and hearty
tales, novels, and sketches for young readers, including Little Men (1871) and Rose in Bloom (1876). Her adult fiction includes Moods (1864), a study of marriage; Work: A Story of Experience (1874), based on her struggles to support herself; and A Modern Mephistopheles (1877), a steamy psychological thriller that was published anonymously.
Algren, Nelson, original name Nelson Ahlgren Abraham (March 28, 1909-May 9, 1981). American novelist and short-story writer. Algren’s fiction is noted for its brutally honest depiction of the lives of the poor, especially in Chicago’s slums. Born to a working-class family in Detroit, Algren was raised in Chicago and took a degree in journalism at the University of Illinois. His first novel, Somebody in Boots (1935), tells of a young Texas drifter in Depression-era Chicago. While his second novel, Never Come Morning (1942), the story of a criminal who aspires to be a prize-fighter, garnered some attention, his next, THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM (1949), dealing with drug addiction, won him the National Book Award and international acclaim. Algren’s work caught the interest of Ernest HEMINGWAY as well as the French Existentialists, notably Simone de BEAUVOIR, who became his lover. The Neon Wilderness (1947) is a story collection based on Algren’s World War II service. A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE (1956), his final novel, is set in the bohemian enclaves of New Orleans.
Allende, Isabel (August 2, 1942- ). Chilean novelist and short-story writer. One of Latin America’s best-known and bestselling contemporary writers, Allende utilizes magic realism and women storytellers to explore political and emotional concerns. Born in Lima, Peru, Allende was raised in Chile and worked as a journalist there until she was forced into exile after the 1973 assassination of her uncle, President Salvador Allende. Her first novel, The House of the Spirits (La Casa de los Espíritus, 1982), was an international bestseller and drew comparisons to the work of Gabriel GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ. Other notable works include the novels Of Love and Shadows (De Amor y de Sombra, 1984), Eva Luna (1987), and Daughter of Fortune (Hija de la Fortuna, 1998); the story collection The Stories of Eva Luna (Cuentos de Eva Luna, 1990); and the memoir Paula (1994), an account of her daughter’s fatal illness.
Almqvist or Almquist, C[arl] J[onas] L[ove] (November 28, 1793-September 26, 1866). Swedish novelist, poet, essayist, and playwright. An influential figure in the history of Swedish literature and a precursor to August STRINDBERG, the prolific Almqvist is especially noted today for his then unconventional feminist views about sex roles. While making his living at a series of jobs as a civil servant, farmer, teacher, and clergyman, he began to write, producing his first major literary work, Amorina, a novel about a young woman’s incestuous love for her minister father, in 1821. In 1834, he wrote The Queens Diadem (Drottningens Juvelsmycke), his greatest book, whose androgynous heroine, Tintomara, is the central symbolic figure in his work. In the later 1830s, he published Sara Videbeck (Det Går An, 1839), a novel that presented the author’s radical views on love and marriage and effectively made him persona non grata in Sweden. Accused of forgery and murder, he went into exile in the United States and later Germany, where he died. Most of his novels, stories, plays, and poems are collected in the multivolume Törnrosens Bok (1832-51; The Book of the Thorn Rose).
Amado, Jorge (August 10, 1912-August 6, 2001). Brazilian novelist. Amado’s influential and widely translated novels portray both the injustice of poverty and the vibrancy of life in Brazil. After a childhood spent on a cocoa plantation and in school in Salvador, Amado published his first novel at the age of 20. His early works include two sagas about the greed of landowners, The Violent Land (Terras do Sem Fim, 1942) and The Golden Harvest (Saõ Jorge des Ilhéus, 1944). His novels of the 1950s and 1960s, such as Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon (Gabriela, Cravo e Canela, 1958) and Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands (Dona Flor e Seus Dois Maridos, 1966), are satirical in tone and feature self-made women who have risen above their impoverished upbringings. Amado’s radical politics brought him, variously, imprisonment, exile, and election to the national Constituent Assembly. Later novels include Showdown (Tocaia Grande, 1984) and The War of the Saints (Sumiço da Santa, 1993).
Amis, [Sir] Kingsley (April 16, 1922-October 22, 1995). English novelist, poet, and critic. Best known for his popular first novel, LUCKY JIM (1954), Kingsley Amis wrote more than 20 novels noted for their sharp satire, clever dialogue, and eccentric antiheroes. Amis was born in South London and graduated from St. John’s College, Oxford, in 1949, after serving in the Royal Corps of Signals during World War II. During his early career in academia, as a lecturer at the University College of Swansea and then at Cambridge, he decided to commit himself to writing. Amis published widely in several genres, including poetry and essays, but it was his novels that won him instant attention, a loyal following, and a reputation as one of Britain’s Angry Young Men. Notable among them are That Uncertain Feeling (1955), The Green Man (1969), Jake’s Thing (1978), the Booker Prize-winning The Old Devils (1986), and The Russian Girl (1992). His nonfiction includes The King’s English: A Guide to Modern Usage (1998). The father of writer MARTIN AMIS, the senior Amis published his Memoirs in 1991; his Letters appeared in 2000.
Amis, Martin (August 25, 1949- ). English novelist, journalist, and essayist. The son of writer KINGSLEY AMIS, Martin Amis is known for his inventive wordplay and his cynical satires exploring human cruelty and contemporary urban life. Amis was born in Oxford and graduated from Oxford University in 1971. He then worked as a journalist for the TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT (1972-75) and THE NEW STATESMAN (1975-79). His first novel, The Rachel Papers (1973), announced a young writer of great promise. His reputation was confirmed with Success (1978), Money: A Suicide Note (1984), LONDON FIELDS (1989), and Time’s Arrow (1991), which documents in reverse chronology the life of a physician and Nazi war criminal. More recent works include the novels The Information (1995) and Night Train (1997), the story collection Heavy Water and Other Stories (1998), the memoir Experience (2000), and a collection of critical essays, The War Against Cliché (2001).
Literature is the great garden that is always there and is open to everyone 24 hours a day. Who tends it? The old tour guides and sylviculturists, the wardens, the fuming parkies in their sweat-soaked serge: these have died off. If you do see an official, a professional, these days, then he’s likely to be a scowl in a labcoat, come to flatten a forest or decapitate a peak. The public wanders, with its oohs and ahs, its groans and jeers, its million opinions. The wanderers feed the animals, they walk on the grass, they step in the flowerbeds. But the garden never suffers. It is, of course, Eden; it is unfallen and needs no care.
Martin Amis, Battling Banality,
The Guardian (March 24, 2001)
Anderson, Sherwood (September 13, 1876-March 8, 1941). American short-story writer and novelist. Celebrated for his masterwork, WINESBURG, OHIO (1919), Anderson had a marked impact on Ernest HEMINGWAY, William FAULKNER, and other American writers of his time. Anderson, who was born in Ohio, was largely self-educated and held a variety of jobs while writing for small magazines. In 1912, he abruptly left his wife and job and went to Chicago, where he met other Midwestern writers, including Theodore DREISER, and determined to pursue a literary career. His first two works were novels, Windy McPherson’s Son (1916) and Marching Man (1917), but it was Winesburg, Ohio that established Anderson’s reputation as an original voice. In a style drawn from everyday speech, Winesburg offers a series of related sketches about life in a small Midwestern town. Anderson’s stories are collected in The Triumph of the Egg (1921), Horses and Men (1923), and Death in the Woods (1933). The Memoirs of Sherwood Anderson (1969) was published posthumously.
Angelou, Maya, original name Marguerite Johnson (April 4, 1928- ). American poet and memoirist. Born in St. Louis and raised by her grandmother in segregated rural Arkansas, Angelou in much of her work tries to come to terms with some harrowing life events: at age eight she was raped by her mother’s boyfriend and was mute for a period thereafter; at age 16 she gave birth to a son. Over the following decades she worked as an actress, singer, and dancer; a civil rights activist; an editor and lecturer in Ghana; and a professor and author. Her autobiographical works include I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1970), Singin’ and Swingin’ and Gettin’ Merry Like Christmas (1976), The Heart of a Woman (1981), and All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes (1986). Her poetry collections include Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water ’fore I Diiie (1971) and And Still I Rise (1987). In 1993, Angelou was invited to write and present a poem at the inauguration of President Clinton. Her powerful voice and presence have made her a popular public figure. Recent publications include The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou (1994) and Phenomenal Woman (2000).
Anouilh, Jean (June 23, 1910-October 3, 1987). French playwright and screenwriter. A major force in French theater from the late 1930s through the 1950s, Anouilh drew international acclaim for complex, well-crafted dramas that stress imagination and poetry over realism. Anouilh was born in Bordeaux, briefly studied law at the Sorbonne, and worked as an advertising copywriter before devoting himself to theater. His first major success was a play about an amnesiac, Traveller Without Luggage (Le Voyageur sans Bagage, 1937). From then on, the prolific dramatist had a new play produced nearly every season. Anouilh employed a great range of moods and worked in many genres, from Greek myth to modern comedy. Among his best-known works are Antigone (1944), The Rehearsal (La Repétition; ou, L’Amour Puni, 1950), The Waltz of the Toreadors (La Valse des Toréadors, 1952), The Lark (L’Alouette, 1953), and Becket, or, The Honor of God (Becket ou L’Honneur de Dieu, 1959), which was made into a film starring Richard Burton and Peter O’Toole. His screenwriting credits include Monsieur Vincent (1947) and La Ronde (1964).
Anthony, Peter. See Shaffer, Peter
Apollinaire, Guillaume, pen name of Wilhelm Apollinaris de Kostrowitsky or Kostrowitzki (August 26, 1880-November 9, 1918). Italian-born French poet, short-story writer, critic, and playwright. His innovative writings influenced turn-of-the-century Paris’s thriving avant-garde, and paved the way for many of the modernist literary styles of the 20th century. Arriving in Paris at the age of 20, he befriended writers and artists and began to establish a literary reputation. The publication of his Cubist Painters (Les Peintres Cubistes, 1913) broke new ground by defining the cubist style of his friends Picasso and Braque as a school of art. His poetic masterpiece, the collection Alcools (1913), uses traditional verse forms, images of a modernizing world, and snatches of street conversations, all without punctuation. Other notable works include Heresiarch and Co. (L’Hérésiarque et Cie, 1910), a fantastical collection of stories, and Calligrammes (1918), a volume of visual poetry
noted for its experimental use of typography. Apollinaire is credited as the creator of the term Surrealist,
and he called his play The Breasts of Tiresias (Les Mamelles de Tirésias, 1917) a Surrealist drama
; the play was made into an opera by Francis Poulenc in 1947.
Apollonius of Rhodes, in Greek Apollōnios Rhodios (c. 295 B.C.-C. 215 B.C.). Greek poet. Apollonius was a pupil of the poet and scholar CALLIMACHUS and served as the chief librarian in Alexandria, spending the latter part of his life in Rhodes. His chief work, the four-volume Argonautika, introduced new elements into the epic form, including the treatment of love as a central theme. Tracing the mythological voyage of Jason and the Argonauts in search of the Golden Fleece, as well as Medea’s love for Jason, it is narrated from a more personal, sympathetic, and psychological viewpoint than had been used in earlier epics, and marks him as a worthy successor to HOMER and a predecessor of VIRGIL in his mastery of the form.
Appelfeld, Aharon or Aron (February 16, 1932- ). Israeli novelist and short-story writer. Appelfeld’s spare, modern, allegorical fiction reflects his belief that the Holocaust [is] a metaphor for our century. There cannot be an end to speaking and writing about it.
Born in Czernovitz, Romania (now part of Ukraine), Appelfeld was captured with his parents by Nazi troops when he was eight years old. After killing his mother, the Nazis sent the boy to a labor camp with his father, which Appelfeld eventually escaped, only to wander the countryside for two years. In the late 1940s, he managed to immigrate to Palestine, where he served in the Israeli army, finished his education, and taught Hebrew literature at several universities. He began publishing in the 1960s, and by the 1970s had established an international reputation. His widely translated works, all composed in Hebrew, include The Age of Wonders (Tor ha-Pela’ot, 1978), Badenheim 1939 (Badenhaim, ’ir Nofesh, 1979), Tzili: The Story of a Life (Ha-kutonet Veha-Pasim, 1983), The Iron Tracks (Mesilat Barzel, 1991), The Conversion (Timyon, 1993), and Beyond Despair: Three Lectures and a Conversation with Philip Roth (1994).
Apuleius, in full Lucius Apuleius (c. 124-after c. 170). North African-born Roman writer, philosopher, and rhetorician. Apuleius is remembered for his influential 11-volume prose romance THE GOLDEN ASS (or Metamorphoses), a fanciful account of a young man who turns into a donkey. It is the only Latin novel that survives in its entirety, and includes the most thorough extant account of the myth of Cupid and Psyche. The primary source for Apuleius’s life story is his Apologia, a speech written to disprove the claim by his rich wife’s family that he had used magic to woo her. Apuleius was born in North Africa and educated in Carthage and Athens. He traveled widely, pursuing his interests in magic and religion, then worked for a time in Rome before settling in Carthage.
Archilochus, in Greek Archilochos (c. 675 B.C.-c. 635 B.C.?). Greek poet. Admired by later poets, including HORACE, and considered by some to be the greatest Greek poet after HOMER, Archilochus wrote short poems in a variety of meters, only fragments of which are extant. Although the details of his life remain uncertain, it is known that he was born in Paros and fought in Thasos and elsewhere; he reputedly died in battle. Archilochus was a master of iambic meter and was noted for verse that ranged from the melancholic to the bitingly satiric. His personal writing style and antiheroic stance are unique among the surviving works by early Greek poets.
Arenas, Reinaldo (July 16, 1943-December 7, 1990). Cuban novelist. Arenas is remembered for his imaginative, unconventional, poetic fiction as well as for the difficult life from which it sprang. He was raised in poverty in rural Cuba and, as a teenager, participated in the revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power. He then moved to Havana, where he worked as a library researcher, journalist, and editor. His first novel, Singing from the Well (Celestino Antes del Alba, 1967), was published in Cuba; his second, Hallucinations (El Mundo Alucinante, 1969), was smuggled out of the country and published in France. Accusations of political dissent and ideological deviation
(he was openly homosexual) led to his imprisonment. In 1980, he illegally immigrated to the United States (during the Mariel boatlift), where he continued to write novels, including Farewell to the Sea (Otra Vez el Mar, 1982), Old Rosa (La Vieja Rosa, 1980), and The Doorman (El Portero, 1988). Suffering from AIDS, Arenas committed suicide in 1990, leaving behind his autobiography, Before Night Falls (Antes que Anochezca: Autobiografía, 1992), and other works.
Aretino, Pietro (April 20, 1492-October 21, 1556). Italian prose writer, poet, and playwright. A self-declared scourge of princes,
Aretino earned considerable wealth and notoriety for his literary attacks on the rich and powerful. Born the son of a cobbler, he adopted the name Aretino
(from the name of his native city, Arezzo), and claimed that he was the bastard son of a nobleman. In 1517, he moved to Rome, where his actions, including posting vicious political lampoons on a statue in the public square, outraged the citizens. His behavior, coupled with the publication of his Lewd Sonnets (Sonetti Lussuriosi, 1524), forced him to flee Rome several times. In 1527, Aretino settled in Venice, where he prospered. Among his notable extant works are the ribald Discussions (Ragionamenti, 1584), in which Roman prostitutes gossip about their well-known clients; several comedic dramas, including The Courtesans (La Cortigiana, 1534); and some 3,000 letters, collected and translated as The Letters of Pietro Aretino (1967) and Selected Letters (1976).
Ariosto, Ludovico (September 8, 1474-July 6, 1533). Italian poet and playwright. Ariosto’s ORLANDO FURIOSO (1516), or Mad Roland,
an epic poem about the adventures of a hero of the Charlemagne epics, is widely regarded as the highest literary achievement of the Italian Renaissance. Born in Reggio, Ariosto showed writing talent at an early age; he spent several years studying law before returning to literature. But upon his father’s death in 1500, Ariosto, as eldest son, faced the responsibility of supporting his large family; for most of the rest of his life, he served Cardinal Ippolito d’Este of Ferrara and his family, whom he exalted in his epic masterpiece, which was a continuation of Matteo Maria Boiardo’s unfinished work Orlando Innamorato (written c. 1476-94), or Roland in Love.
Orlando Furioso was first published in 1516, but Ariosto continued to refine it until the end of his life, publishing a final version in 1532. He also wrote several comic dramas and seven satires modeled after HORACE’s Sermones.
Aristophanes, in Greek Aristophanes (c. 450 B.C.-388 B.C.). Greek playwright. Aristophanes’ reputation as the comedic master of ancient Greece rests on plays noted for their witty dialogue, poetic choral lyrics, brilliant parodies, and pointed topical allusions. The few facts known about his life have been gleaned from his works. A citizen of Athens, Aristophanes launched his dramatic career in 427 B.C. and wrote an estimated 40 plays. His works are the only surviving examples of the outrageous form of social satire known as Old Comedy, which combines chorus, mime, and burlesque with fantasy and licentious humor to satirize public figures, institutions, and the gods alike. Although not all of his references are accessible to today’s theatergoers, Aristophanes’ comic brilliance still shines in contemporary productions of his work. Eleven of his plays survive in full. The best known among them are THE CLOUDS (Nephelai, 423 B.C.), a satire about Socrates; THE WASPS (Sphēkes, 422 B.C.), a satire on litigation; THE BIRDS (Ornithes, 414 B.C.), Aristophanes’ masterwork, about the fantastical utopia Cloud-Cuckoo-land; LYSISTRATA (Lysistratē, 411 B.C.), about a clever women’s peace organization; and THE FROGS (Batrachoi, 405 B.C.), which lampoons Euripides.
Arnim, Achim von, original name Ludwig Joachim von Arnim (January 26, 1781-January 21, 1831) and Arnim, Bettina von, original name Elisabeth Brentano (April 4, 1785-January 20, 1859). German authors. Part of the literary circle that included GOETHE and the brothers GRIMM, the Arnims contributed greatly to the second wave of German Romanticism. The two met through Bettina’s brother, Clemens Brentano, with whom Achim edited Youth’s Magic Horn (Des Knaben Wunderhorn, 1805-8), a popular collection of German folksongs. Bettina and Achim were married in 1811 and had seven children. Both wrote in hybrid prose styles that freely mixed fact and fiction. Achim authored plays, stories, and novels, including the historical romance Isabella of Egypt (Isabella von Ägypten, 1812) and an unfinished work about Germany during the Reformation, Guardians of the Crown (Die Kronenwächter, 1817). Bettina’s best-known books include the epistolary novel Goethe’s Correspondence with a Child (Goethes Briefwechsel mit einem Kinde, 1835) and her bold plea for the King of Prussia’s assistance to the underprivileged, This Book Belongs to the King (Dies Buch Gehört dem König, 1843). Her unconventional personality and progressive views, reflected in her work, earned her a reputation as one of modern German literature’s most striking figures.
Arnold, Matthew (December 24, 1822-April 15, 1888). English critic and poet. A key influence on the development of American and European criticism and an important figure of the Victorian age, Arnold was an accomplished poet who argued that in order to build a morally and spiritually sound society, the public must be educated in literature and culture. Born in Middlesex, the son of Thomas Arnold, the renowned headmaster of Rugby School, Arnold was educated at Oxford. In 1851, he became an inspector of schools, a position he held for most of his life and one that provided the inspiration for many of the critical writings of his later years. Arnold’s first love, however, was poetry, in six volumes of which, beginning with The Strayed Reveller and Other Poems (1849) and ending with New Poems (1867), he published verses that range from lyrics and narratives to dramas and elegies. Many of these evoke alienation, melancholy, and despair. Among his best-known poems are The Scholar-Gipsy
(1853), Sohrab and Rustum
(1853), DOVER BEACH
(1867), and Thyrsis
(1867). In 1857, he became a professor of poetry at Oxford, a position he held for ten years. His lectures from this time formed the basis for many of his influential essays on literature, education, social issues, and religion. These were published in several volumes, notably Essays in Criticism (First Series, 1865; Second Series, 1888) and Culture and Anarchy (1869).
Asch or Ash, Sholem or Shalom or Sholom (November 1, 1880-August 10, 1957). Polish-born American novelist and playwright, writing in Yiddish. The prolific Asch, whose work has been translated into many languages, is probably best known for his biblical novels, The Nazarene (Der Man vun Notzeres, 1939), The Apostle (Paulus, 1943), and Mary (Maria, 1949), which depict the formative years of Christianity and its evolution from Judaism. Born in Kutno, Poland, and educated at the town’s Hebrew school, Asch moved to Warsaw in 1899, where he began his writing career. His early works, such as the play The God of Vengeance (Got vun Nekome, 1907), portray life in the Eastern European Jewish shtetl (or village). In 1910, Asch visited the United States, immigrating in 1914 and becoming a U.S. citizen in 1920. Other novels, frequently focusing on the Jewish-American immigrant experience, include Chaim Lederer’s Return (Khayim Lederers Tsurikkumen, 1927), East River (1st River, 1946), and A Passage in the Night (Grosman un Zun, 1953).
Ashbery, John (July 28, 1927- ). American poet and art critic. Ashbery’s poetry is noted for its elegant and demanding style, featuring intricate linguistic play and musical prosody. Thematically, it echoes the Transcendentalism of 19th-century American poetry; like WHITMAN and EMERSON, Ashbery explores the nature of the self and subjective consciousness with an open-ended, expansive vision. Educated at Harvard and Columbia, Ashbery worked as an art critic in Paris (1955-65), as executive editor of Art News in New York (1965-72), and then as a professor at Brooklyn College and Bard College. He first gained prominence as a poet in association with the New York School, the innovative circle of poets and Abstract Expressionist artists who emerged in the 1950s and is perhaps most widely celebrated for his long poem Self-Portrait in a Convex, Minor (1975; Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award). Among his other books are Some Trees (1956), The Tennis Court Oath (1962), The Double Dream of Spring (1970), A Wave (1984), April Galleons (1987), Flow Chart (1991), and Girls on the Run (1999). His art criticism is collected in Reported Sighting: Art Chronicles, 1957-1987 (1989). The collection of essays Other Traditions (2000) emerged from the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures that Ashbery delivered at Harvard University in 1989-90.
Asimov, Isaac (January 2, 1920-April 6, 1992). Russian-born American science fiction writer. A prolific author of both popular science writing and science fiction, Asimov published more than 300 volumes in his lifetime. Born in Russia, he immigrated as a child with his parents to Brooklyn. After earning a Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1948, he joined the biochemistry faculty of Boston University, an association that lasted a lifetime. His early short story Night Fall
(1941), about a planet where night falls only once every 2,000 years, is considered a masterpiece of science fiction. Among his works of fiction are the Robot
series, beginning with the short-story collection I, Robot (1950), and his Foundation
series about a galactic empire, beginning with the trilogy Foundation, Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation (1951-53). Asimov’s final novels, including The Robots of Dawn (1983) and Forward the Foundation (1993), merge the two series. Some of Asimov’s works about science for a general audience are Inside the Atom (1956), Until the Sun Dies (1977), and Asimov’s Guide to Earth and Space (1991).
Asturias, Miguel Ángel (October 19, 1899-June 9, 1974). Guatemalan novelist and poet. A committed opponent of the Cabrera and Ubico dictatorships of Guatemala, Asturias served as a diplomat under the more democratic regimes that followed. His political and social convictions, alongside his profound interest in the myths and history of Mayan culture, are interwoven throughout his literary works. Asturias received a degree in law in 1923 and then studied anthropology in Paris, where he published his first important work, the study Legends of Guatemala (Leyendas de Guatemala, 1930). Returning to Guatemala, he published poetry, including Sonnets (Sonetos, 1936), and novels, among them The President (El Señor Presidente, 1946), a scathing depiction of Cabrera’s rule, and Men of Maize (Hombres de Maíz, 1949), which combines social criticism and lyrical mysticism in an account of indigenous peasant life. Asturias’s other novels include the trilogy comprising Strong Wind (Viento Fuerte, 1950), The Green Pope (El Papa Verde, 1954), and The Eyes of the Interred (Los Ojos de los Enterrados, 1960). He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1967.
‘Attār, Faråd od-Dån, also called Mohammad ebn Ebrāhåm, or Faråd od-Dån Abū Hamåd Mohammad (c. 1142-c. 1220). Persian poet and prose writer. A major Muslim writer in the mystical Sūfå tradition, ‘Attār profoundly influenced Persian and other Islamic literatures. Born in Nåshāpūr, in northeastern Persia (now Iran), ‘Attār traveled extensively throughout the East as a young man. Once returned to Nåshāpūr, he practiced as a pharmacist while collecting the verses and other wisdom of celebrated Sūfås. His best-known work, The Conference of the Birds (Manteq ot-Tayr), is an allegorical epic chronicling the journey of birds to the mythical Såmorgh, or Phoenix, in which they discover their oneness with God. The poem is noted for its vibrant storytelling and expression of the spiritual unity of beings, as are ‘Attār’s other allegorical poetic works, including Book of God (Elāhå-nāma) and Book of Affliction (Mosåbat-nāma). Muslim Saints and Mystics is an abridged translation of Tazkerat ol-Awlåyå, ‘Attār’s seminal prose account of the lives of early Sūfå saints.
Atwood, Margaret (November 18, 1939- ). Canadian poet, novelist, and critic. First known as a poet and later as a popular and critically acclaimed feminist novelist, Atwood casts a keen eye on women’s changing lives and social roles. Born in Ottawa, she was educated at the University of Toronto, Radcliffe College, and Harvard University, and she has taught literature at several Canadian universities. Among her volumes of poetry are The Circle Game (1964), The Journals of Susanna Moodie (1970), based on the writings of an early 19th-century Canadian immigrant, and Power Politics (1971). Atwood’s novels include Surfacing (1972), Lady Oracle (1976), Life Before Man (1979), Bodily Harm (1981), The Handmaid’s Tale (1984), Cat’s Eye (1988), Alias Grace (1996), and The Blind Assassin (2000; Booker Prize). Atwood has also published short-story collections, notably Bluebeard’s Egg (1983), and critical writings, including Survival (1972), a survey of Canadian literature.
Auden, W[ystan] H[ugh] (February 21, 1907-September 29, 1973). English-born poet, playwright, critic, editor, translator, and librettist. One of the most important 20th-century poets, Auden is distinguished, both as a poet and as an astonishingly prolific man of letters, by his great technical virtuosity and erudition, his intellectual openness and range of interests, and his deep engagement with the sociopolitical, psychological, and—especially as he matured—spiritual concerns of his times. He first came to prominence in the 1930s as a leader of a left-leaning, politically engaged circle of Oxford-educated poets that included Stephen SPENDER and C. DAY-LEWIS. His early work, which is strongly marked by his reading of Karl Marx and Sigmund FREUD, includes Poems (1930), The Orators (1932), and Look, Stranger! (1936; U.S. title, On This Island), as well as experimental verse dramas, such as The Dog Beneath the Skin (1935) and The Ascent of F6 (1936), both written with