On November 21, 1694, François-Marie Arouet was born, known by his nom de plume Voltaire, French philosopher during the Age of Enlightenment, re-known by his wits, prolific writer of novels, poems, essays, and letters, and dear friend of Prussian king Frederick the Great.
On February 23, 1633, English naval administrator and Member of Parliament Samuel Pepys was born, who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man. The detailed private diary Pepys kept from 1660 until 1669 was first published in the 19th century, and is one of the most important primary sources for the English Restoration period.
On January 22, 1788, George Gordon Noel Byron, 6. Baron Byron of Rochdale, commonly known simply as Lord Byron, English poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement was born.
On February 1812, the English writer and social critic known as one of the greatest novelists of the Victorian period, Charles John Huffam Dickens was born.
On April 4, 1865, Wilhelm Busch published his famous 'Max and Moritz' (in the German original: Max und Moritz - Eine Bubengeschichte in sieben Streichen), a famous German language illustrated story in verse, considered to be an early precursor of comic strips. Actually, if you are not by chance a German native speaker, you probably might never have heard of satirical author, illustrator and painter Wilhelm Busch, who was famous in the 19th century in Germany for his cynical humor and biting mockery being communicated in an artful way. His humorous drawings and caricatures are remarkable for the extreme simplicity and expressiveness of his pen-andink line. I have only limited knowledge of englisch speaking authors, but from my point of view, I would consider the works of Wilhelm Busch very much alike the style of writing of Mark Twain. It was his careful observation of the contemporary society and of the general human weaknesses, which he put into drawings and texts of ironical humor.
(Probably) on September 29, 1547, famous Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright Miguel de Cervantes was born. His magnum opus, Don Quixote, is considered to be the first modern European novel, a classic of Western literature, and is regarded amongst the best works of fiction ever written.
Diesmal habe ich längere Zeit darüber grübeln müssen, welchen Titel ich am besten über diesen Beitrag stellen soll. Werde ich präziser, wird der Titel viel zu lang und ich kann es mir eigentlich sparen dann noch etwas zum Inhalt des Buches zu erzählen. Also habe ich es diesmal einfach bei einer Kernaussage belassen, die zwar zutrifft, aber relativ wenig über den eigentlichen Inhalt aussagt. Tatsächlich vereint das Buch zwei verschiedene Bücher bzw. zwei ozeitlich sehr, sehr lange auseinanderliegende Handlungsstränge, die Sibylle Knaus, Professorin für Text und Dramaturgie an der Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, hier phantasievoll und unterhaltsam miteinander verknüpft.
112 years ago, famous american writer Stephen Crane died at age 28. Despite of his youth, he already had become one of the icons of american literature. Most famous is his american civil war novel 'The Red Badge of Courage', which has been read by almost every american high school kid.
On this day in 1804 geographer, naturalist, and explorer Alexander von Humboldt returned home from his great South America scientific discovery journey.
On October 7th, 1849, the great American author and poet, Edgar Allan Poe, best known for his stories of the mysterious and macabre, died under mysterious circumstances.