Breathing Curiosity
Rosario Castellanos, born May 25, 1925, in Mexico City, Mexico, is the novelist, short-story writer, poet, essayist, and diplomat who was probably the most important Mexican woman writer of the 20th century. Her 1950 master’s thesis, Sobre cultura femenina (“On Feminine Culture”), became a turning point for modern Mexican women writers, who found in it… Continue reading Rosario Castellanos *V 25 1925 — The Life You Give / La Vida Que Das
Victor Hugo, born Victor-Marie Hugo, February 26, 1802, in Besançon, France, is the poet, novelist, and dramatist who was the most important of the French Romantic writers. Though regarded in France as one of that country’s greatest poets, he is better known abroad for such novels as Notre-Dame de Paris (1831) and Les Misérables (1862).Victor… Continue reading Víctor Hugo *II 26 1802 — The Life You Give
The elder statesman of literature's Beat Generation -- and, by extension, of the American underground culture -- few figures outside of the musical sphere exerted a greater influence over rock & roll than novelist William S. Burroughs. A provocative, controversial figure famed for his unique cut-up prose aesthetic, Burroughs lived the rock lifestyle years before… Continue reading William S. Burroughs *II 5 1914 — The Life You Give
James Joyce, born James Augustine Aloysius Joyce, on February 2, 1882, Dublin, Ireland, was the novelist noted for his experimental use of language and exploration of new literary methods in such large works of fiction as Ulysses (1922) and Finnegans Wake (1939). Early life Joyce, the eldest of 10 children in his family to survive… Continue reading James Joyce *II 2 1882 — The Life You Give
Mishima Yukio, born Hiraoka Kimitake, January 14 1925 in Tokyo, Japan, was a prolific writer who is regarded by many critics as the most important Japanese novelist of the 20th century.Mishima was the son of a high civil servant and attended the aristocratic Peers School in Tokyo. During World War II, having failed to qualify… Continue reading The Live You Give: Yukio Mishima *1925
J. R. R. Tolkien, born John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, January 3, 1892, in Bloemfontein, South Africa, is the writer and scholar who achieved fame with his children’s book The Hobbit (1937) and his richly inventive epic fantasy The Lord of the Rings (1954–55).At age four Tolkien, with his mother and younger brother, settled near Birmingham,… Continue reading J. R. R. Tolkien *I 3 1892 — The Life You Give
Rainer Maria Rilke, born René Maria Rilke, Dec. 4, 1875, in Prague, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary [now in Czech Republic], is the poet who became internationally famous with such works as Duino Elegies and Sonnets to Orpheus.Rilke was the only son of a not-too-happy marriage. His father, Josef, a civil servant, was a man frustrated in his… Continue reading Rainer Maria Rilke *XII 4 1875 — Das Leben das Du Gibst
Clive Staples Lewis, born November 29, 1898, Belfast, Ireland [now in Northern Ireland] was scholar, novelist, and author of about 40 books, many of them on Christian apologetics, including The Screwtape Letters and Mere Christianity. His works of greatest lasting fame may be The Chronicles of Narnia, a series of seven children’s books that have… Continue reading The Life You Give: C. S. Lewis *1898
William Blake, born Nov. 28, 1757, in London, England, is the engraver, artist, poet, and visionary, author of exquisite lyrics in Songs of Innocence (1789) and Songs of Experience (1794) and profound and difficult “prophecies,” such as Visions of the Daughters of Albion (1793), The First Book of Urizen (1794), Milton (1804[–?11]), and Jerusalem (1804[–?20]).… Continue reading William Blake *XI 28 1757 — The Life You Give
Stefan Zweig, born November 28, 1881, Vienna, Austro-Hungarian Empire [now in Austria], is the writer who achieved distinction in several genres—poetry, essays, short stories, and dramas—most notably in his interpretations of imaginary and historical characters.Zweig was raised in Vienna. His first book, a volume of poetry, was published in 1901. He received a doctorate from… Continue reading Stefan Zweig *XI 28 1881 — The Life You Give
Fyodor Dostoyevsky, born Fyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoyevsky, Dostoyevsky also spelled Dostoevsky, on November 11 [October 30, Old Style], 1821, Moscow, Russia, is the novelist and short-story writer whose psychological penetration into the darkest recesses of the human heart, together with his unsurpassed moments of illumination, had an immense influence on 20th-century fiction.Dostoyevsky is usually regarded as… Continue reading Fyodor Dostoyevsky *XI 11 1821 — The Life You Give
Albert Camus, born November 7, 1913, in Mondovi, Algeria, is the novelist, essayist, and playwright, best known for such novels as L’Étranger (1942; The Stranger), La Peste (1947; The Plague), and La Chute (1956; The Fall) and for his work in leftist causes. He received the 1957 Nobel Prize for Literature.Less than a year after… Continue reading Albert Camus *XI 7 1913 — The Life You Give
Elfriede Jelinek, born October 20, 1946, in Mürzzuschlag, Austria, is the novelist, playwright, and poet noted for her controversial works on gender relations, female sexuality, and popular culture. She was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2004.Jelinek received her education in Vienna, where the combination of her academic studies with a rigorous program of… Continue reading Elfriede Jelinek *X 20 1946 — The Life You Give / Das Leben, das Du gibst
Oscar Wilde, born Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde, October 16, 1854, Dublin, Ireland—died November 30, 1900, Paris, France), Irish wit, poet, and dramatist whose reputation rests on his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), and on his comic masterpieces Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895). He was a… Continue reading Oscar Wilde *X 16 1854 — The Life You Give
Miguel de Cervantes, born Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, September 29?, 1547, in Alcalá de Henares, Spain, is the novelist, playwright, and poet, the creator of Don Quixote (1605, 1615) and the most important and celebrated figure in Spanish literature. His novel Don Quixote has been translated, in full or in part, into more than 60… Continue reading Miguel de Cervantes *IX 29 1547 — The Life You Give
Jorge Luis Borges, born Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo, August 24, 1899, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, is the poet, essayist, and short-story writer whose works became classics of 20th-century world literature.Borges was reared in the then-shabby Palermo district of Buenos Aires, the setting of some of his works. His family, which had been notable… Continue reading The Life You Give: Jorge Luis Borges *VII 24 1899
James Baldwin, born James Arthur Baldwin on August 2 1924 in New York, New York, is the essayist, novelist, and playwright whose eloquence and passion on the subject of race in America made him an important voice, particularly in the late 1950s and early 1960s, in the United States and, later, through much of western… Continue reading The Life You Give: James Baldwin *VIII 2 1924
Ernest Hemingway, born Ernest Miller Hemingway, July 21, 1899, in Cicero [now in Oak Park], Illinois, U.S.A., is the novelist and short-story writer, awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954. He was noted both for the intense masculinity of his writing and for his adventurous and widely publicized life. His succinct and lucid prose… Continue reading The Life You Give: Ernest Hemingway *VII 21 1899
George Sand, Amantine-Lucile-Aurore Dudevant, née Dupin, born July 1, 1804, in Paris, France, is the Romantic writer known primarily for her so-called rustic novels.She was brought up at Nohant, near La Châtre in Berry, the country home of her grandmother. There she gained the profound love and understanding of the countryside that were to inform… Continue reading The Life You Give: George Sand * VII 1 1804
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, born Antoine-Marie-Roger de Saint-Exupéry, June 29, 1900, in Lyon, France, is the aviator and writer whose works are the unique testimony of a pilot and a warrior who looked at adventure and danger with a poet’s eyes. His fable Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince) has become a modern classic.Saint-Exupéry came from… Continue reading The Life You Give: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Sila Blume 