Breathing Curiosity
Alfred Brendel, born January 5, 1931, in Wiesenberg, Czechoslovakia [now Loučná nad Desnou, Czech Republic], is a pianist and writer whose recordings and international concert appearances secured his reputation. He is best known for his interpretations of Ludwig van Beethoven’s music, recording several cycles of the composer’s piano sonatas and concertos.Brendel studied the piano with… Continue reading Alfred Brendel *I 5 1931 — The Life You Give
Emily Dickinson, born Emily Elizabeth Dickinson, December 10, 1830, in Amherst, Massachusetts, U.S.A., is the lyric poet who lived in seclusion, and commanded a singular brilliance of style and integrity of vision. With Walt Whitman, Dickinson is widely considered to be one of the two leading 19th-century American poets.Only 10 of Emily Dickinson’s nearly 1,800… Continue reading Emily Dickinson *XII 10 1830 — The Life You Give
Friedrich Schiller, born Johann Christoph Friedrich Schiller, Nov. 10, 1759, in Marbach, Württemberg [Germany], is a leading dramatist, poet, and literary theorist, best remembered for such dramas as Die Räuber (1781; The Robbers), the Wallenstein trilogy (1800–01), Maria Stuart (1801), and Wilhelm Tell (1804).Friedrich Schiller was the second child of Lieut. Johann Kaspar Schiller and… Continue reading Friedrich von Schiller *XI 10 1759 The Life You Give
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
Allen Ginsberg, born June 3, 1926, in Newark, New Jersey, U.S.A., is the poet whose epic poem Howl (1956) is considered to be one of the most significant products of the Beat movement.Ginsberg grew up in Paterson, New Jersey, where his father, Louis Ginsberg, himself a poet, taught English. Allen Ginsberg’s mother, whom he mourned… Continue reading The Life You Give: Allen Ginsberg *1926
Apelación al solitario Es necesario, a veces, encontrar compañía. Amigo, no es posible ni nacer ni morir sin con otro. Es bueno que la amistad Ie quite al trabajo esa cara de castigo y a la alegría ese aire ilícito de robo. ¿Cómo podrías estar solo a la hora completa, en que las cosas y… Continue reading Apelación al solitario / Appeal to the Solitary One — by Rosario Castellanos
Biografía en español a fin de página 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… Continue reading The Life You Give / La Vida Que Das: Rosario Castellanos *1925
Maya Angelou, born Marguerite Annie Johnson, on April 4, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A., is the poet, memoirist, and actress whose several volumes of autobiography explore the themes of economic, racial, and sexual oppression.Although born in St. Louis, Angelou spent much of her childhood in the care of her paternal grandmother in rural Stamps,… Continue reading The Life You Give: Maya Angelou *1928
Victor Hugo, born Victor-Marie Hugo, on 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… Continue reading The Life You Give: Victor Hugo *1802
Born September 21 1934
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe — born on this day, August 28 of 1749
Translation from the German by Joshua Weiner rilke’s separationthe unusual rilkeand the usual rilkeare stuck in their samenessthe unusual rilkeand the usual rilkewould have stayed togetherthe unusual rilkeand the usual rilkewould have to separatethe unusual rilkeand the usual rilkeboth knew it rilke’s breath 1rilkebreathedthe airthe good air 2rilkebreathedwithout pause rilke’s noseentrance and exitof the airit… Continue reading “the usual rilke” by Ernst Jandl
Sila Blume 