Austro-Bohemian noblewoman, pacifist and novelist Bertha, baroness von Suttner was born #OTD in 1843.
Bertha's most famous work, "Die Waffen nieder!", was published in 1889. The novel depicted the horrors of war through the eyes of its protagonist, Martha von Tilling. Bertha's correspondence with Alfred Nobel influenced his decision to establish the Nobel Peace Prize. She is often credited with inspiring him to include a peace prize in his will.
"Remember, to the last, that while there is life there is hope."
English novelist and social critic Charles Dickens died #OTD in 1870.
Dickens edited a weekly journal for 20 years; wrote 15 novels, five novellas, hundreds of short stories and nonfiction articles; lectured and performed readings extensively; was an indefatigable letter writer; and campaigned vigorously for children's rights, education, and other social reforms.
He had a great influence on the thoughts and ideas which led to the American Revolution and the United States Declaration of Independence. He wrote three of the most influential and controversial works of the 18th Century: Common Sense, Rights of Man, and The Age of Reason.
French novelist, memoirist and journalist George Sand died #OTD in 1876.
Sand's writing combines elements of Romanticism and early Realism, with rich descriptions, strong emotions, and detailed character studies. Her novels often critique societal norms, particularly the limitations placed on women and the injustices faced by the lower classes.
"Peut-être que la conscience de la nullité n'est que le premier pas vers un noble essor. Les sots ne l'ont jamais. L'ignorance peut se passer longtemps de modestie ; mais, si elle vient un jour à rougir d'elle-même, elle n'est déjà plus l'ignorance."
Œuvres (1832), George Sand, éd. M. Lévy, 1856, Melchior, II., p. 338.
@bookstodon #TheSilenceOfTheGirls sounds (well, you know what I mean) like a very interesting book. Saw the Swedish edition, as well as the second in the series (in English) in the shop today. I have a mile high TBR pile, so I never brought them home.
Greenlandic-Danish polar explorer and anthropologist Knud Rasmussen was born #OTD in 1879.
He went on his first expedition in 1902–1904, known as The Danish Literary Expedition, with Jørgen Brønlund, Harald Moltke and Ludvig Mylius-Erichsen, to examine Inuit culture and traditions. Rasmussen is best known for leading the Thule Expeditions, a series of seven major expeditions between 1912 and 1933.
Alexander Scott landed in Normandy with the Gordon Highlanders, & saw action in the Ardennes & crossing the Rhine. He later became Head of #Scottish#Literature at the University of Glasgow, & was president of ASL from 1976–79
Published in FROM THE LINE: Scottish War Poetry 1914–1945, ed. David Goldie & Roderick Watson
American writer William Sydney Porter died #OTD in 1910.
O. Henry's stories are known for their memorable characters, vivid descriptions, and especially their surprise endings. Some of his most famous stories include "The Gift of the Magi," "The Ransom of Red Chief," "The Last Leaf," and "The Cop and the Anthem."
"At times he regarded the wounded soldiers in an envious way. He conceived persons with torn bodies to be peculiarly happy. He wished that he, too, had a wound, a red badge of courage."
"What can any individual do? Of that, every individual can judge. There is one thing that every individual can do, — they can see to it that they feel right."
Harriet Beecher Stowe's anti-slavery serial, Uncle Tom's Cabin, or Life Among the Lowly, starts a ten-month run in the National Era abolitionist newspaper.
First appearance of E. W. Hornung's fictional gentleman thief A. J. Raffles in the story "The Ides of March" in Cassell's Magazine (London).
The stories were collected into one volume—with two additional tales—under the name "The Amateur Cracksman", which was published the following year. Hornung used a narrative form similar to Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories.
It started very good: I was on our flat's balcony and my partner came out for a moment to look for something she had left on the table, completely naked, which turned me on so much that I followed her, took her into my arms and started to kiss her.
As we were about to make a step towards the sofa, we suddenly got irritated by voices, which seemed to come from inside the flat.
We separated and shouted "Is there somebody in here?" but the voices just
I can separate fantasy from reality quite well, and whilst I can totally immerse during the film or book and be totally shaken, once I finish or put them away, they don't bother me any more.
The only thing, I don't like is brutality and torture.
#Horror is, in my opinion, possibly the genre of #literature which tells most about the state of mind of its era, even more than #SciFi.
Every true love and friendship is a story of unexpected transformation. If we are the same person before and after we loved, that means we haven’t loved enough.
Virginia Stephen, the future Virginia Woolf, writes her first work of fiction, a short story which becomes known as "Phyllis and Rosamond" when first published, posthumously.
"Phyllis and Rosamond" is a short story included in "The complete shorter fiction of Virginia Woolf" (1985). It is a lesser-known work that reflects her early experimentation with narrative form and character development.
"His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead."
In June 1914.
James Joyce's Dubliners, a collection of fifteen short stories depicting the Irish middle classes in and around Dublin during the early 20th century, is published in London.
The first Pulitzer Prizes are awarded: Laura E. Richards, Maude H. Elliott, and Florence Hall receive the first for biography (for Julia Ward Howe), Jean Jules Jusserand the first for history with With Americans of Past and Present Days, and Herbert B. Swope the first for journalism for his work for the New York World.
American writer, historian and poet Elizabeth Fries Ellet died #OTD in 1877.
She is best known for her works on women’s contributions to American history, particularly during the American Revolutionary War. Her extensive research and writings helped to highlight the often overlooked roles that women played in significant historical events.
"Like southern birds, whose wings of light
Are cold and hueless while at rest—
But spread to soar in upward flight,
Appear in glorious plumage drest;
The poet’s soul—while darkly close
Its pinions, bids no passion glow;
But roused at length from dull repose,
Lights, while it spurns, the world below."
LIKE SOUTHERN BIRDS. Poems, translated and original (1835)
~Elizabeth Fries Ellet (October 18, 1818 – June 3, 1877)
“Of aal the fish there iss in the sea,” said Para Handy, “nothing bates the herrin’; it’s a providence they’re plentiful and them so cheap!”
Neil Munro (1863–1930) – journalist, novelist, short-story writer, & poet – was born #OTD, 3 June. Rigby’s Encyclopaedia of Herring discusses Munro’s PARA HANDY stories, as well as giving the full text of the tale “The Herring – A Gossip”