Great Authors Make Us Dream
Saul Bellow
Saul Bellow, an American-Jewish author, was born in Lachine, Quebec, in 1915, and was raised in Montreal and Chicago. Bellow's parents were immigrants from St. Petersburg in the Soviet Union. Trained as an anthropologist at Northwestern and Chicago universities, he taught creative writing at Princeton before being appointed to the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago. Bellow also taught at the Universities of Minnesota, New York, Princeton, Boston, and Chicago.
Bellow lived for a time in Paris on a Guggenhiem fellowship where he wrote most of his best-known novel, The Adventures of Augie March, written in 1953. Other of his works include: Dangling Man(1944), Seize the Day (1956), Herzog(1964), and many others. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1976 for Humboldt's Gift. Bellow was fascinated and in love with the city of Chicago. His book, The Adventures of Augie March deals with his facination. It portrays a humorous picture of Jewish life in the city and of a young man's search for identify. Bellow lived in Chicago from his childhood and remained until 1989. He now resides with his wife in Vermont.
Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift, an English author, wrote Gulliver's Travels (1926), a masterpiece of comic literature. Swift was deeply concerned about the welfare and behavior of the people of his time, especially the welfare of the Irish and the behavior of the English toward Ireland. Swift was a Protestant churchman who became a hero in Roman Catholic Ireland.Swift was born in Dublin on November 30, 1667. His parents were of English birth. Swift graduated from Trinity College in Dublin and moved to England around 1688. He was secretary to the distinguished statesman, Sir William Temple from 1689 until 1699. In 1695, Swift became a minister in the Anglican Church of Ireland. While working for Temple, Swift met a young girl named Ester Johnson, whom he called Stella. Queen Ann recognized Swift's political work in 1713 when she made him dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin. He served in Ireland energetically by taking up the cause of the Irish against abuses he saw in British rule. Swift's health declined in his last years and finally his mind failed. He died on Oct. 19, 1745. He left his money to start a hospital for the mentally ill.
Swift hated those who attacked religion particularly when they pretended to be religious themselves. He also hated the tyranny of one nation over another nation. Above all, he hated false pride - the tendency of people to exaggerate their own weaknesses. Swift loved liberty, common sense, honesty, and humility. His writings - weather bitter, shocked, or humorous - ask the reader to share these values.
Beverly Cleary
Beverly Cleary was born in 1916 in McMinnville, Oregon. Beverly is best known for Ramona Quimby and Henry Huggins books. Her first book was Henry Huggins. She also wrote Ellen Tebbits (1951) and The Mouse and the Motorcycle (1965). Beverly won the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award for her children's books. She also won the Newberry Medal for Dear Mr. Henshaw in 1983.Beverly wrote an autobiography,A Girl from Yamhill. The book has 31 different chapters. Those thirty-one chapters are inside two hundred-seventy nine. One of the chapters is called Mothers and Daughters. The chapter is about her mother and the way she acts. It also tells what she does for a living and the way she feels about the rest of her family.
Another chapter in A Girl from Yamhill is called "The House and the Car." The house sat right next to Yamhill River. Beverly's dad decides to buy a car. Dad buys a Model A with a black top and a green body. On May 16, 1928, they buy a house. The sum is $3,750.00 They buy the car so that they can drive away to Portland.
You can find this book and others at your library.
Hans Christian Andersen
Hans Christian Anderson was born and grew up in Odense, Denmark, as the only son of a poor shoemaker and his wife. Hans got his creativity from his father, who told him stories and taught him how to build and work a puppet theater as a young boy. But Han's childhood went downhill when his father died in his early thirties. Hans, at age eleven, was left with his mother, a rough, hard working, peasant woman to raise him.
At age fourteen Hans ran away from Odense to the city of Copenhagen. He spent his time in theaters, drawing rooms, and begging for money. Eventually, his guardians made him go to school to get an education. When he finished school, he chose to write for a living.
His first book,Youthful Attempts, was published in 1822 under the false name of William Walter. All of his fame didn't come until 1835, when Hans wrote his first novel,The Inprovisatore. He traveled through many countries writing travel books and poems. He also wrote fairy tales on the side. His first fairy tale booklet was published in 1835, titled Tales for Children, contained four fairy tales.
In addition to these publications, Hans wrote several autobiographies. His first autobiography was written before the age of 28. Hans believed that for someone to understand his writing they also needed to know about his life. One autobiography was titled The Fairy Tale of my Life, and was published in 1855 on Hans Christain Andersen's 50th birthday.
The ideas for his fairy tales came from many different places. Some were inspired by lost loves, such as The Nightingale and The Little Mermaid. Some others were inspired by his travels and his friendship with Charles Dickens during his trip to England in 1847.
On August 4, 1875, Hans Christian Anderson died of liver cancer. He had written 156 fairy tales at his death.
Mark Twain
On November 30, 1835, Samuel Clemens was born to Jane and John Clemens. At the age of four, Samuel, along with his four brothers and sisters moved to Hanibil, Missourri on the banks of the Mississippi River. While outside, Samuel could hear the riverboat crews cry "Mark Twain" to indicate a measure of twelve feet, or a twain.
Samuel left school at the age of 11 to become a printer's apprentice. Later he found jobs in St. Louis, Philadelphia, and New York, but was always drawn back to the Mississippi. There he persuaded a steam boat captain to teach him to pilot.
He served as a river pilot until thte Civil War when the Mississippi was closed to commercial traffic. Samuel joined the Confederate Army, but quit after two weeks to move to the west. After many unsuccessful business ventures Samual finally landed a job with a newspaper where he first signed his name, Mark Twain, as a reminder of his life on the Mississippi.
Clemens married Olivia Langdon in 1870. One year later, they moved to Hartford, Connecticut where they built a Victorian style mansion with a design that resembles a Mississippi River steam boat. There Twain did many of his best works including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Life on the Mississippi, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, and many others which made him one of the greatest authors of all time.
Despite his success Twain also suffered big disappointments. Mark lost his fortune in two unsuccessful business investments, a new kind of typesetting machine and a publishing firm. The severe money loss forced the Twains to move to Europe where they would live more cheaply.
While on one of his lectures, Susy, one of Mark's daughters, died. Soon his wife's health started drifting away and she died in 1904. Five years later Jean, Mark's youngest daughter, died.
In the last months of his life Twain recalled that he was born on the day of Halley's Comet. Forty years later, Twain died on April 20, 1910, one day after Halley's Comet shot across the sky.
William Shakespeare
William was born in Stratford-on-Avon, 80 miles northwest of England in 1564. William was born to John and Mary Arden Shakespeare. There is no actual record of his birth, but he was baptized on April 26, 1564. His father was a prosperous glovemaker and trader of all kinds. His father became mayor when he was four. He was the third of eight children.
When William wa thirteen or fourteen, his father began having financial difficulties which continued the rest of his life. William was taken out of school and was made an apprentice to a Stratford tradesman. There are no other records until Novemeber 27, 1582 when he applied for a marriage license to Anne Hathaway. The only other definite records of William's early life in Stratford are those of the baptism of his children, Susanna on May 26, 1583 and the twins, Hamnet and Judith, on February 2, 1585.
Between 1584-1592, there are no records of his life, they are called "the lost years." Sometime during this period, Shakespeare came to London and became a man of the theater, no one knows how his career began. All that is definitely known is that by 1592, he was recognized as an actor and a playwrite.
Shakespeare's Plays
For more than 350 years, William Shakespeare has been the world's most popular playwright. His plays have been produced on stage, in the movies, and on television. His plays are filled with action, his characters are believable, and his language is thrilling to hear and read. He had a great concern for humanity and was a profound student of people and he understood them. He had a great tolerance, sympathy, and love for all people, good, or evil.
The stages of Shakespeare's day were open and free and allowed for quick changes and rapid action. This had much to do with the form of Shakespeare's plays. The outer stage usually projected into the audience which encouraged speech making. This may be the reason for the long and impassioned speeches of the plays. With no women actors, men made up as women seemed natural somehow. With no stage lighting and with the daytime sky above, the author had to write speeches about time, season, and weather of the play. The actors were close to the audience therefore, Shakespeare had to appeal to all types of people. He mixes horseplay with philosophy and coarseness with lovely poetry.
Shakespeare wrote his plays to give pleasure. Some difficulties stand in the way of this enjoyment. Shakespeare wrote more than 350 years ago; therefore, the language he used is naturally somewhat different from the language that we use today. Besides, he wrote in verse. Verse permits a free use of words that may not be understood by some readers. His plays are often fanciful. For all these reasons, many people find him difficult to follow.
While watching a Shakespearean tragedy the audience is moved and shaken. Some examples of his tragedies are: Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet.
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov was born in 1920. He came to the United States as a young boy fro his native Russia. Isaac decided to be an author when he read his first science fiction magazine. Isaac decided to be an author when he read his first science fiction agazine. Isaac advanced through school quickly because he was so brilliant. Isaac's goal when he entered college was to become a doctor. Unfortunately, Asimov was turned down for medical school admission.
Isaac did not become discouraged when he was turned down for medical school. On October 21, 1938, he received a letter from Amazing Stories, stating that Marooned Off Vesta had been accepted. It was his first triumph. One of Asimov's most highly praised stories of his career is Nightfall. It has been voted the Best Science Fiction Story of All Time! It was voted this by the Science Fiction Writers of America and the Readers of Analog. Isaac has won many prizes for his efforts. He is especially proud of the 1966 Hugo, which named The Foundation Trilogy as Best Novel Series of All Time. More recently, The Gods Themselves and The Bicentennial Man both received the Hugo and Nebula awards the year of their publication.
In time, he became one of the most productive writers the world has ever known. His books cover a spectrum of topics, including science, history, language theory, and science fiction. His brilliant imagination gained him respect and admiration of adults and children alike. Sadly, Isaac Asimov died shortly after the publication of the first edition of Isaac Asimov's Library of the Universe.
Jack Prelutsky
Jack Prelutsky was born in Brooklyn and attended the High School of Music and Art in New York, graduating in 1958. He went to Hunter College at night. He flunked seven languages. Eight if you count English.
Music has always been important to him. Opera was his first love. He had always wanted to be an opera singer and a piano player. He had sung in the New Mexico Symphony Chorus and he has also sung Gilber and Sullivan in small opera companies. Prelutsky was a folk singer in the late 1950's and early 1960's. He thought of himself as a brilliant young artist.
Since then he has written over 30 books of poetry. He travels a great deal, spending two weeks a year in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Boston. He also spends a month a year in New York City. He spends time at schools reading stories and playing his guitar. He tries to explain to kids that poetry is not boring. It is a musical language.
C.S.Lewis
Clive Staples Lewis was born November 29, 1898, in Belfast, Ireland. His father's name was A.J. Lewis and mother's name was Augusta Hamilton Lewis. She died when Lewis was only a child. When he was in college, he was privately educated by W.T. Kirkpatric at Malvern college. In 1918, he started teaching at Oxford University College.
In WWI, he was a second lieutenant. During the time he was there, he was shot in the back. Later after the war was over, he went back to teaching in 1926. Two years later, he wrote and published his first book, Dymer. Then he rewrote it in 1960. He started writing The Chronicles of Narniain 1950.
He died at the age of 75. He was single. He stopped caring about religion at the age of thirteen. He came back to it when he was 34. He liked poetry and mythological books. He died on November 22, 1963.
I think he was a wonderful writer. I own the whole set of The Chronicles of NarniaI have read them all. You should read them yourself if you haven't already. He will not bore you with his books. The books just have too much action. Have fun reading C.S. Lewis books!
Stephen King
King's full name is Stephen Edwin King.He was born in Portland,Maine. Stephen King is a popular American writer of thrillers and horror fiction. King is primarily a storyteller whose plots explore the effects of evil and fear. He often creates terrifying situations out of apparently ordinary modern characters and places.
King's first novel, Carrie(1974), tells about a high school girl who uses supernatural powers to gain revenge on her bullying classmates. The Shinning (1977) describes what happens when a family becomes stranded in a hotel haunted by evil spirits. In Firestarter (1980), a child who can set stalking by a killer. Christine (1983 is about an automobile possessed by an evil spirit.
King's other novels include Salem's Lot (1975), The Stanel (1978), The Dead Zone (1979), Cujo (1981), Pet Sematary (1983), It (1986), The Eyes of the Dragon (1984), and Misery (1987). King wrote The Talisman (1984) with Peter Straub. He wrote Thinner(1985) and other novels under the name of Richard Bachman. Many of King's novels have made into movies. You'll enjoy King if you enjoy suspense.
Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl was one of six children in his family. He was the youngest boy. One of the sisters died when she was seven. His father became sad, and he let himself get sick. Then he died, too.
When Roald grew up, he wrote stories, and kids loved them. He often wrote about adults who were really mean like his headmaster. The smart children always fooled the mean adults.
when World War 2 began, Roald became a fighter pilot for England. He was nearly killed once when his plane crashed and exploded. He crawled to safety, but he had a cracked head and a smashed hip. But when he got out of the hospital, he flew again.
Roald became a writer when he went to America because a magazine wrote about Roald's time in the war. His first book for children was called The Gremlins. It told the story of tiny people who lived inside air force planes.
In 1953, Roald married an American movie actress. Her name was Patricia Neal. Patricia had a stroke, and Roald was widowed. Roald was 74 when he got sick and died in 1990. His books are still entertaining children today.
Books by Roald Dahl include: The Gremlins, James and the Giant Peach, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, Matilda, The Twits, The Magic Finger, and The Giraffe, the Pelly, and Me.
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston on January 19, 1809. His parents, who were both touring actors, died in Poe's early childhood. John Allan, a businessman of Richmond, VAl, took custody of him. He was then taken by the Allan family at age 6 to England, where he was placed in a private school.
He returned to the U.S. in 1820. He continued attending private schools, and from there he went on to the University of Virginia for one year. His foster father liked this, but not his drinking and gambling. From then on he refused to pay his debts and Poe was forced to work as a clerk.
Poe didn't like this job and so he quit. After a big fight with John Allen, he ran away to Boston where his first book was published. Soon after, he went to the army for two years. He then made up with his foster father who afterwards appointed him into a U.S. Military Academy. Six months after, he was dismissed from the academy for neglect of duty.
Once he was dismissed, he moved to Baltimore. While he was there, he married his young cousin, Virginia. through the next decade, Virginia was ill. During this time, Poe worked as an editor for periodicals in Philadelphia and New York City.
In 1847, Virginia died and soon after Poe became ill. His addiction to licquor and use of drugs may have contributed to his death on October 7, 1849 at the age of 40. His poems and stories are popular today and will be enjoyed for years to come.
Sign My Guestbook
View My Guestbook
Our favorite links:
Harris Middle School
