Today's Page:June 13th
13 Jun 2012 9:13
W.B. Yeats, Fernando Pessoa, Bruno Frank, Dorothy L. Sayers, Frances Burney, Miyamoto Musashi are the acclaimed authors who were born or died on a day like this.
W.B. Yeats
William Butler Yeats was born on a day like this in 1865. He was an Irish poet and playwright, and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. Yeats was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and also served as an Irish Senator for two terms. In 1923 he was awarded the Novel Prize in Literature as the first Irishman so honoured for what the Novel Committee described as "inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation". Yeats is generally considered one of the few writers who completed their greatest works after being awarded the Nobel Prize; such works include "The Tower"(1928) and "The Winding Stair and Other Poems"(1929). He died on January 28, 1939 at the age of 76.
Fernando Pessoa
Fernando Pessoa was born on a day like this in 1888. He was a Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic and translator. He was described as one of the most significant literary figures of the 20th century and one of the greatest poets in the Portuguese language. He also wrote in and translated from English and French. "Message", "A Little Larger Than the Entire Universe", "The Book of Disquiet", and "Always Astonished" are among his works. He died on November 30, 1935, at age 47.
Bruno Frank
Bruno Frank was a German author, poet, dramatist and humanist. He was born on a day like this in 1887 in Stuttgart. Frank is considered part of the group of anti-nazi writers. He continued to write, producing to novels, and worked in the film industry for the rest of his life. One of his most famous screenplays is the screenplay for the popular movie version of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame", based on the novel by Victor Hugo. He died on 1945 of a heart attack.
Dorothy L. Sayers
Dorothy Leigh Sayers was born on a day like this in 1893. She was a renowned English crime writer, poet, playwright, essayist, translator and Christian humanist. She was also a student of classical and modern languages. She is best known for her mysteries, a series of novels and short stories set between World War I and World War II. However, Sayers herself considered her translation of Dante's "Divine Comdey" to be her best work. She passed away on December 17, 1957, aged 64.
Frances Burney
Frances Burney, also known as Fanny Burney, was an English novelist, diarist and playwright. She was born on a day like this in 1752 in Lynn Regis. She began writing what she called her "scribblings" at the age of ten. In total, she wrote four novels, eight plays, one biography and twenty volumes of journals and letters. She published her first novel, "Evelina", anonymously in 1778. She followed with "Cecilia"(1782), "Camilla"(1796) and "The Wanderer"(1814). All of Burney's novels explore the lives of English aristocrats, with an eye to larger questions such as the politics of female identity. She passed away on January 6, 1840, at the age of 87.
Miyamoto Musashi
Miyamoto Musashi was born on a day like this in 1584. He was a legendary Japanese swordsman and ronin. Musashi, as he was often simply known, became renowned through stories of his excellent swordsmanship in numerous duels. He wrote his most famous book, "The Book of Five Rings", a book on strategy, tactics, and philosophy that is still studied today. He is also widely considered as a Kensei and one of the greatest warriors of all time. He died of what is believed to be thoracic cancer in peace in June 13, 1645, at the age of 61.
