Category Archives: writers

“Horseman Pass By”: Happy Birthday, William Butler Yeats

Posted on June 13, 2013 by sheila

William Butler Yeats was born today in 1865. Yeats is a great poet and all that, but I grew up pretty much “over” him because he was omnipresent in our household. We were made to memorize his epitaph in order … Continue reading →

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Happy Birthday, Gwendolyn Brooks

Posted on June 7, 2013 by sheila

I think I first encountered Gwendolyn Brooks’s stuff in Humanities in high school (her most famous is, perhaps, “We Real Cool”). We Real Cool The Pool Players. Seven at the Golden Shovel. We real cool. We Left school. We Lurk … Continue reading →

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The Books: The Fun of It: Stories from The Talk of the Town, edited by Lillian Ross; ‘Beckett’, by Jane Kramer

Posted on June 3, 2013 by sheila

Next up on the essays shelf: The Fun of It: Stories from The Talk of the Town, edited by Lillian Ross The Fun of It is a collection of “The Talk of the Town” pieces in The New Yorker, grouped … Continue reading →

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Happy Birthday, Niccolò Machiavelli: “Fear and the absence of hatred may go well together.”

Posted on May 3, 2013 by sheila

Niccolò Machiavelli was born in Florence, Italy, May 3, 1469 We first had to read The Prince in high school. I remember it as drudgery. I flat out didn’t get it. I read it again a couple years later, and … Continue reading →

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Roger Ebert, 1942-2013

Posted on April 5, 2013 by sheila

Mitchell and I were in college and had recently become best friends. We were 19, 20 years old. Theatre majors. For some reason, I can’t remember why, he slept over at my parents’ house, just like we were high school … Continue reading →

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Happy Birthday, Wystan Hugh Auden: “The enlightenment driven away / The habit-forming pain”

Posted on February 21, 2013 by sheila

W.H. Auden was born on this day in York, England, 1907. Two pieces of advice for writers from Mr. Auden: To keep his errors down to a minimum, the internal Censor to whom a poet submits his work in progress … Continue reading →

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On This Day: February, 6, 1564

Posted on February 6, 2013 by sheila

Playwright, poet, prodigy, agent in Her Majesty’s secret service: the incomparable Christopher Marlowe was born on this day. (this 1585 portrait is widely thought to be of Marlowe) Marlowe was accused of putting atheistic ideas into his plays, and was … Continue reading →

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Speaking of Churchill’s “Black Dog”…

Posted on January 17, 2013 by sheila

… which I always seem to be doing these days, no surprise there, here is a terrific review by James Wolcott in London Review of Books of the collected letters of William Styron. I have written before about Styron’s searing … Continue reading →

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Happy Birthday, Jack London

Posted on January 12, 2013 by sheila

Jack London was born on this day, January 12, 1876. Jack London was a magazine writer, and achieved world-wide fame (during his lifetime) for his writing. Best-known for Call of the Wild, White Fang, and To Build a Fire, he … Continue reading →

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Happy Birthday, Lester Bangs

Posted on December 13, 2012 by sheila

Today is Lester Bangs’ birthday. Recently, I had a brief discussion on Twitter about Bangs’ inimitable style. I meant what I said there: Imitate him if you dare. His style is instantly recognizable, unforgettable, and blasts through you like an … Continue reading →

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