American critic Author Works Nonfiction: A Literature of Their Own: British Women Novelists from Brontë to Lessing, 1977, revised 1982 “Towards a Feminist Poetics,” 1979 “Women’s Time, Women’s Space: Writing the History of Feminist Criticism,” 1984 The Female Malady: Women, Madness, and English Culture, 1830–1980, 1985 Sexual Anarchy: Gender and Culture at the Fin de […]

Soviet composer and memoirist Author Works Nonfiction: Testimony: The Memoirs of Dmitri Shostakovich, 1979 (Solomon Volkov, editor; Antonia W. Bouis, translator) Pisma k drugu, 1993 (Story of a Friendship: The Letters of Dmitry Shostakovich to Isaak Glikman, 1941–1975, 2001) Biography Dmitri Dmitrievich Shostakovich (shahs-tuh-KOH-vihch) was one of the foremost Soviet composers of the twentieth century. […]

English novelist Author Works Long Fiction: John Inglesant, 1880 The Little Schoolmaster Mark, 1883–1884 Sir Percival, 1886 The Countess Eve, 1888 Blanche, Lady Falaise, 1891 Short Fiction: A Teacher of the Violin, and Other Tales, 1888 Nonfiction: On the Platonism of Wordsworth, 1881 Biography As a child Joseph Henry Shorthouse, born into a Quaker family, […]

Russian novelist Biography Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov (SHOH-loh-kof), epic novelist of the Cossacks, was born in Kruzhilino, a small village near Veshenskaya on the river Don; he was the eighth child in the family. His father was a farmer, a cattle buyer, a clerk, and later the owner of a power mill. The family was of […]

Russian critic Author Works Nonfiction: Voskreshenie slova, 1914 (criticism; Resurrection of the Word, 1972) Svintsovyi zhrebii, 1914 (criticism) Rozanov, 1921 (criticism; English translation, 1982) Khod konia, 1923 (criticism) Literatura i kinematograf, 1923 (criticism) O teorii prozy, 1925 (criticism; Theory of Prose, 1990) Udachi i porazheniia Maksima Gorkogo, 1926 (criticism) Ikh nastoiashchee, 1927 (criticism) Motalka, knizhka […]

English playwright Author Works Drama: The School of Compliment, pr. 1625 (also known as Love Tricks: Or, The School of Compliments) The Brothers, pr. 1626 The Maid’s Revenge, pr. 1626 The Wedding, pr. 1626(?) The Witty Fair One, pr. 1628 The Grateful Servant, pr. 1629 (also known as The Faithful Servant) The Traitor, pr. 1631 […]

American-born Canadian novelist Biography Carol Shields’s novels have been lauded for their deft exploration of marriage, parenthood, and the battle between the sexes. Shields was a perceptive, and sometimes humorous, observer of social trends whose work is more serious in tone than it may initially appear. “Because she’s a comic writer and genuinely funny, early […]

Chinese novelist Author Works Long Fiction: Shuihu zhuan, possibly the fourteenth century (All Men Are Brothers, 1933; also known as Water Margin) Biography Nothing is definitely known about Shi Naian (shee nah-ee-ahn), the man who has been generally accepted as the author of All Men Are Brothers ever since 1644, when Jin Shengtan wrote his […]

American playwright and screenwriter Author Works Drama: The Road to Rome, pr., pb. 1927 The Love Nest, pr. 1927 (adaptation of Ring Lardner’s story) The Queen’s Husband, pr., pb. 1928 Waterloo Bridge, pr., pb. 1930 This Is New York, pr. 1930 Reunion in Vienna, pr. 1931 Acropolis, pr. 1933 The Petrified Forest, pr., pb. 1935 […]

English playwright and screenwriter Author Works Drama: Journey’s End, pr. 1928 Badger’s Green, pr., pb. 1930 St. Helena, pb. 1934 (with Jeanne de Casalis) Miss Mabel, pr. 1948 Home at Seven, pr., pb. 1950 The White Carnation, pr., pb. 1953 The Long Sunset, pr., pb. 1955 The Telescope, pr., pb. 1957 A Shred of Evidence, […]

Last reviewed: June 2018 Irish playwright Born: November 4, 1751 (baptized) Birthplace: Dublin, Ireland Died: July 7, 1816 Place of death: London, England Biography Between 1775 and 1779, Richard Brinsley Sheridan wrote five plays, two of which remain popular theater pieces. Indeed, among the many comic plays of the eighteenth and much of the nineteenth centuries, The […]

American playwright and screenwriter Biography Samuel Shepard Rogers VII has been compared to Eugene O’Neill in theatrical range and power. He is the son of Army Air Force bomber pilot Samuel Shepard Rogers and Jane Schook Rogers. Between 1943 and 1955, the family moved often from army post to army post, including a stay in […]

Last reviewed: June 2018 English poet Born: August 4, 1792 Birthplace: Field Place, near Horsham, Sussex, England Died: July 8, 1822 Place of death: At sea off Viareggio, Lucca (now in Italy) Biography Percy Bysshe Shelley, English poet, was born at Field Place, near Horsham, Sussex, on August 4, 1792, the eldest son of a landed country […]

Last reviewed: June 2018 English novelist Born: August 30, 1797 Birthplace: London, England Died: February 1, 1851 Place of death: London, England Biography Authorship of Frankenstein was not the only claim to distinction possessed by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. The daughter of a radical philosopher and an early feminist and the wife of an unconventional genius, she early […]

American journalist Author Works Nonfiction: Speed Is the Essence, 1971 Panthermania: The Clash of Black Against Black in One American City, 1971 Hustling: Prostitution in Our Wide Open Society, 1973 Passages: Predictable Crises of Adult Life, 1976 Pathfinders, 1981 Spirit of Survival, 1986 Character: America’s Search for Leadership, 1988 The Man Who Changed the World: […]

American playwright, screenwriter, and actor Author Works Drama: The Hotel Play, wr. 1970, pr. 1981 Play in Seven Scenes, pr. 1974 Our Late Night, pr. 1974 In the Dark, pr. 1976 (libretto) Three Short Plays: Summer Evening, The Youth Hostel, Mr. Frivolous, pr. 1976, pr. 1977 (as A Thought in Three Parts) The Mandrake, pr. […]

American short-story writer and novelist Identity: Jewish Author Works Short Fiction: Sailor off the Bremen, and Other Stories, 1939 Welcome to the City, and Other Stories, 1942 Act of Faith, and Other Stories, 1946 Mixed Company, 1950 Tip on a Dead Jockey, and Other Stories, 1957 Love on a Dark Street, 1965 Retreat, and Other […]

Last reviewed: June 2017 Playwright Born: July 26, 1856 Birthplace: Dublin, Ireland Died: November 2, 1950 Place of death: Ayot St. Lawrence, Hertfordshire, England Biography One of the greatest British dramatists, perhaps the greatest dramatist of his generation, George Bernard Shaw revitalized the moribund English stage with a body of work that continues to entertain and challenge […]

American poet Biography Karl Jay Shapiro was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and attended the University of Virginia, The Johns Hopkins University, and Enoch Pratt Library School. In World War II he served in the U.S. Army for three years in the South Pacific. During this absence from the United States his fiancé, Evelyn Katz, saw […]

American poet Identity: Jewish Author Works Poetry: After the Digging, 1981 The Courtesy, 1983 Happy Hour, 1987 Covenant, 1991 Mixed Company, 1996 The Dead Alive and Busy, 2000 Selected Poems, 1974-1996, 2000 Song and Dance, 2002 Nonfiction: In Praise of the Impure, Poetry and the Ethical Imagination: Essays, 1980-1991, 1993 The Last Happy Occasion, 1996 […]

Last reviewed: June 2018 American playwright, novelist, and poet Born: October 18, 1948 Birthplace: Trenton, New Jersey Biography The works of poet, playwright, and novelist Ntozake Shange are an essential part of modern African American literature. Her first successful work, for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf, is poetry brought to […]

Russian short-story writer, poet, and essayist Author Works Short Fiction: Kolymskie rasskazy, 1978 (Kolyma Tales, 1980, and Graphite, 1981) Poetry: Shelest List’ev, 1964 Tochka kipeniia: Stikhi, 1977 Nonfiction: Ocherki prestupnogo mira, n.d. Biography Varlam Tikhonovich Shalamov (SHAH-lahm-uhf) was a prose writer, poet, and essayist whose seventeen-year imprisonment in Soviet labor camps provided him with the […]

Last reviewed: June 2018 English playwright and poet Born: April 23, 1564 Birthplace: Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England Died: April 23, 1616 Place of death: Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England Biography William Shakespeare, greatest of English poets and dramatists, was born at Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564 and died there in 1616. Biographical information about him is scant, and much must be inferred […]

English playwright, screenwriter, and novelist Author Works Drama: Five Finger Exercise, pr., pb. 1958 The Private Ear, pr., pb. 1962 (one act) The Public Eye, pr., pb. 1962 (one act) The Merry Roosters Panto, pr. 1963 (music by Stanley Myers, lyrics by Lionel Bart) The Royal Hunt of the Sun, pr., pb. 1964 Black Comedy, […]

English playwright, screenwriter, and novelist Author Works Drama: The Savage Parade, pr. 1963, revised pr. 1987 (as This Savage Parade) Sleuth, pr., pb. 1970 Murderer, pr. 1975 The Case of the Oily Levantine, pr. 1977, pr. 1982 as Whodunnit Widow’s Weeds: Or, For Years I Couldn’t Wear My Black, pr. 1977 Long Fiction: The Woman […]

American novelist and short-story writer Author Works Long Fiction: The Broken Place, 1968 The Killer Angels, 1974 The Herald, 1981 (also known as The Noah Conspiracy, 1994) For Love of the Game, 1991 Short Fiction: Soldier Boy, 1982 Screenplay: Billy Boy, 1980 Biography The father of writer Michael Shaara (SHAR-uh) was five years old when […]

Last reviewed: June 2017 Poet Born: November 9, 1928 Birthplace: Newton, Massachusetts Died: October 4, 1974 Place of death: Weston, Massachusetts Biography Anne Sexton was born Anne Gray Harvey. After attending public school in Wellesley, Massachusetts, she went to a prep school and then, for a year, to Garland Junior College. She married Alfred Muller Sexton and […]

French letter writer Author Works Nonfiction: Lettres, 1696, 1725, 1726, 1734-1737 (6 volumes); 1862-1868 (14 volumes); 1953-1957 (3 volumes; Letters, 1727, 1764 [10 volumes]; 1811 [9 volumes]; 1927 [7 volumes]) Biography Madame de Sévigné (say-veen-yay) was born Marie de Rabutin-Chantal in Paris on February 5, 1626. Her father was Celse-Bénigne de Rabutin, Baron de Chantal, […]

American novelist Author Works Long Fiction: The Love Eaters, 1954 The Kiss of Kin, 1955 O Beulah Land, 1956 Know Nothing, 1960 Fight Night on a Sweet Saturday, 1964 The Clam Shell, 1971 Prisons, 1973 Blood Tie, 1977 The Scapegoat, 1980 The Killing Ground, 1982 (revision of Fight Night on a Sweet Saturday) Celebration, 1986 […]

Indian novelist and poet Biography Vikram Seth (sayt) is a versatile writer who is at ease in a variety of genres. He has made a place for himself as an Indian writing in the English language. Seth was born in Calcutta, India, in 1952. He left India to study at Oxford University in England, where […]

Senegalese statesman, poet, and political philosopher Author Works Poetry: Chants d’ombre, 1945 Hosties noires, 1948 Chants pour Naëtt, 1949 Chants d’ombre–Hosties noires, 1956 Éthiopiques, 1956 Nocturnes, 1961 (English translation, 1969) Poèmes, 1964 Selected Poems, 1964 Élégie des Alizés, 1969 Selected Poems of Léopold Sédar Senghor, 1977 Oeuvre poétique, 1990 (The Collected Poetry, 1991) Nonfiction: Congrès […]

Last reviewed: June 2018 Roman playwright Born: c. 4 b.c.e. Birthplace: Corduba (now Córdoba, Spain) Died: April 65 c.e. Place of death: Rome (now in Italy) Biography Seneca (SEHN-ih-kuh) was the son of Annaeus Seneca, a famous rhetorician of Corduba known as Seneca the Elder, whose own contributions to literary history had a profound influence on his […]

Senegalese novelist and filmmaker Author Works Long Fiction: Le Docker noir, 1956 (Black Docker, 1987) Ô pays, mon beau peuple!, 1957 Les Bouts de bois de Dieu, 1960 (God’s Bits of Wood, 1962) L’Harmattan, livre I: Référendum, 1964 “Vehi-Ciosane: Ou, Blanche-Genèse,” suivi du “Mandat,” 1965 (novellas “The Money-Order,” with “White Genesis,” 1972) Xala, 1973 (novella; […]

Trinidadian novelist Identity: East Indian descent Biography Samuel Dickson Selvon’s contribution to Caribbean letters is manifold. He was a prolific novelist who created some of the most memorable characters in Caribbean writing; he was also a venturesome innovator in the use of folk idioms and folk language of such sophistication and sheer virtuosity that his […]

English novelist and short-story writer Author Works Long Fiction: “Cock” and “Bull,” 1992 (2 novellas) My Idea of Fun: A Cautionary Tale, 1993 Great Apes, 1997 How the Dead Live, 2000 Dorian: An Imitation, 2002 Short Fiction: The Quantity Theory of Insanity, 1991 Grey Area, and Other Stories, 1994 The Sweet Smell of Psychosis, 1996 […]

American novelist Author Works Long Fiction: Last Exit to Brooklyn, 1964 The Room, 1971 The Demon, 1976 Requiem for a Dream, 1978 The Willow Tree, 1998 Waiting Period, 2002 Short Fiction: Song of the Silent Snow, 1986 Screenplay: Requiem for a Dream, 2000 (adaptation of his novel; with Darren Aronofsky) Biography Hubert Selby, Jr., is […]

Czech poet Author Works Poetry: Město v slzách, 1921 Samá láska, 1923 Svatební cesta, 1925 Na vlnách TSF, 1925 Slavík zpívá špatně, 1926 Poštovní holub, 1929 Jablko z klína, 1933 Ruce Venušiny, 1936 Zpíváno do rotačky, 1936 Osm dní, 1937 Jaro sbohem, 1937, 1942 Zhasněte světla, 1938 Světlem oděná, 1940 Kamenný most, 1944 Přilba hlíny, […]

Greek poet Biography Giorgos Stylianou Seferiades, who would later take the pen name George Seferis (seh-FEHR-ees), was born into a Greek community in Smyrna, Ottoman Empire (now ızmir, Turkey), at the start of the twentieth century. Interested in poetry even as a child, Seferis moved with his family to Athens at the beginning of World […]

American critic Identity: Gay or bisexual Author Works Nonfiction: The Coherence of Gothic Conventions, 1980 Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire, 1985 Epistemology of the Closet, 1990 Tendencies, 1993 A Dialogue on Love, 1999 Touching Feeling: Affect, Pedagogy, Performativity, 2002 Poetry: Fat Art, Thin Art, 1994 Edited Texts: Performativity and Performance, 1995 (with […]

German literary scholar, novelist, and poet Author Works Long Fiction: Schwindel: Gefühle, 1990 (Vertigo, 1999) Die Ausgewanderten, 1992 (The Emigrants, 1996) Die Ringe des Saturn, 1995 (The Rings of Saturn, 1998) Austerlitz, 2001 (English translation, 2001) Poetry: Nach der Natur: Ein Elementargedicht, 1988 (After Nature, 2002) For Years Now, 2001 Nonfiction: Die Beschreibung des Unglücks: […]

French novelist Author Works Long Fiction: Ibrahim: Ou, L’Illustre bassa, 1641 (Ibrahim: Or, The Illustrious Bassa, 1652) Artamène: Ou, Le Grand Cyrus, 1649-1653 (Artamenes: Or, The Grand Cyrus, 1653-1655) Clélie, 1654-1660 (Clelia, 1656-1661) Almahide: Ou, L’Esclave reine, 1660-1663 (Almahide: Or, The Captive Queen, 1677) Nonfiction: Le Discours de la gloire, 1671 (An Essay upon Glory, […]

Last reviewed: June 2018 Scottish novelist, historian, biographer, poet, and playwright Born: August 15, 1771 Birthplace: Edinburgh, Scotland Died: September 21, 1832 Place of death: Abbotsford, Scotland Biography In spite of physical handicaps Walter Scott lived a full, varied life and created an impressive body of writings. Stricken with infantile paralysis from polio before he was two […]

English explorer and memoirist Author Works Nonfiction: The Voyage of the Discovery, 1905 Scott’s Last Expedition, 1913 Biography Robert Falcon Scott’s early education was acquired at Stoke Damerel and Stubbington House, Fareham; at twelve years of age he entered service on HMS Britannia, and in 1882 he became a midshipman. He served on various ships, […]

English novelist Author Works Long Fiction: Johnnie Sahib, 1952 The Alien Sky, 1953 A Male Child, 1956 The Mark of the Warrior, 1958 The Chinese Love Pavilion, 1960 The Birds of Paradise, 1962 The Bender, 1963 The Corrida at San Feliu, 1964 The Jewel in the Crown, 1966 The Day of the Scorpion, 1968 The […]

Scottish novelist Author Works Long Fiction: Tom Cringle’s Log, 1829-1833 (serial), 1833 (book) The Cruise of the Midge, 1834-1835 (4 volumes) Biography Son of a Glasgow merchant, Michael Scott was born at Cowlairs, Scotland, on October 30, 1789, and educated at the high school in Glasgow and at the University of Glasgow. He was sent […]

American novelist Author Works Long Fiction: The Narrow House, 1921 Narcissus, 1922 (pb. in England as Bewilderment) The Golden Door, 1925 Ideals: A Book on Farce and Comedy, 1927 Migrations: An Arabesque in Histories, 1927 The Wave, 1929 Blue Rum, 1930 (as Ernest Souza) A Calendar of Sin: American Melodramas, 1931 (2 volumes) Eva Gay: […]

Italian novelist Biography Leonardo Sciascia (SHAH-shah) was born in Racalmuto, Sicily, on January 8, 1921. He lived much of his life in Sicily, where, before his success as a novelist and public figure in the 1960’s, he was a teacher. More than any other Italian author of the late twentieth century, Sciascia occupied himself with […]

German theologian, philosopher, and doctor Identity: Christian Author Works Nonfiction: Das Messianitäts- und Leidensgeheimnis, 1901 (The Mystery of the Kingdom of God: The Secret of Jesus’ Messiahship and Passion, 1925) Eine Geschichte der Leben-Jesus Forschung, 1906 (The Quest of the Historical Jesus, 1910) J. S. Bach, 1908 (English translation, 1911) Geschichte der Paulinischen Forschung von […]

French novelist Identity: Jewish Author Works Long Fiction: Le Dernier des Justes, 1959 (The Last of the Just, 1960) Un Plat de porc aux bananes vertes, 1967 (with Simone Schwarz-Bart) La Mulâtresse Solitude, 1972 (A Woman Named Solitude, 1973) Nonfiction: Hommage à la femme noire, 1988 (6 volumes; with Simone Schwarz-Bart; In Praise of Black […]

American poet Biography Delmore Schwartz (shwawrts) was one of the poets of the “middle generation,” so called by critic Bruce Bawer, who took his cue from some lines by Robert Lowell. That generation of poets included Lowell, Randall Jarrell, and John Berryman as well as Schwartz, who in some ways led the group into poetry. […]

American poet Biography Born in Chicago to a family with extensive roots in America, James Marcus Schuyler (SKI-lur) grew up in Washington, D.C., Buffalo, and East Aurora, New York, the family seat to which he returned. He attended Bethany College in West Virginia, served in the Navy in World War II, and worked for Voice […]

English economist and philosopher Author Works Nonfiction: Roots of Economic Growth, 1962 Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered, 1973 A Guide for the Perplexed, 1977 (philosophy) Good Work, 1979 This I Believe, and Other Essays, 1997 Biography Ernst Friedrich Fritz Schumacher (SHEW-mahk-ur), a British economist and social philosopher, was born on August 16, […]

Last reviewed: June 2018 Polish short-story writer Born: July 12, 1892 Birthplace: Drohobycz, Galicia, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now in Ukraine) Died: November 19, 1942 Place of death: Drohobycz, Poland (now in Ukraine) Biography Bruno Schulz is one of the greatest figures in Polish modernist literature of the period between the world wars and one of the most original […]

American novelist and screenwriter Biography Budd Wilson Schulberg (SHOOL-burg), a prominent novelist and screenwriter, also achieved major success in a variety of other genres. He was born in 1914 to an important Hollywood producer, Benjamin Percival (“B. P.”) Schulberg, head of production at Paramount Studios (1925-1932), and Adeline (Jaffe) Schulberg, later one of Hollywood’s leading […]

Last reviewed: June 2018 South African novelist Born: March 24, 1855 Birthplace: Wittebergen Mission Station, Cape Colony (now in South Africa) Died: December 11, 1920 Place of death: Cape Town, South Africa Biography Olive Emilie Albertina Schreiner, born at the Wittebergen Mission Station in Cape Province, was the daughter of a Methodist missionary of German descent and […]

Last reviewed: June 2018 German philosopher and proponent of philosophical pessimism. Born: February 22, 1788 Place of birth: Danzig, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (now Gdańsk, Poland) Died: September 21, 1860 Place of death: Free City of Frankfurt, German Confederation (now Frankfurt am Main, Germany) Biography Arthur Schopenhauer, known as the “philosopher of pessimism,” was born into a rich merchant […]

Polish poet, essayist, and memoirist Author Works Poetry Poemat o czasie zastygłym, 1933 Trzy zimy, 1936 Wiersze, 1940 (as J. Syruć) Ocalenie, 1945 Światlo dzienne, 1953 Traktat poetycki, 1957 (A Treatise on Poetry, 2001) Król Popiel i inne wiersze, 1962 Gucio zaczarowany, 1964 Wiersze, 1967 Miasto bez imienia, 1969 (Selected Poems, 1973) Gdzie wschodzi słońce […]

Polish journalist and essayist Biography Ryszard Kapuściński (kah-pewsh-CHEEN-skee), a journalist, was among the most trenchant observers of the Third World and its modern revolutions. The son of two schoolteachers, Jozef and Maria Bobka Kapuściński, he experienced the upheavals of World War II in his homeland, but it was his native city Pinsk, not the war, […]

German-born Israeli scholar Identity: Jewish Author Works Nonfiction: Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism, 1941, revised 1946 Shabbatai Tsevi veha-tenu’ah, 1957 (Sabbatai Sevi: The Mystical Messiah, 1626-1676, 1973) Zur Kabbala und ihrer Symbolik, 1960 (On the Kabbalah and Its Symbolism, 1965) Ursprung und Anfänge der Kabbala, 1962 (Origins of the Kabbalah, 1987) Von der mystischen Gestalt […]

Last reviewed: June 2018 Austrian playwright Born: May 15, 1862 Birthplace: Vienna, Austria Died: October 21, 1931 Place of death: Vienna, Austria Biography Arthur Schnitzler was one of the most prominent writers living in the city of Vienna during the highly productive and creative late nineteenth, early twentieth century era that produced individuals such as Sigmund Freud, […]

American historian Author Works Nonfiction: Orestes A. Brownson: A Pilgrim’s Progress, 1939 The Age of Jackson, 1945 The Vital Center, 1949 The General and the President and the Future of American Politics, 1951 (with Richard H. Rovere) The Age of Roosevelt: The Crisis of the Old Order, 1919-1933, 1957 The Age of Roosevelt: The Coming […]

German literary theorist and philosopher Author Works Nonfiction: Über das Studium der griechischen Poesie, 1797 Die Griechen und Römer, 1797 Lyceums-Fragmente, 1797 (English translation, 1968) Athenäums-Fragmente, 1798 (English translation, 1968) Geschichte der Poesie der Griechen und Römer, 1798 Gespräch über die Poesie, 1800 (Dialogue on Poetry, 1968) Charakteristiken und Kritiken, 1801 (with August Wilhelm Schlegel) […]

German critic and translator Author Works Nonfiction: Charakteristiken und Kritiken, 1801 (with Friedrich Schlegel) Über dramatische Kunst und Litteratur: Vorlesungen, 1809-1811 (2 volumes; A Course of Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature, 1815) Betrachtungen über die Politik der dänischen Regierung, 1813 Vorlesungen über Theorie und Geschichte der bildenden Künste: Gehalten in Berlin, im Sommer 1827, […]

American novelist Author Works Long Fiction: Alice in Bed, 1983 To the Birdhouse, 1990 Rameau’s Niece, 1993 The Love Letter, 1995 The Evolution of Jane, 1998 She Is Me, 2003 Biography Cathleen Schine (shin) has carved a niche for herself as a novelist of ideas who gives the genre of the intellectual novel a distinctly […]

Last reviewed: June 2018 German poet, playwright, and critic. Born: November 10, 1759 Place of birth: Marbach am Neckar, Duchy of Württemberg (now Marbach am Neckar, Germany) Died: May 9, 1805 Place of death: Weimar, Saxe-Weimar (now Weimar, Germany) Biography Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller, born on November 10, 1759, in the Duchy of Württemberg, was the […]

American producer, screenwriter, and playwright Identity: Jewish Author Works Drama: Too Many Heroes, pr. 1937 Sunrise at Campobello, pr., pb. 1958 The Highest Tree, pr. 1959 The Devil’s Advocate, pr., pb. 1961 (adaptation of Morris L. West’s novel) Banderol, pr. 1963 One by One, pr. 1964 Brightower, pr. 1970 Antiques, pr. 1973 Herzl, pr. 1976 […]

American novelist Author Works Long Fiction: Shane, 1949, critical edition 1984 The Big Range, 1953 The Canyon, 1953 First Blood, 1953 The Pioneers, 1954 Company of Cowards, 1957 The Great Endurance Horse Race, 1963 Monte Walsh, 1963 The Plainsmen, 1963 Adolphe Francis Alphonse Bandelier, 1966 Mavericks, 1967 The Short Novels of Jack Schaefer, 1967 Nonfiction: […]

American screenwriter, director, and short-story writer Author Works Screenplays: Piranha, 1978 The Lady in Red, 1979 Battle Beyond the Stars, 1980 Alligator, 1980 (adaptation of a short story by Sayles and Frank Ray Perilli) Return of the Secaucus Seven, 1980 The Howling, 1981 (with Terence H. Winkless; adaptation of Gary Brandner’s novel) The Challenge, 1982 […]

English novelist, playwright, scholar, and essayist Author Works Long Fiction: Whose Body?, 1923 Clouds of Witness, 1926 Unnatural Death, 1927 (also known as The Dawson Pedigree) Lord Peter Views the Body, 1928 The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club, 1928 The Documents in the Case, 1930 (with Robert Eustace) Strong Poison, 1930 The Five Red Herrings, […]

Swiss scholar and linguist Author Works Nonfiction: Mémoire sur le système primitif des voyelles dans les langues indo-européennes, 1879 Cours de linguistique générale, 1916 (Course in General Linguistics, 1959) Biography Ferdinand de Saussure (saw-soor) is regarded by most scholars as the creator of modern linguistics–the scientific, objective study of language. Although he published only a […]

American short-story writer Author Works Short Fiction: CivilWarLand in Bad Decline, 1996 Pastoralia: Stories, 2000 Children’s/Young Adult Literature: The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip, 2000 Biography Short-story writer George Saunders’s success is highly attributable to his faith in the farthest depths of his imagination and his ability to comment on American ideologies through biting satirical […]

English poet and memoirist Author Works Poetry: The Daffodil Murderer, 1913 The Old Huntsman, and Other Poems, 1917 Counter-Attack, and Other Poems, 1918 War Poems, 1919 Picture Show, 1920 Recreations, 1923 Selected Poems, 1925 Satirical Poems, 1926 The Heart’s Journey, 1927 Poems of Pinchbeck Lyre, 1931 The Road to Ruin, 1933 Vigils, 1935 Rhymed Ruminations, […]

Last reviewed: June 2017 French dramatist, novelist, philosopher, editor, and critic Born: June 21, 1905 Birthplace: Paris, France Died: April 15, 1980 Place of death: Paris, France Biography Philosopher, playwright, novelist, editor, and critic, Jean-Paul Sartre dominated European intellectual life for two decades following World War II. He was born in Paris on June 21, 1905, the […]

Belgian-born American novelist Identity: Gay or bisexual Biography One of the most prolific and distinguished of American women of letters, Eléanore Marie Sarton was born in Wondelgem, Belgium, on May 3, 1912, to a Belgian father and a British mother. In 1916 she and her parents immigrated to the United States, settling in Cambridge, Massachusetts, […]

French novelist and playwright Identity: Jewish Author Works Long Fiction: Portrait d’un inconnu, 1948 (Portrait of a Man Unknown, 1958) Martereau, 1953 (English translation, 1959) Le Planétarium, 1959 (The Planetarium, 1960) Les Fruits d’or, 1963 (The Golden Fruits, 1964) Entre la vie et la mort, 1968 (Between Life and Death, 1969) Vous les entendez?, 1972 […]

American short-story writer, playwright, and novelist Author Works Short Fiction: The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze, and Other Stories, 1934 Inhale and Exhale, 1936 Three Times Three, 1936 The Gay and Melancholy Flux: Short Stories, 1937 Little Children, 1937 Love, Here Is My Hat, and Other Short Romances, 1938 The Trouble with Tigers, […]

Last reviewed: June 2018 New Zealand novelist, short-story writer, playwright, and memoirist Born: March 23, 1903 Birthplace: Hamilton, New Zealand Died: March 1, 1982 Place of death: Auckland, New Zealand Biography Frank Sargeson was the creator, and one of the finest exponents, of a distinctly New Zealand tradition of fiction. He was born Norris Frank Davey to […]

Cuban novelist and poet Identity: Gay or bisexual Biography Severo Sarduy (SAHR-dwee) was the most prominent link between twentieth century Latin American culture and the Parisian poststructuralist intellectual gay circles (the Tel Quel group). He was also a promoter of the “boom” of Latin American narrative in France in the 1960’s and after. He was […]

Portuguese novelist, poet, and playwright Biography José Saramago (sah-rah-MAH-goh) is Portugal’s best-known and most celebrated writer. He was born to a family of poor farmworkers in the central Portuguese village of Azinhaga. When Saramago was two years old, his family moved to the Portuguese capital of Lisbon. After graduating from technical school in Lisbon, Saramago […]

Greek poet Identity: Gay or bisexual Author Works Poetry: Poetarum Lesbiorum Fragmenta, 1955 Sappho: A New Translation, 1958 Lyra Graeca, volume 1, 1958 Sappho: Poems and Fragments, 1965 The Poems of Sappho, 1966 The Sappho Companion, 2000 (Margaret Reynolds, editor) Biography Sappho (SAF-oh), properly spelled Psappho, was born on the Greek Island of Lesbos, in […]

Japanese novelist and artist Author Works Long Fiction: Edo mumare uwaki no kabayaki, 1785 Chūshin suiko-den, 1789 Keiseikai shijūhatte, 1790 Seiro hiru no sekai, nishiki no ura, 1791 Fukushū kidan Asaka no numa, 1803 Udonge monogatari, 1804 (Fortune’s Wheel, 1928-1929; also known as The Three Thousand Year Flower, 1986) Mukashigatari inazuma-byōshi, 1806 (Lightning, 1986) Honchō […]

Spanish-born American philosopher Author Works Nonfiction: The Sense of Beauty: Being the Outlines of Aesthetic Theory, 1896 Interpretations of Poetry and Religion, 1900 The Life of Reason: Or, The Phases of Human Progress, 1905-1906 (collective title for the following 5 works) Reason in Common Sense, 1905 Reason in Society, 1905 Reason in Religion, 1905 Reason […]

English short-story writer, novelist, and essayist Author Works Short Fiction: Fireman Flower, 1944 Three, 1946 Something Terrible, Something Lovely, 1948 South, 1948 The Passionate North, 1950 A Touch of the Sun, 1952 Lord Love Us, 1954 A Contest of Ladies, 1956 Among the Dahlias, 1957 The Stories of William Sansom, 1963 The Ulcerated Milkman, 1966 […]

American biographer, historian, and novelist Biography Mari Susette Sandoz, a historian and novelist of the American West, was the daughter of Jules Ami Sandoz and his wife, Mary Elizabeth Fehr. Her father, a Swiss immigrant who came to America in 1881 and homesteaded in western Nebraska in 1884, was a community builder and a champion […]

Last reviewed: June 2017 American poet, biographer, journalist, and children’s writer Born: January 6, 1878 Birthplace: Galesburg, Illinois Died: July 22, 1967 Place of death: Flat Rock, North Carolina Biography Carl Sandburg, as an individual and a writer, seems distinctively American, belonging to a land where people are restless, inventive, jacks of all trades, where people rise […]

Last reviewed: June 2018 French novelist Born: July 1, 1804 Birthplace: Paris, France Died: June 8, 1876 Place of death: Nohant, France Biography In Amandine-Aurore-Lucile Dudevant, née Dupin, known to posterity as George Sand (sahnd), were united two quite dissimilar lines of heredity. On the mother’s side her origins were obscure; Sophie Delaborde, a humble Parisian modiste, […]

American novelist Identity: Spanish American, Portuguese American Author Works Long Fiction: Rabbit Boss, 1973 Zoot Suit Murders, 1978 Mile Zero, 1989 Day of the Bees, 2000 King Bongo: A Novel of Havana, 2003 Nonfiction: Four Visions of America: Henry Miller, Thomas Sanchez, Erica Jong, Kay Boyle, 1977 (with others) Native Notes from the Land of […]

American poet and playwright Identity: African American Author Works Poetry: Homecoming, 1969 We a BaddDDD People, 1970 A Blues Book for Blue Black Magical Women, 1973 Love Poems, 1973 I’ve Been a Woman: New and Selected Poems, 1978 Homegirls and Handgrenades, 1984 Under a Soprano Sky, 1987 Wounded in the House of a Friend, 1995 […]

Puerto Rican novelist and playwright Identity: Puerto Rican, gay or bisexual Author Works Long Fiction: La guaracha del Macho Camacho, 1976 (Macho Camacho’s Beat, 1980) La importancia de llamarse Daniel Santos, 1988 Short Fiction: En cuerpo de camisa, 1965, revised 1971 Drama: La espera, pr. 1959 “Cuento de cucarachita viudita,” wr. 1959 Farsa del amor […]

Last reviewed: June 2018 Uruguayan playwright Born: January 17, 1875 Birthplace: Montevideo, Uruguay Died: November 7, 1910 Place of death: Milan, Italy Biography Florencio Sánchez was born in 1875, the first of eleven children of a middle-class family. His father’s political activities kept the family on the move and prevented the children from receiving much of a […]

American novelist Author Works Long Fiction: The Hunters, 1956 The Arm of Flesh, 1961, revised 2001 (as Cassada) A Sport and a Pastime, 1967 Light Years, 1975 Solo Faces, 1979 Short Fiction: Dusk, and Other Stories, 1988 Screenplays: Downhill Racer, 1969 The Appointment, 1969 Three, 1969 Threshold, 1981 Nonfiction: Still Such, 1992 Burning the Days: […]

Hungarian novelist and short-story writer Author Works Children’s/Young Adult Literature: Bambi: Eine Lebensgeschichte aus dem Walde, 1922 (serial), 1923 (book; Bambi: A Life in the Woods, 1928) Der Hund von Florenz, 1923 (The Hound of Florence, 1930) Fünfzehn Hasen: Schicksale in Wald und Feld, 1929 (Fifteen Rabbits: A Celebration of Life, 1958) Gute Gesellschaft, 1930 […]

Jamaican novelist, short-story writer, and poet Identity: African descent Biography Felix Andrew Alexander Salkey was one of the most prolific of Caribbean writers, having published more than half a dozen novels, several volumes of poetry, three travel books, ten anthologies for which he was editor, and at least ten children’s books, including short stories and […]

Last reviewed: June 2017 American writer and notorious recluse. Born: January 1, 1919 Birthplace: New York, New York Died: January 27, 2010 Place of death: Cornish, New Hampshire Biography As famous for his flight from fame as for the one novel and thirteen short fictions that he produced before retreating into silence, Jerome David Salinger (SAL-ihn-jur) gave […]

British short-story writer and journalist Author Works Short Fiction: Reginald, 1904 Reginald in Russia, 1910 The Chronicles of Clovis, 1911 Beasts and Super-Beasts, 1914 The Toys of Peace, 1919 The Square Egg, 1924 The Short Stories of Saki (H. H. Munro) Complete, 1930 Long Fiction: The Unbearable Bassington, 1912 When William Came, 1913 Drama: The […]

Mexican novelist Author Works Long Fiction: Gazapo, 1965 (English translation, 1968) Obsesivos días circulares, 1969 La princesa del palacio de hierro, 1974 (The Princess of the Iron Palace, 1987) Compadre lobo, 1977 Fantasmas aztecas, 1982 Paseo en trapecio, 1985 Muchacho en llamas, 1987 A La salud de la serpiente, 1991 Retablo de inmodernaciones y heresiarcas, […]

French essayist, biographer, and critic Author Works Nonfiction: Critiques et portraits littéraires, 1832, revised 1836-1839 Port-Royal, 1840-1859 (5 volumes) Portraits littéraires, 1844 (2 volumes), revised 1862-1864 (3 volumes) Portraits de femmes, 1844 (Portraits of Celebrated Women, 1868) Portraits contemporains, 1846 (3 volumes), enlarged 1869-1871 (5 volumes) Causeries du lundi, 1851-1862 (15 volumes; partial English translation, […]

West Indian novelist Identity: African descent Author Works Long Fiction: A Room on the Hill, 1968 Shades of Grey, 1968 (includes the novellas The Lights on the Hill and Another Place, Another Time) Nor Any Country, 1969 J––, Black Bam, and the Masqueraders, 1972 Short Fiction: “Syrop,” 1964 Biography By 2002, Roland E. Garth St. […]

French novelist, short-story writer, and memoirist Author Works Long Fiction: Courrier sud, 1929 (Southern Mail, 1933) Vol de nuit, 1931 (Night Flight, 1932) Pilote de guerre, 1942 (Flight to Arras, 1942) Children’s/Young Adult Literature: Le Petit Prince, 1943 (The Little Prince, 1943) Nonfiction: Terre des hommes, 1939 (autobiography in novel form; Wind, Sand, and Stars, […]

Palestinian-born American social and cultural critic Author Works Nonfiction: Joseph Conrad and the Fiction of Autobiography, 1966 (Ph.D. dissertation) Beginnings: Intention and Method, 1975 Orientalism, 1978 The Question of Palestine, 1979 Covering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World, 1981, revised 1997 The World, the Text, […]