An American journalist, novelist, and short-story writer Ernest Hemingway was an iconic author in American literature. He participated in World War I as an ambulance driver until he was injured; then again during World War II. He served as a war correspondent during the Spanish Civil War; survived car accidents and plane crashes as well as mishaps on hunting and fishing expeditions. His debut n... Read More
American novelist and short-story writer awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954 Ernest Hemingway’ was raised in Oak Park, Illinois. After high school, he was leaving for the Italian Front in World War I. In 1918, he was seriously wounded and returned home. His wartime experiences formed the basis for his novel A Farewell to Arms. In 1929, Ernest Hemingway’s classic A Farewell to Arms wa... Read More
In striving to be as objective and honest as possible, Ernest Hemingway hit upon the device of describing a series of actions by using short, simple sentences from which all comment or emotional rhetoric has been eliminated. The resulting terse, concentrated prose is concrete and unemotional yet is often resonant and capable of conveying great irony through understatement. Hemingway's next-door... Read More
Ernest Hemingway's novel "For Whom the Bell Tolls" was originally published in 1940 and follows a young American guerrilla fighter. Throughout 1937 and 1938, Hemingway travelled between Spain and America promoting the Loyalist cause. He helped in the production of a short film about the effects of the war in Spain on its people, The Spanish Earth, and made many publicity and fund-raising appear... Read More
French poet, novelist, and dramatist of the Romantic movement Victor Marie Hugo was born in 1802 in Besançon in the eastern region of Franche-Comté. Hugo is considered to be one of the greatest and best-known French writers. He was at the forefront of the Romantic literary movement with his play Cromwell and drama Hernani. In 1831, Victor Hugo published his most famous novel, “The Hunchback of... Read More
Sir Walter Scott was a Scottish historical novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of both English-language literature and of Scottish literature. He was extremely popular and widely read, both at home and abroad. Ivanhoe was the first of Scott's novels to adopt a purely English subject and was also his first attempt to combine history and romance, which late... Read More
Sir Walter Scott was born in 1771 in Edinburgh. His love of traditional Scottish oral storytelling led him to gather ballads and stories, leading to the development of a body of literature which gave previously disregarded traditional stories a platform, and Scottish culture an international stage. Although primarily remembered for his extensive literary works and his political engagement, Scot... Read More
Quentin Durward, the novel of adventure and romance by Sir Walter Scott, published in 1823. The novel was a popular success and solidified Scott’s reputation as a stirring writer. The novel is set in 15th-century France, where the title character saves the life of Louis XI. Quentin Durward was composed in a remarkably short space of time. After carrying out some preparatory research towards the... Read More
Jane Austen, for some, is simply the supreme English novelist, on any list. Some will say: she is the greatest. Austen's plots often explore the dependence of women on marriage in the pursuit of favourable social standing and economic security. Her works critique the novels of sensibility of the second half of the 18th century and are part of the transition to 19th-century literary realism. Of... Read More
Erich Maria Remarque was a German novelist who created many works about the horrors of war. During World War I, Remarque was conscripted into the German Army at the age of 18. On 31 July, he was wounded by shrapnel in the left leg, right arm and neck, and was repatriated to an army hospital in Germany where he spent the rest of the war. With All Quiet on the Western Front, Remarque emerged as a... Read More
Herbert George Wells was an English writer, born at Atlas House, 162 High Street in Bromley, Kent, on 21 September 1866. He was prolific in many genres, writing dozens of novels, short stories, and works of social commentary, satire, biography, and autobiography, and even including two books on recreational war games. Nowadays H.G. Wells is mostly remembered for his innovative science fiction n... Read More
John Ernst Steinbeck Jr. was an American author, who won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humour and keen social perception." Most of Steinbeck's work is set in central California, particularly in the Salinas Valley and the California Coast Ranges region. His works frequently explored the themes of fate and injustic... Read More
John Steinbeck's first posthumously published work, The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights is a reinterpretation of the Arthurian legend, based on the Winchester Manuscript text of Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur. This book by Sir Thomas Malory was the first book that John Steinbeck ever loved. In the latter half of the 1950s, having already won lasting fame as the author of Of Mic... Read More
John Steinbeck, the author of such classics as Of Mice and Men, The Grapes of Wrath, and East of Eden, remains firmly planted in the souls of his readers today. In September 1960, John Steinbeck and his poodle, Charley, embarked on a journey across America. The idea was that he, pretty much depleted as a novelist, would travel alone, stay at campgrounds and reconnect himself with the country by... Read More
John Ernst Steinbeck was an American author. He won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humour and keen social perception." During his writing career, he authored 27 books, including 16 novels, six non-fiction books, and two collections of short stories. Ironically he is more popular with critics abroad than in his own... Read More
Henry Patterson, known by his pen name Jack Higgins, is a British writer, born on 27 July 1929 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. In 1959, Higgins began writing novels. One of his aliases was James Graham. The growing success of his early work allowed him to take time off from his teaching, and he eventually left the classroom to become a full-time novelist. The Eagle Has Landed is a classic of t... Read More
Henry Patterson, known by his pen name Jack Higgins, is a British writer, born on 27 July 1929 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. In 1959, Higgins began writing novels. Patterson's early novels, written under his own name as well as under the pseudonyms James Graham, Martin Fallon, and Hugh Marlowe, are thrillers that typically feature hardened, cynical heroes, ruthless villains, and dangerous lo... Read More
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, writer, essayist, social critic, political activist, and Nobel laureate. In the early 20th-century, Russell led the British "revolt against idealism". He is considered one of the founders of analytic philosophy along with his predecessor Gottlob Frege, colleague G. E. Moore and prot... Read More
British philosopher, mathematician, historian, writer, and political activist Bertrand Russell was born on 18 May 1872 at Ravenscroft, Trellech, Monmouthshire, into an influential and liberal family of the British aristocracy. He received his Nobel Prize in Literature "in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought." Russel... Read More
The People of the Abyss is a book by Jack London about life in the East End of London in 1902. He wrote this first-hand account after living in the East End, including the Whitechapel District, within Central and East London, for several weeks, sometimes staying in workhouses or sleeping on the streets. There had been several previous accounts of slum conditions in England, most notably The Con... Read More