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  TODAY IN LITERARY HISTORY Birthday of Virginia Woolf (1882)   an English writer and one of the foremost modernists of the twentieth century.   More than seventy years after her death, Virginia Woolf continues to be a source of inspiration, analysis, interest, and admiration. Emphasis on a small number of famous events in her lifetime has turned her into a mythological figure that, at times, may have little resemblance to the flesh-and-blood woman behind the brand. Did You know: In April 1935, Virginia and Leonard Woolf decided to drive through Germany as part of their annual holiday. Although they made light of the possible dangers of this endeavor, in Bonn they found the streets lined with Nazi supporters awaiting the arrival of Hermann Goering. Leonard would later recall that, for miles, he ‘drove between two lines of frenzied Germans’ who, at the sight of their pet monkey Mitz, delightedly shouted ‘Heil Hitler!’ and ‘gave her (and secondarily Virgin...

   TODAY IN LITERARY HISTORY Celebrating the Birthday of EDITH WHARTON (1862) Edith Wharton was born into a tightly controlled society at a time when women were discouraged from achieving anything beyond a proper marriage. Wharton broke through these structures to become one of America’s greatest writers. Author of The Age of Innocence, Ethan Frome, and The House of Mirth, she wrote over 40 books in 40 years, including authoritative works on architecture, gardens, interior design, and travel. She was the first woman awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, an honorary Doctorate of Letters from Yale University, and full membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Edith Wharton continues to seem credible and contemporary 80 years after her death. One reason is the authenticity of her writing; she was a keen observer not just of society but of the human condition. Contemporary counterparts of her characters can be found in today’s literature because t...

      TODAY IN LITERARY HISTORY: Birthday of Stendhal, 1783, One of the most original and complex French writers of the first half of the 19th century. Known for his acute analysis of his characters' psychology, he is considered one of the earliest and foremost practitioners of realism, as is evident in the novels Le Rouge et le Noir (The Red and the Black, 1830) and La Chartreuse de Parme (The Charterhouse of Parma, 1839). FOOD FOR THE BRAIN or at least USEFUL IN TRIVIA GAMES Visit us at BlindHorseBooks.com #Stendhal #TodayInLiteraryHistory