This Week in Literary History: July 19 to July 25
July 19: On the advice of his lawyers, Emile Zola flees Frances following his conviction for libel after making accusations of a cover-up by the military.
This Week in Literary History: July 11-July 18
July 11: E.B. White, the author of Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little and one of America’s premier essayists was born in Mount Vernon, New York on this day in 1899.
This Week in Literary History: July 3 to July 10
July 3: On this day in 1883: Franz Kafka is born in Prague in what was then known as Bohemia to a well-educated Jewish family.
This Week in Literary History: June 12 to June 19
June 12: In 1827, Johanna Spyri, creator of Heidi is born in Hirzel, Canton Zurich. For those who only knew the Hollywood version of Heidi in the form of Shirley Temple, may imagine it was all buttercups and meadows. The books are much darker as was Spyri’s life.
This Week in Literary History: May 30 to June 10
May 30: Leo Tolstoy intercedes on behalf of Maxim Gorky and gets the author, arrested on charges of printing revolutionary literature, released from prison.
This Week in Literary History: May 15 to May 25
May 15: House-bound for the past 21 years, American poet Emily Dickinson dies of nephritis in Amherst, Mass at age 55 on this day in 1886.
This Week in Literary History: May 8 to May 14
May 8th: On this day in 1899, the Irish Literary Theatre , the precursor to the Abbey Theatre, opens in Dublin with W.B. Yeat’s The Countess Cathleen.
This Week in Literary History: April 28 to May 7
April 29: In 1945, Ezra Pound is turned over to the U.S. Army by Italians where he is imprisoned for several weeks in Genoa.
This Week in Literary History: April 20 to April 27
April 20: On this day in 1859, the first volume of Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities is published.
This Week in Literary History: April 11 to April 18
April 11: On this day in 1931, the “reign of terror” as she described it is over as Dorothy Parker steps down as drama critic for The New Yorker.