Posts Tagged ‘2014’
Published 70 Years Ago: Thomas Merton’s “Thirty Poems”
The renowned writer and Trappist monk Thomas Merton became known to the broader reading public with his famous spiritual autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain in 1948. The book struck a chord with the reading public in the aftermath of World War II and the onset of the atomic age with is persistent threat of total…
Read MorePublished 90 years ago: Louis Bromfield’s “The Green Bay Tree”
The distinguished novelist and conservationist Louis Bromfield published his first novel, The Green Bay Tree, ninety years ago on March 18, 1924. It was the first in a tetralogy (a collection of four works) examining the lives of people, principally women, as they strive to find some kind of steady ground on which to stand…
Read MoreMerry Christmas–and Happy Rod Serling’s birthday!
Merry Christmas! And Happy Rod Serling’s birthday! The noted screenwriter and television show host was born on December 25, 1924 in Syracuse, New York. His family moved to Binghamton, New York two years later and he attended local schools before enlisting in the U.S. Army, where he served with the 511th Parachute Regiment of the…
Read MorePublished A Century Ago: Vachel Lindsay’s “The Congo and Other Poems.”
It was 100 years ago that Midwestern poet Vachel Lindsay achieved prominence with his collection The Congo and Other Poems. Lindsay, born in Springfield, Illinois in 1879, had published a volume in 1913 called General William Booth Enters Into Heaven and Other Poems that garnered attention along with his dramatic public recitations. The Congo and…
Read MoreHappy Birthday to Harriet Monroe, founder of “Poetry: A Magazine of Verse.”
Harriet Monroe, who founded Poetry: A Magazine of Verse, was born in Chicago on December 23, 1860. She was determined to make her mark in the literary world, and founded Poetry in her native city–which she hoped to establish as an important literary center– in 1912. She wanted the journal to “open its pages to…
Read More“The Prairie-Lawyer, Master of Us All”: Vachel Lindsay’s “When Abraham Lincoln Walks At Midnight”
One of the better known poems from Vachel Lindsay’s The Congo and Other Poems is his poem about the legacy of President Abraham Lincoln amidst the onset of World War One in Europe. The poem is entitled “Abraham Lincoln Walks At Midnight.” Lindsay, born in Springfield, Illinois in 1879 and a popular poet of the…
Read MorePublished 110 Years Ago: Gene Stratton-Porter’s “Freckles”
For the book-reading public of 1904, the name Gene Stratton-Porter was as familiar to them as the names Jodi Picoult, Stephen King, and Nora Roberts are to the one of today. In her time, Stratton-Porter, an Indiana native, was a best-selling novelist who later recognized the profit potential of film adaptations and moved to Los…
Read MoreNero Wolfe creator Rex Stout born December 1, 1886.
Rex Todhunter Stout, creator of the famous detective Nero Wolfe, was born on December 1, 1886 in Noblesville, Indiana. After a stint in the U.S. Navy (serving aboard the Presidential yacht during Teddy Roosevelt’s administration), Stout worked a series of odd jobs and wrote four novels of contemporary life before turning his hand to detective…
Read MorePublished 70 Years Ago: Ernie Pyle’s “Brave Men”
There was no shortage of outstanding reporters in World War II. In the United States alone, journalists such as William L. Shirer, Edward R. Murrow, John Hersey, Quentin Reynolds, Martha Gellhorn, and Richard Tregaskis are still read today for their reporting of this titanic conflict of the twentieth century. Literary lights also served as war…
Read MoreRemembering Vachel Lindsay
The Midwestern poet Nicholas Vachel Lindsay was born on November 10, 1879. He is best known today—and was in his own time–for his poetry, but also wrote film criticism and essays. He was a visual artist as well. Lindsay was born in Springfield, Illinois, the home of Abe Lincoln, and the image and memory of…
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