Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski was born in Berdichev, Ukraine and later joined
the British navy. In 1886, Conrad was given his British citizenship and sailed much
of the earth´s waters. After marrying in 1896, Conrad settled in Asford, Kent.
Throughout his life he wrote many novels
and short stories such as The of the Narcissus (1897), Lord Jim
(1900), Heart of Darkness (1902), Nostromo (1904), The Secret Agent
(1907), Under Western Eyes (1911), and Chance (1914). Conrad died at
the age of 67.
Munro, Hector Hugh (pseudonym Saki)
1870-1916
Hector Hugh Munro was born in Akyab, Myanmar, formerly Burma, and was educated at
Bedford Grammar School, England. When he returned to Myanmar, Munro joined the police
force (1893). Three years later, he returned to London and began writing for the
Westminster Gazette and was a correspondent for the Morning Post (1902). During that
time he also started writing short stories and novels
, notably Reginald (1904), The Unbearable Bassington (1912), When
William Came (1913), and Beasts and Superbeasts (1914). Munro died a volunteer
during World War I on the Western Front at the age of 46.
Forster, E. M. 1879-1970
Edward Morgan Forster was born in London, England in 1879. He studied at Cambridge
and was a member of the Bloomsbury Group. The Bloomsbury Group involved Forster and
his friends Virginia
Woolf, the novelist,
Roger Fry, the art critic, and Lytton Strachey, the biographer.
Together the group rejected Victorian values, and conducted literary and artistic
experiments. When Forster was growing up he suffered at the thought of the narrow-mindedness
and hypocrisy of middle-class England towards art and culture. His later works reflected
Forster´s thoughts on a free and honest life. Forster wrote six fine novels
between 1905 and 1924. Most of his work after 1924 took the form of essays.
The two most popular of the six novels
are Howards End and A Passage To India. During a job as a secretary
for an Indian Prince, Forster gained much knowledge and experience from A Passage
To India. During World War I, Forster went to Egypt and wrote two short books
on the city of Alexandria. In World War II, Forster lost his home in Abigner, England
and moved on to King´s college in Cambridge. It was here that Forster adapted
his reputation of a wise counselor and as a companion of philosophy. Along side of
Forster´s great writing skills he was a talented musician and a charming speaker.
Montgomery, Lucy Maud 1874-1942
Lucy Maud Montgomery was born in Clifton, Prince Edward Island and was raised in
Cavendish. In 1908, Montgomery became successful with her first novel,
Anne of Green Gables, which was later followed by sequels. Her writing style
is very satirical
and has acquired the mysteries and terrors, which was established in Magic for
Marigold (1929). In 1911, Montgomery married Rev. Ewen Macdonald and later had
three children with him. Montgomery died at age 68 and was buried at Cavendish. Posthumous
works included a set of personal diaries (1889-1942) whose publishing commenced in
1985.
Woolf, Virginia 1882-1941
Virginia Adeline Woolf was born in London, England. She was the daughter of Sir Leslie
Stephen, a prestigious Victorian scholar, critic, and writer. Woolf was educated
privately as a child and married Leonard Woolf in 1917, himself a dignified writer.
Her sister, a painter, married Clive Bell, an eminent art critic whom Woolf did a
biography
on later in time. Woolf also was a leading member of the Bloomsbury group along with
E.M.Forster
and other friends. Woolf published Mrs Dalloway in 1925, The Lighthouse
in 1927 and The Waves in 1931. Each of these publications were known for their
"stream-of-consciousness" style and made great contributions in the development
of the novel.
Woolf also published her frustrations and anxieties in A Writer´s Diary.
Mental illness became a part of Woolf´s life with breakdowns and an eventual
suicide at the age of 59. After her death, The Death of the Moth and Other Essays
were published as well as the starting of the completed edition of the Diaries
in five volumes. Volume One appeared in 1977.
Joyce, James 1882-1941
James Joyce was born in Dublin, Ireland. He came to manhood in Dublin, where he studied.
At the time, Ireland was going through the Irish Renaissance, and the country was
trying to achieve a sense of national identity. Joyce was firmly against nationality
because he believed it would separate Ireland from the rest of Europe. The Renaissance
made a sentimental and illusive story of Ireland. Joyce preferred to tell the truth
of how cynical the reality of Irish life was. His childhood experiences were first
told in Dubliners(1914), a short story. In the following year he produced
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, another short story based in Dublin.
His best known book, Ulysses, which followed the themes of his early short
stories, appeared in Paris in 1922. However, it was banned in the U.S.A. and the
U.K. until 1936. With the themes of his earlier stories, it was no surprise that
in 1939, Joyce produced, Finnegan´s Wake another novel
based on Dublin. Two years later, Joyce died at age 59.
Lawrence, D. H. 1885-1930
Born in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, central England, his father was a coal miner and
his mother was a school teacher. He studied at University College, Nottingham, were
he became a schoolmaster. However, because of the reasonable success of his first
novel,
The White Peacock, in 1911, and illness, he took his chances at writing. In
1914, David Herbert Richard Lawrence married Frieda von Richthofen, the wife of one
of Lawrence´s professors from Nottingham. During the age of 27 to his death
of tuberculosis at age 45, Lawrence and his wife spent most of their time abroad
in Italy, Australia, and New Mexico. Before the coming of World War I, the English
social and literary world had accepted Lawrence as a genius in progress. When the
war broke out, the Lawrences returned to England and Lawrence published The Rainbow
(1915). Four years later, the Lawrences moved to Italy for the following three years.
There Lawrence published Women in Love in 1920. In 1922, the Lawrences moved
to Mexico, published Aaron´s Rod (1922) and Kangaroo (1923), and
returned to Italy in 1925. Three years later, Lawrence published Lady Chaterley´s
Lover privately in Florence. Copies of Lady Chaterley´s Lover were
confiscated from the United Kingdom until a trial in 1960. During the last years
of his life, Lawrence published The Plumed Serpent (1926) and collected poems
in 1928.
Mansfield, Katherine 1888-1923
Kathleen Beauchamp was born from a wealthy family in Wellington, New Zealand. During
the early years of her life she studied at Queen´s College in London and then
moved back to New Zealand to take up music for the following two years. She moved
back to London to begin a new career in writing. An attack of tuberculosis forced
Mansfield to move to Germany for recuperation. During this time she produced her
first major work, Prelude in 1917. A year later, she married John Middleton
Murry, an editor and critic. Bliss, and Other Stories, published two years
later, contained earlier works which proved her to be an original and an innovative writer.
The Garden Party, and Other Stories (1922), another selection of her short
stories, was the last of her books to be published before her death. At the age of
35, Mansfield died of tuberculosis. The year of her death, Poems was published.
Other posthumous works include Something Childish, and Other Stories (1924),
her Journal (1927) and Letters (1928).
O´Flaherty, Liam 1897-1984
Liam O´Flaherty was born in the Aran Islands, in Country Galway, off the west
coast of Ireland. He began his studies at Rockwell College in Tipperary, Ireland
and then finished in Dublin at University College. Following the years he spent at
college, O´Flaherty enrolled himself in the Irish Guards and served in France
under the British army during World War I. Because he suffered from shell shock,
a nervous breakdown due to exposure to bombardment and other battle conditions, he
was given a medical discharge in 1917. After adequately traveling, O´Flaherty
returned to Ireland and became absorbed with the Republicans in the Irish Civil War.
In 1922, he went London to finally settle down and became a writer. Some of his first
productions included Thy Neighbor´s Wife (1923), and The Black Soul
(1924). Two years later O´Flaherty published The Informer, which became
a prevalent success and won him the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. During the course
of the following years O´Flaherty also produced many short stories that made
him a leading figure of the Irish Renaissance.
Bowen, Elizabeth 1898-1973
Elizabeth Bowen was born in Dublin, Ireland into an Anglo-Irish family who had an
estate in County Cork. At age seven she moved to England, and for the better part
of her life she lived near Oxford. At age twenty, Bowen
began her writing and five years later, in 1923, she published Encounters,
a collection of her first short stories. Some of the more profound influences in
her writings included Henry James and Virginia
Woolf. These influences were shown in some of her best-known novels
including The Death of The Heart (1938) and The Heat of The Day (1949).
Steinbeck, John 1902-1968
John Steinbeck was born in Salinas California and went to Stanford University. Through
the course of his life he has worked as a labourer, a journalist, a caretaker for
a Lake Tahoe estate, and later as a writer. While not at work for someone else,
Steinbeck worked on his first novel,
Cup of Gold, which appeared in 1929. Most of Steinbeck´s work involved
his experiences as his life protruded. His experiences were shown greatly in The
Pastures of Heaven (1932), To a God Unknown (1933). It was only till 1935
that Steinbeck finally came to see financial security with Tortilla Flat.
Other novels
that made him famous were In Dubious Battle (1936), Of Mice and Men
(1937), and The Grapes of Wrath (1939). In 1962 Steinbeck was honoured with
the Nobel Prize and then six years later, he passed away.
O´Connor, Frank 1903-1966
Born in Cork, Ireland, Frank O´Connor is the pseudonym fostered by Micheal O´Donovan.
With his father, a labourer, and his mother, a cleaing lady, money was scarce in the
O´Donovan family and the thought of getting an education was slim. However,
due to the generosity of the Christian Brothers, Micheal O´Donovan was able
to receive an elementary education. In addition, intense reading extended the education
as best as it could. With odd little jobs here and there, he was able to begin writing.
Nonetheless, his writtings came to a stop when he was sent to prison because of his
political support for the Irish Republic. After a long year in prison, O´Donovan
became a librarian in Cork and then later in Dublin. In a change of career, O´Donovan
became a director in the Abbey Theatre. It was also at this time that O´Donovan
began working with William Butler Yeats, and collaborated on a number of plays. Thorughout
his life, O´Donovan still maintained his foremost intrest with the short story.
In the last twenty years of his life, O´Donovan moved to the United States where
he began teaching at Northwertern University and at Harvard. During this time his
short stories about Ireland became commonplace in The New Yorker magazine.
Although living in the United States, O´Donovan never forgot about his home
land in Ireland, which he visited periodically.
Orwell, George 1903-1950
Born in Motihari, Bengal, India, George Orwell is the pseudonym fostered by Eric
Arthur Blair. In his early years, Orwell was sent to boarding school in England and
completed his studies at Eton. After his years at Eton, Orwell did his service for
the Imperial Police in Burma, which led to the writing of Shooting An Elephant
and Burmese Days (1943). Orwell discarded imperial life full of political
injustice, for he disliked the luxury. Eventhough he was not poor, Orwell would desirably
wear torn clothing rather than new ones. His thoughts about clothing also shifted
on to people; he liked audacious rather than ingratiating people. This was also the
reason that Orwell moved from the imperial life to the begging streets in the East
End of London. In 1933, Orwell published Down and Out in Paris and London,
a book that was based on his life in the East End. In the following years, other
novels that protruded out of his experiences included A Clergyman´s Daughter
(1935), Keep the Aspidistra Flying (1936), and The Road To Wigan Pier
(1937). In 1936, during the Spanish Cival War, Orwell was wounded as he fought on
the Loyalist´s side. His encounters in the war were described in Homage to
Catalonia published in 1938. When World War II embarked, Orwell was given a job
as a war correspondent for the BBC and the Observer, and in addition, he wrote for
the Tribune. After an episode of ill health, Orwell began writing again, this brought
him to the creation of one of his best-known novels,
Animal Farm (1945). In 1949, Animal Farm was overshadowed by Nineteen-Eighty-Four,
a novel
about political autocracy in the future. Near the end of his life, Orwell married
and moved to Scotland were he was given a home through the kindness of his friends.
There he fought against a lung illness that took his life at forty-five.
Greene, Graham 1904-1991
Graham Henry Greene was born in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England. After studying
at Oxford, Greene moved to London and became a journalist and then a freelance writer.
His intriguing style of writting was first shown in 1929 when he published The
Man Within and then on to Stamboul Train, which are both written with the technique
of a thriller. When his first successful novel
was published, Brighton Rock (1938), central religious issues began to appear.
These issues were also to follow in Greene´s finest novel,
The Power and The Glory (1940), The End of The Affair (1951) and A
Burnt-Out Case (1961), which was inspired by an adventure into the Congo. Apart
from writing many novels, Greene also wrote several plays, film scripts, short stories,
essays
and in addition three volumes of autobiography. During the last years of his life,
Greene had lived in The Tenth Man (1985). Graham Greene died at age 87.
Lessing, Doris 1919-
Doris May Tayler was born in Kermanshah, Iran to British parents and grew up on a
farm in Rhodesia. During the course of her life she married and divorced twice; Lessing
was her second husband´s name. In 1949, Lessing moved to England to get away
from the chaos. A year later, Lessing published her first novel,
The Grass is Singing, a novel
on the study of Caucasian civilization in Africa. Lessing experiences of Africa were
told in many of her early stories, and then in 1960 she published In Pursuit of
the English in 1960. This was the first novel
to count the tale of her life in the working-class of London. During the 1950´s,
Lessing commenced her first series, The Martha Quest Novels, with The
Children of Violence. Ten years later, in 1962, Lessing published one of her most
famous books, The Golden Notebook, which was introductory to Lessing´s
experiment in psychological fiction. Other novels
that made Lessing popular included London Observed (1992), and Love Again
(1996). Apart from her novels,
Lessing also writes many short stories and poems.
Gordimer, Nadine 1923-
Nadine Gordimer was born in Springs, near Johannesburg, South Africa and she did
her studies at the University of Witwaterstand. After University, she moved to Johannesburg
and lived there until 1948. When she moved to the United States and taught during
the 1970´s, she wrote many books. Like most authors, Gordimer wrote about her
experiences in her homeland, Africa, in such short stories like A Guest of Honour
(1971), The Conservationist (1974), Burger´s Daughter, and A
Sport of Nature (1987). In 1991, Gordimer was awarded the greatest award for
an author, the Nobel Prize of Literature.
King, Stephen 1947-
Stephen Ewin King was born in Portland, Maine, a state that would eventually reappear
many times in his novels. When the time came King went to University of the State
of Maine where he later graduated. Before establishing a career in writing, King
supported himself with odd jobs here and there in Maine. Through his life, King wrote
many bestselling novels
such as Carrie (1974), Salem´s Lot (1975), The Shining
(1977), The Dead Zone (1979), Misery (1987), Needful Things
(1991), and Gerald´s Game (1992). Several of these novels
have been made into prosperous movies. Currently, King is living in Maine with his
wife Tabitha and his three children, Naomi, Joe, and Owen Philip.
Hickman, Tracy 1955-
Tracy Hickman was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. At the age of twenty, Hickman commenced
two years of service as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
Saints. Postings included Hawaii and Indonesia. Hickman married and then in 1981,
when he asked TSR about buying two modules, he was given a job which lead to his
acquaintance to Margaret Weis and the Dragonlance Chronicles. Together the
duo has jointly authored more than thirty novels.
Hickman also published a few novels
by himself, including Requiem of Stars and The Immortals, both in 1996.
Currently, Hickman and his wife are living in Flagstaff, Arizona with their four
children.
Grisham, John 1955-
John Grisham was born in Jonesboro, Arkansas to a family which was moved frequently
by their father, a cotton farmer and a roving construction worker. At age 12, the
Grishams settled down in Southaven, Mississippi. After graduating from the University
of Mississippi with a law degree, Grisham established a small practice in Southaven.
In 1983, Grisham was elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives. Other duties
Grisham involved himself in was appearing as a public defender for impoverished clients.
Inspired by a case in which he saw during these hearings, Grisham began writing a
novel.
Success with Grisham didn´t fall on his lap right away with his first book,
A Time To Kill, only publishing 5, 000 copies. As soon as his first book was
published, Grisham began working on a second book, The Firm. It is also during
this time that Grisham became jaded with his practise and, therefore, he closed it
and moved his family to Oxford, Mississippi. In 1991, he became successful when the
movie rights to The Firm were sold before the novel
was published. During the next few years, other novels
written by Grisham also hit the big screens, including The Pelican Brief, The
Client, The Chamber, The Rainmaker and Runaway Jury. Adding to his collection
of law solving novels,
Grisham also published The Partner in 1997, on another hit following the preceding
novels.
Douglas Coupland 1961-
Douglas Coupland was born on a Canadian NATO base in Germany and later moved to Vancouver,
Canada, where he grew up. Through his life, Coupland has written several novels
including Generation X: Tales For An Accelerated Culture (1991), Shampoo
Planet (1992), Life After God (1994), Microserfs (1995), and Polaroids
From The Dead (1996). Coupland has also published a most recent novel,
Girlfriend In A Coma (1998).
