Happy birthday, Alexander Pushkin

Alexander Pushkin

It is the birthday of Russian novelist and poet Alexander Pushkin (1799), who is widely considered the father of Russian literature. Pushkin was easily insulted and was forever fighting duels. He is said to have fought 29 of them, the last one leading to his demise. He fought with his brother-in-law, whom he had long suspected of trying to seduce his wife. Each shot the other but Pushkin's stomach wound proved fatal. He died at 37, a literary life tragically cut short. He wrote plays, novels, fairy tales and poetry. Pushkin's play, Boris Godunov (1831), dealt with a Russian czar who ruled in the late 16th and early 17th centuries but the play wasn't cleared by censors for production until 1866. Many of Pushkin's works were critical of the Russian ruling class, earning him unwanted attention from the secret police. Pushkin's novel, Eugene Onegin (1833), is a Russian classic written entirely in verse. It was first published in serialized form over seven years, beginning in 1825. The saga follows the life of a selfish and superficial young nobleman whose life consists only of parties, balls and concerts. The story ends tragically, Onegin a victim of his own selfishness. Pushkin is credited with creating the style of Russian literature that would influence writers Maxim Gorky, Leo Tolstoy, and others. Pushkin was known for his rich vocabulary. In fact, if he couldn't find a Russian word to express his meaning, he frequently borrowed words from other languages and Russianized them. Pushkin's work inspired operas, ballets and cantatas. Composers wrote music for his verses.

Happy birthday, Federico Garcia Lorca

Federico Garcia Lorca

It is the birthday of Spanish dramatist and poet Federico Garcia Lorca (1898), who is considered one of the greatest of Spain's 20th century poets. He was assassinated at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. A collector of folk songs and lore, he was known in his lifetime for his work rooted in the Andalucia section of southern Spain. The Gypsy Ballads (1928) was translated into English in 1953. He also wrote of flamenco dancing, bullfighting, and Andalucian culture. Lorca also was known for his plays, though his career as a dramatist began rather inauspiciously. His first play, The Butterfly's Evil Spell (1920), about an unlikely love affair between a butterfly and a beetle, was laughed off the stage after only four performances. His second, however, was quite a success. Mariana Pineda (1927) told the story of a folklore heroine from Granada who famously opposed King Ferdinand VII. Salvador Dali designed the sets. The political theme proved popular throughout Spain. Garcia Lorca was associated with the artists group Generation of '27, where he met Dali and filmmaker Luis Buñuel. Garcia Lorca came to America in 1929 and stayed in New York, though he also visited Vermont and Cuba. When he returned to Spain, he ran a government-sponsored traveling theater company that presented his plays and others throughout the country. When the Spanish Civil War began in 1936, Garcia Lorca was arrested by Nationalist militia the same day his brother-in-law, who was a Socialist, was murdered and dragged through the streets of Granada. His body was never found. Scholars still investigate the circumstances of his death as well as his work, some of which has been published only recently. Garcia Lorca produced at least 14 poetry collections, 15 plays, and other writings. He also produced drawings and paintings.

Happy birthday, Robert Anderson

Robert Anderson

It is the birthday of playwright and screenwriter Robert Anderson (1917), whose Broadway play Tea and Sympathy (1953) was the story of a sensitive, artistic prep school boy who falls in love with the housemaster's wife. Anderson, who was educated at Phillips Exeter Academy, based the play on personal experience. In the play, the housemaster's wife draws the young man into an sexual encounter, then later leaves her husband. At the end of the play she takes the student in her arms and says, "Years from now when you talk of this, and you will, be kind." The play starred Deborah Kerr and John Kerr (who were not related). They also starred in the 1956 film adaptation. Anderson also wrote Silent Night, Lonely Night (1959), a Christmas story about two married strangers who are instantly attracted to each other; You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running (1967), a collection of four one-act comedies about sex; and I Never Sang For My Father (1968), a middle-aged college professor's difficult relationship with his father. Anderson also wrote screenplays for The Nun's Story (1959) and The Sand Pebbles (1966). Anderson's first wife, Phyllis Stohl, was a playwright's agent and director. She died of cancer in 1956. He wrote about the experience of caring for her over several years in a novel, After (1973). Anderson married actress Teresa Wright in 1959. They divorced after 19 years but remained close friends.

Happy birthday, poet John Masefield

John Masefield

It is the birthday of English poet and novelist John Masefield (1878), who served as Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom for 37 years. He is best known for his poems Sea-Fever (1902) and The Everlasting Mercy (1911) and the children's novels The Midnight Folk (1927) and its sequel, The Box of Delights (1935). Less known, except by scholars, are 19 poetry collections and 24 novels and five plays, plus several non-fiction pieces. Masefield's mother died when he was six and his father died soon after. Young John was educated in boarding schools and then sent to a training ship at 16 to get his voracious reading habit out of his system. On board, he found plenty of time to read and write, and he decided to become a storyteller. Still a teenager, he shipped out on a tall-masted merchant ship bound for New York but he jumped ship when he got there and stayed in America for a couple of years. While in New York, he happened to read a poem by Canadian poet Duncan Campbell Scott that inspired him to become a poet. He worked odd jobs and spent his spare money on books, reading Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling, Robert Louis Stevenson, Alexandre Dumas as well as classical literature. When he returned to England, Masefield married, had children, and kept on writing. His first poetry collection, Salt-Water Ballads, appeared when he was 24. The first stanza of Sea-Fever reads: "I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and sky,/And all that I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,/And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,/And a gray mist on the sea's face, and a gray dawn breaking."