Happy 166th to Herman Melville's classic Moby Dick - October 18, 1851

“There she blows!-there she blows! A hump like a snow-hill! It is Moby Dick!” 
~~ Herman Melville, American author, quote taken from his book, Moby Dick, chapter 133: The Chase -- First Day (b. August 1, 1819 – d. September 28, 1891)

Hard to believe, Herman Melville’s classic, "Moby Dick," was not well received in 1851 by British reviewers and bombed big time. Who would think that it was a native New Yorker author, Herman Melville, who would coin "There she blows ~ There she blows ..."  Image above screenshot taken from Google doodle, celebrating Moby Dick's 161st as posted on October 18, 2012 at Google.com.

Classified as American Romanticism, in Britain it was first published by Richard Bentley in London on October 18, 1851 and on November 14, 1851 in the U.S.

"Moby Dick" sold only 500 copies in the United Kingdom, compared to 6,700 for Melville's first book, "Typee."

According to The Christian Science Monitor“shortly after Melville's death in 1891, his publisher reprinted several of his novels, including "Moby Dick."

These new editions excited New York's literary scene. Like long-smoldering embers, this underground movement kept Melville's name alive.

Eventually, the flame spread. So much discussion surrounded "Moby Dick" that many people gave the book a second chance.”

Other Resources 
► The Christian Science Monitor, Herman Melville books: At first, 'Moby Dick' was a total flop
►Moby Dick on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moby-Dick

Please share this on your LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media networks you enjoy! Thanks! This article is a reposting from earlier Moby Dick blog postings from AllThingsDigitalMarketing.

Happy 165th to Herman Melville's classic Moby Dick - October 18, 1851

“There she blows!-there she blows! A hump like a snow-hill! It is Moby Dick!” 
~~ Herman Melville, American author, quote taken from his book, Moby Dick, chapter 133: The Chase -- First Day (b. August 1, 1819 – d. September 28, 1891)

Hard to believe, Herman Melville’s classic, "Moby Dick," was not well received in 1851 by British reviewers and bombed big time. Who would think that it was a native New Yorker author, Herman Melville coined "There she blows ~ There she blows ..."  Image above screenshot taken from Google doodle, celebrating Moby Dick's 161st as posted on October 18, 2012 at Google.com.

Classified as American Romanticism, in Britain it was first published by Richard Bentley in London on October 18, 1851 and on November 14, 1851 in the U.S.

"Moby Dick" sold only 500 copies in the United Kingdom, compared to 6,700 for Melville's first book, "Typee."

According to The Christian Science Monitor“shortly after Melville's death in 1891, his publisher reprinted several of his novels, including "Moby Dick."

These new editions excited New York's literary scene. Like long-smoldering embers, this underground movement kept Melville's name alive.

Eventually, the flame spread. So much discussion surrounded "Moby Dick" that many people gave the book a second chance.”

Other Resources 
► The Christian Science Monitor, Herman Melville books: At first, 'Moby Dick' was a total flop
►Moby Dick on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moby-Dick

Please share this on your LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media networks you enjoy! Thanks!

Happy 164th to Herman Melville’s classic Moby Dick

“There she blows!-there she blows! A hump like a snow-hill! It is Moby Dick!”
~~ Herman Melville, American author, quote taken from his book, Moby Dick, chapter 133: The Chase -- First Day (b. August 1, 1819 – d. September 28, 1891)

Hard to believe, Herman Melville’s classic, "Moby Dick," was not well received 164 years ago (1851) by British reviewers and bombed big time. Who would think that it was a native New Yorker author, Herman Melville coined "There she blows ~ There she blows ..." Image above screenshot taken from Google doodle, celebrating Moby Dick's 161st as posted on October 18, 2012 at Google.com.

Classified as American Romanticism, in Britain it was first published by Richard Bentley in London on October 18, 1851 and on November 14, 1851 in the U.S.

"Moby Dick" sold only 500 copies in the United Kingdom, compared to 6,700 for Melville's first book, "Typee."

According to The Christian Science Monitor“shortly after Melville's death in 1891, his publisher reprinted several of his novels, including "Moby Dick."

These new editions excited New York's literary scene. Like long-smoldering embers, this underground movement kept Melville's name alive.

Eventually, the flame spread. So much discussion surrounded "Moby Dick" that many people gave the book a second chance.”

Other Resources
► The Christian Science Monitor, Herman Melville books: At first, 'Moby Dick' was a total flop
►Moby Dick on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moby-Dick

Please share this on your LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media networks you enjoy! Thanks!

Mark Strand (April 11, 1934 – November 29, 2014) - re-blog from Poetry Reading with Nobel Pulitzer Prize winner Mark Strand sheds pure delight: You should have been there 10/10/2012

Mark Strand, amazing poet...saw him just a few years ago at a reading, one of the most eloquent for sure may he RIP (b April 11, 1934 d November 29, 2014). Poet, essayist, translator, and Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1990; That night I was so was fortunate to purchase his book "Almost Invisible" and have him autograph it ... a delightful, insightful, treasure :)

“There’s no confessions in my writing. I’m sure you know that already.”
~~ Mark Strand, October 10, 2012
Pulitzer Prize winner, Poet Laureate to the Library of Congress, American poet, essayist, and translator

On Wednesday, October 10th, a near full-house audience came to the Poetry Reading with Mark Strand event held at the Heimbold Visual Arts Center Donnelley Film Theatre of Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY. Strand read selections from his latest work, his second Pulitzer Prize winning book, Almost Invisible (2012).

As Strand read his works, there was an awe of silence around the theatre and there is something very special about Strand’s amazing presence and natural eloquence -- from tilting his head to his hands grasping the podium and even the way he moved his feet -- he is so genuine, kind and gorgeous.

The session was followed by an informative and inspirational Q&A where Strand answered about 2 dozen audience questions.

A wide range of questions were asked which lead to intriguing digressions ranging from the impact of the Surrealist movement and Fantastic art genre, and metaphoric and metonymic writing styles to sharing the one color he doesn't include on his palette and reading a quote from one of his favorite novels.

Below are worthy take-aways.

Q. How did you become a writer? What were the contributing factors?
A. I was never a reader. My parents were readers. One day we moved to South America and I was bored. My mother said “why don’t you write letters to your friends so they can write back to you.” I started doing that but I wanted it to be more than a letter.

Q. What attributes make you feel your poem is finished?
A. A poem that finally moves and I find it exhaustible. When you put it back on the psychic shelf and never go back to it.

Q. What’s your opinion of your individual art and how its worked into your other art?
A. My visual art cleanses my mind of verbal debris that seems to paralyze me at the end of the day. I could have claimed to be a visual artist or painter or collager. My friends who are do it all day long. My collages look like miniature abstract paints but I love doing it and it makes me happy and gives me a reason to wake up and get out of bed. One of my favorite novels is Dicken's David Copperfield. I urge you all to read David Copperfield. Strand then read an excerpt about Micawber, which is also included in the contents of his latest book Almost Invisible.

"Gentlemen," returned Mr. Micawber, "do with me as you will? I am a straw upon the surface of the deep, and am tossed in all directions by the elephants--I beg your pardon; I should have said the elements." --Charles Dickens.
Strand then added "that sort of thing intrigues me."

Q. How wide is your palette?
A. My collages don’t look like collages. I have a pretty wide palette. The only color I don’t use is blue because it’s associated with the sea and sky. What’s more important than the palette is the thickness of paper.

Q. How do you deal with place and the notion that the poet doesn’t know where the poem is going. When you write poetry what is the process?
A. I’m a writer of poetry and never show anyone until the work is done. Problem with workshops is that you have all this input. The words from all the decision making become muddy. You have to go it alone and trust your own idiosyncratic thoughts. Poetry is more important than that. Poetry is more about experiencing. It has to sound like something you are glad with, but be sure it’s not something that was written by someone else.

Q. In the 1998 Wallace Shawn interview ("Mark Strand, The Art of Poetry No. 77". The Paris Review). You mentioned people don’t read poetry on the internet. Even with the internet, why do you still write longhand?
A. With longhand, you’re slowing down the process. The internet is too close to print. People who compose on the screen respond visually and not auditory. Young poets can’t detect ear and natural cadence with visual contact. Writing becomes more physical aggressive and passive when writing longhand.

Q. Why did you give up writing?
A. I gave up writing because I ran out of gas. When I say it and it sounds familiar like I’ve already done that before. When you experience that you decide to do something new. The urge to write is not a conscious decision. There’s something else besides consciousness in mind. Something else is being satisfied – an unconscious motivation.

After the Q&A, Strand was available to autograph his books.

Born on Canada’s Prince Edward Island in 1934 and raised and educated in the United Sates and South America, Strand authored numerous books of poems including Man and Camel (Alfred A. Knopf, 2006), New Selected Poems (2007), Blizzard of One (Alfred A. Knopf, 2000), which also won the Pulitzer Prize; Dark Harbor (1993); The Continuous Life (1990); Selected Poems (1980); The Story of Our Lives (1973); and Reasons for Moving (1968). In addition to his poetry, Strand is also an editor, essayist, author of children’s books and translator. His honors include the Bolligen Prize, three grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Edgar Allen Poe Prize, and a Rockefeller Foundation Award, as well as fellowships from the Academy of American Poets, the MacArthur Foundation and the Ingram Merrill Foundation. He is currently professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University (since 2005).

Strand’s academic career has taken him to numerous colleges and universities. Chronology below:








Teaching positions
► University of Iowa, Iowa City, instructor in English, 1962–1965
► University of Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Fulbright lecturer, 1965–1966
► Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA, assistant professor, 1967
► Columbia University, New York City, adjunct associate professor, 1969–1972
► Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, New York City, associate professor, 1970–1972
► Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, Bain-Swiggett Lecturer, 1973
► Brandeis University, Hurst professor of poetry, 1974–1975
► University of Utah, Salt Lake City, professor of English, 1981–1993
► Johns Hopkins University, Elliot Coleman Professor of Poetry, 1994–c. 1998
► University of Chicago, Committee on Social Thought, 1998-c. 2005
► Columbia University, New York City, professor of English and Comparative Literature, c. 2005 - present

Visiting professor
► University of Washington, 1968, 1970
► Columbia University, 1980
► Yale University, 1969–1970
► University of Virginia, 1976, 1978
► California State University at Fresno, 1977
► University of California at Irvine, 1979
► Wesleyan University, 1979
► Harvard University, 1980


Poetry • 1964: Sleeping with One Eye Open, Stone Wall Press • 1968: Reasons for Moving: Poems, Atheneum • 1970: Darker: Poems, including "The New Poetry Handbook", Atheneum • 1973: The Story of Our Lives, Atheneum • 1973: The Sargentville Notebook, Burning Deck • 1978: Elegy for My Father, Windhover • 1978: The Late Hour, Atheneum • 1980: Selected Poems, including "Keeping Things Whole", Atheneum • 1990: The Continuous Life, Knopf • 1990: New Poems • 1991: The Monument, Ecco Press (see also The Monument, 1978, prose) • 1993: Dark Harbor: A Poem, long poem divided into 55 sections, Knopf • 1998: Blizzard of One: Poems, Knopf winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for poetry • 1999: Chicken, Shadow, Moon & More, with illustrations by the author • 1999: "89 Clouds" a single poem, monotypes by Wendy Mark and introduction by Thomas Hoving, ACA Galleries (New York) • 2006: Man and Camel, Knopf • 2007: New Selected Poems • 2012: Almost Invisible Prose • 1978: The Monument, Ecco (see also The Monument, 1991, poetry) • 1982: Contributor: Claims for Poetry, edited by Donald Hall, University of Michigan Press • 1982: The Planet of Lost Things, for children • 1983: The Art of the Real, art criticism, C. N. Potter • 1985: The Night Book, for children • 1985: Mr. and Mrs. Baby and Other Stories, short stories, Knopf • 1986: Rembrandt Takes a Walk, for children • 1987: William Bailey, art criticism, Abrams • 1993: Contributor: Within This Garden: Photographs by Ruth Thorne-Thomsen, Columbia College Chicago/Aperture Foundation • 1994: Hopper, art criticism, Ecco Press • 2000: The Weather of Words: Poetic Invention, Knopf • 2000: With Eavan Boland, The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms, Norton (New York) Poetry translations • 1971: 18 Poems from the Quechua, Halty Ferguson • 1973: The Owl's Insomnia, poems by Rafael Alberti, Atheneum • 1976: Souvenir of the Ancient World, poems by Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Antaeus Editions • 2002: Looking for Poetry: Poems by Carlos Drummond de Andrade and Rafael Alberti, with Songs from the Quechua • 1993: Contributor: "Canto IV", Dante's Inferno: Translations by Twenty Contemporary Poets edited by Daniel Halpern, Harper Perennial • 1986, according to one source, or 1987, according to another source: Traveling in the Family, poems by Carlos Drummond de Andrade, with Thomas Colchie; translator with Elizabeth Bishop, Colchie, and Gregory Rabassa) Random House Editor • 1968: The Contemporary American Poets, New American Library • 1970: New Poetry of Mexico, Dutton • 1976: Another Republic: Seventeen European and South American Writers, with Charles Simic, Ecco • 1991: The Best American Poetry 1991, Macmillan • 1994: Golden Ecco Anthology, Ecco Press • 1994: The Golden Ecco Anthology • 2005: 100 Great Poems of the Twentieth Century, W. W. Norton
Awards
► 1960–1961: Fulbright Fellowship
Source: wikipedia.org (unless otherwise indicated). .



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HAPPY 450th B-DAY to William Shakespeare, world's most quoted yet mysterious author, April 23, 1564 No Google doodle?

William Shakespeare's B-Day: Today (4/23),
yesterday or tomorrow:That is the question.

“To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?
To die: to sleep ..." ~~ William Shakespeare
(26 April 1564 - April 1616), English poet and playwright; Greatest writer in the English language, pre-eminent dramatist. Also referred to as England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon," quote taken from "Hamlet"

HAPPY 450th B-DAY to William Shakespeare, world’s most quoted, most translated, most performed, yet most mysterious author.

Will Google be celebrating with a doodle? For sure will update this post if so. No Google doodle for Shakespeare this year? Shakespeare’s works -- including his collaborations, comprise of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, two epitaphs on a man named John Combe, one epitaph on Elias James, and several other poems -- used over 21,000 different words which are credited by the Oxford English Dictionary as introducing over 3,000 new words.

His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.

WORLD REKNOWN, YET MYSTERIOUS
Interestingly, there is much skepticism and gaps in William Shakespeare that still remain a mystery to this day. Besides church baptism and court records, there is no proof -- no records, not even one original handwritten manuscript that exists nor any other evidence that William Shakespeare could even write a complete sentence.

There is also controversy as to how a small-town boy with no college education, who moves to London to work as an actor and begins to write masterpieces of such beauty and sophistication. Among the many doubters are novelists and essayists Henry James, Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, Sigmund Freud, Orson Welles and Sir John Gielgud.

SHAKESPEARE - MARKETER, ENTREPRENEUR, REAL ESTATE DEVELOPER & INVESTOR
Besides Shakespeare’s writings on human nature, emotion, conflict and comedy, as well as his acting career, very few realize how successful Shakespeare was as entrepreneur, marketer, advertiser, promoter, real estate investor, developer and businessman.

Shakespeare built the largest open amphitheater in London called “The Globe Theatre.” The Globe was owned by actors who were also shareholders in Lord Chamberlain's Men.

Two of the six Globe shareholders, Richard Burbage and his brother Cuthbert Burbage, owned 25% shares each; the other four men, Shakespeare, John Heminges, Augustine Phillips, and Thomas Pope, owned a single share, or 12.5%.

Originally William Kempe was intended to be the seventh partner, but he sold out his share to the four minority sharers, leaving them with more than the originally planned 10%).

These initial proportions changed over time as new sharers were added. Over the course of his career, Shakespeare's share diminished from 1/8 to 1/14, or roughly 7%.

SHAKESPEARE BARBS IN EVERYDAY COMMON LANGUAGE
The way Shakespeare used phrases and words are so common in everyday life today they are heard on radio, TV, and digitally. Here are few of the many everyday words:
“Wild goose chase,” “vanish into thin air,” “good riddance,” “naked truth,” “a sorry sight,” “heart of gold,” “send him packing,” “a piece of work,” “slings and arrows of everyday life,” “to be or not to be, that is the question,” “O Romeo O Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo," “I'll not budge an inch," "we have seen better days," "a dish fit for the gods," “it’s Greek to me.”

Also worth noting are Shakespeare’s popular phrases that were used by many politicians including political speeches: “fair play,” “foregone conclusion,” “one fell swoop,” etc.

Authors also borrowed Shakespeare phrases for book titles, e.g., Aldous Huxley's “Brave New World,” and interestingly Shakespeare’s “what the dickens” was around centuries before the birth of Charles Dickens in 1812; Amazon's ebook, “Kindle” was from Shakespeare’s 'Two Gentlemen Of Verona," ACT II, SCENE_VII “As soon go kindle fire with snow, as seek to quench the fire of love with words.”

The phrases go on and on so much so that many cannot recall whether the words are from the bible or Shakespeare’s literature. Not surprising, Shakespeare’s writings remain the second most quoted with the first being the bible.

SHAKESPEARE EPIC INSULTS
There can never be enough of Shakespeare particularly when it comes to his epic “Bard” insults throughout his Elizabethan literature. Here is a few of his many:
"There's small choice in rotten apples" from Taming of the Shrew; "I desire that we be better strangers" from As You Like It; "Thou art a boil, a plague sore, an embossed carbuncle in my corrupted blood" from King Lear; "You have such a February face, so full of frost, of storm and cloudiness" from Much Ado About Nothing; "If you spend word for word with me, I shall make your wit bankrupt" from Two Gentlemen of Verona; "I'll beat thee, but I should infect my hands" from Timon of Athens.

SHAKESPEARE’S BIRTH
Records indicate Shakespeare was baptized at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon on April 26th 1654, and many historians agree he was probably born 3 days prior (April 26th).

He was the third child of John Shakespeare, a leather merchant, and Mary Arden, a local landed heiress. William had two older sisters, Joan and Judith, and three younger brothers, Gilbert, Richard and Edmund.

Before William's birth, his father became a successful merchant and held official positions as alderman and bailiff, an office resembling a mayor. However, records indicate John's fortunes declined sometime in the late 1570s.

William Shakespeare was brought up in Stratford-upon-Avon and at age 18 he married Anne Hathaway (26 and 3 months pregnant), with whom he had three children: Susanna (May 25, 1583, and twins a son Hamnet and daughter Judith (born February 2, 1585).

Sadly, Hamnet died at the age of 11 (1596), possibly from the Bubonic Plague.

At that time in England about a third of all children died before the age of 10.

Shakespearean scholars speculate on the relationship between Hamnet and his father's later play Hamlet, as well as on connections between Hamnet's death and the writing of King John, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, and Twelfth Night.


SEVEN YEAR MYSTERY
After the birth of the twins (1585), oddly, there are about seven years of William Shakespeare's life where no records exist (1585 - 1592).

It is believed that beginning 1590, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and by 1592 became part owner of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, which later became known as the King's Men after the crowning of King James I in 1603.

The King's Men company was very popular, and records show that Shakespeare had works published and sold as popular literature during that time.

The theater culture in 16th century England was not highly admired by people of high rank. However, many nobility were patrons of the performing arts and friends of the actors. Early in his career, Shakespeare was able to attract the attention of Henry Wriothesley, the Earl of Southampton, to whom he dedicated his first- and second-published poems: "Venus and Adonis" (1593) and "The Rape of Lucrece" (1594).

Despite all of the great works attributed to Shakespeare, there is still very little known about Shakespeare himself, no account of his appearance, i.e., tall or short, thin or chubby, face, etc.

Shakespeare retired to Stratford around 1613 at age 49, and died there three years later.

BARDOLATRY
Shakespeare’s reputation did not gain popularity until the 19th century.

The Romantics acclaimed Shakespeare's genius, and the Victorians worshipped Shakespeare with such reverence that Irish playwright and Nobel Prize and Oscar winner, George Bernard Shaw, coined "bardolatry," the excessive worship of William Shakespeare.

In the 20th century, Shakespeare’s work was repeatedly adopted and rediscovered by new movements in scholarship and performance. His plays remain highly popular today and are constantly studied, performed, and reinterpreted in diverse cultural and political contexts throughout the world.

SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE
A stage adaptation of the multi-Oscar award winning film, “Shakespeare In Love,” is currently in production, due to have its world premiere in London's West End in July 2014.

"Shakespeare in Love," the 1998 British romantic comedy-drama film directed by John Madden, written by Marc Norman and playwright Tom Stoppard was among 1999's box office number-one films in the United Kingdom.

The film depicts a love affair involving Viola de Lesseps (Gwyneth Paltrow) and playwright William Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) while he was writing the play Romeo and Juliet. The story is fiction, though several of the characters are based on real people. In addition, many of the characters, lines, and plot devices are references to Shakespeare's plays.

Shakespeare in Love won seven Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actress (Gwyneth Paltrow), and Best Supporting Actress (Judi Dench).



RESOURCES:
♦ The Complete Works of William Shakespeare http://www.shakespeare.mit.edu
♦ Open Source William Shakespeare http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org
♦ To Be or Not to Be Shakespeare http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/to-be-or-not-to-be-shakespeare-127247606/?no-ist
♦ Wouldn’t It Be Cool If Shakespeare Wasn’t? http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/23/magazine/wouldnt-it-be-cool-if-shakespeare-wasnt-shakespeare.html
♦ William Shakespeare on Poets.org https://www.poets.org/wshak/‎
♦ William Shakespeare on Biography.com http://www.biography.com/people/william-shakespeare-9480323
♦ Shakespeare’s Insult by Infographic http://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/resources/shakespeare-insults/
♦ 20 Epic Shakespeare Insults Every Drama Geek Should Know http://www.bachelorsdegree.org/2011/05/22/20-epic-shakespeare-insults-every-drama-geek-should-know/


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All photos courtesy of Wikimedia; If any screen shots were taken from video and websites credit will be mentioned. All other photos will be credited as required.

Happy 178th to Mark Twain, author of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great!”
~~ Samuel Langhorne Clemens, pen name Mark Twain, American humorist and author of “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” (1876) and sequel, “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” (1885) (b. November 30, 1835– d. April 21, 1910) ; known as the “Father of Literature.”


Would you believe the author of “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” known as the “Greatest American Novel” of all time was born 178 years ago today? And would you believe that his advice on family and public etiquette as well as inspiring wit and wisdom from greatness, getting things done, and morals, to dress, health, food, and childrearing, etc., are forever relevant. Twain, perhaps the greatest, genius storyteller put himself in everything he did.

Image above courtesy of Wikimedia.org.

Born Samuel Clemens Langhorne in Florida, Missouri, on November 30, 1835, to Jane (née Lampton; 1803–1890), a native of Kentucky, and John Marshall Clemens (1798–1847), a Virginian by birth. Twain was born two weeks after the closest approach to Earth of Halley's Comet and when he was 74 years old (1909) Twain was quoted saying:

"I came in with Halley's Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it. It will be the greatest disappointment of my life if I don't go out with Halley's Comet …"

Intriguing that Twain would die of heart attack one day after the comet's closest approach to Earth on April 21, 1910, at his home in Redding, Connecticut.


Interesting that although Twain earned a great deal of money from his writings and lectures, he lost a great deal of money in investments. He filed for bankruptcy, and with the help of Henry Huttleston Rogers, principal of Standard Oil, gradually resolved his financial issues.


Twain’s first great success as a writer, was in 1865 when he wrote a short story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" which brought him national attention.

There is speculation about his pen name. Before deciding on his pen name "'Mark Twain" he used different ones – “Josh" until 1863 and pen name "Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass" for a series of humorous letters. Twain stated that his famous pen name of Mark Twain was not only his idea but also from a captain who used the name “MARK TWAIN” the call made regarding safer condition of the Mississippi River– two fathoms (12 feet or 3.7 metres), as written in his book “Life on the Mississippi.”

However biographer George Williams III claims that he used “mark twain” in reference to a running bar tab that he frequently incurred while drinking at John Piper's saloon in Virginia City, Nevada.

Friend and future Twain biographer Albert Bigelow Paine reported shortly after Twain’s death at his home in Redding, Connecticut that although doctors listed his death as “angina pectoris,” he died of a broken heart.

Despite Twain’s successes, his life was filled with tremendous sorrows – the loss of his only son at 2 years old, Langdon (1870 – 1872), a daughter in her early 20s, Suzy (1896 at 24 years old), another at 29 years old, Jean (in 1909), his wife Olivia of 34 years (1904 at 59 years old).

His surviving daughter, contralto concert singer, Clara (2nd born of Twain’s 3 daughters), was by his side during his death.

Other Resources
► http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/2922241?uid=3739832&uid=2&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21102835806393 Mark Twain’s Non de Plume http://www.marktwainhouse.org/man/clemens_family_tree.php Mark Twain’s Family Tree, The Mark Twain House & Museum
► Mark Twain: A Biography by Albert Bigelow Paine, University of Adelaide Library
► http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/books/twain-obit.pdf Mark Twain is Dead at 74. End Comes Peacefully at His New England Home After a Long Illness," The New York Times. April 22, 1910
► http://www.twainquotes.com/19621121.html Mrs. Jacques Samossoud Dies; Mark Twain's Last Living Child
Works by Mark Twain
▌▒ https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2967.Helpful_Hints_for_Good_Living Helpful Hints for Good Living: A Handbook for the Damned Human Race
▌▒ marktwainproject.org Mark Twain Project Online
▌▒ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Books_by_Mark_Twain 38 Facsimile copies of 1st editions
▌▒ http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/t#a53 Works by Mark Twain at Project Gutenberg. More than 60 texts are freely available.
▌▒ http://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n79-21164 Works by or about Mark Twain in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
▌▒ http://books.google.com/books?id=4KZhv9y8sMIC&dq=intitle:letters+inauthor:mark+inauthor:twain&lr=&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=&as_brr=0&source=gbs_navlinks_s Mark Twain's letters ed. by Albert Bigelow Paine (2 vol 1917) vol 2 online
▌▒ http://www.ucpress.edu/series.php?ser=mtl Mark Twain Library, University of California Press. This series re-prints texts from the Papers and Works for students and the general reader.
▌▒ http://www.ucpress.edu/series.php?ser=mtw The Works of Mark Twain, University of California Press. This series prints authoritative critical editions of Mark Twain's published works.
▌▒ http://www.ucpress.edu/series.php?ser=mtp Mark Twain Papers, University of California Press. This series publishes Mark
▌▒ Twain's private papers–his letters, notebooks, unpublished literary works, and autobiography.
▌▒ http://www.ucpress.edu/series.php?ser=jf Jumping Frogs: Undiscovered, Rediscovered, and Celebrated Writings of Mark Twain, University of California Press. The Jumping Frogs series of books brings neglected Mark Twain treasures—stories, tall tales, novels, travelogues, plays, imaginative journalism, speeches, sketches, satires, burlesques, and much more—to readers.
▌▒ http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/twain/menu.html A True Story, Repeated Word for Word As I Heard It. From The Atlantic Monthly. Nov. 1874: 591–594. Boston: Atlantic Monthly Co., November 1874. Boston: Atlantic Monthly Co., November 1874.
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Happy 162nd to Herman Melville’s classic Moby Dick

“There she blows!-there she blows! A hump like a snow-hill! It is Moby Dick!”
~~ Herman Melville, American author, quote taken from his book, Moby Dick, chapter 133: The Chase -- First Day (b. August 1, 1819 – d. September 28, 1891)

Hard to believe, Herman Melville’s classic, "Moby Dick," was not well received 162 years ago (1851) by British reviewers and bombed big time. Hard to believe native New Yorker author, Herman Melville coined "There she blows ~ There she blows ..." Image above screenshot taken from Google doodle, celebrating Moby Dick's 161st as posted on October 18, 2012 at Google.com.

Classified as American Romanticism, in Britain it was first published by Richard Bentley in London on October 18, 1851 and on November 14, 1851 in the U.S.

"Moby Dick" sold only 500 copies in the United Kingdom, compared to 6,700 for Melville's first book, "Typee."

According to The Christian Science Monitor“shortly after Melville's death in 1891, his publisher reprinted several of his novels, including "Moby Dick."

These new editions excited New York's literary scene. Like long-smoldering embers, this underground movement kept Melville's name alive.

Eventually, the flame spread. So much discussion surrounded "Moby Dick" that many people gave the book a second chance.”

Other Resources
► The Christian Science Monitor, Herman Melville books: At first, 'Moby Dick' was a total flop

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Tom Hanks recites slam poetry about sitcom “Full House” last night on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” show in NYC at Rockefeller Center

"Full House, house full of men ... Danny, Jesse, Joey, father, uncle, friend ... Uncle Jesse whose hair is never messy. Watch the hair hugh? Have Mercy on uncle Jesse. Three men raising 3 girls. Or are the girls raising them? Wake Up, San Francisco... No women in this full house, this house full of men ... This male dominated house. Cut it out!"
~~ Tom Hanks, American actor, producer, writer, director, Oscar and Golden Globe awards recipient

Tom Hanks' visit last night to "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" at Rockefeller Center in NYC was anything but the usual celebrity guest appearance to promote his latest, another Oscar-worthy film, “Cloud Atlas.”


Much more than a 3-minute recital, Hanks poetically performed slam poetry about "Full House," popular '90s sitcom that chronicles the life of a San Francisco widower who commissions his two buddies to help raise his three daughters.

Dressed in the usual “poetic black turtleneck,” Hanks poetics covered themes from famous episode about eldest daughter D.J. concert tickets to famous buzz words -- “Good Morning, San Francisco,” “Have mercy,” and “Cut it out!”


See what you missed by visiting this link: Tom Hanks performs slam poem about “Full House” on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon”


Did you watch Hanks performance last night?

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Google celebrates Moby Dick with doodle: Happy 161st to Herman Melville’s classic

“Among Herman Melville books, "Moby Dick" had really crummy sales. Many reviewers at the time either ignored or insulted the novel. So why does everyone, including Google, revere "Moby Dick" today?”
~~ Google


Hard to believe, Herman Melville’s classic, "Moby Dick," was not well received 161 years ago (1851) by British reviewers and bombed big time. "Moby Dick" sold only 500 copies in the United Kingdom, compared to 6,700 for Melville's first book, "Typee."

According to The Christian Science Monitor“shortly after Melville's death in 1891, his publisher reprinted several of his novels, including "Moby Dick." These new editions excited New York's literary scene. Like long-smoldering embers, this underground movement kept Melville's name alive. Eventually, the flame spread. So much discussion surrounded "Moby Dick" that many people gave the book a second chance.”

Other Resources
► The Christian Science Monitor, Herman Melville books: At first, 'Moby Dick' was a total flop




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Poetry Reading with Nobel Pulitzer Prize winner Mark Strand sheds pure delight: You should have been there

“There’s no confessions in my writing. I’m sure you know that already.”
~~ Mark Strand, October 10, 2012
Pulitzer Prize winner, Poet Laureate to the Library of Congress, American poet, essayist, and translator

On Wednesday, October 10th, a near full-house audience came to the Poetry Reading with Mark Strand event held at the Heimbold Visual Arts Center Donnelley Film Theatre of Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY. Strand read selections from his latest work, his second Pulitzer Prize winning book, Almost Invisible (2012).

As Strand read his works, there was an awe of silence around the theatre and there is something very special about Strand’s amazing presence and natural eloquence -- from tilting his head to his hands grasping the podium and even the way he moved his feet -- he is so genuine, kind and gorgeous.

The session was followed by an informative and inspirational Q&A where Strand answered about 2 dozen audience questions.

A wide range of questions were asked which lead to intriguing digressions ranging from the impact of the Surrealist movement and Fantastic art genre, and metaphoric and metonymic writing styles to sharing the one color he doesn't include on his palette and reading a quote from one of his favorite novels.

Below are worthy take-aways.

Q. How did you become a writer? What were the contributing factors?
A. I was never a reader. My parents were readers. One day we moved to South America and I was bored. My mother said “why don’t you write letters to your friends so they can write back to you.” I started doing that but I wanted it to be more than a letter.

Q. What attributes make you feel your poem is finished?
A. A poem that finally moves and I find it exhaustible. When you put it back on the psychic shelf and never go back to it.

Q. What’s your opinion of your individual art and how its worked into your other art?
A. My visual art cleanses my mind of verbal debris that seems to paralyze me at the end of the day. I could have claimed to be a visual artist or painter or collager. My friends who are do it all day long. My collages look like miniature abstract paints but I love doing it and it makes me happy and gives me a reason to wake up and get out of bed. One of my favorite novels is Dicken's David Copperfield. I urge you all to read David Copperfield. Strand then read an excerpt about Micawber, which is also included in the contents of his latest book Almost Invisible.

"Gentlemen," returned Mr. Micawber, "do with me as you will? I am a straw upon the surface of the deep, and am tossed in all directions by the elephants--I beg your pardon; I should have said the elements." --Charles Dickens.
Strand then added "that sort of thing intrigues me."

Q. How wide is your palette?
A. My collages don’t look like collages. I have a pretty wide palette. The only color I don’t use is blue because it’s associated with the sea and sky. What’s more important than the palette is the thickness of paper.

Q. How do you deal with place and the notion that the poet doesn’t know where the poem is going. When you write poetry what is the process?
A. I’m a writer of poetry and never show anyone until the work is done. Problem with workshops is that you have all this input. The words from all the decision making become muddy. You have to go it alone and trust your own idiosyncratic thoughts. Poetry is more important than that. Poetry is more about experiencing. It has to sound like something you are glad with, but be sure it’s not something that was written by someone else.

Q. In the 1998 Wallace Shawn interview ("Mark Strand, The Art of Poetry No. 77". The Paris Review). You mentioned people don’t read poetry on the internet. Even with the internet, why do you still write longhand?
A. With longhand, you’re slowing down the process. The internet is too close to print. People who compose on the screen respond visually and not auditory. Young poets can’t detect ear and natural cadence with visual contact. Writing becomes more physical aggressive and passive when writing longhand.

Q. Why did you give up writing?
A. I gave up writing because I ran out of gas. When I say it and it sounds familiar like I’ve already done that before. When you experience that you decide to do something new. The urge to write is not a conscious decision. There’s something else besides consciousness in mind. Something else is being satisfied – an unconscious motivation.

After the Q&A, Strand was available to autograph his books.

Born on Canada’s Prince Edward Island in 1934 and raised and educated in the United Sates and South America, Strand authored numerous books of poems including Man and Camel (Alfred A. Knopf, 2006), New Selected Poems (2007), Blizzard of One (Alfred A. Knopf, 2000), which also won the Pulitzer Prize; Dark Harbor (1993); The Continuous Life (1990); Selected Poems (1980); The Story of Our Lives (1973); and Reasons for Moving (1968). In addition to his poetry, Strand is also an editor, essayist, author of children’s books and translator. His honors include the Bolligen Prize, three grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Edgar Allen Poe Prize, and a Rockefeller Foundation Award, as well as fellowships from the Academy of American Poets, the MacArthur Foundation and the Ingram Merrill Foundation. He is currently professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University (since 2005).

Strand’s academic career has taken him to numerous colleges and universities. Chronology below:








Teaching positions
► University of Iowa, Iowa City, instructor in English, 1962–1965
► University of Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Fulbright lecturer, 1965–1966
► Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA, assistant professor, 1967
► Columbia University, New York City, adjunct associate professor, 1969–1972
► Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, New York City, associate professor, 1970–1972
► Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, Bain-Swiggett Lecturer, 1973
► Brandeis University, Hurst professor of poetry, 1974–1975
► University of Utah, Salt Lake City, professor of English, 1981–1993
► Johns Hopkins University, Elliot Coleman Professor of Poetry, 1994–c. 1998
► University of Chicago, Committee on Social Thought, 1998-c. 2005
► Columbia University, New York City, professor of English and Comparative Literature, c. 2005 - present

Visiting professor
► University of Washington, 1968, 1970
► Columbia University, 1980
► Yale University, 1969–1970
► University of Virginia, 1976, 1978
► California State University at Fresno, 1977
► University of California at Irvine, 1979
► Wesleyan University, 1979
► Harvard University, 1980


Poetry • 1964: Sleeping with One Eye Open, Stone Wall Press • 1968: Reasons for Moving: Poems, Atheneum • 1970: Darker: Poems, including "The New Poetry Handbook", Atheneum • 1973: The Story of Our Lives, Atheneum • 1973: The Sargentville Notebook, Burning Deck • 1978: Elegy for My Father, Windhover • 1978: The Late Hour, Atheneum • 1980: Selected Poems, including "Keeping Things Whole", Atheneum • 1990: The Continuous Life, Knopf • 1990: New Poems • 1991: The Monument, Ecco Press (see also The Monument, 1978, prose) • 1993: Dark Harbor: A Poem, long poem divided into 55 sections, Knopf • 1998: Blizzard of One: Poems, Knopf winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for poetry • 1999: Chicken, Shadow, Moon & More, with illustrations by the author • 1999: "89 Clouds" a single poem, monotypes by Wendy Mark and introduction by Thomas Hoving, ACA Galleries (New York) • 2006: Man and Camel, Knopf • 2007: New Selected Poems • 2012: Almost Invisible Prose • 1978: The Monument, Ecco (see also The Monument, 1991, poetry) • 1982: Contributor: Claims for Poetry, edited by Donald Hall, University of Michigan Press • 1982: The Planet of Lost Things, for children • 1983: The Art of the Real, art criticism, C. N. Potter • 1985: The Night Book, for children • 1985: Mr. and Mrs. Baby and Other Stories, short stories, Knopf • 1986: Rembrandt Takes a Walk, for children • 1987: William Bailey, art criticism, Abrams • 1993: Contributor: Within This Garden: Photographs by Ruth Thorne-Thomsen, Columbia College Chicago/Aperture Foundation • 1994: Hopper, art criticism, Ecco Press • 2000: The Weather of Words: Poetic Invention, Knopf • 2000: With Eavan Boland, The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms, Norton (New York) Poetry translations • 1971: 18 Poems from the Quechua, Halty Ferguson • 1973: The Owl's Insomnia, poems by Rafael Alberti, Atheneum • 1976: Souvenir of the Ancient World, poems by Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Antaeus Editions • 2002: Looking for Poetry: Poems by Carlos Drummond de Andrade and Rafael Alberti, with Songs from the Quechua • 1993: Contributor: "Canto IV", Dante's Inferno: Translations by Twenty Contemporary Poets edited by Daniel Halpern, Harper Perennial • 1986, according to one source, or 1987, according to another source: Traveling in the Family, poems by Carlos Drummond de Andrade, with Thomas Colchie; translator with Elizabeth Bishop, Colchie, and Gregory Rabassa) Random House Editor • 1968: The Contemporary American Poets, New American Library • 1970: New Poetry of Mexico, Dutton • 1976: Another Republic: Seventeen European and South American Writers, with Charles Simic, Ecco • 1991: The Best American Poetry 1991, Macmillan • 1994: Golden Ecco Anthology, Ecco Press • 1994: The Golden Ecco Anthology • 2005: 100 Great Poems of the Twentieth Century, W. W. Norton
Awards
► 1960–1961: Fulbright Fellowship
Source: wikipedia.org (unless otherwise indicated). .



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