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Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (10 November 1759 – 9 May 1805) was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright.<br/><br/> During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller struck up a productive friendship with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. They frequently discussed issues concerning aesthetics, and Schiller encouraged Goethe to finish works he left as sketches. This relationship and these discussions led to a period now referred to as Weimar Classicism.<br/><br/> Schiller is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright.
JoΕΎe Abram (also known as Josip Abram Trentar ), was born in Stanjel on February 2, 1875. He is most famous for his translation of Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko's romantic poetry collection <i>Kobzar</i>.
Francois-Marie Arouet (21 November 1694 - 30 May 1778), more commonly known by his <i>nom de plume</i> Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment historian, philosopher and writer. He was famous for his advocacy of freedom of religion, freedom of speech and separation of church and state, often attacking the Catholic Church through his wit and writings.<br/><br/> Voltaire was a prolific and versatile writer, with more than 20,000 letters and over 2,000 books and pamphlets to his name, as well as plays, poems, essays and historical and scientific works. Despite the strict censorship laws of the time, Voltaire often spoke up in favour of civil liberties, and regularly used satire to criticise intolerance, religious dogma and other pillars of French institutions of his day.
Francois-Marie Arouet (21 November 1694 - 30 May 1778), more commonly known by his <i>nom de plume</i> Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment historian, philosopher and writer. He was famous for his advocacy of freedom of religion, freedom of speech and separation of church and state, often attacking the Catholic Church through his wit and writings.<br/><br/> Voltaire was a prolific and versatile writer, with more than 20,000 letters and over 2,000 books and pamphlets to his name, as well as plays, poems, essays and historical and scientific works. Despite the strict censorship laws of the time, Voltaire often spoke up in favour of civil liberties, and regularly used satire to criticise intolerance, religious dogma and other pillars of French institutions of his day.
Christopher Marlowe, also known as Kit Marlowe (26 February 1564 – 30 May 1593), was an English playwright, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era.<br/><br/> He greatly influenced William Shakespeare, who was born in the same year as Marlowe and who rose to become the pre-eminent Elizabethan playwright after Marlowe's mysterious early death.
William Shakespeare (26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. His extant works, including collaborations, consist of approximately 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.<br/><br/> The Chandos portrait is the most famous of the portraits that may depict William Shakespeare. Painted between 1600 and 1610, it may have served as the basis for the engraved portrait of Shakespeare used in the First Folio in 1623. It is named after the Dukes of Chandos, who formerly owned the painting. The portrait was given to the National Portrait Gallery, London on its foundation in 1856, and it is listed as the first work in its collection.
William Shakespeare (26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. His extant works, including collaborations, consist of approximately 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.<br/><br/> The Cobbe portrait is an early Jacobean panel painting of a gentleman which has been argued to be a life portrait of William Shakespeare. It is displayed at Hatchlands Park in Surrey, a National Trust property, and the portrait is so-called because of its ownership by Charles Cobbe, Church of Ireland (Anglican) Archbishop of Dublin (1686–1765).
George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950) was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60 plays.<br/><br/> Shaw was also an essayist, novelist and short story writer. Nearly all his writings address prevailing social problems with a vein of comedy which makes their stark themes more palatable. Issues which engaged Shaw's attention included education, marriage, religion, government, health care, and class privilege.<br/><br/> He is the only person to have been awarded both a Nobel Prize in Literature (1925) and an Academy Award (1938), for his contributions to literature and for his work on the film Pygmalion (an adaptation of his play of the same name), respectively. Shaw refused all other awards and honours, including the offer of a knighthood.
George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950) was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60 plays.<br/><br/> Shaw was also an essayist, novelist and short story writer. Nearly all his writings address prevailing social problems with a vein of comedy which makes their stark themes more palatable. Issues which engaged Shaw's attention included education, marriage, religion, government, health care, and class privilege.<br/><br/> He is the only person to have been awarded both a Nobel Prize in Literature (1925) and an Academy Award (1938), for his contributions to literature and for his work on the film Pygmalion (an adaptation of his play of the same name), respectively. Shaw refused all other awards and honours, including the offer of a knighthood.
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900) was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s.<br/><br/> Today he is remembered for his epigrams, his novel <i>The Picture of Dorian Gray</i>, his plays, as well as the circumstances of his imprisonment and early death.
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900) was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s.<br/><br/> Today he is remembered for his epigrams, his novel <i>The Picture of Dorian Gray</i>, his plays, as well as the circumstances of his imprisonment and early death.
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900) was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s.<br/><br/> Today he is remembered for his epigrams, his novel <i>The Picture of Dorian Gray</i>, his plays, as well as the circumstances of his imprisonment and early death.
William Somerset Maugham (25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was a British playwright, novelist and short story writer. He was among the most popular writers of his era and reputedly the highest paid author during the 1930s.<br/><br/> Among his short stories, some of the most memorable are those dealing with the lives of Western, mostly British, colonists in the Far East. They typically express the emotional toll the colonists bear by their isolation. 'Rain', 'Footprints in the Jungle', and 'The Outstation' are considered especially notable.<br/><br/> Maugham was one of the most significant travel writers of the inter-war years, and can be compared with contemporaries such as Evelyn Waugh and Freya Stark. His best efforts in this line include 'The Gentleman in the Parlour', dealing with a journey through Burma, Siam, Cambodia and Vietnam, and 'On a Chinese Screen', a series of very brief vignettes that might have been sketches for stories left unwritten.
Vaclav Havel (5 October 1936 – 18 December 2011) was a Czech writer, philosopher, dissident, and statesman. From 1989 to 1992, he served as the last president of Czechoslovakia. He then served as the first president of the Czech Republic (1993–2003) after the Czech–Slovak split.<br/><br/> Within Czech literature, he is known for his plays, essays, and memoirs.
Victor Marie Hugo 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French poet, novelist, and dramatist of the Romantic movement. He is considered one of the greatest and best known French writers. In France, Hugo's literary fame comes first from his poetry but also rests upon his novels and his dramatic achievements. Among many volumes of poetry, Les Contemplations and La Légende des siècles stand particularly high in critical esteem.<br/><br/> Outside France, his best-known works are the acclaimed novels Les Miserables, 1862, and Notre-Dame de Paris, 1831 (known in English as The Hunchback of Notre-Dame). He also produced more than 4,000 drawings, which have since been admired for their beauty, and earned widespread respect as a campaigner for social causes such as the abolition of the death penalty.<br/><br/> Though a committed royalist when he was young, Hugo's views changed as the decades passed, and he became a passionate supporter of republicanism; his work touches upon most of the political and social issues and artistic trends of his time. He was buried in the Pantheon. His legacy has been honored in many ways, including his portrait being placed on francs.
Francois-Marie Arouet (21 November 1694 - 30 May 1778), more commonly known by his <i>nom de plume</i> Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment historian, philosopher and writer. He was famous for his advocacy of freedom of religion, freedom of speech and separation of church and state, often attacking the Catholic Church through his wit and writings.<br/><br/> Voltaire was a prolific and versatile writer, with more than 20,000 letters and over 2,000 books and pamphlets to his name, as well as plays, poems, essays and historical and scientific works. Despite the strict censorship laws of the time, Voltaire often spoke up in favour of civil liberties, and regularly used satire to criticise intolerance, religious dogma and other pillars of French institutions of his day.
William Somerset Maugham (25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was a British playwright, novelist and short story writer. He was among the most popular writers of his era and reputedly the highest paid author during the 1930s.<br/><br/> Among his short stories, some of the most memorable are those dealing with the lives of Western, mostly British, colonists in the Far East. They typically express the emotional toll the colonists bear by their isolation. 'Rain', 'Footprints in the Jungle', and 'The Outstation' are considered especially notable.<br/><br/> Maugham was one of the most significant travel writers of the inter-war years, and can be compared with contemporaries such as Evelyn Waugh and Freya Stark. His best efforts in this line include 'The Gentleman in the Parlour', dealing with a journey through Burma, Siam, Cambodia and Vietnam, and 'On a Chinese Screen', a series of very brief vignettes that might have been sketches for stories left unwritten.
Swinburne was one of the most accomplished lyric poets of the Victorian era and was a preeminent symbol of rebellion against the conservative values of his time. The explicit and often pathological sexual themes of his most important collection of poetry, Poems and Ballads (1866), delighted some, shocked many, and became the dominant feature of Swinburne's image as both an artist and an individual.<br/><br/> As well as alcohol, Swinburne is known to have used opium, giving rise to one of his most celebrated verses: 'There is an end of joy and sorrow; Peace all day long, all night, all morrow, But never a time to laugh or weep. The end is come of pleasant places, The end of tender words and faces, The end of all, the poppied sleep'. (Illicet, Poems and Ballads, 1866).
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (10 November 1759 – 9 May 1805) was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright.<br/><br/> During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller struck up a productive friendship with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. They frequently discussed issues concerning aesthetics, and Schiller encouraged Goethe to finish works he left as sketches. This relationship and these discussions led to a period now referred to as Weimar Classicism.<br/><br/> Schiller is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright.
Yukio Mishima is the pen name of Kimitake Hiraoka (January 14, 1925 – November 25, 1970), a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor, and film director. Mishima is considered one of the most important Japanese authors of the 20th century; he was nominated three times for the Nobel Prize in Literature and was poised to win the prize in 1968 but lost the award to his fellow countryman Yasunari Kawabata.<br/><br/> His avant-garde work displayed a blending of modern and traditional aesthetics that broke cultural boundaries, with a focus on sexuality, death, and political change. He is remembered for his ritual suicide by seppuku after a failed coup d'etat attempt, known as the 'Mishima Incident'.
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (29 January 1860 – 15 July 1904) was a Russian physician, playwright and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a playwright produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics.<br/><br/> Chekhov practiced as a medical doctor throughout most of his literary career: 'Medicine is my lawful wife', he once said, 'and literature is my mistress'. Along with Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg, Chekhov is often referred to as one of the three seminal figures in the birth of early modernism in the theater.
Swinburne was one of the most accomplished lyric poets of the Victorian era and was a preeminent symbol of rebellion against the conservative values of his time. The explicit and often pathological sexual themes of his most important collection of poetry, Poems and Ballads (1866), delighted some, shocked many, and became the dominant feature of Swinburne's image as both an artist and an individual.<br/><br/> As well as alcohol, Swinburne is known to have used opium, giving rise to one of his most celebrated verses: 'There is an end of joy and sorrow; Peace all day long, all night, all morrow, But never a time to laugh or weep. The end is come of pleasant places, The end of tender words and faces, The end of all, the poppied sleep'. (Illicet, Poems and Ballads, 1866).
Samuel Barclay Beckett (13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet, who lived in Paris for most of his adult life and wrote in both English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.<br/><br/> Beckett is widely regarded as among the most influential writers of the 20th century. He is considered one of the last modernists. As an inspiration to many later writers, he is also sometimes considered one of the first postmodernists.<br/><br/> Beckett was awarded the 1969 Nobel Prize in Literature. He was elected Saoi ('wise one') of Aosdana (Irish Association of Artists) in 1984.
Victor Marie Hugo 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French poet, novelist, and dramatist of the Romantic movement. He is considered one of the greatest and best known French writers. In France, Hugo's literary fame comes first from his poetry but also rests upon his novels and his dramatic achievements. Among many volumes of poetry, Les Contemplations and La Légende des siècles stand particularly high in critical esteem.<br/><br/> Outside France, his best-known works are the acclaimed novels Les Miserables, 1862, and Notre-Dame de Paris, 1831 (known in English as The Hunchback of Notre-Dame). He also produced more than 4,000 drawings, which have since been admired for their beauty, and earned widespread respect as a campaigner for social causes such as the abolition of the death penalty.<br/><br/> Though a committed royalist when he was young, Hugo's views changed as the decades passed, and he became a passionate supporter of republicanism; his work touches upon most of the political and social issues and artistic trends of his time. He was buried in the Pantheon. His legacy has been honored in many ways, including his portrait being placed on francs.
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (10 November 1759 – 9 May 1805) was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright.<br/><br/> During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller struck up a productive friendship with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. They frequently discussed issues concerning aesthetics, and Schiller encouraged Goethe to finish works he left as sketches. This relationship and these discussions led to a period now referred to as Weimar Classicism.<br/><br/> Schiller is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright.
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (29 January 1860 – 15 July 1904) was a Russian physician, playwright and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a playwright produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics.<br/><br/> Chekhov practiced as a medical doctor throughout most of his literary career: 'Medicine is my lawful wife', he once said, 'and literature is my mistress'. Along with Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg, Chekhov is often referred to as one of the three seminal figures in the birth of early modernism in the theater.
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (10 November 1759 – 9 May 1805) was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright.<br/><br/> During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller struck up a productive friendship with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. They frequently discussed issues concerning aesthetics, and Schiller encouraged Goethe to finish works he left as sketches. This relationship and these discussions led to a period now referred to as Weimar Classicism.<br/><br/> Schiller is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright.
William Shakespeare (26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. His extant works, including collaborations, consist of approximately 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.<br/><br/> The Droeshout portrait or Droeshout engraving is a portrait of William Shakespeare engraved by Martin Droeshout as the frontispiece for the title page of the First Folio collection of Shakespeare's plays, published in 1623.
Jean Maurice Eugene Clement Cocteau (5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French writer, designer, playwright, artist and filmmaker.<br/><br/> Cocteau is best known for his novel Les Enfants Terribles (1929), and the films Blood of a Poet (1930), Les Parents Terribles (1948), Beauty and the Beast (1946) and Orpheus (1949). His circle of associates, friends and lovers included Kenneth Anger, Pablo Picasso, Jean Hugo, Jean Marais, Henri Bernstein, Yul Brynner, Marlene Dietrich, Coco Chanel, Erik Satie, Igor Stravinsky, María Félix, Édith Piaf, Panama Al Brown, Colette, Jean Genet, and Raymond Radiguet.
Samuel Barclay Beckett (13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet, who lived in Paris for most of his adult life and wrote in both English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.<br/><br/> Beckett is widely regarded as among the most influential writers of the 20th century. He is considered one of the last modernists. As an inspiration to many later writers, he is also sometimes considered one of the first postmodernists.<br/><br/> Beckett was awarded the 1969 Nobel Prize in Literature. He was elected Saoi ('wise one') of Aosdana (Irish Association of Artists) in 1984.
Emile Edouard Charles Antoine Zola (2 April 1840 – 29 September 1902) was a French novelist, playwright, journalist, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism, and an important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalism.<br/><br/> He was a major figure in the political liberalization of France and in the exoneration of the falsely accused and convicted army officer Alfred Dreyfus, which is encapsulated in the renowned newspaper headline <i>J'accuse</i>. Zola was nominated for the first and second Nobel Prize in Literature in 1901 and 1902.
Yukio Mishima is the pen name of Kimitake Hiraoka (January 14, 1925 – November 25, 1970), a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor, and film director. Mishima is considered one of the most important Japanese authors of the 20th century; he was nominated three times for the Nobel Prize in Literature and was poised to win the prize in 1968 but lost the award to his fellow countryman Yasunari Kawabata.<br/><br/> His avant-garde work displayed a blending of modern and traditional aesthetics that broke cultural boundaries, with a focus on sexuality, death, and political change. He is remembered for his ritual suicide by seppuku after a failed coup d'etat attempt, known as the 'Mishima Incident'.
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (29 January 1860 – 15 July 1904) was a Russian physician, playwright and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a playwright produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics.<br/><br/> Chekhov practiced as a medical doctor throughout most of his literary career: 'Medicine is my lawful wife', he once said, 'and literature is my mistress'. Along with Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg, Chekhov is often referred to as one of the three seminal figures in the birth of early modernism in the theater.
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (10 November 1759 – 9 May 1805) was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright.<br/><br/> During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller struck up a productive friendship with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. They frequently discussed issues concerning aesthetics, and Schiller encouraged Goethe to finish works he left as sketches. This relationship and these discussions led to a period now referred to as Weimar Classicism.<br/><br/> Schiller is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright.
Jules Gabriel Verne (8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright best known for his adventure novels and his profound influence on the literary genre of science fiction.<br/><br/> Verne was born to bourgeois parents in the seaport of Nantes, where he was trained to follow in his father's footsteps as a lawyer, but quit the profession early in life to write for magazines and the stage. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the Voyages Extraordinaires, a widely popular series of scrupulously researched adventure novels including Journey to the Center of the Earth, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, and Around the World in Eighty Days.
Francois-Marie Arouet (21 November 1694 - 30 May 1778), more commonly known by his <i>nom de plume</i> Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment historian, philosopher and writer. He was famous for his advocacy of freedom of religion, freedom of speech and separation of church and state, often attacking the Catholic Church through his wit and writings.<br/><br/> Voltaire was a prolific and versatile writer, with more than 20,000 letters and over 2,000 books and pamphlets to his name, as well as plays, poems, essays and historical and scientific works. Despite the strict censorship laws of the time, Voltaire often spoke up in favour of civil liberties, and regularly used satire to criticise intolerance, religious dogma and other pillars of French institutions of his day.
William Somerset Maugham (25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was a British playwright, novelist and short story writer. He was among the most popular writers of his era and reputedly the highest paid author during the 1930s.<br/><br/> Among his short stories, some of the most memorable are those dealing with the lives of Western, mostly British, colonists in the Far East. They typically express the emotional toll the colonists bear by their isolation. 'Rain', 'Footprints in the Jungle', and 'The Outstation' are considered especially notable.<br/><br/> Maugham was one of the most significant travel writers of the inter-war years, and can be compared with contemporaries such as Evelyn Waugh and Freya Stark. His best efforts in this line include 'The Gentleman in the Parlour', dealing with a journey through Burma, Siam, Cambodia and Vietnam, and 'On a Chinese Screen', a series of very brief vignettes that might have been sketches for stories left unwritten.
Yukio Mishima is the pen name of Kimitake Hiraoka (January 14, 1925 – November 25, 1970), a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor, and film director. Mishima is considered one of the most important Japanese authors of the 20th century; he was nominated three times for the Nobel Prize in Literature and was poised to win the prize in 1968 but lost the award to his fellow countryman Yasunari Kawabata.<br/><br/> His avant-garde work displayed a blending of modern and traditional aesthetics that broke cultural boundaries, with a focus on sexuality, death, and political change. He is remembered for his ritual suicide by seppuku after a failed coup d'etat attempt, known as the 'Mishima Incident'.
Swinburne was one of the most accomplished lyric poets of the Victorian era and was a preeminent symbol of rebellion against the conservative values of his time. The explicit and often pathological sexual themes of his most important collection of poetry, Poems and Ballads (1866), delighted some, shocked many, and became the dominant feature of Swinburne's image as both an artist and an individual.<br/><br/> As well as alcohol, Swinburne is known to have used opium, giving rise to one of his most celebrated verses: 'There is an end of joy and sorrow; Peace all day long, all night, all morrow, But never a time to laugh or weep. The end is come of pleasant places, The end of tender words and faces, The end of all, the poppied sleep'. (Illicet, Poems and Ballads, 1866).
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900) was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s.<br/><br/> Today he is remembered for his epigrams, his novel <i>The Picture of Dorian Gray</i>, his plays, as well as the circumstances of his imprisonment and early death.
Francois-Marie Arouet (21 November 1694 - 30 May 1778), more commonly known by his <i>nom de plume</i> Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment historian, philosopher and writer. He was famous for his advocacy of freedom of religion, freedom of speech and separation of church and state, often attacking the Catholic Church through his wit and writings.<br/><br/> Voltaire was a prolific and versatile writer, with more than 20,000 letters and over 2,000 books and pamphlets to his name, as well as plays, poems, essays and historical and scientific works. Despite the strict censorship laws of the time, Voltaire often spoke up in favour of civil liberties, and regularly used satire to criticise intolerance, religious dogma and other pillars of French institutions of his day.
George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950) was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60 plays.<br/><br/> Shaw was also an essayist, novelist and short story writer. Nearly all his writings address prevailing social problems with a vein of comedy which makes their stark themes more palatable. Issues which engaged Shaw's attention included education, marriage, religion, government, health care, and class privilege.<br/><br/> He is the only person to have been awarded both a Nobel Prize in Literature (1925) and an Academy Award (1938), for his contributions to literature and for his work on the film Pygmalion (an adaptation of his play of the same name), respectively. Shaw refused all other awards and honours, including the offer of a knighthood.
Collins was born into the family of painter William Collins in London. He received his early education at home from his mother. He then attended an academy and a private boarding school. He also traveled with his family to Italy and France, and learned the French and Italian languages. He served as a clerk in the firm of the tea merchants Antrobus & Co. His first novel Iolani, or Tahiti as It Was; a Romance, was rejected by publishers in 1845. His next novel, Antonina, was published in 1850.<br/><br/> In 1851 he met Charles Dickens, and the two became close friends. A number of Collins's works were first published in Dickens's journals 'All the Year Round and Household Words'. The two collaborated on several dramatic and fictional works, and some of Collins's plays were performed by Dickens's acting company.<br/><br/> Collins published his best known works in the 1860s, achieving financial stability and an international reputation. During this time he began suffering from gout, and developed an addiction to opium, which he took for pain. He continued to publish novels and other works throughout the 1870s and 80s, but the quality of his writing declined along with his health. He died in 1889.
Collins was born into the family of painter William Collins in London. He received his early education at home from his mother. He then attended an academy and a private boarding school. He also traveled with his family to Italy and France, and learned the French and Italian languages. He served as a clerk in the firm of the tea merchants Antrobus & Co. His first novel Iolani, or Tahiti as It Was; a Romance, was rejected by publishers in 1845. His next novel, Antonina, was published in 1850.<br/><br/> In 1851 he met Charles Dickens, and the two became close friends. A number of Collins's works were first published in Dickens's journals 'All the Year Round and Household Words'. The two collaborated on several dramatic and fictional works, and some of Collins's plays were performed by Dickens's acting company.<br/><br/> Collins published his best known works in the 1860s, achieving financial stability and an international reputation. During this time he began suffering from gout, and developed an addiction to opium, which he took for pain. He continued to publish novels and other works throughout the 1870s and 80s, but the quality of his writing declined along with his health. He died in 1889.
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900) was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s.<br/><br/> Today he is remembered for his epigrams, his novel <i>The Picture of Dorian Gray</i>, his plays, as well as the circumstances of his imprisonment and early death.
George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950) was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60 plays.<br/><br/> Shaw was also an essayist, novelist and short story writer. Nearly all his writings address prevailing social problems with a vein of comedy which makes their stark themes more palatable. Issues which engaged Shaw's attention included education, marriage, religion, government, health care, and class privilege.<br/><br/> He is the only person to have been awarded both a Nobel Prize in Literature (1925) and an Academy Award (1938), for his contributions to literature and for his work on the film Pygmalion (an adaptation of his play of the same name), respectively. Shaw refused all other awards and honours, including the offer of a knighthood.
Francois-Marie Arouet (21 November 1694 - 30 May 1778), more commonly known by his <i>nom de plume</i> Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment historian, philosopher and writer. He was famous for his advocacy of freedom of religion, freedom of speech and separation of church and state, often attacking the Catholic Church through his wit and writings.<br/><br/> Voltaire was a prolific and versatile writer, with more than 20,000 letters and over 2,000 books and pamphlets to his name, as well as plays, poems, essays and historical and scientific works. Despite the strict censorship laws of the time, Voltaire often spoke up in favour of civil liberties, and regularly used satire to criticise intolerance, religious dogma and other pillars of French institutions of his day.
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (10 November 1759 – 9 May 1805) was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright.<br/><br/> During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller struck up a productive friendship with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. They frequently discussed issues concerning aesthetics, and Schiller encouraged Goethe to finish works he left as sketches. This relationship and these discussions led to a period now referred to as Weimar Classicism.<br/><br/> Schiller is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright.