Smoke in the woods
like someone walking in a silent film
beside the tracks…
—John Burnside, “Signal Stop, Near Horsley”
published in SELECTED POEMS (Cape, 2006)
https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/389400/selected-poems-by-burnside-john/9780224078030
literature
#OTD in 1921.
The Cervantes Theatre (Buenos Aires) opens with a production of Lope de Vega's La dama boba (The Foolish Lady, 1613). It is one of the earliest examples of the "comedia palatina" subgenre. De Vega completed it on 28 April 1613, as shown by a surviving manuscript copy in his own hand.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_dama_boba
Books by Lope Vega at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/25752
Why Tolkien thought “sub-creation” was the secret to great fantasy and science fiction
According to Tolkien, fantasy requires a deep imagination known as “sub-creation.” And the genre reflects a fundamental truth of being human.
By Jonny Thomson
https://bigthink.com/mini-philosophy/tolkien-fantasy-science-fiction/
Fantasy books at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subject/138
The St Andrews Chronicles, one of the most important manuscript histories of Scotland, is going on public display for the first time in its 500-year history. The book will be on display at University of St Andrews Wardlaw Museum from 21 November to 7 December
#Scottish #literature #history #16thcentury #manuscript #BookHistory
An End to Kings, 1776
by Jack Kelly
"Author Jack Kelly of Tom Paine’s War shares with The History Reader the crucial role Thomas Paine (author of Common Sense) played in encouraging Americans to overthrow King George in 1776."
"Common Sense" at PG:
"It is a stern fact of history that no nation that rushed to the abyss ever turned back. Not ever, in the long history of the world. We are now on the edge of the abyss. Can we, for the first time in history, turn back? It is up to you."
~Taylor Caldwell (September 7, 1900 – August 30, 1985)
"The sum of all human wisdom will be contained in these two words: Wait and hope."
#OTD in 1844.
Alexandre Dumas père's near-recent historical adventure story Le Comte de Monte-Cristo begins serialization in the Paris newspaper Journal des débats, and continues through to January 1846. Book publication also begins this year.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Count_of_Monte_Cristo
The Count of Monte Cristo at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=Le+Comte+de+Monte-Cristo&submit_search=Go%21
![Title : Journal des débats politiques et littéraires
Publisher : [s.n.] (Paris)
Publication date : 1844-08-28
Relationship : http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb3929](/proxy/post_attachment/339977/cc2859eba6.jpeg "Title : Journal des débats politiques et littéraires
Publisher : [s.n.] (Paris)
Publication date : 1844-08-28
Relationship : http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb3929")
What are you going to do
With what is left of yourself
Now among the rustling
Of your maybe best years?
—WS Graham, “An Entertainment for WS Graham for Him Having Reached Sixty-Five”
The Modernist romantic poet W.S. Graham (1918–1986) was born #OTD, 19 November
A 🎂 🧵
1/7
#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #modernism #romanticism #WSGraham
Centre for Robert Burns Studies Conference
17 January, University of Glasgow – £25 (includes tea, coffee, lunch, & a toast)
A day conference exploring the life, work, & legacy of Robert Burns.This year, the conference theme is the Burns Supper: a global phenomenon that celebrates its 225th anniversary in 2026.
@litstudies
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/centre-for-robert-burns-studies-conference-tickets-1851549627779
#Scottish #literature #RobertBurns #18thcentury #poetry #song #romanticism #BurnsSupper
“The Crocodile,” Dostoevsky’s Weirdest Short Story.
Why being eaten by a crocodile named Little Karl is really a lesson in the dangers of foreign capital.
By: Emily Zarevich via @JSTOR_Daily
https://daily.jstor.org/the-crocodile-dostoevskys-weirdest-short-story/
American activist and author Jane Addams died #OTD in 1935.
Addams co-founded Hull House, one of America's most famous settlement houses, in Chicago, Illinois, providing extensive social services to poor, largely immigrant families. In 1910, Addams was awarded an honorary Master of Arts degree from Yale University, becoming the first woman to receive an honorary degree from the school.
Books by Jane Addams at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/602
I’m truly sorry Man’s dominion
Has broken Nature’s social union,
An’ justifies that ill opinion,
Which makes thee startle,
At me, thy poor, earth-born companion,
An’ fellow-mortal!
—Robert Burns, “To a Mouse, On turning her up in her Nest, with the Plough, November 1785”
#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #RobertBurns #Scots #Scotlsanguage #environmentalism #naturewriting #18thCentury #Romanticism #November #winter
#OTD in 1911.
Wilhelm Apollinaris de Kostrowitzky, writing as "Guillaume Apollinaire", is suspected in the theft of the Mona Lisa and a number of Egyptian statuettes from the Louvre museum in Paris on August 21 and imprisoned for six days. This year he publishes his first book of poetry, Le Bestiaire ou Cortège d'Orphée.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillaume_Apollinaire
Books by Guillaume Apollinaire at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/6075
American poet and playwright Georgia Douglas Johnson was born #OTD in 1880.
Her first collection of poetry, "The Heart of a Woman" (1918), was one of the earliest books of poetry published by a Black woman in the United States. Her second volume, "Bronze" (1922), focuses more explicitly on racial issues, delving into the experiences of Black Americans and the injustices they faced in society.
Spanish writer Francisco Gómez de Quevedo y Villegas died #OTD in 1645.
Along with his lifelong rival, Luis de Góngora, Quevedo was one of the most prominent Spanish poets of the age. His style is characterized by what was called conceptismo. This style existed in stark contrast to Góngora's culteranismo.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_de_Quevedo
Books by Francisco de Quevedo at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/35792
"Strengthen the female mind by enlarging it, and there will be an end to blind obedience."
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (ed. 1793)
British writer, philosopher, and advocate of women's rights Mary Wollstonecraft was born #OTD in 1759. In "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman" (1792), Wollstonecraft argued that women are not naturally inferior to men but appear so only because of a lack of education.
Books by Mary Wollstonecraft at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/84
Chateaubriand, Writing of a Worthless Time
Chateaubriand (1768–1848), Breton aristocrat and writer, rose to fame with Atala and René. Once a supporter of Napoleon and the Bourbons, he later condemned both for repression and censorship.
By Alex Andriesse
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2025/11/19/chateaubriand-writing-of-a-worthless-time/
Chateaubriand at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/7255
Whole Duty of Children
by Robert Louis Stevenson
A child should always say what’s true
And speak when he is spoken to,
And behave mannerly at table:
At least as far as he is able.
—from A CHILD’S GARDEN OF VERSES (1885)
Today, 20 November, is World Children’s Day.
https://www.unicef.org/take-action/campaigns/world-childrens-day
#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #19thcentury #children #childrensliterature #kidlit #RobertLouisStevenson #WorldChildrensDay
In October 1902.
Beatrix Potter's self-illustrated children's book The Tale of Peter Rabbit (originally published privately a year earlier) appears in its first trade edition with Frederick Warne & Co in London. It sells 28,000 copies by the end of the year. Potter created both the text and the illustrations.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_Peter_Rabbit#
The Tale of Peter Rabbit at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/14838
"As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into an enormous insect."
First lines
In October 1915.
Franz Kafka's seminal novella The Metamorphosis (Die Verwandlung) is first published in Die Weißen Blätter. Kafka finishes writing The Trial this year, but it will not be published until 1925, the year after his death.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Metamorphosis
The Metamorphosis at PG, translated by David Wyllie:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/5200
Edited 1y ago
“At this novel’s heart – as with all Kelman’s work – is an unfettered inner voice, a living consciousness in motion… Kelman gifts us the consciousness of childhood as an eternal experience”
—Alan Warner on James Kelman’s 2008 novel KIERON SMITH, BOY
@bookstodon
https://www.productmagazine.co.uk/books/world-book-trip/
#Scottish #literature #novel #children #childhood #WorldChildrensDay
English novelist, poet, playwright, and critic D. H. Lawrence was born #OTD in 1885.
Four of his most famous novels — Sons and Lovers, The Rainbow, Women in Love , and Lady Chatterley's Lover— were the subject of censorship trials for their radical portrayals of sexuality and use of explicit language.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._H._Lawrence
Books by D.H. Lawrence at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/123
Trouble is not my middle name.
It is not what I am.
I was not born for this…
—Liz Lochhead, “Listen”
A poem written for the Children’s Panel, to encourage new voluntary members, 2012. Published in FUGITIVE COLOURS (Polygon, 2016)
https://birlinn.co.uk/product/fugitive-colours/
#Scottish #literature #childhood #children #poem #poetry #WorldChildrensDay
See ma mammy
See ma dinner ticket
A pititnma
Pokit an she pititny
Washnmachine…
—Margaret Hamilton, “Lament for a Lost Dinner Ticket”
published in NEW POEMS 1972–73: a PEN anthology of contemporary poetry, ed. Douglas Dunn (Hutchinson, 1973)
https://www.scotslanguage.com/articles/node/id/21
#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #childhood #children #Scots #Scotslanguage ##WorldChildrensDay
#OTD In 1858, Swedish writer Selma Lagerlöf was born.
"She published her first novel, Gösta Berling's Saga, at the age of 33. She was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, which she was awarded in 1909. In 1914, she was the first woman to be granted a membership of the Swedish Academy"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selma_Lagerl%C3%B6f
Books by Lagerlöf at PG:
Edited 75d ago