England Famous Writers and Poets Part II

Aldous Huxley (1894-1963)
writer. Aldous Leonard Huxley was born in Godalming, UK, in 1894. He later emigrated to Los Angeles, where he died in 1963. He studied at Balliol College in Oxford and from the age of 22 worked exclusively as a writer. He became famous for his novel “Brave New World”, published in 1932, which was perceived as extremely disturbing.

Sarah Kane (1971-1999)
playwright, director. Sarah Kane was born in Essex in 1971 as the daughter of strongly religious journalists. She was prone to melancholy and depression and wrote very radical pieces such as “Zerbombt” or “4.48 Psychose”. Conflicts of relationships, loneliness, inadequacy – these were Kane’s themes, which always provoked controversy. Due to her clear language, however, she has received several awards. Kane died in London in 1999 by hanging herself.

John Keats (1795-1821)
The poet, who was born in London in 1795, is one of the greatest and saddest of his time – English Romanticism. His “Ode to a Nightingale” (1819) is one of the most moving pieces of writing in English literature. The descendant of a stable master died of tuberculosis at the age of only 26. His mother had previously been divorced from this illness.

David Lodge (born 1935)
writer, literary scholar. David Lodge was born in 1935 in London to a saxophonist. He studied at the University of London and worked for a long time as a lecturer and professor of English literature at the University of Birmingham. Lodges campus novels are legendary. Some of the most famous are “Little World: An Academic Romance” (1984) and “Scavenger Hunt” (1984). Lodge knows how to entertain, works with parodic elements and has locations all over the world, including Heidelberg.

Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593)
poet and playwright. Marlowe was born in Canterbury in 1564 and studied at Cambridge. More legends than facts are known about his life. After a comparison of styles, it is said that he wrote many of Shakespeare’s works. Marlowe was the most important author in the age of Elizabeth I. B. “Edward II” and “Doctor Faustus”. Marlowe died in Deptford in 1593.

Daphne du Maurier (1907-1989)
Dame Daphne du Maurier, who was born in London in 1907, became popular mainly through her novel “Rebecca”. The Hitchcock film adaptations of her books, mostly written in Cornwall, have achieved cult status. Including “The Birds”. Du Maurier comes from a well-off family, was married to a man, but also loved women. She was the famous granddaughter of the writer George du Maurier and died in Cornwall in 1989.

John Milton (1608-1674)
poet and state philosopher. Milton was born in London in 1608 and studied at Christ’s College in Cambridge. Milton is best known for his religious epic poem “Paradise Lost”, written in 1667. It has influenced English literature more than any other writer. Milton died in Bunhill, near London, in 1674.

George Orwell (1903-1950)
writer, critic and publicist. George Orwell was born in British India in 1903. He studied in Eton, among others. He gained international fame through his political satires “Animal Farm” (1945) and “1984” (1949). The socialist voiced political criticism. It is a shame that he was only able to decide on a career as a writer after the war and shortly before his death. Aldous Huxley and James Joyce were among his companions. Orwell died of tuberculosis in London in 1950.

Beatrix Potter (1865-1943)
author of children’s books, illustrator. Beatrix Potter was born in London in 1865, the daughter of a lawyer. Usually only her governess was around the child. Potter became known all over the world for her beautifully illustrated children’s books with characters such as Peter Rabbit (Peter Rabbit) and Emma Duck Pot. She spent much of her life in the Lake District, and she has always worked to protect and preserve it. The author died in Sawrey in 1943.

Joanne K. Rowling (born 1965)
Joanne K. Rowling was born in Yate in 1965 and studied French as well as classical philology. After working for Amnesty International and as a teacher, she completed the first “Harry Potter” volume in 1995 (“Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone”). Due to the exorbitant sales of her books around the world, Rowling is one of the richest women in Great Britain and has already made over a billion dollars with her main character, the Hogwarts sorcerer’s apprentice. Not only children but also university scholars are fond of her word games and pictures, which have a rich imagination.

Dorothy L. Sayers (1893-1957)
crime novelist, essayist and translator. Sayers was born in Oxford in 1893 as the daughter of pastor and chaplain Henry Sayers. With her studies at Somerville College, she was one of the first women to study at Oxford University. The invented amateur detective Lord Peter Wimsey brought her international fame.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) Arguably the
most important man of letters in England was born in Stratford-upon-Avon and moved to London in 1584, where he founded a theater company that was first called “Lord Chamberlain’s Company” and later “The King’s Men”. From 1599 the group played in their own theater, the famous “Globe Theater” on the south bank of the Thames. In Shakespeare she had the best playwright. It is still not completely clear whether William Shakespeare is really the author of the works ascribed to him, but at least his existence has been proven. His works include numerous dramas and 130 sonnets. His most famous dramas are “Richard III”, “The Taming of the Shrew”, “Romeo & Juliet”

Mary Shelley (1797-1851) Born
Mary Godwin in London in 1797, the writer was the child of a social philosopher and suffragette. “Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus” (1818) is her most famous novel, which has been filmed several times and turned into plays. Another five novels, reviews, poems, essays and a novella come from Shelley’s pen. She died in her native town in 1851 and was married to the writer Percy Bysshe Shelley, who was considered a true advocate of atheism.

William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863)
Victorian-era writer. William Makepeace Thackeray was born in 1811 into the family of a colonial official in Calcutta. He studied at Cambridge and then traveled a lot. Among his acquaintances was Goethe. The work that still establishes Thackeray’s fame today is the novel “Vanity Fair” from 1874/1875 – “The Vanity Fair”. Even a modern magazine was named after it. Makepeace Thackeray died in London in 1863.

JRR Tolkien (1892-1973)
writer and philologist. John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in South Africa as the first son of Arthur Reuel Tolkien (bank manager) and Mabel Suffield from England. He studied from 1911 at Exeter College, Oxford. With his trilogy of novels “The Lord of the Rings” from 1954/55, he founded modern fantasy literature and gained international fame. Tolkien died in Bournemouth in 1973.

Horace Walpole (1717-1797)
The writer, politician and artist is considered to be the founder of the English gothic novel, the so-called “Gothic Novel” and the English landscape garden. He was the son of the then Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole. He was also a member of the British Parliament from 1741-1768 and was named 4th Earl of Oxford in 1971. In 1964 he published the gruesome novel “The Castle of Otranto” anonymously and only confessed to his work when it achieved great success. Walpole owned a country house on the Thames near London, which he converted into a Gothic castle.

HG Wells (1866-1946)
writer, sociologist, historian. Herbert George Wells is known as the father of modern science fiction literature. He was born in Bromley in 1866 and grew up in poor conditions. Inspired by the works of Jules Verne, he published “The Time Machine” in 1895, which laid the foundation for other science fiction works such as “The Invisible Man” (1897) and “War of the Worlds” (1898). These pieces were filmed elaborately and successfully. Wells, who was also a socialist, died in London in 1946.

Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797)
writer, philosophies, translator. Mary Wollstonecraft was born in Hoxton in 1759, the daughter of a weaver. The best-known work of the writer and women’s rights activist is “Defense of Women’s Rights”, which was published as one of the first books in Europe on the subject of feminism. She was in contact with Wilhelm von Humboldt, among others, and also traveled a lot during her life. Wollstonecraft died in London in 1797.

Virginia Woolf (1882-1942)
writer. Woolf was born into a wealthy family in London in 1882. She was a member of the literary circle of the Bloomsbury Group in Cambridge. Later she gave lectures in the university town. Her works are numerous and world famous, e.g. B. “Mrs. Dalloway” (1925) or “Orlando” (1928). She is considered an important champion for women’s rights and is an important representative of literary modernism. Woolf died in Sussex in 1942.

William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
poet. Wordsworth was born in Cockermouth in 1770 to a lawyer and studied at Cambridge. He developed into the leading pioneer of the English romantic movement in literature. Above all his “Lyrical Ballads” (1798 and 1800) and his posthumously published poem “The Prelude” are justified with his international fame. Wordsworth died at Rydal Mount in 1850.

William Wordsworth