Showing results for "The Rare" in Art & Literature

Joseph Heller (May 1, 1923 - December 12, 1999) was an American author of novels, short stories, plays, and screenplays. His best-known work is his debut novel Catch-22, published in 1961, a satire on war and bureaucracy, whose title has become a synonym for a dilemma with no easy way out.

Harold Robbins, born Harold Rubin (May 21, 1916-October 14, 1997), was an American author from New York City. One of the best-selling novelists of all time, he wrote over 25 best-sellers—including The Carpetbaggers in 1961—and sold over 750 million copies in 32 languages. The following recording is from a 1974 TV interview.

Mary Jane Oliver (September 10, 1935-January 17, 2019), from Maple Heights, OH, was an American poet who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1984 and the National Book Award in 1992. She found inspiration for her work in nature and had a lifelong habit of solitary walks in the wild. Her poetry is characterized by wonderment at the natural environment, vivid imagery, and unadorned language. In 2007, she was declared the best-selling poet in the United States.

Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir (January 9, 1908 - April 14, 1986) was a French existentialist philosopher, writer and social theorist. Beauvoir wrote novels, essays, biographies, autobiographies, and monographs on philosophy, politics, and social issues. She was best known for her "trailblazing work in feminist philosophy," including The Second Sex, published in 1949, a detailed analysis of women's oppression and a foundational tract of contemporary feminism. The following is from a 1976 interview (in English).

Joan Didion (December 5, 1934 - December 23, 2021), born in Sacramento, California, was an American author, screenwriter, and journalist. Her writing during the 1960s through the late 1970s engaged audiences in the realities of the counterculture of the 1960s, the Hollywood lifestyle, and the history and culture of California.

Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (December 16, 1917-March 19, 2008) was a British science fiction writer, science writer, futurist, inventor, undersea explorer, television series host, and influential proponent of space travel. He co-wrote the screenplay for the 1968 film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, widely regarded as one of the most influential films of all time. For many years Clarke, Robert Heinlein, and Isaac Asimov were known as the "Big Three" of science fiction. The following is a speech Clarke gave at a reception for the 2001 film release.

Isaac Asimov (January 2, 1920-April 6, 1992) was an American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke. Asimov also wrote mysteries and fantasy, as well as popular science and other non-fiction.

The following are the live recordings of William Butler Yeats reading and discussing the inspiration behind three of his most famous poems, "The Lake Island of Innisfree," "The Fiddler of Dooney," and "Song of the Old Mother." Yeats made these three recordings in 1932, 1934, and on October 28, 1937 when he was 72.

Compilación de semblanzas de autores admirados por el famoso poeta y escritor nicaragüenese Rubén Darío. La selección incluye por igual a Poe y a Verlaine, a Lautréamont y a Ibsen, a Villiers de L’Isle-Adam y a José Martí, entre otros. Darío sigue la estela de su admiradísimo Verlaine en Les poètes maudits (1884) y de Théophile Gautier en Les grotesques (1844). Un total de diecinueve autores acabaron conformando el siguiente audiolibro.

James Augusta Joyce (February 2, 1882 to January 13, 1941), born in Dublin, was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of the twentieth century. The following recording was made in 1929 by C.K. Odgen in the studio of the Orthological Society in Cambridge during which Joyce read from his novel, “Finnegans Wake.”

William Seward Burroughs (February 5, 1914 to August 2, 1997) was an American writer and visual artist. He is widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodern author who influenced both underground and popular culture and literature. Much of Burroughs' work is highly experimental and features unreliable narrators.

John Anthony Ciardi (June 24, 1916-March 30, 1986) was an American poet, translator, and etymologist. While primarily known as a poet, Ciardi pursued etymology, contributed to the Saturday Review as a columnist and long-time poetry editor, directed the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference in Vermont, and recorded commentaries for National Public Radio. In 1959, Ciardi published a book on how to read, write, and teach poetry, How Does a Poem Mean?, which has proven to be among the most-used books of its kind. The following recording is from a speech Ciardi gave in 1965.

Hunter Stockton Thompson (July 18, 1937 - February 20, 2005) was an American journalist and author who founded the gonzo journalism movement, a style in which the writer becomes a central figure and participant in the events of the narrative. He rose to prominence with the publication of Hell's Angels (1967) and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1972). The following is from a 1975 interview on gonzo journalism.

Andy Warhol (August 6, 1928-February 22, 1987), born Andrew Warhola Jr., was an American visual artist, film director and producer. A leading figure in the pop art movement, Warhol is considered one of the most important American artists of the second half of the 20th century. His works explore the relationship between artistic expression, advertising, and celebrity culture that flourished by the 1960s, and span a variety of media, including painting, sculpture, photography, and filmmaking. The following recordings are from interviews in 1966 and 1981.

The following recording is from the late 1950s.

Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 to April 9, 1959), born in Richland Center, Wisconsin, was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements of the twentieth century, influencing architects worldwide through his works and mentoring hundreds of apprentices in his Taliesin Fellowship. Wright believed in designing in harmony with humanity and the environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture.

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 - December 21, 1940) was an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his four novels—This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and Damned, The Great Gatsby, and Tender Is The Night—depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age. Fitzgerald is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. In this recording, Fitgerald reads from Shakespeare's Othello, John Keats' Ode to a Nightingale, and John Masefield's On Growing Old.

Kurt Vonnegut (November 11, 1922-April 11, 2007) was an American author known for his satirical and darkly humorous novels, including his most famous, Slaughterhouse-Five, published in 1969. His works include fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and five nonfiction pieces. In the following May 1994 recording, Vonnegut addresses the graduating class of Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York.

Roald Dahl (September 13, 1916 - November 23, 1990), born in Cardiff, Wales, was a novelist, poet, screenwriter, and short story author, as well as a fighter pilot and intelligent officer in the Royal Air Force (RAF) during World War II. Considered one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century, Dahl's classic works include Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, The Witches, The Twits and Matilda. His books have sold more than 300 million copies worldwide.

Edward Estlin Cummings (October 14, 1894 - September 3, 1962), commonly known as e e cummings, was an American poet, painter, essayist, author, and playwright. During World War I, he worked as an ambulance driver and was imprisoned in an internment camp, which provided the basis for his 1922 novel The Enormous Room. The following year he published his first collection of poetry.