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LitStack Rec: The Lesson of the Master & In Great Waters

Published on : 13 November, 201413 November, 2014 Published by : LitStackEditor

The Lesson of the Master, by Henry James Colm Tóibín, in his introduction to the 2007 edition of Henry James’ classic novella, cites a note James made in 1888—an idea that came to him after reading the memoir of a colleague: “…it occurred to me that a very interesting situation […]

On this day, May 6, in 1861, Rabindranath Tagore was born in Calcutta, India. A poet, writer, composer and painter, he reshaped the literature and music of the Bengali region of what was then-colonial India. Supporting independence, espousing humanism and embracing simplicity, he turned his back on the rigid traditions and forms in Indian literature; his own works were celebrated for being both idealistic and accessible while still beautifully lyrical. In 1913 he became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature; he was knighted in 1917 but repudiated it two years later in protest of British actions in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. He died in 1941, at age 80.

On this day, December 3, in 1857, Joseph Conrad was born in Berdichev, Imperial Russia (modern
Ukraine, then a part of Poland). While he settled in England and wrote in English, he always considered himself a Pole. Heart of Darkness, one of the most famous of his 20 novels (which explores colonialism and the attitudes regarding what constitutes a barbarian versus civilized society) is considered one of the best English novels of the 20th century, as is his novel Lord Jim, which chronicles a crew’s abandonment of its disabled ship. Conrad died in England in 1924 at age 66.

LitStack Rec: The Lesson of the Master & In Great Waters

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