Dante Alighieri was born in 1265 in Florence, Italy. At that time, Florence was not part of a princely kingdom, but run as a commune, or run by municipal councils. These harken back to their republican past and the members of the council call themselves consuls. Despite this, this was a time of great upheaval, […]
Tag: Literature
Arthur Miller
Arthur Asher Miller, the American playwright, was born October 17, 1915 in New York City to Jewish immigrant parents. Their family was effected by the depression when the family’s garment business failed and Arthur found a number of odd jobs around the city in order to pay for his tuition to college. In 1934 Miller […]
John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck was born in California in February 1902 to flour mill manager John Steinbeck Sr and his wife, former school teacher Olive Hamilton from whom the young boy was to gain his love of books and writing. He was the third of four children, and the only son. His family were modestly well […]
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born in Florida, Missouri on November 30th, 1835. The sixth child of seven, only Sam and three of his siblings, Orion, Henry and Pamela were to survive childhood. Margaret died when Sam was three; Benjamin when Sam was six and Pleasant died aged six months, before Sam was born. His father, […]
The Cult of Courtly Love- Feminist Leap or Modern Myth
The story goes that Eleanor of Aquitaine created the cult of courtly love after retreating to France with her sons. Eleanor was said to have observed her husband, Henry II of England, revamping English Common Law and applied what she learned to establish the Courts of Love at her court in Poitiers. Men would bring […]