blogis librorum. A blog about books. Rare books.

If, in the words of James Barron Hope, “Tis after death that we measure men,” William Blake is fortunate indeed. Now a paragon of the Romantic Age whose poems and engravings are among the most famous of his time, Blake’s contemporaries dismissed his work and largely considered him insane. William Wordsworth wrote, “There was no doubt that this poor man was mad” and John Ruskin called him “diseased and wild.” Although his work was not understood during his lifetime, Blake has become one of the most important poets, engravers, and artists of the Romantic Age.

Literature can serve many purposes for its audience, but one of its most valuable gifts is its ability to open a reader's eyes to a new world or a new perspective. Not only did Isaac Bashevis Singer write stories of deep emotion and entertainment, he helped his American readers explore subcultures that had long been ignored, if not despised. As a leader in the Yiddish literary movement, Singer's stories often centered upon Jews, but he also created characters and stories that dealt with homosexuality and transgender issues. His works won him the Nobel Prize in 1978, along with two National Book Awards.

Yesterday Doris Lessing, author of more than 55 works of poetry, fiction, opera, and non-fiction, passed away. The Nobel laureate was known for free thinking political activism and innovative literary form. Lessing was born in Iran to British parents, and she spent much of her childhood in Zimbabwe. She made her novel debut in 1950 with The Grass Is Singing, but did not gain attention from the literary world until 1962, with The Golden Notebook. 

Astrid Lindgren (November 14, 1907 - January 28, 2002) was a friendly housewife who wrote children’s tales such as Pippi Longstocking, while also speaking out about animal welfare, children’s rights, racism, and taxation. From her humble beginnings in the Alps of Sweden, she is now the eighteent most-translated author in history, has sold 145 million copies of her work, and is the namesake of the most lucrative award offered in children’s literature worldwide.

Today we celebrate the inimitable Kay Thompson, born November 9, 1909 with the unpromising name Catherine Fink. A brilliant composer, dancer, singer, and author, Thompson was above all a tremendous personality.  In the words of film critic, Rex Reed, “If you don’t know who Kay Thompson is, please turn the page. You just flunked pizazz. Legend has it that she even invented the word.”

Today we celebrate the troubled life and complex literary contributions of French journalist, playwright, and philosopher Albert Camus (7 November 1913 - 4 January 1960).  He died during a car crash when he was just 46, but managed in his short career to define a major philosophical movement, become a household name, and earn the Nobel Prize.

Today we celebrate the life of the English poet John Keats. Keats was born on October 31, 1795 in London, England and died a very short 25 years later in Rome, Italy of tuberculosis. With such a short life, most would assume that he could not have produced much, if anything, of worth. Yet Keats is perhaps one of the most well known of the English Romantic Poets. Through his poetry he sought the perfection of poetry filled with vivid imagery that expressed philosophy through classic, often Greek, legend.

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is one of literature’s most renowned mysteries; Sherlock Holmes is on the case after a ghostly hound stalks, and perhaps kills, Sir Charles Baskerville. Written in 1901, it is now part of school curriculums and popularized in film and television. Yet despite cultural familiarity with the novel, the allegations of adultery, plagiarism, and murder that haunt its creation remain largely unknown.

When Modernist ideals and styles began to flourish among English and American poets during the 1910s and 1920s, Ezra Pound was at the forefront of the movement. As an American expatriate to Europe, he has been credited with creating a bridge between the two continents that helped global poetic trends to shift and merge together. Critics also claim that Pound created the definitive examples of what a Modernist poem should look like.

Halloween is the time for ghouls, goblins, witches, and...ghosts. In the art world, ghosts aren't merely the phantoms, banshees, and spooks of horror stories; there are also ghosts of the pen. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart would ghostwrite music for wealthy patrons, and plenty of famous authors have written works on behalf of others as well.