Mervyn Peake, who died on November 17, 1968, crafted a literary world defined by shadow, grandeur, and imagination. His Gormenghast trilogy stands as a monumental fusion of Gothic atmosphere and poetic precision, proving that English prose can be both dreamlike and rigorously constructed.
Death of Mervyn Peake (1911 – 1968) – The Gothic Architect of English Imagination
Born on November 12, 1929, Michael Ende transformed fantasy into philosophy and storytelling into reflection. Through The Neverending Story and Momo, he gave English readers a new language of imagination — one where reading becomes creation and stories never end, only begin again in the mind of each reader.
Birth of Michael Ende (1929 – 1995) – The Dreamsmith of Infinite Storytelling
Born on November 9, 1928, Anne Sexton redefined modern poetry by turning confession into art. Her fearless voice transformed private anguish into public language, reshaping English verse with intimacy, rhythm, and raw emotion. Through her candor, she gave pain eloquence — and vulnerability, its own poetic form.
Birth of Anne Sexton (1928 – 1974) – The Confessional Voice That Redefined English-Language Poetry
A woman recently reached out to me after finding the snippets of my translation of Alexander Voloshin’s Sidetracked: Exile in Hollywood. Attached to her email was the photo above. Her parents, who had gone through German DP camps and settled in Los Angeles in 1949, befriended Voloshin and his wife, Helen, in the ’50s, frequently […]
Face to Face with Alexander Voloshin
Born on November 7, 1913, Albert Camus gave English a new moral language — lucid, humane, and quietly rebellious. Through translation, his French voice reshaped English prose, teaching it to speak of absurdity, dignity, and revolt with clarity. In his words, truth became courage, and simplicity, strength.
Birth of Albert Camus (1913 – 1960) – The Philosopher-Poet of the Absurd
Written in English (the author’s second language), Slanting Towards the Sea is the debut novel by the Croatian writer Lidija Hilje – a new name to me, but one I will be looking out for again in the future. Published in the UK by Daunt Books – a mark of quality, if ever there was […]
Slanting Towards the Sea by Lidija Hilje
On November 2, 1960, a London jury declared Lady Chatterley’s Lover “not guilty” of obscenity — freeing not only a book but the English language itself. The verdict ended an era of censorship and began one of honesty, where love, class, and desire could finally be written in plain speech.
The Lady Chatterley’s Lover Trial (1960) – Breaking the Silence of English Literature
Henry Green (1905–1973) redefined English prose through silence, rhythm, and understatement. His novels transformed everyday speech into art, revealing emotion in the unsaid and poetry in the ordinary. A quiet modernist, Green’s restrained style proved that English fiction could whisper truth more powerfully than it could shout.
Birth of Henry Green (1905 – 1973) – The Quiet Modernist of English Prose
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