The Dead Writers Round-Up: April 17th-19th

Posted on by
  • Marie de Sévigné died on 4/17/1696. “The desire to be singular and to astonish by ways out of the common seems to me to be the source of many virtues.” (A voluminous correspondence, via letters to her daughter)
  • Isak Dinesen was born on 4/17/1885. “The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea.” (Seven Gothic Tales; Out of Africa; Anecdotes of Destiny)
  • Thornton Wilder was born on 4/17/1897. “Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it?” (The Long Christmas Dinner; Our Town; The Merchant of Yonkers; The Skin of Our Teeth; The Matchmaker; The Bridge of San Luis Rey; Ides of March; The Eighth Day)
  • Basil Bunting died on 4/17/1985. “Always carry a corkscrew and the wine shall provide itself.” (Briggflatts)
  • Richard Harding Davis was born on 4/18/1864. “The secret of good writing is to say an old thing in a new way or to say a new thing in an old way.” (Stories for Boys; About Paris; The Princess Aline; The King’s Jackal; With Both Armies; Once Upon a Time)
  • Ben Hecht died on 4/18/1964. “The rule in the art world is: you cater to the masses or you kowtow to the elite; you can’t have both.” (The Front Page; Hazel Flagg; 1001 Afternoons in Chicago; A Child of the Century; and dozens of terrific screenplays)
  • Marcel Pagnol died on 4/18/1974. “The most difficult secret for a man to keep is his own opinion of himself.” (Merchants of Glory; Topaze; Fanny)
  • Richard Hughes was born on 4/19/1900. “All that non-fiction can do is answer questions. It’s fiction’s business to ask them.” (A High Wind in Jamaica; The Fox in the Attic)
Marie de Sevigne
Karen Blixsen (Isak Dinesen) and her brother, Thomas Dinesen, 1920s
Thornton Wilder, Yale graduation photo, 1920
Richard Harding Davis
Ben Hecht, circa 1919
Marcel Pagnol, 1931

 

18 thoughts on “The Dead Writers Round-Up: April 17th-19th”

Leave a comment