LITERATURE

ANWAR, Chairil (LITERATURE)

Born: Medan, North Sumatra, 26 July 1922. Education: Dutch schools for indigenous Indonesians in Medan, HIS (primary) and MULO (junior high school). Family: Married to Hapsah, 1946 (divorced late 1948); one daughter. Career: Abandoned secondary education after moving to Jakarta with his mother in 1940; followed a bohemian lifestyle, reading widely, and mixing with many […]

APOLLINAIRE, Guillaume (LITERATURE)

Born: Guillaume Apollinaris de Kostrowitzky in Rome, Italy, 26 August 1880. Education: Educated in Monte Carlo, Cannes, and Nice, until 1897. Military Service: Served in World War I, 1914-16: invalided out. Family: Married Jacqueline Kolb in 1918. Career: Moved to the Ardennes, 1899; began using name Apollinaire, 1901; tutor in Germany, 1901-02; freelance writer and […]

APOLLONIUS OF RHODES (LITERATURE)

Born: Apollonius Rhodius in Alexandria, Egypt, possibly c. 295 BC. Active during first half of 3rd century BC, and possibly later. Education: Studied under Callimachus, q.v.: said to have quarrelled with Callimachus and retired to Rhodes, but evidence for this is unreliable. Career: Held post of director (prostates) of the Museum Library at Alexandria, possibly […]

APULEIUS, Lucius (LITERATURE)

Born: Madaura, province of Africa (now M’Daourouch, Algeria), c. ad 123-25. Education: Educated in Carthage, Athens, and Rome. Family: Married Aemilia Pudentilla; possibly had a son called Faustinus. Career: Lived in Oea (now Tripoli) where he married; acquitted of a charge of magic at nearby Sabratha; later lived in Carthage, where his success in public […]

ARAGON, Louis (LITERATURE)

Born: Paris, France, 3 October 1897. Education: Educated at the Lycee Saint-Pierre, Neuilly, 1908-14; studied medicine, University of Paris, 1916-17. Military Service: Served in the French army,medical auxiliary, 1918; medical corps, 1939-40, captured by the Nazis, escaped; active with the French Resistance, 1940-45: Croix de Guerre, 1918. Family: Married the writer Elsa Kagan Triolet in […]

ARENAS, Reinaldo (LITERATURE)

Born: Oriente Province, Cuba, 16 July 1943. Education: Studied agricultural accountancy at a vocational secondary school and the University of Havana, 1959-1962; also studied philosophy and literature without completing his degree. Military Service: Spent 1958 in the ranks of Fidel Castro’s revolutionary movement. Career: Briefly worked in agricultural accounting at a farm in rural Oriente […]

ARETINO, Pietro (LITERATURE)

Born: Arezzo, Florentine Republic (now in Italy), 20 April 1492. Education: Studied poetry and painting in Perugia. Family: Had two daughters, the first by Caterina Sandella. Career: Moved to Perugia, 1508; First poetry published, 1512; moved to Rome, 1517, under protection of Agostino Chigi, and entered political and artistic circles; under protection of Pope Leo […]

ARGUEDAS, Jose Maria (Altamirano) (LITERATURE)

Born: Andahuaylas, Apunmac region, Peru, 18 January 1911. Education: Educated at Colegio Miguel Grau de los Padres Mercedarios, Abancay, 1924-25; Colegio San Luis Gonzaga, Ica, 1926-27; Colegio Santa Isabel, Huancayo, 1928-30; Colegio de Mercedarios, Lima, 1929-30; studied literature and anthropology at San Marcos University, Lima, 1931-32 (university closed by authorities, 1932), 1935-37, 1947-50, degree 1957, […]

ARGUETA, Manlio (LITERATURE)

Born: San Miguel, El Salvador, 24 November 1935. Education: Doctorate in Law and Social Sciences at the University of El Salvador. Career: Lived in exile in Costa Rica, where he taught at the Universidad de Costa Rica and directed Editorial Universitaria Centroamericana, an important Central American publishing house, 1972-1993; since returning to El Salvador in […]

ARIOSTO, Ludovico (LITERATURE)

Born: Reggio Emilia, Ferrara territory (now in Italy), 8 September 1474. Education: Studied in the law faculty, University of Ferrara, 1489-94. Family: Married Alessandra Benucci Strozzi in late 1520s; two earlier illegitimate children, whom he recognized. Career: Took a court post during the political unrest of the 1490s; captain of the garrison, Canossa, 1502-03; courtier, […]

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →