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SUMMARY: Herman Melville (August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet
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Herman Melville was an American author best known for his masterpiece called “Moby Dick.” He also wrote many short stories, poems, and essays during his life. Moby Dick, was not a success during his lifetime but was rediscovered during the twentieth century in America and around the world. He has had a great influence on American literature, as well as literature around the world. Here is a short biography of his life and some accomplishments.

Childhood

Herman Melville was born on August 1, 1819 in New York City.

He was the third of eight children.

Herman’s Father was an importer of French dry goods

His mother came from a wealthy family but they seldom received financial help.

In 1826 Herman Melville’s father died from a sudden illness. Herman was only twelve at the time and his father’s passing left the family in poverty.

After his Father’s death Maria Gansevoort Melville raised her children alone. It was through her influence that biblical stories became a large part of Herman’s life.

At the age of twelve Herman contracted scarlet fever and his eyesight was permanently weakened.

From the age of twelve he worked as a clerk, teacher, and farmhand.

Life

1837-1840 were mostly spent teaching school.

1841 Herman sailed from Fairhaven, Massachusetts on the whaler Achushnet for the Pacific ocean. There was not much recorded during the next 18 months, but his two pieces “Moby Dick” and “The Whale” may give some insight as to what he saw and how he occupied his time.

Herman spent three weeks on the Marquesas Islands with the native people and then moved onto the island of Hawaii where he remained for four months.

Herman Melville married Elizabeth Shaw on August 4 1847.

Herman and Elizabeth had four children, two sons and two daughters.

Melville and Shaw purchased a farmhouse in Massachusetts and lived there for thirteen years.

He met Nathaniel Hawthorne here and was inspired by his new relationship with Hawthorne.

From 1857-1860 he decided to enter the field of lecturing. He spoke at lyceums.

In 1863 he and his wife moved to New York City along with their four children.

Herman’s writing career seemed to be going nowhere along with his family. His wife was unhappy and in 1867 his oldest son shot himself.

Melville got a job working as a customs inspector for the City of New York which paid adequately. He worked there for nineteen years.

Melville’s Work

All of his novels were published first in the United Kingdom and afterwards in the United States.

Moby Dick became Herman Melville’s famous piece of work and is quite possibly considered the greatest literary work of all time. During Melville’s life his book didn’t even sell more than the number that had been originally printed which was 3000. It would not become famous until thirty years later.

He also wrote a number of fictional poetic pieces.

Later Life

Melville was a member of the Unitarian Church in New York City

Herman Melville died in his home on September 28 1891 at the age of 72.

Herman Melville was a great literary influence during his life and after he died. His most famous pieces of work did not become so until after his death. He reached many people in his quest to do what he loved; write.

SUMMARY: Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862) American author, naturalist, transcendentalist, tax resister, development critic, and philosopher
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Henry David Thoreau was an American author best known for “Walden” which was a reflection on simple living. He is also remembered for his “Civil Disobedience” essay which he wrote as an argument for resistance to civil government in opposition to an unjust state. His writings total over more than 20 volumes.

Henry David Thoreau was name after a deceased uncle name David Thoreau, but did not take on the name Henry until after he graduated from college. He studied at Harvard University for four years (1833-1837) taking a variety of courses such as classics, philosophy, mathematics, and science. During those four years in Harvard he took a leave of absence in 1835 and taught school in Massachusetts. He did not receive a tangible diploma as he refused to pay the five dollars required for a Harvard diploma. After graduation he joined the Concord Academy as a faculty member but refused to administer corporal punishment so he was, naturally dismissed from the school. He then in 1837 opened a grammar school with his brother John. Henry and John grew up closely as John was the one who helped him pay tuition while attending Harvard. In 1842 John cut himself while shaving and died of lockjaw in Henry’s arms. This was devastating for Henry and took many years for him to recover from the traumatic event. He worked for several more years, but at the age of 28 he decided he wanted to write a book so picked up his things and moved to Walden. He built a cabin on land owned by Emerson.

Emerson was an advocate of Thoreau’s work and constantly encouraged him to submit essays and poems to the quarterly periodical. In 1841 Henry David Thoreau moved into to the Emerson home and served there as a tutor for the children, and editorial assistant, and a gardener.

After helping with the Emerson family for just over two years, Henry Thoreau returned to Concord. Very few people were interested in his book “Walden” so he spent most of the time surveying and making pencils. He went through a restless period in which he and his friend Edward accidentally set fire to 300 acres of Walden Woods. He was an abolitionist and delivered lectures that attacked the slave laws. His thoughts and writings had a great influence on many other political leaders such as Gandhi, and Martin Luther King.

Until the 1970’s Thoreau’s writings were criticized greatly and consider very amateur. With environmental history and ecocriticism on the rise, people began to take more interest in his writing more seriously. Many of his readers mistakingly thought that Henry’s tone in his writings and books was a bit harsh and cranky. Edward Emerson said to this that he was one of the kindest neighbors and found great joy in his daily life. He frequently traveled to Maine woods and to Cape Cod; opposed the government for waging the Mexican war to extend slavery and then wrote “Resistance to Civil Government.” This particular writing was a brief book about his experience in jail.

Henry Thoreau first contracted tuberculosis in 1835 and suffered from it over the years. After a late night excursion counting tree rings, he became ill with bronchitis. His health continued to decline. Henry David Thoreau died on May 6 1862 at the age of 44. He left a number of different books, essays, and poetry behind, along with a journal that has been published comprising of more than 20 volumes. To some he was a friend, others a writer, and others just plain nonsense. His memory is honored by the international Thoreau Society.

SUMMARY: Helen Keller (June 27, 1880 – June 1, 1968) American author, deaf blind activist, lecturer
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Early Childhood
Helen Keller was born on June 27 1880 on an estate called Ivy Green in Tuscumbia Alabama, a small rural town. She was the daughter of Captain Arthur Henley Keller and Kate Adams Keller. She was born with full sight and hearing. Helen grew up in a modest home that was built by her grandparents. They were far from wealthy as her father earned his living from both a cotton plantation and by working as an editor of the local newspaper. It was not until she was nineteen months old that Helen lost her sight and hearing as she was stricken with an illness described as “acute congestion of the stomach and brain.” It is thought today that the illness might have been scarlet fever or meningitis. She wasn’t expected to live so when the fever finally came down, Helen’s family was ecstatic believing that their daughter would be well once again. Helen’s mother was the first to notice that her daughter was not responding to familiar sounds such as the dinner bell. She also noticed that she did not respond to seeing things such as a hand being passed in front of her face. It appeared that the illness left lasting effects on the small girl. The next few years were extremely difficult for the Keller family as Helen became a difficult child. Her temper tantrums and screams echoed throughout the house and became more frequent. Relatives regarded her as a monster. At the time Martha Washington helped Helen communicate with the rest of her family by helping create a sign language. By the time she had turned seven years old she had over 60 home signs to help her communicate her wants and needs. Although she could communicate, her temperament did not change much and she became too much for her parents to handle so Helen’s mother sought for some extra advice. She traveled to a specialist doctor in Baltimore who gave them much hope for helping Helen overcome her problems. Alexander Graham Bell suggested that they find help for Helen at the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind. The recommendation for Helen was a former student by the name of Anne Sullivan.

Anne Sullivan
Anne Sullivan was also blind and had been educated as such. When she arrived at the Keller home she saw the need for Helen to receive some immediate discipline treatment. She asked for permission to isolate Helen from the rest of her family and their small garden house. Her big breakthrough with communicating came when Helen realized that the motions her teacher was making while running water over her hand symbolized the idea of “water.” She became very curious after that, wanting to know the names of everything she now knew in her small world. She soon wanted to learn how to speak as others so Anne Sullivan taught her to speak using the Tadoma method of touching your lips and throat to understand others as they speak. This combined with finger spelling on the palm of her hand led to a more successful way of communicating. She eventually also learned Braille and used it to read English, French, German, Greek, and Latin.

Later Years
In 1896 Helen moved on to the Cambridge School for Young ladies and then in 1900 she entered the Radcliffe College. Helen wrote her first book that was published in 1903, “The Story of my Life” which sold poorly at the time, but has since become a classic. In 1904 she graduated from College with a Bachelor of Arts degree. She went on to become a world famous speaker and was an advocate for all people with disabilities. She suffered many strokes in 1961 and spent the last few years of her life at home. She died on June 1 1968 just before her 88th birthday.

SUMMARY: Hans Christian Andersen (April 2, 1805 – August 4, 1875) Danish novelist, fairy tales writer
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Hans Christian Andersen, most famously known for his fairy tales like “The Little Mermaid”, “The Ugly Duckling” and “The Emperor’s New Clothes” has left his mark on both the adult literature world as well as young children.

Hans Christian Andersen was born on April 2 1805 in Odense Denmark. He is most known as Hans Christian Andersen with English sources, but in his native land he is known as H.C. Andersen. Using the initials of somebody’s name in Denmark is part of an accepted custom. His grandmother told him that their family once had been in a higher social class; however this was never proven to be true. The only connection to royalty that the family had was work related. The idea that he was somehow the illegitimate son of the Danish King began long ago as the King took a remarkable interest in Hans Christian Andersen when he was a youth. He paid for his education. No one has ever proven though as rumors about his “royal” decent. The Danish King’s interest in Hans Christian may have had something to do with the boy’s vast imagination. He was a very intelligent boy who as a child made himself a toy theatre, along with puppets and clothes to play with. He read many Shakespearean and Holberg plays throughout his childhood and developed a deep passion for literature. He could memorize entire plays and would recite them while he played with is paper dolls as actors.

Hans Christian Anderson lost his father at the age of eleven and found himself working as an apprentice for a weaver and a tailor. He was often made fun of for his interest in acting and playing with “dolls” by co-workers and at the age of fourteen he moved from his home town to Copenhagen to seek employment as an actor in a theatre. At a young age he proved to have a nice soprano voice and succeeded in working in the Royal Danish Theatre until his voice changed in which he changed his focus to writing. It seems that fortune shone upon Hans Christian in his youth because he then ended up meeting Jonas Collin who took a particular interest in the boy. He sent him to grammar school in Slagelse and paid all of his expenses and tuition. Like many other genius men he did not enjoy his school studies but continued to educate himself. He was abused by his schoolmaster in order to “build character” and described his school years as one of the darkest times in his life. His was alienated from the other students and had very few, if any friends. His teachers strongly encouraged him not to write as he was dyslexic. He later became fluent in many different languages such as German, Dutch and English. His first story that was published was called “The Ghost at Palnatoke’s Grave” which was published before he even began grammar school.

As an early writer Hans Christian Andersen had much success with a short story called “A Journey on Foot from Holmen’s Canal to the East Point of Amager.” But it wasn’t until 1833 that he hit success again thanks to the Danish King. The King gave him a considerable grant for making a journey across Europe in which he was inspired to write “Agnete and the Merman” and “The Improvisatore.” The latter became an immediate success. In 1835 he began to write his well known Fairy Tales and competed volume on in 1837. Ironically the well known fairy tales that we love were not successful at the time, but he continued to write two more novels which continued to have success. .

In 1847 he was invited to a party thrown by the Countess of Blessington where he met Charles Dickens to which he wrote in his diary, “… I was so happy to see and speak to England’s now living writer, whom I love the most.” He visited Charles Dickens ten years later and over stayed his welcome somewhat. He never quite understood why Dickens stopped answering the letters he wrote to him.

In the spring of 1872, Hans Christian Andersen fell out of his bed and injured himself badly. He then went to live with a friend named Moritz Melchior where he died a painful death on August 4 1875. He received a stipend from the Danish Government as a “national treasure” and a stature now stands in his honor in Copenhagen.

Hans Christian Andersen leaves behind a legacy of literature. Some most popular are:
• Thumbelina
• The Ugly Duckling
• The Little Mermaid
• The Princess and the Pea
• The Tinder Box
His literature continues to be sold all over the world and is loved by many.

SUMMARY: H. G. Wells (September 21, 1866 – August 13, 1946) British Novelist, Teacher, Historian,Journalist
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H.G. Wells, otherwise known as Herbert George Wells was a well known fiction and non-fiction writer. He is most known for his science fiction novels such as “The Time Machine” and “The War of the Worlds.” He was born on September 21 1866 in Bromley, Kent, England. Let’s take a closer look at his life and accomplishments.

H.G. Wells was the last born in the family of Joseph Wells and Sarah Neal. He was born at the Atlas House on 47th Street, Bromley in Kent County. They were a middle class family that purchased a china shop hoping to make some money with it but soon realized it would never amount to much at all. There were many things in the life of Herbert George Wells that pointed him in the direction he took. Some of the events are as follows:
1. 1833- Herbert George Wells became an assistant teacher at Midhurst Grammar School until he received a scholarship to the Royal College of Science (formerly known as the Normal School of Science). He became the first School President in 1909. He lived quite comfortably with a weekly allowance of twenty shillings a week.
2. 1874- When he was seven years old he had an accident that left him bedridden with two broken legs. As a young boy he decided to pass the time reading which greatly influenced and gave a spark to his imaginative writing career.
3. Late 1874- Herbert George Wells entered Thomas Morley’s Commercial Academy. This was a private school that he attended in 1880.
4. 1877- Joseph Wells has an accident fracturing his thighs and putting him completely out of work and placing the family in much need of an income. Herbert George was placed as an apprentice to various occupations to help with the family make some income. His experience as a draper was dismal but inspired writing for his novel “The Wheels of Chance” and “Kipps.”
5. After many disappointing apprentice-ships he ended up in Uppark which had an amazing library which Wells immersed himself into.
6. 1890- Herbert George Wells earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology from the University of London

The Personal Side of H.G. Wells
After graduating Wells found himself with no source of income but was invited to stay with his Aunt Mary. He then met his cousin Isabel whom he married only a year later in 1891. The marriage lasted only three short years and Wells left her for another woman named Amy Catherine Robbins. They married in 1895 and had two sons; George Philip (1901), and Frank Richard (1903). Although legally wed to one woman, he had many affairs with other women and consequently other children. In 1909 he had a daughter named Anna Jane with the write Amber Reeves. And in 1914 he had another son named Anthony West by the feminist novelist Rebecca West, who was twenty six years younger than him. His wife Amy Catherine remained married to Wells until she died in 1927.
Wells, bestselling novel was called “Anticipations” which he wrote in 1901. It was a piece about anticipating what the world would be like in the year 2000 and hit many of our modern inventions right on the money. He also as a method of self expression did a lot of sketching which usually ended up in his diaries. His art covered many topics from political commentary, to his current romantic interests. A book has been recently published on his “picshuas” sketches. And not only was he a writer and artist, he also has etched his way into the world of gaming. He sought a more structured way to play war games and wrote “Floor Games” and “Little Wars” while searching for that structure. He is recognized and regarded today as the “Father of Miniature War gaming.”

H.G. Wells has left his mark on many different aspects of society today. A well known writer, artist, and gamer he overcame many grueling obstacles to get to where he wanted to go.

SUMMARY: Groucho Marx (October 2, 1890 – August 19, 1977) American comedian, actor
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Groucho Marx, otherwise known as Julius Henry “Groucho” Marx is most notably known as a comedian but also has had much experience with film making. His most known pieces of film work are with his siblings, the Marx Brothers.

Early Life
• Grew up in New York City in a Jewish Neighborhood

• His mother Minnie Marx had high ambitions for her children to go in to the acting business.
• Their first act together was as a singing group known as “The Four Nightingales.” The group included Julius Marx, Milton Marx, and Adolph Marx.

• Julius, Milton, and Arthur (formerly known as Adolph Marx), after a disheartening music performance began making jokes onstage for their own amusement. Apparently the crowd liked them better as comedians than as singers. For the next seven years the Marx Brothers performed the skit “Fun in Hi Skule” instead of doing singing performances.

Each brother developed their own character for the comedy acts. Julius started out as a German character, but after the RMS Lusitania sank in 1915 he quickly changed his character to the fast talking wise guy that would make him famous.

The Marx brothers became a Broadway sensation which would soon lead to their Hollywood career. By the time they had finished their first movie they were already famous celebrities.
During the 1930’s and 1940’s Marx began working as a radio comedian and show host. He was then asked to host a radio quiz program called “You Bet Your Life.” It was filmed before a live audience where Marx would interview the contestants and ad lib jokes.
During his career he made many songs in film extremely memorable. Some of those memorable songs are “Everyone Says I love You” Hooray for Captain Spaulding” and “Hello I Must Be Going.”

Personal Life

• Marx was married and divorced three times during the course of his life. His first marriage took place on February 4^th 1920 to Ruth Johnson. They were divorced on July 15 1942. They had two children together, Arthur and Miriam.

• His second marriage took place on February 24 1945 to Kay Marvis Gorcey. They were divorced on May 12 1951. They together had one daughter named Melinda.

• His third wife was an actress named Eden Hartford and they were married on July 17 1954; divorced on December 4 1969.

• Marx had no formal education but wrote many books including his autobiography.

Later Years

• He was the TV show host for The Tonight Show and introduced Johnny Carson as the new host.
• He appeared as “God” in the movie skidoo which proved to be a failure and got negative reviews. This was his last theatrical film appearance.

• He made a come back in the 70’s by doing a live one-man-show. He released a double album on A&M records; appeared on a live show with Bill Cosby; and accompanied Elton John to the performance of Jesus Christ Superstar where he gave two witticisms as the lights went down.

Groucho’s works became popular again but by this time had become weak and frail.

• Marx was hospitalized with pneumonia on June 22 1977

• Marx died at the age of 86 in Mission Hills, Los Angeles California on August 19 1977. He was cremated at the Eden Memorial Park Cemetary. His death did not receive very much publicity as it occurred three days after the death of Elvis Presley.

SUMMARY: Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) German poet, novelist, playwright
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Goethe held many different titles and names during his life. Some of which he is known for are poet, novelist, scientist, theatre director, playwright, and philosopher. He is considered today to be one of the greatest German Literary figures of the modern era. He has without a doubt left his mark upon society. But who was Johann Wolfgang von Goethe? Here is a short synopsis of his life.

Birth and Early Life
• Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born in Frankfurt Germany to Johan Caspar Goethe and Catharine Elisabeth Textor. Goethe and a sister were the only two children of their parents to survive past a young age. Goethe received education in all subjects and language from his father and from other private teachers. His greatest passion while growing up was drawing when led him to a keen interest in literature. By the time he was eight years old he already knew how to speak Greek, Latin, French, and Italian. His love for the artist no doubt stemmed from his mother who had a knack for storytelling, and his favorite toy puppet sparked his first interest in a life on the stage.

• When Goethe was sixteen he was sent to Leipzig to study law (1965-1768). He was not much for the judicial rules and actually detested the structure. He would much rather attend poetry readings which is where he fell in love with Katchen Schonkopf and began writing poetry versus about her. His first collection of poems titled “Annette” was released in 1970, undoubtedly about his first love. Unfortunately because his studies seemed to be on low priority and did not show improvement he was asked to leave and returned to Frankfurt in August of 1768.

• After returning to Frankfurt in 1768 Goethe became very sick and as a result the relationship with his father became worse. As his mother nursed him back to health, he proved to not enjoy bed rest much and became extremely bored. During this recovery time he wrote an impudent crime comedy but his father grew impatient with him and sent him back to finish his studies in law. He loved Strasbourg and here he met Johann Gottfried Herder who sparked the young man’s interest in Shakespeare. He fell in love with another young woman whom he ended the relationship quickly, but much of his writing at this time reflected the relationship he had been in.

Later Life

• In 1782 Goethe was ennobled
• 1786-1788 Goethe travels to the Italian peninsula which proves to be of great significance for his philosophical development.
• 1782 Goethe declares that he is a “decided non Christian.”
• 1792 Goethe takes part in a battle of Valmy against revolutionary France
• 1806 Goethe married Christiane Vulpius

At the age of 74 Goethe fell in love with a 19 year old girl by the name of Ulrike von Levetzow. He had high hopes for their relationship but was sorely disappointed so returned to Weimar. He wrote a very personal poem called Marienbad. Goethe died in 1832 on March 22. He was buried with Schiller who had died much earlier. after having written many things and contributed to the culture of literature greatly. He was a key figure in German literature and is remembered by many literary figures.

SUMMARY: Richard Feynman (May 11, 1918 – February 15, 1988) American physicist
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Richard Feynman (1918-1988) was a famous American physicist. Now, he was not your typical physicist. Not to generalize too much, but people have pretty standard ideas about what a physicist will look like, behave like, dress like, and so forth—for example, the scientists you find in the Far Side might typify your average person’s idea of a physicist. Nerdy, huge headed, bald, with glasses, a lab coat, etc. But Feynman had a little rock ’n roll in him. He dressed very casually—Feynman was a T-shirt kind of guy, a T-shirt and sneakers physicist. He had long, wavy hair, he was handsome; he looked mischievous all the time, as if he’d left a whoopee cushion on your chair.

Now, why spend so much time on this boyish aspect of Feynman; why try to separate him from the physicist herd on the basis of his looks, right off? That’s a good question, but in this instance you have someone whose outward appearance really conformed to his inward personality, and many people believe that it was this T-shirt and tennis shoes aspect of Feynman that helped him to make his exciting and important discoveries. That is, he didn’t think gravely and solemnly as befitting an eminent scientist; he thought about physics with the reckless, curious, adventurous, risk-taking excitement of a child; you know how a child his, excitedly trooping to the backyard with his jar and butterfly net. Not only did this youthful tendency help him in his discoveries, it helped him to become a great and magnetic teacher as well. Students swarmed to hear Feynman lecture, and suddenly a subject that seemed intimidating and cold and out of bounds became this wild adventure.

Feynman, then, quite apart from his discoveries, helped to make physics interesting and approachable for the average person. He published many books in his lifetime, avoiding highly complicated scientific jargon and developing a style that made the complicated subject of physics available to anyone who cared to take a look. Many of his live lectures were recorded and are available on CD, so that you can hear him lecture with all of the pauses, jokes, asides, inspirations, digressions, etc., that made him such a popular professor to begin with.

For those who are interested in the man behind the lectures, Feynman wrote two very popular autobiographical books as well. These help to give insight into how and why and who Feynman was. Years after his death, they still sell very well, and can be found at any local bookstore or online.

Feynman was something of a prodigy from a very early age. Interestingly, however, his I.Q. was only scored at 123—one point below Ted Bundy’s. Not just interestingly, some would say, but inspiringly—Feynman proved that you can be a genius without having a genius’s I.Q. (Feynman disparaged such tests, anyhow, claiming that they couldn’t tell anybody anything fundamental about a person’s intelligence, abilities, creativity, etc.) Anyhow, from very early on Feynman took a keen interest in mathematics and science, and from very early on his unconventional approach to these subjects was made manifest in the classroom. One day, for example, he (along with the rest of his class) was informed that the lecture for that day would be on feline anatomy. Feynman asked the teacher, “Do you have a map of the cat?”

“Do you have a map of the cat?” might very well sum Feynman up in one line. He meant, of course, do you have an illustration of feline anatomy, but he essentially saw the world as a boy does—as a gigantic treasure map with plenty of unexplored territory.

Feynman would go on to gain perfect scores on his entrance exams to Princeton, where he began his lifelong career of discovering and explicating more and more of the “map of the cat.” He eventually received the Noble Prize for his efforts, and is a fine example of the particularly American style of getting a job done.