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The Naked And The Dead
''The Naked and the Dead'' is a novel written by Norman Mailer. Published by Rinehart & Company in 1948, when he was 25, it was his debut novel. It depicts the experiences of a platoon during World War II, based partially on Mailer's experiences as a cook with the 112th Cavalry Regiment during the Philippines Campaign in World War II. The book quickly became a bestseller, paving the way for other Mailer works such as ''The Deer Park'', '' Advertisements for Myself'', and '' The Time of Our Time''. He believed ''The Naked and the Dead'' to be his most renowned work. It was the first popular novel about the war and is considered one of the greatest English-language novels. It was adapted into a film in 1958. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked ''The Naked and the Dead'' 51st on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. Plot The novel is divided into four parts: Wave; Argil and Mold; Plant and Phantom; and Wake. Within these parts are chorus sectio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Norman Mailer
Nachem Malech Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007), known by his pen name Norman Kingsley Mailer, was an American writer, journalist and filmmaker. In a career spanning more than six decades, Mailer had 11 best-selling books, at least one in each of the seven decades after World War II. His novel ''The Naked and the Dead'' was published in 1948 and brought him early renown. His 1968 nonfiction novel ''The Armies of the Night'' won the Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction as well as the National Book Award. Among his other well-known works are ''An American Dream (novel), An American Dream'' (1965), ''The Fight (book), The Fight'' (1975) and ''The Executioner's Song'' (1979), which won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Mailer is considered an innovator of "creative nonfiction" or "New Journalism", along with Gay Talese, Truman Capote, Hunter S. Thompson, Joan Didion and Tom Wolfe, a genre that uses the style and devices of literary fiction in factual journalism. He was a promin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Allan Bérubé
Allan Bérubé (pronounced BEH-ruh-bay; December 3, 1946 – December 11, 2007) was a gay American historian, activist, independent scholar, self-described "community-based" researcher and college drop-out, and award-winning author, best known for his research and writing about homosexual members of the American Armed Forces during World War II. He also wrote essays about the intersection of class and race in gay culture, and about growing up in a poor, working-class family, his French-Canadian roots, and about his experience of anti-AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ... activism. Bérubé's principal work of history was the 1990 book ''Coming Out Under Fire (book), Coming Out Under Fire'', which examined the lives of gay men and women in the U.S. military b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Ides Of March (novel)
''The Ides of March'' is an epistolary novel by Thornton Wilder that was published in 1948. In the author's words, it is 'a fantasia on certain events and persons of the last days of the Roman republic. Historical reconstruction is not among the primary aims of this work'. The novel deals with the characters and events leading to, and culminating in, the assassination of Julius Caesar. Context The novel is divided into four books, each starting earlier and ending later than the previous book. Catullus' poems and the closing section by Suetonius are the only documents in the book that are not imagined; however, many of the events are historical, such as Cleopatra's visit to Rome. Though the novel describes events leading up to Caesar's assassination on 15 March 44 BC, several earlier events are described as if they were contemporary. Thus, the violation of the Bona Dea mysteries by Publius Clodius Pulcher, Caesar's subsequent divorce of his second wife Pompeia, and the circulati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cry, The Beloved Country
''Cry, the Beloved Country'' is a 1948 novel by South African writer Alan Paton. Set in the prelude to apartheid in South Africa, it follows a black village priest and a white farmer who must deal with news of a murder. American publisher Bennett Cerf remarked at that year's meeting of the American Booksellers Association that there had been "only three novels published since the first of the year that were worth reading… ''Cry, The Beloved Country'', '' The Ides of March'', and '' The Naked and the Dead''.""Reader's Digest: Gossip, news: J. F. Albright reports on A.B.A. meeting", ''The Dallas Morning News'', 30 May 1948, p. 6. It remains one of the best-known works of South African literature. Two cinema adaptations of the book have been made, the first in 1951 and the second in 1995. The novel was also adapted as a musical called '' Lost in the Stars'' (1949), with a book by the American writer Maxwell Anderson and music composed by the German emigre Kurt Weill. Plo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bennett Cerf
Bennett Alfred Cerf (May 25, 1898 – August 27, 1971) was an American writer, publisher, and co-founder of the American publishing firm Random House. Cerf was also known for his own compilations of jokes and puns, for regular personal appearances lecturing across the United States, and for his weekly television appearances for over 17 years on the panel game show ''What's My Line?'' Early life and education Cerf was born on May 25, 1898, in Manhattan, New York City, to a Jewish family of Alsatian and German ethnicity. Cerf's father Gustave Cerf was a lithographer; his mother, Frederika Wise, was heiress to a tobacco-distribution fortune. She died when Bennett was 16; shortly afterward, her brother Herbert moved into the Cerf household and became a strong literary and social influence on the teenager. Cerf graduated from Townsend Harris Hall Prep School in Hamilton Heights in 1916, the same public school as publisher Richard Simon, author Herman Wouk, and playwright Howard ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Fugs
The Fugs are an American rock band formed in New York City in late 1964, by the poets Ed Sanders and Tuli Kupferberg, with Ken Weaver (musician), Ken Weaver on drums. Soon afterward, they were joined by Peter Stampfel and Steve Weber of the Holy Modal Rounders. Kupferberg named the band from a euphemism for ''fuck'' used in Norman Mailer's novel ''The Naked and the Dead''. The band was one of the leaders of the Underground culture, underground scene of the 1960s and became an important part of the American counterculture of the 1960s, counterculture of that decade. The group is known for its comedic, even lewd, nature but also earned fame through its persistent anti-Vietnam War sentiment during the 1960s. A famous song of theirs was "Kill for Peace", on their 1966 album The Fugs (album), The Fugs. Some 1969 correspondence, found inside an FBI file on the rock group the Doors, called the Fugs the "most vulgar thing the human mind could possibly conceive". They have been derided f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
An Abundance Of Katherines
''An Abundance of Katherines'', stylised an (abundance) of √, is a young adult novel by John Green. Released in 2006, it was a finalist for the Michael L. Printz Award. The novel includes an appendix by Daniel Biss, a close friend of Green, that explains some of the more complex equations used by the main character, Colin Singleton. Plot summary Colin Singleton, a child prodigy living in Chicago, fears he will not maintain his genius as an adult. Over the span of his life, Colin has dated nineteen girls named Katherine, all spelled in that manner. After being dumped by his girlfriend, Katherine XIX, Colin is longing to feel whole, and longing to matter. He hopes to become a genius by having a " eureka" moment. After graduating from high school, and before college, Colin's best and only friend, Hassan Harbish, convinces him to go on a road trip to take his mind off the breakup. Colin goes, hoping to find his "eureka" moment. After reaching a rural Tennessee town called Gutsh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Green
John Michael Green (born August 24, 1977) is an American author and YouTuber. His books have more than 50 million copies in print worldwide, including ''The Fault in Our Stars'' (2012), which is one of the List of best-selling books#Between 20 million and 50 million copies, best-selling books of all time. Green's rapid rise to fame and idiosyncratic voice are credited with creating a major shift in the young adult fiction market. Green is also well known for his work in online video, most notably his YouTube ventures with his younger brother Hank Green. Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, Green was raised in Orlando, Florida, before attending boarding school outside of Birmingham, Alabama. He attended Kenyon College, graduating with a double major in English studies, English and religious studies in 2000. Green then spent six months as a student chaplain at a children's hospital. He reconsidered his path and began working at ''Booklist'' in Chicago while writing his first nov ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Euphemism
A euphemism ( ) is when an expression that could offend or imply something unpleasant is replaced with one that is agreeable or inoffensive. Some euphemisms are intended to amuse, while others use bland, inoffensive terms for concepts that the user wishes to downplay. Euphemisms may be used to mask profanity or refer to Dysphemism#Taboo terms, topics some consider Word taboo, taboo such as mental or physical disability, sexual intercourse, bodily excretions, pain, violence, illness, or death in a polite way. Etymology ''Euphemism'' comes from the Greek language, Greek word () which refers to the use of 'words of good omen'; it is a compound of (), meaning 'good, well', and (), meaning 'prophetic speech; rumour, talk'. ''Eupheme (deity), Eupheme'' is a reference to the female Greek spirit of words of praise and positivity, etc. The term ''euphemism'' itself was used as a euphemism by the ancient Greeks; with the meaning "to keep a holy silence" (speaking well by not speaking at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
War And Peace
''War and Peace'' (; pre-reform Russian: ; ) is a literary work by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy. Set during the Napoleonic Wars, the work comprises both a fictional narrative and chapters in which Tolstoy discusses history and philosophy. An early version was published serially beginning in 1865, after which the entire book was rewritten and published in 1869. It is regarded, with '' Anna Karenina'', as Tolstoy's finest literary achievement, and it remains an internationally praised classic of world literature. The book chronicles the French invasion of Russia and its aftermath during the Napoleonic era. It uses five interlocking narratives following different Russian aristocratic families to illustrate Napoleon's impact on Tsarist society. Portions of an earlier version, titled ''The Year 1805'', were serialized in '' The Russian Messenger'' from 1865 to 1867 before the novel was published in its entirety in 1869.Knowles, A. V. ''Leo Tolstoy'', Routledge 1997. Tolstoy sai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anna Karenina
''Anna Karenina'' ( rus, Анна Каренина, p=ˈanːə kɐˈrʲenʲɪnə) is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in book form in 1878. Tolstoy called it his first true novel. It was initially released in serial installments from 1875 to 1877, all but the last part appearing in the periodical ''The Russian Messenger.'' By the time he was finishing up the last installments, Tolstoy was in an anguished state of mind and, having come to hate it, finished it unwillingly. The novel deals with themes of betrayal, faith, family, marriage, Russian Empire, Imperial Russian society, desire, and the differences between rural and urban life. The story centres on an extramarital affair between Anna and cavalry officer Count Alexei Kirillovich Vronsky that scandalises the social circles of Saint Petersburg and forces the young lovers to flee to Italy in a search for happiness, but after they return to Russia, their lives further unravel. Trains are a Motif (nar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leo Tolstoy
Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using Reforms of Russian orthography#The post-revolution reform, pre-reform Russian orthography. ; ), usually referred to in English as Leo Tolstoy, was a Russian writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential authors of all time. Born to an aristocratic family, Tolstoy achieved acclaim in his twenties with his semi-autobiographical trilogy, ''Childhood (Tolstoy novel), Childhood'', ''Boyhood (novel), Boyhood'' and ''Youth (Tolstoy novel), Youth'' (1852–1856), and with ''Sevastopol Sketches'' (1855), based on his experiences in the Crimean War. His ''War and Peace'' (1869), ''Anna Karenina'' (1878), and ''Resurrection (Tolstoy novel), Resurrection'' (1899), which is based on his youthful sins, are often cited as pinnacles of Literary realism, realist fiction and three of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
