Every year in July, the Florida Keys have a unique celebration of author Ernest Hemingway, who lived and left a powerful legacy in the region. Its called “Hemingway Days” and according to the Florida Keys website, “scheduled events include a look-alike contest for stocky white-bearded men resembling Hemingway, readings and book signings, an awards ceremonyContinue reading “Author spotlight – Ernest Hemingway”
Category Archives: Authors
Chess Champions: Grandmaster Larry Evans’s influence on Bobby Fischer
Bobby Fischer is perhaps the most celebrated American chess player of the Twentieth Century. His latent talent is of no question, but understanding his success suggests going beyond his acumen and studying also those who influenced him. His friend and mentor Larry Evans is one such figure, and their long-standing friendship contributed to Fischer’s career.Continue reading “Chess Champions: Grandmaster Larry Evans’s influence on Bobby Fischer”
Author Spotlight – F. Scott Fitzgerald
With all the buzz of the recent movie, The Great Gatsby, we thought we should spotlight F. Scott Fitzgerald this month so that you can learn a little bit about the man behind the story. After the success of his first novel, This Side of Paradise (1920), F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda becameContinue reading “Author Spotlight – F. Scott Fitzgerald”
Sigmund Freud – Civilization and its Discontents
Civilization and Discontents is considered one of Freud’s most important and widely read works (Gay, 1989). While it can be seen as political philosophy or anthropology, it is also a psychoanalytic explanation of religion. The main theme of the work is “the irremediable antagonism between the demands of instinct and the restrictions of civilization” (Strachey,Continue reading “Sigmund Freud – Civilization and its Discontents”
F. A. Hayek – Father of Neoliberalism
Road to Serfdom was first published in Britain by Routledge in March 1944, during World War II, and due to the book’s popularity during this time of paper rationing, Hayek jokingly called it “that unobtainable book” (Ebenstein, 2003). Consequently, the first British copy, as here pictured, is quite rare. The title for Road to SerfdomContinue reading “F. A. Hayek – Father of Neoliberalism”
Gone with the Wind
Gone with the wind which had swept through Georgia,” says Scarlett O’Hara in Chapter 24 of the romantic historical novel. She uses the title phrase as she wonders whether her home plantation “Tara” still stands or is gone. The title reflects the loss of a lifestyle that existed in the American South before the CivilContinue reading “Gone with the Wind”
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
Carson McCullers published The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1940) when she was twenty-three. It follows deaf John Singer and the people he encounters in a 1930s mill town in the US state of Georgia. The narrative primarily centers around John’s acquaintances, and McCullers enriches it through a limited-omniscient tone that is highly episodic. ChaptersContinue reading “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter”
Author Spotlight – Hunter S. Thompson
Most notable amongst the New Journalism movement is Hunter S. Thompson. Thompson became internationally famous for his publication of Hell’s Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs (1967), for which he spent a year living with the Angels to experience their lives and stories first hand. But his most popular workContinue reading “Author Spotlight – Hunter S. Thompson”
Identifying Stephen King First Edition Issue Points
Stephen King is, without a doubt, the most popular horror writer of all time. He has sold more than 350 million copies of his books worldwide, and, as you can imagine, there is a very large audience who desire first editions and/or signed copies in collectible condition. We always like it when we can findContinue reading “Identifying Stephen King First Edition Issue Points”
Nikos Kazantzakis: an Undaunted Soul
Nikos Kazantzakis was a Greek writer and philosopher of whom many consider to be the most important and most translated Greek writer of the 20th century. He was one vote short of winning the Nobel Prize for Literature when he was nominated in in 1957, having lost to Albert Camus. Unfortunately, he died that sameContinue reading “Nikos Kazantzakis: an Undaunted Soul”