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The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka |
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A Lifelong Wish
As a young man, Kafka destroyed his earliest writings, and at the end of his life, he asked his friends to burn the rest of his work. Fortunately, they didn't. Take a look at some of Kafka's stories that survived. Read about the man who starves himself as a work of art, or the man who is paranoid because he believes his next-door neighbor is stealing his business.
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“The Rat Trap” by Selma Lagerlöf |
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Paying Debts
Selma Lagerlöf couldn’t get enough of folklore and fantasy or of spinning her own modern-day folktales. She even told a story when she accepted the Nobel Prize. Join The Nobel Foundation for Lagerlöf’s acceptance speech, in which the storyteller narrates a tale of joy, grief, and the burdensome debts that accompany success.
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“Eveline” by James Joyce |
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Making the Cut
What do writer James Joyce and cartoon character Bart Simpson have in common? They both made Time magazine’s list of the one hundred most important people of the twentieth century. Joyce probably wouldn’t be surprised to find out he made the cut. After all, he planned to keep people intrigued for centuries. Head over to Time 100 and find out why his plan worked.
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“The Ring” by Isak Dinesen |
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The One Who Laughs
Karen Blixen chose the pen name Isak Dinesen because she thought publishers would take her work more seriously if they believed she were a man. Find out how the writer’s sense of humor is revealed through her choice of pseudonyms—and through the short stories she characterized as “gothic.”
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“Lot’s Wife” by Anna Akhmatova |
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Translation Troubles
Persecuted by her government, Anna Akhmatova spent seventeen years without a publisher. She didn’t put down her pen, though; instead, she set about translating numerous works from other languages. Consult Russian Poets of the Twentieth Century to learn why Anna Akhmatova complained that, for a poet, “translating was comparable to devouring one’s own brains.”
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“The Guitar” by Federico García Lorca |
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Poet and Martyr
Federico García Lorca was already a renowned writer when Franco’s soldiers knocked on his door. Within days, he was shot to death and buried in an unmarked grave, the location of which remains a mystery to this day. Visit The Academy of American Poets to read more about the fascinating life and savage death of one of Spain’s most important poets and dramatists.
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“On the Bottom” from Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi |
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The Horror of War
More than fifty years ago, Auschwitz was the site of horrifying crimes against humanity, but today it is a mecca for people trying to understand the tragedies that occurred there. If you are struggling to understand the harsh reality of Nazi concentration camps, let PBS guide you through perhaps the cruelest camp, Auschwitz.
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Preserving the Memory
Opened fifty years after World War II, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is busy commemorating the lives and stories of those affected by this devastating chapter in history. Begin your visit with one of the museum's feature exhibits. Then, investigate the museum's efforts to help survivors trace missing relatives and friends.
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“The Guest” by Albert Camus |
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Saving the World
Many writers have lofty goals, but Camus’s were mountainous. He wrote to bring truth and liberty to a world intent on destroying itself. How can writing save the world? Find out when you read Camus’s Nobel acceptance speech at The Nobel Foundation. Then, decide for yourself whether writing can help reform a world of worn-out ideologies, dead gods, and technology gone mad.
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from Night by Elie Wiesel |
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Broken Silence
For ten years after his rescue from Buchenwald, Elie Wiesel refused to speak about the Holocaust. Then, in 1956, he was inspired to write Night. Step into the Academy of Achievement to find out why Wiesel decided to break his silence.
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“Freedom to Breathe” by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn |
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A Writer Behind Bars
The Soviet government tried to silence Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn by throwing him in prison, banishing him to Kazakhstan, and seizing his manuscripts. Solzhenitsyn kept writing, though, and eventually he won the Nobel Prize in literature. Visit The Nobel Foundation to meet the Nobel laureate who couldn’t accept his award until he was deported to West Germany as a traitor.
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“Song of a Citizen” by Czeslaw Milosz |
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Warning: These Words Could Be Hazardous to Your Politics
Are poets dangerous? Some totalitarian states claim they are. Take a seat for Czeslaw Milosz’s Nobel lecture, in which the exiled poet explains how one word of truth can break the silence of conspiracy like a pistol shot.
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“In Praise of Feeling Bad About Yourself” by Wislawa Szymborska |
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The Search for Knowledge
Lying on a sofa, “staring motionless at a wall,” Wislawa Szymborska confesses “I don’t know.” From this admission, she obtains inspiration. Visit The Nobel Foundation for Szymborska’s Nobel lecture. Find out how the phrase I don’t know leads to inspiration. Then, read “The Joy of Writing” to learn how Szymborska’s words and letters “pounce on the blank page.”
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