Anniversaries in 2012
I love celebrating anniversaries of births. In 2011, we had a big one – the 400th anniversary of the King James translation.
Here are some forthcoming anniversaries of famous writers who I have read (in the original or translation):
- 100th anniversary: Jorge Amado, John Cheever, Lawrence Durrell, Jacques Ellul, Gil Evans, Alexis Kagame, Mary McCarthy, Kim Philby, Joseph Stein, Julian Symons, John Toland, A. E. van Vogt, Patrick White
- 150th anniversary: O Henry, Mary Kingsley, Mori Ogai, Arthur Schnitzler, Edith Wharton
- 200th anniversary: Charles Dickens
- 300th anniversary: Edward Moore
- 350th anniversary: Matthew Henry
- 400th anniversary: Samuel Butler, Thomas Killigrew
- 600th anniversary: Joan of Arc (I have not read any work that was actually written by Joan of Arc, but I have many read many works attributed to her – by Shakespeare, Schiller, Voltaire, Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Twain, Brecht, Shaw, etc.)
(Demographics: Australia 1; Austria 1; Brazil 1; Britain 8; Canada 2; France 2; Japan 1; Rwanda 1; Soviet Union 1 [I am counting Philby as a Soviet and not a Brit]; US 6; 20 male; 4 female)
Will we see Evangelicals celebrate Matthew Henry’s birthday (or even better – have a Samuel Butler-Mathew Henry fighting match?) Will we see a Dickens revival (there are entire bookstores that solely devoted to Dickens – I mean actual bookstores that one can walk in browse in, not “online bookstores.”)
Several of these writers are especially meaningful to me and I hope to post on this blog about them.
I found this site invaluable in searching birthdays.What anniversaries are important to you in 2012?
BLT 
Joan of Arc’s only writing is some surviving letters she apparently dictated, a few of which bear her signature, apparently learned as a necessity during her brief military career. More famous are various sayings extracted from her trial and retrial.
Joan is one of those historical characters who fascinates those who study them. I’ve been through several books about her myself.
I haven’t read a thing about Joan of Arc (but always wanted to) so after I saw her 600th anniversay is coming up I decided to change that. I just downloaded the Kindle edition of Donald Spoto’s biography of her, Joan: The Mysterious Life of the Heretic Who Became a Saint. It was published in 2007. A few years ago I thoroughly enjoyed another book of his, The Hidden Jesus: A New Life. Has anyone out there read either of those books?
Chuck: Joan of Arc is indeed a fascinating character — and also a Rorschach test for those who do study her!
Russ: I haven’t read those books — please let me know what you think about them.
Russ: I have Spoto’s Joan, but haven’t read it. Skimming, I tend to prefer Frances Gies’s bio as more comprehensive, and Kelly De Vries as more focused.