Biography

Hans Christian Andersen

Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875), Danish author, whose fairy tales have been translated into more than 80 languages and have inspired plays, ballets, films, and works of sculpture and painting. Born in Odense, he suffered from poverty and neglect during his childhood, and when he was 14 years of age he ran away to Copenhagen. There he worked for Jonas Collin, director of the Royal Theater, until Collin raised money to provide him with an education.

Andersen had poetry and prose published and plays produced beginning in 1822. His first success was “A Walk from Holmen's Canal to the East Point of the Island of Amager in the Years 1828 and 1829” (1829), a fantastic tale imitative of the style of German writer E.T.A. Hoffmann. Andersen's first novel, The Improviser (1835; translated 1845), was well received by critics, and his first book of fairy tales was published the same year. Andersen traveled extensively in Europe, Asia, and Africa and continued to write novels, plays, and travel books, but it was his more than 150 stories for children that established him as one of the great figures of world literature. Andersen's tales of fantasy, which include “The Ugly Duckling” (1843), “The Emperor's New Clothes” (1837), “The Snow Queen” (1844), “The Red Shoes” (1845), and “The Little Mermaid” (1837), were innovative in their handling of sophisticated feelings and ideas and in their use of the vocabulary and constructions of spoken language.

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The Voice of Mahatma Gandhi:   

     "A Message To The World"  This is a 6 minute recording in which Gandhi talks about his experience of God and his understanding of realization.  It appears to be in the public domain.

    "The Mysterious Power Which Pervades Everything"  A short talk by Gandhiji. 

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The Soul of Rumi: 

The groundbreaking work of acclaimed poet and translator Coleman Barks has made a 13th century Sufi mystic the best-selling poet in America today. It is said that only Coleman Barks can capture Rumi's themes of silence, emptiness, play, God, peace, grief, sexuality, music and more. Don't miss this opportunity to hear Barks breathe life into one of the great spiritual masters and poetic geniuses of all time. He is joined by vocalist Chloë Goodchild.

Coleman Barks was born and raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He taught poetry and creative writing at the University of Georgia for thirty years, and went to school at the University of North Carolina and UC Berkeley. In 1976 he met Robert Bly and began translating the 13th century mystic, Rumi. In 1995 the Rumi translations were collected in a definitive best-selling anthology, The Essential Rumi, and his translations of Rumi have now sold a half a million copies. The father of two grown children and grandfather of four, Barks has retired now from university teaching. He lives in Athens, Georgia.

Running Time: 55 Min.  

"A Conversation With Coleman Barks" 

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Daniel Defoe

                         

Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) English novelist, pamphleteer, and journalist, is most famous as the author of Robinson Crusoe (1719), a story of a man shipwrecked alone on an island. Along with Samuel Richardson, Defoe is considered the founder of the English novel.

Defoe was born as the son of James Foe, a butcher of Stroke Newington. He studied at Charles Morton's Academy, London. Although his Nonconformist father intended him for the ministry, Defoe plunged into politics and trade, traveling extensively in Europe. In the early 1680s Defoe was a commission merchant in Cornhill but went bankrupt in 1691. In 1684 he married Mary Tuffley; they had two sons and five daughters.

Defoe earned fame and royal favor with his satirical poem "The True born Englishman" (1701). In 1702 Defoe wrote his famous pamphlet The Shortest Way With Dissenters . Himself a Dissenter he mimicked the extreme attitudes of High Anglican Tories and pretended to argue for the extermination of all Dissenters. Nobody was amused; Defoe was arrested and pilloried in May 1703. While in prison Defoe wrote a mock ode, "Hymn To The Pillory" (1703). The poem was sold in the streets, the audience drank to his health while he stood in the pillory and read aloud his verses.

When the Tories fell from power Defoe continued to carry out intelligence work for the Whig government. In his own days Defoe was regarded as an unscrupulous, diabolical journalist.

Defoe was one of the first to write stories about believable characters in realistic situations using simple prose. He achieved literary immortality when in April 1719 he published Robinson Crusoe, which was based partly on the memoirs of voyagers and castaways, such as Alexander Selkirk. During the remaining years, Defoe concentrated on books rather than pamphlets. Among his works are Moll Flanders(1722), A Journal Of The Plague Year (1722) and Captain Jack(1722) His last great work of fiction, Roxana, appeared in 1724. In the 1720s Defoe had ceased to be politically controversial in his writings, and he produced several historical works, a guide book and The Great Law Of Subordination Considered (1724), an examination of the treatment of servants.

Phenomenally industrious, Defoe produced in his last years also works involving the supernatural, The Political History Of The Devil (1726) and An Essay On The History And Reality Of Apparitions(1727). He died on 26 April 1731, at his lodgings in Ropemaker's Alley, Moorfields.

Related Links:

• Daniel Defoe Biography
• Find quotes by Daniel Defoe
• Find essays on Daniel Defoe 
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• Warren Buffet, The Second Richest Man In World

  a.. There was a one hour interview on CNBC with Warren Buffet, the second richest man who has donated $31 billion to charity. Here are some very interesting aspects of his life:
  b.. He bought his first share at age 11 and he now regrets that he started too late!
  c.. He bought a small farm at age 14 with savings from delivering newspapers.
  d.. He still lives in the same small 3 bedroom house in mid-town Omaha, that he bought after he got married 50 years ago. He says that he has everything he needs in that house. His house does not have a wall or a fence.
  e.. He drives his own car everywhere and does not have a driver or security people around him.
  f.. He never travels by private jet, although he owns the world's largest private jet company.
  g.. His company, Berkshire Hathaway, owns 63 companies. He writes only one letter each year to the CEOs of these companies, giving them goals for the year. He never holds meetings or calls them on a regular basis.
  h.. He has given his CEO's only two rules.
  1.. Rule number 1: do not lose any of your shareholder' s money.
  2.. Rule number 2: Do not forget rule number 1.
  i.. He does not socialize with the high society crowd. His past time after he gets home is to make himself some pop corn and watch television.
  j.. Bill Gates, the world's richest man met him for the first time only 5 years ago. Bill Gates did not think he had anything in common with Warren Buffet. So he had scheduled his meeting only for half hour. But when Gates met him, the meeting lasted for ten hours and Bill Gates became a devotee of Warren Buffet.
  k.. Warren Buffet does not carry a cell phone, nor has a computer on his desk.
  l.. His advice to young people: Stay away from credit cards and invest in yourself.
  Amazing individual indeed.

  Source: English4Persians (click to join us)