Classics Calendar for October 17

Dustin Hoffman and John Malkovich as Willy and Biff Loman in
the 1985 film version of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman

Here are today's milestones:

---

Born on this day:

Nathanael West (1903; died December 22, 1940) American author who wrote Miss Lonelyhearts; The Day of the Locust

---

Arthur Miller (1915; died February 10, 2005) American playwright and essayist who wrote All My Sons; Death of a Salesman; The Crucible; A View from the Bridge

---

Alan Garner (1934) English novelist who writes children's fantasy novels and retells British folk tales; The Weirdstone of Brisingamen; The Moon of Gomrath; Red Shift; Elidor; The Owl Service; The Stone Book Quartet

---

Died on this day:

Philip Sidney (1586; born November 30, 1554) English poet and scholar; Astrophel and Stella; The Defence of Poesy; The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia

---

Frederic Chopin (1849; born March 1, 1810) Polish composer; mazurkas, waltzes, etudes, polonaises, sonatas; and perhaps especially, his nocturnes for piano

---

Haniel Long (1956; born March 9, 1888) American poet and novelist; Interlinear to Cabeza de Vaca (also called The Power within Us); Pinon Country

---

Bonus Classic:

Gui Youguang (1506–1571) Chinese writer best known for his xiaopin, a genre of short non-fictional essays on almost any topic; his include "My Mother: A Brief Life" and "The Xiangji Studio"

---