Classics Calendar for October 19

Richard Burton as Alec Leamas in the 1965
film adaptation of John le Carré's novel
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

Here are today's milestones:



Born on this day:

John Woolman (1720; died October 7, 1772) American Quaker famous for The Journal



Leigh Hunt (1784; died August 28, 1859) English critic, essayist, and poet whose popular poems include "Jenny kiss'd Me," "Abou Ben Adhem and the Angel," and "A Night-Rain in Summer"



John le Carré (1931) British author of espionage novels who wrote The Spy Who Came in from the Cold; Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy; The Honourable Schoolboy; Smiley's People; The Night Manager; The Constant Gardener



Philip Pullman (1946) English writer who wrote His Dark Materials (trilogy: The Golden Compass; The Subtle Knife; The Amber Spyglass); The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ



Died on this day:

Jonathan Swift (1745; born November 30, 1667) Anglo-irish satirist, poet, and cleric known for Gulliver's Travels; A Tale of a Tub; A Modest Proposal



Lu Xun (1936; born September 25, 1881) Modern Chinese short story writer; "The True Story of Ah Q"; "Diary of a Madman"; "The New Year Sacrifice"; collections: Call to Arms; Wandering; Old Tales Retold



Edna St. Vincent Millay (1950; born February 22, 1892) American poet and playwright; A Few Figs From Thistles; Second April; "Euclid Alone has Looked on Beauty Bare"; Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (1923)



Born AND Died on this day (!)

Thomas Browne (born 1605; died 1682) English polymath and author; Religio Medici (The Religion of a Physician); Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial published with The Garden of Cyrus; Pseudodoxia Epidemica (dealing with superstitions); Christian Morals



Bonus Classic:

Wang Shifu (1250-1337?) Chinese playwright known for Xi Xiang Ji (The Story of the Western Wing), one of the "Four Great Classical Dramas"





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