Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy was born on June 2, 1840 in Dorset, England. His father worked as a stonemason and his mother was a ambitious and well-read person. His mother supplied Hardy’s formal education, which ended when he turned 16 when he became John Hick’s apprentice.

Thomas Hardy became an English novelist, short story writer, and poet of the naturalist movement. Most of his work depicts characters struggling against their passions and circumstances. Hardy published his first poetry in his fifties and has come to be as well known as his novels.

Hardy died from an illness called pleurisy in January 11, 1928. On his deathbed, his final poem was dictated by his wife.
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Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hardy

Yoko Ono

Yoko Ono was born on February 18, 1933. She is a Japanese musician and artist and is currently living in New York City as an American citizen.

Ono was an explorer of conceptual art and performance art. In a performance art called Cut Piece, she sat on stage and invited members of the audience to use scissors to cut off her clothing until she was completely naked. As a form of conceptual art, she wrote a book of instructions called Grapefruit. This book included instructions that are to be used within the mind of the reader through Zen-like thoughts.

As Ono’s musical career, she collaborated with groups such as John Cage and jazz legend Ornette Coleman. Her music changed after marriage. Her contribution to the album Double Fantasy was considered to be better than John Lennon’s.
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Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoko_Ono

Charles Manson

* Cultural Reference Chapters 14-16 *

Charles Milles Manson was born on November 12, 1934, and was known to be the leader of the Manson Family. The Manson Family was a cult consisting of hippie like people that began to form in San Francisco in 1967. Manson was convicted of committing the 1969 Los Angeles Tate-LaBianca murders, where members of his cult were given instructions to do so.

Manson was an unemployed ex-convict who spent nearly half his life in institutions for correcting his inhuman behaviors from his minor and major offenses. Before the period of the murders, Manson found himself in the music industry where he had a chance to associate with Dennis Wilson. Oddly, once Manson was charged with the crimes, the songs written by Manson and performed by him and members of the Manson Family were released commercially.

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Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Manson

Nefertiti

Nefertiti was the Great Royal Wife of the Egyptian Pharaoh Amenhotep IV. She was the mother in law and probable stepmother of the Pharaoh Tutakhamun. One of the daughters married Tutankhamen. Her name roughly translates to “the beautiful/perfect woman has come”.

She is mostly known for her famous bust. The bust itself is notable for expressing the understanding Ancient Egyptians had regarding realistic facial proportions.
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Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nefertiti

Anton Chekhov

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, who was born in Tagnrog on January 1860, was a Russian short story writer and playwright. He produced four classic playwrites during his brief playwriting career. His short stories are more well known and holds high esteem by writers and critics around the world.

Chekhov gave up on the theatre floor after a reception of his has gone horribly wrong (The Seagull in 1896). One of Chekhov’s short stories was written for money, but his artistic values grew. He made formal innovations that have influenced the modern short stories.

Anton died of tuberculosis at a health spa of Badenweiler, Germany, on July 15, 1904.

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Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Chekhov

Dante

Dante Degli Alighieri was born between May 14/June 13, 1265. He was an Italian poet from Florence. Divina Commedia (The Divine Comedy) is considered to be one of the best works of literature ever written.

Dante was born into a remarkable family of Florence, the Alighieri family. His mother, Bella Degli Abati, died when Dante was only seven years old. After his mother’s death, Alighiero soon married again to Lapa di Chiarissimo Cialuffi. This woman bore two more children, Dante’s brother Francesco and sister Tana.

Records of Dante’s don’t seem to specify his education, and some assume he simply studied at home. Where ever he studied, his interests in poetry took the best of him and he remained to be one of the greatest poets to this day.
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Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dante

Lord Byron

* Cultural Reference Chapters 12-13 *

George Gordon Byron was a British poet and a leading figure in Romanticism. Lord Byron has many reputable works. Most of these works are narrative poems including Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage and Don Juan. Many of his works later on were considered unfinished when he died. Lord Byron is known to be one of the greatest European poets and is still very famous

Lord Byron’s life was as interesting as his writings. He had many love affairs, debts to pay, separations, and accusations of having intimate relationships with family members. He was also a regional leader of Italy’s revolutionary organization called the Carbonari. Unfortunately Lord Byron died from fever in Missolonghi.
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Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pride_and_Prejudice