YOUR FAVORITE WRITER

My favourite writer is William Somerset Maugham and i would like to tell about his biography.

William Somerset Maugham was born in 1874 and spent his childhood in Paris in the family of a British diplomat. Having lost his parents at an early age, he went to live in England with his uncle, who was a clergyman. He was educated at King's school in Canterbury studied painting in Paris, went to Heidelbury University in Germany and spent six years at St.Thomas Hospital in England studying to be a doctor. He was an unsatisfactory medical student for his heart wasn't in medicin. He wanted, he had always wanted to be a writer and in the evening after his tea, he wrote and read.

My favorite writer is Armenian great Writer Hovhannes Tumanyan
1869 – 1923

Alternative spellings: Toumanian, Tumanian, Toumanyan

Writers are destined to play a role in the history of their nation’s literature. It is the rare few who play a special role, also, in their nation’s spiritual life. Hovhannes Tumanyan has played such a role in Armenian literature. He has portrayed the Armenian people’s national character, their history, their dreams, and their most sacred ideals with depth and clarity through his writings. He was called the “pan-Armenian poet” during his lifetime and until today his popularity still remains great. His works are loved not only in Armenia, but also far from its borders. In every place where Armenians live, his words emit the aroma of his homeland.What else is needed if freedom and love we possess?
What are you looking for if you can’t even make a step without suffering?
Oh fool! When will the hour come when you will take all that
We’re gifted with, even not for long, without suffering?
In 1916 Valeryi Bryusov (1873-1924), an exceptional Russian poet who admired Armenian culture, said, “Tumanyan’s poetry is Armenia itself, ancient and new, resurrected and portrayed in poems by a great master.” In the Northern part of Armenia there is a land with extraordinary natural beauty known as the Lori region, which possesses an abundance of forest infested mountains with portentous peaks that attempt to meet the sky. These mountains host villages at their feet and a gaping gorge, where the river Debet flows, making faint musical reverberations.

Hovhannes Tumanyan was born on February 19, 1869 in Dsegh, one of the villages of Lori. His father was the local parish priest. Later Tumanyan would write: “The most precious and the best thing that I had in life was my father. He was honest and the most noble man. Extremely altruistic and generous, witty, cheerful, sociable, at the same time he always maintained an air of deep seriousness.” The future writer inherited a priceless legacy from his father.

Since his early years Tumanyan realized how bitter was the life of the Armenian peasant and understood his dreams and burdens. He grew up with the fairy tales, parables and legends of his people. The folklore and beauty of Lori became an integral part of his work and an inseparable part of his spiritual life which he was to later reflect in his writing.

This fruitful bond between the poet and his people persisted until the end of his life, despite the fact that almost his entire life (since 1883) Tumanyan lived far from Lori in city of Tiflis, a political and cultural center in the Transcaucasus.

Tumanyan began his education in Lori, and then attended one of the best Armenian schools of the time, the Nersisyan School from which he, unfortunately, had to leave when his father took ill and died. At age 16, two years before graduation, he ended his formal education and returned to Dsegh to care for his family. At age 19 Tumanyan married and eventually fathered ten children. In need of finances to support his family, he was obliged to do work not fitting to his talents and intellect where the atmosphere stifled him to the point where he later remembered those days as “hell.” In the mid 1890s Tumanyan left that ‘hell’ in order to focus all his time to writing.

Tumanyan was persistent in successfully educating himself through his avid reading. He revered Shakespeare’s works, as well as Byron, Pushkin, and Lermontov’s prose and poetry. He had a keen interest in world folklore, and with the sensitivity of a folklore writer, he retained the integrity of Armenian cultural history, escaping foreign influences in his writing. “I always had a faithful and reliable guide: my intuition,” Tumanyan said.

Tumanyan started writing when he was 10-11 years old, but only became known as a poet in 1890, when his first poetry collection was published. Even in this early book one can clearly see all the freshness that Tumanyan brought to Armenian literature with his poetry.

By the beginning of the 20th century, Tumanyan had rewritten and developed his earlier works and had written new poetry and prose. He emerged as an accomplished artist, who brought a fresh spirit and quality to Armenian literature.

This fresh spirit and quality came from his principal attitude towards poetry rather than external poetic form (where Tumanyan was often quite traditional). He brought poetry closer to the people. This stage of development in Armenian literature justifiably is referred to as the “Tumanyan phase.”

Tumanyan’s inspiration came from everyday ordinary activities of the people. The heroes of his works are simple villagers. He reveals such qualities as indestructible strength of thought, beauty and richness of feelings, wisdom and depth. Life was harsh for villagers who endured unwritten patriarchal laws and prejudice and the reign of unjust oppression. Facing these difficulties, Tumanyan’s heroes often die a tragic death. While depicting these sad realities, Tumanyan, at the same time, discovers and exposes true poetry, purity of feelings, integrity, and inextinguishable determination towards justice among his heroes. The images created by Tumanyan move the reader even today with their truthful reality, but especially move the reader delicately to profound compassion for truth and beauty in the human experience.

Among the works that portray the times in which Tumanyan lived, are his poem, “Anush” and the story “Gikor.” These are celebrated works for the contemporary reader. “Anush” is often called the pinnacle of Tumanyan’s poetry, and “Gikor,” –of his prose.

“Anush” tells about the tragic love of a young shepherd boy (Saro) for a girl (Anush). The poem portrays the spiritual richness of heroes, their inner feelings, their endless devotion to one another, and their youthful selflessness and readiness to self-sacrifice. Tumanyan, at the same time, while giving a spiritual picture, gives a broad picture of the cultural life of the people, depicting daily activities and customs, their joys and sorrows, and their vision of the world. In essence, he unveils the national character of the Armenian people. It is no wonder that V. Bryusov remarked that to the non-Armenian reader the acquaintance with Tumanyan’s poetry (for example his “Anush”) renders more knowledge about Armenia and the life of her people, than tomes of special reference texts. “Gikor” is the tale of a 12-year-old peasant boy who goes to the city and succumbs to the cruelty of those that surround him there. The entire story is extremely dramatic, abounding in lyrical quality with simultaneous touches of happiness and sadness.

Before Tumanyan there was no one who could extract poetry from things seemingly not poetic and banal as he could. No one came forth with his kind of skill and talent to expose complex human characters in their entire tragedy and beauty.

Especially valuable is Tumanyan’s contribution to Armenian epic poetry. Armenian poetry has a very rich ancient tradition, and its lyrical aspects are especially powerful. Among the luminary giants are the great poet of the 10th century, Grigor Narekatsi, wonderful poet Nahapet Kuchak of the Middle Ages, the great troubadour, Sayat-Nova (17th century) who sang of love, and last, but not least, extraordinary poets of the 19th century, who created before Tumanyan (P. Duryan, H. Hovhannisyan, etc.). Tumanyan’s poetic talent is first of all seen in epic settings, in portrayal of sharp, dramatic situations and bold, strong characters. His numerous ballads and poems are among the best samples of the world’s epic poetry for perfect form and most especially due to the richness of the life and philosophical depth portrayed in them.

I love Tolstoi
Russian author, one of the greatest of all novelists. Tolstoy's major works include War and Peace (1863-69), characterized by Henry James as a "loose baggy monster", and Anna Karenina (1875-77), which stands alongside Flaubert's Madame Bovary and Fontane's Effi Briest as perhaps the most prominent 19th-century European novel of adultery. Tolstoi once said, "The one thing that is necessary, in life as in art, is to tell the truth." Tolstoy's life is often seen to form two distinct parts: first comes the author of great novels, and later a prophet and moral reformer.

"In historical events great men - so-called - are but labels serving to give a name to the event, and like labels they have the least possible connection with the event itself. Every action of theirs, that seems to them an act of their own free will, is in an historical sense not free at all, but in bondage to the whole course of previous history, and predestined from all eternity." (from War and Peace)

Leo Tolstoy was born at Yasnaya Polyana, in Tula Province, the fourth of five children. The title of Count had been conferred on his ancestor in the early 18th century by Peter the Great. His parents died when he was a child, and he was brought up by relatives. In 1844 Tolstoy started his studies of law and oriental languages at Kazan University, but he never took a degree. Dissatisfied with the standard of education, he returned in the middle of his studies back to Yasnaya Polyana, and then spent much of his time in Moscow and St. Petersburg. In 1847 Tolstoy was treated for venereal disease. After contracting heavy gambling debts, Tolstoy accompanied in 1851 his elder brother Nikolay to the Caucasus, and joined an artillery regiment. In the 1850s Tolstoy also began his literary career, publishing the autobiographical trilogy Childhood (1852), Boyhood (1854), and Youth (1857).

One of Tolstoy's earliest published stories, 'The Raid', was based on a military manouvre against the Chechen mountain tribesmen, in which Nikolay's unit took part. The story appeared in censored form in 1852. "Can it be that there is not room for all men on this beautiful earth under these immeasurable starry heavens?" Tolstoy asked. "Can it be possible that in the midst of this entrancing Nature feelings of hatred, vengeance, or the desire to exterminate their fellows can endure in the souls of men?" About fifty years later Tolstoy returned to his experiences in Caucasus in the novella Hadji Murad (1904), still a highly insightful introduction to the backgrounds of today's Chechnyan tragedy. It also was an elegiac reprise of the dominant themes of Tolstoy's art and life. The famous philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein gave the book to his disciple Norman Malcolm, telling him that there was a lot to be got out of it.

Daniel Defoe

DD was the founder of the realistic novel. He was also a brilliant journalist and in many ways the father of modern English periodicals. He founded and paved the way for many magazines ( "The Revue", "The Spectator").

my favorite writer is Defoe.Here is some information abot him. DD was born in London, his father, a butcher, was wealthy enough to give his son a good education. D was to become a priest, but it was his cherished desire to become wealthy. His wish was never fullfield. D was banckrupt several times. He was always in deep debt. The only branch of business in which he proved succesful was journalism and literature. When D was about 23 he started writting pamphlets on question of the hour. He started writing pamphlets praising King William III, who was supported by the whig party. No matter in whose defence his brilliant pamphlets were written their irony was so subtle, that the enemy didn't understand it at first. But as soon as his enemy realised the real character of the pamphlets D was sentenced to 7 years of inprisonment. It was a cruel punishment, and when they came for him to be set free, people carried him on their shoulders. This was the climax of his political career and the end of it. In 1719, he tried his hand at another kind of literature - fiction, and wrote the novel he is now best known: "Robison Crusoe". After the book was published, D became famous and rich and was able to pay his creditors in full. Other novels which D were also very much talked about during his lifetime, but we do not hear much about them now. For example "Captain Singleton"(1720), "Moll Flanders"(1722).

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