Edgar Allan Poe (January 1809 - October 1849) was an American short story writer, poet, critic, and editor. His writing theme usually focuses in horror and mystery. It all started with a detective base story, and it began going further from there. One of his most outstanding writings were The Raven, Annabel Lee, Tell Tale Heart, etc. With his short stories and poems, Poe captivated the attention of the people. His intellectual skill and imagination led to the creation of various genres, giving him the nickname of “Father of the Detective Story.” However, his life has become a bit of a mystery, letting the fiction and the reality lines blurred together after his death. ("Poe's life," 1).
Poe never really knew his parents. His dad left his family early on, while his mother died when he was only three. Since he was separated from his siblings, he went to live with John and Frances Allan, John Allan being a successful tobacco merchant, in Richmond, Virginia. Poe always had a good bond with Frances, but he never really bonded with John, aside from that instead of profit he preferred writing, writing poems at the back of Johns paperwork. ("Edgar Allan Poe Bio," 1)
However not all things in Poe’s life was happiness, but on the other hand, when Poe went to college, John Allan did not fund him enough to cover the cost of college, making Poe go into the world of gambling which left him in debt. Aside from the debt, when he went back home, his fiancee was engaged with another man ("Poe's life," 1). When Poe find this out, heartbroken, he left the Allans. Afterwards, Poe published two books before entering the army, West Point, to be more specific. However he was kicked out after a year for not doing his duties correctly. After being kicked out of the Academy, Poe starting writing full time. After this he started working his way up, ending up living with his Aunt, and his cousin. His cousin, Virginia, became his inspiration as well as her love interest. They married when she was only 13 ("Edgar Allan Poe Bio," 1).
In late 1830’s, Poe starting to publish his stories, but by 1840’s that when Poe started to use his mysterious genre with his detective fiction, The Murders in the Rue Morgue. By 1845, he because a literary sensation with the publication of the poem The Raven. Therefore after this, Poe discover the theme for almost all his works- death and loss. ("Edgar Allan Poe Bio," 2)
Poe was also overcome by the grief of the death of Virginia in 1847. After this, his health was low and his has having financial trouble. Up to this day his last days remain a mystery. He died on October 7, 1849 at the Washington College Hospital. ("Edgar Allan Poe Bio," 3)
And now — have I not told you that what you mistake for madness is but over-acuteness of the senses? — now, I say, there came to my ears a low, dull, quick sound, such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton. I knew that sound well, too. It was the beating of the old man’s heart.”
– Edgar Allan Poe
Pablo Picasso (October 1881 - April 1973) was born in Malaga, Spain. He was one of the most influential people in the 20th century. He became the creator of the Cubism - a form of art style created in the mid 20th century. This type of art would incorporate simple geometric shapes, making it into, later, a collage (dictionary.com). With this new art style, we nearly invented every art movement during the 2th century (Esaak, “Pablo Picasso”). Picasso was well devoted to his painting career. Not only did he paint, but he was also a stage designer, a sculptor, a print maker and a ceramist. Eighty of his nine-one years of life he worked on his paintings and other works of art and contributed to the development of art during the 20th century (“Pablo Picasso Bio,” 1)
As a child, Picasso would have such a talented drawing and painting skills. One of the reasons would have been that his father was a painter and a art teacher himself. He taught Picasso how to paint, and by the age of 13, his skills had already surpass his Father’s. (“Pablo Picasso Bio: early life,” 1). Due to his extraordinary he was accepted in the most prestigious art schools in Spain. However, Picasso didn’t really liked the school systems, therefore he would skip classes to roam around the streets.
At the turn of the 20th century, Picasso moved to Paris to start his own career path. Funny thing that Picasso’s career was divided into little sections. There was a time where it would be called the “Blue Period,” and it was called like that because most of Picasso’s painting would be engulfed into the color blue. He would paint scenes of poverty, or isolation. Some of his famous paintings during the blue period were called “Blue Nude” and “La Vie” between other. As for the Rose period where his works were full of warm colors like red and pink, he had “Two Nudes” and Gertrude Stein” ( “Pablo Picasso Bio:Blue Period and Rose Period,” 2)
Towards the end of his life, Picasso draw with pencil and crayon his next epitome “The Portrait Facing Death.” It’s basically a figure between a man and an ape, however even though everything on the spicie is weird and crude, the eyes capture the wisdom, fear and happiness. After this, he kept on doing his work until the moment he died, think that his painting would keep him alive ( “Pablo Picasso Bio,” 4).
Pablo Picasso died on April 8, 1973 at the age of 91, at Mougins, France (Esaak, “Pablo Picasso”).
If only we could pull out our brain and use only our eyes."
– Pablo Picasso
George Orwell (June 1903 - January 1950)was born in Bengal, India. However George Orwell was his stage name, since his real name is Eric Arthur Blair. Orwell was a novelist and critic whose became known after his successful novels, Animal Farm and Ninety-eighty four. He was a man of strong opinion and would look really deep into politics during the 20th century.
Orwell only lived in India for the first few months of his life, however his mom brought him to England earlier on, being the son of an British civil servant. As almost any other poet, Orwell become a writer at the age of 11, publishing a poem at the local newspaper. He went to boarding school and was smart enough but he couldn’t go to college because of monetary problem. Therefore he joined the Indian Imperial Police force and work on it for five years before quitting and coming back to England to focus on writing (“George Orwell Bio: Early life,” 1).
Orwell started off as taking whatever job to meet ends, so when he publish his first literary work, to not cause embarrassed he use the name George Orwell from his real one. Later on it became his stage name and well known. He later married and travel around to look at the situations some places where living to gain primary experience for his novels (“George Orwell Bio:Beginning of his career,” 2).
However his most known novels were published towards the end of his life. He published Animal Farm and Ninety-eighty four. Animal farm was basically based on political happening and corruption, while Ninety-eighty four was based on Orwell’s vision of the future, a future the government would ruled at all its power (“George Orwell Bio:Later works,” 2).
George Orwell died on January 21, 1950 in a London Hospital (“George Orwell Bio:Later works,” 3).
Political language... is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind."
- George Orwell
Ray Douglas Bradbury (August 1920-June 2012) was an American fantasy and horror author who rejected being label a science fiction author since his stories were more on the side of the unreal and fantasy. He wrote Fahrenheit 451, which is one of his best known novels, aside from others such as The Illustrated Man or The Martian Chronicles. Due to his successful novels, he was one of the most celebrated authors of the 21st century until the time of his death. ("Ray Bradbury Bio," 1)
Bradbury was born in Waukegan, Illinois, and lived his whole childhood there with his Father and Mother. He enjoyed a rather nice childhood, to the point where he wrote semi-autobiographical novels and short stories. Even since he was little Bradbury liked magicians and he loved to read stories about adventures and fantasy fiction. Bradbury was a really fanciful child, deciding to become an author at the age of 12-13, saying that he would make his novels to emulate his heroes and to “live forever” through his fiction ("Ray Bradbury Bio," 1). Later on in life, around 1934, Bradbury and his parents moved to California. Though to high school he participated in the school’s drama club or plays. However, since Bradbury family couldn't afford to send him to college he would pass his days on a local library. “Library raised me” he once said. He went to the library three days a week for about ten years. ("Ray Bradbury Bio," 1).
However, this big author started small and at the bottom. To sustain himself he would sell newspaper. He published his first short story in a fan magazine in 1938. Later on he sold his first four issues magazine, Futuria Fantasia, starting small. He then sold his first professional piece, “Pendulum” in November 1941. By 1943, Bradbury became a full time writer, and his first collection of stories was called Dark Carnival in 1947 ("Ray Bradbury Bio," 2).
In 1950, Bradbury published his first major work, The Martian Chronicles, and even though there was a lot of critic saying that such story was science fiction, Bradbury stated that his work was fantasy rather than fiction. In 1953, Bradbury published one of his best known works, Fahrenheit 451, which had the there of censorship and conformity, he later on explain that TV takes attention away from reading ("Ray Bradbury Bio," 2). Aside from his dislike of TV, a lot of Bradbury’s short stories and novels because movies, he went for adaptation for his works. (raybradbury.com, <p> 4).
Bradbury died on June 5, 2012 in Los Angeles, CA. at the age of 91 ("Ray Bradbury Bio," 3).
I don't try to describe the future. I try to prevent it."