Oscar Wilde October 16, 1854-November 30, 1900 Parents: William Wilde & Jane Francesca Agnes Spouse: Constance Lloyd (m. 1884–1898) Children: Cyril Holland (1885-1915) & Vyvyan Holland (1886-1967) Age: 46 Nationality: Irish Genre: Drama & Philosophy Literary Era: Realism (Aestheticism) Info. Works Vera or The Nihilists (1880) The Duchess of Padua (1883) The Philosophy of Dress (1885) The Happy Prince (1888) The Decay of the Lying (1889) The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890) A House of Pomegranates (1891) The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891) Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories (1891) Intentions (1891) Lady Windermere's Fan (1892) A Woman of No Importance (1893) Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young (1894) A Few Maxims For the Instruction of the Over-Educated (1894) An Ideal Husband (1895) The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) Salome (1896) La Sainte Courtisane (1908) A Florentine Tragedy (1908) Bio. Here you talk about them as a kid. And as a teenager. Then as an adult. Then as a successful person. Themes Beauty is the secret to life Suffering is the secret to life Striving upward Aestheticism and art ETernity and life Truth and duplicity Influence and responsibility Cool Quotes There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about. The only difference between the saint and the sinner is that every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future. To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance. References Worth Looking At The Oscar Wilde Society (a place for everything Oscar Wilde-related) oscarwildesociety.uk Oscar Wilde: A Life by Matthew Sturgis "Sites Relating to the Trials of Oscar Wilde" (a comprehensive reference list to resources solely centered on Wilde's legal trials) famous-trials.com "Oscar Wilde Biography: His 'Wild' Life" YouTube.com "The Downfall of Oscar Wilde" YouTube.com "Oscar Wilde Documentary" YouTube.com Onward! Back.

WELCOME TO LIT. FIG. An Free-Online Database About Authors Welcome to our website! Here at Lit. Fig. we aim to counteract ignorance about authors by educating people on authors big and small that have changed the (literary) world! If that sounds a bit weighty...well it is. In our experience, though, we've found that nearly all fiction is autobiographical in one way or another. So whether it's getting the gist of the author on the subject matter for your upcoming English essay or just trying to understand Moby Dick author Herman Melville to impress your book club, Lit. Fig.'s got you! Happy exploring! About FAQs How do I navigate Lit. Fig? Here at Lit. Fig. we LOVE organization. So to organize all the authors in existence, we placed them in 1 of 5 eras depending on where they lived in time. Those eras are the... Renaissance & Enlightenment Era (1600-1800) Romantic Era (1800-1850 Realism Era (1850-1900) Modernism (1900-1945) Contemporary (1945+) To view the authors in a given era, click on the era in the menu. It will take you to a page that gives you information about the era and an alphabetical list of all the authors in the era. Click on an author to visit their fact page. Or if you want to view the era as a whole, scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the next button to view all authors in chronological order. If all you want to do is go Home to this here helpful homepage, click on the Lit. Fig. logo in the top left of the menu! Happy exploring! Why only 5 literary eras? If you've done your research, you probably know quite a few literary eras, periods, or movements. Unlike history, though, literary history isn't very linear. There are disputes over how many eras there are, what distinguishes an era, and what doesn't. The result is that if you do a quick Google and ask "How many literary eras/movements/periods are there?" the internet will answer back with anywhere from 5-27 eras. It all comes down to how specific and un-linear you want to get (some authors love to reboot old styles with a twist on them cough cough Harper Lee with her Southern gothic style in contemporary fiction). Couple the literary movement dilemma with different authors around the world and you've got a dilemma on your hands. At Lit. Fig, we simplified the literary time frame into five major eras. We understand that some may disagree with our five-era choice. Our goal is not to provide intricate information on literary movements but on the amazing authors in them. We also understand that some people may disagree with the placement of certain authors in certain eras. Again, we do not claim to be the foremost expert on literary movements and classification. The way authors are organized is to provide as much clarity for the everyday reader as possible. What type of authors are on Lit. Fig? Any author that has rocked the book world has a place on Lit. Fig. Often, you'll find authors to classic works such as Mary Shelley, William Shakespeare, Alexandre Dumas, C.S. Lewis, Chinua Achebe, or Gabriel Marquez. However, when we enter the modernism and contemporary era, you'll find authors such as Dr. Seuss or Margaret Atwood. Traditionally speaking, they might not seem like "true" literary figures, but the truth is that they've transformed the way modern literature works. ​ That said, if there's an author you feel deserves to be on Lit. Fig, please let us know! What's all this information on the author page? In each author page, we try to provide you with enough information to really get to know the author. At the very top of the page, you'll find the author's pen name. If that name was a pseudonym (not their real name), underneath will be their actual name. Underneath this is the info. section which provides basic information such as birth and death date, nationality, genre, and familial relations. Unerneath this is a list of all of the author's works. Major works of an author will be bolded. Below that are a bulleted list of some of the author's major themes. Below that is a couple of quotes by the author. And finally, below that is a list of great resources to learn more about an author. If you click on whatever source appeals to you, you'll be taken to a link featuring that resource. On the right of the author name, you'll notice a picture slideshow of the author. Below that is a biography for the author, which with a click, will expand to reveal the full biography. What if I know the author but not the time period? No worries! In the menu, we've also included a handy-dandy search feature. If you enter an author name, we'll provide you with links to the right author page. How can I use Lit. Fig to find my next favorite book? If you have a certain theme or subject matter that gets you excited, just type it into the search engine found by clicking the search link in our main menu. We'll provide you with authors that match your search. If you click on any author, you'll find a list of the author's works at the bottom of the author page. If you hover over the work, a picture and brief synopsis will be provided. For more information on a given book, we encourage you to look it up in more depth on a search engine. Most of the authors on Lit. Fig. are literary authors. Perfect for that next classic book you have to select in ENGLISH-101. Just saying! How accurate is your information? At Lit. Fig, it is our utmost priority to provide you with accurate and detailed information. Every author we include on this website has been thoroughly researched and every word we say about that author has been thoroughly scrutinized before being placed on the website. We also make sure to include references to some great sources in case you're dying to read a real biography about a certain author. If there's something stated that you find inaccurate, please share your concerns with us! What does Lit. Fig. stand for? Lit. Fig. is a combination of two abbreviations: literary and figure. Shorten literary to three letters and you get lit. Shorten figure to three letters and you get fig. If you want to be updated on literary figure news, exciting updates on our website, and daily bits of knowledge follow us on Instagram! If you have specific questions you have for us, recommendations on an additional author to add to the website, concerns or critiques about current information, feel free to reach out and contact us ! ​ ​ ​ Contact Us Start Exploring!

Author Name (Real Name) Bio. Here you talk about them as a kid. And as a teenager. Then as an adult. Then as a successful person. Works x y z a b c Cool Quotes References Worth Looking At Info. Birth date-death date Parents: Spouse: Children: Age: Nationality: Genre: Literary Era: Themes

Author Name (Real Name) Bio. Here you talk about them as a kid. And as a teenager. Then as an adult. Then as a successful person. Works x y z a b c Cool Quotes References Worth Looking At Info. Birth date-death date Parents: Spouse: Children: Age: Nationality: Genre: Literary Era: Themes

Author Name (Real Name) Bio. Here you talk about them as a kid. And as a teenager. Then as an adult. Then as a successful person. Works x y z a b c Cool Quotes References Worth Looking At Info. Birth date-death date Parents: Spouse: Children: Age: Nationality: Literary Era: Themes

Ayn Rand Alice O'Connor (Alissa Zinovievna Rosenbaum) February 2, 1905-March 6, 1982 Parents: Zinovy Zakharovich Rosenbaum & Anna Borisovna Spouse: Charles Francis "Frank" O'Connor (m. 1929–1979) Age: 77 Nationality: Russian (Soviet) & American Genre: Psychological, Philosophical, Dystopia Literary Era: Modernist (Objectivist) Info. Bio. ​Ayn Rand was born in 1905 as Alissa Zinovievna Rosenbaum in St. Petersburg, Russia to Zinovy Zakharovich Rosenbaum and Anna Borisovna. She was the oldest of three daughters. Both her parents were Jewish. Her father was a prosperous pharmacist, so the family lived in relative comfort. Ayn (yes we're going to refer to her by her pen first name so it doesn't get confusing) was tutored at home for her first years of schooling, and then enrolled in a progressive school. Ayn was an excellent student, but found herself socially isolated from her peers due to her academic success (the boys were jealous and the girls thought her odd). In 1917, during the heart of the Russian Revolution, Bolshevik forces confiscated her father's shop. The event grew Ayn's resentment in the government's involvement in an individual's life. The event also meant the family descended into poverty in the Crimea. Ayn, because of her academic excellence, was able to enroll and attend the University of Petrograd in St. Petersburg (known as Leningrad State University at the time). There she studied history extensively (especially the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle), graduating in 1924. She planned to enroll at the State Institute for Cinematography in hopes of becoming a screenwriter. Ayn had relatives in America, who sent letters from Chicago. Using the pretext of visiting them to gain screenwriting expertise to apply to the Soviet Film Industry, she was granted a visa. In 1926, she fled the Soviet Union to come to the United States, never returning. She was just 21. It was here that she adopted her pen name of Ayn Rand. Ayn (which rhymes with the word pine) came from a similar name of a Finnish writer she read and Rand was an abbreviated form of Rosenbaum. After six months in Chicago, Ayn moved west to Holywood (the glorious city of screenwriting and movie-making). She happened to run into the titan Holywood director Cecil B. DeMille who cast her as an extra in the 1927 film The King of Kings. On the set, she met actor Frank O'Connor. The two were married in 1929. She was then hired as a filing clerk for the wardrobe department at RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. She quickly rose up the ranks becoming the head of the department. In her spare time, she wrote stories, plays, and film scenarios. She gained her U.S. citizenship in 1931 at age 26. She tried to bring her family west from Soviet subjection to America but never succeeded. Later she found out they had been killed during the siege of Leningrad by Nazi Germans during WWII. In 1932, she sold her first screenplay called Red Pawn. Then in 1934, she and her husband moved to New York to oversee the Broadway production of her 1933 play Penthouse Legend (now known as Night of January 16th). During this time, she wrote Ideal, but shelved the manuscript and worked on another project: We, The Living. It received several rejections before being published in 1936. She followed with Anthem in 1938 and began research for The Fountainhead by working for a New York architect. Ayn's work resonated with many Americans due to it's anti-collectivism (and essentially anti-communism) properties. She was a person with a voice from somewhere that everyone in America was anxious to hear about. After seven long years filled with rejection, The Fountainhead was published to mostly bad reviews. However, by word of mouth, the book became a bestseller and was made into a movie. She returned west with her husband to work on the screenplay for the novel, signing a six-month contract to be a screenwriter for indie director Hall Wallis. Following this, she began work on her masterpiece: Atlas Shrugged. Fourteen years after The Fountainhead it blazonly blasted to the forefront of literature as an instant bestseller. This was the most direct statement on her views of collectivism and individualism. As her fame soared, she met some of her fans, including a Nathaniel Blumenthal (who later changed his name to Nathaniel Branden). When Ayn and her husband moved back east to New York City again, Nathaniel and his wife followed. Ayn held intellectual discussions with some of her "followers" who called themselves the Class of '43. During this time, Ayn designated Nathaniel as her intellectual heir. Things only got weirder. Ayn honed what she deemed her intellectual philosophy: objectivism. The basic idea is that reality is a concrete place where individuals can discern existing truths, eventually (and hopefully) arriving at the "incredible" moral value of the pursuing self-interest. Nathaniel Branden proposed a business institution to educate others on objectivism. Ayn agreed and that was the end of her time as a novelist, as she focused all of her endeavors on philosophy. The Nathanial Branden Instititute (a little egotistical if you ask me) or NBI was formed. However, the NBI didn't promote critical thinking and like the collective forces it was supposedly against, forced rote development of "sound ideals." Ayn started having an affair with Branden if that wasn't already slightly obvious with the heir naming and everything (this was 1954, so Ayn was 49 and Branden was 24...yuck! Supposedly, though, both of their spouses knew about the affair). In 1962, Ayn and Branden launched The Objectivist Newsletter to promote objectivism even more. Ayn was invited to give speeches and receive interviews virtually everywhere as she became increasingly famous. She began writing political and philosophical nonfiction to support objectivism (The Virtue of Selfishness, Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, and For the New Intellectual). In 1968, Ayn discovered that Branden was also having an affair with a younger woman. Enraged, she accused him of betraying objectivism and forced him to relinquish his control as head of NBI and in The Objectivist newsletter. Soon thereafter, the NBI dissolved, which allowed for free-thinking objectivist to develop and form their own philosophies off of Ayn's. Ayn responding to these developments with seething hate, declaring many people's objectivist philosophies as plagiarism of her ideas. She especially despised the libertarians. With Branden out of the picture, Ayn appointed Leonard Peikoff as her new favorite (and intellectual and legal heir). She discontinued The Objectivist in 1971 and replaced it with The Ayn Rand Letter (a bit egotistical if you ask me). 1974 found Ayn undergoing lung surgery to stall her lung cancer. She never quite had the same energy afterwards. In 1979, her husband, Charles Francis "Frank" O'Connor, died after a heartattack. He remained faithful to Ayn his whole life and although he did allow Ayn to pursue an affair with Nathaniel Branden,it took years of pressure on Ayn's part for him to finally concede and assent. It troubled him for years afterward. For the next five years, Ayn spent publishing essays on objectivism in hopes of getting academics to finally acknowledge and accept her work. She was working on a TV series screenplay for Atlas Shrugged when she died at 77. Following her death, objectivist Barbara Branden (and ex-wife of Nathaniel Branden) published The Passion of Ayn Rand which exposed much of Ayn's affair, treatment of fellow Objectivists, and personal life to the public. The shade thrown did nothing to dent Ayn's book sales. Her works continued to inspire conservatives (especially in the Reagan administration and the rise of the Tea Party movement) and she's still a profoundly popular, yet controversial author today. Works The Night of January 16th (1936) We the Living (1936) Anthem (1938) Atlas Shrugged (1943) The Fountainhead (1957) For the New Intellectual (1961) The Virtue of Selfishness (1964) The Romantic Manifesto (1969) The Early Ayn Rand (1984) Ideal (2015) Themes Collectivism versus Individualism Egoism The Power of Language and The Power of Mind Human nature and philosophy Cool Quotes The hardest thing to explain is the glaringly evident which everybody had decided not to see. A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others. The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me. References Worth Looking At The Ayn Rand Institute (the place for everything Ayn Rand) aynrand.org Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right by Jennifer Burns "The Mike Wallace Interview with Ayn Rand" (a full interview with the living breathing author during her time) YouTube.com "Ayn Rand Documentary" YouTube.com The Passion of Ayn Rand (also google the film if you're feeling daring) by Barbara Branden Onward! Back.

Author Name (Real Name) Bio. Here you talk about them as a kid. And as a teenager. Then as an adult. Then as a successful person. Works x y z a b c Cool Quotes References Worth Looking At Info. Birth date-death date Parents: Spouse: Children: Age: Nationality: Genre: Literary Era: Themes

Author Name (Real Name) Bio. Here you talk about them as a kid. And as a teenager. Then as an adult. Then as a successful person. Works x y z a b c Cool Quotes References Worth Looking At Info. Birth date-death date Parents: Spouse: Children: Age: Nationality: Literary Era: Themes

Author Name (Real Name) Bio. Here you talk about them as a kid. And as a teenager. Then as an adult. Then as a successful person. Works x y z a b c Cool Quotes References Worth Looking At Info. Birth date-death date Parents: Spouse: Children: Age: Nationality: Literary Era: Themes

Author Name (Real Name) Bio. Here you talk about them as a kid. And as a teenager. Then as an adult. Then as a successful person. Works x y z a b c Cool Quotes References Worth Looking At Info. Birth date-death date Parents: Spouse: Children: Age: Nationality: Genre: Literary Era: Themes

Author Name (Real Name) Bio. Here you talk about them as a kid. And as a teenager. Then as an adult. Then as a successful person. Works x y z a b c Cool Quotes References Worth Looking At Info. Birth date-death date Parents: Spouse: Children: Age: Nationality: Genre: Literary Era: Themes

Author Name (Real Name) Bio. Here you talk about them as a kid. And as a teenager. Then as an adult. Then as a successful person. Works x y z a b c Cool Quotes References Worth Looking At Info. Birth date-death date Parents: Spouse: Children: Age: Nationality: Genre: Literary Era: Themes