Alexandre Dumas (1802 – 1870) Alexandre Dumas was one of the most famous French writers of the 19th century, best known for historical adventure novels like The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo. He was among the first, along with Honore de Balzac and Eugene Sue, who fully used the possibilities of Roman Feuilleton, the serial novel. Dumas’ works are fast-paced adventure tales on one hand and on the...

Alexander Pope (1688 — 1744) Alexander Pope was born in London as the son of Alexander Pope, a Roman Catholic linen-merchant, and Edith (Turner) Pope. At that time Catholics suffered from repressive legislation and prejudices – they were not allowed to enter any universities or held public employment. Thus Pope had an uneven education, which was often interrupted. He was largely educated at home. Pope’s aunt taught him to read. Latin...

Aldous Huxley (1894 – 1963) Aldous Huxley was the English novelist and critic, best known for his dystopian novel Brave New World (1931). Besides novels, he published travel books, histories, poems, plays, and essays on philosophy, arts, sociology, religion and morals. Aldous Huxley was born in Godalming, Surrey on July 26, 1894, into a well-to-do upper-middle-class family He first studied at Eton College, Berkshire (1908 -1913). At the age of 16,...

Agatha Christie (1890-1976)   Agatha Christie prolific British Author.  Agatha Christie was born in Torquay, in the county of Devon, as the daughter of Frederick Alvah Miller and Clarissa Miller. Her father died when she was a child. Christie was educated at home, where her mother encouraged her to write from a very early age. At sixteen she was sent to school in Paris where she studied singing and piano. In...

Abraham Cowley (1618 -1667) Abraham Cowley (pronounced Cooley) was born in London, the posthumous son of a wealthy London stationer. He was educated at Westminster School and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he took his BA in 1639, was made fellow in 1640, and became MA in 1643. Cowley published his first volume of verse, Poetical Blossoms (1633), when he was 15. The collection consisted of five poems, one of which...