A rose by any other name . . .

Today is the birthday of Stanislas de Guaita (April 6, 1861 - December 19, 1897), poet.

His poems were very widely celebrated and in 1883 were published as The Dark Muse and in 1885 as The Mystic Rose, both of which brought him acclaim and great popularity.

Stanislas de Guaita created the Cabalistic Order of the Rose Cross (Kabbalistique de la Rose Croix) in 1888, which brought together the most famous esoteric thinkers of France, and later all of Europe. (The Rosicrucian Order is a legendary and secretive Order that was first publicly documented in the early 1600s.) Stanislas de Guaita's Order of the Rose Cross provided training in the Kabbalah (Qabala(h) or Cabala), an esoteric form of Jewish mysticism, which attempts to reveal hidden mystical insights in the Hebrew Bible and divine nature. During his lifetime he collected the largest private library of writings on metaphysical subjects, magic, and hidden sciences that could be found in France.

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A great leap in the dark . . .

Today is the birthday of Thomas Hobbes (April 5, 1588 – December 4, 1679), philosopher, best known for his book, Leviathan. He has been referred to as the founding father of modern political philosophy.

In 1651, Thomas Hobbes publishes Leviathan, which basically says that man's natural state is anarchic competition. He puts forth the idea that man, in his self-interest, forms peaceful societies via the social contract, without which life would be "nasty, brutish, and short", perpetually chaotic and at war.

Here is another author whose books were banned and burned. Four years after Thomas Hobbes’s death, the University of Oxford condemned his works The Citizen and Leviathan and burned them at the stake. (1)

"Such is the nature of men, that howsoever they may acknowledge many others to be more witty, or more eloquent, or more learned; yet they will hardly believe there be many so wise as themselves." - Thomas Hobbes

"Curiosity is the lust of the mind." - Thomas Hobbes

Trivia bit: "I am about to take my last voyage, a great leap in the dark." attributed as Thomas Hobbes last words.

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Meandering with Tweel . . .

Today is the birthday of Stanley Grauman Weinbaum (April 4, 1902 - December 14, 1935), author. He is best known for his short story A Martian Odyssey and the alien character Tweel.

A Martian Odyssey, has been influencing Science Fiction since it was first published in 1934. The story presented Tweel, a sympathetic but definitely non-human alien. Stanley G. Weinbaum is considered the first writer to contrive an alien who thought as well as a human, but not like a human.

Stanley G. Weinbaum's first published story in 1934, A Martian Odyssey, changed science fiction forever. He died of throat cancer 15 months later, in 1935. He continued to exert influence on the field after his death, since works he had written but not published, were made available to the public after he died.

Robert Bloch: "In an era of rising racial, religious and nationalistic discord soon to culminate in a global war, Weinbaum somehow found the courage and creativity to present --- without plea or preachment --- the case for brotherhood. And not just the brotherhood of man, but the kinship common to all living things." direct quote source (1)

Trivia bit: A crater on Mars is named in his honor.

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Needs work . . .

Today is the birthday of Henry Robinson Luce II (April 3, 1898 – February 28, 1967), publisher. He is best known as the publisher of the magazine, Time.

Time was first published in 1923 with partner Briton Hadden, followed by the business magazine Fortune in February 1930, the pictorial Life magazine in 1936, the House & Home in 1952 and Sports Illustrated in 1954. Henry R. Luce also produced The March of Time program for radio and cinema.

"I became a journalist to come as close as possible to the heart of the world." - Henry R. Luce

"Show me a man who claims he is objective and I'll show you a man with illusions." - Henry R. Luce

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Meandering about . . .

Happy Birthday to authors Giacomo Casanova, Hans Christian Andersen, and Émile Zola.

Giacomo Girolamo Casanova de Seingalt (April 2, 1725 – June 4, 1798), author and adventurer. He is best known for his memoirs, which are a most revealing record of 18th-century European society and simply as Casanova, "the world's greatest lover".

"I have always loved truth so passionately that I have often resorted to lying as a way of introducing it into the minds which were ignorant of its charms." - Casanova

"Desire is only kept alive by being denied: enjoyment kills it, since one cannot desire what one has got." - Casanova

"If one tells a lie a sufficient number of times, one ends by believing it." - Casanova

"Man is free; but not unless he believes he is." - Casanova

"I don't conquer, I submit." - Casanova

*****

Hans Christian Andersen (April 2, 1805 – August 4, 1875), author and poet, most famous for his fairy tales.

A few of his well loved fairy tales are The Little Mermaid, The Princess and the Pea, The Emperor's New Clothes, Thumbelina, The Ugly Duckling and The Red Shoes. His fairy tales have been translated into over 150 languages and continue to be published in millions of copies throughout the world.

"Enjoy life. There's plenty of time to be dead." - Andersen

"Where words fail, music speaks." - Andersen

“Every man's life is a fairy tale written by God's fingers.” - Andersen

“Life itself is the most wonderful fairy tale.” - Andersen

*****

Émile François Zola (April 2, 1840 – September 29, 1902), journalist and author, best known for his series of 20 novels referred to collectively as Les Rougon-Macquart (1871-93) and the open letter J'Accuse written in defense of Alfred Dreyfus, an Army officer who had been convicted of treason.

"The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work." - Émile Zola

"If you shut up truth and bury it under the ground, it will but grow, and gather to itself such explosive power that the day it bursts through it will blow up everything in its way." - Émile Zola

"If you ask me what I came to do in this world, I, an artist, I will answer you: I am here to live out loud!" - Émile Zola

"Everything is only a dream." - Émile Zola

*****

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To dream of love . . .

A Happy Birthday salute to the French writers Antoine François Prévost and Edmond Eugène Alexis Rostand.

Antoine François Prévost (April 1, 1697 - December 23, 1763), author and novelist, better known as Abbé Prévost author of the novel Manon Lescaut.

Manon Lascaut was the seventh and final volume of Mémoires et aventures d'un homme de qualité (Memoirs and Adventures of a Man of Quality). The short novel was considered very controversial when published in 1731 and was banned in France. Despite the banning or perhaps because of the banning, it became very popular and pirated editions were widely distributed. In the later 1753 edition, the Abbé Prévost toned down some scandalous details and injected more moralizing disclaimers.

Trivia bit:Two well-known operas, Manon, by Massenet (1884), and Manon Lescaut, by Puccini (1893), are based on his novel.

*****

Edmond Eugène Alexis Rostand (April 1, 1868 – December 2, 1918), poet and dramatist, best known for his play Cyrano de Bergerac.

"When, in 1901, following the success of L'Aiglon, Rostand was elected to the French Academy, he was the youngest member ever to be chosen for that honor. The hold that Rostand secured on a far-flung audience cannot be better illustrated than by an incident that occurred on the occasion of the first performance of Chanticler in Paris. On the following day, 'a daily newspaper in Butte, Montana, devoted, not the first column, but the entire first page to Chanticler!'

Rostand was prevented from living in Paris by his delicate health which required a kinder climate. Incidentally, he could not take a walk on Paris streets without being followed by adoring crowds. He built himself a huge château at Cambo in the Pyrenees where he lived and wrote until his death in 1918." direct quote source (1)

"The dream, alone, is of interest. What is life, without a dream?" - Edmond Rostand

"It is at night that faith in light is admirable." - Edmond Rostand

Trivia bit: He died a victim of the widespread influenza epidemic of 1918.

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I think . . .

Today is the birthday of René Descartes (March 31, 1596 – February 11, 1650), philosopher, mathematician, scientist, and writer. René Descartes has been referred to as one of the most influential thinkers in human history, and is sometimes called the founder of modern philosophy.

René Descartes, is another author whose writings have been banned. In 1663, the Pope placed his works on the Index of Prohibited Books - the list was abolished in 1966.

“When I consider this carefully, I find not a single property which with certainty separates the waking state from the dream. How can you be certain that your whole life is not a dream?” - René Descartes

"It is not enough to have a good mind. The main thing is to use it well." - René Descartes

"Conquer yourself not the world". - René Descartes

"If you would be a real seeker after truth, you must at least once in your life doubt, as far as possible, all things." - René Descartes

"Doubt is the origin of wisdom." - René Descartes

"I think, therefore I am." - René Descartes

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