De Schotse dichter en schrijver Sir Walter Scott werd geboren in Edinburgh op 14 augustus 1771.
Uit: Bride of Lammermoor
„I am too stubborn in habits, and too little polished in manners, to envy or aspire to the honours assigned to my literary contemporaries. I could not think a whit more highly of myself were I found worthy to “come in place as a lion” for a winter in the great metropolis. I could not rise, turn round, and show all my honours, from the shaggy mane to the tufted tail, “roar you an’t were any nightingale,” and so lie down again like a well-behaved beast of show, and all at the cheap and easy rate of a
cup of coffee and a slice of bread and butter as thin as a wafer. And I could ill stomach the fulsome flattery with which the lady of the evening indulges her show-monsters on such occasions, as she crams her parrots with sugar-plums, in order to make them talk before company. I cannot be tempted to “come aloft” for these marks of distinction, and, like imprisoned Samson, I would rather remain–if such must be the alternative–all my life in the mill-house, grinding for my very bread, than be brought forth to make sport for the Philistine lords and ladies.
This proceeds from no dislike, real or affected, to the aristocracy of these realms. But they have their place, and I have mine; and, like the iron and earthen vessels in the old fable, we can scarce come
into collision without my being the sufferer in every sense. It may be otherwise with the sheets which I am now writing. These may be opened and laid aside at pleasure; by amusing themselves with the perusal, the great will excite no false hopes; by neglecting or condemning them, they will inflict no pain; and how seldom can they converse with those whose minds have toiled for their delight without doing either the one or the other.”
Sir Walter Scott (14 augustus 1771 – 21 september 1832)
Portret door Sir William Allan
De moeder van (o.a.) de Duitse schrijvers Heinrich en Thomas Mann, Julia Mann-da Silva-Bruhns werd geboren op 14 augustus 1851 in Paraty in Brazilië.
Uit: Tonio Kröger
„Der Mutter Tonios jedoch, seiner schönen, schwarzhaarigen Mutter, die Consuelo mit Vornamen hieß und über-haupt so anders war als die übrigen Damen der Stadt, weil der Vater sie sich einstmals von ganzen unter auf der Landkarte herausgeholt hatte […] waren die Zeugnisse grundeinerlei…“ – „Tonio liebte seine dunkle und feurige Mutter, die so wunderbar den Flügel und die Mando-line spielte […]”
Julia Mann met haar kinderen Julia, Heinrich en Thomas rond 1880
De Britse schrijver John Galsworthy werd geboren op 14 augustus 1867 in Kingston Hill in Surrey.
Uit: The Forsyte Saga
“It was that famous summer when extravagance was fashionable, when the very earth was extravagant, chestnut-trees spread with blossom, and flowers drenched in perfume, as they have never been before; when roses blew in every garden; and for the swarming stars the nights had hardly space; when every day and all day long the sun, in full armour, swung his brazen shield above the Park, and people did strange things, lunching and dining in the open air… And the lime-flowers that year were of rare prime, near honey-coloured. At the corners of London squares they gave out, as the sun went down, a perfume sweeter than the honey bees had taken—a perfume that stirred a yearning unnameable in the hearts of Forsytes and their peers, taking the cool after dinner in the precincts of those gardens to which they alone had keys.. And that yearning made them linger amidst the dim shapes of flower-beds in the failing daylight, made them turn, and turn, and turn again, as though lovers were waiting for them—waiting for the last light to die away under the shadow of the branches.“
John Galsworthy (14 augustus 1867 – 31 januari 1933)
De Oostenrijkse dichteres en schrijfster Marie Eugenie Delle Grazie werd geboren op 14 augustus 1864 in Bela Crkva.
Meine Liebe
Gold’ner als die Sonne glüht,
Reiner als der Mondenschein,
Schöner als die Rose blüht,
Wohnt die Lieb’ im Herzen mein.
Wenn der Lenz von dannen zieht,
Nimmt er jede Blüth’ vom Baum;
Meine Liebe geht nicht mit,
Bleibt ein ew’ger Frühlingstraum.
Und wenn Rosen nicht mehr glüh’n,
Nicht mehr lacht der Mondenschein,
Blumen, die da nicht verblüh’n,
Zaubert sie in’s Herz hinein.
Marie Delle Grazie (14 augustus 1864 – 19 februari 1931)
De Italiaanse schrijfster Sibilla Aleramo (eig. Rina Faccio) werd geboren in Alessandria op 14 augustus 1876. Zie ook mijn blog van 14 augustus 2007.
De Zwitserse schrijfster Alice Rivaz werd geboren op 14 augustus 1901 in Rovray, in het Franstalige deel van Zwiserland.
De Duitse schrijver Johannes Trojan werd geboren op 14 augustus 1837 in Danzig.
De Amerikaanse dichter en schrijver Ernest Lawrence Thayer werd geboren op 14 augustus 1863 in Lawrence, Massachusetts.
Zie voor alle bovenstaande schrijvers ook mijn blog van 14 augustus 2008.