BIOGRAPHY OF AUTHORS

DONE BY:
PURUSOTHAMAN K
 ALPHONSE DAUDET:
Daudet was born in Nîmes, France. His family, on
both sides, belonged to the bourgeoisie. His father,
Vincent Daudet, was a silk manufacturer — a man
dogged through life by misfortune and failure.
Alphonse, amid much truancy, had a depressing
boyhood. In 1856 he left Lyon, where his schooldays
had been mainly spent, and began his career as a
schoolteacher at Alès, Gard, in the south of France.
The position proved to be intolerable and Daudet said
later that for months after leaving Alès he would wake with horror, thinking he was
still among his unruly pupils. These experiences and others were reflected in his
novel Le Petit Chose

BIOGRAPHY:
Daudet was the son of a silk manufacturer. In 1849 his father had to sell his factory
and move to Lyon. Alphonse wrote his first poems and his first novel at age 14. In
1857 his parents lost all their money, and Daudet had to give up his hopes
of matriculating. His work as an usher at a school at Alès for six unhappy months
culminated in his dismissal but later furnished the theme, with embellishments and
omissions, for his semiautobiographical novel Le Petit Chose (1868; “The Little
Thing”). At the end of the year he joined his elder brother, Ernest, in Paris. Daudet
now threw himself into writing and began to frequent literary circles, both
Bohemian and fashionable. A handsome young man, he formed a liaison with a
model, Marie Rieu, to whom he dedicated his only book of poems, Les
Amoureuses (1858; “The Lovers”). His long and troubled relationship with her
was to be reflected, much later, in his novel Sapho (1884). He also contributed
articles to the newspapers, in particular to Figaro. In 1860 he met Frédéric Mistral,
the leader of the 19th-century revival of Provençal language and literature, who
awakened his enthusiasm for the life of the south of France, which was regarded as
inherently passionate, artistic, and sensuous as opposed to
the moral and intellectual rigour of the north. In the same year, he obtained a
secretarial post under the duke de Morny.
His health undermined by poverty and by the venereal disease that was eventually
to cost him his life, Daudet spent the winter of 1861–62 in Algeria. One of the
fruits of this visit was Chapatin le tueur de lions (1863; “Chapatin the Killer of
Lions”), whose lion-hunter hero can be seen as the first sketch of the author’s
future Tartarin. Daudet’s first play, La Dernière Idole (“The Last Idol”), made a
great impact when it was produced at the Odéon Theatre in Paris in 1862.

His winter in Corsica at the end of 1862 is recalled in passages of his Lettres de
mon moulin (1869; “Letters from My Mill”). His full social life over the years
1863–65 (until Morny’s death) provided him with the material that he analyzed
mercilessly in Le Nabab (1877; “The Nabob”). In January 1867 he married Julia
Allard, herself a writer of talent, with whom he was deeply in love and who gave
him great help in his subsequent work. They had two sons, Léon and Lucien, and a
daughter, Edmée.

In the Franco-German War, which had a profound effect on his writing (as can be
judged from his second volume of short stories, Les Contes du lundi, 1873;
“Monday Tales”), Daudet enlisted in the army, but he fled from Paris during the
terrors of the Commune of 1871. His novel Les Aventures prodigieuses de Tartarin
de Tarascon (1872; “The Prodigious Adventures of Tartarin de Tarascon”) was not
well received, though its adventurous hero is now celebrated as a caricature of
naïveté and boastfulness. His play L’Arlésienne was also a failure (although its
1885 revival was acclaimed). His next novel, Fromont jeune et Risler aîné (1874;
“Fromont the Younger and Risler the Elder”), which won an award from
the French Academy, was a success, and for a few years he enjoyed prosperity and
fame—though not without some hostile criticism.

In his last years Daudet suffered from an agonizing ailment of the spinal
cord caused by his venereal disease. La Doulou (not published until 1931)
represents his attempt to alleviate his pain by investigating it. With admirable self-
control he continued to write books of all sorts and to entertain Parisian literary
and musical society. He was a kindly patron of younger writers—for instance,
of Marcel Proust. In 1895 he visited London and Venice. He died suddenly.
PROSE:
 Les Amoureuses (1858; poems, first published work).
 Le Petit Chose (1868; English: Little Good-For-Nothing, 1885; or Little
What's-His-Name, 1898).
 Lettres de Mon Moulin (1869; English: Letters from my Mill, 1880, short
stories).
 Tartarin de Tarascon (1872; English: Tartarin of Tarascon, 1896).
 L'Arlésienne (1872; novella originally part of Lettres de Mon Moulin made
into a play)
 Contes du Lundi (1873; English: The Monday Tales, 1900; short stories).
 Les Femmes d'Artistes (1874; English: Artists' Wives, 1896).
 Robert Helmont (1874; English: Robert Helmont: the Diary of a Recluse,
1896).
 Fromont jeune et Risler aîné (1874; English: Fromont Junior and Risler
Senior, 1894).
 Jack (1876; English: Jack, 1897).
 Le Nabab (1877; English: The Nabob, 1878).
 Les Rois en Exil (1879; English: Kings in Exile, 1896).
 Numa Roumestan (1880; English: Numa Roumestan: or, Joy Abroad and
Grief at Home, 1884).Daudet's Grave at Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris
 L'Evangéliste (1883; English: The Evangelist, 1883).
 Sapho (1884); (English: Sappho, 1886).
 Tartarin sur les Alpes (1885; English: Tartarin on the Alps, 1891).
 La Belle Nivernaise (1886; English: La Belle Nivernaise, 1892, juvenile).
 L'Immortel (1888; English: One of the Forty, 1888).
 Port-Tarascon (1890; English: Port Tarascon, 1890).
 Rose and Ninette (1892; English: Rose and Ninette, 1892).
 Batisto Bonnet (1894), Un paysan du Midi. Vie d'enfant (in French),
translated by Alphonse Daudet, Paris: E. Dentu, p. 503
 La Doulou (1930; English: In The Land of Pain, 2003; translator: Julian
Barnes).
 The Last Lesson
 ANEES JUNG
Anees Jung (born 1964) is an Indian author, journalist and columnist for
newspapers in India and abroad , whose most known work, Unveiling India (1987)
was a chronicle of the lives of women in India, noted especially for the depiction
of Muslim women behind the purdah.

BIOGRAPHY:
Born in Rourkela, and growing up in Hyderabad, Anees Jung is from an
aristocratic family – her father, Nawab Hosh Yar Jung, was a scholar and poet, and
served as the musahib (adviser) to the last Nizam (prince) of Hyderabad State. Her
mother and brother are also Urdu poets. After schooling and college at Osmania
University in Hyderabad, she went to the United States for higher studies
at University of Michigan Ann Arbor, where she did her master's degree in
sociology and American studies.

She started her career in writing with the Youth Times, a Times of
India publication, where she worked as a journalist and editor (1973 to 1980). She
has subsequently worked for The Christian Science Monitor and the International
Herald Tribune. Anees Jung lives in Delhi.
PROSE:
 Night Of The New Moon: Encounters
 Unveiling India: A woman’s Journey
 Beyond The Courtyard: A Sequel
 Peace in Winter Gardens ; ordinary people extraordinary lives
 Breaking The Silence, Voice Of Woman From Around The World
 The Song Of India
 Lost Spring: Stories of Stolen Childhood
 ASHOKAMITRAN
Ashokamitran (22 September 1931 – 23
March 2017) was the pen name
of Jagadisa Thyagarajan, an Indian
writer regarded as one of the most
influential figures in post-
independent Tamil literature. He began
his prolific literary career with the prize-
winning play "Anbin Parisu" and went
on to author more than two hundred
short stories, and a dozen novellas and
novels.A distinguished essayist and critic, he was the editor of the literary journal
"Kanaiyaazhi". He has written over 200 short stories, nine novels, and some 15
novellas besides other prose writings. Most of his works have also been translated
into English and other Indian languages, including Hindi, Malayalam, and Telugu.

BIOGRAPHY
Born in Secunderabad in 1931, Ashokamitran spent the first twenty years of his
life there. His real name was Jagadisa Thyagarajan.He moved to Chennai in 1952
after the death of his father, following an invitation from his father's friend, the
film director S.S.Vasan to come work at Vasan's Gemini Studios. He worked for
more than a decade at the Gemini Studios. While working there he often acted as
an "unofficial scribe" (in his own words) for people working in the film industry,
and said that his efforts consisted of "writing most heart rending appeals for loans
and salary advances." He also began writing about his experiences working in the
film industry in a set of columns for the Illustrated Weekly of India; these columns
later became his book, My Years with Boss (sometimes translated as Fourteen
Years with Boss). The 'boss' referred to was S.S. Vasan, the owner of Gemini
Studios.
His experiences here and his interaction with people from the Tamil filmdom later
took the form of his book "My Years with Boss". In 1966, he left his work in the
film industry, and has since said that he felt he "should not continue with a system
which had built-in inequities."

It was from 1966 that he became a full-time writer and he took up the pseudonym
of "Ashokamitran". In 1973 he was invited and took part in the International
Writing Program at the University of Iowa, United States. In the 1980s most of his
works were translated into English and he and his works became well-known all
over India. Some of his works were translated into other European languages and
most Indian languages as well.

Ashokamitran died on 23 March 2017 at the age of 85. At the time of his death, he
was surrounded by his wife and three sons

PROSE:
 Anbin Parisu (1953)
 Thanneer
 Manasarovar
 18-vadhu Atchakkodu (1977) - (This has been translated into English in the
name "The Eighteenth Parallel"). This novel is a kind of biographical look
back at his early years at Secunderabad. It describes the life of a young man
set against the backdrop of the political unrest that was developing in
Hyderabad in the late Forties.
 My Years with Boss
 Karainta nilalkal (translated to English as Star Crossed, by V. Ramnarayan.
 Otran
 Paavam Dalpathado (translated to English as The Ghost of Meenambakkan
by N. Kalyan Raman)
 Indru
 India 1944-48
 Aagayathamarai
AWARDS:
 The K.K. Birla Fellowship to do a study in comparative Indian literature.
[citation needed]
 1973-74: The University of Iowa Creative Writing Fellowship.
 1992: Lily Memorial Award.
 1993: Ramkrishna Jaidayal Harmony Award by the Dalmia Trust for
promoting religious harmony.
 1996: Akshara Award.
 1996: Sahitya Akademi Award for Appavin Snegidhar, a collection of short
stories.
 January 2007: The MGR Award.[citation needed]
 May 2012: NTR National Literary Award by NTR Vignan Trust.
 10 February 2013: The inaugural Kaa Na Su award at a function in Chennai.
[citation needed]
 30 March 2013: National award instituted by the Bharatiya Bhasha Parishad
at Kolkata
 LOUIS FISCHER
Louis Fischer (29 February 1896 – 15 January 1970)
was an American journalist. Among his works were a
contribution to the ex-communist treatise The God
that Failed (1949), The Life of Mahatma Gandhi
(1950), basis for the Academy Award-winning film
Gandhi (1982), as well as a Life of Lenin, which won
the 1965 National Book Award in History and
Biography.

BIOGRAPHY:
Louis Fischer, the son of a fish peddler, was born in Philadelphia on 29 February
1896. After studying at the Philadelphia School of Pedagogy from 1914 to 1916,
he became a school teacher.

In 1917, Fischer joined the Jewish Legion, a military unit based in Palestine. On
his return to the United States, Fischer took up work at a news agency in New
York City and met Bertha "Markoosha" Mark (1890-1977). In 1921, when Bertha
went to work in Berlin, Fischer joined her a few months later and began
contributing to the New York Evening Post as a European correspondent. The
following year, he moved to Moscow and married Bertha. In 1923 their first son
George was born (followed by Victor a year later) and Fischer began working for
The Nation. He also served as a volunteer in the British Army between 1918 and
1920.

While in the Soviet Union, Fischer published several books including Oil
Imperialism: The International Struggle for Petroleum (1926) and The Soviets in
World Affairs (1930).

In 1934, American Max Eastman criticized Fischer for Stalinism in a chapter

Fischer also covered the Spanish Civil War and for a time was a member of the
International Brigade fighting General Francisco Franco. In 1938, he returned to
the United States and settled in New York. He continued to work for The Nation
and wrote his autobiography, Men and Politics (1941). Viktor Fischer, Louis
Fischer's son, was a close friend of Lothar Wloch (1923–1976), the son of Wilhelm
Wloch [de] and "Koni" Konrad Wolf who was the Stasi spy master Markus Wolf's
brother and uncle of Franz Wolf, who is very close to Vladimir Putin. In 1989,
Markus Wolf wrote about the three friends Koni, Vik, and Lothar in The Troika.

Fischer left The Nation in 1945 after a dispute with the editor, Freda Kirchwey,
over the journal's sympathetic reporting of Joseph Stalin. His disillusionment with
communism, although he had never been a member of the Communist Party USA,
was reflected in his contribution to The God That Failed (1949). Fischer began
writing for anti-communist liberal magazines such as The Progressive. Louis
Fischer taught about the Soviet Union at Princeton University until his death on
January 15, 1970.

PROSE
 Oil Imperialism: The International Struggle for Petroleum (1926)
 The Soviets in World Affairs Volume I Volume II (1930)
 The War in Spain (1937)
 Men and Politics (autobiography) (1941)
 Gandhi & Stalin (1947)
 The God that Failed (contribution) (1949)
 The Life of Mahatma Gandhi (1950)
 The Life and Death of Stalin (1952)
 The Story of Indonesia (1959)
 The Essential Gandhi (editor) (1962)
 The Life of Lenin (1964)
 Russia's Road from Peace to War (1969)