BORN: 1890, Torquay, England DIED: 1976, Wallingford, England NATIONALITY: British GENRE: Fiction, Drama MAJOR WORKS: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926) Murder on the Orient Express (1934) The Mousetrap (1952) Witness for the Prosecution (1953) Agatha Christie is the most commercially successful woman writer of all time and probably the most widely read author of the twentieth century. A master of the murder mystery, her dozens of novels, stories, and plays... 

Also known as Qian Tao or Ch’ien T’ao, T’ao Yu¨an-ming T’ao Ch’ien was one of China’s foremost poets in the five-word shih style. He was not recognized as a major poet until the T’ang dynasty (618–907). By the Song times (960–1279), however, his status as one of China’s greatest lyrical poets had become generally recognized, and his poetry has never ceased to fascinate the Chinese since. Works in Biographical and Historical Context A... 

Regarded as one of England’s premier men of letters during the first third of the twentieth century, Chesterton is best known today as a colorful character who created the Father Brown mysteries and the fantasy novel The Man Who Was Thursday. His witty essays have also provided delight and inspiration to generations of readers. Works in Biographical and Historical Context A Joyous Childhood in Kensington Gilbert Keith Chesterton was born in the London borough... 

BORN: 1860, Taganrog, Russia DIED: 1904, Badenweiler, Germany NATIONALITY: Russian GENRE: Drama, fiction MAJOR WORKS: The Cherry Orchard (1904) Uncle Vanya (1899) The Three Sisters (1901) Overview Anton Chekhov Time & Life Pictures / Getty Images Celebrated for his innovative methods in prose fiction and drama, Anton Chekhov is known for his ability to combine both tragedy and comedy in works that substitute dialogue for action and ambiguity for moral finality.... 

BORN: c. 1343, London, England DIED: 1400, London, England NATIONALITY: British, English GENRE: Poetry MAJOR WORKS: The Book of the Duchess (c. 1368–1372) The Parliament of Fowles (c. 1378–1381) Troilus and Criseyde (c. 1382–1386) The Canterbury Tales (c. 1386–1400) Widely regarded as the ‘‘father of English poetry,’’ Geoffrey Chaucer is considered the foremost representative of Middle English literature. The originality of his language and... 

Of all English poets, Thomas Chatterton seemed to his great Romantic successors to most typify a commitment to the life of the imagination. For a variety of reasons, which to a large extent relate to the state of letters in his time, he achieved the status of a myth. The victim of starvation and despair, his suspected suicide in a London garret at the age of eighteen enhanced his social and literary significance to an archetypal level. Works in Biographical... 

During his lifetime Rene Char was regarded by many as France’s greatest living poet. Although his early association with the surrealists liberated his imagination and colored his imagery, Char’s poetry also reflects the rusticity of life in the countryside of his native Provence. His experiences during World War II profoundly affected his poetry and led him to reflect on enduring human values. In addition to ‘‘anecdotal,’’ Char’s poetry has been...