Once more Tolstoy shows his disdain for Russia’s upper class. Even with the invasion going on, the capital battered and people suffering Russia’s elite society still lives as if their gatherings are of utmost importance.

As you know I love my Dr. Seuss fun facts, I wrote a post several years ago which, due to the great positive responses I got, started my Fun Facts Friday posts. March 2 is the birthday of this wonderful author so I hastened to find some more fun facts about this fun guy. A line in Horton Hears a Who! was used by pro-life (that’s anti-abortion for my international readers) as a slogan. The line was e “A person’s a person, no matter how small”. We don’t know if that was Seuss’ intention, however he did threaten to sue the group if the didn’t remove the slogan from their letterhead. In the 40’s and 50’s there was a series of books which taught kids how to read, the books were published by Loganberry Books and were called the Dick and Jane primers. Dick and Jane lived in a nice, clean, sanitized suburbia and were very popular. Dr. Seuss however thought they were boring and wrote The Cat in the Hat. A few months after the Watergate scandal a book called Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now! was published. Many thought that the book was about disgraced President Richard Nixon, however it’s highly unlikely that…

Japanese writer Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (1 March 1892 – 24 July 1927) had a short life, but made a huge impact on his native Japan. He committed suicide at age 35 by overdosing on barbital (a drug used for sleeping). The Akutagawa, named after the author, is Japan’s top literary award. Ryūnosuke means “son of Dragon” because he was born on the day, month and year of the dragon. From an early age Akutagawa was interested in classic Chinese literature. Akutagawa’s First High School class of 1910 produces at least 5 prominent Japanese authors ( Kan Kikuchi, Kume Masao, Yamamoto Yūzō,Tsuchiya Bunmei and Akutagawa) Akutagawa is known as the “father of the Japanese short story.” Akutagawa’s first short story “Rashōmon” was published in the literary magazine Teikoku Bungaku (“Imperial Literature”) around 1915. Akutagwa also wrote haiku under the pen name (haigo) Gaki Famed Japanese author Haruki Murakami wrote the introduction to Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories which was translated by Jay Rubin. Two of the stories Rubin successfully translated, Chugi” (“Loyalty”) and “Negi” (“Green Onions”) were considered impossible to translate by Akutagawa scholars. Akutagawa was suffering from hallucinations and fears that he had inherited his mother’s mental illness. Zohar – Man of la Book