Jane Austen

Jane Austen (16 December 1775 18 July 1817) was an English novelist, whose realism, biting social commentary and use of free indirect speech have earned her a place as one of the most widely read and most beloved writers in English literature.

List of works
Other works: Sir Charles Grandison (1793, 1800) Plan of a Novel (1815) Poems Prayers Letters Novels: Sense and Sensibility (1811) Pride and Prejudice (1813) Mansfield Park (1814) Emma (1815) Northanger Abbey (1817) (posthumous) Persuasion (1817) (posthumous)

Death

J. K. Rowling

Joanne Kathleen Rowling was born in July 1965 in England and grew up in Chepstow

The books
Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Harry Potter and the HalfBlood Prince

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffman Dickens was born on 7 February, 1812 in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England (now the Dickens Birthplace Museum) the son of Elizabeth ne Barrow (17891863) and John Dickens (c.1785-1851) a clerk in the Navy Pay Office. John was a congenial man, hospitable and generous to a fault which caused him financial difficulties throughout his life. He inspired the character Mr. Micawber in David Copperfield (18491850). Charles had an older brother Frances, known as Fanny, and younger siblings Alfred Allen, Letitia Mary, Harriet, Frederick William known as Fred, Alfred Lamert, and Augustus Newnham.

Literary style
Dickens loved the style of 18th century gothic romance, [citation needed] although it had already become a target for parody.[citation needed] One "character" vividly drawn throughout his novels is London itself. From the coaching inns on the outskirts of the city to the lower reaches of the Thames, all aspects of the capital are described over the course of his body of work. His writing style is florid and poetic, with a strong comic touch. His satires of British aristocratic snobberyhe calls one character the "Noble Refrigerator"are often popular. Comparing orphans to stocks and shares, people to tug boats, or dinner-party guests to furniture are just some of Dickens's acclaimed flights of fancy. Many of his characters' names provide the reader with a hint as to the roles played in advancing the storyline, such as Mr. Murdstone in the novel David Copperfield, which is clearly a combination of "murder" and stony coldness. His literary style is also a mixture of fantasy and realism.

Characters

Dickensian characters especially their typically whimsical namesare among the most memorable in English literature. The likes of Ebenezer Scrooge, Tiny Tim, Jacob Marley, Bob Cratchit, Oliver Twist, The Artful Dodger, Fagin, Bill Sikes, Pip, Miss Havisham, Charles Darnay, David Copperfield, Mr. Micawber, Abel Magwitch, Daniel Quilp, Samuel Pickwick, Wackford Squeers, Uriah Heep and many others are so well known and can be believed to be living a life outside the novels that their stories have been continued by other authors.

Notable works by Charles Dickens Charles Dickens published over a dozen major novels, a large number of short stories (including a number of Christmas-themed stories), a handful of plays, and several non-fiction books. Dickens's novels were initially serialized in weekly and monthly magazines, then reprinted in standard book formats. The Christmas books: A Christmas Carol (1843) The Chimes (1844) The Cricket on the Hearth (1845) The Battle of Life (1846) The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain (1848) Sketches by Boz (1836) The Mudfog Papers (1837) in Bentley's Miscellany magazine Reprinted Pieces (1861) The Uncommercial Traveller (1860 1869)

Death
On 8 June 1870, Dickens suffered another stroke at his home, after a full day's work on Edwin Drood. The next day, on 9 June, and five years to the day after the Staplehurst crash, he died at Gad's Hill Place never having regained consciousness. The great author was mourned by all his readers.

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare (baptised 26 April 1564 died 23 April 1616)was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's preeminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon".

Poetry
It is generally agreed that most of the Shakespearean Sonnets were written in the 1590s, some printed at this time as well. Others were written or revised right before being printed. 154 sonnets and "A Lover's Complaint" were published by Thomas Thorpe as Shakespeare Sonnets in 1609. The order, dates, and authorship of the Sonnets have been much debated with no conclusive findings. Many have claimed autobiographical details from them, including sonnet number 145 in reference to Anne. The dedication to "Mr. W.H." is said to possibly represent the initials of the third earl of Pembroke William Herbert, or perhaps being a reversal of Henry Wriothesly's initials. Regardless, there have been some unfortunate projections and interpretations of modern concepts onto centuries old works that, while a grasp of contextual historical information can certainly lend to their depth and meaning, can also be enjoyed as valuable poetical works that have transcended time and been surpassed by no other.

Tragedies, Histories, Comedies

Comedy of Errors 1594 (1623), Two Gentlemen of Verona 1594-95 (1623), Love's Labour's Lost 1594-95 (1598), Midsummer Night's Dream 1595-96 (1600), Merchant of Venice 1596-1597 (1600),

Romeo and Juliet 1594-95 (1597) Hamlet 1600-01 (1603) Antony and Cleopatra 1606-07 (1623) King Lear 1606 (1608) Macbeth 1611-1612 (1623)

King Henry VI part.1,2,3 King John 1596-97 (1623) Richard II and III 1600-01 (1597) King Henry VIII 1612-13 (1623)

Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616.