Category: Today’s Birthday

Agnon was an Israeli writer who is widely regarded as one of the greatest modern Hebrew novelists and short-story writers. Born into a Polish Galician family in what is now Ukraine, Agnon settled in Palestine in 1907. His fiction explores Jewish life from the late 18th century to the post-WWI period. The Day Before Yesterday, perhaps his greatest novel, examines the problems faced by the westernized Jewish immigrant to Israel. In 1966, Agnon shared the Nobel Prize in Literature with whom? Discuss

Born to a noble family, Chiara Offreduccio, now St. Clare of Assisi, was deeply influenced by fellow Assisian St. Francis. Refusing to marry, she instead fled to a chapel where he received her vows. She later became abbess of a female religious community that included her sister and mother. The Second Order of St. Francis, or Poor Clares, adopted the absolute poverty of St. Francis but was strictly cloistered, unlike its counterpart, the Franciscans. Why is Clare the patron saint of television? Discuss

Derrida was an Algerian-born French philosopher whose critique of Western philosophy encompasses literature, linguistics, and psychoanalysis. In his famously dense and complex writings, he attempted to take apart, or “deconstruct,” the edifice of Western metaphysics and reveal what he deemed its incompatible foundations. His thought is based on his disapproval of the search for an ultimate metaphysical certainty. Why was Derrida so controversial among many of his fellow philosophers? Discuss

Bergman was a Swedish film and stage writer, director, and producer. He achieved an impressive degree of freedom early in his career and used it to create and develop a highly individual approach. Working with many of the same actors and technicians from film to film—including actor Max von Sydow and cinematographer Sven Nykvist—Bergman filled his work with an unusual degree of unity and continuity. He won international acclaim for The Seventh Seal and what other films? Discuss

Caesar, a Roman general and statesman, formed the First Triumvirate with Pompey and Marcus Licinius Crassus. He later precipitated the Roman Civil War, defeating Pompey and becoming dictator for life. His dictatorial powers, however, inspired great resentment. He was in the midst of launching a series of political and social reforms when he was assassinated on the Ides of March by conspirators led by Cassius and Brutus. His commentaries on what wars are considered classic military documents? Discuss

Berle was an American comedian and the first major US television star. He began acting in vaudeville at age 10 and went on to perform in more than 50 silent films, on radio, and as a nightclub comedian. His great success, however, was as the host of NBC’s Texaco Star Theater, which earned him the nickname “Mr. Television.” He contributed significantly to the medium’s growing popularity, and many are said to have bought TV sets just to watch “Uncle Miltie.” How did he get that nickname? Discuss

Góngora was a poet of the Spanish Golden Age who successfully wove Renaissance and popular poetry into an original and elegant form. Very influential in his era, he developed the difficult, complex poetic style that became known as Gongorism. It provoked enmity from many of his contemporaries and was so exaggerated by less gifted imitators that his reputation suffered until the 20th century. He has since been called Spain’s greatest poet. What is his most famous work? Discuss

Calvin was a French theologian and a major figure of the Protestant Reformation. In 1531, he became part of a movement that emphasized salvation by grace rather than by works. By 1555, Calvin had succeeded in establishing a theocracy in Geneva, where he served as pastor and head of the Genevan Academy and wrote the sermons, biblical commentaries, and letters that form the basis of Calvinism. What theologian, whose arrest was ordered by Calvin, was burned atop a pyre of his own books? Discuss

Boas was a German-American anthropologist. Trained in physics, he was part of an early scientific expedition to Baffin Island, where he turned to studying Eskimo culture. He is largely credited with establishing anthropology as an academic discipline in the US, and his achievements in anthropology are virtually unrivaled. It is largely because of his work that anthropologists today attribute human differences to cultural, rather than genetic, factors. Who were some of his famous students? Discuss

A major figure in the development of experimental psychology in France, Binet founded L’Année Psychologique, the first French journal on psychology, in 1895. He is also known for his research and innovations in measuring reasoning ability. Between 1905 and 1911, he and Théodore Simon developed influential scales for the measurement of the intelligence of children, which, with revisions, came into wide use in schools, industries, and the army. How did the scales work? Discuss