So she tells us

November 15, 1887 -- Poet Marianne Moore born. She wrote:

"The passion for setting people right is in itself an afflictive disease. Distaste which takes no credit to itself is best."

He's too modest -- Answered Prayers was #1

American author William Golding (Lord of the Flies)was born on this day in 1911.

"Lord of the Flies was one of the great rip-offs of our time." -- Truman Capote.

No clemensy for Cooper

Birthday of James Fenimore Cooper (see yesterday's entry). Mark Twain, after taking a look into Cooper's ouevre, wrote a famous essay.

"Cooper's art has some defects," Twain wrote. "In one place in 'Deerslayer,' and in the restricted space of two-thirds of a page, Cooper has scored 114 offenses against literary art out of a possible 115. It breaks the record.

"There are nineteen rules governing literary art in domain of romantic fiction -- some say twenty-two. In 'Deerslayer,' Cooper violated eighteen of them."

To read the complete essay, visit
James Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses

He said, with clouded brow

Birthday of actress Doris Day. She was born Doris Mary Ann von Kappelhoff in 1924.

"Her personality untouched by human emotions, her brow unclouded by human thought, her form unsmudged by the slightest evidence of femininity." -- Film critic John Simon, on Day.

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British author W. Somerset Maugham (Of Human Bondage) was born on this day in 1874. He wrote:

"People ask you for criticism, but they only want praise."