James Joyce Celebrates His Birthday

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

February 2, 2017, is the 135th anniversary of the birth of James Joyce (above).

In his huge biography, Richard Ellmann notes in several places that Joyce found his own birthday to be a topic most fascinating (he made certain that his novel Ulysses was published on his 40th, in 1922) and he tells how this affected his relationship with another writer, James Stephens.
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February 2 in History

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

Today is Candlemas, the day that commemorates the presentation of the infant Jesus at the Temple, 40 days after the birth of Jesus. It corresponds in date to many mid-winter celebrations including Lupercalia and Imbolc, many of which mark the middle of the season and look forward to the arrival of spring.

Above is a portion of a painting from around 1535 titled The Presentation of Christ and the Purification of the Virgin Mary in the Temple, which was painted by an anonymous follower of the Renaissance master Juan de Borgoña.
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February 1 in History

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

“Two people died in that photograph: the recipient of the bullet and General Nguyễn Ngọc Loan. The general killed the Viet Cong; I killed the general with my camera.”—Associated Press photographer Eddie Adams

An Associated Press photographer and an NBC News television team were in Saigon, Vietnam, covering street fighting during the second day of the Tet Offensive on this date in 1968 when a prisoner was brought before South Vietnam’s police chief, Nguyễn Ngọc Loan. Loan pulled out his .38 revolver and fired a single shot into the head of the prisoner, who died instantly. Loan continued his tour of the street after firing the pistol, was already steps away from the prisoner before the young man’s head hit the ground.
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