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CONSIDERED ONE OF THE GREATEST ENGLISH PROSE STYLISTS OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY, AND ARGUABLY OF ALL TIMES, V S NAIPAUL WAS A COLOSSUS WHO STRODE THE LITERARY REALM. HE WOVE A FICTIONAL LANDSCAPE AND WAS KNOWN TO SPIN MAGIC OUT OF WORDS, AND WAS EASILY IN THE LEAGUE OF LEGENDARY WRITERS LIKE CHARLES DICKENS, LEO TOLSTOY AND JOSEPH CONRAD. NAIPAUL WAS AWARDED THE NOBEL PRIZE IN 2001, WHERE HE HIGHLIGHTED ONLY HIS ADOPTED COUNTRY BRITAIN, AND THE LAND OF HIS ANCESTORS INDIA, BUT NEVER MENTIONED THE COUNTRY OF HIS BIRTH, TRINIDAD, PART OF THE CARIBBEAN ISLANDS. THE GENRE OF HIS WRITING WAS FICTION AND NON-FICTION, ESPECIALLY NARRATIVISED HISTORY THAT INCLUDES SOME HISTORICAL RESEARCH BASED ON HIS TRAVELS. ACCORDING TO NAIPAUL, A NON-JUDGMENTAL OBSERVATION OF THE WORLD WAS A HALLMARK OF HIS WRITING. NAIPAUL WAS KNOWN FOR HIS VISION OF WRITING AND BELIEVED THAT EVERYTHING ELSE HAS TO BE SUBSERVIENT TO THIS GOAL. IN WHAT CONCERNS THE QUESTIONS THIS PAPER INTENDS TO ANSWER HERE ARE SOME OF THEM: 1. WHICH IS THE RELATION BETWEEN NAIPAUL'S WORKS AND BIOGRAPHY AND AUTOBIOGRAPHY? 2. WHAT ARE THE DIFERENT MEANINGS OF NAIPAUL'S FREE SPIRIT? 3. WHY ARE VS NAIPAUL'S NOVELS A GRIM EVEN PESIMISTIC VIEW OF THE POST-COLONIAL WORLD? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a sampling of recently published picturebook biographies with noteworthy endpapers. First, we highlight scholarship related to picturebook biographies and peritextual features. Second, we present examples of three ways endpapers function, using nine picturebook biographies while also incorporating pedagogical suggestions related to the endpapers. Last, we explain the importance of noticing peritextual features in picturebook biographies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An artistic interpretation of historical facts is quite relevant in the literature and non-fiction of a post-totalitarian society. Prose works on historical themes are valuable and interesting in that they create an illusion for readers to be present in a certain period of historical time, and it is the artistic modeling of events that makes priceless facts of history completely disappear. The historical past is an inexhaustible material that word artists have been referring to for centuries, creating the best examples of fiction. Prose texts of historical subjects are perceived by each next generation in a new way, historical events and phenomena are interpreted from different angles, the activities of famous figures of the past are widely covered. Non-fiction literature is a kind of literature that is on the verge of artistry and documentary. The main non-fiction genres are a diary, autobiography, biography, memoirs, confession, letters, etc. On the one hand, non-fiction literature claims to recognize the author's subjective truth about him in her texts; on the other hand, only the reader can either, demonstrating full confidence in the author, call this text documentary, or admit the presence of poetry and aesthetics in the work and tilt the scales in the direction of artistry. The material for observation and research of the phenomenon of artistic modeling are works that allow us to trace the most common, in our opinion, models of correlation of historical and artistic consciousness in postmodern literature and non-fiction of a post-totalitarian society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reviews the book "Tieteen huipulla: Lars Ahlforsin elämä/At the Top of Science: The Life of Lars Ahlfors" by Olli Lehto.

African American children's literature has a potentially powerful role to play in increasing reading engagement for African American boys. Unfortunately, this body of literature is not always used effectively in schools. Many teachers use African American books as an add-on to pre-exisiting curriculum rather than fully exploring the topics, themes, and images that characterize the literature and that speak in powerful ways to issues of relevance in the lives of African American boys. A close examination of nine picture book biographies and one historical fiction account of famous African American men reveals the rich potential of this literature for making a difference in children's lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reviews the book "Nature's Oracle: A Life of W.D. Hamilton," by Ullica Segerstrale.

The article reviews the book "Samuel Beckett's German Diaries 1936–1937" by Mark Nixon, part of Historicizing Modernism book series.