On this day...

French author Jules Verne was born in 1828. Known as the 'father of science fiction', along with contemporary H.G. Wells, Verne developed an appetite for travel early on in his life, spending summers with the ships of the Loire River. So fascinated was young Jules, that he attempted to sneak aboard a vessel bound for India, only to be caught and whipped by his father, and hence declared, 'I shall from now on only travel in my imagination'.

This he did with aplomb, yet his expanding literary career ensured the withdrawal of parental financial support, as his father had wished him to enter law. Nevertheless, Verne found support in two of the great French writers of the age, Alexandre Dumas and Victor Hugo, and found fortune with publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel, one of the most important members of his trade in the 19th century. Verne's works, all voraciously adapted, concentrate on travel in space, underwater, and air; indeed he was, in technological fields, advanced for the age. Some of his most recognisable novels include, 'Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea', 'A Journey to the Centre of the Earth', and 'Around the World in Eighty Days'. Behind Agatha Christie, Verne is the most translated author.

Six Nations of literature...

With the Six Nations kicking off today, it seemed an apt opportunity to take a look at the literature produced by these countries, which is some of the best in the world.

Italy - Starting with the Latin writings of Ovid and Tacitus, Italian literature spans an enormous period and is considered some of the finest. Continuing with Dante and his 'Inferno' in the Middle Ages and the sonnets of Petrach, modern Italian literature still remains in the form of the the late Italo Calvino and Umberto Eco.

France - Dumas, Flaubert, Zola, Proust; the list is endless. More so than other national literature, the French canon contains numerous philosophical works, the products of Camus, Jean Paul Sartre and Jean-Jacques Rosseau. Drama exists in the shape of Moliere, and France expressed an important voice in Roland Barthes.

Ireland - Irish literature really found its feet in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Bursting forth with the dual force of playwrights Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw, Ireland's literary claim was strengthened through the poetry of Yeats and Goldsmith and its place cemented with the prose works of Joyce.

Wales - Although probably for many, the most famous Welsh writer is poet Dylan Thomas, the literature of Wales is far more diverse. No more so for the strength of works written in its own language, by authors such as William Owen Roberts. Many English writers such as Manley Hopkins have used Welsh subject matter.

Scotland - Scotland's most recent wave of literary tradition came in the Romantic era under the eye of Robert Burns and Walter Scott. Yet it was the Victorian era which propelled it into public eye, Robert Louis Stevenson, Arthur Conan Doyle and J.M. Barrie all becoming household names; Duffy now being the latest.

England - Possibly one of the richest literary histories, all that can be said for England is a list of names. The playwrights; Shakespeare, Marlowe, and Jonson. The poets; Milton, Keats, Shelley, Byron and Tennyson. The novelists: Hardy, Austen, the Brontes, Woolf, Dickens, Forster, Eliot and most recently, Rowling.

So there you have it. Competitors on and off the rugby field. Tradition not only in sport but in literature. Long may it continue...

Lost in translation?...

From Chekhov to Ibsen, from Dumas to Cervantes, European literature is a genre which has never disappointed. Yet although widely read since the Middle Ages, is it losing a place in today's market, increasingly flooded by transatlantic offerings? Thriller writers John Grisham and Stephen King both appear more popular than dusty, old classics in bookshops, but, in fact the sale figures do not hold this to be true. Russian literatary favourites, Tolstoy and Pushkin triumph over both in the best-selling fiction authors of all time, the former shifting over 413 million sales and the latter 357 million. In their new podcast, the Guardian explores the issues surrounding translated texts, and suggests what to read next

Nicolas Sarkozy: President or grave-robber?...

French intellectuals are up in arms over Sarkozy's latest publicity stunt. An avid reader of Albert Camus from a young age, the French President has decided to move the writer's body to the Panthenon in Paris; the resting place of many of France's literary treasures such as Voltaire, Victor Hugo, Emile Zola and most recently Alexandre Dumas. Yet the move has caused outrage amongst Camus' fans, who refuse to accept the idea of right-wing president taking the body of a left-wing champion or an anti-intellecual, as Sarkozy is often called, grave-robbing an intellectual. The debate is likely to continue for some time.

On this day...

French author Alexandre Dumas, fought his first duel, with comical consequences. As recounted in his memoirs, the, then 23 year old, ended up with his trousers around his ankles following a string of errors. He had challenged a soldier over a quarrel about a game of billiards, and while proclaiming his skill with a pistol, did not realise the weapon agreed to was a sword. Having appeared at the appointed place and hour, he found that his opponent was sleeping, and so the fight was postponed until the next day. Yet the rearranged date held no better prospects. Despite the freezing cold, Dumas took off his cloak and shirt, only for his brace-less trousers to fall down. In the melee that followed, Dumas jabbed at his opponent, who jumped back, saying that he was in shock at the coldness of the blade. Dumas reveals similar misadventures in subsequent duels. One was postponed  because his opponent had caught a cold while skating on the canal; another had to be canceled altogether because his opponent lost two fingers in his previous duel. These duels, battles and similar escapades would later become the substance of his famous novels, 'The Three Musketeers' and 'The Count of Monte Cristo'

On this day...

French author Alexandre Dumas died in 1870, at the age of 68. Grandson of the Haitian artillery High Commissioner, Dumas family had numerous military connections; his own father was a general in Napolean's army. It was this that inspired much of Dumas' subsequent literature, his widowed mother regaling her son with stories of his father's military heroism. A participator in the political scene, Dumas helped to oust Charles X and place Louis-Philippe I on the throne, ending press censorship and revitalising the ecomony; both crucial for helping Dumas to achieve his success. Dumas' works have been translated into almost 100 languages and have been the inspiration for over 200 films; his most famous being, 'The Count of Monte Cristo' and 'The Three Musketeers'. Dumas' body was exhumed in 2002 to be buried in the Panthenon alsongside French literary greats Emile Zola and Victor Hugo. President Chirac, present at the ceremony, said of Dumas; 'With you, we were D'Artagnan, Monte Cristo, or Balsamo, riding along the roads of France, touring battlefields, visiting palaces and castles — with you, we dream.'