Czesław Miłosz was a Polish-American poet, prose writer, translator, and diplomat. He primarily wrote his poetry in Polish. Regarded as one of the great poets of the 20th century, he won the 1980 Nobel Prize in Literature. In its citation, the Swedish Academy called Miłosz a writer who "voices man's exposed condition in a world of severe conflicts".
Franz Kafka was an Austrian-Czech novelist and writer from Prague. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature; he wrote in German. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It typically features isolated protagonists facing bizarre or surrealistic predicaments and incomprehensible socio-bureaucratic powers. It has been interpreted as exploring themes of alienation, existential anxiety, guilt, and absurdity. His best known works include the novella The Metamorphosis and the novels The Trial and The Castle. The term Kafkaesque has entered English to describe absurd situations like those depicted in his writing.
Michael Derek Elworthy Jarman was an English artist, film maker, costume designer, stage designer, writer, poet, gardener, and gay rights activist.
Katherine Matilda Swinton is a British actress. She is known for playing eccentric and enigmatic characters, often working with auteur directors. She has received various accolades, including an Academy Award and a British Academy Film Award as well as nominations for three Golden Globe Awards. In 2020, The New York Times ranked her as one of the greatest actors of the 21st century.
Max Richter is a German-born British composer and pianist. He works within postminimalist and contemporary classical styles. Richter is classically trained, having graduated in composition from the University of Edinburgh, the Royal Academy of Music in London, and studied with Luciano Berio in Italy.
Dora Diamant is best remembered as the lover of the writer Franz Kafka and the person who kept some of his last writings in her possession until they were confiscated by the Gestapo in 1933. This retention was against the wishes of Kafka, who had requested shortly before his death that they be destroyed.
The Blue Octavo Notebooks is a series of eight notebooks written by Franz Kafka from late 1917 until June 1919. The name was given to them by Max Brod, Kafka's literary executor, to differentiate them from the regular quarto-sized notebooks Kafka used as diaries. Along with the octavo notebooks, Brod also found a series of extracts copied out and numbered by Kafka. Brod named this brief selection "Reflections on Sin, Suffering, Hope, and the True Way" and included it in The Great Wall of China.
Dearest Father: Stories and Other Writings is a collection of writings by Franz Kafka translated by Ernst Kaiser and Eithne Wilkins with notes by Max Brod. The title derives from Kafka's Letter to His Father, which begins with this salutation. In 2007, a translation by Howard Colyer, titled Letter to My Father, was published by lulu.com. A translation of Dearest Father, with notes and an introduction by its translators, Hannah and Richard Stokes, was published in 2008.
"This Bitter Earth" is a 1960 song made famous by rhythm and blues singer Dinah Washington. Written and produced by Clyde Otis, it peaked to #1 on the U.S. R&B charts for the week of July 25, 1960, and also reached #24 on the U.S. pop charts.
"On Parables" is a short story fragment by Franz Kafka. It was not published until 1931, seven years after his death. Max Brod selected stories and published them in the collection Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer. The first English translation by Willa and Edwin Muir was published by Martin Secker in London in 1933. It appeared in The Great Wall of China. Stories and Reflections.
Only Lovers Left Alive is a 2013 gothic fantasy comedy-drama film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch, starring Tilda Swinton, Tom Hiddleston, Mia Wasikowska, Anton Yelchin, Jeffrey Wright, Slimane Dazi and John Hurt. An international co-production between the United Kingdom and Germany, the film focuses on the romance between two vampires and was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.
Memoryhouse is the 2002 debut album by neo-classical composer Max Richter. Originally released under the Late Junction label, the album was reissued by FatCat Records in 2009 and 2014 with alternative album artwork.
Infra is a studio album by neo-classical composer Max Richter, released on July 19, 2010, on FatCat Records. The album was reissued on April 25, 2014, on Deutsche Grammophon.
24 Postcards in Full Colour is the 2008 album by neo-classical composer Max Richter, released on July 21, 2008 on 130701, an imprint of FatCat Records. The album was reissued on April 25, 2014 on Deutsche Grammophon.
Songs from Before is the third solo album by neo-classical composer Max Richter, released on October 23, 2006 on 130701, an imprint of FatCat Records.
Sleep is an eight-and-a-half hour concept album based around the neuroscience of sleep by German-British composer Max Richter. It was released on September 4, 2015, accompanied by a one-hour version with variations, From Sleep, later remixed as Sleep Remixes.
Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi – The Four Seasons is a composition by contemporary classical composer Max Richter. The piece is a complete recomposition and reinterpretation of Vivaldi's violin concertos The Four Seasons. Although Richter said that he had discarded 75 percent of Vivaldi's original material, the parts he does use are phased and looped, emphasising his grounding in postmodern and minimalist music.
Zastrozzi, A Romance is a 1986 four-part British television miniseries starring Tilda Swinton, Mark McGann, and Max Wall based on Percy Bysshe Shelley's 1810 eponymous Gothic horror novel. It was produced by Channel Four Films and shown on Channel 4 in the UK and on PBS in the U.S.
Mary Queen of Scots (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack to the 2018 film Mary Queen of Scots, directed by Josie Rourke starring Saoirse Ronan as Mary, Queen of Scots, and Margot Robbie as her cousin Queen Elizabeth I. Featuring original score by Max Richter, consisting of period and contemporary modern music, the album was recorded at the Air Studios in London, with an 100-piece orchestra and 12-member female choir performing the score. Deutsche Grammophon released the film's score on 7 December 2018.
Ad Astra (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack to the 2019 psychological science fiction film Ad Astra directed by James Gray and starring Brad Pitt, Tommy Lee Jones, Ruth Negga, Liv Tyler and Donald Sutherland. The film's soundtrack consisted of 29 tracks which consisted of music composed by Max Richter and additional music contributed by Lorne Balfe and Nils Frahm. The soundtrack was released digitally through Deutsche Grammophon on October 18, 2019. The album was nominated for Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media.
