The Heart of Thomas is a 1974 Japanese manga series written and
illustrated by Moto Hagio (pictured). Originally serialized in Shūkan
Shōjo Comic, a weekly manga magazine publishing shōjo manga – manga
aimed at young and adolescent women – the series follows the events
at a German all-boys school after the suicide of student Thomas Werner.
It is one of the earliest manga in the shōnen-ai (male–male romance)
genre. While The Heart of Thomas was initially poorly received by
readers, by the end of its serialization it was among the most popular
series in Shūkan Shōjo Comic. It significantly influenced shōjo manga
as a medium, with many of the stylistic and narrative hallmarks of the
series becoming standard tropes of the genre. The series has attracted
considerable scholarly interest, and has been adapted into a film, a
stage play, and a novel. In North America, an English-language
translation of The Heart of Thomas, translated by Rachel Thorn, was
published by Fantagraphics Books in 2013.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Heart_of_Thomas>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1936:
Second Italo-Ethiopian War: Italian troops captured the
Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa unopposed.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_of_the_Iron_Will>
1961:
Project Mercury: American astronaut Alan Shepard made a sub-
orbital spaceflight on board Freedom 7, becoming the second person to
travel into outer space.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury-Redstone_3>
1981:
After a 66-day hunger strike, Irish republican Bobby Sands died
of starvation in HM Prison Maze.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Sands>
1991:
Riots broke out in Washington, D.C., after a rookie police
officer shot a Salvadoran man in the chest.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_Washington,_D.C._riot>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
lustrum:
1. (Ancient Rome, religion, historical) A ceremonial purification of all
the people, performed every five years after the taking of the census; a
lustration.
2. (by extension, literary) A period of five years.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lustrum>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The presence of irony does not necessarily mean that the
earnestness is excluded. Only assistant professors assume that.
--Concluding Unscientific Postscript to Philosophical Fragments
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Concluding_Unscientific_Postscript_to_Philosophical_Fragments>