Seventy-Six is a historical fiction novel by American writer John Neal
(pictured). Published in Baltimore in 1823, it is the fourth novel
written about the American Revolutionary War. Historically distinguished
for its pioneering use of colloquial language, the Yankee dialect,
battle scene realism, high characterization, stream of consciousness
narrative, profanity, and depictions of sex and romance, the novel
foreshadowed and influenced later American fiction. With narrative prose
that resembles spoken American English more than any other period
literature, it was the first work of American fiction to use the phrase
son-of-a-bitch. It explores male pain and self-loathing resulting from
violent acts committed in war and duels. Inspired by his own historical
research, Neal took only twenty-seven days to write the 528-page novel,
reporting that "I tumbled out of my chair" because "I had fainted, –
swooned, – from overwork." (Full article...).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventy-Six_%28novel%29>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1680:
Trunajaya rebellion: Amangkurat II of Mataram of Java and his
courtiers stabbed Trunajaya to death a week after the rebel leader
surrendered to VOC forces.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trunajaya_rebellion>
1860:
French mathematician Urbain Le Verrier announced the putative
discovery of the planet Vulcan at a meeting at the French Academy of
Sciences in Paris.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulcan_%28hypothetical_planet%29>
1944:
World War II: The United States and Australia successfully
landed 13,000 troops in Papua New Guinea in an attempt to cut off a
Japanese retreat.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landing_at_Saidor>
1963:
Vietnam War: The Viet Cong won its first major victory at the
Battle of Ap Bac.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ap_Bac>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
forsake:
1. (transitive) To abandon, to give up, to leave (permanently), to
renounce (someone or something).
2. (transitive, obsolete) To decline or refuse (something offered).
3. (transitive, obsolete) To avoid or shun (someone or something).
4. (transitive, obsolete) To cause disappointment to; to be insufficient
for (someone or something).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/forsake>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
It is the invariable lesson to humanity that distance in time,
and in space as well, lends focus. It is not recorded, incidentally,
that the lesson has ever been permanently learned.
--Isaac Asimov
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov>