Today in Bookish and Literary History, November 8

1838 Ruy Blas by Victor Hugo

The scene is Madrid; the time 1699, during the reign of Charles II. Ruy Blas, an indentured commoner (and a poet), dares to love the Queen. The play is a thinly veiled cry for political reform.


1900 Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser

It is about a young woman who moves to the big city where she starts realizing her own American Dream.


1978 Night & Day by Tom Stoppard

Tom Stoppard’s stimulating, funny play Night and Day is set in a fictional African country, Kambawe, which is ruled by a leader not unlike Idi Amin. The nation is faced with a Soviet-backed revolution which quickly brings newsmen from around the world to cover the story.

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