Wanted: Your Literary Trivia ;)

[yui]

Hello my friends and Lit-lovers,

I have been attending a series of lectures in the last few weeks on the subject of world literature. Tonight's lecture was on the works (and tragically short life) of D.H. Lawrence. I either learned some new things about the writer and his work, or relearned some things that I had forgotten I knew.

Two interesting bits of trivia I learned (or re-learned) were:

1. D. H. Lawrence was related, by marriage, to WW I flying ace, The Red Baron (Baron Manfred von Richthofen).

2. D. H. Lawrence wrote the first British Novel where the hero was a "common man" on both sides of his family (No ta-da! Daddy/Mommy is really of noble birth! This is amazing considering it was published in 1913).

I learned lots of other stuff, but I'm trying to keep this post short (and failing ).

I thought, perhaps, it might be interesting to share bits literary trivia with each other. Everyone here is widely-read and if there are things that you find interesting—in Mainstream lit, poetry, or the Classics--anything fun or dumb or tragic…whatever strikes your fancy, I ask you to share it (if you would like, of course).

Most of the people immediately surrounding me respond with, "umm, that's nice, please pass the wasabi," when I say things like this, so please, be kind to me. I would love to hear all those extraneous bits of info you have just floating around inside your head.

Luck to all,

Yui

 

[BlackShanglan]

I find it fascinating that Lawrence was almost rabidly opposed to Freud. Talk about dueling with your own shadow.

It's taking everything in my power not to mention Pope Instead, I shall settle for:

Robert Browning attempted a career writing plays before he became a poet. That throws an interesting light on his use of the dramatic monologue. He also married Elizabeth Barrett Browning when she was 40, 6 years his senior, and a reclusive invalid under the thumb of tyrannical father. They eloped to Italy where she revived to an astonishing degree and, after one must assume that she must have lost all hope of happiness, lived a beautiful life in Italy, surrounded by artists, with a son and a doting husband.

Oh damnit. It's all so sentimental and bathetic and ... utterly charming. Bless them both.

Shanglan

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Jack Kerouac died from esophogeal varices, a result of his alcoholism. He was watching Graham Kerr, The Galloping Gourmet and eating tuna fish from the can when the final attack came on.

---dr.M.

 

[yui]

I find it fascinating that Lawrence was almost rabidly opposed to Freud. Talk about dueling with your own shadow.

It's taking everything in my power not to mention Pope Instead, I shall settle for:

Robert Browning attempted a career writing plays before he became a poet. That throws an interesting light on his use of the dramatic monologue. He also married Elizabeth Barrett Browning when she was 40, 6 years his senior, and a reclusive invalid under the thumb of tyrannical father. They eloped to Italy where she revived to an astonishing degree and, after one must assume that she must have lost all hope of happiness, lived a beautiful life in Italy, surrounded by artists, with a son and a doting husband.

Oh damnit. It's all so sentimental and bathetic and ... utterly charming. Bless them both.

Shanglan

Talk about Pope, please! After reading your "Diary" (you are really brilliant, by the way), any trivia regarding the man would be very welcome.

One of the lectures in this series is about the Brownings! Now I will look forward to it with even greater anticipation given the sweetness of their union.

 

[yui]

Jack Kerouac died from esophogeal varices, a result of his alcoholism. He was watching Graham Kerr, The Galloping Gourmet and eating tuna fish from the can when the final attack came on.

---dr.M.

Sad, but interesting, dr. M.

I don't know the context of the quote, and I am woefully ignorant, having only read excerpts of Kerouac, but this quote has always been amusing to me, given what I think I know.

"It is not my fault that certain so-called bohemian elements have found in my writings something to hang their peculiar beatnik theories on."

 

[BlackShanglan]

H. G. Wells was a communist and a vegetarian, as well as a believer in "free love." I always found it interesting that in "The Time Machine" he nonetheless suggests that the society that eventually fell to pieces was communist and vegetarian.

Shanglan

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Come on, BS. Give us some Wilde trivia.

His dying words, after looking up at the dismal shades in the room where he was dying: "Either these curtains go or I do."

Probably apocryphal, but not bad.

Thomas Wolfe (the Look Homeward Angel one) wrote standing up. He was a big man and wrote at night on top of his refrigerator, drinking milk and whiskey.

---dr.M.

 

[nushu2]

This isn't literary but it's certainly trivial.

The highest rated TV premiere in Korea was Joannie Loves Chachi. Chachi means something else in Korean. To avoid controversy, they considered changing the name to Joannie Loves Dick. Needless to say, the ratings dropped quickly after the first episode.

We now return to your regular scheduled program.

 

[minsue]

There was a piece on NPR a while back about a study published in some medical journal showing that all of Sylvia Plath's psychotic/depressive episodes occured when she was PMS-y. What I found most disturbing was the concept that they could figure that out. Is there no privacy in this world?!?

 

[cheerful_deviant]

Is there no privacy in this world?!?

Not much.

BTW, would you mind going to your window and pulling the shade up just a bit more, it's blocking camera No. 3.

 

[yui]

This isn't literary but it's certainly trivial.

The highest rated TV premiere in Korea was Joannie Loves Chachi. Chachi means something else in Korean. To avoid controversy, they considered changing the name to Joannie Loves Dick. Needless to say, the ratings dropped quickly after the first episode.

We now return to your regular scheduled program.

Thank you. I got a belly-laugh from this one. Still chuckling...

 

[yui]

Thomas Wolfe (the Look Homeward Angel one) wrote standing up. He was a big man and wrote at night on top of his refrigerator, drinking milk and whiskey.

---dr.M.

Thomas Wolfe's childhood home (a 121- year-old Queen Anne Victorian boarding house) was torched by an arsonist on July 24, 1998.

 

[BlackShanglan]

Come on, BS. Give us some Wilde trivia.

Oh, all right then

He was sensitive about his teeth, which turned black during his college years when he took mercury for syphilis.

He was in a close relationship, possibly an engagement, with Florence Balcombe, who was stolen from under his nose by Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula and possibly another closeted gay man. Lady "Speranza" Wilde, his mother and a literary maven of her own day, was quite fond of Stoker. Stoker, btw, wrote some fascinating letters to Walt Whitman in which the subtext is rather difficult to ignore. Talia Schaffer has a fascinating article in which she speculates that Oscar Wilde is the model for Count Dracula.

While Alfred, Lord Douglas, is famous for involving Wilde in the scandal that sent him to prison, somewhat less well known is the fact that his father also suspected his brother of an affair with Lord Rosebery, then home secretary and later prime minister. Wilde's grandson suggests that the Marquess of Queensbury, Alfred's father, may have threatened to reveal the affair - and possibly letters - in order to push Wilde's prosection. So that's one family taking down one of the greatest artists of the age and very nearly the prime minister. Stay the hell away from the Marquess of Queensbury's sons.

When Wilde was in prison, he was allowed only one sheet of paper at a time, and only to write letters - and each sheet was taken away when he had filled it, and before the new was given. Under those circumstances, he wrote "De Profundis" - as a letter, to Lord Alfred Douglas.

When he was released and went to France, he acted in a production of his play "Salome" - as the title character.

He associated with many other artists of the time period, including the young William Butler Yeats, in a much less stuffy time of his life.

Happy?

Shanglan

 

[carsonshepherd]

Happy?

Shanglan

Ecstatic

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Gregory Corso, the beat poet, wrote pornography for a living for several years in France.

So did Anais Nin, of course, and she's remembered more for her porn than she is for her serious lit.

Who else wrote porn? There must be more, but I can't think of any.

Anne Rice, I think, but under yet another pseudonym.

---dr.M.

 

[yui]

Oh, all right then

He was sensitive about his teeth, which turned black during his college years when he took mercury for syphilis.

He was in a close relationship, possibly an engagement, with Florence Balcombe, who was stolen from under his nose by Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula and possibly another closeted gay man. Lady "Speranza" Wilde, his mother and a literary maven of her own day, was quite fond of Stoker. Stoker, btw, wrote some fascinating letters to Walt Whitman in which the subtext is rather difficult to ignore. Talia Schaffer has a fascinating article in which she speculates that Oscar Wilde is the model for Count Dracula.

While Alfred, Lord Douglas, is famous for involving Wilde in the scandal that sent him to prison, somewhat less well known is the fact that his father also suspected his brother of an affair with Lord Rosebery, then home secretary and later prime minister. Wilde's grandson suggests that the Marquess of Queensbury, Alfred's father, may have threatened to reveal the affair - and possibly letters - in order to push Wilde's prosection. So that's one family taking down one of the greatest artists of the age and very nearly the prime minister. Stay the hell away from the Marquess of Queensbury's sons.

When Wilde was in prison, he was allowed only one sheet of paper at a time, and only to write letters - and each sheet was taken away when he had filled it, and before the new was given. Under those circumstances, he wrote "De Profundis" - as a letter, to Lord Alfred Douglas.

When he was released and went to France, he acted in a production of his play "Salome" - as the title character.

He associated with many other artists of the time period, including the young William Butler Yeats, in a much less stuffy time of his life.

Happy?

Shanglan

See, isn't it nice, to have someone who wants to hear it, to tell this stuff to? I am happy. Thank you for playing!!

 

[Lucifer_Carroll]

When Ken Kesey's Merry Travelers where doing their Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test thing they visited their hero Mr. Timothy Leary, who kept them on the porch and was entirely shocked and pissed at the way they had used his creation.

When Heavy Metal Band Iron Maiden wrote a song about the sci-fi classic Dune, they wrote to Frank Herbert for permission to call the song Dune and include a spoken word passage from the book as an intro. The letter from Frank Herbert's agent declined because "Frank Herbert doesn't like rock bands, particularly heavy rock bands, and especially bands like Iron Maiden." Furthermore Frank Herbert stated he would sue them if they didn't accept the decline. Nice guy.

Neil Gaiman has his afternoon tea onstage during Comic Conventions and collects weird books and items for fun. These include misformed dog dolls, gothic artwork, and books about Victorian Medical Techniques and Famous Graveyards.

Christopher Moore's most memorable Christmas moment was staying up late and having his dad who was a late shift policeman, when he saw Chris's light on, shooting his pistol into the ground and yelling "it's okay Chris, I got the one on the roof, you can go to bed now." He suspects this was the greatest influence on his sense of humour.

Four writers in San Diego bandied together and man an independent sci-fi/fantasy bookstore. If you go there, a published author or his wife will be manning the cash register.

The writer(hack) Lucifer_Carroll has reportedly made a list sounding exactly like a gossip column about a bunch of authors. He supposedly feels dirty about this. But only because he's a dirty dirty man.

 

[yui]

Anne Rice, I think, but under yet another pseudonym.

---dr.M.

ANNE RAMPLING and A.N. ROQUELAURE

 

[yui]

He supposedly feels dirty about this. But only because he's a dirty dirty man.

Is this where I tell you that you, Mae West-like (only shorter, Asian, and not nearly as well-endowed), that you are a bad, bad man...


"I got the one on the roof..."

 

[yui]

There was a piece on NPR a while back about a study published in some medical journal showing that all of Sylvia Plath's psychotic/depressive episodes occured when she was PMS-y. What I found most disturbing was the concept that they could figure that out. Is there no privacy in this world?!?

Oy!

 

[cheerful_deviant]

The writer Tom Clancy was called before a Senate Hearing on military secrets after one of his books was published. The chairman of the hearing demanded to know how Mr. Clancy had gotten so much technical information on the then new M-2 Bradley (I believe it was the M-2 Bradley but I may be wrong) as many of the things he described in his book were classified.

He responed by holding up a maintenance manual for the M-2, which describe in detail, all the technical specs for almost every part in the machine. When they demanded to know how he got the manual, he explained that he went to the Government bookstore and purchased it. He then showed the cash register recipt as proof.

Oops.

 

[Guest]

The writer Tom Clancy was called before a Senate Hearing on military secrets after one of his books was published. The chairman of the hearing demanded to know how Mr. Clancy had gotten so much technical information on the then new M-2 Bradley (I believe it was the M-2 Bradley but I may be wrong) as many of the things he described in his book were classified.

He responed by holding up a maintenance manual for the M-2, which describe in detail, all the technical specs for almost every part in the machine. When they demanded to know how he got the manual, he explained that he went to the Government bookstore and purchased it. He then showed the cash register recipt as proof.

Oops.

he rode the uss norfolk for some of his research for "The Hunt for Red October"...
my ex was able to sit and talk with him for a while because he was a seaman on that fast attack when Clancy was visiting.

 

[oggbashan]

For Perdita

MALVOLIO has a suggested model in William Knollys, First Earl of Banbury (1547 - 1632). The puritanical treasurer of the household of Elizabeth I, he on one occasion appeared in his nightshirt to reprimand revellers, and conceived a much talked-of passion for his ward, Mary Fitton (see the Dark Lady). His wife was more than forty years his junior, and the paternity of her two sons - neither of whom was mentioned in the Earl's will - became the subject of legal dispute.

OPHELIA may owe something to Katharine Hamlet, of Tiddington, near Stratford-upon-Avon, who drowned in that river in 1579. Althought the question of suicide was considered at her inquest, the verdict was accidental death. Similarly, Hamlet, considers whether Ophelia took her own life or died by accident. Shakespeare probably knew Katharine Hamlet, who lived less than one and a half miles from his home town. He would probably been aware of her drowning, which was doubtless the talk of Stratford, when he was at the impressionable age of fifteen.

From: The Originals - Who's Really Who In Fiction, by William Amos, Sphere Books 1987, first published by Jonathan Cape 1985.

Og

 

[yui]

The writer Tom Clancy was called before a Senate Hearing on military secrets after one of his books was published. The chairman of the hearing demanded to know how Mr. Clancy had gotten so much technical information on the then new M-2 Bradley (I believe it was the M-2 Bradley but I may be wrong) as many of the things he described in his book were classified.

He responed by holding up a maintenance manual for the M-2, which describe in detail, all the technical specs for almost every part in the machine. When they demanded to know how he got the manual, he explained that he went to the Government bookstore and purchased it. He then showed the cash register recipt as proof.

Oops.

You know, that is just scary, CD. I could have understood if he had purchased it off of eBay, but in a government bookstore?!?

 

[TheEarl]

When Heavy Metal Band Iron Maiden wrote a song about the sci-fi classic Dune, they wrote to Frank Herbert for permission to call the song Dune and include a spoken word passage from the book as an intro. The letter from Frank Herbert's agent declined because "Frank Herbert doesn't like rock bands, particularly heavy rock bands, and especially bands like Iron Maiden." Furthermore Frank Herbert stated he would sue them if they didn't accept the decline. Nice guy.

Wow. This I didn't know. Did they release the song under another name then?

The Earl