Curiosities of Literature: A Feast for Book Lovers
Which author had the heaviest brain? What was the original title of 1984?\ When did cigarettes first appear in English literature? And, while we’re at it, who wrote the first Western, and is there any link between asthma and literary genius?\ Sutherland’s irreverent literary exploration illuminates every topic imaginable from author advances to Civil War literature to Victorian sex to odd things eaten by literary characters (think Patrick Bateman’s girlfriend in American Psycho).\ This is a...
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“A grab bag of a book crammed with amusing trivia.”—The Wall Street JournalPublishers WeeklyAuthor and literature professor Sutherland collects a sundry list of literary fact and trivia into a chaotic assortment of narratives. Organized under a stream-of-consciousness list of themes ("Literary Baked Meats," "Better Than Sex, Some Say," "Mammon and the Book Trade"), Sutherland has set few boundaries for himself regarding subject matter: irritable bowel syndrome, the wedding night, and Rose of Sharon's absurdly generous gift in the conclusion of The Grapes of Wrath all come into play. Though he might be self-indulgent, Sutherland delves into the minutiae with grace and good British wit, bringing humor and appeal to even the most (seemingly) dull subjects. Average readers don't need to worry about comparative illiteracy; Sutherland is so thorough that prior knowledge isn't necessary. A lively read for anyone who wants to learn more about their favorite classics, and a lively cheat sheet for those who want to impress their friends in the lit crowd. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Introduction xi\ 1 Literary Baked Meats\ Omelette Littéraire 3\ Dr Johnson's Gulosity 5\ Knorr and a Nice Jelly 8\ Come and Get it 9\ Bovril: And World Domination 12\ Milk of Kindness; Grapes of Wrath 14\ To Finish With, a Lorna Doone Biscuit 17\ 2 The Body of Literature: Heads, Lungs, Hearts, and Bowels\ Head Cheese 23\ Heady Stuff 24\ Asthma and Genius 25\ Proust and Asthma 28\ James's Irritably (Frigid) Bowel Syndrome 30\ Irritable Bowels (II) 32\ Ill Wind 33\ Ill Wind (II) 36\ Hardy's Heart 39\ Hardy's Heart (II) 41\ Can We Clone Dickens? 44\ 3 Tools of the Trade\ 'Set it Down': But How Exactly? 49\ The First Typewriter-Writer 51\ Jack versus Blick 52\ The Computerised Novel 55\ Serving the Writer 58\ 4 Sex and the Victorians\ First-Night Nerves 63\ The Carlyles' Wedding Night 66\ Dorothea's Wedding Night 67\ George Eliot's Two Honeymoons 71\ The Language of Flowers 72\ Green Carnations (continued) 75\ Love My Manuscript More Than You 76\ 5 Better Than Sex, Some Say\ Three Castles 81\ Bond's Baccy 83\ Make Mine du Maurier 84\ Du Maurier the Younger: Cigarettes Again 87\ Du Maurier the Third: Rebecca 88\ 6 Some Curious Literary Records: Best, Worst, and Most\ The Worst Novelist Ever 93\ The Best Novel(ist) Ever 96\ My Pen is Quick 98\ Slow Coach 100\ Hardest Working 101\ The Most Arduous 104\ Chalk, Pen, or Typewriter? 106\ Little Writing 107\ Writing Long 110\ Writing Short 112\ The Shortest Poem 114\ The Most Productive Holiday in English Literature 116\ Most Misquoted 119\ 7 Literary Crimewatch (and Gunplay)\ Rape and the Ethical Classroom 125\ In the Dock: Ma Hump 129\ The First Spliff 132\ Literary Assault and Battery 134\ Gunplay 137\ Gunplay (II) Arms and the Woman 138\ Gunplay (III) Arms and the Men 138\ Gunplay (IV) The Hemingway Solution 141\ 8 Who? Who? Who?\ Who 'Wrote': Paradise Lost? 147\ Who 'Wrote': The Tragic Muse? 149\ Who Wrote: The Odyssey? 150\ Who Wrote the First Western? 153\ Who invented the Supercomputer (in Literature)? 154\ Who Wrote the King James Bible? 156\ 9 Name Games\ Why 'Brontë'? 161\ Adjectivals 165\ Etiquettery 167\ What's in a Name? 171\ What's in a Name (II)? 174\ What's in a Name (III)? 177\ What's in a Title? 178\ 10 Readers: Distinguished and Less Distinguished\ Smart Writers, Dumb Readers 183\ Dumb Readers (II) 186\ Presidential Readers 187\ Presidential Readers (II) 190\ Prime-ministerial Readers 193\ 11 Mammon and the Book Trade\ Product Placement 197\ Product Placement (II) 199\ There's Life in the Old Corpse Yet 201\ Lies, Damn Lies, and Bestseller Lists 204\ What was the Most Popular Novel in the American Civil War? 208\ Books Go to War: Continued 211\ Listomania 213\ The Potter Effect 215\ Jam, Gollys, and the S-word 217\ Go Figure 220\ 12 Wheels\ WWJD? 225\ Platform 9 3/4 227\ Wrong-Headedness 229\ Celebrity Car Crash: Not a Literary Thing 230\ 13 Morbid Curiosity\ What Killed Anthony Trollope? 237\ Dying Well: Too Well 238\ The Wallpaper Actually Did Go 240\ The Werther Effect 241\ The Baskerville Effect 243\ Cause of Death: George Orwell 245\ More Wertherisms 245\ Graham Greene: Wertherian 247\ Dying Well? Or Dead Drunk? 249\ Hart Crane: Death by Water (and Whiskey) 250\ Dying Conscientiously 252\ What Was That He Said? 254\ 'Good Career Move, Truman' 257\ Curious Connections: a Terminal Quiz\ Questions 263\ Answers 264\ Index 275\ The End of the Book 288
\ Publishers WeeklyAuthor and literature professor Sutherland collects a sundry list of literary fact and trivia into a chaotic assortment of narratives. Organized under a stream-of-consciousness list of themes ("Literary Baked Meats," "Better Than Sex, Some Say," "Mammon and the Book Trade"), Sutherland has set few boundaries for himself regarding subject matter: irritable bowel syndrome, the wedding night, and Rose of Sharon's absurdly generous gift in the conclusion of The Grapes of Wrath all come into play. Though he might be self-indulgent, Sutherland delves into the minutiae with grace and good British wit, bringing humor and appeal to even the most (seemingly) dull subjects. Average readers don't need to worry about comparative illiteracy; Sutherland is so thorough that prior knowledge isn't necessary. A lively read for anyone who wants to learn more about their favorite classics, and a lively cheat sheet for those who want to impress their friends in the lit crowd. \ Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.\ \ \ \ \ Library JournalSutherland (English, Univ. Coll., London) presents a collection of little-known facts and literary trivia that should appeal to fans of Jeopardy!, Trivial Pursuit, and the like. Categories include writers' gastronomic preferences, oddities of body parts and illnesses (e.g., brain size and the relationship of asthma to genius), who really wrote what, and the recent practice of "product placement" (i.e., naming actual brands of merchandise) in literary works. The section on reading preferences of U.S. presidents is of particular interest-for instance, we learn that Reagan enjoyed the techno-thrillers of Tom Clancy, while Eisenhower read westerns by Zane Grey. Although the concept of this book is appealing, it is not well suited to American readers since it contains many references to obscure British concepts, writers, and works. In addition, topical references will limit its shelf life, and occasionally convoluted sentences make sections difficult to read. The main problem is that the book is too academic for most public libraries but not scholarly enough for academics. Buy if needed.\ —Denise J. Stankovics\ \ \
