I don’t know about you, but I’m really getting tired of all the
hating lately, especially in the book world. I mean, there’s the Franzen “I-hate-everything-including-the-kitchen-sink” thing, the Bret Easton Ellis “I’m-jealous-of-Alice-Munro-cause-she’s-a-better-writer” thing, the Sherman Aliexie – Brandon Halpin thing (Jill provides a great overview here), and, how could we forget, the David Gilmour “I-only-teach-books-by-manly-men-men” thing.
(Deep breath!)
Now, I’m the last person to say, oh let’s all LOOOOVE each other and
hug each other and kisses all around, mwah mwah mwah. But a little more
civility and a little less dissing-and-dismissing is in order. Let’s
talk about something positive.
With that in mind, here is a nice little list of things that famous
writers LIKED. People they liked, objects, ideas, etc. etc. This is not
something they specifically said, but what I’ve gathered from reading
their books over the years. (And that photo of Allen Ginsberg and Frank
O’Hara? Just warms my heart.)
And so…
1. Theodore Dreiser liked: the ladies, H. L. Mencken
(off and on), the ladies, writing novels and stories about the ladies,
hanging out with his brother Paul Dresser, and did I mention the
ladies??
2. Mark Twain liked: making people laugh until they
urinated on themselves, exposing the hypocrisies of imperialists and
warmongers, and starring in really awesome Star Trek TNG episodes.
3. Willa Cather liked: opera, the Midwest, and really cool hats (see below).
(And that necklace she’s wearing? Yeah, that’s from her author FRIEND Sarah Orne Jewett).
4. Sarah Orne Jewett liked: Maine, funky people from Maine, and the natural world.
5. H. G. Wells liked: aliens, his own imagination, and drawing/sketching.
6. Charles Dickens liked: keeping people on the edge
of their seats waiting to see what he wrote next, bringing the London
of his childhood to life in print, and Ellen Ternan (moooost
definitely).
7. F. Scott Fitzgerald liked: partying like it’s
1929 (before the stock-market crash, of course!), Zelda, Hemingway
(sometimes), and writing about the Jazz Age.
8. Franz Kafka liked: bugs, writing letters to his
father, and telling friends to burn all of his writings when he died
(thank goodness they didn’t listen to him).
9. Katherine Mansfield liked: playing the cello, German things, and churning out stunning short stories.
10. Frank Norris liked: painting, everything French,
covering wars as a journalist and getting really really sick in the
process, and trying to convince himself and everyone else that writing
was SO VERY VERY VERY MANLY, LOOK HOW MANLY I AM, EVERYBODY!!!
Now go out and hug an author today. Or a book. Or both.
(first posted on Book Riot 11/8/13)
Franz Kafka also liked Charlie Chaplin movies and Yiddish comic theatre. Go figure.
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