Author Topic: Author! Author! (Read 354068 times)

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #2000 on:** June 30, 2011, 03:04:02 AM »

I am also thinking, but I mostly think I am not going to get this, owing to the vast lacunae in my historical knowledge. Will keep trying however

Rosemary

Gumtree · « **Reply #2001 on:** June 30, 2011, 05:47:50 AM »

Thanks Roshanarose - You've narrowed the field for us....

So Ok, - I'm thinking ...

straudetwo · « **Reply #2002 on:** June 30, 2011, 12:30:59 PM »

Very good, clear clues and the faint sound of a distant bell. Too far, for now.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2003 on:** June 30, 2011, 01:12:35 PM »

arrrrggggghhhhhh!

Cleopatra keeps popping into my head and I wish she wouldn't; she doesn't quite fit since her family were originally Greek.

roshanarose · « **Reply #2004 on:** June 30, 2011, 11:59:53 PM »

Author : Lost his mother at a tender age.
Was a sickly child and was home schooled until age 15.
Started college at 15 with an erudition that startled his teachers.
Precocious, he would often question his teachers on religious matters.
During his time at college he befriended a Roman Catholic student, and to his father's horror converted.
(In my ramble I said that the character was part of a book of biographies. Strictly speaking, that is not true, sorry. The character is a mere player in a much larger story.)

Character: I was born to luxury in a relatively remote part of the world.
My career was greatly influenced by my location, and complex civilization.
I was of Arab background, but preferred to think of myself of almost legendary origin.
I became fluent in Greek, due to the tuition of a "sublime" Greek tutor; and was also fluent in the Syriac and Arab languages.
My city had become part of the Roman Empire, and due to the collapse of an Empire and an assassination, I became ruler with my son.

Gumtree · « **Reply #2005 on:** July 01, 2011, 04:29:30 AM »

the clue - 'sublime' Greek tutor - brings Longinus to mind so I'm guessing we're talking about Zenobia

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #2006 on:** July 01, 2011, 04:33:04 AM »

Wow - well done Gum, it brought precisely nothing to my pathetic brain cells

Frybabe · « **Reply #2007 on:** July 01, 2011, 07:33:31 AM »

Congratulations Gumtree!

Not something I am familiar with. Going to have to look him up.

PS: Good heavens, how is this possible that I knew nothing of Zenobia!!!

roshanarose · « **Reply #2008 on:** July 01, 2011, 11:50:23 AM »

Gum, you got it! Must be something in the water where the swans swim. It is Zenobia indeed. But who is the author? Several have written about her. It is a SHE, Frybabe.

PatH · « **Reply #2009 on:** July 01, 2011, 11:51:49 AM »

I'd heard of Zenobia--she was one of my childhood heroes--but I don't think I would ever have guessed her from the clues to date. We still don't have the author, though.

roshanarose · « **Reply #2010 on:** July 01, 2011, 11:53:58 AM »

PatH - I couldn't make it too obvious, as I had a sense that some of you knew of her.

I am a little curious. How did you all know that Gum had the correct answer?

Gumtree · « **Reply #2011 on:** July 01, 2011, 12:24:58 PM »

Well, Gum hasn't quite answered it all just yet...

Quote

The character is a mere player in a much larger story.

From that clue I'd guess you're referring to Edward Gibbon and his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

If not, then it's anyone's guess....

Frybabe · « **Reply #2012 on:** July 01, 2011, 12:37:11 PM »

My parden, Roshanarose. I was thinking of the Longinus when I said He. As for Zenobia herself, the name sounds vaguely familiar, but other than that I know absolutely nothing about her either. http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=morris&book=greek&story=zenobia

Obviously I can't help as far as the author is concerned.

PatH · « **Reply #2013 on:** July 01, 2011, 02:35:17 PM »

Roshanarose, you had already said Gum was right when I came in, but I saw that Zenobia fitted well.

I'm sure Gum is right about the author too. I looked Gibbon up, and his life fits. In spite of his conversion to Catholicism, he managed to offend the Church deeply with parts of "Decline and Fall".

This gives me a chance to tell my Gibbon story. When Bob and I were engaged, he told me he had heard that married men spent a lot of time waiting for their wives, so he thought he would fill in that time by reading Gibbon. So I gave him the 3 volume set for his birthday, but in 47 years he never even finished the first volume.

JoanK · « **Reply #2014 on:** July 01, 2011, 03:21:50 PM »

roshanarose · « **Reply #2015 on:** July 02, 2011, 12:13:14 AM »

GUM WINS AGAIN - WELL DONE.

PatH - A good story about Gibbon. Actually his "story" about Zenobia is well-written, although he doesn't seem too sure if he likes her or not. A bit chauvinistic in that way. If you or anyone is interested it is all online, Gibbon, that is (see "The Rise and Fall of Rome" Chapter 11, Part III) She also appeared in Chaucer's "A Monk's Tale". Boccaccio also wrote about her and he, Chaucer and Gibbon all agree that after her capture at the hands of Aurelian she was marched into Rome so laden with chains of massive gold, and covered with pearls and gems, that she could scarcely support the weight.

PatH - There are always two sides to every story. When my ex and I went shopping he was always very happy. We had a technique that we would meet at a coffee shop after two hours of shopping. This satisfied his all but insatiable need to buy CDs. When we went our separate ways he had more than 2000 Cds in his collection. We must have spent a lot of times at the shops.

Frybabe - Zenobia was a great admirer of Cleopatra and that may have been one of the reasons she learned Greek. Strangely enough even though Palmyra (her city) was in constant contact with the Romans she never really bothered to learn much Latin.

A picture of Queen Zenobia:
http://www.illusionsgallery.com/Zenobia.html

Gumtree · « **Reply #2016 on:** July 02, 2011, 03:24:21 AM »

That's a gorgeous painting of Zenobia - complete with wristcuffs and golden chain. No doubt she would have had a few trinkets about her person but do any of the ancient sources cite the 'weighed down with jewels' or was it Boccaccio who started that idea?

The clues about Gibbon were meaningless to me as I don't know anything of his life so now, like PatH I'll have to go look him up..
I learned about Zenobia at school and of course met her again in later readings. The real giveaway was the 'sublime Greek tutor' which is naturally a play on Longinus' great work 'On the Sublime' ...
which is often published together with Aristotle's Poetics. Here's a tiny sample:

... sublimity consists in a certain excellence and distinction in expression, and that it is from this source alone that the greatest poets and historians have acquired their pre-eminence and won for themselves an eternity of fame. For the effect of elevated language is, not to persuade the hearers, but to entrance them; and at all times, and in every way, what transports us with wonder is more telling that what merely persudes or gratifies us. The extent to which we can be persuaded is usually under our own control, but these sublime passages exert an irresistible force and mastery, and get the upper hand with every hearer. Inventive skill and the proper order and disposition of material are not manifested in a good touch here and there, but reveal themselves by slow degrees as they run through the whole texture of the composition; on the other hand, a well-timed stroke of sublimity scatters everything before it like a thunderbolt, and in a flash reveals the full power of the speaker.The translation is by T.S. Dorsch in a 1965 Penguin edition

There's a suburb here named Palmyra and naturally it has a Zenobia Street - and a Cleopatra, Petra, Solomon et al.

So now I guess I've got to pay the consequences and think up a new quiz... back later or maybe tomorrow.

roshanarose · « **Reply #2017 on:** July 03, 2011, 12:06:34 AM »

Gum- I couldn't find any ancient sources for Zenobia. Not a lot has been written about her, that's why I chose Gibbon, as I figured he would be the only source that anyone here could guess. There is a coin or two, a sculpture and some inscriptions. I think Aurelian wrote something about her somewhere, but my research didn't turn it up. As far as I could research, it was Boccaccio, but I am sure that Aurelian would have mentioned it somewhere. Took me back to studying Classics at Uni. I would most definitely have had to trace it back to a primary source if possible, a secondary source if nothing else was available. I did check out Herodotus, rather the index, but she was not mentioned by him, which is unusual as Herodotus had a penchant for the "sensational" as we all know. Maybe a bit of embroidery with this "fact".

I had a most beautiful Abbysinian cat called "Zenobia". She was a tiny thing but she could jump higher than any cat (or dog) I had witnessed. She was also brave and pity help any dog who came nosing around her kittens. We just wanted her to have one litter (?) and then had her desexed. Makes me sad to think that none of her progeny are left.

Rosemary - I have been meaning to ask you to give my sincere best wishes and congratulations to your son on his achievement. A three year contract is nothing to scorn.

Re Sources for Zenobia:

"The fullest extant account of Aurelian's campaign against the Palmyrenes is given by Zosimus (Zos. 1.50-61). It dovetails roughly with the more capriciously condensed and anecdotal account in the Historia Augusta Life of Aurelian (HA Aurel. 22-31); the late antique epitomators and Byzantine chroniclers provide important details both corroborative and supplemental "

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #2018 on:** July 03, 2011, 01:58:35 AM »

Thanks very much Roshanarose, and I have also been meaning to say a big thank you for your tips re layout, etc!

I don't think it's really fair to keep breeding from a cat. One of my friends is doing that at the moment - just letting the cat out to breed at random. She is barely more than a kitten herself and has already had two litters. I think one is fine but after that it's only fair to have them neutered, especially if, as in this case, the cat is a mongrel - there are so many unwanted cats in all the shelters. Yours of course was different, being a pedigree, but I expect she lived a longer and healthier life because you had her "done".

Rosemary

Gumtree · « **Reply #2019 on:** July 03, 2011, 01:09:29 PM »

Roshanarose: Thanks for checking for any Zenobia source material - interesting that there are so many books written using her name in the title - whether they are all about her or not I simply don't know.
Great Quiz.

Gumtree · « **Reply #2020 on:** July 03, 2011, 01:17:25 PM »

New Quiz

Author: Also wrote stories, essays and commentaries on English and foreign literature.

Book: This novel is a classic of modern fiction. A prominent novelist
described it as "one of the great lonely books"

Character: Is one of the aristocracy watching as the world changes and his
influence wanes.

roshanarose · « **Reply #2021 on:** July 03, 2011, 09:34:57 PM »

Kittens are like humans - they are so cute when they are little. Well, most of them anyway

Zenobia's kittens were all desexed. Like you, Rosemary, I don't think it is fair to the cat to just go on having kittens, and the tragedy is that in the long run there is no one to look after them.

Sorry Gum, for interrupting your Quiz.

Gumtree · « **Reply #2022 on:** July 04, 2011, 01:48:04 PM »

Author: Also wrote stories, essays and commentaries on English and foreign literature.
   Thought about writing this novel for 25 years. Was 58 when he started to write it. Publishers rejected it in his lifetime. It was finally published posthumously.


Book: This novel is a classic of modern fiction. A prominent novelist
   described it as "one of the great lonely books"
   It is full of observations of various classes and the tensions between the aristocracy and the up and coming mercantile class.

Character: Is one of the aristocracy watching as the world changes and his influence wanes.
   Is an excellent horseman, a tireless shot and a fair womaniser

Should be clear as crystal now!

PatH · « **Reply #2023 on:** July 04, 2011, 03:20:08 PM »

I think my crystal ball has a crack in it.

Gumtree · « **Reply #2024 on:** July 04, 2011, 03:43:41 PM »

PatH - No it's not cracked - it just needs polishing up a little...

Gumtree · « **Reply #2025 on:** July 07, 2011, 12:15:41 PM »

I didn't forget this somehow real life intervened as it sometimes does. New clues below:

Author: Also wrote stories, essays and commentaries on English and foreign literature.
Thought about writing this novel for 25 years. Was 58 when he started to write it. Publishers rejected it in his lifetime. It was finally published posthumously.
Was himself one of his country's aristocracy. His ancestral home was destroyed during WWII.

Book: This novel is a classic of modern fiction. A prominent novelist
described it as "one of the great lonely books"
It is full of observations of various classes and the tensions between the aristocracy and the up and coming mercantile class.
It is set during the second half of 19th Century against the background of great political changes

Character: Is one of the aristocracy watching as the world changes and his influence wanes.
Is an excellent horseman, a tireless shot and a fair womaniser.
Has an affection for and is amused by a younger penniless kinsman whose future he secures by arranging marriage with an heiress from the mercantile class.

Who will be the first to venture a guess ?

straudetwo · « **Reply #2026 on:** July 07, 2011, 01:41:41 PM »

My apologies for being "lost" for a few days. The last quiz was truly inspired. Belated congratulations.

Trying to be more "with it" this time around.

roshanarose · « **Reply #2027 on:** July 10, 2011, 12:09:40 AM »

The silence is deafening!

Gum - Thank you for making my brain work

As for the aristocratic background and ancestral home of the writer, I can only think of Winston Churchill, and I don't think he wrote any fiction.

Come on players - Have a go.....

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #2028 on:** July 10, 2011, 02:50:39 AM »

Sorry, I just haven't got an inkling.

Rosemary

Frybabe · « **Reply #2029 on:** July 10, 2011, 11:47:56 AM »

If this was made into a movie with Burt Lancaster in it, it think I know the book, but I'd have to look up who wrote it.

Gumtree · « **Reply #2030 on:** July 10, 2011, 12:43:52 PM »

Frybabe: Yes, this was made into a movie with Burt Lancaster in it.
Great movie - wonderful ball scene - and Alain Delon to boot...

I think you could be excused for not remembering the author's name as this is the only novel he wrote - nonetheless it is an acknowledged classic of world literature -

Frybabe · « **Reply #2031 on:** July 10, 2011, 01:23:52 PM »

Then it is The Leopard. It might be worth putting up for a future discussion. Period piece. Lots of changes revolving around the eventual unification of the Italian states into modern Italy.

straudetwo · « **Reply #2032 on:** July 10, 2011, 03:56:40 PM »

And the authlr is Giuseppe di Lampedusa, a Sicilian, I believe.

straudetwo · « **Reply #2033 on:** July 10, 2011, 04:08:25 PM »

Gumtree, as usual a wonderful job! I'd never have gueseed Lampedusa,, though I should have known. Lampedusa and Luigi Pirandello (Six Characters in Searh of an Author), both Siciians. Great brain teaser/awakener, hahaha

And, oh, BTW yhe itle of the book is Il Gattopardo

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #2034 on:** July 10, 2011, 04:12:38 PM »

Well done all!

Rosemary

Frybabe · « **Reply #2035 on:** July 10, 2011, 04:41:25 PM »

I think it was just last year that they released a restored "special" edition of the movie.

PatH · « **Reply #2036 on:** July 10, 2011, 06:14:50 PM »

Oooohhh! That's clever!

Kudos to Frybabe for getting it, Traude for knowing the name of the author, and Gumtree for her usual skill in presenting all the relevant information in a way that totally tells everything while totally misleading us. Frybabe, I wouldn't have thought of it without a lot more clues, even though now it's staring me in the face.

PatH · « **Reply #2037 on:** July 10, 2011, 06:51:58 PM »

Goodness, it's been over 30 years since I read "The Leopard". I tried to reread it about 15 years ago, but I had recently lost a Sicilian colleague, and the voice and mindset of the Prince were so much like my friend that I couldn't take it. (Not the morals, I hasten to add--my friend was a totally moral person.)

But one bit stuck with me for 30 years, so I want to share it. The arranged marriage turns out not to be happy, also childless, but the couple had a wonderful courtship:

"Those were the best days in the lives of Tancredi and Angelica.... But of that they were still unaware, in their pursuit of a future which they deemed more concrete than it turned out to be, made of nothing but smoke and wind. When they were old and uselessly wise, their thoughts would go back to those days with insistent regret........

Those days were a preparation for a marriage which, even erotically, was no success; a preparation, however, in a way sufficient to itself, exquisite and brief; like those overtures which outlive the forgotten operas they belong to and hint in delicate veiled gaiety at all the arias which later in the opera are to be developed undeftly, and fail."

Frybabe · « **Reply #2038 on:** July 10, 2011, 07:42:20 PM »

The movie had the misfortune to be up against the likes of Gone with the Wind at the 1964 Academy Awards. As it was, I believe, it was only nominated for one Oscar. It did win a bunch of foreign awards in 1963 and 1964.

I looked the author up on Google. There doesn't appear to be much information about him. One site suggested that The Leopard was loosely based on his great-grandfather. I like one bio I found in which he was quoted as saying that he "liked things better than people". He was a reader. He liked Stendhal very much.

roshanarose · « **Reply #2039 on:** July 10, 2011, 09:15:11 PM »

Well done to all concerned.

It did occur to me that we weren't talking about an English writer, and I also thought of "The Leopard" but did not action it. Frybabe did !YAAAAYYYYY FRY - WELL DONE.

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Author Topic: Author! Author! (Read 354068 times)