Author Topic: Author! Author!  (Read 359080 times)

straudetwo

  • Posts: 1597
  • Massachusetts
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #800 on: July 26, 2010, 12:11:59 AM »


Welcome to Author! Author!  

This is a game in which the contestants match their wits with a  challenger, who suggests a character in literature, non- fiction or fiction. The challenger may or may not provide more clues, his prerogative,, and never more than one a day.


Once a day the challenger will say if the guesses are correct or not. The winning contestant gets lots of acclaim and the chance to pose the next challenge. If he does not want to post a new challenge he can say so and whoever does can begin a new game.

Of course you could look these up on google in an instant, what challenge is that? The  idea is to rack one's brain to try to remember where this particular character appeared and who wrote about him/ her. Should be great fun.

The challenger also has the option not to mention the name of the character, but only a description.


Authors used so far:

Author, Book, Character, Challenger, Post#

Atwood, Margaret, The Blind Assassin, Gumtree, #277
Austen, Jane, Pride and Prejudice, Mary Bennett, #158
Baum, L. Frank, The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy, JoanK, #342
Blackmore, Richard, Lorna Doone, Lorna Doone, Frybabe, #462
Bronte, Emily, Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff, Gumtree, #252
Buchan, John, 39 steps, Richard Hannay, PatH, #396
Carroll, Louis, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Alice, JoanK, # 426
Cervantes, Don Quijote, Don Quijote, PatH, #701
Christie, Agatha, Hastings, JoanK, # 127
Christie, Agatha, Death on the Nile, Hercule Poirot, JoanK, #752
Clancy, Tom, Hunt for Red October, Frybabe, #553
Collins, Wilkie, The Moonstone, Rachel Verinder, PatH, #311
Conrad, Joseph, Heart of Darkness, Marlow, Gumtree, #226
Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan, Study in Scarlet, Dr. Watson, PatH, #380
Eliot, George, Daniel Deronda, Gumtree, #190
Eliot, T. S., Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, Bustopher Jones, PatH, #110
Essex, Karen, Leonardo's Swans, Isabella d'Este, Mippy, #591
Galsworthy, John, The Forsyte Saga, Irene, PatH, #615,620
George, Elizabeth, Lynley and Havers, Tomereader1, #168
Grey, Zane, Riders of the Purple Sage, Frybabe, #294, 299
Henry, O. Mammon and the Archer, Anthony Rockwall, Ginny  537
James, Henry, Wings of a Dove, Kidsal, #83
LeFanu, Sheridan, Carmilla, roshanrose, #769
Melville, Herman, Moby-Dick, the whale, PatH, #482
Milton, John, Paradise Lost, Frybabe, #413
O’Brian, Patrick, Master and Commander, Jack Aubrey, JudeS, #319
Orwell, George, Frybabe, #97
Peterson, Roger Tory, Field guide to the Eastern Birds, Mockingbird, JoanK #202
Rand, Ayn, We the Living, Frybabe, #498, 502
Scott, Sir Walter, Ivanhoe, Ginny, #602
Shelley, Mary, Frankenstein, the monster, PatH, #451
Smith, Alexander McCall, Mma Ramotswe, JudeS, #145
Spark, Muriel, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Miss Brodie, Gumtree, #671, 672
Steinbeck , John, Journal of a Novel, Gumtree, #53, 60
Stoker, Bram, Dracula, Jonathan Harker, JudeS, #631, 632
Stone, Irving, Depths of Glory, Camille Pisarro, Gumtree, #802
Tolkien, J. R. R., Lord of the Rings, Frodo, PatH, #238, 241
Trollope, Joanna, The Best of Friends, Sophie, Mippy, #218
Tyler, Anne, Digging to America, Maryam Yazdan,Mippy, #735
Vreeland, Susan, The Forest Lover, Emily Carr, Mippy, #364
Wethers, Beck, Left for Dead, Ginny, #29
Xenophon, Frybabe, #173






I've searched in all directions; alas,  there is no light at the end of this tunnel.

The Franco-Prussian war is familiar from history classes (which I loved), but I do not remember ever reading a novel about it.

Mippy

  • Posts: 3100
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #801 on: July 26, 2010, 06:33:41 AM »
No idea ... obviously never read this book.   I give up.
quot libros, quam breve tempus

Gumtree

  • Posts: 2741
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #802 on: July 26, 2010, 09:29:48 AM »
Oh my ! I guess I should put everyone out of their misery but does that mean I win  ???


The author was Irving Stone

The book was Depths of Glory based on the life of the artistCamille Pissarro who was the first of the Impressionists.


The Depths of Glory discussion was held in December 2006 with leaders Joan Grimes, Eloise de Pelteau and Joan Pearson - I checked the discussion out in the Archives and was surprised that only a few of those who took part are still posting.

  I remember the discussion well because right in the middle of the it we went on holiday to Sydney to spend Xmas with our son. While there I was able to view an exhibition of the Impressionists at the State Gallery of NSW which included work by Pissarro - so timely.

Depths of Glory is right up there with Stone's biographies of other artists - Agony and the Ecstasy (Michelangelo) and Lust for Life (Van Gogh). It's a good read -lots of info on other artists of the period as well.
   
Reading is an art and the reader an artist. Holbrook Jackson

Gumtree

  • Posts: 2741
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #803 on: July 26, 2010, 09:47:37 AM »
  Everyone knows at least one of this author's books.
  We have read and discussed this book.
  I'm an American active during the mid 20th century.

Author: These clues for the author are all straightforward -I've added a couple of notes for the Book/Character clues

1.  I wrote many books - most were a type of historical novel of which several are well known - some have been used as the basis for films.
2.  I made a good, long lasting marriage and together we funded a foundation to support charitable organisations whose work we believed in.
3.  My books are very thoroughly researched through 'work in the field' and archives. I have even relocated to another continent to undertake research and have commissioned translations of written material on my subject.
4. I have received several honorary awards for achievement in highlighting aspects of history.
5. The subjects I chose for my novels were regarded as among the foremost in their field and were passionate about their chosen endeavour. Collectively they cover a wide ranging spread of knowledge and creativity - science, psychoanalysis, art, politics, ancient history and even the opening up of the far west.

6. Some critics say I successfully joined together the three genres of biography, history and fiction and solved the problems inherent in doing that by using a lucid narrator. Others are of the opinion that my novels are for those who like their history embellished with fiction. Either way most of my novels were best sellers.

7. I spent 5 years researching the life and times of the subject of this book. I also enlisted my wife's help and employed two secretaries to keep the material in order.

I bet you didn't know that in the early 1930s Irving Stone had a 'romance' with singer Jeanette MacDonald. He kept all her letters which after his death were found among his papers


Book/Character:
1. I am the prime mover of an iconoclastic group who are at the vanguard of a new movement and who eventually succeed in their aim.  The iconoclastic group were those who became known as the Impressionists
2. My family were in 'trade'   - my choice of a career outside of their interests caused much friction within the family and alienated me from them. They didn't want an artist in the family.
3.  I was also alienated from my family by my choice of spouse who was not only from a lower class but also of a different religious persuasion.I married my mother's housemaid who was a Catholic
4.  During the Franco-Prussian War I was forced to flee my home in France and find refuge in London. When I returned I found my house and much of my early work had been destroyed by Prussian soldiers. The Prussians used the groundfloor of my house as a stable and many of my early paintings had been trampled by horses. I also found local women wearing my canvases as aprons.
5.  I studied under a succession of masters - one in particular is seen as the most important early influence on my work. Early in his career Pissarro studied under Corot
6.  My importance lies not only in my contributions to the movement but also in my standing amongst my colleagues who viewed me as something of a patriarch. Pissarro was the first Impressionist, he had considerable 'people skills' and was a born organiser for exhibitions etc.

7. Together with like minded colleagues I challenged the authority of the 'establishment'. In the main we were rejected, however Napoleon III came to our aid in an effort to quell the rising protests.The Impressionists wanted to exhibit with the established Societe des Beaux Artes but were rejected. Napoleon III sponsored the showing known as the Salon des Refuses

8. I drafted the first convention incorporating the group who called themselves Societe Anonyme des Artistes and a Parisian critic wrote of me that nothing new and excellent appeared where he wasn't among the first, if not absolutely the first, to discuss and defend.



An extra tidbit in the form of a quote from our author which I think true  'bookies ' will appreciate.

There are no faster or firmer friendships than those between people who love the same books

Reading is an art and the reader an artist. Holbrook Jackson

Gumtree

  • Posts: 2741
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #804 on: July 26, 2010, 09:52:18 AM »
Whew - I hope that gets me off the hook - now who's going to be It for the next quiz ?

Reading is an art and the reader an artist. Holbrook Jackson

PatH

  • BooksDL
  • Posts: 10951
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #805 on: July 26, 2010, 11:18:07 AM »
Good question, Gumtree, obviously it's not your turn.  Any volunteers?

Thanks for putting me out of my misery.  It was driving me bananas.

PatH

  • BooksDL
  • Posts: 10951
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #806 on: July 26, 2010, 11:44:02 AM »
I see I've really neglected my duties, and not added the last four books to the list.  The heading at the top of this page is now up to date, so whoever poses the next puzzle can check if their choice has been used already.

straudetwo

  • Posts: 1597
  • Massachusetts
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #807 on: July 26, 2010, 08:59:27 PM »
Gumtree, you led us on a stimulating search and your clues were superb, testing the elasticity of our memory.  
But some things, of course, may not be imprinted there, and that was true in this case for me.  I never read Irving Stone and did not participate in the discussion of Depths of Glory.  

Fastidious readers may consider this is a serious lacuna, (what is known in German as (Bildungslücke = compound noun : Bildung= knowledge/eucation in general, Lücke = lacuna).   And it may well be.     But who could forget Kirk Douglas in the movie Lust for Life?

PatH,  clearly I'm not "entitled" and merely supplied the name of the book, not the author,  when roshanarose was looking for both. But I'm willing to post the next challenge.

However, since I am rather new to this circle I'd appreciate it if the  parameters or rules of the game could be delineated again. Thank you in advance.







PatH

  • BooksDL
  • Posts: 10951
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #808 on: July 26, 2010, 09:41:47 PM »
Traude, I suffer from the same Bildungsluecke.  Oh, well.

Thanks for taking on the next quiz.  The rules are pretty sloppy.  You think of an author and title, and a character in the book too if you choose.  You start by posting a clue to the author and one to the book or character.  Post additional clues as seems appropriate, usually once a day, and you can throw in extra remarks when you want.  It's tricky trying to give a real clue without being obvious, and you can't always guess right.  Jude once gave a very obscure clue to a Patrick O'Brian novel, but since there were some O'Brian fanatics here, we pounced on it at once.  And several times there have been books that no one has read.

Happy puzzling!

roshanarose

  • Posts: 1344
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #809 on: July 26, 2010, 09:42:12 PM »
I had read Stone's bios of Michelangelo and Van Gogh, both of which I loved, but have not read about Pissaro.  I must.  Will give the authoring of the next quiz a miss.  
How can you prove whether at this moment we are sleeping, and all our thoughts are a dream; or whether we are awake, and talking to one another in the waking state?  - Plato

Gumtree

  • Posts: 2741
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #810 on: July 27, 2010, 06:03:21 AM »
Nice to see the housekeeping done - thanks PatH. Amazing just how many of these quizzes we've had in such a short time.

Traude Thanks - There are some general pointers on the rules on the Header Page.

I don't see not having read Stone as any kind of lacuna let alone anything with a term as grandiose sounding as Bildungslucke - love it - I'm going to add that to my vocabulary from here on. ;)

The truth is that I hadn't read Depths of Glory until Joan Grimes proposed it for discussion - and I didn't know anything about Irving Stone until I started working on clues for the quiz so I've been on a big learning curve but now I feel like an aficionado. :D

Looking forward to wracking my poor old brain with your clues.

Reading is an art and the reader an artist. Holbrook Jackson

straudetwo

  • Posts: 1597
  • Massachusetts
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #811 on: July 27, 2010, 07:26:21 PM »
PatH and Gumtree,  thank you for your answers, both much appreciated.
It will take me a day or so to find a challenge for this wonderful, well-read group.

Gumtree,   in reply another quick linguistic tidbit, if I may.
 "Bildungslücke" is not really 'grandiose'.  It would be impolite in the extreme to actually accuse another of having a BL to his/her face.  The term is used more in jest - even though it does have a tiny little "stinger" to it.   ;D

Two other multi-syllabic German compound nouns have been quoted  in German:

(1) Fingerspitzengefühl ,
Taken separately, 'Finger' = finger; 'Fingerspitze' = finger tips;  'Gefühl' = feeling.
More or less what we might express as "I can feel it in my bones."  Bones vs. fingertips  as prognosticators :D

(2) Schadenfreude  (the "eu" is pronounced as "oy").
Taken separately, 'Schaden' = damage, 'Harm';  'Freude' = joy, pleasure.

However, the combined word expresses an all too human (albeit mean) feeling, namely the feeling of glee at the misfortune of another.

The late eminent linguist and  NYT language maven William Safire has quoted both (1) and (2) in German in his NYT Sunday Magazine columns -  several times over the years, because there is no precise English equivalent.  The above definition of 'Schadenfreude' is Bill Safire's.



Gumtree

  • Posts: 2741
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #812 on: July 28, 2010, 05:36:02 AM »
Traude: What fun to come in and find your 'linguistic tidbits' - I'm happy to say that the sense I took from Bildungslucke was that of jest. It equates well with the Aussie sense of humour which always carries , if not a sting then at least a tiny nip, with it.

I don't often read the NYT but perhaps I should if only for Safire...
Fingerspitzengfuhl is new to me but I am familiar with Schadenfreude if not with Safire's exact interpretation - rest assured I would never be guilty of such a feeling  :D :D  

Thanks Traude You've made my day and may now picture me sallying forth to meet some friends for coffee and laying them in the aisles with my newly acquired terminology. Can't wait !

Reading is an art and the reader an artist. Holbrook Jackson

straudetwo

  • Posts: 1597
  • Massachusetts
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #813 on: July 28, 2010, 01:13:09 PM »
Thank you, Gumtree !  :)

The challenge

Author: I was a novelist, biographer, essayist, journalist. I corresponded with the literary illuminati of my era.

straudetwo

  • Posts: 1597
  • Massachusetts
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #814 on: July 29, 2010, 11:01:43 AM »
Day Two of Challenge

Author : novelist, biographer, essayist, journalist, corresponded with the literati of the time,
the 20th century.

The novels are based on the author's own experiences.

Guess ahead!

Gumtree

  • Posts: 2741
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #815 on: July 29, 2010, 11:52:13 AM »
essayist, journalist etc brings George Orwell to mind -
Reading is an art and the reader an artist. Holbrook Jackson

PatH

  • BooksDL
  • Posts: 10951
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #816 on: July 29, 2010, 12:07:53 PM »
Yes, except Orwell didn't write any biographies.

straudetwo

  • Posts: 1597
  • Massachusetts
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #817 on: July 29, 2010, 05:46:12 PM »
Sorry, not Orwell

Frybabe

  • Posts: 10024
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #818 on: July 29, 2010, 07:17:11 PM »
Tom Wolf?

roshanarose

  • Posts: 1344
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #819 on: July 29, 2010, 08:48:41 PM »
Hemingway?
How can you prove whether at this moment we are sleeping, and all our thoughts are a dream; or whether we are awake, and talking to one another in the waking state?  - Plato

Gumtree

  • Posts: 2741
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #820 on: July 30, 2010, 03:26:24 AM »
I don't think Hemingway did biographies either....
Reading is an art and the reader an artist. Holbrook Jackson

straudetwo

  • Posts: 1597
  • Massachusetts
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #821 on: July 30, 2010, 07:25:01 AM »
So far no resonance, sorry.  So let's lean in closer.

Day 3

The novels best reveal the author's keen sense of observation and often devastating wit.



Frybabe

  • Posts: 10024
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #822 on: July 30, 2010, 07:57:10 AM »
My next guess was going to be Truman Capote, but I don't think he was known for his "devastating wit".  Thinking cap back on.

PatH

  • BooksDL
  • Posts: 10951
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #823 on: July 30, 2010, 09:55:14 AM »
Evelyn Waugh?

JudeS

  • Posts: 1162
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #824 on: July 30, 2010, 02:07:53 PM »
How about P.G.Wodehouse?

straudetwo

  • Posts: 1597
  • Massachusetts
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #825 on: July 30, 2010, 02:34:08 PM »
PatH and roshanarose,  you're both on the right track.

straudetwo

  • Posts: 1597
  • Massachusetts
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #826 on: July 30, 2010, 04:37:23 PM »
My sincere apologies to those concerned :

In my haste to leave for an appointment earlier today I mistakenly put down  Roshanarose's name.  I am very sorry.  The last answer was posted  by Jude.
Please forgive my mistake.
As if I hadn't learned long ago that haste makes waste  ;D ...


PatH

  • BooksDL
  • Posts: 10951
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #827 on: July 30, 2010, 06:07:17 PM »
Good grief! A cross between Evelyn Waugh and P. G. Wodehouse.  I'd say Anthony Powell or Kingsley Amis, but I don't think either of them wrote biographies.

straudetwo

  • Posts: 1597
  • Massachusetts
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #828 on: July 30, 2010, 08:16:30 PM »
Sorry, Pat. Not Wodehouse, Powell, nor Kingley Amis.

straudetwo

  • Posts: 1597
  • Massachusetts
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #829 on: July 31, 2010, 09:15:50 AM »
Day 3

You are  tantalizingly close. The following clue might do it.

The author was from a socially prominent, "tweedy" family.

straudetwo

  • Posts: 1597
  • Massachusetts
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #830 on: July 31, 2010, 02:41:56 PM »
Another necessary mea culpa :  it's day 4.
To make up for my oversight I'd like to add another adjective to today's clue : aristocratic.
 

PatH

  • BooksDL
  • Posts: 10951
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #831 on: July 31, 2010, 02:46:29 PM »
I've got to know who that is.  I'll try to get my brain going.  ???

JudeS

  • Posts: 1162
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #832 on: July 31, 2010, 04:07:38 PM »
Somerset Maughn?

PatH

  • BooksDL
  • Posts: 10951
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #833 on: July 31, 2010, 08:00:17 PM »
Gaaaahhh!  Everyone I think of comes up a bit short on one or another aspect.

Antonia Fraser?

PatH

  • BooksDL
  • Posts: 10951
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #834 on: July 31, 2010, 08:13:55 PM »
Traude, the conversation about Bildungsluecke and Fingerspitzengefuehl reminds me of a term my husband liked: Hosenselbstaendigkeitgefuehl--the confidence that your trousers are not going to fall down.  Is this for real, or was it a joke?  (Sorry about the "e"s--I'm too lazy to figure out how to do umlauts.)  One thing I particularly like about German is the ability to make these complex nouns that then take on their own rich meaning.

straudetwo

  • Posts: 1597
  • Massachusetts
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #835 on: July 31, 2010, 09:32:29 PM »
Regrettably, we're not there yet.  Tomorrow's clue will make it clear, I'll make sure.


PatH,  I chuckled when I read  your post. It is a perfectly fine formulation, but I've never heard the term before.   It may be an inside or an insider joke.  

Yes, great fun can be had with those multi-syllabic German words.  As children we played games at adding to them, and whoever came up with the longest word was the winner. There's no end to new formulations!  A while ago I was sent  a list with surprising and funny  terms. True to form,  I printed the list.  Now cannot find.   Oh my.

That such a list would be compiled surprised me very much because the Germans have adopted and are using any number of English words every day without thinking twice - and not only in re computer lingo, which is almost a necessity these days.
The French, on the other hand, are bitterly opposed to what they call "Franglais". 

I know we are off topic, but  since we are here,  may I mention an interesting long, important word of  fairly recent coinage ?  

Vergangenheitsbewältigung.  Two nouns, [/i] Vergangenheit = the past,  Bewältigung = the mastering of, or coping with, the past.  The 's' is for linkage of the two.  There is a world of meanig in this one word.

roshanarose

  • Posts: 1344
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #836 on: July 31, 2010, 11:34:06 PM »
Winston Churchill was "tweedy and aristocratic" but I don't think he wrote novels.
How can you prove whether at this moment we are sleeping, and all our thoughts are a dream; or whether we are awake, and talking to one another in the waking state?  - Plato

Gumtree

  • Posts: 2741
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #837 on: August 01, 2010, 03:45:47 AM »
Graham Greene's family were rather well-to-do and socially prominent - but I doubt they were aristocratic. And I don't think Greene wrote biographies.
I'm just groping in the dark.
Reading is an art and the reader an artist. Holbrook Jackson

straudetwo

  • Posts: 1597
  • Massachusetts
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #838 on: August 01, 2010, 11:08:47 AM »
Hood morning!

Thank you for  still being with me, what with my "misidentification" of posters and the "error" of the date, whch was not.  Arrrrrg
 
We began on Jul 29th and this is Day 4, August 1.

New clues.
The author was the eldest in a large eccentric family.  The children were home-schooled and left pretty much to their own devices.  Early on they sensed that Mother was distant and Father had an erratic temper.  They gave their parents and each other nicknames that stuck. It was not an unhappy childhood.

But in adolescence they had different reactions to the threatening winds of war and developed radically different political loyalties, causing  the rupture of the family fabric and permanent estrangement.
 
The author became popular first for her essays and for her semi-autobiographical novels, none of which we have read in this circle.  However,  in 2001 we had a discussion of  a non-fiction story about the notorious family and its members.


roshanarose

  • Posts: 1344
Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #839 on: August 01, 2010, 11:20:40 AM »
One of the Mitford sisters by any chance?
How can you prove whether at this moment we are sleeping, and all our thoughts are a dream; or whether we are awake, and talking to one another in the waking state?  - Plato