Author Topic: Author! Author!  (Read 359069 times)

Mippy

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #600 on: May 27, 2010, 09:13:00 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
Christie, Agatha, Hastings, JoanK, # 127
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
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
Steinbeck , John, Journal of a Novel, Gumtree, #53, 60
Stoker, Bram, Dracula, Jonathan Harker, JudeS, #631, 632
Tolkien, J. R. R., Lord of the Rings, Frodo, PatH, #238, 241
Trollope, Joanna, The Best of Friends, Sophie, Mippy, #218
Vreeland, Susan, The Forest Lover, Emily Carr, Mippy, #364
Wethers, Beck, Left for Dead, Ginny, #29
Xenophon, Frybabe, #173



Nice tricky start, Ginny!  No idea whatsoever!  We need more clues!
quot libros, quam breve tempus

ginny

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #601 on: May 27, 2010, 06:50:07 PM »
hahaha, I JUST put it up. Am going to do well to do one set of these per day.

Here's a new one:


Author Clue #1:  I didn't start out to write novels but there was so much competition in my field I decided to try my hand at the novel.

Author Clue #2: I was an extremely popular author in my day and influenced two other famous writers, neither of whom lived in my own country. My last name might be considered a first name, or a  nickname for a person who lives in a particular  location.



Book  Clue #1: The book contains appearances by two famous persons in history but is not about them.

Book Clue #2:   The book has been made into several movies and has appeared on television many times, but is not read much anymore. Each chapter begins with a quotation fitting the subject matter of the chapter from works such as The Odyssey, and the Iliad, and  authors such as Shakespeare  and Chaucer. It deals with a period of turbulence.

PatH

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #602 on: May 27, 2010, 07:54:03 PM »
OK, I'm going to take a wild leap here and guess Sir Walter Scott.  My first choice for the book would be "The Talisman" for the two historical characters (Richard the Lionhearted and Saladin) and the time of turmoil, but "Ivanhoe" was a close second.  I'll go with "The Talisman" though.

ginny

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #603 on: May 27, 2010, 08:05:07 PM »
SHRIEK!! How did you DO that??!!

It's most definitely Sir Walter Scott (I did not realize he walked with a limp) and Ivanhoe! I can't believe it!

What gave it away? The name?

Author Clue #1:  I didn't start out to write novels but there was so much competition in my field I decided to try my hand at the novel.



Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) was a Scottish novelist and poet of the romantic period. He derived most of his material from Scottish history and legend, and was influenced by medieval French romance, popular ballads, and the  Gothic novel. Scott wrote narrative poetry at first, such as The Lay of the Last Minstrel and the Lady of the Lake, but when overshadowed in this field by Byron, he turned to the novel. (Bennett's Reader's  Encyclopedia).

Author Clue #2: I was an extremely popular author in my day and influenced two other famous writers, neither of whom lived in my own country. My last name might be considered a first name, or a  nickname for a person who lives in a particular  location.

Scott's works were extremely popular. As his fortune increased he built the baronial mansion of Abbotsford on the banks of the Tweed. In his day he was known as  The Wizard of the North.





Book  Clue #1: The book contains appearances by two famous persons in history but is not about them
.

Ivanhoe (1819) contains appearances by  Richard the Lion Heart and  Robin Hood, but is about Wilfred, knight of Ivanhoe , son of Cedric the Saxon and his adventures and romantic engagements.

Book Clue #2:   The book has been made into several movies and has appeared on television many times, but is not read much anymore. Each chapter begins with a quotation fitting the subject matter of the chapter from works such as The Odyssey, and the Iliad, and  authors such as Shakespeare  and Chaucer. It deals with a period of turbulence.




According to Wikipedia:
Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
The novel has been the basis for several movies:
•   Ivanhoe (1913): Directed by Herbert Brenon. With King Baggot, Leah Baird, and Brenon. Filmed on location in England and at Chepstow Castle in Wales
•   Ivanhoe (1952): Directed by Richard Thorpe and starred Robert Taylor as Ivanhoe, Elizabeth Taylor as Rebecca, Joan Fontaine as Rowena, George Sanders as Bois-Guilbert, Finlay Currie as Cedric, and Sebastian Cabot. The film has a notable jousting scene as well as a well choreographed castle siege sequence. The visual spectacle is given more attention than the dialogue and underlying story, though the main points of the plot are covered. The film was nominated for three Oscars:
o   Best Picture - Pandro S. Berman
o   Best Cinematography, Color - Freddie Young
o   Best Music Score - Miklós Rózsa
There is also a Russian movie The Ballad of the Valiant Knight Ivanhoe (Баллада о доблестном рыцаре Айвенго) (1983), directed by Sergey Tarasov, with songs of Vladimir Vysotsky, starring Peteris Gaudins as Ivanhoe.
There have also been many television adaptations of the novel, including:
•   1958: A television series based on the character of Ivanhoe starred Roger Moore as Ivanhoe.
•   1970: A TV miniseries starring Eric Flynn as Ivanhoe.
•   1982: Ivanhoe, a television movie starring Anthony Andrews as Ivanhoe, Michael Hordern as his father, Cedric, Sam Neill as Sir Brian, Olivia Hussey as Rebecca, James Mason as Isaac, Lysette Anthony as Rowena, Julian Glover as King Richard, and David Robb as Robin Hood. In this version, Sir Brian is a hero. Though he could easily have won the fight against the wounded and weakened Ivanhoe, Brian lowers his sword and allows himself to be slaughtered, thus saving the life of his beloved Rebecca.
•   1986: Ivanhoe, a 1986 animated telemovie produced by Burbank Films in Australia.
•   1995: Young Ivanhoe, a 1995 television series directed by Ralph L. Thomas and starring Kristen Holden-Ried as Ivanhoe, Stacy Keach, Margot Kidder, Nick Mancuso, Rachel Blanchard, and Matthew Daniels.
•   1997: Ivanhoe the King's Knight a televised cartoon series produced by CINAR and France Animation. General retelling of classic tale.
•   1997: This version of Ivanhoe was released as a 6-part, 5-hour series, a co-production of A&E and the BBC. It stars Steven Waddington as Ivanhoe, Ciarán Hinds as Bois-Guilbert, Susan Lynch as Rebecca, Ralph Brown as Prince John and Victoria Smurfit as Rowena.
•   2000: A Channel 5 adaptation entitled Darkest Knight attempted to adapt Ivanhoe for an ongoing series. Ben Pullen played Ivanhoe and Charlotte Comer played Rebecca.
An operatic adaptation by Sir Arthur Sullivan (see Ivanhoe) ran for over 150 consecutive performances in 1891. Other operas based on the novel have been composed by Gioachino Rossini (Ivanhoé), Thomas Sari (Ivanhoé), Bartolomeo Pisani (Rebecca), A. Castagnier (Rébecca), Otto Nicolai (Il Templario)and Heinrich Marschner (Der Templer und die Jüdin). Rossini's opera is a pasticcio (an opera in which the music for a new text is chosen from pre-existent music by one or more composers). Scott attended a performance of it and recorded in his journal, "It was an opera, and, of course, the story sadly mangled and the dialogue, in part nonsense."[3]


I've been to Abbotsford and it's like one of Scott's novels, out of this world.

You're up next, how did you do that?



ginny

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #604 on: May 27, 2010, 08:10:07 PM »
Oh golly the whole website for Abbotsford is gorgeous, his library! http://www.scottsabbotsford.co.uk/house.html

But look at this, you can get married there!!

http://www.scottsabbotsford.co.uk/weddings.html

PatH

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #605 on: May 28, 2010, 09:51:49 AM »
Oh, golly is right, what a gorgeous place.  I can see I missed my big chance when I got married, though I notice most of the grooms were wearing kilts, and somehow I don't see Bob putting up with that.


PatH

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #606 on: May 28, 2010, 09:56:42 AM »
Ginny, the answer just popped into my head when I saw the last clues.  It happened so fast I'm not sure what did it, but probably the name was the biggest help.  I'll try to get a new puzzle up promptly, but we're having thunderstorms, so computer access is spotty.  In fact, I had to turn it off right after I posted the answer.  Good thing I didn't wait.

Gumtree

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #607 on: May 28, 2010, 11:06:40 AM »
PatH That was just amazing! Congrats!!!!

Ginny - H'rrrmmph! But Abbotsford is lovely.
Reading is an art and the reader an artist. Holbrook Jackson

Mippy

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #608 on: May 28, 2010, 02:06:27 PM »
PatH ~  Well done!  Actually, amazing!
quot libros, quam breve tempus

PatH

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #609 on: May 28, 2010, 04:22:57 PM »
OK, I've thought of one.

Author: My prize-winning novels deal mostly with class.

Character: I had a miserable marriage, but eventually found happiness.

ginny

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #610 on: May 28, 2010, 07:07:40 PM »
Evelyn Waugh for I guess I'd have to say Brideshead  Revisited.

JudeS

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #611 on: May 28, 2010, 07:50:59 PM »
How about Somerset Maughn for
"Of Human Bondage"?

ginny

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #612 on: May 29, 2010, 09:40:27 AM »
A new day! How about The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald? You can see that's one I've never been able to get through. :)

JoanK

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #613 on: May 29, 2010, 03:08:09 PM »
Is it "Middlemarch" by George Eliot? With the main character (I can't remember her name -- Emma?)

PatH

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #614 on: May 29, 2010, 06:58:16 PM »
Good set of guesses, but as it happens, none are right.  Heres a new round of clues:

Round 1:
Author: My prize-winning novels deal mostly with class.

Character: I had a miserable marriage, but eventually found happiness.

Round 2:

Author: I came from a rich family.

Story:  The plot concerns an extensive family.

Character:  My lover met an untimely end.

JudeS

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #615 on: May 29, 2010, 07:25:32 PM »
Is the Book(s) The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy?
Character =Soames Forsyte?

PatH

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #616 on: May 29, 2010, 07:36:29 PM »
BINGO!

You got the book(s), Jude.  The character isn't Soames, though.  Given that, I bet you know who it is.

Gumtree

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #617 on: May 30, 2010, 01:54:00 AM »
 Was it June's lover, Bosinney who met an untimely death? -  how that title takes me back...

JudeS - you're a star !!!

and PatH - just like you to choose that one.
Reading is an art and the reader an artist. Holbrook Jackson

PatH

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #618 on: May 30, 2010, 10:46:37 AM »
Indeed, Bosinney met an untimely death.  He had been engaged to June, but it was broken off because he fell in love with someone else and had an affair with her.  That person is the character.

I'm not trying to be coy, just giving you a chance to come back and give the name if you want to, Jude, but you're clearly the winner anyway.  I'm impressed you got it with so few clues.

JudeS

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #619 on: May 30, 2010, 01:09:02 PM »
Wow! I won and have never read the books but did see the PBS production many long years ago.
Actually it was "The Author coming from a wealthy family" that gave it away .
Now I must read the books.
Give me a bit of time to prepare a new quiz.  It will intentionally be easy since I am going away on vacation Friday next.

PatH

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #620 on: May 30, 2010, 03:01:37 PM »
Actually it was "The Author coming from a wealthy family" that gave it away
That's interesting--I didn't think that was a very helpful clue.  The character is Soames' wife Irene.  Her marriage to Soames was unhappy; he treated her like a piece of his property, and was unkind to her physically.  She eventually married again, happily, to Jolyon Forsyte.  She was wonderfully portrayed in the old PBS series by a New Zealand actress, Nyree Dawn Porter, who had the beauty and great elegance of bearing needed.  Porter didn't make much of a splash afterward, dunno why not.

JudeS

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #621 on: May 30, 2010, 05:09:28 PM »
Are You Ready?

The Author:

1.During my lifetime I was well known as the manager of a famous British Theatre. However I am not British born.

The  Character

1.I am a newly qualified British solicitor as the book starts.

Frybabe

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #622 on: May 30, 2010, 05:53:45 PM »
The first (and only) person I could think of is John Mortimer. BUT - he was born in England, and I don't know if he included managing a theater as one of his talents.

JudeS

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #623 on: May 31, 2010, 01:33:24 AM »
Sorry Frybabe but John Mortimer is not correct.

By the way who is John Mortimer?

Gumtree

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #624 on: May 31, 2010, 04:17:18 AM »
But which theatre company - Drury Lane, Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal National Theatre ... ??
Reading is an art and the reader an artist. Holbrook Jackson

Frybabe

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #625 on: May 31, 2010, 10:22:48 AM »
Jude, John Mortimer was best known for his Rumpole of the Bailey series. He was a barrister, dramatist, screenwriter and author.

JudeS

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #626 on: May 31, 2010, 01:28:35 PM »

Good Morning All
Here are the next clues
Clue # 2
 
Author:
Although almost completely bedridden till age seven the author was a successful athlete at college.

Character:
I travel to a far away land to make a real estate transaction. 

Gumtree:
If I say which theatre that will give it away, I think.  However if no one guesses it soon I will give the name of the theatre.

Gumtree

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #627 on: May 31, 2010, 02:02:53 PM »
It's Bram Stoker and Dracula - can't think of the character's name ...

The 'bedridden until age of seven' gave it away.
Reading is an art and the reader an artist. Holbrook Jackson

JudeS

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #628 on: May 31, 2010, 04:41:50 PM »
YEAH Gumtree !!

You have the Author.  The Theatre you asked about was the Lyceum Theatre in London.
 Abraham (Bram) Stoker  (1814-1912) wrote 12 novels, five nonfiction books and many, many short stories..
He married Florence Balcome in 1878 and they had one son.

Now what is the name of the book and the character who I alluded to?

ginny

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #629 on: May 31, 2010, 06:16:28 PM »
Good HEAVENS lookit you go! Two solutions and I'm still working on the first one, congratters,  JudeS and Gum!

Wow! You know your books!

JudeS

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #630 on: May 31, 2010, 07:40:23 PM »
I made a typo. Bram Stoker was born in 1847 not 1814.
Mea Culpa.

Gumtree

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #631 on: June 01, 2010, 11:12:48 AM »
Jude - the only Bram Stoker novel I know is Dracula  - I still can't think of the character in that who was the young lawyer. I don't have  a copy of it in the house so I can't even cheat.

I vaguely remember something about the Lyceum Theatre but the ONLY thing I really know about Stoker is that he was kept in bed for seven years -and I don't even know why.

Someone else could help us out here ??
Reading is an art and the reader an artist. Holbrook Jackson

Frybabe

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #632 on: June 01, 2010, 12:23:01 PM »
Gumtree, Dracula is what I thought of too. The young lawyer's name is Jonathon Harker.

I remember that not so much because of Dracula, but from the movie League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Peta Wilson played Mina Harker, a vampire, and of course I had to look her character up to see which story she came from. I liked watching Wilson in the old TV series La Femme Nikita. League... is the only thing I have seen her in since.

JudeS

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #633 on: June 01, 2010, 05:40:35 PM »
Yes, Frybabe, the lawyer is Jonathan Harker.

Why was Stoker ill for so many years?
One theory brought forward by a Psychiatrist who gave a talk at a convention I attended was that the young Bram was psychologically traumatized because of family incest of which he was the victim.  The lecturer brought forth the theory that this trauma was what led to his ideas of vampires.
You may discuss this if you wish. I don't really know enough about this theory to know if it is right or wrong.

Frybabe

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #634 on: June 01, 2010, 10:36:55 PM »
I would like to know upon what evidence this psychiatrist based his conjecture. All the info I've read so far only mentions that he was ill and could not walk until he was seven.

Gumtree

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #635 on: June 02, 2010, 10:47:14 AM »
I can't find any reference to the specific illness Stoker suffered - only that he was unable to walk and that his illness and convalescence mystified his doctors. His recovery included playing soccer and being acclaimed as an athlete.

I guess I should put up the next puzzle - will do so tomorrow unless anyone else would care to do so.
Reading is an art and the reader an artist. Holbrook Jackson

Gumtree

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #636 on: June 03, 2010, 05:52:06 AM »
Ok here's one which should be a doddle for all you bookies...

AUTHOR :  I'm a poet, novelist and short story writer. I spent some years in Africa and then went back to my home country and worked in the political intelligence field.

BOOK/CHARACTER: The protagonist and his/her life and loves, ideas and mores are fascinating to others in the story.   


Have fun!
Reading is an art and the reader an artist. Holbrook Jackson

Gumtree

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #637 on: June 04, 2010, 11:51:28 AM »
What - no guesses ?
Reading is an art and the reader an artist. Holbrook Jackson

JoanK

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #638 on: June 04, 2010, 02:48:18 PM »
Out of Africa?

Gumtree

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #639 on: June 05, 2010, 02:23:05 AM »
That's an excellent guess JoanK - but it is not correct.  :)
 
I'll put more clues up later today.
Reading is an art and the reader an artist. Holbrook Jackson