Questions tagged [historical-context]
Questions regarding the influence of historical events or notions on a literary work, or about the extent to which works of literature accurately depict historical events, figures, customs, ideas, etcetera.
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Censorship reaction to Moravia's "La mascherata"
La mascherata is a novel by Alberto Moravia, published in 1941, during Italian fascist era. It is set in an imaginary dictatorship in Latin America. It is clearly a book against dictatorship. This ...
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Is "Uncle Tom's Cabin" read in American high schools?
I have read that Harriet Beecher Stowe's work (published 1852) is not encouraged by the educational establishment in the US because of the stereotypes it presents of black people as ill-educated and ...
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Why did the Pit and the Pendulum lack historical authenticity?
The Pit and the Pendulum is set in Toledo, Spain during the height of the Spanish Inquisition which began in 1478.
In the story, Poe references the Jacobin club, which was an influential political ...
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Is Emma's preoccupation with class and station typical of the time period or an aspect of her character?
In Jane Austen's Emma, the titular character is shown to spend a lot of time and effort thinking about class, rank, and station in society. She's worried about mixing with the lower classes, and ...
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Why did Vladek get soup when he presented a clean shirt?
On page 94 of Maus II: A Survivor's Tale, Vladek trades some of his food for a lice-free shirt that he carefully cleans and wraps in paper. He later presents the clean shirt in order to get soup.
Why ...
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In Wister's _The Virginian_, why is calling a white man white considered a compliment?
In the second chapter of Owen Wister's The Virginian, what appears to be a factual statement about the titular character's race is described by the narrator as a "high compliment":
“Yes, ...
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What superstitions about coroners is "Carbide" referring to?
In Carbide by Andriy Lyubka (set in Ukraine near the border of Hungary from the post-Soviet 1990s until at least 2012), many people were afraid of the coroner, who had a "horrible reputation"...
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Of what people, of what liquor-agency does Thoreau speak in this paragraph from "The Last Days of John Brown"?
In The Last Days of John Brown, Thoreau writes:
All through the excitement occasioned by his remarkable attempt and subsequent behavior, the Massachusetts Legislature, not taking any steps for the ...
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What historical reference is Stevenson making with "shouting in the streets"?
In The Master of Ballantrae, in the section “The Master's Wanderings”, Stevenson writes:
and I dare say these plaudits had their effect on Master Teach in the cabin, as we have seen of late days how ...
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Euripides - mystai or evidence of higher-ranked status?
Euripedes has quite an extensive catalog on the so-called mystery cults. In the wiki, it does state the tragedian had some involvement in a mystery cult:
He served for a short time as both dancer and ...
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To what "attack on the Boston Court-House" does Thoreau allude in this paragraph from "Slavery in Massachusetts"?
In Slavery in Massachusetts, Thoreau writes:
The events of the past month teach me to distrust Fame. I see that she does not finely discriminate, but coarsely hurrahs. She considers not the simple ...
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What does Thoreau mean by "pew hire" in this paragraph from "Slavery in Massachusetts"?
In Slavery in Massachusetts, Thoreau writes:
Among measures to be adopted, I would suggest to make as earnest and vigorous an assault
on the press as has already been made, and with effect, on the ...
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What prior "case of the murderer himself" does Thoreau have in mind in "Slavery in Massachusetts"?
In Slavery in Massachusetts, Thoreau writes:
It is, to some extent, fatal to the courts, when the people are compelled to go behind them. I do not wish to believe that the courts were made for fair ...
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To what laws does Thoreau allude in "Slavery in Massachusetts"?
In Slavery in Massachusetts, Thoreau writes:
I have read a recent law of this State, making it penal for any officer of the “Commonwealth”
to “detain or aid in the … detention,” anywhere within its ...
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Were schoolteachers really paid substantially less than $45 per month in 1990s Ukraine?
Shortly after Tys graduated from university and started teaching in Carbide (by Andriy Lyubka), he'd periodically borrow money from his friend Icharus:
By that time, Icarus had become a businessman (...
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How historically accurate is Koestler's The Gladiators?
The Third Servile War or War of Spartacus inspired several novels, including Arthur Koestler's The Gladiators, published in English in 1939.
In the 1930s, Koestler worked mostly as a journalist, ...
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Why was the illegal tunnel in Carbide mostly used to smuggle illegal cigarettes?
Possibly related: What is "Galacian tobacco" and what is its significance?
Carbide by Andriy Lyubka starts with the following news item:
BRATISLAVA (Reuters) - A smuggling title the length ...
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What were the changes in the Spirit of the West at the end of first millennium?
From the first Chapter of The Undiscovered Self by Carl Jung
What will the future bring? From time immemorial, this question has
occupied men’s minds, though not always to the same degree.
...
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Did Napoleon have a team of scientists named Pekinese dogs?
I was reading the book "The Code Book" by Simon Singh.
An excerpt from the book is as follows
The obsession began in 1800, when the French mathematician Jean-Baptiste Fourier, who had been ...
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"Miss" as a form of address to a married teacher in Bethan Roberts' "My Policeman"
In Bethan Roberts' 2012 novel My Policeman, Marion Taylor begins working as a schoolteacher in 1957. She writes her name on the chalkboard for her students:
A moment passed as I gathered myself, then ...
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What kind of weapon destroyed Laila's home in A Thousand Splendid Suns?
In the novel, the author describes Laila's family home as having been struck by a rocket and was implied to have been mostly, if not completely, destroyed. What kind of weapon might this have been? ...
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Primers in "Blood Meridian" — an unmentioned/overlooked detail?
This somewhat recapitulates my question about making gunpowder which was so brilliantly answered yesterday.
Basically, my question is, given that the gang in Blood Meridian certainly had primers, ...
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Does "Blood Meridian" accurately describe gunpowder manufacture?
In Blood Meridian (1985), Cormac McCarthy has the gang of "Indian fighters" surrounded and out of powder, so one of them manages to make it from scratch, making charcoal from wood, saltpeter ...
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What is "Galacian tobacco" and what is its significance?
Chapter 7 of Sweet Darusya refers to "Galacian tobacco" being smuggled between Poland and Ukraine. What exactly was this, and what was the significance of it being specifically that kind of ...
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Why did Ivan and Darusya travel part of the way to town by horse-drawn carts?
Sweet Darusya periodically refers to horse-drawn carts being in contemporary use. For example, in one particular scene in the book, cars, bicycles, and horse-drawn carts were all in use at the same ...
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Why did the police officer complain about Ivan not having a passport?
In Sweet Darusya, a police officer brings Ivan to a party Director on a laundry list of complaints, one of which was that he was living in the village without a proper passport. I'm a little confused ...
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What does "gentleman of the bedchamber" mean in "War and Peace"?
Could anyone explain what it really means in War and Peace? Is it a position in the govenment?
Part III, ch 1
With Pierre at hand in Moscow, Prince Vasily secured him an appointment as gentleman of ...
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What evidence is there that Vladimir Nabokov was abused as a child?
If you read around the works of Nabokov, it's quite common to find people stating as a fact that he was abused as a child by his uncle and that the family were aware and covered it up. I found one ...
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Role of Duke of Bedford in Shakespeare's "King Henry VI, Part I"?
In Shakespeare's play King Henry VI, Part I, the Duke of Bedford(or Bedford) is given the following role:
Duke of BEDFORD, the king’s uncle, and Regent of France
In other words, Bedford is the "...
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In Dickens' "The Chimes", why do bells have godparents and mugs?
Not long into The Chimes: A Goblin Story, one of Dickens' lesser-known Christmas stories, there's this paragraph about bells:
They were old Chimes, trust me. Centuries ago, these Bells had been ...
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What are the "dead Easter chicks" in "Just Before the War with the Eskimos?"
In J. D. Salinger's short story "Just Before the War with the Eskimos," a character reveals that:
A few years before it had taken her three days to dispose of the Easter chick she had found ...
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How did Dante know so much about geography and astronomy in his Purgatorio?
This answer on the History of Science & Maths SE says that Dante's Purgatorio contains a lot of what would now be considered "worldbuilding" which seems fairly advanced for the time: ...
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Where did Mrs Waterby get the money in George Ade's "The Set of Poe"?
I’m reading “The Set of Poe”, a 1903 short story by George Ade. The context: Mr. Waterby wanted to buy a set of Poe, but his wife didn’t like that idea and advised him not to buy. He were upset and ...
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Historical background of Dickinson's 'The Sun and Fog contested-'
The Sun and Fog contested
The Government of Day—
The Sun took down his Yellow Whip
And drove the Fog away—
I assume 'Yellow Whip' refers to the Whig Party, as yellow was one of the colours of the ...
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Did the Friends of Narnia die at Harrow and Wealdstone?
In The Last Battle, all of the Friends of Narnia (except Susan - the people from our world who had been to Narnia over the course of the seven books) die in a horrific train accident and end up going ...
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Why would selling a thousand copies of a book get a bestseller rating?
Zaza's first published book sold a grand total of 400 copies. He was informed by his editor that books need to sell at least 1000 copies to get a bestseller rating.
Why was that enough sales to be ...
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Did it really cost $800 to fly from Kyiv to Rome in 1996?
At one point, the Chief needed to flee the country. He sent Viktor to retrieve his plane ticket, which cost "$750 at exchange rate or $800 in cash". His exact itinerary was Kyiv-Larnaca-Rome....
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Why does "Your Ad Could Go Here" state that the Orange Revolution lasted for three weeks?
The Orange Revolution protests were called for on November 21, 2004 in response to election fraud in their 2004 Presidential election. Eventually, the Supreme Court ordered a re-vote on December 26, ...
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Do academic historians regard the fact that the USSR was exporting food during the Holodomor as evidence that it was intentional?
Erin Littlekin claims in the afternote of The Memory Keeper of Kyiv that:
Between 1932 and 1933, one in every eight Ukrainians died in this manmade famine. And it was absolutely manmade. During this ...
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Did Effie receive insulin shock therapy?
At the school reunion in Girls, one former classmate recounted having seen Effie:
Last summer, Marinka says, by accident, on the street, "I didn't recognize her." She says that you, Effie, ...
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When did the Soviet government start admitting that people were killed in Afghanistan?
Early on in the Soviet war in Afghanistan, the Soviet government went to great lengths to cover up the exact nature of the war, telling everyone that the troops were planting trees, building bridges, ...
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Was pigskin leather easier to acquire in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic than cattle leather?
In Girls (part of Your Ad Could Go Here), Darka's mother had the "little joy" of getting a leather coat:
Everything that followed in her life was fine with her: marriage, poverty, children, ...
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Was it common to hide food to avoid it being confiscated during the early stages of the Holodomor?
In The Memory-Keeper of Kyiv, Katya and Pavlo hide food in various locations and kept notes on where they hid it to keep it from being confiscated by the Soviet activists pushing for collectivization. ...
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Is there an abandoned Soviet airport near Luhansk?
In Voroshilovgrad, Ernst Thalmann lives at an abandoned Soviet airport that he's trying to resurrect. I'm a little unclear about the exact location of this in the book, but I would assume that it's ...
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What is the Ukrainian equivalent of a community college?
At one point in Voroshilovgrad, Injured and Herman go from the old airport to what's referred to in the books as the community college dorms.
I'm slightly confused by this translation, since I don't ...
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Is there actually a "railroad to nowhere" on the border between Ukraine and Russia?
In Voroshilovgrad, Herman had the following discussion with some smugglers about some rail on the border of Ukraine and Russia:
"There's a railroad here?" I asked.
"Well, yeah," ...
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How do you move a factory by rail?
In Voroshilovgrad, Herman meets someone who owns his own train. He mentioned that there were certain tracks that were built in case there was a war, so that they could move factories east:
"Do ...
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Why does the translator's introduction to "The Complete Kobzar" claim that Ukraine has the sixth-highest per capita consumption of alcohol?
The translator's introduction to The Complete Kobzar briefly describes some social problems in Ukraine; among other things, the translator claims that:
According to the World Health Organization, ...
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What was this dubious medical facility by the salt lakes?
When Herman and Olga were trying to straighten out the paperwork for the gas station, they realized they need to track down a director of an oil depot for some help with some paperwork. However, they ...
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Can you actually be arrested for public smoking in Ukraine, like this passage implies?
Chapter 5 of Stalking the Atomic City contains the following quote:
I'm standing at the bus station, in the corner, next to a trash can. That way, the patrol officers won't notice me and arrest me ...