Highest scored questions
7,304 questions
25
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Which Tintin books were redrawn by Hergé?
The first nine albums were originally published in black and white, with colored editions to appear later:
Tintin in the Land of the Soviets (never redrawn in colour )
Tintin in the Congo
Tintin in ...
- 1,119
25
votes
1
answer
652
views
Has a book ever been translated in its own fictional language?
In programming language design, there's a process called bootstrapping:
In computer science, bootstrapping is the process of writing a compiler (or assembler) in the source programming language ...
user8
25
votes
0
answers
670
views
Was Poe's The Pit and the Pendulum at all inspired by A Predicament?
Poe's satirical short story A Predicament tells the story of a woman who is slowly decapitated by the minute hand of a large cathedral clock. In all its ridiculousness, it was supposed to be a horror ...
- 6,092
24
votes
2
answers
15k
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Could you actually go around the world in 80 days?
Around the World in 80 Days is a novel be Jules Verne about an Englishman who makes a bet with some fellow club members that he can travel around the world in 80 days.
Nowadays with modern flight, ...
- 6,398
24
votes
4
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Why doesn't James Joyce ever use quotation marks?
None of his books use quotation marks for direct speech. For example:
— Will he come? The jejune jesuit!
Ceasing, he began to shave with care.
— Tell me, Mulligan, Stephen said quietly.
— Yes, my ...
- 420
24
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6
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If Tolkien disliked allegory, why are there so many allegorical readings of The Lord of the Rings?
There is a famous quote from J.R.R. Tolkien in which he states his hatred of allegorical writing.
"I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always
have done so since I grew old ...
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24
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1
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Why would one of Germany's leading publishers publish a novel by Jewish writer Stefan Zweig in 1939?
I am reading the Penguin Edition of Impatience of the Heart by Stefan Zweig - also known as Beware of Pity in other translations. The reverse of the title page states that the book was first published ...
- 241
24
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2
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6k
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Did Shakespeare consider Julius Caesar a tyrant or a martyr?
I've seen the Shakespeare play Julius Caesar interpreted in two different ways (by people with different social and political views, naturally):
either Caesar as a power-mad tyrant who got his ...
- 76.7k
24
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1
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2k
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What was a "prince" in Dostoevsky's times, i.e. mid-late 19th century?
In Dostoevsky's The Idiot, the main character is Prince Lev Nikolayevich Myshkin. Sometimes the word "prince" almost seems an honorary title, e.g.
"Here you all are now," the prince began, "looking ...
- 1,035
24
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1
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What is a Pooh?
Winnie the Pooh is our favorite ball of fluff that likes to eat honey in the Hundred-Acre Wood... but where does he get his name from? Specifically, where does "Pooh" come from?
I know that Winnie ...
- 4,310
23
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2
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6k
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What is Asimov's joke in "Death of a Foy"?
I recently came upon a short story, Death of a Foy (1980), in the compendium The Winds of Change (1983). In the intro, Asimov states that he was "hardly able to stop laughing", but I just can't seem ...
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1
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How did Shakespeare get away with staging witchcraft in his plays such as Othello, Macbeth, or The Tempest?
The themes of witchcraft and magic loom large over Shakespeare’s later plays. While there is no overt use of magic and spells in Othello, per se, as compared to the witches in Macbeth conjuring on ...
user10067
23
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1
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Can the Count of Monte Cristo's calculation of poison dosage be explained?
In Chapter Fifty-Two of The Count of Monte Cristo there is a discussion between the titular count and Madame de Villefort about exposing oneself to poisons:
“Well,” replied Monte Cristo “suppose, ...
- 3,529
23
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1
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Who is the "Celebrated New Zealander that is to be"?
In Henry Dunbar: The Story of an Outcast by Mary Elizabeth Braddon, set around 1850 and published 1864, we have the following:
This diary-keeping is a very foolish habit, after all. Why do I keep
...
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23
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1
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What makes the children's book "Wild about Books" especially easy to read aloud?
I read a lot of children's books aloud to my child, many of which rhyme. Among all such books, there is one in particular that is strikingly easy to read aloud - the words just roll right off my ...
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3
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How are graphic novels different from comic books?
I always get confused between the terms comic-book and graphic novel. What makes a comic-book be referred to as Graphic novel? What is the difference between both of the terms?
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In the Iliad, why does Homer list every captain involved in the Trojan war?
In book two of the The Iliad (which you can read online), Homer does something that I find strange: he interrupts the story to list the name of every captain involved in the Trojan war:
And now, O ...
user111
23
votes
6
answers
5k
views
How is 11:22 four minutes slow if it's actually 11:29?
In the first chapter of Around the World in 80 Days, Phileas Fogg meets Jean Passepartout, his new servant, and they introduce themselves. As part of this, Fogg asks Jean what time it is:
“...
- 27.2k
23
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1
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Which is the 'correct' version of "The Lady of Shalott" and why are there two?
It seems Tennyson wrote two versions of "The Lady of Shalott". They are quite similar but have some big differences, for example, the first stanza of the 1832 version is:
On either side the ...
- 3,103
23
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1
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898
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Did later literary analysis agree with Mark Twain's criticism of J.F. Cooper?
This excellent answer by @CHEESE linked to a Mark Twain's "Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses".
SPOILER ALERT: That essay is extremely critical of Cooper's work.
Did later literary analysis largely ...
- 4,654
23
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1
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773
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How does Shakespeare's iambic pentameter work with Original Pronunciation?
In school, students are often taught about iambic pentameter via Shakespearian examples. These, however, were based on the Received Pronunciation (RP) reading of Shakespeare's works. In reality, ...
- 1,395
22
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6
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In Ozymandias, who is the "ye" in the line "Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" meant to be addressing?
Percy Bysshe Shelley's Ozymandias is a well-known and oft-referenced English-language poem from the early 19th century, and purports to quote — presumably in translation from Egyptian hieroglyphs — a ...
- 345
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2
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7k
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Scene from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy where Arthur fails to explain how Earth technology works
I remember a scene from one of the Hitchhiker books:
Arthur Dent (I guess) talks to an alien who says that the Earth was this very backwards planet. Arthur says, well, this is not true, we had plenty ...
- 221
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5
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Why are all the schoolchildren referred to as guns in Clint Smith's "The Gun"?
Clint Smith's poem "The Gun" describes a school shooting from the perspective of a child. However, the central character, as well as its fellow classmates, are all referred to as "guns&...
- 9,963
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6
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What's the deal with Bilbo being some kind of "burglar"?
I may only be 37 pages into The Hobbit, re-reading it after 20+ years, but several things already confuse me. First of all, and this is what I'm mainly asking about, Bilbo is casually mentioned as ...
- 237
22
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6
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5k
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227 days in Life of Pi, coincidence or symbolical?
I'm wondering whether it is known whether the 227 days in Life of Pi symbolical is for pi or that the symbolism I see (as a mathematician :)) is pure coincidence.
I think that it is symbolic for pi ...
- 776
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5
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5k
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Meaning of 'Yawl write, hear?'
I am currently reading To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. In chapter 6 there is a sentence by Dill. Before leaving, he says
'Yawl write, hear?
What does this sentence mean? Does it mean that they ...
- 563
22
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4
answers
2k
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What is the earliest reference in fiction to a government-approved thieves guild?
I remember reading about the Thieves's guild in Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, and I remember thinking they seemed... Novel? Especially as it was government-approved.
One of the remarkable ...
- 981
22
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4
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13k
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Why did George Orwell name himself after the River Orwell?
Eric Arthur Blair, author of such famous books as Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm among many others, used the name George Orwell for his books. From the linked Wikipedia page (cited to Voorhees, ...
- 76.7k
22
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2
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How much of "For Whom the Bell Tolls" is based on real events?
Ernest Hemingway wrote For Whom the Bell Tolls, the story of an American soldier fighting in the Spanish Civil War, a few years after his own experiences as an American journalist reporting on the ...
- 76.7k
22
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3
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Why does Marley in A Christmas Carol claim that Scrooge will be visited across three nights?
In Dickens' famous tale A Christmas Carol, the ghost of Jacob Marley clearly states to Scrooge that he is to be visited on three consecutive nights:
“Expect the first to-morrow, when the bell tolls ...
- 23.6k
22
votes
1
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Who first said this quote about how we only sleep safely because "rough men stand ready" to fight on our behalf?
One of my favorite quotes is Churchill's
"We sleep safely at night because rough men stand ready to visit violence on those who would harm us."
But recently I found out that Orwell was attributed ...
Scarlet Kleen
22
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2
answers
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Why is Pechorin a hero of our time?
In Mikhail Lermontov's A Hero of Our Time (Герой нашего времени), the main hero is Grigory Pechorin, a cynical noble army man, an example of superfluous Byronic hero.
The title of the novel has to ...
- 8,554
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2
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Is there any evidence for a gay relationship in The Merchant of Venice?
A couple of years ago, I went to a stage performance of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, in which Antonio and Bassanio were portrayed as being in a gay relationship together since before the ...
- 76.7k
22
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1
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How did people know the meaning to Shakespeare's new words?
I don't pretend to know much about the history of literature, but I was always told that Shakespeare invented an awful lot of words, 1700 is usually the number given. How did anyone know what they ...
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Did C. S. Lewis support the Ransom Theory in the Chronicles of Narnia?
Some critics have claimed that the explanation of Aslan's sacrifice in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe supports the ransom theory of the atonement. (Edit: There's also a much briefer definition ...
22
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2
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Is the house plan in Anne Frank's diary an artistic rendition, or is it sketched by Anne?
There is this image in the "Friday, 9 July, 1942" section of Anne Frank's diary; a design of the house which is popularly called the Secret Annex.
Did Anne's original diary have a (rough) ...
- 499
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1
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How wide was the exploration of Japan's culture in American literature before 1905?
Prior to Russo-Japanese war and Teddy Roosevelt's efforts to end it, I don't recall USA being overly involved with Japan.
As such, was that reflective in American literature?
How wide/common was the ...
- 4,654
22
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1
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566
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What did Wodehouse say about writing in the first-person?
P. G. Wodehouse is known as a consummate stylist, and a lot is known about how he plotted and wrote his novels. Did he ever say anything about his writing in the first person? I'm particularly curious ...
- 1,720
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1
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625
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Looking for a poem about the (fictionalized) writing of The Canterbury Tales Prologue
A friend of mine used to quote a poem that told the fictionalized story of Chaucer writing the first lines of the Prologue of The Canterbury Tales:
"Whan that Aprill with his ... ".
When he ...
- 179
21
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7
answers
7k
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Understanding political subtexts in the Turing test paper
Alan Turing's article "Computing Machinery and Intelligence" (which you can read online) is commonly interpreted as introducing the Turing test. Briefly, the Turing test is when you have two computer ...
user111
21
votes
5
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7k
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Why do the Pern novels use regular words as profanity?
In the Pern novels, characters use words that would normally be innocuous as profanity. Some prominent examples are "shards" and "shells". There's a list of in-universe curse ...
- 9,963
21
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3
answers
4k
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Why the title The Silver Chair?
The titles of the Narnia books mostly make sense.
The Magician's Nephew: title refers to the main protagonist, through his relation to a more minor character but that's how he got involved in all ...
- 76.7k
21
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2
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Did T.S. Eliot really plagiarize in "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"?
I've been trying to do research to confirm my English teacher's claim that T. S. Eliot plagiarized works by Jules Laforgue, Henri Bergson, and Andrew Marvell in his poem "The Love Song of J. ...
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2
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How much experience did Tolkien have in writing?
J.R.R Tolkien famously created his world and then created the stories he put in them. He was a professor, historian, and linguist by profession, and his writing style in The Lord of the Rings, The ...
- 4,552
21
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1
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7k
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Why is the order of The Chronicles of Narnia changed from original publication?
When I originally read The Chronicles of Narnia I read an older boxset which has the books numbered in original publication order:
The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe
Prince Caspian
The Voyage of ...
- 536
21
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4
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5k
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Why Did Doyle Choose 221B Baker Street?
221B Baker Street. One of the most famous addresses in literature. But why?
Was there any reason Sir Arthur Conan Doyle chose this particular address as the residence of his famous protagonist? Did ...
- 6,398
21
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2
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What is the origin of this contradictory poem?
Does anyone know where this poem originates from:
One fine morning in the middle of the night,
Two dead men got up to fight,
Back to back they faced each other,
Drew their swords and shot one another....
- 3,103
21
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2
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890
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How did the Inklings originate?
The (original) Inklings were a group of Oxford academics and writers, their most famous members including J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Hugo Dyson. They used to meet regularly, ...
- 76.7k
21
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1
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What does "N. takes M." mean in "Emma"?
In Jane Austen's Emma, when Emma and Mr. Knightley are discussing first names, this exchange happens:
'And cannot you call me "George" now?'
'Impossible!—I never can call you any thing but &...
- 27.2k