Dr. Burton said something in class last time that got me thinking. He mentioned, off-handedly, about a list of questions he has for Shakespeare if he gets the chance to talk to him in the afterlife. When he said that, a quote from Catcher in the Rye came to mind (the second consecutive Salinger post is just a coincidence, I promise this isn't the only book I've ever read):
"What really knocks me out is a book, when you're all done reading it, you wished the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it."
I've read a decent amount of Shakespeare but have never wished that he were a "terrific friend" of mine and that I could call him up on the phone whenever I liked. Don't get me wrong, I would certainly answer the phone if he called me (you don't give Bill the no-answer) but I don't think he'd be on my speed dial. Salinger would. Hemingway would, especially if he's really like the way he's portrayed in Midnight in Paris, and especially if I could also get Owen Wilson on the line.
Which writers would be on your speed dial?
"What really knocks me out is a book, when you're all done reading it, you wished the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it."
I've read a decent amount of Shakespeare but have never wished that he were a "terrific friend" of mine and that I could call him up on the phone whenever I liked. Don't get me wrong, I would certainly answer the phone if he called me (you don't give Bill the no-answer) but I don't think he'd be on my speed dial. Salinger would. Hemingway would, especially if he's really like the way he's portrayed in Midnight in Paris, and especially if I could also get Owen Wilson on the line.
Which writers would be on your speed dial?
Dr. Seuss. Edgar Allen Poe. Mark Twain. Plato (although I've only read excerpts - I just think it would be great to talk to someone from ancient Greece.)
ReplyDeleteJosh--the idea of having Mark Twain on my speed dial cracks me up. I've always thought that he was someone I'd get in some great arguments with. Seriously. We'd either be great friends or hate each other's guts.
DeleteI would like to be able to talk with Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters. Call me a girl, but I'm curious what the motives are for a lot of their works. Maybe they really were just silly romances all along.
Kayla- I too would love to talk with Austen and the Bronte sisters. There are many social status connections pulled from their texts, but I too sometimes wonder if some of their works were written simply as romances.
DeleteIt would also be intriguing to talk with Rowling and Tolkien just to discuss the careful detail of the worlds, plots,and, in one case, language they created.
Interesting thoughts. For me: Chuck Palahniuk, Murakami, JK Rowling. I am sure there are more. But those are the ones I would really like to get to know...
ReplyDeleteInteresting thoughts and ideas! I would love to have Ernest Hemingway on speed dial. That would be awesome. Poe too. I'm a big Poe fan. So, what would you ask your fav. author if you had that opportunity to talk to him?
ReplyDeleteThat is an AWESOME quote. I love how 'Hemingway' blows Wilson's character out of the water. Totally how I always imagine Hemingway to be.
ReplyDeleteMy authors would be Ernest Hemingway, Shel Silversten (poet), and Stephen King. I think Poe would be a really creepy friend I would like to have but always keep at a distance...