Tag Archives: Books

1773: An Extraordinary Animal

Posted on December 20, 2018 by corvusfugit

In his Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, James Boswell famously recounts his travels with Samuel Johnson in the highlands and western islands of Scotland. The year was 1773; Johnson was in his mid-sixties. In an 1885 edition of … Continue reading →

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1897: C.3.3.

Posted on December 1, 2018 by corvusfugit

When Oscar Wilde’s poem The Ballad of Reading Gaol was published in February, 1898, the author’s name appeared only as “C.3.3.,” which had been the number of Wilde’s tiny room in the prison: block C, landing 3, cell 3. It … Continue reading →

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1357: Fruit

Posted on November 23, 2018 by corvusfugit

In passynge be the lond of CATHAYE toward the higℏ ynde & toward BACHARYE, men passen be a kyngdom þat men clepen CALDILHE, þat is a fuƚƚ fair contre. And þere growetℏ a maner of fruyt as þougℏ it weren … Continue reading →

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2009: A Country Dentist

Posted on November 23, 2018 by corvusfugit

Participants were 40 Canadian-born psychology undergraduates (29 females and 11 males). They were randomly assigned to one of two experimental conditions. In the meaning-threat condition, participants read an absurd short story called ‘‘The Country Dentist.’’ The story is a modified … Continue reading →

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6th Century: St. Brendan’s Isle

Posted on November 18, 2018 by corvusfugit

The 10th century Navigatio Sancti Brendani Abbatis relates the story of Saint Brendan the Abbot (c. AD 484 – c. 577), who takes a group of fourteen monks on an expedition in search of the island of Paradise. After a … Continue reading →

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1753: Dedication

Posted on October 24, 2018 by corvusfugit

Tobias Smollett dedicated his third novel to himself: TO DOCTOR ——— You and I, my good friend, have often deliberated on the difficulty of writing such a dedication as might gratify the self-complacency of a patron, without exposing the author … Continue reading →

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1868: Definition

Posted on October 20, 2018 by corvusfugit

From Wikipedia: Tsundoku (Japanese: 積ん読) is acquiring reading materials but letting them pile up in one’s home without reading them. The term originated in the Meiji era (1868–1912) as Japanese slang. It combines elements of tsunde-oku (積んでお, to pile things … Continue reading →

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1939: That Mighty Obstruction

Posted on October 7, 2018 by corvusfugit

Ernest Vincent Wright’s 1939 novel, Gadsby, was written without words that contain the letter “e.” Here is the opening: If youth, throughout all history, had had a champion to stand up for it; to show a doubting world that a … Continue reading →

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2006: WHEN I AM WITH PEOPLE I AM BOTHERED BY HEARING VERY QUEER THINGS

Posted on September 9, 2018 by corvusfugit

WHEN I AM WITH PEOPLE I AM BOTHERED BY HEARING VERY QUEER THINGS I went to the pillar-box I never saw a worse-looking house in town or in hunting zones “welcome to girly hell” turn her out because her necklace … Continue reading →

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1974: Author Awarded Avocado

Posted on September 4, 2018 by corvusfugit

The opening of Walter Abish’s 1974 novel, Alphabetical Africa: Ages ago, Alex, Allen and Alva arrived at Antibes, and Alva allowing all, allowing anyone, against Alex’s admonition, against Allen’s angry assertion: another African amusement . . . anyhow, as all … Continue reading →

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