Saturday, October 24, 2009

Literary Trivia To Astound/Annoy Your Friends

I very much enjoyed this account of the baseball trivia world series in the New York Times. With statistics stretching over three different centuries and an ultra geeky fanbase, baseball attracts more trivia buffs than perhaps any other sport, save cricket. My favourite piece of arcana was this question: Which three players appeared in games when they were older than the sitting United States President? Answer: Dan Brouthers and Jim O’Rourke (older than Teddy Roosevelt in 1904) and Satchel Paige who was older than Lyndon Johnson in 1965 (and presumably 1964 and 1963 too?)
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Literature doesn't attract that level of devotion alas and the facts are so well known that they don't really count as trivia, however, thematically following on from my last post, I have compiled a list of 8 facts that may amuse some of you. (Why 8 and not 10? Well, I sometimes think about what life would be like if octopii had used their surprisingly large brains to become the dominant species on Earth and everything was thus in base 8, and, also, to be honest, I got a bit lazy.) And yes I know that's not the plural of octopus. Ok on with the facts:
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1. Marcel Proust and James Joyce once shared a taxi in Paris. (You won't be surprised to learn that both complained about their health and Proust paid.)
2. Samuel Beckett and Raymond Chandler were both cricket playing Irish novelists.
3. Philip Larkin worked as a librarian in Belfast.
4. William Faulkner wrote the plan of his novel A Fable on a bedroom wall in his house in Oxford, Mississippi (and its still there to this very day).
5. JD Salinger once bought Ernest Hemingway a drink in the bar of the Ritz Hotel during the liberation of Paris. The bar of course now (like many others throughout the world) is called the Hemingway Bar.
6. Jonathan Swift was a vicar in my home town of Carrickfergus for about a year, during which he time he wrote A Tale of a Tub and possibly a preliminary sketch of Gulliver's Travels.
7. The focal point of L Ron Hubbard's "novel" Battlefield Earth is the Denver Public Library which is the same place where Jack Kerouac wrote preliminary sketches for On The Road. (And, I, er, your humble correspondent, wrote a couple of novels).
8. Alexander Pushkin's most famous poem is about a man who ruins his life in a duel. Pushkin was later killed in a duel. Mikhail Lermontov (Pushkin's most famous successor) was so incensed by this that he wrote a series of passionate poems about the stupidity of duelling and accused the Tsar of being complicit in the duel which killed Pushkin. Lermonotov, of course, was later killed in a duel.
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Incidentally when I visited the site of Pushkin's duel in a park north of Saint Petersburg a young girl had brought flowers for Pushkin and was weeping for him uncontrollably - proving once again that poets and rock stars should die young and a little bit stupidly if they want immortal fame.
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Ok that's it, we're out, if you can think of any lit triv, I'd love to hear to it.

43 comments:

Bill H said...

Adrian,

Satchel didn't play in 1963 or 1964. He retired in 1953 at the age of 46. He came back in 1965 at the age of 58 to appear in one game. He pitched for 3 innings and gave up one hit and struck out one. :-)

Michael Stone said...

#8 is brilliant. You couldn't make that stuff up. Or did you? Hmm.

Sun Singer said...

I need to memorize this trivia and see how it goes down in the local biker bar.

Good stuff.

Malcolm

adrian mckinty said...

Bill

Thanks for explaining that. It didnt make a lot of sense before. Obama's pretty young, isn't there anyone close to his age in the majors at the moment?

adrian mckinty said...

Mike

Its all true.

adrian mckinty said...

Sun

I am sure the bikers will be impressed. The only thing I know about bikers and literature is Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and the fact that the Hells Agenls nearly beat Hunter Thompson to death.

HoldenCaufield said...

Great tidbits about writers, Adrian. I'm eating it up!

One more well-known biker story that I'm sure you know: the Rolling Stones hired the Hell's Angels as "security" at Altamont (actually, gave them beer to surround the stage) and one of the bikers ended up stabbing a member of the audience who was allegedly brandishing a gun.

HoldenCaufield said...

But I digress... (the Altamont story is not about bikers and literature, but about bikers and rock and roll, and stories of that nature are countless).

adrian mckinty said...

Holden

I remember watching that French documentary about the Stones and there's a bit in where they freeze the frame with Jagger watching and show that the guy really did have a gun.

However, I also remember watching a different documentary and Gerry Garcia talks all about Altamont and says that it was a recipe for disaster right from the start and that the Angels were looking to cause trouble.

Anonymous said...

Elvis watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail 45 times. Does that count?

adrian mckinty said...

Anon

Sad to say I did actually know that. Supposedly Elvis cut his finger once and said to his posse "dont worry its only a flesh wound." Whether they got the ref or not I dont know.

HoldenCaufield said...

In 1991, I went to the park near St. Petersburg where Pushkin had his duel, but saw nobody weepy-eyed. (Darn!)

I did, however, see a weepy-eyed older lady sweep snow off Stalin's tomb in Moscow’s Red Square and then place flowers on the tomb. So I guess despotic dictators can die old and a little bit stupidly and still be immortalized.

adrian mckinty said...

Holden

Funnily enough when the missus and I were at the Kremlin Wall (where JS is buried) there was a pro Soviet rally going on. Only about twenty people but still not nice to see...

Bill H said...

Adrian,

The two oldest players in the majors in 2009 were both pitchers, Jamie Moyer (Philadelphia Phillies) and Randy Johnson (San Francisco Giants). They are both 46. Barack is 48 so he has them both by a couple of years. Interestingly (at least to me) is that both Jamie and Randy pitched for the Seattle Mariners for quite a few years. I live right outside Seattle and saw them both pitch many times. :-)

bookwitch said...

Did you see much of Swift during that time?

marco said...

Did you see much of Swift during that time?

I bet Adrian was the main inspiration for "A modest proposal"

Bill H said...

Bookwitch

Not sure if you were addressing that to me or not. If so, I'm guessing you are referring to Bill Swift the pitcher. He was taken high in the draft by the Mariners, but never got real good while with the Mariners. I did see him pitch a few times. I always liked him. He went on to San Francisco and had a couple of good years.

seana said...

Here's one I came across when I was researching the trivia book, though I didn't end up using it. You'll probably know it, Adrian, but others might not.

The writer Nathanael West died when he ran a stop sign. He was coming back from Mexico with his wife to attend the funeral of F. Scott Fitzgerald.

John McFetridge said...

Bill, I will always think of what Randy Johnson could have done if he'd remained with Expos - not of our better trades.

That Nathaniel West one is freaky.

Is there anything about women writers?

seana said...

You'd think I'd have at least one choice bit about a woman author, but nothing is springing to mind.

adrian mckinty said...

Bill

I'm not entirely convinced that those defected Cubans were quite as young as they said they were. El Duque in particular.

adrian mckinty said...

Miss Witch

Marco's joke beats anything I could come up with.

adrian mckinty said...

Marco

Thats a 10 from the Irish judge.

adrian mckinty said...

Seana

Didnt know that. Poor Nate. He was good. Fitzgerald is buried in a strange out of the way graveyard in Maryland or somewhere. Well not that out of the way since I went there without a great deal of trouble.

adrian mckinty said...

John

I think at this stage we have to keep rooting that the Blue Jays remains a franchise.

adrian mckinty said...

Bill

I used to go to Colorado Rockies games and when there was interleague play it was always fun to see AL pitchers hit. The older ones always did better.

John McFetridge said...

Oh Adrian, I already lost my Expos I don't want to go through that again. Anything's possible, though. Baseball support doesn't run anywhere as deep as hockey support in this town so if the Jays are going to be a mid-to-bottom level team because they can't spend enough, who knows how long they can hang on. They were bought by Ted Rogers who loved baseball but he died.

I've been looking for trivia about women writers and all I found was th large number of times Alice Munro was told that no one would be interested in her "women's stories."

adrian mckinty said...

John

The AL East is the league of death. They should try and jump to the NL if possible.

I know a bit of Virginia Woolf trivia. In 1910 VW and five male friends dressed up in blackface and exotic robes and presented themselves to the British Royal Navy as the Prince of Abyssinia and his entourage. They got a personal tour of the warship Dreadnought and for forty minutes they toured the ship with its Commander talking amongst themselves in a made-up language.

seana said...

That sounds like something straight out of P.G. Wodehouse.

bookwitch said...

Yes, Marco, I'm impressed!

Bill H said...

Adrian,

Yes... we had one Cuban defector on the Seattle team that ended up being a couple years older than he said he was.

As for AL pitchers... they really can't hit very well. Especially, as you say, the younger ones. Now for the most part they don't hit in college or in the minor leagues so by the time they get to the majors it has been a long time since they got to hit. Funny, because usually the pitchers are the best hitters when they are young and in little league.

Bill H said...

John,

Yes... Seattle fans always did like that trade. Not only did we get Randy for awhile, but when we traded Randy we got Freddy Garcia, John Halama, and Carlos Guillen who all played very will for the Mariners. I would hate to see Toronto go. They have a great baseball tradition. Once when I was in Toronto I went to a game and enjoyed both the game and the ball park.

marco said...

They were bought by Ted Rogers who loved baseball but he died.

A cautionary tale.

marco said...

Remember kids, stay with sane European sports!

John McFetridge said...

If the Jays were a National League team the Expos might still be in Montreal so I wouldn't care what happens to Toronto. If you see what I mean.

Up until Friday Night Lights baseball has always had the great books. So many, in fact, that one of my favourites, The Greatest Slump of All Time doesn't get much notice, but I was wondering, supose I wanted to read a book about soccer, where should I start?

adrian mckinty said...

John

Do you like David Peace?

I thought The Damned United was a great book. I havent seen the film but I really liked the book.

Awaydays is a pretty good novel about supporting the poor relation third team in Liverpool, Tranmere Rovers. Its also been made into a film.

John McFetridge said...

Thanks for the recommendations. I think we'll be seeing The Damned United soon, it's just opened in Toronto.

adrian mckinty said...

John

If you like Nick Hornby you might want to check out Fever Pitch too, but personally I didnt care for it.

marco said...

is a pretty good novel about supporting the poor relation third team in Liverpool, Tranmere Rovers.

I thought it was about Leeds Utd. - was it meant as a joke?

There are some good books in Italian or from Latin American writers, but not much available in English

Eduardo Galeano is a great writer, and apparently Football in Sun and Shadow has been translated - I haven't read it, but it should be good

adrian mckinty said...

Marco

The Damned United is the one about Leeds.

Awaydays is the one about the Tranmere travelling hooligan squad.

marco said...

Eh - I've read Awaydays as anyways

marco said...

soccer and wars

adrian mckinty said...

Marco

They're going to clean up at next years Ignobel Awards.