The Next Big Writer — When Insults Had Class

Re: When Insults Had Class

null@example.com (corra) — Mon, 06 Nov 2017 22:46:03 +0000

j p lundstrom wrote:

Mark Twain on Jane Austen: "Every time I read Pride and Prejudice, I want to dig Jane Austen up and hit her over the skull with her own shin bone."

"I do not write for such dull elves
As have not a great deal of ingenuity themselves."

- Jane Austen, January 29, 1813.

Re: When Insults Had Class

null@example.com (corra) — Mon, 06 Nov 2017 22:42:23 +0000

corra wrote:

vern wrote:
Dill Carver wrote:
So why would he want to keep reading it over and again?
Probably not Sam's best moment/quote. Take care. Vern
I've always wondered why he'd read her over & over too!

I was curious enough to read up a bit on it. Possibly he didn't actually hate her work -- he just enjoyed making jokes about it. & possibly he revisited so often because it bothered him he couldn't see what others admired in it.

I've always wondered why Twain hated her work so much. She was pretty much the Twain of her generation. She'd probably laugh about his beat her over the head remark. I have the impression she laughed a lot, & the image would have amused her.

I vaguely recall reading that she kept amusing reviews of her work in a drawer in her home.

When she was initially trying to publish Northanger Abbey (before she had ever published -- initially she called it Susan), a guy took it to "publish it" and never gave it back. So she wrote to him to get it back, using the name Mrs Ashton Dennis just so she could sign the letter "M.A.D." -

Gentlemen
In the spring of the year of 1808, a MS Novel in 2 vol. entitled Susan was sold to you by a Gentleman of the name of Seymour, & the purchase money £10 rec’d at the same time. Six years have since passed, & this work of which I am myself the Authoress, has never to the best of my knowledge, appeared in print, tho’ an early publication was stipulated for at the time of sale. I can only account for such an extraordinary circumstance by supposing the MS by some carelessness to have been lost; & if that was the case, am willing to supply you with another copy if you are disposed to avail yourselves of it, & will engage for no farther delay when it comes into your hands. It will not be in my power from particular circumstances to command this copy before the Month of August, but then, if you accept my proposal, you may depend on receiving it. Be so good as to send me a Line in answer as soon as possible, as my stay in this place will not exceed a few days. Should no notice be taken of this address, I shall feel myself at liberty to secure the publication of my work, by applying elsewhere. I am Gentleman &c. &c.
April 5, 1809. M.A.D.

Re: When Insults Had Class

null@example.com (corra) — Mon, 06 Nov 2017 22:23:41 +0000

"I have likewise read one of Miss Austen’s works—Emma—read it with interest and with just the right degree of admiration which the Miss Austen herself would have thought sensible and suitable. Anything like warmth or enthusiasm—anything energetic, poignant, heartfelt, is utterly out of place in commending these works: all such demonstration the authoress would have met with a well-bred sneer, would have calmly scorned as outré and extravagant. She does her business of delineating the surface of the lives of genteel English people curiously well. There is a Chinese fidelity, a miniature delicacy in the painting. She ruffles her reader by nothing vehement, disturbs him by nothing profound. The passions are perfectly unknown to her; she rejects even a speaking acquaintance with that stormy sisterhood. Even to the feelings she vouchsafes no more than an occasional graceful but distant recognition—too frequent converse with them would ruffle the smooth elegance of her progress. Her business is not half so much with the human heart as with the human eyes, mouth, hands, and feet. What sees keenly, speaks aptly, moves flexibly, it suits her to study; but what throbs fast and full, though hidden, what the blood rushed through, what is the unseen seat of life and the sentient target of death—this Miss Austen ignores. . . . Jane Austen was a complete and most sensible lady, but a very incomplete, and rather insensible (not senseless) woman. If this is heresy, I cannot help it."

- Charlotte Brontë

Re: When Insults Had Class

null@example.com (corra) — Mon, 06 Nov 2017 21:58:30 +0000

vern wrote:

Dill Carver wrote:
j p lundstrom wrote:
Mark Twain on Jane Austen: "Every time I read Pride and Prejudice, I want to dig Jane Austen up and hit her over the skull with her own shin bone."
So why would he want to keep reading it over and again?
Probably not Sam's best moment/quote. Take care. Vern

I've always wondered why he'd read her over & over too!

Re: When Insults Had Class

null@example.com (Memphis Trace) — Mon, 06 Nov 2017 15:28:32 +0000

At the park the other day, I was wondering why the Frisbee was getting bigger. And then it hit me.
Memphis Trace

Re: When Insults Had Class

null@example.com (vern) — Mon, 06 Nov 2017 15:13:32 +0000

Dill Carver wrote:

j p lundstrom wrote:
Mark Twain on Jane Austen: "Every time I read Pride and Prejudice, I want to dig Jane Austen up and hit her over the skull with her own shin bone."
So why would he want to keep reading it over and again?

Probably not Sam's best moment/quote. Take care. Vern

Re: When Insults Had Class

null@example.com (vern) — Mon, 06 Nov 2017 14:36:17 +0000

She saw the best of herself in the mirror; the worst was behind her.
Luke Peters

Re: When Insults Had Class

null@example.com (Memphis Trace) — Mon, 06 Nov 2017 08:13:13 +0000

j p lundstrom wrote:

Janet Taylor-Perry wrote:

"He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary."
-William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway)
Ernest Hemingway: "Poor Faulkner. He thinks big emotions come from big words."

There but for the grace of God goes God. —Sir Winston Churchill, a comment on Sir Stafford Cripps, British socialist philosopher

Re: When Insults Had Class

null@example.com (Memphis Trace) — Mon, 06 Nov 2017 08:11:04 +0000

Memphis Trace wrote:

Lady Astor: Mr Churchill, you are drunk.
Churchill: And you madam, are ugly. But I shall be sober tomorrow....

I saw a woman wearing a sweat shirt with "Guess" written on it...so I said "Implants?"
Memphis Trace

Re: When Insults Had Class

null@example.com (Memphis Trace) — Mon, 06 Nov 2017 08:05:14 +0000

Q.X.T.Rhazmeulen wrote:

Dill Carver wrote:
Q.X.T.Rhazmeulen wrote:
Dill, go back and look at my original post, the one you inexplicably derided, and ask yourself of if I'm being serious or sarcastic. I think if you do that you'll see we're actually on the same team. In the meantime, peace to you. Let's not have any hard feelings over what I can only imagine is a misunderstanding.
inexplicably derided?
I was just exchanging examples of classy insults - tit for tat, one knocking on from the other, on a completely abstract and non-personal basis. I thought that was the game. Had no idea you'd break out and take the insults literally/personally
Okay. I didn't get that, smiley notwithstanding. My apologies if I took it personally and it wasn't meant so. As for my retort, I'm sure you put your crayons to much better use than your literary pursuits. :) (<< meant sincerley) Take care.

Two wrongs don't make a right—but three lefts do.
Memphis Trace

Re: When Insults Had Class

null@example.com (Q.X.T.Rhazmeulen) — Mon, 06 Nov 2017 07:49:17 +0000

Dill Carver wrote:

Q.X.T.Rhazmeulen wrote:
Dill, go back and look at my original post, the one you inexplicably derided, and ask yourself of if I'm being serious or sarcastic. I think if you do that you'll see we're actually on the same team. In the meantime, peace to you. Let's not have any hard feelings over what I can only imagine is a misunderstanding.
inexplicably derided?
I was just exchanging examples of classy insults - tit for tat, one knocking on from the other, on a completely abstract and non-personal basis. I thought that was the game. Had no idea you'd break out and take the insults literally/personally

Okay. I didn't get that, smiley notwithstanding. My apologies if I took it personally and it wasn't meant so. As for my retort, I'm sure you put your crayons to much better use than your literary pursuits. (<< meant sincerley) Take care.

Re: When Insults Had Class

null@example.com (corra) — Mon, 06 Nov 2017 00:39:01 +0000

"Women have become so highly educated... that nothing should surprise us nowadays, except happy marriages." — Oscar Wilde

"I am sick to death of cleverness. Everybody is clever nowadays. You can't go anywhere without meeting clever people. The thing has become an absolute public nuisance." — Oscar Wilde

"What do I think of Western civilization? I think it would be a very good idea." — Mahatma Gandhi

“He had just about enough intelligence to open his mouth when he wanted to eat, but certainly no more.” ― P.G. Wodehouse

"I do not want people to be very agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them a great deal." — Jane Austen

Re: When Insults Had Class

null@example.com (j p lundstrom) — Sun, 05 Nov 2017 21:03:41 +0000

Mark Twain on Jane Austen: "Every time I read Pride and Prejudice, I want to dig Jane Austen up and hit her over the skull with her own shin bone."

Re: When Insults Had Class

null@example.com (j p lundstrom) — Sun, 05 Nov 2017 21:00:39 +0000

Janet Taylor-Perry wrote:

"He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary."
-William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway)

Ernest Hemingway: "Poor Faulkner. He thinks big emotions come from big words."

Re: When Insults Had Class

null@example.com (Memphis Trace) — Sat, 04 Nov 2017 12:42:52 +0000

I vaguely recall a line from a review of a best-selling book. It went something like this, It has created a much-needed vacant slot in my ideal library.
Memphis Trace