Curiosities of Literature - Hardcover

Sutherland, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1602393710 ISBN 13: 9781602393714

Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing, 2009

Synopsis

When did cigarettes start making an appearance in English literature? Which author's heart was purportedly eaten by a cat? One of our best-known and best-loved literary critics turns his attention to the more bizarre areas of literature in this miscellany of fact and trivia. Which author had the heaviest brain? What was the original title of 1984? Who made the first bouillon soup? What do 12 percent of all winners of the Booker Prize have in common? What didn't happen on Thomas Carlyle's famous wedding night? And, while we're at it, who wrote the first Western, and is there any link between asthma and literary genius? Sutherland's irreverent literary masterpiece illuminates every topic imaginable from author advances to Civil War literature to Victorian sex to odd things eaten by literary characters (think Patrick Bateman's girlfriend in American Psycho). Other fascinating insights include the fact that the number one title among American Civil War soldiers was Les Miserables. This is the ideal anthology of fascinating information and trivia for all book lovers.

About this title

Review:

A thoroughly engaging compendium of literary arcadia. . . . Highly recommended. (Nicholas Basbanes, author of A Gentle Madness)

Book Description:

One of our foremost critics tours some of the more arcane byways of literature

About this edition

• Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1602393710
• ISBN 13: 9781602393714
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 288