Litwit Lounge discussion

And then there is the creativity of making mention of a classic in more contemporary literature, or perhaps in a classic of another age.

Share your discoveries here! :-)

What to my delight than to discover a mention of Don Quixote in Cyrano de Bergerac. I'm only a quarter of the way through this play, and his pride has quickly become well-established (that in itself is a whole discussion). But this interchange after De Guiche has insulted him as a "drunken rhymester" still has me smiling a couple days later:

CYRANO (takes the sword from him, with a salute, dropping the hats at De Guiche's feet):
Sir, pray be good enough to render them back to your friends.

DE GUICHE (rising, sharply):
Order my porters and my chair at once!
(To Cyrano passionately):
As to you, sir!

VOICE (in the street):
Porters for my lord De Guiche!

DE GUICHE (who has controlled himself--smiling):
Have you read 'Don Quixote'?

CYRANO:
I have! And take my hat off to that crack-brained knight.

DE GUICHE:
You might re-read the chaper --

A PORTER (appearing at back):
My lord's chair!

DE GUICHE:
About the windmills.

CYRANO (bowing):
The thirteenth chapter.

DE GUICHE:
For when one tilts at windmills, it may chance. . .

CYRANO:
Do I fight those who turn with every breeze?

DE GUICHE:
. . .That windmills have long arms -- arms that can land you in the mud!

CYRANO:
Or lift you to the stars!

I laughed a bit, continued reading, erupted again after the previous passage, and had to go back for another scan and giggle. I'm referring to the mention of Swann's Way by the contemporary author, Alexander McCall Smith, in The Uncommon Appeal of Clouds:

He gestured for her to follow him... "The library," he said. "Rather a lot of unread books."

Her eyes went to the shelves that stretched up to within a few inches of the ceiling. All four walls were covered; piles of books stood here and there, teetering, vulnerable, she judged, to the slightest footfall. "But who doesn't have a lot of unread books? It's nice, though, just to know that they're there."

He picked up a book that had been placed on the edge of a nearby shelf. "I suspect you've read much more than I have. Scott. You know, I've only read one of his novels? Just one. Rob Roy."

"Scott was very prolix. You can't read everything. I've never got beyond the beginning of Proust. I love him, but I can't seem to get beyond about page three."

It goes on and our philosopher does inner musings about whether or not it's wrong to lie about how much you've read which I found even more amusing. For the record, I was only on P 11 of Swann's Way when I came across this mention.

Reggia wrote: "I laughed a bit, continued reading, erupted again after the previous passage, and had to go back for another scan and giggle. I'm referring to the mention of Swann's Way by the contem..."

That is funny.

There were some references of Proust and In Search of Lost Time in Foucault's Pendulum, which I don't think is unusual since this book is about time.

I think it was Goodreads that turned me on to reading/noticing books inside of books and making a Book Thread. I wonder what the longest book thread (if anyone ever keeps up with this kind of exploratory trip) people have done. That might be a really cool challenge.

Reggia wrote: "What to my delight than to discover a mention of Don Quixote in Cyrano de Bergerac. I'm only a quarter of the way through this play, and his pride has quickly become well-established (that in itsel..."

Love that!! I have just mapped out my Don Quijote de la Mancha read starting Jan 1. I will have to add that play to my list.

Do you read plays out loud? I wonder how many plays people read a year? I mean I suppose this is a think like poetry? Or is this just for "theater types".

Sorry, but I am illiterate, but I read a lot.

I haven't read them out loud myself... Cyrano went much faster than Don Quixote, lol, but I sure am glad I made the effort with the former as it is now an all-time favorite.

Cosmic wrote: "Do you read plays out loud? I wonder how many plays people read a year? I mean I suppose this is a think like poetry? Or is this just for "theater types"."

I don't and although not a theater-type, I feel it would be great fun! Now to find the local people who think the same...

While reading The Covenant of Water, there is a page wherein the family are listening to the son reading some passages from Moby Dick:

When he says, "Better to sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunk Christian," they burst out laughing. Big Ammachi is scandalized by the tale. [It goes on to talk about the book more, and how she went to see some of the pics in it and found 2 other family members pouring over the fantastical details leading to losing half his skin and almost dying from ant bites. She then calls out suggesting if it isn't all made up...] "It's entertaining. But isn't it one big lie?" Koshy's response is indignant. "It's fiction! Fiction is the great lie that tells the truth about how the world lives!"

Hmmm! Well, in a book I'm reading, Avenging Angels: Vengeance Trail (set in Kansas and Colorado in 1865), when the 16-year-old hero is about to depart on a dangerous quest, he gives a copy of John Keats' Poems to a girl with whom he's fallen in love, and quotes lines to her from a poem he marked. Would that count?

Absolutely!