Lit Trivia

"The poetry you read has been written for you, each of you—black, white, Hispanic, man, woman, gay, straight."

We have all heard the intriguing stories about fearless artists, glamorous expats and beautiful socialites gathering in cafes, bars, restaurants, mostly European, Parisian, to be more precise.

A boy, “desperate with hunger, and reckless with misery”, rises from the dining table. He fears that such an act might be an example of inconsiderate rudeness yet, he dares to utter probably the most famous sentence in the history of literature. ‘Please, sir, I want some more.’

For centuries, The Bard’s plays have been beguiling us with shadings of emotion and countless twists of fate. The bravery of his heroes is inspiring, and the courage of his heroines is touching.

For Henry Fielding, “love and scandal are best sweeteners of tea”. However, these days, upon ordering a cup of tea, you would get a cup of boiled water and a tea bag lying next to it. Only if you are lucky enough, a cookie or some other sweetener would be there, too.

'Vain trifles as they seem, clothes have, they say, more important offices than to merely keep us warm. They change our view of the world and the world's view of us.' - Virginia Woolf

Vladimir Nabokov had synesthesia, a harmless neurological condition which causes mixing of sense. His writings are famous for descriptions in which sounds, shapes and colors are intermingled in order to form a powerful sensual effect.