Saw This In The Guardian

[PaulS]

couldn't agree more, but have a sad feeling that some year or so back he decided not to script any more F.W. - great shame....... as a indication of their success, British t.v. seems almost never to be without a repeat - but then British t.v. seems to show repeats of all the past great series, as new ones of this calibre are no longer.

[Mari1013]

It's fascinating to hear of the writing habits of the great. It humanizes them, I think, and allows us a peek into their world.

 

I had the distinct pleasure several years ago of visiting Charles Dickens's London home, now a museum at 48 Doughty St. in Bloomsbury (http://dickensmuseum.com). It was a rainy day and I was the sole visitor, free to wander about at my leisure. What a thrill! I still have the piece of paper on which I wrote a few words (not at all worthy of publication) using what I was told, by an indulgent docent, was one of his own quill pens -- which it looked old and beat-up enough to be.

 

And of course, we've heard of Shelby Foote using a dip pen with Esterbrook nibs to write his gigantic (in every way) Civil War trilogy -- and buying all the nibs he could get when told by his stationer that the company had ceased production. (This post tells more about it: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/171205-how-shelby-foote-wrote/)

 

Who would have guessed that Herman Melville wrote "Moby Dick" (and most of his best works) far from the sea, in a farmhouse that looked out on Mount Greylock in Western Massachusetts? (http://www.mobydick.org). The mountain looked to him, it is said, like a whale. (And if you love that whale of a tale as much as I do, you might enjoy hearing what they do with it in New Bedford, Mass., every year -- here's last year's account: https://www.whalingmuseum.org/programs/moby-dick-marathon-20th-anniversary-2016.)

 

One could spend an entire day reading such things, then dipping into the stories the themselves wrote.

[marcelo]

This is a fascinating thread, and I am a great fan of Horowitz's 'Foyle's War.'

Hi Bob (Bob, right?). Have you read other Horowitz's books?

[estie1948]

Hasn't Horowitz written a very well received James Bond novel and a Sherlock Homes novel?

 

-David (Estie).

[marcelo]

Hasn't Horowitz written a very well received James Bond novel and a Sherlock Homes novel?

 

-David (Estie).

I'm curious too. :-)

[PaulS]

the answer in both cases is yes. Believe he's now written two Holmes stories ........'The House of Silk' and more recently 'Moriaty'. The title of the Bond novel is 'Trigger Mortis' - so he's obviously a great fan of word play.

Speaking of the joy he gets from writing, the author says "I adore the scratch of a pen", and perhaps not quite so easily understood, he also says...

"without Holmes there would have been no Foyle" - surely those characters were very dissimilar?

Expect we're all very sorry to hear that his (probably very expensive) Caran d'Ache produces a scratching sound.................................. only joking, of course, am sure that even the smoothest nib when used in a silent environment will produce some sound as it traverses the page - possibly in fact the only sound heard in monasteries of silent orders was the quill scratching the vellum.

[rwilsonedn]

" ... possibly in fact the only sound heard in monasteries of silent orders was the quill scratching the vellum. "

And the sound of the correcting knife scraping away at said vellum. I suppose that had to carry the weight for a chain of expletives under the circumstances.

ron

[estie1948]

and perhaps not quite so easily understood, he also says...

"without Holmes there would have been no Foyle" - surely those characters were very dissimilar?

 

First, thank you very much for the information you have given concerning the Holmes and Bond books. As to the quote: "without Holmes there would have been no Foyle"; I believe he is referring to the fact that had the Holmes stories not been written, the whole genre containing the great detectives might not exist. It seems to me that I have read other authors who made similar statements that their detectives would not have existed had it not been for Doyle's Holmes. I believe that Doyle came to hate his Holmes character. I could be wrong about all of this, of course. It pains me to admit it, but I have been wrong before.

 

-David (Estie).

[PaulS]

you could well be correct David with your rationale for the author's linking these two characters - all that is needed sometimes is the germ of an idea to form the beginning of a long-lived fashion. Here in the U.K. many of us are waiting with great anticipation for the next new serialization of Holmes' adventures, with Cumberbatch in the title role - these things can become very addictive - especially when there's a dearth of quality tv.

 

quote from David ................................. "It pains me to admit it, but I have been wrong before." ................ remember always - people who don't make mistakes often don't make anything".

[bobje]

Marcelo, I have not read his other books, but shall!

[Pickwick]

First, thank you very much for the information you have given concerning the Holmes and Bond books. As to the quote: "without Holmes there would have been no Foyle"; I believe he is referring to the fact that had the Holmes stories not been written, the whole genre containing the great detectives might not exist. It seems to me that I have read other authors who made similar statements that their detectives would not have existed had it not been for Doyle's Holmes. I believe that Doyle came to hate his Holmes character. I could be wrong about all of this, of course. It pains me to admit it, but I have been wrong before.

 

-David (Estie).

 

Doyle never came to hate his character Holmes, he just got tired of writing about him. If you enjoy reading these stories you can find out what happened to Holmes in, "The final Problem", published in 1893.

[marcelo]

Marcelo, I have not read his other books, but shall!

Thanks. 😉

[sandy101]

I've read Hotowitz's Bond book - Trigger Morits and it is rather good. It is no better, an dno worse than Iain Flemings books. So if you like Iain Fleming (and I do) then you are in for a treat - if not, well, this is probably not for you.

 

Talking about Tom Stoppard - here's an article from Vanity Fair where it mentions Stoppard's quill and Caran D'Ache.

 

 

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2014/10/tom-stoppard-the-real-thing

[Astronymus]

In Polish a fountain pen is called "pióro wieczne", what means "eternal feather", while the word "stalówka" (something little and made of steel) is our name for a nib.

Eternal feather. I like it! :-)

Sounds poetic.

 

Germany is called the Land of the Poets and Thinkers. Yet when it comes to technology we are quite prosaic. "Füllfeder" just mean "feather that can be filled." The longer version "Füllfederhalter" just means "Holder for a feather that can be filled." Where the short term "Füller" just means "Filling thing".

Pathetic.

[praxim]

Unpoetic but at least it makes more sense than a pen qualified as an ornamental structure in a pool or lake from which one or more jets of water are pumped into the air.

[Astronymus]

Also true.