Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with literature

The Origin of the Matrix

madmamasmith — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 00:30:53 -0800

Origin of the Matrix relating to a Science Fictional setting... I am reading Neuromancer by William Gibson and the main character mentions "the matrix", as something he "jacks in to". Now this is my first foray into sci-fi and I am only about 20 pages in but I was wondering where the term originated. Did The Matrix movie steal this term and its meaning from Gibson or was it already being used in previous sci-fi works? I have only ever heard it used in a sci-fi context so that's why I;m wondering. I'm admitting my lack of knowledge in this area, so please don't make me feel like a ding dong if the answer to this question is blindingly obvious to you! Also, while on the topic of Sci-fi, the last book I read in the genre was Ender's Game in junior high and I loved it, so please suggest any sci-fi reads I should check out.

Looking for a seaworthy gift for my dad.

synecdoche — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 17:41:18 -0800

Book-recommendation-filter: help me choose a book to get for my dad for Christmas. I'm hoping somebody can recommend a book for my dad for Christmas. Growing up, I remember him reading mostly books about naval warfare (he is a former merchant seaman), World War I and II, and British Cold War spy novels. He loves anything to do with ships; his favourite movie is The Cruel Sea and he is a fan of Monsarrat's novels as well, including The Master Mariner. He also LOVES documentaries like Victory at Sea and more modern ones about naval warfare, especially in World War I and II. He's also expressed a fondness for Frederick Forsyth (especially The Shepherd). Lately, however, he's also enjoyed Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men and The Road.

I had originally thought about getting him either Blood Meridian or All the Pretty Horses but I don't think he'd enjoy those as much as the McCarthy he has read. Blood Meridian is too abstract and possibly too violent, and All the Pretty Horses might be too much of a Western and maybe, for lack of a better phrase, too "American." (My dad's Irish.) As much as I love it, I don't think Moby-Dick would be up his alley either, in spite of the nautical material.

Any ideas for books I should consider? I guess it needn't necessarily be a book—interesting DVDs would work, too, but this is a supplement to another main gift so I'm hoping to keep it fairly inexpensive.

Good translations of Zhuangzi?

Arturus — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:38:48 -0800

I'm interested in getting a print copy of Zhuangzi to read. What's a good translation or edition?

How do I learn a LOT about beer in a short amount of time?

macrowave — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:56:10 -0800

I need links to interesting websites and enjoyable books about the history of and current practices of beer making and beer tasting. I start a new bartending job soon, and I may have scored it by pretending to know more than I really do about brew. I currently work at a bar, and have had extensive service industry experience, but the new job involves a super extensive list of bottles from around the world and a changing lineup of relatively unusual drafts. We've been warned that brewers and booze snobs will be among our regulars and that we all need to brush up on our factoids if we're going to really pull through as staff members. I'm in Chicago, so if you are too, think HopLeaf restaurant (it's not there, but I'd rather not give away my identity/location cuz I don't wanna be haggled!).

I'm hoping to start with fun to read literature. Something along the lines of "Salt-A World History" but about beer. I know that there are tons of guides out there, and that this question is highly google-able, but I'm hoping for suggestions that you have personally read, enjoyed, and been enlightened by. I know too that they key is TASTING all of these beers, but I need to know more about what I'm tasting and how to describe it. I need to be a beer nerd starting tomorrow! And yes, I already love and enjoy beer, that's not a problem. I'm just a bit of a n00b when it comes to critical analysis and meaningful beer-related chitchat. Help!

"Bible Fan Fiction", maybe?

EmpressCallipygos — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:17:12 -0800

Seeking either a) a specific name for the literary genre best described as "literature based on or inspired by Bible stories", or b) EXAMPLES of major works of literature based on or inspired by Bible stories. This is for a short article I'm writing to accompany a production of a play based on Mark Twain's "The Diaries of Adam and Eve". The client asked for an article "about other works that have been based on Bible stories like that", and said that he didn't remember what the name of that genre of work was. I don't know that there is one, but if there is, what is it?

Because that would help me in my Google-fu -- unfortunately, though, trying to find a list of works based on Bible stories is turning up a lot of links to "Bible Stories retold for kids" kinds of sites. So if there is no name for that genre, I'll also take examples of that genre.

The works I DO know about, and plan on writing about, are:

* John Milton's PARADISE LOST
* Neil Gaiman's use of Cain and Abel in the SANDMAN series
* The Jewish tradition of Midrash
* Maybe the Narnia chronicles (it's a stretch, and I will clarify it as thus)
* The Canon itself, and some of the Gnostic gospels
* Arthur C. Clarke's THE STAR

Any others? Nothing that esoteric, please -- this is going to be a short article! Thanks.

Curse you, 70s stoner!

le morte de bea arthur — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 02:15:37 -0800

Oh, Inverted World! Where did your pages go (help me find them)? I found a battered first edition paperback of Christopher Priest's novel 'The Inverted World' at a charity book stall last week, and so far it's been a very enjoyable read. I almost don't want to get to the end and find out what the heck is going on.

Imagine my horror, then, on finding (or rather not finding) two missing pages at the end of Part One of the book!

If you own this book, and could give me a quick summary of the last 3 or 4 pages of Part One of the book, that would be really grand.

What is this poem about servants to the rich and drunk?

Dojie — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 08:19:25 -0800

Poemfilter: Trying to remember a poem I memorized at the last second and almost instantly forgot for an assignment in 10th grade. In my fuzzy recollection, it was about some servants going about their morning routine while their Gatsbyesque employers slept it off. I remember thinking at the time that the hangover theme made it a rather odd choice for a high school English textbook. The opening lines were something along the lines of:

Having come in late and crashed the car door on the front gate,
Their young masters would not, they supposed, be coming down.

I thought for ages that it was Robert Lowell, but it doesn't appear to be one of his. I'm fairly certain the author's name was similar though - maybe Robert or Richard something.

Late Antiquity goes to the movies (and the bookstore).

hydatius — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 05:46:19 -0800

I'm interested in contemporary books (and films) that are set in the Mediterranean/European region between AD300 and AD800 (approximately, of course). Any suggestions? I already know of (for books) Gore Vidal's Julian, Gary Jennings' Raptor, sections of Iain Pears' Dream of Scipio, and (slightly out of the range) Carvalho's God Strolling...For films, I already know of Cornel Wilde's biopic of Constantine, and the more recent Last Legion, Tristan + Isolde, the forthcoming Agora, and also the ever-so slightly later various iterations of the Beowulf story (13th Warrior; Beowulf & Grendel; Beowulf; Outlander). For a bonus point, if anyone knows where I can find a copy of the Italian film of Rutilius Namatianus' 'De Reditu Suo', I'm, like, in your debt forever.

Accentuate the positive?

dlugoczaj — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:22:16 -0800

Does "utopia" exist in modern/contemporary fiction? I was chatting with a friend about a potential college seminar about dystopian literature. Both of us rattled off numerous examples of books and movies with wide-ranging dystopian concepts (i.e., postapocalyptic, disease/medical, fascistic government, media domination, etc.)--each of us with plenty of things that the other one hadn't heard of. As we were doing so, I started to wonder: are there contemporary utopian visions? Does that even still exist, or are we so jaded that all we can see is the negative?

I asked my friend and he couldn't think of anything. The only thing that occurred to me was Piercy's Woman on the Edge of Time, which was partially dystopian but at least had a competing utopian concept (kind of dated but still interesting). Is there anything else? I'd be willing to accept utopias within the 20th century (around the time of Brave New World or 1984 and beyond, up to the present).

Sources for good cheap learning literature?

jwells — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 06:19:40 -0800

What sources exist for good cheap learning literature? I'm thinking of things like AMSOIL's oil case studies and the Chelsea Milling/Jiffy Mix recipe book. Preferably non-digital, and any language is okay. I'm basically looking for the stuff that bypasses "marketing material" and ends up being a good resource. I remember being able to write away for stuff like this in the back of comic books as a kid but don't see much like that anymore, though I'm not reading comic books anymore either.

Can you recommend a good book about the WPA artists program, or a great book that came out of the Federal Writers' Program?

Anonymous — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:29:02 -0800

Can you recommend a good book about the WPA artists program, or a great book that came out of the Federal Writers' Program? Bonus points if you know of a fictional story that uses it as the main theme. Recently my girlfriend and I spent some time going through the 1934: A New Deal for Artists exhibition at the American Art Museum in Washington. We both enjoyed it, and I plan on getting her the Smithsonian-produced art book for Christmas, but I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions on a historical book that looks at the WPA program itself, not necessarily what came out of it. A book discussing the rational, highlighting struggling artists, why it was important to fund the work, implementation of the program, etc.

She doesn't really read non-fiction (unlike me, who only reads non-fiction), so a fictional look at the WPA artists program would be amazing. I figure that probably doesn't exist, so recommend whatever you may have.

Also, if you know of a great book from the Federal Writers' Program, which was the same basic program but for authors, I'd love suggestions from that as well. I'm more inclined to give her a fiction book that came out of that program than a non-fiction book about WPA art.

(anon because it's a Christmas gift and my username is, in hindsight, far too obvious.)

Did she imagine this book?

BusyBusyBusy — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:44:18 -0800

[Obscure book filter] Anyone remember a book about a grandfather hired to make a notebook to teach someone's daughter about the world, but he secretly makes two copies? My sister remembers a book from her childhood. A grandfather is hired to make a notebook or book or computer (she can't remember) for a little girl to teach her about the world. He makes an extra copy to give to his granddaughter.

I know this is vague, but we've tried looking on Google and can't find anything. She insists it exists.

Any ideas?

Tell me your memorable, exciting learning experiences!

Cygnet — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:10:31 -0800

What are the most fun, memorable, interesting, exciting, and long-lasting learning experiences you have had? I'm talking about academic-type learning here, not "life learning", though I realize that sometimes the two are intertwined. I'm interested in things you did that made a subject, era in history, scientific principle, work of literature, or whatever come alive. The opposite of dry, textbook learning and cramming for tests. Engaging, open-ended, low-pressure, and, most of all, deeply memorable - the kind of learning that really gives you a lasting fondness for the subject.

Examples of the kind of thing I mean:
1. When I was 13 I toured the Castle of Edinburgh, and they had a fantastic audio tour that made me fall in love with the dark and mysterious history of the castle - and the whole region.
2. In high school, I took a European History class that put on a Greek Olympics (complete with Greek drama and hand-made masks, home-made Greek food, sporting events, traditional offerings to the Gods), a Welsh Eisteddfod (poetry, daffodils, Welsh music), and a Sienese Palio (with teams, bribing of the judges, sonnets for each mascot, traditional food, Italian art and architecture), and a Victorian Tea (with Oscar Wilde skits, appropriate outfits and food, Gilbert and Sullivan, and appropriate social and political discussions for the era). Totally memorable.
3. As a kid, I had the magnificent Classical Kids tapes, which introduced music history and the greatest works in story-form, with amazingly good quality acting and musicianship.
4. Carl Sagan's "Cosmos" videos, and Lawrence Blair's "Ring of Fire" videos - informative, beautiful, and memorable.

What other things, places, and experiences would you suggest? I'm interested in pretty much anything, but bonus points for things that are possible for me, a not-so-wealthy female graduate student (in the sciences) in Boston, to do without heroic measures. Even more bonus points if friends could participate in said learning.

Boy, That's One Expensive Powder Room...

amicamentis — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:09:24 -0800

What are some common euphemisms in older literature? I'm reading Breakfast at Tiffany's right now and noticed how"money for the powder room" is used as a polite way to say that she is accepting money to be a man's companion for the evening. What other phrases like this have been used to dance around an unseemly topic?

Phrases like "lived together as man and wife", for example, or other such constructions that those reading it would know what was being implied. Are there any that are now so archaic that a modern reader wouldn't understand the reference? Not innuendo, per se, but a lighter version of the truth.

Help me identify this story.

uans — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:29:36 -0800

Please help me remember the title and author of a short story I read maybe 15 years ago. A handicapped woman, living with her sister and her sister's family, sees a man in church she feels quite sure is the devil. In order to get away from him, she struggles to regain the physical independence she had given up. (She had gone into a wheelchair because walking was possible, but too painful.) She does manage to become self-sufficient enough to move out on her own--and then wonders if it was worth it, after all. I am almost sure the author was Italian. Can anyone help?

So many great options, why can I pick one?

BusyBusyBusy — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 13:43:47 -0800

[Overly broad project topic filter] Works of fiction or scholarly articles on American places? Help me find a work about or set in an American place that was written at the time. In a class I am taking this semester, we have been assigned a final project. We are supposed to examine a creative work (novel, poem, painting, scholarly article, movie, or even a blog) in terms of how it describes the character of an American place.

In class so far we have discussed
Tales of the City (Los Angeles in the 1970s),
Winnesburg, OH (for the Midwest),
Home to Harlem (for Harlem in the Jazz age) and
Sunset Blvd (for Hollywood in the 1940s).

For the final project we are supposed to do something similar. Pick a work, and analyze how it describes the setting in order to determine the "Americaness" of the place. It doesn't matter if we argue if its American or Un-American. Preferably created at the time it depicts. The problem for me is there are soooo many possibilities. But I can't seem to find one I'm interested in. It's like I have a mental block there, so I'm turning to you MeFites.

What is a great work that you love that is set in an American place? Anything interesting from any American time period. Please give me the best and most interesting works you can find. Extra points for things that aren't movies. I am bad at writing about movies.

Options I have considered (but am not thrilled about): A Christmas Story for 1940's midwest. Farewell to Manzanar for Japanese internment in during WW2.

Poem about/by/to a namesake

aeschenkarnos — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:55:05 -0800

Seeking a poem that relies on the concept of namesaking (ie being named after another person). Maybe in its subject matter, or is by the poet to his/her namesake. It's for my sister, whose daughter is named after our grandmother, to use in a present for our grandmother, so Willa Cather's "The Namesake" is entirely inappropriate (being about a boy soldier!). Could also be a song, or short prose. Ideally a classic poem, ie out of copyright or if not, by someone relatively famous for their poetry. Any ideas?

How can I rate abstracts for relevance and quality?

Herkimer — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:03:26 -0800

I'm looking for ways to rate abstracts for relevance and quality so that I can filter out the best ones. I'm going to be doing a very large literature review. In preparation I need to set up a rules-based system for filtering through, or triaging, the abstracts I retrieve, in order to select a subset (those articles I'll actually retrieve and read). Ideally this system will allow me to rate abstracts for quality and/or how well they match the topic of concern. (This is all work-related, so I can't be more specific, but the topic is generally in the social sciences.) There might have to be some qualitative or subjective aspect to this ratings system, but there are a lot of ways to rate abstracts more objectively as well (breadth of study population, number of search keywords "hit", etc.).

I'm not formally trained in information science, but I suspect such systems have already been created and used, and I don't want to reinvent the wheel. I know there are specialists in information science here that might be able to keep me from doing so. Could you point me to projects where something similar has been done, or places where such systems have been reviewed, described, or codified? Can you suggest any other resources that might be of use?

If it matters, I think I will have around one or two thousand abstracts to filter through.

Help me understand war criminals!

hasna — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:21:27 -0800

Which books help me get into the psyche of war criminals, suicide bombers, etc? I am currently looking for books that reveal the offender's inner motives, perspective, or mindset about their crimes, and the context in which they committed them. Not ones that simply justify the crimes, but explore the human side of the offenders.

I'm specifically interested in books about events in the past century: Rwanda, Palestine, Iraq, the Holocaust... although any outstanding books dating further back in history are welcome, too. And I'd prefer if they weren't overly heavy with advanced psych vocabulary - those meant for the layperson are preferred.

I currently have "The Road to Martyr's Square" and "Machete Season: The Killers in Rwanda Speak", so any along those lines, either biography, autobiography, or historical fiction.

Thanks!

Will trade literature for science?

Diagonalize — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 09:35:36 -0800

Which books can a physicist and a liberal arts type trade to gain a deeper appreciation of literature and science, respectively? Ideally, these would be books we could both read and enjoy. When we met, he was working on his PhD in particle theory and I was studying English literature. Worlds collide, sparks fly, and some four years later, he's Mr. Doctor McPhysics and I'm Little Miss Publishing-Noob. We're still happily together, but I still don't “get” science as much as I'd like, and I'd really like to find some great works of literature that he could enjoy too.

I didn't really take any hard science or math in college, and the science education in my high school was abysmal, so my education is rather lopsided. I have the basics and the odd bits and pieces I've picked up over the years (usually high-level physics), so I'd really love to find some really good, non-technical science books to supplement my unsteady diet of sci fi novels and pop sci articles.

As for Mr. Doctor McP, thanks to philosopher parents, he grew up much better read than many people I know now, but given that he spends the majority of his time slogging through academic papers, when he picks up a novel, he tends to gravitate to the lighter side of things (Harry Potter, His Dark Materials, etc.). That is totally understandable and swell (I loved those series too!), but I'd also love to share a bit more of the adult literary world with him.

Please hope me with this meeting of minds!

Where can I publish old literary crit essays that are burning a hole in my pocket?

duncecap — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 20:59:13 -0800

Where can I publish some old literary crit essays that are burning a hole in my pocket? I was an English minor in college and have no advanced degree to back up my stuff, but a professor who I respected highly remarked at the time that I ought to hang on to the work b/c they were graduate level pieces. I guess he presumed I might go for an MA, but I never made it that far and now feel like the essays have just been wasting away in storage.

Is it possible to get these published somewhere? Moreover, how stupid is it of me to think that I can write new critical essays on other works, on my own, with only a Bachelor's? Please bear with my ignorance. I love critical essay writing and could do it all day long for fun; it would be nice to find a market for such an activity but know almost nothing about the world of academic journals.

Innovative Book Designs

0bvious — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 04:37:46 -0800

Innovative Books: I am looking to compile a list of the most innovative uses of the book format. Books that break the mould in their layout and design, perhaps books that use online systems to extend their content value or push their form into new places. I am most interested in narrative and theory, but any book that is interesting (artist books etc.) would be really appreciated. I have a few examples, in order of publication, to set the ball rolling:

Compendium for literates : a system of writing by Karl Gerstner - A book about book form in an innovative form. Beautiful and still fresh

Dictionary of the Khazars: a lexicon novel in 100,000 words by Pavic - a 'dictionary novel' "written in two versions, male and female, which are identical save for seventeen crucial lines"

A Humument: A Treated Victorian Novel by Tom Philips - an artist who has used one particular edition of one particular book as a space for his work for many years

The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet by Reif Larson - extended use of footnote, side-note and illustration to give the narrative dimension

I would love any ideas you have!

Recommend a sequence of novels leading from action trash to literary treasure

hifimofo — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:21:50 -0800

I am looking for recommendations for a sequence of novels that might lead an adult fan of very trashy action to the real gold. The sequence needs to start at Matthew Reilly's Temple and I don't know where it would end. It doesn't have to make it to Ulysses or Gravity's Rainbow^* but if you think you could plot such a path then go for it. If you want to specify what each step gains/loses I'd love to see that, too.

Take as many steps as you like. Given that people's tastes tend to change slowly more steps might be better.

You don't have to stick to the action genre, but please no horror. Sci-fi is okay, but the reader in question is not a big fan of it.

Thanks

(I'm secretly hoping we are going to witness the birth pangs of a giant flowchart of readerly goodness.)

^*Insert actual pinnacle of literature here.

Books about conspiracy.

ms.codex — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 21:25:56 -0800

[Englishmajors-filter]: Looking for works of literature that deal with conspiracy, real or imagined. I'm putting together a list of literary works that take paranoia, persecution, and conspiracy as central themes. Some examples: 1984, The Crying of Lot 49, Foucault's Pendulum. Can you think of more? (No Dan Brown, please!) I can think of lots of novels but I'm also looking for short stories, plays (or movies), and poetry. I'm especially interested in works written before the 20th century.

A Concise Breakdown of American Literature

boots77 — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 05:48:32 -0800

I'm looking for a list of American Literary Time Periods along with the essential works for each time period (all genres)? Define the time period, if possible, with a list of qualities which embody the literary essence of that time period, both in content and style. Extra credit for other source to accompany your answers. Thanks all.