Here's how this game works: The person who's "it" enters a quote
from a published work. It can be fiction, nonfiction, poetry,
anything. The challenge is to guess the author of the quote.
The first person to guess correctly is now "it" and gets to
give the next quote.

  If people are having trouble guessing your author, it's con-
sidered polite to give hints or offer up an additional quote from
the same author.

  When you offer a guess, it's nice if you can give the reasoning
behind the guess, even just to say that it's a "wild stab in the
dark", or something more substantive if you can. Part of the 
object of this exercise is to help people think about and learn
something about literature.

223 responses total.

Since there's no quote left over from the previous edition of Agora,
I'll start. Here's my quote:

        Fanny and Loo arrived this afternoon. Austin and Vinnie
        fetched them from the train. It is uncommon delight to
        have my little cousins close - if only for a few days.
        The are sweet and simple listeners. There was time today
        to explore the meadow - now denuded of crops - and feel
        the seasons changing. We talked until the dying light
        made us retreat. Both ends of day are frugal now. Gold
        view everywhere with scarlet - and in the confusion -
        Summer has surrendered. Where she stood is only chill -
        and one departing Daisy. Death puts on it's colors and
        masquerades as Life. Each ruddy leaf partakes of both -
        as we ourselves in a gentler hour. Advent is only
        prelude to departure. The leaves - knowing - grope for
        solace beneath my window to meet reviveless sleep.

Slight hint: The author is a deceased American.

Fitzgerald, F. Scott?

Faulkner, William?

Nor Fitz nor Faulk. But like F. Scott and William, this author is
generally considered to be one of the United States' greatest
literary figures.

I'll make a guess based on the association I have of the names in the
quote with a certain era:
        Might it be Sherwood Anderson?

        Hemingway?

Oh no!!! (a gasp before the item is forgotten :})

If you don't have anything nice to say, ...

Neither Sherwood Anderson nor Ernest Hemingway. The author is
earlier than any of the people guessed so far.

        Hawthorn?

Ok this is my stab in the drk guess. Alcott?

Not Hawthorne or Alcott. But like them, the author is 19th century.

        Henry James?

This item has been linked from winter agora 15 to books 47.

Not Henry James.

The quote above was not from a work of fiction. Here's another,
same author, also non-fiction:

        A day of culinary frustration! This morning I had
        just put Father's favorite pudding in the oven when
        called to the side door by a child looking for his
        lost pussy. I let my attention fix on his plight
        and took him to the barn - where there is much
        amusement for a cat! Our search was long but un-
        successful and when I returned the pudding was
        burned. Not wishing to disappoint Father, I made
        a second batch. Later I put potatoes on to boil but
        let the pan run dry while I took a respit from my
        watch. Some lines occurred and I had no pencil
        handy. I hurried to the conservatory but forgot to
        hurry back! Caution finally found me - and the rest
        of the dinner reached uneventful completion.

          Housewifery is wearisome - but Devotion shapes
        the task. As we all sat at table - so different in
        our longings and secret sorrows yet joined by
        Love's mysterious adhesive power - I thought again
        how holy a place is home. For though we share meals
        more easily than minds, in no other ground could my
        seeds take root. Here no man times my toil and I
        answer to none for it. Though I must do my part for
        the family's comforts, yet I have the freedom - and
        solitude - for my truest work - such as a wife
        would never know.

          There is safety in their familiar affection -
        demonstrated warily. To ask for understanding
        were - perhaps - ingratitude.

  Clarence Day   Bringing Up Father.

Oh! He meant a cat. Okay...

*nosetouch*

Not Clarence Day. Remember, the author is a major 19th century
American literary figure.

To review the quotes, type   only 1; only 15    at the next prompt.

Is the author a woman?

(ok here is my latest stab in the dark guess: Edith Wharton)

Jane Austen?  (Or was she British?)  There's a lot of domestic detail here.
The style is certainly 19th century, and the settings seem rural.  How
about George Eliot?

Not Wharton, Austen, or Eliot--the last two are British, and our
author is earlier than Wharton. But yes, the author is female, and
the setting is rural.

Remember, the quotes are *not* from a work of fiction--the author
is writing about events in her own life. In fact, she is not known
as a fiction writer. As far as I know, she never wrote any.

Laura Ingalls Wilder? 

I have enough info to guess with Dickinson. <:)

A *much* better guess than mine, I must say :) heh

Well, there is an interesting question here. The passages I have
been quoting from are from a work entitled _The Diary of Emily
Dickinson_, by Jamie Fuller, published in 1993. The prologue
states that this is a diary discovered in 1980. However, I
just inspected the jacket, which indicates that this is a work
of fiction based on what is known of the life of Emily Dickin-
son, cast in the form of a diary written by her. So what I had
been assuming were the writings of Dickinson are probably not.

   In any case, it certainly was meant to sound like Dickinson's
writing, and the hints I gave pointed to her, so I think it's
fair to say that Mr. Brown got it and should give the next
quote.

Before Brown posts the next quote I would like to know if remmers can find
something more obscure next time? <sheesh!> 

The current fad seems to be that modern novels pose as recently
discovered historic manuscripts.  Sometimes it's very difficult to
tell which is really which.  Extremely annoying!

h, I don't know.  I just read "Quentin Durward", written by Sir Walter Scott
about 100 years ago, and it was along those lines. 

>

Hmm... I wonder where that quote is from. >8) Welcome to Grex, sunit! It gets
easier. (tm)

Hmm, Mr. Brown hasn't logged in since entering his (sort of)
correct guess 5 days ago. I think that the next person who
feels so moved should just enter a new quote so that the game
can continue.

Okay, here's an easy one.
 
Ecce Eduardus Ursus scalis nunc tump-tump-tump occipite gradus pulsante post
Christophorum Robinum descendens. Est quod sciat unus et solus modus gradibus
descendendi, nonnunquam autem sentit, etiam alterum modum exstare, dummodo
pulsationibus desinere et de eo modo meditari possit. Deinde censet alios
modos non esse. En, nunc ipse in imo est, vobis ostentari paratus. Winnie ille
Pu.
 
(And for those who don't recognize it and think I'm cheating, this book was
on the New York Times bestseller list, which I reckon makes it legal).

here's an easy one.  "There is nothing on which it is so hard as poverty; and
there is nothing it professes to condemn with such severity as the pursuit
of wealth!

oops, someone slipped in ahead of me :)

The Latin-sounding one is from Winnie the Pooh, of course.  "Winnie ille Pu."

So the original is by A. A. Milne, and the translation is by Alexander Lenard.

oops tardy.....holidays ;) maybe i can get this one

help
(I'm trying to cancel this entry, but when I type ":help" it tells me, "Cold
Could not read file /u/janc/src/gate/gate.help.   So I guess I won't cancel
this and just blunder on.

Scott is right. The quote was from Winnie the Pooh. So, do we go with Redfox's
quote, or do we go with Scott's, since he got it right first?

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss