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Grex > Books > #79: The Mysterious Quote - Winter 1999 Edition | |
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remmers
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The Mysterious Quote - Winter 1999 Edition
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Jan 6 00:29 UTC 1999 |
This is the winter edition of a Grex game that has been running for many
seasons now.
It works like this: Whoever is "up" posts a published quote. The object
is to guess the author. The first person to guess correctly gets to give
the next quote.
If you're up and people are having trouble, it's considered good form to
give hints and/or another quote by the same author.
If you're guessing, please guess one author at a time (that is, no
scattergun guessing by one person). If you're told that your guess is
wrong, then you're free to guess a different author.
Your quotes can be easy or hard, but the authors should be people that
at least some Grexers are apt to have heard of.
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| 195 responses total. |
remmers
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response 1 of 195:
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Jan 6 00:30 UTC 1999 |
There's a challenge left over from the fall edition of this item.
Simon Jones (sjones) entered the following two quotes:
Quote #1:
'And now there was an end of path or road. More than ever the camel
seemed insensibly driven; it lengthened and quickened its pace, its head
pointed straight towards the horizon; through the wide nostrils it drank
the wind in great draughts. The litter swayed, and rose and fell like a
boat in the waves. Dried leaves in occasional beds rustled underfoot.
Sometimes a perfume like absinthe sweetened all the air. Lark and chat
and rock-swallow leaped to wing, and white partridges ran whistling and
clucking out of the way. More rarely a fox or hyena quickened his
gallop, to study the intruders at a safe distance. Off to the right
rose the hills of the Jebel, the pearl-grey veil resting upon them
changing momentarily into a purple which the sun would make matchless a
little later. Over their highest peaks a vulture sailed on broad wings
into widening circles. But of all these things the tenant under the
green tent saw nothing, or at least, made no sign of recognition. His
eyes were fixed and dreamy. The going of the man, like that of the
animal, was as one being led.'
Quote #2:
'Let us add now, the world - always cunning enough of itself; always
whispering to the weak, Stay, take thine ease; always presenting the
sunny side of life - the world was in this instance helped by (his)
companion.
"Were you ever at Rome?" he asked.
"No," Esther replied.
"Would you like to go?"
"I think not."
"Why?"
"I am afraid of Rome," she answered with a perceptible tremor of
the voice.
He looked at her then - or rather down upon her, for at his side she
appeared little more than a child. In the dim light he could not see
her face distinctly; even the form was shadowy. But again he was
reminded of Tirzah, and a sudden tenderness fell upon him - just so the
lost sister stood with him on the house-top the calamitous morning of
the accident to Gratus. Poor Tirzah! Where was she now? Esther had
the benefit of the feeling evoked. If not his sister, he could never
look upon her as his servant; and that she was his servant in fact would
make him always the more considerate and gentle towards her.'
We've learned that the author is American, that the film version of the
work is probably much better known than the work itself, and that the
work has been described as a "genuine American folk possession.
The last guess entered was by Larry Kestenbaum (polygon). He guessed
Booth Tarkington. So far Simon hasn't responded.
Simon was away for a while, but I believe he's back now, so the guessing
can resume.
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rcurl
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response 2 of 195:
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Jan 6 07:21 UTC 1999 |
agora item 53 has been linked to books 79.
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senna
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response 3 of 195:
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Jan 6 20:30 UTC 1999 |
uh... Paul Coelho?
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polygon
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response 4 of 195:
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Jan 6 21:27 UTC 1999 |
Salmon Rushdie?
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polygon
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response 5 of 195:
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Jan 6 21:28 UTC 1999 |
Oops, cancel that -- I didn't realize that I still had a guess outstanding.
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sjones
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response 6 of 195:
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Jan 7 22:48 UTC 1999 |
sorry, sorry - start of term's v. busy! i'm afraid it's no to everyone
suggested so far, including salmon rushdie - i figure it's my fault you
had a guess outstanding!
thanks very much for getting this rolling again, john! appreciate it...
um - this seems to be even trickier than i thought it would be, and i
don't know booth tarkington or paul coelho, so i can't say much about
where you're going wrong. mr rushdie, on the other hand, is far too
much still alive - which reminds me that i read a critic somewhere who
said that the fatwa was outrageous, but that he would sypmathise with
anyone who wanted to shoot rushdie on the grounds of literary style...)
so, it's back a good hundred years from rushdie. er... let's try
another quote, which i hope won't make it *too* immediately obvious...
'There was a peculiarity, however, which could not have failed the
notice of a looker-on this night in Antioch. Nearly everybody wore the
colours of one or other of the charioteers announced for the morrow's
race. Sometimes it was in form of a scarf, sometimes a badge; often a
ribbon or a feather. Whatever the form it signified merely the wearer's
partiality; thus, green published a friend of Cleanthes the Athenian,
and black an adherent of the Byzantine. This was according to a custom,
old probably as the day of the race of Orestes - a custom, by the way
worthy of study, as a marvel of history, illustrative of the absurd yet
appalling extremities to which men frequently suffer their follies to
drag them.'
this quote is dealing by reference with a central aspect of the novel as
a whole, certainly as regards the plot, and the film adaptation...
pob lwc, as we say in wales...
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gjharb
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response 7 of 195:
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Jan 8 02:59 UTC 1999 |
Ben Hur by Lew Wallace?
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sjones
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response 8 of 195:
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Jan 8 08:50 UTC 1999 |
sighs of relief and congratulation! ben hur it is, so well done and
you're up, gjharb... i presume it was the charioteering that gave it to
you?
and hey, remmers, what *was* your original guess?...)
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