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13:12
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Q: How to understand the ending of the poem "An Old Woman" by Arun Kolatkar

Peter ShorThe poem An Old Woman, by Arun Kolatkar, from his collection Jejuri, starts out quite straightforwardly. You are looking around the pilgrimage town of Jejuri, and are approached by an old woman who offers to take you to the horseshoe shrine for a fifty paise coin. But you've already seen the hors...

04:10
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Q: Looking for a horror book I read 20+ years ago

Kevin PI'm looking for a book I read part of years ago. From what I can remember it was a horror or supernatural thriller about mobsters being killed by some supernatural force. IIRC there was a stripper named Ruthie Jerome or something similar, and at one point a car filled with water on dry land and t...

Fri 16:49
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Q: Characters are unable to escape their script because it is inevitable

SlowMagicWhat is the term for the literary device in which the characters are unable to escape the script, no matter what they do? The characters themselves may or may not be aware of the script (i.e., dramatic irony), but the script is definitely known to the audience. It feels inevitable or pre-ordaine...

Thu 23:08
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Q: Story that taught cryptography in the form of a manga

KrishThere was this one book I read when I was four years younger, in elementary school, so I don't recall much. However, I remember it taught cryptography bit-by-bit, and there were a few characters. One of them was teaching the other(s)? I distinctly remember this one scene where they were ordering ...

Jul 19 05:00
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Q: Character who gets sued for defamation for getting lawyer's help

oymonkI'm trying to remember a book in which the character has some problem with another person. He gets approached by a lawyer and decides to take up the lawyer's help. Then, he receives a notice that by asking for the lawyer's help, he's engaged in libel or defamation of the person who was initiall...

Jul 18 10:38
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Q: In Brideshead Revisited, why does Lord Marchmain take against Beryl but not Charles?

Matt ThrowerMajor spoilers for Evelyn Waugh's novel Brideshead Revisited follow. At the conclusion of the novel, Lord Marchmain makes clear his disdain for his eldest son's fiancée, Beryl. He casts her as a vulgar, middle class social climber and much is made of the fact she is past child beating age. As a r...

Jul 18 05:02
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Q: Looking for a manwha or manhua

AmazonI think the story begins with the (crown prince or king) talking to the fl and ml about the problem that they need to be engaged( they love each other).I think they got engaged, the problem is the family of the fl is really bad and everything will damage de ml family. The female lead controls fir...

Jul 16 15:15
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Q: “What is the best audiobook version of Brad Thor's Edge of Honor and why?”

Recommended AudiobooksJust curious the versions of this book that have been listened to and what version people ended up using as I am about to embark and would love a great experience.

Jul 15 10:47
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Q: Blustrug vs Struldbrugg in Gulliver's Travels

verboseIn Book I of Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, the eponymous narrator mentions a Lilliputian measure of distance called a Blustrug. He describes an extent of five thousand Blustrugs as being "about twelve miles in circumference" (p. 29). This would make a Blustrug somewhere around 4 meters lon...

Jul 13 02:27
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Q: 80s-90s? Female spy has to tolerate being molested on a subway car

NJohnnyRecalling what I am pretty sure was an espionage story (or maybe hitmen) Pretty sure I read it in the 80s or 90s. Female spy is riding in a subway train car, she is riding standing up. She is either: Waiting for a handoff of some important info (someone brushing by her will slip it in her purse ...

Jul 12 11:00
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Q: As of 2025, what is the "best" translation of Franz Kafka's The Castle?

TomI am looking for the "best" translation of Kafka's The Castle. I put "best" in quotations because this is a matter of personal preference. People have said that you can bring Kafka closer to the English reader or bring the English reader closer to Kafka. In other words, a translator can be more l...

Jul 10 01:45
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Q: Would the letters between Vincent and Arthur pass the mail censors in WWI era France?

verboseIn Philippe Besson's In the Absence of Men, set during the First World War, the teenaged Vincent begins a passionate affair with Arthur, a soldier on leave. When Arthur returns to the front, the two exchange letters that make their sexual relationship quite evident. For example, Vincent writes to...

Jul 9 11:52
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Q: The Phoenician Scheme film music

WolfWhat is the name of the melody at the very end of the film The Phoenician Scheme? It is not listed on the soundtrack pages (e.g. imdb, etc).

Jul 9 01:14
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Q: Why does Marcel say inversion is a crime?

verboseIn Philippe Besson's In the Absence of Men, Vincent writes letters to the much older Marcel confessing his love for Arthur. Marcel writes back, generally supportive but advising caution: Firstly, remember that inversion—since it is thus we must name what you have come to know—inversion is still ...

Jul 8 15:28
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Q: Who is the author of the short piece on style, "In promulgating your esoteric cogitation..."

DrMoishe PippikThere is a short humorous "essay" on style, quoted in part below, which according to A Way With Words has been in print since at least 1875. That piece was a favorite of my uncle, and I've referenced it a few times, but cannot attribute an author. Is there any record or indication of the original...

Jul 8 05:39
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Q: How has Vincent never talked to his governess?

verboseIn Philippe Besson's In the Absence of Men, sixteen year old Vincent falls in love with Albert, whom he describes as follows: You are Blanche's son. I have known you forever. I do not know you at all. You are the governess's boy. I know your name, your face. I have watched you grow up before me....

Jul 7 22:28
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Q: When Does the Novel The Princess Bride happen?

M. A. GoldingWhen does the novel The Princess Bride (1973) by William Goldman happen? I mean the story of Buttercup and Wesley told in the fictional book within a book allegedly written by S. Morgenstern and allegedly abridged by William Goldman. It is my belief that the era of the story is probably just as i...

Jul 7 18:19
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Q: Hard-boiled action series, possibly trilogy, whose final book is inspired by the Stanford Prison Experiment

LSpiceAbout 10 years ago, I read a series of books that at the time was new or fairly recent. I think it was a trilogy, though it's slightly possible that it was just two books. I think that the hero is female, and she spends the series on the run from and confronting an increasingly escalating collect...

Jul 7 04:22
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Q: Character's last initial in blurb to Besson's In the Absence of Men

verboseThe back cover of In the Absence of Men, the English translation of Philippe Besson's En l'absence des hommes (2001), includes the following sentence: An electrifying encounter with Marcel P., an enigmatic, middle-aged writer, draws Vincent's desires out into the light and, eventually, toward Ar...

Jul 5 13:36
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Q: In Dickens‘ Bleak House, does “Michaelmas term lately over” mean the term has started or ended?

HangyodonIn the opening of Charles Dickens' Bleak House, the sentence reads: London. Michaelmas term lately over, and the Lord Chancellor sitting in Lincoln's Inn Hall. I’m confused about what “Michaelmas term lately over” means. Does it mean the term has just started or just finished? The Russian trans...

Jul 4 23:42
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Q: Joyce Carol Oates' poem 'Bloodline Elegy: Su Qijian family of Beijing'

allthingsgoI've done some readings and researching on prolific American writer Joyce Carol Oates. But until today, I never knew she published a poetry book 'American Melancholy'. She almost had me fooled as the speaker of 'Havesting Skin'. I CAN sooo imagine her in Princeton's lecture Hall, reciting those l...

Jul 2 13:43
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Q: How to interpret this passage in McCarthy's The Passenger?

Matt ThrowerLate on in Cormac McCarthy's The Passenger the protagonist, Western, has been meeting with his lawyer, Kline, to discuss what can be done about Western's ongoing harassment by the authorities. The discussion strays into more personal territory, and Western admits to being in love with his sister, "...

Jul 2 00:55
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Q: Story about a fencing confrontation between an arrogant student and a graying teacher

AnonymousTrying to remember a story having to do with a fencing confrontation between an arrogant student and the getting-older fencing master. I think the student challenged the master to fence with open blades (i.e. very dangerous) and pressed the old bull teacher very hard. I think in the end the mast...

Jul 1 17:23
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Q: Is "masticating face" a synecdoche?

Soroush GhIs this noun phrase a synecdoche? "Ain’t that a beauty?" All the masticating faces were included in his stained and rotting smile. Source: Fat City by Leonard Gardner

Jun 30 14:14
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Q: Is there any abridged version of Charles Darwin's "The Voyage of the Beagle"?

Qiulang 邱朗The only abridged version of Charles Darwin's "The Voyage of the Beagle" I can find is this audio version read by Richard Dawkins, https://www.listening-books.org.uk/book/the-voyage-of-the-beagle/7074 . But I can not find the text version of it. So is there any abridged version of Charles Darwin's "

Jun 30 02:12
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Q: How were Hemingway's Nick Adams stories ordered?

user31624Hemingway was a famous novelist, but he was also a prolific short story writer. Many of his stories involved the character of Nick Adams, who seems to have been something of an alter-ego. After Hemingway's death, these stories were compiled into a single volume and additional stories that were ...

Jun 29 19:25
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Q: Looking for title/author of book. Ice-world. Dystopian fiction. Man becomes a prophet?

Marilee24I’ve been looking for a title/author of a book for awhile. It’s a dystopian novel about a society plunged into an ice-age of sorts. What I remember is the main character is a man and his mother lives with him. There’s a description of how they have many plants in their home which creates a warmin...

Jun 25 22:20
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Q: Please help me ID a short horror story about cinemas locked in a spiral of competition

Dan PiponiI'm trying to find a short story I read in the late 70s or early 80s. It was probably published by a UK publisher in an anthology of short horror stories - possibly one of the many Pan anthologies. (It's possible that Ramsey Campbell was involved as writer or editor but also possibly not.) The st...

Jun 24 09:19
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Q: What is this work by "Balbus" mentioning a Sea of Serpents?

Arash HowaidaThere is a non-fiction excerpt I found but am unable to trace it back to its original author. Actually, as the question suggests, I'm more interested in identifying the "Balbus" person the author mentions as well as the Sea of Serpents: Christopher Columbus reports that near Paria, he found a gr...

Jun 23 21:33
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Q: Short story involving a golden crucifix stolen by a Nazi official

Sean DugganI was recently reading through old TV Tropes Media Finder entries that I'd posted, and one which came up was this one. A small town in Europe has a solid gold crucifix which is renowned for miracles. The Nazis, of course, steal it when the military goes through the town. An investigator finds the...

Jun 22 18:40
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Q: Does anyone have The Iraqi Nights by Dunya Mikhail in Arabic?

Anastasiia IurshinaI'm looking for the original Arabic version of a specific line from The Iraqi Nights by Dunya Mikhail. In English, it reads: "I fear the tea is growing cold: cold tea is worse than death." I would really love to know exactly how this line appears in Arabic in the original edition — especially th...

Jun 22 17:34
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Q: A short story about a drought on the island of Vis (or perhaps some other southern Croatian island) in the late 19th century

FlatAssemblerI vaguely remember reading a short story about a drought on some southern Croatian island (I believe it was Vis, but I might be mistaken) in the late 19th century. Most likely I read it in the middle school. Some events from that story include: People break into somebody's home believing he is h...

Jun 22 10:13
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Q: Looking for the name of a children's mystery book that had illustrations with clues

cinenautI'm looking for the name of a book a teacher read to my class years ago. It featured several kids solving a mystery and in order to keep up you had to notice clues in the illustrations that the characters noticed. The only section I clearly remember has the kids taking a suspect bouillon cube to ...

Jun 22 05:49
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Q: Critical sources of translation of Euripides by Innokentij Annenskij and Ettore Romagnoli

SomeoneMy motivation for asking this, is that I noted substantial differences in several places of the translation of Herakles by Annenskij to Russian, and by Romagnoli to Italian. I am curious whether the differences are due to the critical sources used (I heard about the controversy around the L and P...

Jun 21 22:49
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Q: Book about boy who is in a race with rest of the family to get inheritance on passing of relative

user42I'm trying to find a book I read a long time ago and really hoping someone can help me find it. Here are the details: When did you read the story/poem/novel, etc., and how old was it? I read the book between the years 2012-2014 Medium and appearance It was an ebook I read on my phone using a book...

Jun 21 19:26
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Q: What does line about Gatsby being a "son of God" mean?

MithicalIn The Great Gatsby, when Nick is describing Gatsby's background, we get this paragraph when Gatsby picking his new name is mentioned: I suppose he'd had the name ready for a long time, even then. His parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people - his imagination had never really accepted...

Jun 20 15:49
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Q: Trying to find specific mythology book

SarahI'm trying to find a specific book of myths and legends from around the world because I think my mom got rid of it before I had a chance to read it. It had myths and legends from around the world, organized by theme. Think a section for witches and witchcraft or a section for tricksters. It was...

Jun 17 02:51
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Q: Was the Hobbit inspired by Karl Immerman's Merlin?

guest01I am reading an encyclopedia about mythology and literature entitled "Companion to Literary Myths, Heroes, and Archetypes" (Ed. Brunel P, trans. by Allaston W, Hayward J, Selous T) with the section on "The Grail". This passage on a little known Victorian-era edition of the Arthur legend caught my...

Jun 17 02:28
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Q: Why didn't Habib know why his mother had left?

EJoshuaS - Stand with UkraineIn First, they Erased our Name, the narrator's mother abruptly leaves on a boat for unknown reasons, vaguely claiming that she had no choice and she wouldn't be leaving if she didn't have to. Four years later, she reappears with no explanation of where she had gone or why. The narrator indicated ...

Jun 16 18:12
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Q: Why does the poison used by Bloom's father change?

Kevin TroyI am trying to reconcile an inconsistency, or perhaps metamorphosis, in Joyce's Ulysses. Trigger warning: suicide. In chapter 6 ("Hades"), we learn from Martin Cunningham that Bloom's father "poisoned himself." The narrator of chapter 12 ("Cyclops") says he took "prussic acid" (aka cyanide). This...

Jun 16 17:05
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Q: Source of the claim that Filippo Argenti once slapped Dante

Gareth ReesIn canto 8 of Inferno, Dante recognizes the spirit of Filippo Argenti, a Florentine: And shortly after, I saw the loathsome spirit so mangled by a swarm of muddy wraiths that to this day I praise and thank God for it. “After Filippo Argenti!” all cried together. The maddog Florentine wheeled at ...

Jun 15 18:12
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Q: Quote origin: "Some one to love, some one to caress"

QuuxplusoneThis seems to have been a familiar quotation in the 1860s–1880s, probably from a poem. Can anyone track down the precise origin of the line? (It doesn't seem to be in Bartlett's.) Letter from John Emory Bryant to his wife, August 24, 1864: Two weeks less one day and I go Maineward to see my darl...

Jun 15 02:04
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Q: Voices Against Racism: Personal and Political Reflections in Literature and Film

ZaraCompared to Soyinka's other works Telephone Conversation is "more personal and introspective delving into the complexities of racial identity and its impact on interactions. It also reflects the social and political climate of the time, where racial discrimination and prejudice are widespread." I...

Jun 14 15:42
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Q: Verifying a quote attributed to Boris Pasternak

Alecos PapadopoulosAll over the internet, one finds the following quote attributed to Boris Pasternak: What is laid down, ordered, factual is never enough to embrace the whole truth: life always spills over the rim of every cup. When a source is provided, it is As quoted in Bridges to Infinity : The Human Side o...

Jun 13 19:40
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Q: Why does the Mockingjay in the Hunger Games seem a lot like the moonlark in Keeper of the Lost Cities?

Renee FosterI noticed that after reading the Hunger Games trilogy, the representation of the Mockingjay seems almost identical to that of the Moonlark. Does anyone else see that? There are similarity to the two characters, and the pressure of being them is the same. If anyone else sees it, could you tell me ...

Jun 12 17:55
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Q: The Boy and the Rattlesnake: What's the origin of this Cherokee fable?

cmwThere's a commonly told "Cherokee" fable about a boy and a rattlesnake. What's the origin of this fable? Where do we see it first see it in print and does it indeed go back to Cherokee tales? I ask because it is very similar to the Farmer and the Viper, one of Aesop's fables, with parallels found...

Jun 12 16:49
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Q: What is the official name for this form factor of book?

A.SteerI am trying to complete my collection of Chuck Palahniuk novels and have come across an issue identifying the specific form factor of the books I already own. The above image shows 15 books by Chuck Palahniuk, 14 of them have the same form factor, while 1, Beautiful You has a different form fact...

Jun 12 16:49
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Q: Identify YA novel about teen boy who almost commits suicide after being falsely accused of drugging a girl at a party

user31270I'm looking for a YA book I read a few years ago that was probably written between 2010-2020. The main character (MC) was a teenage boy who spent his entire summer working a landscaping job to pay restitution for some crime he committed. He somehow got close to a popular girl from his school, pos...

Jun 8 07:25
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Q: A kind of salvation

user31180I gave her a chance to right what was wrong, and she didn't take it. Then, it becomes her own fault, and she deserves this to happen to her. But, because of her, she has also ruined other lives. How do you handle something that has ruined your life? The worst part is she will never value my hurt....

Jun 7 22:45
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Q: Short story: Brother killed in game fight

GongerI must have read the story around 1975 - 1980, 90% certain it was in the German edition of Reader's Digest. Two brothers are play-fighting in the snow. I do not remember the details, but the younger one gets killed. As an adult, the surviving brother is deployed in a war / conflict in a snowy reg...