FRENCH LOAVES & FIRESIDES

Eccentricities of some great writers ...




When I first started studying English literature in college, I seemed to enjoy the eccentricities of the authors in their lives even more than their literary works. We had a professor who behaved rather oddly much to our amusement. He made it a point to ascend the platform in the classroom putting his right foot first. In case his stride didn't ensure this right-foot-first fixation he would take a couple of steps backward in a sort of a jig and then restore the right foot to its `rightful' place.

Later I came to know that Dr. Samuel Johnson had a similar fixation. He entered every room putting his right foot first. Another eccentricity of Dr. Johnson was tapping with his cane every lamppost that he passed. In case he missed a post he went back and set right the lapse.

A strange young man


The young poet Shelley must have seemed an oddball to the people in his area. He never sat down at table for a formal meal, but ate some snacks as he walked in the street while reading a book. Mostly he had a French loaf, the long loaf of bread that tapered at both ends. He tucked this under his arm and held a book and broke pieces of bread and ate them. Some men in the street, seeing this odd behaviour, would stand in his way blocking his passage. Shelley, without looking up, and apparently absorbed in his book, would manage to avoid the human barricade adroitly and go his way.

He never used his bed for sleeping. Instead he lay flat on the floor close to the fireplace reading a book and then slept off. Sometimes he was so close to the fire that the edges of his hair smouldered and got singed. But he never noticed this.

Later Shelley lost his life attempting against the advice of his friends to sail in a frail boat. There is a famous painting showing Shelley's body being cremated on the beach. Standing slightly apart from the crowd is Lord Byron looking forlorn, but romantic all the same.

In spite of being strapped for cash Lord Byron maintained all kinds of animals and birds in his house. These included ten horses, eight enormous dogs, three monkeys, five cats, five peacocks, an eagle, a crow, a falcon and an Egyptian crane. All these, except the horses, had a free run of the house.

Captive audiences


Samuel Taylor Coleridge was a compulsive talker. When he got hold of anyone to talk to, he held forth on this or that endlessly. He kept his eyes tightly closed while talking. Once he buttonholed Charles Lamb and in spite of Lamb's pleas that he had another engagement, he went on and on. He had grasped Lamb's coat button and held him captive. After awhile Lamb quietly cut off the button with his penknife, and made good his escape. Later after keeping his appointment, Lamb returned that way and found Coleridge still holding on to the button and talking away with eyes closed.

Ernest Hemingway rigidly followed some writing practices. He typed all the dialogues, but wrote descriptive passages in longhand. He kept his typewriter on the mantelpiece and stood up while typing. But he wrote the descriptive passages sitting at a table. This practice never varied throughout his writing career.

Sheridan, the dramatist, went to great lengths to stage drama in real life. He had with much effort bought the famous Drury Lane Theatre, running into heavy debt in the process. One day this theatre caught fire and in the midst of the large crowd that had gathered to watch the blaze, Sheridan called for a table, chair and a glass of wine. And to the surprise of the crowd, he sat on the chair and sipped his drink. "Mr. Sheridan, What are you doing?" asked one of his acquaintances. "Surely, a man can have a drink at his own fireside" said Sheridan with raised eyebrows. He had staged a scene to deliver a line!

Sometimes one wondered how these eccentrics were able to produce such great works of literature.








J.VASANTHAN