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How ‘stream of consciousness’ was On the Road? Was it planned or edited?
The Beat writer Jack Kerouac is noted for his "stream of consciousness" writing style exemplified in his 1957 novel, On the Road, but there seems to be conflicting evidence on how "stream of consciousness" this book was.
He famously wrote the book…
user403
14
votes
2 answers
What does the raven symbolize (besides death)?
Whenever I ask a friend about the symbolism of the Raven from The Raven, they always seem to say death.
Is that the only thing the Raven is meant to symbolize?
Matrim Cauthon
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What evidence was there in "The Naked Sun" to suggest that Baley had feelings for Gladia?
I just finished reading The Robots of Dawn, and was quite surprised firstly when Elijah Baley was excited that he'd visit the world Gladia was on, and secondly when at the end of the novel he calls her "my love".
His lips shaped: Good-bye. And then…
Gallifreyan
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What does it mean for a person to be "up" themselves?
I've just come across the short story "Do You Love Me?" by Peter Carey via a story-ID over at SFF. The basic premise of the story is that when something isn't loved, it disappears.
Upon reading through the story, I came across a repeated phrase that…
Mithical
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Were the early sexual experiences of Lolita and her classmates inspired by the real experience of children in New England in 1947?
In the last pages of part 1 of Nabokov's Lolita Humbert relates Dolores's description of her own previous sexual experiences, in the course of which she mentions ways in which some of her coevals at school had been "pretty bad." She implies that by…
user9909
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14
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3 answers
Who chained the albatross to the mariner's neck?
In the long poem by Samuel Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the mariner talks about an albatross being chained to his neck:
Instead of the cross, the albatross
About my neck was hung.
This doesn't really make much sense though.…
user72
14
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1 answer
Why is Camus asserting that "Marx scientific Messianism" is Bourgeois?
In The Rebel, Camus asserts that
Progress, the future of science, the cult of technology and of production, are bourgeois myths, ...
Why is Camus defining these themes as "bourgeois myths"?
Teddy
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Why do the March sisters call their mother Marmee?
I'm curious about the nickname the March sisters in Little Women use for their mother and I'd like to know its meaning and significance. After some research, it seems Louisa May Alcott used the nickname Marmee for her own mother in some of her…
Shaymin Gratitude
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Who or what does Benjamin the donkey represent in Animal Farm?
Benjamin is the old, irritable donkey who doesn't care who's in control, because he says that work will be the same either way. He is one of the few on the farm who can read, and who still remembers the original commandments. He has an unlikely…
fi12
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What is the source of "You can achieve a lot with hate, but even more with love" (Shakespeare?)
I have seen a postcard with a quote "You can achieve a lot with hate, but even more with love", signed "Shakespeare", in a French bookshop.
The quote is not exact, because I have translated it back from French. The original is “On peut faire…
Yulia V
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14
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5 answers
Why does Stanley Uris react so gruesomely to It returning?
Stephen King's novel IT concerns a group of children who confronted an evil entity haunting their town -- and their reunion twenty-five years later to face the being again for the final time.
Early in the novel, we see each of "The Losers' Club"…
Standback
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Why is the title of "Le Morte d'Arthur" in French if the book is in English?
Le Morte d'Arthur, often considered the first English novel, is an early version of the story of Camelot. The book is according, to Wikipedia, written in Middle English. Why, then, is the title of the book in French?
mprogrammer
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Did Charles Dickens change the endings of any of his books other than Great Expectations?
I know that Charles Dickens changed the ending to Great Expectations after prompting. Did he do so with any of his other books?
Of course, he may have changed the endings of all his books a hundred times before publishing. However, I'm looking for…
muru
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What are the "dark Satanic mills" in Blake's Jerusalem?
The short poem Jerusalem by William Blake - not to be confused with his much longer epic poem of the same title; I'm talking about the "did those feet in ancient times" one - contains the following lines:
And did the Countenance Divine,
Shine…
Rand al'Thor
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What does Mr Darcy refer to when objecting to Mr Bennet's "want of propriety"?
In Mr Darcy's letter to Elizabeth, he writes:
The situation of your mother's family, though objectionable, was nothing in comparison of that total want of propriety so frequently, so almost uniformly betrayed by herself, by your three younger…
Hugh
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