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Where did Orwell ask whether British democracy would end through a Fascist takeover or by a Socialist revolution?
The Wikipedia article about Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighthy-Four contains the following statement:
During World War II, Orwell believed that British democracy as it existed before 1939 would not survive the war. The question being "Would it end via…
Tsundoku
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Where did Camus define "the novel as the place where the human being is abandoned to other human beings"?
Albert Camus once defined the novel as the place where the human being is abandoned to other human beings. The plague novel is the place where all human beings abandon all other human beings. Unlike other species of apocalyptic fiction, where the…
Ivie
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The name of a device by which an author reports the use of coarse language without quoting it?
Don, a soldier sleeping in a hammock, is abruptly awakened some hours earlier than expected and is quite alarmed, thinking the camp may be under attack by the enemy. The company headquarters runner who woke him up says, "The Old Man [i.e. the…
Michael Hardy
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Why does literature not have a governing body for content ratings?
(Note this question will be based heavily on my experience as an American and the systems we have in place.)
I was reading some questions on this and another SE site about age appropriateness for so called "children's books". It seems that are many…
Skooba
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Identification of an American comics strip about mathematically shaped pancakes
When making crèpes for my children this morning, I recalled a comics strip I would like to identify.
It is American, contemporary and I saw it a few years ago.
It features a father who is about to make pancakes for his children. There are at least…
WoJ
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Why is Georg Büchner considered such an important figure in German literature?
Georg Büchner was recently proposed as a topic challenge for Lit.SE, and both that proposal and his Wikipedia page concur that he is considered an important figure in the history of German literature, despite living for less than 24 years.
Why is he…
Rand al'Thor
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Meaning of "the humility of a charge" in "The Chief Mourner of Marne"?
In "The Chief Mourner of Marne" by G. K. Chesterton, Mr. Mallow went to Father Brown to consult him about very serious problem, but he found him sitting on the floor with a serious expression, and attempting to pin the somewhat florid hat belonging…
Ahmed Samir
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Meaning of "interrupted spirals, inverted cones and broken cylinders" in "The Worst Crime in the World"?
In "The Worst Crime in the World" by G. K. Chesterton, the author was saying in its beginning:
FATHER BROWN was wandering through a picture gallery with an expression that suggested that he had not come there to look at the pictures. Indeed, he…
Ahmed Samir
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Trying to find a story of a man who strapped a magnet to his forehead, has visions
Many years ago I read a story of a man who experimented with a magnet strapped to his forehead. From what I remember, he examined this experiment in his attic study. He harnessed a magnet on his forehead for what I believe was an hour per day.…
Elliot Rocha
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Edgar Allan Poe's "Alone"
The short poem "Alone" by Edgar Allan Poe was written in 1829 or 1830, when he was a young man, but only published in 1875 long after his death. Its full text is as follows:
From childhood’s hour I have not been
As others were — I have not seen
…
Rand al'Thor
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Bad Grammar in The Great Gatsby?
I'm sure many here have encountered a common error in written English, whereby 'have' is substituted by 'of'; 'should of', 'would of', 'could of', etc. It's my understanding that this is always grammatically incorrect, and derives from when people…
ThePeake
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Is there any merit to reading the Poirot novels in order?
Curtain is Poirot's last case and for fear of spoilers I have not looked up whether it is his last case because he dies.
I intend to read it only after I have read all the other novels featuring him.
However I recently realised that Curtain was…
Mirte
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8
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How did Edith Hamilton become interested in transcribing her famous Greek myths?
Edith Hamilton is probably the most famous modern-day writer of Greek myths, but how did she become interested in transcribing these myths?
George A. Solodun
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Any significance to the "Dutch clock" and "Chinese plate" in Eugene Field's "The Duel"?
I just learned from an answer to an ID question about the poem "The Duel", or "The Gingham Dog and the Calico Cat", in which Eugene Field describes a vicious fight between two stuffed animals as told to him by a "Dutch clock" and a "Chinese plate".…
Rand al'Thor
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Where did Stephen King get the word "Shawshank" from?
I just watched "The Shawshank Redemption" for the first time. I was surprised that it took place in a U.S. prison because I had assumed for years based on my ignorance that "Shawshank" was derived from an Asian language. I see now that the word…
xdhmoore
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