Yesterday I got a nice postcard and letter in the post from a regular correspondent, my aunt Jacq - I've put up a photo of the postcard. It is brilliantly apposite for Stuck-in-a-Book, and appears to have been bought in Berlin - I do hope Jacq didn't make the trip to Germany especially for me. I rather think not.
We've exchanged letters for five years now, and through that time have often set each other Literary Challenges of some sort or other - I thought I'd share this one. Have done my best (which turned out not to be very good) without resorting to good old Google. So please do give a hand, but only if you know them already - let's not cheat just yet!
Ok, the challenge is this - all of these are fictional places, or real places used in literature. Who are the authors?
I only got 13. Oo, exactly half.
ArchenlandBrobdingnag
Cranford
Dune
Erewhon
Frenchman's Creek
Gormenghast
Hogsmead
Ishmaelia
Judas College, Oxford
Kenilworth
Loamshire
Mariposa
Neverland
Oz
Puddleby-on-the-Marsh
Quarne
Ruritania
St. Mary Mead
Troytown
Utopia
Villette
Wigan Pier
Xanadu
Yell'ham Bottom
Sector ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha
Brobdingnag - Swift
ReplyDeleteFrenchman's Creek - du Maurier
Hogsmead - Rowling
Kenilworth - this is real, it's near Leamington
Neverland - Barrie
Ruritania - is this Orwell?
St. Mary Mead - Christie
Xanadu - Colerige
Feeble effort on my part. Several more that I'm sure I know really.
Hmm...plenty I don't know, and several that are hauntingly familiar without my quite being able to put a name to them...but let's see if I can add to Colin's efforts.
ReplyDeleteArchenland - Lewis, I think. Isn't that one of Narnia's neighbouring countries?
Erewhon - Butler (part of his oh-so-witty wordplay)
Gormenghast - Peake (I think)
Utopia - Thomas More/Moore (however you spell it - probably other authors too)
Wigan Pier - Orwell
Sector ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha - Adams
Cranford - Gaskell
ReplyDeleteOz-Baum
Villette - Charlotte Bronte
Some more *sound* familiar. I'd like to see the entire list.
forgot Oz- Baum
ReplyDeleteThe only ones I have actually READ are:
Scoop
Northern Lights
Middlemarch (if that IS where Loamshire comes from)
Peter Pan
The W of OZ and its sequel
Kubla Khan
Kenilworth is Walter Scott
ReplyDeleteDune is Frank Herbert
I've tried to post my list TWICE already and it has lost both attampts tho' my top-up comment HAS appeared. What is going on?
ReplyDeleteOk, so one's people haven't already mentioned are
Gormenghast - Peak(e)
Ishmaelia - his where that blundering jornalist in Scoop by Waugh, gets sent
Judas Collge - Pullman?
St Mary Mead is where Miss Marple either lives or visits - by Christie
Troytown - Quiller Couch - his name for Fowey, Cornwall
Hi Si - the Aged Ps
ReplyDeleteArchenland CS Lewis
Brobdingnag - Swift
Cranford - Gaskell
Dune - Herbert
Erewhon - Butler
Frenchman's Creek - du Maurier
Gormenghast - Peake
Hogsmead - Pratchett?
Ishmaelia - ?
Judas College, Oxford - Dexter?
Kenilworth - Scott
Loamshire - Trollope?
Mariposa - ?
Neverland - Barrie
Oz - wizard of (Baum)
Puddleby-on-the-Marsh - ?
Quarne - ?
Ruritania - Prisoner of Zenda
St. Mary Mead - Christie
Troytown - Hardy?
Utopia - Moore
Villette - Charlotte Bronte
Wigan Pier - Orwell
Xanadu - Coleridge
Yell'ham Bottom - Laurie Lee?
Sector ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha - ?
The only ones that no-one has yet identified are:
ReplyDeleteJudas College, Oxford
Mariposa
Puddleby-on-the-Marsh
Qvarne (note spelling - probably a result of poor handwriting of Aunt and too much English education of Nephew)
Yell'ham Bottom.
I was surprised at the Aged Ps not recognising Hogsmead! Did the Prisoner of Zenda write any other books?
Judas College --- Zuleika Dobson
ReplyDeletePuddleby -- Dr Doolittle!