Saturday 28 April 2007

Not Just Narnia...


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 literatu
re. Who are the authors?

I only got 13. Oo, exactly half.

Archenland
Brobdingnag
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

9 comments:

  1. Brobdingnag - Swift
    Frenchman'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.

    ReplyDelete
  2. 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.

    Archenland - 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

    ReplyDelete
  3. Cranford - Gaskell
    Oz-Baum
    Villette - Charlotte Bronte

    Some more *sound* familiar. I'd like to see the entire list.

    ReplyDelete
  4. forgot Oz- Baum
    The 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

    ReplyDelete
  5. Kenilworth is Walter Scott
    Dune is Frank Herbert

    ReplyDelete
  6. 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?
    Ok, 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

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi Si - the Aged Ps

    Archenland 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 - ?

    ReplyDelete
  8. The only ones that no-one has yet identified are:
    Judas 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?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Judas College --- Zuleika Dobson
    Puddleby -- Dr Doolittle!

    ReplyDelete

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