Erebus

Fact library / Trivia

Literature facts

10 literature facts, each paired with a strange little scene and a hook for the hard word.

The king of kings, in pieces

Percy Bysshe Shelley's 1818 sonnet "Ozymandias" describes a ruined statue of an ancient king. Ozymandias was the Greek name for the pharaoh Ramesses II.

Picture it

In the desert, the Wizard of Oz is pointing at a huge broken statue. Two legs stand alone; the face lies in the sand. A seashell sits on the plinth and whispers, "Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair."

Memory hooks

  • Ozymandias: "OZ-ee-MAN-dee-us": the Oz man is dying (sound-alike)
  • Shelley: a seashell on the statue's plinth (visual association)

Say it: Ozymandias (oz·ee·MAN·dee·us)

A ghost story by the lake

Mary Shelley began Frankenstein during a ghost-story contest near Lake Geneva in 1816 and published it in 1818.

Picture it

On a stormy night by Lake Geneva, Lord Byron challenges his friends to write ghost stories. A teenage MARY shivers by the fire and dreams up a stitched-together monster. Lightning flashes and SHELLEY shells fly. She publishes it in 1818: "18... 18", two matching halves stitched together.

Memory hooks

  • Mary Shelley: the teenager shivering by the fire (narrative)
  • 1818: two matching halves stitched together: 18-18 (number hook)

Tilting at windmills

Miguel de Cervantes wrote Don Quixote, whose deluded knight attacks windmills alongside his squire Sancho Panza.

Picture it

A skinny old knight in rusty armour charges at windmills, convinced they're giants. His short, round squire, SANCHO PANZA, sighs and pats his big PAUNCH ("PANZA"). Their author, CERVANTES, SERVES them ANTS for lunch.

Memory hooks

  • Miguel de Cervantes: serving ants for lunch (sound-alike)
  • Sancho Panza: the squire patting his paunch (sound-alike)

A tour guide through Hell

In Dante's Divine Comedy, the Roman poet Virgil guides Dante through Hell and Purgatory, and Beatrice guides him through Paradise.

Picture it

A lost poet stumbles into a dark wood and meets a ghostly Roman poet, VIRGIL, who offers to be his tour guide through Hell and Purgatory, waving a VIRGIN GILL-ed fish like a flag. At the gates of Paradise, the guide changes: a beautiful woman named BEATRICE takes over.

Memory hooks

  • Virgil: a tour guide waving a fish like a flag (visual association)
  • Beatrice: the guide waiting at the gates of Paradise (narrative)

Big Brother's real name

George Orwell, author of 1984 and Animal Farm, was the pen name of Eric Blair.

Picture it

A writer hides behind a pen name taken from the River Orwell. Pull off his mask and underneath is plain ERIC BLAIR, with a BLARING alarm clock that strikes thirteen.

Memory hooks

  • Eric Blair: a blaring clock striking thirteen (sound-alike)

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Two fathoms deep

Mark Twain was the pen name of Samuel Clemens, taken from a riverboat call meaning the water was two fathoms deep.

Picture it

A riverboat pilot on the Mississippi drops a weighted rope over the side and shouts "Mark twain!", meaning the water is two fathoms deep, safe to pass. The young pilot is SAMUEL CLEMENS, who CLAMS up and borrows the call as his pen name.

Memory hooks

  • Samuel Clemens: the pilot who clams up (sound-alike)
  • two fathoms: twain = two (number hook)

The long way home

In Homer's Odyssey, Odysseus spends ten years trying to get home to Ithaca, where his wife Penelope waits.

Picture it

A Greek hero takes ten years to sail home from Troy, dodging a one-eyed giant and singing sirens. Back home on rocky ITHACA, which "I THAT CAN" remember, his wife PENELOPE weaves a shroud by day and unpicks it at night with a PEN, to stall her suitors.

Memory hooks

  • Ithaca: "I that can" remember (sound-alike)
  • Penelope: unpicking the shroud every night (narrative)

The ship and its obsessed captain

In Herman Melville's Moby-Dick, the whaling ship Pequod is commanded by Captain Ahab.

Picture it

A one-legged captain named AHAB stomps the deck on his whalebone leg, shouting "A-HAB!" at a white whale. His ship, the PEQUOD, has a woodpecker PECKING ("PEE-kwod") at its mast.

Memory hooks

  • Pequod: a woodpecker pecking at the mast (sound-alike)
  • Ahab: stomping on his whalebone leg (sound-alike)

The first novel

The Tale of Genji, written by Murasaki Shikibu in early 11th-century Japan, is often called the world's first novel.

Picture it

A thousand years ago, a lady-in-waiting at the Japanese court writes a long story about a shining prince, GENJI, who's a GENIE at romance. She signs it MURASAKI ("purple"), writing in purple ink.

Memory hooks

  • Genji: a genie at romance (sound-alike)
  • Murasaki Shikibu: murasaki = purple, writing in purple ink (visual association)

The oldest great story

The Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the oldest surviving works of literature, tells of a king of Uruk in ancient Mesopotamia.

Picture it

A mighty king with GILLS makes a MESS ("GIL-ga-MESH") as he searches the world for the secret of eternal life. He rules a walled Mesopotamian city called URUK, where people greet him with "OO, ROOK!" and play chess.

Memory hooks

  • Gilgamesh: a king with gills making a mess (sound-alike)
  • Uruk: "Oo, rook!" over chess (sound-alike)