I've just encountered yet another allusion to "the owl of Minerva flying at dusk", which comes from the philosopher Hegel.
I wonder how often the person making this allusion has actually read Hegel?
I've never read Hegel myself. Well, I did read about five or ten pages of one of his books once, and then gave it up a hopeless cause. (Or perhaps I gave up on myself as a hopeless case?)
I think we should start promoting this principle: you shouldn't make a literary allusion unless you've read the actual work it's taken from.
So no more "Abandon hope, all ye who enter here" unless you've read Dante's Inferno. And no more "Midway upon the journey of life...", either.
No more "Fail again. Fail better", unless you've read the actual work by Samuel Beckett from which this flogged-to-death line taken. (I don't know which this is and I'm pretty sure I haven't read it, whatever it is.)
No more "rosy-fingered dawn" unless you've read Homer.
No more "Kafkaesque" unless you've read at least one novel or short story by Kafka.
Lest it should be thought that I'm conferring a privilege on the well-read, I think all these quotations are pretentious and corny at this stage, and are best avoided by everybody anyway. If you're going to make a literary reference, make an original literary reference. Don't go with the tried and tested. Whether it comes from Yeats or Barbara Cartland, it would at least be original. (I hope you're not thinking: "A poor thing but mine own.")
Completely agree. Look up an online list of inspirational sayings and you can look like the best read person since Milton.
ReplyDeleteOr, as Winston Churchill said, it's good for a man of little education to read books of quotations. Fortunately, I've always loved them.
DeleteWhen Philip Larkin met Margaret Thatcher he was thrilled that she misquoted one of his lines to him. It meant she had read the poem and the book. Not been briefed by a wonk ten minutes earlier.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, I've read that story! I can believe it too. She seems quite cultured and well-read. Is there a case for misquotation being the true mark of the well-read?
DeleteRead all four! Where’s my lifetime Arts Council stipend and membership of Aosdana????!!!!
ReplyDeleteBy a coincidence that seems amazing, I was heading to work this morning and there was a ‘rosy fingered dawn’ that was so impressive I stopped to look up the phrase in the original!!! (Rhododaktilos eos).
ReplyDeleteThere’s a magnificent scene in “The Thin Red Line” that illustrates your point perfectly. An obstreperous Major played brilliantly by Nick Nolte address an American captain of Greek descent while looking up into a red morning sky:
“Rhododaktilos Eos. You’re Greek, aren’t you, captain? Ever read Homer? We read Homer at the Point, IN GREEK.”
Wow, that is a huge coincidence! I'm also honoured to have someone commenting on my blog who sees the dawn and looks up Homer in the original Greek.
DeleteI've never seen The Red Line but that's a recommendation for it, for sure.
As for as I'm concerned, you're the only person in the British Isles permitted to quote Beckett.
Thank you, sir! Most honoured!
DeleteAnd you can't mention quarks unless you've read Finnegan's Wake.
ReplyDeleteAgreed.
DeleteThere's a groundkeeper in my university who has done this.
Actually I think I would probably make exceptions for terms and allusions that have passed into common usage (or become independent words, as with quark).
DeleteI mean, nobody is looking for cultural cachet by calling anyone a a Scrooge.
Well, if something is being widely quoted by people who haven't read it, that's a pretty good sign that it's passed into common usage -- unless people really are mining Bartlett's in an effort to impress!
DeleteKafkaesque is the only one of those I've actually heard.
ReplyDeleteCount yourself lucky!
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