Famous people do not know what a calm life is. The paparazzi are ready to do anything to get incriminating photos, and only the lazy does not discuss the details of the personal life of the stars. But it was not always like that.
A couple of centuries ago, when many of our beloved writers lived, there was no "yellow" press and the Internet. Popular personalities at that time could do anything; cameras, too, had not yet been invented.
This article will discuss the most interesting facts from the life of writers. It contains phobias, strangenesses, absurd acts that you can hardly find in official biographies. Perhaps these facts will help you understand a particular work of a certain author or shed light on some events from his life. Let's get started.
10. Chekhov worked on works in a full dress
«Everything should be perfect in a man ... ". This phrase by Chekhov has long been winged. Anton Pavlovich was serious about his appearance and work. He could not write if something in his appearance was wrong. He put on the best suit, was going to meet with the muse, as if on a date. Otherwise, inspiration did not visit him.
Chekhov had a huge weakness for beautiful clothes. A letter has reached our days to his friend Dmitry Savelyev, where the writer thanked him for the donated frock coat. A creative person cannot simply say, “Thank you.” Chekhov wished Saveliev that his frock coat should be married and that he would have a lot of little children - frock coats.
9. Tolkien wrote The Hobbit exclusively for his children
John Ronald Ruel is a professor at Oxford University. He had a family: a wife, three sons and a daughter. It is difficult to say when Tolkien first took up the Hobbit, this happened around the end of the 1920s.
He often told his children tales of his own composition. “Winter Readings” was the family's favorite hobby. Tolkien gathered his whole family by the fireplace and began a new fantastic story. Some of them were so long that sometimes John got confused and forgot the details. That is why he decided to record "The Hobbit." It was not a book: scraps of text, compendium.
Only in 1938 the Hobbit saw the light of day. Tolkien did not plan to publish the book, it happened. Publishers became interested in her, they made him an advantageous offer. Now “The Hobbit” has a lot of fans.
8. Rowling received many failures and for a long time could not publish "Harry Potter"
The Harry Potter novel series is one of the most popular. The cycle is considered a literary bestseller, it is translated into 80 languages. All this could not have happened if Joan were a little less stubborn.
She went around 14 publishers, none of them agreed to publish her book. They motivated the refusal by the fact that the novel is intended for teenage boys, and they will not be interested in a work written by a woman.
The English publisher Bloomsbury decided to take a chance and released a trial run. After the resounding success, Rowling was bombarded with offers. Joan did not change the publisher, so she wiped her nose to everyone who refused to believe in her.
7. Fleming was fond of ornithology
The author of the James Bond novels was a bright personality. His contemporaries claim that he wanted to perpetuate his name, to create a pale copy of himself.
Ian decided to write a book about the spy, agent 007. At that time he was fond of ornithology, James Bond's book became his faithful assistant in the study of birds. This is a renowned ornithologist specializing in Caribbean fauna. Fleming liked the name very much, he considered it to be nondescript, short, unromantic. After writing the novel, Fleming sent it to the bird explorer with a note: "For real James Bond ...".
6. Pushkin received a bronze statue as a dowry for his wife
Afanasy Abramovich - the father of Natalia Goncharova was a very rich man. It contained the Linen Factory, which was famous throughout the country. In 1775, he was even visited by Catherine II. Goncharov was so impressed by this event that he ordered her bronze statue. She was ready when Paul I ascended the throne
The affairs of Athanasius Abramovich fell into decay. He did not know where to put the statue, to honor Catherine was dangerous. He came up with nothing better than to give the monument as a dowry. Pushkin was not happy with such a gift. The “copper grandmother” caused him a lot of trouble. He offered her to the mint, but this offer did not interest them. After Pushkin’s death, the Bard foundry bought the statue.
5. Carroll invented a nictograph
Lewis Carroll created his own form of shorthand. His invention nictograph was a cardboard with cells. In each cell, with the help of symbols (dashes and dots), he wrote down words. This invention was of great practical benefit.
The writer had many ideas, usually in the dark, when he was already in bed. I didn’t want to get up, and the nictograph was always at hand. He also wrote “Alice in Old Wonders” with the help of this invention.
4. Gogol was panicky afraid that he would be buried alive.
Gogol had a phobia: he was very afraid that he would be buried alive.. In 1839, the writer began to have health problems. He went to Rome, there he contracted malaria. After that, he often lost consciousness, seizures began. These are all symptoms of malaria encephalitis.
He expressed his concerns in letters to his sister Lisa. He wrote that he could not keep warm and sometimes it seemed to him that those around him would not understand that he was sick and not dead. Now it is not known what really happened to the writer. After death, many terrible legends were created.
After 79 years, his remains were reburied. After opening the coffin, they found that the skull of Nikolai Vasilyevich was turned to one side. There was a version that he came to his senses in the grave, but died from a lack of air. Soon she was criticized. The situation was explained by the fact that the rotten boards of the coffin were lowered onto the head, under their weight, it changed position.
3. Tolstoy lost the main building of Yasnaya Polyana to the cards
With this fact, not everything is so simple. Tolstoy really loved playing cards and often had debts. But would he really decide to lose the family estate in which he was born?
In fact, the main building of Yasnaya Polyana was sold to the neighboring landowner. Lev Nikolaevich wanted to spend the money for good purposes, namely, the publication of a magazine for the military. The government did not support this idea, the authorities banned the publication of the magazine.
Lev Nikolaevich did not know how to manage finances and simply handed out all the card debts. I.e we can say that he lost to Yasnaya Polyana in cards.
2. Chapek coined the term “robot”
Karel Chapek - author of the play "Rossum Universal Robots". He wanted to write about "artificial people ", but did not know what to call them. There is an opinion that he coined the word "robot". With the light hand of Karel it came into speech, and it is still used.
Later, признаapek admitted that such a name was offered to him by brother Joseph. Karel for a long time could not decide what to call "artificial workers". The only idea that occurred to him Labor but this word seemed too pedantic to him. The resourceful Josef recommended him to name such people "Robots" which in translation from Czech means "bonded labor».
1. Dumas “introduced” the French to barbecue
Alexander Dumas was not only a talented writer, but also a good cook. He regarded writing books as a source of income, but cooking was an outlet for him, a hobby.
Dumas also loved to travel. He lived in Russia for more than a year, visited Georgia. The kebab made a big impression on him. In Georgia, lamb was used for its preparation, and they were fried on ramrods from a rifle. As soon as Dumas returned to his homeland, in Paris, he first opened his barbecue and introduced the French to this delicious dish.