Did I come back for all of this? It seems absurd somehow

[sovay]

Earlier tonight in Barnes and Noble, buying a birthday present for my father (Stephen Wilkes, Ellis Island: Ghosts of Freedom), I looked through the first few pages of Ron Hansen's The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Somewhere there must be a historical figure in whom I took an interest strictly because of nonfiction, but right now I can't think of one. I had imprinted on William Daniels, so I picked up David McCullough; I read Suetonius because of Robert Graves.* Camille Desmoulins, Tanith Lee's The Gods Are Thirsty. Werner Heisenberg, Michael Frayne's Copenhagen. Whatever I know of their historical importance, even if I encountered them first in school, it's still the jolt of story that inspires research on my own time. I don't require that dramatic arc and historical record match up—Peter Shaffer, I'm looking at you.** Mary Renault's The Mask of Apollo may no longer represent an accurate knowledge of fourth-century Athenian theater, but it's still one of the first books I unpack. And every now and then, it goes the other way: I love Swinburne, so Elizabeth Hand won bonus points with me for Mortal Love. I don't know. It isn't that I don't run across enough odd historical figures in my daily life, many of them thanks to fleurdelis28. But when I read Cicero for the first time, I had rags of Steven Saylor in my head, and it's because of strange_selkie that I translated three songs by Hirsh Glik.

* And then because I had Derek Jacobi on my radar, I pulled a play called Breaking the Code off a shelf in the Book Rack and discovered more than the computational theories of Alan Turing. It's a self-perpetuating cycle.

** On the other hand, when Cecilia Bartoli released an album of arias by Salieri, did more musicologists buy it, or curious audience members? I can only hope his shade would have been amused.

Just as I copied this entry to post it, it struck me that there are historical figures whom I discovered as themselves and whom I keep an eye out for: actors, writers, usw. So is that another form of discovery through art? Or would I need to have seen Love is the Devil before I bought a print by Francis Bacon in order to count it as the same phenomenon?

Comments

[ap-aelfwine.livejournal.com]

Happy birthday to your father!

Speaking of historical artists in books, did you ever read Melissa Scott and Lisa A. Barnett's Armor of Light? Mild alternate history/fantasy, with Sir Philip Sidney and Christopher Marlowe (both surviving in 1595, whence the AH) as major characters.

[sovay]

Speaking of historical artists in books, did you ever read Melissa Scott and Lisa A. Barnett's Armor of Light?

Yes. In that case, I picked the book up specifically because I liked Marlowe; one of the few reverses.* And enjoyed it!

* And because I had liked Scott and Barnett's later collaborations, Point of Hopes (1995) and Point of Dreams (2001). I was working backward. And somewhere in there I learned that Melissa Scott had gone to Brandeis, so in honor of the Classics Department I acquired A Choice of Destinies (1986).

[ap-aelfwine.livejournal.com]

And because I had liked Scott and Barnett's later collaborations, Point of Hopes (1995) and Point of Dreams (2001). I was working backward.

Interesting. I think I read Point of Hopes first, myself. I love those two as well. I'd feel sad for Melissa Scott losing her partner, anyhow, but I mourn the loss of their collaborative talent on a more personal level.

And somewhere in there I learned that Melissa Scott had gone to Brandeis, so in honor of the Classics Department I acquired A Choice of Destinies (1986)

Interesting. I picked up a copy of A Choice of Destinies from some used bookshop or other when I was in high school. It's around somewhere, I'm fairly sure--I should reread it, I think.