Gyles Brandreth is an Englishman who writes mystery novels featuring real-life Victorians. He recently pointed out this interesting group. Ponder if you will:
J.M. Barrie
Arthur Conan Doyle
E.W. Hornung
Robert Louis Stevenson
Bram Stoker
Oscar Wilde
What do these six men have in common, besides being famous British authors?
They made up the roster at a single dinner party. That's right, the creators of Dracula, Dorian Gray, Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Jeckyl, Peter Pan, and A.J. Raffles once sat down for a festive meal together.
Imagine for one horrible second how literature would have changed if, say, a boiler had blown up the restaurant that night. My word, for one thing, cyberpunk might have died before being born.
And don't you wish we had a recording of what these six gentlemen discussed that night? And would anyone bet against me if I guessed it was taxes and the weather?
What about a mystery set at that dinner?
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, Rob, but I don't believe for one second that Oscar Wilde talked about the weather. He had a reputation to maintain! On the other hand, depending on what age they were at the time of the dinner party, they might have devoted some time to the organ recital...no, scratch that, Victorian gentlemen didn't talk about their health and fitness or medical symptoms the way we moderns do.
ReplyDeleteMy bet is they talked about contacting the dead.
ReplyDeleteHmmmmm....Why am I thinking of the Black Widowers?
ReplyDeleteI agree with Eve. I think they discussed contact with the dead.
ReplyDeleteAnd, thanks a ton for bringing this up, and pointing me toward that terrific article, Rob.
--Dix
I always try to read and search about these famous British authors and i read a lot about these personalities which i never forget.dinnerparties.co.uk Thank you so much for talking about these great person.
ReplyDelete