What shall I say to Walt Whitman tonight?

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If Walt Whitman (or Ezra Pound or Robert Frost or whoever) sat with you over dinner tonight, what would you talk about?

― pepektheassassin (pepektheassassin), Friday, 7 May 2004 23:20 (twenty-one years ago)

I think I'd be inclined to ask about their times - there's this weird thing in that when I think about history I don't have a sense of their reality - I can't believe that a woman my age 200 years ago would have had the same feelings that I have - I tend to think that colors were muted (undoubtedly thanks to B&W photos) - what about flavors? How were they described? Is what I think of as "turquoise" what they thought as being "turquoise"? I wonder how things like that have changed over time. What about appearance? Would someone who's considered a beauty today (by the general public, I mean) have been considered beautiful at a time when there wasn't access to regular bathing? What was feared? What was desired? What was dreamt?

(Hmmm - I think I'd be asking a lot of questions and not contributing much else to the conversation - more of an interview, I guess.)

(I once had a lit. class and for the final exam essay we had to think back over all of the characters that we'd read about during the semester and then had to select seven of them for a "dinner party" giving thought to personalities and interests and so forth. Pretty cool.)

― I'm Passing Open Windows (Ms Laura), Saturday, 8 May 2004 08:34 (twenty-one years ago)

"I'm Passing"...who did you select?
I assume, like you, that historical effects and societal norms would be the big questions. But if it was a "floating" encounter between eras, then larger questions could be addressed. It would be fun to have the opportunity to have dinner, drink wine and play scrabble with any number of literary figures.
Ezra Pound? I imagine he would beat me at Scrabble. Or eat me, not sure which. The gender part is difficult - women are still trying to obtain a valid identity in so many areas, and literature is just one of them.
So I guess I would choose the Brontes, and I would give them comfy (Nancy Drew) pajamas to wear, and ask them what role they think women should play in their vision of an ideal society. And then....we would all play Scrabble.

― aimurchie, Saturday, 8 May 2004 23:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Emily and Charlotte in Nancy Drew pajamas, playing scrabble! And what role do you suppose they would think women should play is this ideal society? Besides beating you, Ezra would probably not let you get a word in edgewise.

I used to take Important Dead People (Long Dead People) on rides with me in the car and explain things to them like electricity and air travel etc. (Things I know little enuf about, but that never stopped me).

― pepektheassassin (pepektheassassin), Sunday, 9 May 2004 02:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Ezra Pound - he would have devoured me. That's why he's not invited!
Emily and Charlotte - in their comfy pj's - would be wonderful guests and excellent conversationalists. But - for Scrabble - we would want a fourth. Perhaps you, pepek? But only in your Nancy Drew couture!

― aimurchie, Sunday, 9 May 2004 03:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Scrabble with more than two players? Are you nuts?

― Casuistry (Chris P), Sunday, 9 May 2004 07:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Why, yes, I am! It is very possible to play Scrabble with four players. But, if it makes you happy, I'll play -hmmm - Hearts with the Brontes. You, of course, will not be invited! (We might have you over for Spades at a later date).

― aimurchie, Sunday, 9 May 2004 11:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Alison - I think that the assignment was for a Shakespeare course (one of many that I took, for some reason). If I recall correctly, we could invite only one character from each play. I think I went with Portia from The Merchant of Venice and one of Lear's daughters, so they could talk about familial relationships, specifically father-daughter realtionships (Oedipus Rex and all of that). And either Hotspur or Hal (from Henry IV, Part 1) and then maybe Hamlet, to talk about destiny and leadership and masculine ideals. Definitely Juliet's nurse and Falstaff from The Merry Wives of Windsor because they'd be able to banter and liven the conversation when everyone burned-out on talking about parents and destiny. I think I also went with two more comedic characters, inviting Katherina from Taming of the Shrew and Benedick from Much Ado About Nothing, who would also have some fun, lusty bantering to lighten the mood.

And I'm a Scrabble addict - with two or more players - though after four it gets to be a pain and I recommend using teams.

― I'm Passing Open Windows (Ms Laura), Monday, 10 May 2004 05:04 (twenty-one years ago)

I think I would ask Walt Whitman to visit present-day New York and discuss what he thinks of his city now.
I always had a longing to go to Italy in 1820 and nurse poor tubercular John Keats back to health. (But perhaps we shouldn't mess with history.)
Ezra Pound wouldn't be invited to my dinner party either. We'd end up fighting about politics.
I would love to talk with Mary Shelley, sans Percy, about women's rights and history and Frankenstein.

― Jocelyn (Jocelyn), Monday, 10 May 2004 13:06 (twenty-one years ago)

I know it's playable, but I think it's only fun with two players -- too much downtime! With four players and a deck of cards, I'd most like to be playing euchre, though I'd need to find enough midwestern writers to make that happen...

― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 03:48 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't know how to play euchre - nor how to pronounce it. A board game AND a card game at once? I really don't want to play scrabble with you. The only board game I am good at is Go. My family loves cribbage, but I don't really get it. I would like to wear Lily Pulitzer dresses and wear frosted lipstick and sit around a retirement home and play bridge at some point - does anyone play bridge? Yeah, me neither.

― aimurchie, Tuesday, 11 May 2004 04:14 (twenty-one years ago)

I wouldn't talk to Walt Whitman, I'd take him to the supermarket, and led him have his wicked way with the fresh produce.

― SRH (Skrik), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 11:14 (twenty-one years ago)

A good friend of mine once wrote a REALLY poronographic book of bridge instructions.

― pepektheassassin (pepektheassassin), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 13:44 (twenty-one years ago)

I can only imagine WW fondling the beans. What a disgusting thing that would be! But it might lead to a very interesting conversation over dinner.

― pepektheassassin (pepektheassassin), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 13:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Pepek, read Ginsberg's A Supermarket in California for a better picture.

― SRH (Skrik), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 16:01 (twenty-one years ago)

nine years pass...

the stuff about 'a strong and sweet Female Race, a race of perfect Mothers' in 'democratic vistas' is sorta o_0

― j., Sunday, 17 November 2013 00:50 (eleven years ago)

If you invited a bunch of women and men from bygone eras to dinner could the conversation between them be even? I'd worry that protocols and mores would be so drilled in that the sexes would either only talk inside their own group or women might let the men talk first and not be very forthcoming in their presence.
Or is the idea that in reanimation would automatically come a sense of current gender equality?

― Stevolende, Sunday, 17 November 2013 08:57 (eleven years ago)

perfect mothers would be awesome people

― Aimless, Sunday, 17 November 2013 19:09 (eleven years ago)

i think he is thinking of them more as breeders who will people the Nation

― j., Sunday, 17 November 2013 20:13 (eleven years ago)

I'd probably ask Whitman to blow me, help relieve those pent-up aching rivers

― the objections to Drake from non-REAL HIPHOP people (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 17 November 2013 20:14 (eleven years ago)

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