One-Line Book Review: The covers of this book are too far apart
Jonathan Lighter
wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM
Sun Feb 9 13:43:35 UTC 2014
Garson, sorry not to have checked my earlier post.
But it had been a long day.
JL
On Sat, Feb 8, 2014 at 9:51 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject: Re: One-Line Book Review: The covers of this book are too far
> apart
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I wonder if this template eventually gives rise to the classic "first
> prize/second prize" that must have originated in some comic's version of a
> game show: first prize, a week in Cleveland (or whatever), second prize,
> two weeks. Or maybe it's just a case of great minds joking alike.
>
> LH
>
> On Feb 8, 2014, at 9:44 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole wrote:
>
> > Great point, JL! Your message certainly provides a new perspective.
> > You sent a message to the ADS list on this topic, and I replied back
> > on April 22, 2013:
> >
> > http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ADS-L;4041092.1304D
> > http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ADS-L;8bbc61a8.1304D
> >
> > Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >>
> >> Elsewhere but not in YBQ:
> >>
> >> 1896 Ambrose Bierce in _San Francisco Examiner_ (July 26) [qtd. in Paul
> >> Fatout, _Ambrose Bierce_ (Norman, Okla.: U. of Okla. P., 1951) 226] :
> >>
> >> I had thought there could be only two worse writers than Stephen Crane,
> >> namely two Stephen Cranes.
> >
> > [Begin message from Garson sent in April 22, 2013]
> > Ambrose Bierce used the same joke template in 1906 in "The Cynic's
> > Word Book" later retitled "The Devil's Dictionary":
> >
> > [ref] 1906, The Cynic's Word Book by Ambrose Bierce, Entry: Clarionet,
> > Quote Page 51, Doubleday, Page & Company, New York. (Google Books full
> > view) [/ref]
> >
> > http://books.google.com/books?id=CboOAAAAIAAJ&q=clarionet+#v=snippet&
> >
> > [Begin excerpt]
> > CLARIONET, n. An instrument of torture operated by a person with
> > cotton in his ears. There are two instruments that are worse than a
> > clarionet - two clarionets.
> > [End excerpt]
> >
> > (Hat-tip "The Poetry of Stephen Crane by Daniel Hoffman who mentioned
> > both quotations.)
> > [End message]
> >
> > Garson
> >
> > On Sat, Feb 8, 2014 at 8:47 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> >> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >> Poster: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> >> Subject: Re: One-Line Book Review: The covers of this book are too
> far
> >> apart
> >>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >> Concerning Crane, Bierce evidently did write in July, 1896, that "I had
> >> thought there could be only two worse writers than Stephen Crane, namely
> >> two Stephen Cranes."
> >>
> >> I don't have a reference, but the statement seemed sufficiently
> authentic
> >> at the time for me to note it for my current research.
> >>
> >> JL
> >>
> >>
> >> On Sat, Feb 8, 2014 at 8:18 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole <
> adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com
> >>> wrote:
> >>
> >>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >>> -----------------------
> >>> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >>> Poster: ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> >>> Subject: Re: One-Line Book Review: The covers of this book are
> too far
> >>> apart
> >>>
> >>>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>
> >>> (I've been working on too many George Bernard Shaw quotations. In the
> >>> previous message the correct name "Davis" was replaced by the
> >>> incorrect name "Shaw". Below is a revised message.)
> >>>
> >>> This message is about comical book review quotation "The covers of
> >>> this book are too far apart" which is usually attributed to Ambrose
> >>> Bierce. One may check the QI website for further background.
> >>>
> >>> Following a valuable lead from Stephen Goranson I examined a
> >>> multi-volume 1963 edition of the "The Work of Stephen Crane". This
> >>> edition was a reissue of an edition by Alfred A. Knopf. The
> >>> introduction to volume 2 was written by Robert H. Davis and was dated
> >>> December 8, 1924.
> >>>
> >>> So, Davis composed the introduction ten years after the disappearance
> >>> of Ambrose Bierce circa 1914.
> >>>
> >>> Davis discussed meeting with Ambrose Bierce, and he presented a
> >>> statement that he heard directly from Bierce. Davis then mentioned the
> >>> "classic single-line review" credited to Bierce. The phrasing used by
> >>> Davis suggested to me that Davis did not hear this review from Bierce
> >>> directly. In fact, Davis may have heard about the "single-line review"
> >>> years after he met with Bierce.
> >>>
> >>> The joke has an anonymous creator in the earliest instances I've
> >>> located in 1899, and there is still no direct evidence that Ambrose
> >>> Bierce spoke or wrote an instance of the joke.
> >>>
> >>> [ref] 1963, The Work of Stephen Crane by Stephen Crane, Edited by
> >>> Wilson Follett, Volume 2, (Introduction by Robert H. Davis; dated
> >>> December 8, 1924), Start Page ix, Quote Page x, Published by Russell &
> >>> Russell, New York. (Reissue by Russell & Russell of Alfred A. Knopf
> >>> edition) (Verified on paper in 1963 edition)[/ref]
> >>>
> >>> [Begin excerpt]
> >>>
> >>> The following week I met Ambrose Bierce and William C. Morrow, two
> >>> distinguished men of letters who have since joined the shades, and
> >>> spoke to them of THE RED BADGE. Both had read it. I do not recall
> >>> Morrow's exact criticism except that it was reasonably laudatory.
> >>> Bierce's observation remains with me:
> >>>
> >>> "This young man," said he, "has the power to feel. He knows nothing of
> >>> war, yet he is drenched in blood. Most beginners who deal with this
> >>> subject spatter themselves merely with ink."
> >>>
> >>> This, coming from the brilliant critic who wrote that classic
> >>> single-line review, "The covers of this book are too far apart,"
> >>> encouraged me in the belief that I had at least interpreted the
> >>> fourteenth child of Jonathan Townley Crane, D.D.
> >>>
> >>> This closes the San Francisco chapter and all of it that pertains to
> >>> Stephen Crane.
> >>>
> >>> [End excerpt]
> >>>
> >>> Great thanks to Stephen,
> >>>
> >>> Garson
> >>>
> >>> On Sat, Feb 8, 2014 at 8:03 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole
> >>> <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>>> This message is about a comical book review quotation: "The covers of
> >>>> this book are too far apart" which is usually attributed to Ambrose
> >>>> Bierce. One may check the QI website for further background.
> >>>>
> >>>> Following a valuable lead from Stephen Goranson I examined a
> >>>> multi-volume 1963 edition of the "The Work of Stephen Crane". This
> >>>> edition was a reissue of an edition by Alfred A. Knopf. The
> >>>> introduction to volume 2 was written by Robert H. Davis and was dated
> >>>> December 8, 1924.
> >>>>
> >>>> So, Davis composed the introduction ten years after the disappearance
> >>>> of Ambrose Bierce circa 1914.
> >>>>
> >>>> Shaw discussed meeting with Ambrose Bierce, and he presented a
> >>>> statement that he heard directly from Bierce. Shaw then mentioned the
> >>>> "classic single-line review" credited to Bierce. The phrasing used by
> >>>> Shaw suggested to me that Shaw did not hear this review from Bierce
> >>>> directly. In fact, Shaw may have heard about the "single-line review"
> >>>> years after he met with Bierce.
> >>>>
> >>>> The joke has an anonymous creator in the earliest instances I've
> >>>> located in 1899, and there is still no direct evidence that Ambrose
> >>>> Bierce spoke or wrote an instance of the joke.
> >>>>
> >>>> [ref] 1963, The Work of Stephen Crane by Stephen Crane, Edited by
> >>>> Wilson Follett, Volume 2, (Introduction by Robert H. Davis; dated
> >>>> December 8, 1924), Start Page ix, Quote Page x, Published by Russell &
> >>>> Russell, New York. (Reissue by Russell & Russell of Alfred A. Knopf
> >>>> edition) (Verified on paper in 1963 edition)[/ref]
> >>>>
> >>>> [Begin excerpt]
> >>>> The following week I met Ambrose Bierce and William C. Morrow, two
> >>>> distinguished men of letters who have since joined the shades, and
> >>>> spoke to them of THE RED BADGE. Both had read it. I do not recall
> >>>> Morrow's exact criticism except that it was reasonably laudatory.
> >>>> Bierce's observation remains with me:
> >>>>
> >>>> "This young man," said he, "has the power to feel. He knows nothing of
> >>>> war, yet he is drenched in blood. Most beginners who deal with this
> >>>> subject spatter themselves merely with ink."
> >>>>
> >>>> This, coming from the brilliant critic who wrote that classic
> >>>> single-line review, "The covers of this book are too far apart,"
> >>>> encouraged me in the belief that I had at least interpreted the
> >>>> fourteenth child of Jonathan Townley Crane, D.D.
> >>>>
> >>>> This closes the San Francisco chapter and all of it that pertains to
> >>>> Stephen Crane.
> >>>> [End excerpt]
> >>>>
> >>>> Great thanks to Stephen. I will update the QI entry,
> >>>> Garson
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> On Fri, Jan 31, 2014 at 5:25 AM, Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu>
> >>> wrote:
> >>>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >>> -----------------------
> >>>>> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >>>>> Poster: Stephen Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU>
> >>>>> Subject: Re: One-Line Book Review: The covers of this book are
> too
> >>> far
> >>>>> apart
> >>>>>
> >>>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Another attribution (in 1925) to Bierce from someone who (apparently,
> >>> relying on this old note) knew Bierce:
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>
> http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0808D&L=ADS-L&P=R231&I=-3&d=No+Match%3BMatch%3BMatches
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Stephen Goranson
> >>>>> http://people.duke.edu/~goranson/
> >>>>> ________________________________________
> >>>>> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of
> >>> ADSGarson O'Toole [adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM]
> >>>>> Sent: Thursday, January 30, 2014 6:59 PM
> >>>>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >>>>> Subject: [ADS-L] One-Line Book Review: The covers of this book are
> too
> >>> far apart
> >>>>>
> >>>>> The quotation in the subject line appeared in the 1929 biographical
> >>>>> work titled "Bitter Bierce: A Mystery of American Letters" by C.
> >>>>> Hartley Grattan. The author credited Bierce with the quip.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> This 1929 citation was listed in several key reference works
> >>>>> including: Cassell's Humorous Quotations (2001), The Yale Book of
> >>>>> Quotations (2006), and The Oxford Dictionary of American Quotations
> >>>>> (2006).
> >>>>>
> >>>>> I've made some progress antedating this expression. A version of the
> >>>>> gibe was in circulation by 1899. A linkage to Bierce was asserted by
> >>>>> the prominent humorist Irvin S. Cobb in 1923. Here is a link to the
> QI
> >>>>> entry:
> >>>>>
> >>>>> http://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/01/30/apart/
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Additional citations providing illumination would be most welcome.
> >>> Thanks.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Garson
> >>>>>
> >>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>>>>
> >>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>>
> >>> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
> >>
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
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