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Once Again to Zelda: The Stories Behind Literature's Most Intriguing Dedications
A fascinating look at the stories behind the dedications of 50 literary classics.
Mary Shelley dedicated Frankenstein to her father, her greatest champion. Charlotte Brönte dedicated Jane Eyre to William Makepeace Thackeray for his enthusiastic review of the book's first edition. Dostoyevsky dedicated The Brothers Karamazov to his typist-turned-lover Anna Grigoyevna. And, a...more
Mary Shelley dedicated Frankenstein to her father, her greatest champion. Charlotte Brönte dedicated Jane Eyre to William Makepeace Thackeray for his enthusiastic review of the book's first edition. Dostoyevsky dedicated The Brothers Karamazov to his typist-turned-lover Anna Grigoyevna. And, a...more
Hardcover, 313 pages
Published
November 4th 2008
by Perigee Trade
(first published 2008)
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A great little volume of short anecdotal and historical tidbits about the dedications of some of the many books we have read in our lives. Quick reading and some are funny, some sad, some just fodder for cocktail party conversation. A good read.
The subtitle of this book promised more than this book offered. There were a few "intriguing dedications" (Ayn Rand's comes to mind), but most of these were fairly straightforward. Wagman-Geller basically gives short bios of the original authors and their significant others, and they're fairly interesting - the contemporary authors' bios more so, since we know more about the older ones like Fitzgerald or Hemingway.
However, one thing that really irritated me was the cutesy way Wagman-Geller wou...more
However, one thing that really irritated me was the cutesy way Wagman-Geller wou...more
I was so excited about this one, and it is a big disappointment. I lovelovelove reading dedications and acknowledgments in books, so I am very interested in the subject matter of the book. And the cover and design of this book are lovely. I have major gripes about this one, though, and here they are:
1. The writing! It is just so trite and uninspired. I really reminds me of essays written for school.
2. Who cites Wikipedia in their book?? Repeatedly? Seriously. Most of the sources are webpages, ma...more
3 likes · like · see review
Though the premise is interesting, and the dedications are as intriguing as promised, the book is written so badly that I started to feel guilty for even being interested. Cheesy and condescending by turns, I can only imagine it was perhaps aimed at the high schoolers Ms. Wagman-Geller taught. But even high schoolers who would have enough interest to read about literary dedications would probably be insulted by the sheer bad writing.
Oh yes, and even a tenth grader might manage not to mangle Ham...more
Oh yes, and even a tenth grader might manage not to mangle Ham...more
2 likes · like · see review
I've been wanting to read this book for about a year now, but I've been waiting to get it through an Inter Library Loan. I figured that the book would be good, but not good enough to pay the $16.95 retail price to put it in my personal collection, and it turns out I was right.
The author has a great premise- researching "The stories behind literature's most intriguing dedications". Many of the dedications are intriguing (such as the Peyton Place dedication "To GEORGE For All The Reasons he knows...more
The author has a great premise- researching "The stories behind literature's most intriguing dedications". Many of the dedications are intriguing (such as the Peyton Place dedication "To GEORGE For All The Reasons he knows...more
I really enjoyed reading this book, it told a lot of interesting stories behind the dedications of stories. Many of which could possibly stand on their own as books. Within this book you get histories of people who were writers & who were many other things as well & you learn of who they were & why they dedicated their books to the beings their dedicated to. The author of this book shows you the background & the why of it all. You learn to appreciate love, writing, & so much...more
Pretty much the title says it all here. Wagman-Geller actually reads the dedications in the books she reads (I usually glaze over them) and wants to know the stories behind them. This book is a collection of those stories for some of the most well-known books.
I really enjoyed this. I learned all sorts of things I didn't know before and some of the stories behind the dedications read like soap operas. However, some of the stories were definitely not intriguing (like most of the dedications to spo...more
I really enjoyed this. I learned all sorts of things I didn't know before and some of the stories behind the dedications read like soap operas. However, some of the stories were definitely not intriguing (like most of the dedications to spo...more
I really enjoyed learning the stories and connections behind the authors' dedications, especially when they were authors or works with which I am familiar, so I really wanted to like this book. Unfortunately, I found the writing style distracting, disjointed and clunky, with a few factual errors. The transitions were often abrupt, to the point that they felt like unnecessary commentary at times. One example of this that sticks out is when she wrote, "When they returned home from their second hon...more
The subtitle to this book should have been "The Predictable, Occasionally Interesting Stories Behind the Dedications of Some of Our Most Intriguing Literature."
Wagman-Geller picked some well-known pieces of literature--good pieces of literature--and did shallow Wikipedia research into the basic stories behind the dedications (I'm not exaggerating: there are internet links to wiki pages in the bibliography). And, sit down for this part, what seemed like 90% of writers dedicated their books to pa...more
Wagman-Geller picked some well-known pieces of literature--good pieces of literature--and did shallow Wikipedia research into the basic stories behind the dedications (I'm not exaggerating: there are internet links to wiki pages in the bibliography). And, sit down for this part, what seemed like 90% of writers dedicated their books to pa...more
In spite of the amateurish writing, the brief insights into literature's most revered authors are riveting. One of my favorites is about Fyodor Dostoevsky who was granted a royal pardon just minutes before he was to be executed in front of a firing squad, a gesture that allowed some of the world's most important writing (The Brother's Karamozov and Crime and Punishment) to be born. I also learned that most writers are adulterers and have a lot of children that die and that if I am to be a seriou...more
Interesting stories
that normally I would eschew
because the writing is only fair
as I'm looking to improve myself
but I can't resist
such things as Harper Lee
Gettum up Scout!
beating up kids at school
when they would pick
on her effeminate neighbor friend
who would grow up to be
Truman Capote
that normally I would eschew
because the writing is only fair
as I'm looking to improve myself
but I can't resist
such things as Harper Lee
Gettum up Scout!
beating up kids at school
when they would pick
on her effeminate neighbor friend
who would grow up to be
Truman Capote
I now know why I will never be a writer. While I have suffered, it is obvious from this book that I have not suffered enough.
The stories behind the dedications to the books listed run from the tragic, to the more than tragic, to the most horrible thing I have ever heard. The authors are listed in chronological order and as we approach the present, the suffering does diminish somewhat. The real tragedy was that I missed it.
If you love books, gossip and information that is only needed to win a Tri...more
The stories behind the dedications to the books listed run from the tragic, to the more than tragic, to the most horrible thing I have ever heard. The authors are listed in chronological order and as we approach the present, the suffering does diminish somewhat. The real tragedy was that I missed it.
If you love books, gossip and information that is only needed to win a Tri...more
So, as it plays out, I am not the only one who wonders who "Mr. Lee and Alice" were - was he Atticus? Was she Calpurnia? - and if all those "dear wives" that books are dedicated to were really - well, dear wives. (Yes, he was Atticus, but she is not Calpurnia. Turns out Harper Lee has a beloved older sister who bossed her around a lot in her youth. And all those "my dear wife" dedications? A LOT of them got divorced not long after.)
Interesting, entertaining - and learning the truth behind the de...more
Interesting, entertaining - and learning the truth behind the de...more
overall I have to agree with many of the other reviews of this book and I would give this book 2 1/2 stars if I could--Wagman-Geller's writing is not great and the sections on each book are not that full developed but why are you reading it? I read it in one sitting and was not reading it for great literature but a light read about an interesting subject. Lit Gossip. It was like sitting down with a geek's National Enquirer--it just needed some pictures. Did Hawthorne and Melville have more than...more
A book in serious need of a fact checker. I was enjoying the gossipy little bios until I wanted to know more -- then I discovered than most of the author's material came from Wikipedia. While I think Wikipedia has its place, this is a book by a major publisher (Penguin), and I expect more. If I won't let a first year writer in college use Wikipedia as a source, why should Penguin allow it from one of their published authors?
Just as one example -- the author called Fitzgerald's The Beautiful and...more
Just as one example -- the author called Fitzgerald's The Beautiful and...more
Some mixed feelings here. On one hand, some of these dedications were quite interesting, and so so were the histories they brought up. On the other hand, most of the dedications were simply to the current significant other of the author in question, so it ended up being more of a series of short biographies than I had expected. Maybe it's too tall of an order, but I would have rather that Wagman-Geller had concentrated on the more unusual dedications. Because let's face it, the dedication of Sch...more
So this is a book about the stories behind the dedications of books of stories, as you can tell from the title of the book, and the stories inside.
The good: the stories are generally pretty interesting, and we learns lots of interesting tidbits about writers. (Some of them had really fascinating lives.) And we learn things about famous writers as a class of people. (They're predominately cheaters.) And we get a sense of the social milieu that brought about some of the famous works.
The bad: the b...more
The good: the stories are generally pretty interesting, and we learns lots of interesting tidbits about writers. (Some of them had really fascinating lives.) And we learn things about famous writers as a class of people. (They're predominately cheaters.) And we get a sense of the social milieu that brought about some of the famous works.
The bad: the b...more
Oct 31, 2010
Bookworm1858
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
read-2010,
history-or-general-nf
Once Again to Zelda by Marlene Wagman-Geller
Perigee, 2008
276 pages
Non-fiction
3/5 stars
Source: Library
Summary: An examination in to some of the most famous and most puzzling dedications of books in order to gain insight into the lives of the writers.
Thoughts: The first dedication is for the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. It is to her father who wrote a biography of his wife and her mother Mary Wollstonecraft, published in 1798, which she says scandalized Victorian society. Do you see the err...more
Perigee, 2008
276 pages
Non-fiction
3/5 stars
Source: Library
Summary: An examination in to some of the most famous and most puzzling dedications of books in order to gain insight into the lives of the writers.
Thoughts: The first dedication is for the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. It is to her father who wrote a biography of his wife and her mother Mary Wollstonecraft, published in 1798, which she says scandalized Victorian society. Do you see the err...more
I was excited when I got this book as a Christmas present, but the excitement just did not last. It starts as a clever idea: telling the story behind dedications in both classic and popular literature. Unfortunately, it is written like a bad graduate thesis and even more poorly researched. I just couldn't get past the trite phrasing (often times using a catch phrase from the novel focused on as a cute way to end each section--not cute-- it was really like "...and with her last breath, Margaret M...more
This book had a lot of potential -- I thought that the topic sounded really interesting. But in the end, I was quite disappointed. I'd hardly call most of the dedications she explains "literature's most intriguing" -- most of them were pretty straightforward dedications to one's spouse or parent, with nothing "intriguing" there. And really -- if you've read The Year of Magical Thinking, do you need an explanation of why Joan Didion dedicated the book to her husband and daughter?
The worst part o...more
The worst part o...more
It's inspiring. It tells of true love, deep sorrow, and shocking transgressions.
As a bibliophile, I loved it. As someone interested in other people's stories, I loved it. I wanted to memorize every segment.
My only (very small) complaint was of the author's need to tidy everything up at the close of each chapter. It was "hallmark-y" and neat. There wasn't a need to bring the chapter full-circle, or to draw parallels and conclusions for the reader, although perhaps the mainstream audience of this...more
As a bibliophile, I loved it. As someone interested in other people's stories, I loved it. I wanted to memorize every segment.
My only (very small) complaint was of the author's need to tidy everything up at the close of each chapter. It was "hallmark-y" and neat. There wasn't a need to bring the chapter full-circle, or to draw parallels and conclusions for the reader, although perhaps the mainstream audience of this...more
Aug 11, 2012
Joe
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Book Fans, Readers, The Curious
Shelves:
history,
explanation
This was a great read. Encompassing some of the world's most famous classic books, up to very contemporary titles, this book gives the stories behind the sometimes mysterious dedications. From parents, to children, from lovers to husbands (and both in Ayn Rand's case), nearly every person you could imagine is given credit for books, and along with those, "Once Again" gives insight and background to the author's rationale for mentioning the people that they mentioned.
Here's the thing about this book: it's a great concept, but the author does not deliver a great book.
First, the subtitle claims that the book will cover "literature's most intriguing dedications", but what it really covers are generic dedications from some of literature's greatest authors. But that's not really the story either because often the book containing the dedication isn't even mentioned, leaving us with simply a four or five page biography of the author and dedicatee.
Second, the autho...more
First, the subtitle claims that the book will cover "literature's most intriguing dedications", but what it really covers are generic dedications from some of literature's greatest authors. But that's not really the story either because often the book containing the dedication isn't even mentioned, leaving us with simply a four or five page biography of the author and dedicatee.
Second, the autho...more
It was a quick and an easy read, no impressive vocabulary. It covered the basics and did show the stories that often seemed to rival the fictional plot that they wrote. But I found that the writing was too repetitive. I show the same phrases used over and over again, and it was quite stupid that words like "damned" where censored whilst ruder words were uncensored. I couldn't see the logic in that.
Reading snippets of this was like walking a round of golf with a lecturing librarian-- some of it didactic, some just a lovely tidbit of gossip. Alas, her writing is annoying, as if her audience reads one of those magazines in the doctor's office. It's going to be bedside reading in the guest room, perfect to dip in and out of.
The conceit of this book is to take the dedication from 50 authors and to weave in a brief 3-5 page discussion of the author and the persons who the book is dedicated to. Gossipy but fun. It is also a cautionary tale with a huge proportion of the writers dissipated by alcoholism, depression, and mental illness. A fun read.
The positive: I enjoyed a couple of these "behind the dedications" stories -- the Ayn Rand one, for example.
The negative: It was just so poorly written! The author used innuendo and triteness, instead of writing in an interesting manner. Also, many of the stories were boring or fairly well-known.
The summary: It was so, so not worth it. Would not recommend.
The negative: It was just so poorly written! The author used innuendo and triteness, instead of writing in an interesting manner. Also, many of the stories were boring or fairly well-known.
The summary: It was so, so not worth it. Would not recommend.
I found this book so interesting! It essentially tells you the story behind the dedications you find at the beginning of a book. Even though I did not read several of the books that are mentioned in this book, I enjoyed taking a peek behind the scenes to find out what a book's dedication was all about. Thumbs up!
The dedication page in a book has never been a must-read for me until this author told the back stories on fifty writer's dedications. They are short, pithy, enigmatic and clues to the puzzle of the writer's own story. This is a night table book: one that can be read a couple of pages at a time.
A "veteran" high school English teacher researches the backgrounds of dedications of 50 famous works of literature. It's a very interesting book, but the egregious grammar errors made me cringe, especially since the author is a "veteran" high school English teacher!
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