Arts & Culture | April 15, 2013

A correspondence corner for not-so-famous lost words

Correspondence on not-so-famous lost words

From The May-June 2013 Issue

Leslie Gillis requests title and author for a book that ends, “I don’t know. I’m just a city boy myself”—in response to a question about whether flowers popping up through the snow are crocuses.

“iron filings” (March-April). Alison Harris recalled this fable about steel filings and a magnet from Extraordinary Tales by Jorge Luis Borges and Adolfo Bioy Casares (1971, edited and translated by Anthony Kerrigan; page 96). Their source, Hesketh Pearson’s The Life of Oscar Wilde (1946; page 212), credits Richard Le Gallienne’s The Romantic ’90s (1926; pages 254ff).

“thoughts of great men” (March-April). Mary Ann Brewin found no citation for this alleged Mark Twain remark, but recommended www.twainquotes.com for many other sourced comments.

Send inquiries and answers to “Chapter and Verse,” Harvard Magazine, 7 Ware Street, Cambridge 02138, or via e-mail tochapterandverse@harvardmag.com.

Published in the May-June 2013 print issue under the headline “Chapter & Verse,” in the Montage section.

You might also like

A woman with long, silver hair rests her chin on her hand, wearing a black top.

Author and Harvard Divinity School writer-in-residence Terry Tempest Williams finds beauty in the world around us.

A woman with long hair stands confidently with crossed arms next to a pickup truck.

In her memoir All That's Unseen, Emilee Hackney explores religion, friendship, and home.

Image depicting Shakespeare and Stephen King

Shakespeare and Stephen King Have a Lot in Common

Shakespeare scholar Caroline Bicks studies horror and fear in literature.

Most popular

Star-filled night sky with the Milky Way arching over a rocky silhouette.

There’s a growing movement to curb light pollution. It starts on your front porch.

Illustration of a donkey turning a ship’s wheel away from high-rise apartment buildings in the background

Origins of the Urban Housing Crisis

The high cost of environmental mandates, historic-preservation rules, and other good intentions

White House and Harvard University buildings split diagonally with contrasting colors.

Harvard Weathers a Year of Turmoil

The federal government has launched unprecedented actions against the University. Here’s a guide.

Explore More From Current Issue

Two colorful octopuses swim among vibrant coral and sea life in a lively underwater scene.

Research

New Harvard research finds octopuses go beyond sight and touch to find mates.

Singer performing on stage with a guitar, wearing a hat, and surrounded by band instruments.

Arts & Culture

Singer Elisa Smith’s whiskey-soaked voice and subversive feminism is part of the genre’s urban shift.

A vibrant group of dancers in colorful outfits poses on a stage with shiny decorations.

Arts & Culture

The Harvard Arts Medalist wants his smash-hit Cats revival to reach “as many young queer people” as possible.