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

Caricature of a young man in front of red doors, wearing a green striped sweater.

In 1954, Gregory Corso moved into Eliot House. How he stayed there is a literary legend.

Portrait of a man in a denim shirt beside a blue book cover for "Gretal and the Great War" featuring an illustration of a leg holding an army helmet..

The Gretel and the Great War author on how the Lampoon derailed his science career—and set him on a literary path.

Book cover featuring vibrant underwater plants and coral with the title "Under Water" by Tara Menon.

The popular Harvard English professor published Under Water this spring.

Most popular

Two laboratory researchers, one seated and one standing, in a scientific lab with equipment.

The stakes are high for this husband and wife: one of them will die if they don’t find a cure.

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

All That’s Unseen charts the Harvard graduate’s uneasy journey from Appalachia to Cambridge and back.

Stone building with tall columns, steps leading up, and a flag atop under a cloudy sky.

The University will compensate families of those whose remains were sold and establish a scholarship to honor anatomical donors.

Explore More From Current Issue

A flooded office scene with computers, a woman working, and a pink sunset backdrop.

Undergraduate Column

A College student’s attempt to recapture the romanticism of the workplace.

Three hands hold smartphones displaying social media profiles with likes and hearts.

Tell us about how social media impacts your daily life.

A busy classroom filled with students working at computers, colorful decor, and a bright atmosphere.

Technology

In 2004, a frenzy spread across Harvard Yard in days. Four billion users later, we are only just catching up.