John said:
... the Speccie is no good for our purposes this week...
I myself find it intriguing, although too much of a time-waster to waste time on, considering the slim odds of taking a prize (let alone the fiver!).
No. 2604: Odd couple
Imagine that Graham Greene and J.K. Rowling, or Philip Roth and Edna O’Brien, sat down together to write a book. You are invited to submit a passage from a novel that is the product of a collaboration between two unlikely bedfellows (150 words maximum and please stipulate bedfellows). Entries to ‘Competition 2604’ by 9 July or email
lucy@spectator.co.uk.
This assignment jogged my memory about a thread on D&A, posted by Sharon Passmore in which you were asked to make a composite, both artistic and literary, of two poets. Technically, the two I did are not appropriate for the Speccie, since she's asking for novelists. But I think its arguable that the Divine Comedy is kind of a novel, ditto Beowulf. (story, characters, plot,beginning, middle, end, yada yada yada).
As for Dr. Seuss--well, he's not a novelist but certainly a story-teller...(although I wonder, are Brits familiar with Dr. Seuss?)
Anyway, I'm going to submit these. What the hey?
(Not the artwork, of course. But I thought you might like to see it.)
You guys might want to try some of these (with or without artwork) just for fun, if you've got the time to waste. Or not.
Above, a fragment of Beocat-- all that remains of the only known manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon epic. Courtesy of the Whoville Museum.
BEOCAT
...while his hearth comrades
.....kibble-drunk, dozing,
purred by the fire
.....bold Beocat,
hat-famous, fearless,
.....sought the foul foe.
Heedless was the hero
.....of hackencracks howling,
of greegrumps growling,
.....or the sneetch's wild screech.
Oft had the fur fiend,
.....the heart-shrunken Grinch,
harrier of hearthdogs,
..... harasser of Whos,
come down from Mount Crumpet
..... snarling and kvetching...
translated into Modern English by Dr. Seuss
Latest Speccie - Odd couple
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