Dale Hurst – Author - Novelist news and other titbits
  • Home
  • About Dale Hurst
  • Writing
  • Podcast – The Dale Hurst Writing Show
Home
About Dale Hurst
Writing
Podcast – The Dale Hurst Writing Show
Dale Hurst – Author - Novelist news and other titbits
  • Home
  • About Dale Hurst
  • Blog
  • Writing
    • Lust & Liberty
    • Sin & Secrecy
    • You Can Hear Chopin
    • Short Fiction
      • Ballad of a Godless Man
    • Poetry
  • Podcast
    • Season 1
    • Season 2
  • Get in touch
Browsing Tag
edgar allan poe
Blog

“One for the Scholars” — Allusions, Inside Jokes and Easter Eggs in Literature

May 30, 2020 No Comments
"One for the scholars", a phrase that will appear in Sin & Secrecy is in fact a passing tribute to a group of old friends of mine, many of which are pictured here.

“One for the scholars”, a phrase that will appear in Sin & Secrecy, is in fact a passing tribute to a group of old friends of mine, many of whom are pictured here.

As I do my last wave of final checks on the new book, I’ve been taking the time to chuck in a few hidden extras. A little bit of fun for those who know what to look for…

People like stories with messages behind them. I personally enjoy ones that aren’t necessarily there to teach a lesson or to represent the author’s inner feelings (we had a few examples of those in a post earlier in the month), but instead offer subtle allusions and homages to other work, or have inside jokes for the analytical readers to smoke out.

The upcoming second instalment to The Berylford Scandals series – Sin & Secrecy – has a couple of such Easter Eggs in it, including use of the phrase, “One for the scholars” – a little tribute to some very good old friends of mine, to whom the book is dedicated. In addition, I have drawn intentional parallels between the family of Abel Stirkwhistle and my own – in that Abel has one sister and nine first cousins, same as me (though I like to think we’re a lot nicer bunch of people!) I’ve also thrown in a couple of subtle references to Bleak House, A Christmas Carol, Shakespeare’s Richard III and Poe’s The Raven – if you plan on buying the book, I’d love to see if you can find them!

There are very few deliberate allusions to speak of in Lust & Liberty beyond the full name of the main setting – Berylford St. Barbara, and its pub, The St. Barbara’s Arms. These, of course, are passing tribute to my grandmother. A little homage to one of my favourite short stories, The Snow Child by Angela Carter makes its way in there, and scenes towards the end and the fate of the one of the characters is partly inspired by Puccini’s opera Tosca.

But surely I’m not the only one who does this. Of course not! Here are a few allusions, inside jokes and Easter Eggs that made their way into some famous works of literature.

1. Lewis Carroll’s Last Tribute to Alice

At the end of Through the Looking-Glass, the sequel to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll included an acrostic poem entitled A boat beneath a starry sky. The acrostic spells out Alice Pleasance Liddell, the girl after whom Carroll’s Alice was named. Carroll’s relationship with Liddell, whom he knew when she was a child, is the subject of some mystery and controversy – a lot of which considers the idea that Carroll had a paedophilic infatuation to Alice and her sisters. The Liddell family’s friendship with Carroll did come to an end in 1863 and the reasons for the rift have been left unexplained. One for the scholars, I think…

2. Tolkien’s Special Title Page

J.R.R. Tolkien was a great lover of words and language as is fairly common knowledge. Hence the numerous ones he constructed himself for his Middle Earth legendarium. But the languages and the writing systems he designed offer more than the authentic feel of being transported to another world. They also made their way into a little Easter Egg on the original title page of The Fellowship of the Ring. Some hardcore fans made it their business to know what the pretty writing actually says, and translated it as follows: “The Lord of the Rings translated from the Red Book of Westmarch by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. Herein is set forth the history of the War of the Ring and the Return of the King as seen by the Hobbits.”

3. It Leads to Misery

Any Stephen King fans out there? Eagle-eyed ones among you might have sniffed out the link between two of his most famous stories — It, published in 1986, and Misery, which came out the following year. One of the children tormented by Pennywise in It just happens to be the next-door neighbour to the family of Paul Sheldon, the unfortunate protagonist of Misery. 

4. The Recurring Cruttwell

Evelyn Waugh’s work often featured characters named Cruttwell – never the exact same one, though they are always absurd or dishonest. And this is a scathing back-handed tribute to his old tutor at Hertford College, Oxford — C.R.M.F. Cruttwell. The characters continued to appear in Waugh’s work until the real-life Cruttwell’s late-life mental illness and subsequent death.

Kingsley Amis did a similar thing with his work, in which featured characters called Caton. They were named after Amis’ publisher R.A. Caton, and again this was done as more of a mild revenge than as a compliment. Amis believed that his first book of poetry, which Caton published, was not promoted properly. The character Caton in Amis’ 1966 novel The Anti-Death League dies in the novel, and the name does not appear thereafter.

Got any other examples of allusions, Easter Eggs and inside jokes you’ve found in your favourite books? Why not let me know in the comments? For more author news and views, my Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages are here.

Continue reading
Reading time: 4 min
Written by: Dale Hurst

Newsletter

About me

This is Dale Hurst here. Novelist and journalist. Subscribe above to receive all updates.

Popular Posts

ANNOUNCEMENT: New Book in Progress

November 15, 2018

No Time Like the Present…

July 1, 2018

“To Err is Human…”

August 4, 2018

You Can Hear Chopin from the Attic: A Brief Overview

January 24, 2019

Categories

  • Ballad of a Godless Man
  • Blog
  • Characters
  • Food Writing
  • Journalism
  • Lifestyle
  • Lust & Liberty
  • Podcast
  • Poetry
  • Short Fiction
  • Sin & Secrecy
  • Travels
  • Writing
  • You Can Hear Chopin

dalehurst_author

The Berylford Scandals (1. Lust & Liberty, 2. Sin & Secrecy) 📚
Podcaster | The Dale Hurst Writing Show🎙️

Dale Hurst | Author
Not everyone's experiences in independent publishi Not everyone's experiences in independent publishing are positive, sadly. 
.
I spoke with fellow author @thehsmatthews – who wrote these lovely books – about her recent gripes with Amazon KDP and what she recommends for other writers who find themselves in the same position (God forbid...)
.
The full interview is on my website (link in comments 👇👇👇)
.
#indieauthor #indieauthorsofinstagram #authornetwork #authorscommunity #authorsofinstagram #writingcommunity #writersofinsta #writernetwork #amazonkdp #indiepublishing
I love creating characters. It's the greatest joy I love creating characters. It's the greatest joy of storytelling, I think. But to make sure they all don't end up as one-dimensional cardboard cutouts in the story, I create comprehensive profiles for all my principal players. Some of the things to include in such profiles are discussed in the latest post on my website (#linkinbio) ✍️✏️🖊️📝📖📚📘📙
.
#writingcommunity #writersofinsta #writernetwork #writingwisdom #authornetwork #amwritingmystery #amwritinghistoricalfiction #charactercreation #characterprofile #creativewriting
Another very popular episode and one of my persona Another very popular episode and one of my personal favourites, featuring filmmaker Jamie Webb of @jkw.media talking about true crime documentary and drama and the trials and creative processes behind both. Here's a snippet. You'll have to listen to the whole thing to hear the flipside 😉🔍🎥🩸📝🎙️
.
Find it on Spotify, Google Podcasts and Amazon Music 🎙️
.
#podcastersofinstagram #podcast #podcastsofinstagram #podcastaddict #writernetwork #writingpodcast #writingwisdom #thedalehurstwritingshow #amwritingtruecrime #truecrimeaddict #truecrimecommunity #documentary #filmmaker #drama #writingcommunity #authorsofinstagram #filmmakinglife
One of my favourite characters to write. Love her One of my favourite characters to write. Love her or hate her, there's no denying Mrs Urmstone is devoted to Lady Vyrrington and won't hear a word said against her. This quote from Lust & Liberty pretty much sums that up 📖📘📚
.
#amreadingmystery
#amwritingmystery #amreadinghistoricalfiction #theberylfordscandals #lustandliberty #summerreading #summerreads2023 #bookquotes #booksofinstagram #bookstagram #igbooks #histfic #historicalfiction
5 whole years ago, I published my debut novel, Lus 5 whole years ago, I published my debut novel, Lust & Liberty 😱🤯🎉 letting loose all the scandals in Berylford and the dramas of its people. 
.
Everyone's support and responses to the story have been overwhelming and I'm continually grateful 🥰
.
(If you haven't read it yet, add to your summer reading list and grab a copy on Amazon now 😘📚📖)
.
📸 Patrick Cermak
.
#summerreading #summerreads2023 #theberylfordscandals #lustandliberty #bookiversary #publication #anniversary #booksofinstagram #bookstagram #igbooks #readingcommunity #readingtime #regencyromance #amreadingmystery #amreadinghistoricalfiction
How can we as authors continue to think outside th How can we as authors continue to think outside the box with female characters in the sci-fi genre? Fellow Star Wars enthusiast, writer and cosplayer @aimocreative joined me on the podcast with some of her thoughts. Full episode on Spotify, Google Podcasts and Amazon Music as always 📚📖🎙️📝✍️
.
#podcastersofinstagram #podcast #podcastsofinstagram #podcastaddict #writingpodcast #thedalehurstwritingshow #writingwisdom #amwritingscifi #amwritingsciencefiction #writingcommunity #authornetwork #authorsofinstagram #authorscommunity
Enjoy these covers while you can... They might be Enjoy these covers while you can... They might be changing soon... In light of the recent announcements from Amazon that they'll be hiking up their printing prices, we need to do some down-sizing. More news to come! Both books are still available from Amazon as always (#linkinbio) 📖📘📚📙 
.
📸 @jkw.media 
.
#bookstagram #booksofinstagram #igbooks #theberylfordscandals #lustandliberty #amreading #amreadingromance #amreadingmystery #amreadingcrime #amreadinghistoricalfiction #historicalfiction #histfic #mysterynovel #crimefiction
Spoilers ahead if you haven't read Lust & Liberty Spoilers ahead if you haven't read Lust & Liberty but are planning to.
.
In this new blog post, I reveal the reason behind killing off a fan favourite... a decision that more than one reader has called for me to change 😆
.
Link to the new post is in the comments ⬇️⬇️⬇️
.
#theberylfordscandals #lustandliberty #writingwisdom #writingcommunity #authorsofinstagram #authornetwork #writersofinsta #amwritingmystery #amwritinghistoricalfiction #creativewriting #spoileralert🚨
Load More… Follow on Instagram

Dale Hurst

  • About Dale Hurst
  • Get in touch

Recent Posts

  • H S Matthews — My Battle with Amazon KDP
  • Building a comprehensive character profile
  • Why did I decide to kill off this character?
  • Planning a new book – my process
  • 7 things to remember when writing a first draft

Dale Hurst

  • Email
    dale.hurst93@gmail.com
  • Address
    Poole, Dorset
© 2020 Copyright Dale Hurst // All rights reserved