Robert Louis Stevenson
"A sort of friendship recognized by the police."
Stevenson (1850-94) was a Scottish novelist and poet. His best remembered works are Treasure Island (what he would have made of the Muppet version is anyone's guess!), The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and The Master of Ballantrae. He died young - one wonders if he was married or not!
Samuel Butler on the Carlyles
“It was very good of God to let Carlyle and Mrs. Carlyle marry one
another and so make only two people miserable instead of four.”
Butler (1835 - 1902) was a British writer who traveled extensively to New Zealand (possibly to avoid marriage!). His most famous work is the satire Erewhon but is also remembered for the novel published after his death entitled The Way Of All Flesh. One of those authors you say you have read when actually you haven't!
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
“The most happy marriage I can picture or imagine to myself would be the union of a deaf man and a blind woman.”
Coleridge (1772 - 1834) was one of the founders of the Romantic movement of poetry. He was also a critic and philosopher and a good mate of William Wordsworth. His best known poem is The Rime of the Ancient Mariner which has caused misery for countless generations forced to learn it and joy for similar generations of masochistic teachers who reveled in their pupils' despair!
Jane Austen
“Mrs Hall of Sherbourne was brought to bed yesterday of a dead child,
some weeks before she expected, owing to a fright. I suppose she
happened to look unawares at her husband.”
Austen (1775 -re 1817) never married. Funny that! It is only those who have read her books rather than seen adaptations on the TV (albeit very good especially Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility) who know that as well as writing social satire she was also in possession of a rather waspish wit. Her novels include Pride and Prejudice, Emma and Persuasion. She was, unfortunately for her, not a widely celebrated novelist until after her death. Shame.
John Dryden "Epitaph intended for Dryden's wife"
“Here lies my wife: here let her lie!
Now she's at rest, and so am I.”
Dryden (1631 - 1700) was a hugely influential poet during his time - the Restoration period in Britain (when the Monarchy was restored after Cromwell had chopped off the head of the King). His work has not really survived for universal study - his contemporaries Marvell and Donne are much more widely studied these days. Never mind, Eh, John!
Oscar Wilde
“Twenty years of romance makes a woman look like a ruin; but twenty
years of marriage makes her something like a public building.”
Wilde (1854 - 1900) was, despite his reputation, married - he even produced two sons. Many people think he was English but in fact he was Irish and is best remembered for his plays such as The Importance of Being Earnest and An Ideal Husband. He was a major celebrity player of his day but fell from public grace when he was convicted of the crime of gross indecency. Basically he was sent down for being gay (and an uppity one at that!). The brilliance of his work, however, has ensured his immortality in our (slightly) more enlightened times.
Eric Linklater
“I've been married six months. She looks like a million dollars, but
she only knows a hundred and twenty words and she's only got two ideas
in her head. The other one's hats.”
Linklater (1899 - 1974) was a British author who wrote over 20 novels. Originally from Wales he moved to Scotland where he retained ideas of Celtic independence and stood as a candidate for the then National Party of Scotland. He first went in to medicine and then journalism and is best remembered for novels such as Judas and Poet's Pub. No, I have never read or heard of them either.
William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
“… fools are as like husbands as pilchards are to herrings; the husband's the bigger.”
Shakespeare (1654 - 1616) is the man! Poet, playwright and all round scion of English literature. Most people if asked who the greatest ever writer was would say Shakespeare, even if they have never read a line of any of his plays. Such is reputation, ladies and gentleman. Often mistaken as a misogynist for leaving his wife the second best bed, there is no evidence to suggest that Shakespeare's marriage was unhappy. Apart from the fact he left his wife to go and live in London on his own, that is!
Nancy Astor
“I married beneath me - all women do.”
Astor (1879 - 1964) was the very first woman who was elected to the British Houses of Parliament, thus ensuring her place in history. Her first husband was an alcoholic adulterer. The marriage was not a success. Her second husband had a heart condition which meant he had to live a fairly quiet life. That suited her much better.
Michel de Montaigne
“Marriage is like a cage: one sees the birds outside desperate to get in, and those inside equally desperate to get out.”
Montaigne (1533 - 1592) was hugely influential during the renaissance period in Europe. He was a mixer and matcher - his essays were full of serious thought but interspersed with personal anecdotes and snippets of his life. Despite living so very long ago he is still widely read, his story telling giving a unique insight on the period in which he lived. His funniest quote and one which resonates down to this day is “Que Sais Je?” Literally translated - “What do I know?” How very true!
