Do you wiki authors you read?

worldofmutes

A big metal fan
Joined
Jan 3, 2020
Messages
401
Are there any particular authors that interest you enough to look them up?

As for me, I’m books or nothing. I’ll read a 2 volume biography on Nabokov, because if something really interests me I want to go in depth. Wiki just isn’t broad enough, I want to know basically everything about an author, not just some of it.

My recent biography about Nabokov taught me a lot about how he thinks, which he is rather fascinating. And by the way, what I’ve read about his book King, Queen, Knave sounds a lot like something Phillip K. Dick would write. Did you know the author of Lolita was an avid lepidopterist? He particularly appreciated the particularities of sweet pleasures, little things that fill your heart up

Drop a message about authors you know about, whether from wiki or biographies or any medium you use for research.
 
These are my volumes on this author, it’s not scifi, but, I rather find them to be fascinating. My overseas PenPal likes him, so I like him too.
 

Attachments

  • B486AAC6-7924-43FE-B3F4-E94E3B5CFB04.jpeg
    B486AAC6-7924-43FE-B3F4-E94E3B5CFB04.jpeg
    2 MB · Views: 108
Not so much Wiki, but I do follow certain authors websites. Iain M. Banks, Alistair Reynolds, F. Paul Wilson and TC McCarthy.
 
He was Scottish, yes. Unfortunately he passed several years ago and his site hasn’t been updated. I have it for poster, really.
 
Honestly, I would rather not know. There's nothing worse that things that could be innocent ignorance becoming willful ignorance on a second or third reading. It can change the whole nature of a story.
 
Only if I have read a lot of their books.

I recently finished my first Stephen King book.

The Institute

I am not really interested in King.

I have read about Lois Bujold and the biography of Robert Heinlein.
 
Last edited:
Only if I have read a lot of their books.

I recently finished my first Stephen King book.

The Institute

I am not really interested in King.

I have read about Lois Bujold and the biography of Robert Heinlein.
Is Heinlein pretty interesting? I’ve read some of his books. It was kind of cool reading about drinking Stolichnaya on the moon while I was drinking Stolichnaya
 
Is Heinlein pretty interesting? I’ve read some of his books. It was kind of cool reading about drinking Stolichnaya on the moon while I was drinking Stolichnaya
I think so but I cannot say I understand how he went from supporting Upton Sinclair to the Strategic Defense Initiative and having a falling out with Arthur C Clarke.
 
I think so but I cannot say I understand how he went from supporting Upton Sinclair to the Strategic Defense Initiative and having a falling out with Arthur C Clarke.
Relatively, lives tend to be pretty wayward.
Sounds like he had a fallout with Sinclair. Maybe was a social proselyte?
 
When I discover an older author for the first time and I really like their work and would like to read more, I will sometimes check wikipedia to see what else they have written, since not everything might be listed at the online bookstores. Also to find out if they are still alive and writing.

But as for biographical details, a wiki article is not going to really provide much insight.
 
Are there any particular authors that interest you enough to look them up?

As for me, I’m books or nothing. I’ll read a 2 volume biography on Nabokov, because if something really interests me I want to go in depth. Wiki just isn’t broad enough, I want to know basically everything about an author, not just some of it.

My recent biography about Nabokov taught me a lot about how he thinks, which he is rather fascinating. And by the way, what I’ve read about his book King, Queen, Knave sounds a lot like something Phillip K. Dick would write. Did you know the author of Lolita was an avid lepidopterist? He particularly appreciated the particularities of sweet pleasures, little things that fill your heart up
I'm reading Lolita at the moment. I can see why it's considered a classic, although at first I started questioning one of my overarching feelings about art - that no stone should be left unturned and all human experience should be explored, no matter the taboos or tastes of the day. I started to wonder, does this really have to be explored in such detail? At the midway point a few things happen, certain powerful symbolism is used, and the next morning I woke up and thought, yep I get this now. I haven't finished it yet so of course my opinion may change.

Nabokov is definitely an author I would read about, and I have skim read is wiki. I often do this, and will track down interviews, if they're modern enough to have have interviews out there, with authors I'm curious about or really interested in. I haven't read a full biography yet but I will be reading one on Fitzgerald for my course - doing A level English lit as a mature student - and I read a chunk of a scholarly book on Keats a bit back.

I checked out Jack Vance and Gene Wolfe because of loving their books, so I was curious as to what sort of lives they had. Both unusual and fascinating, as it turned out.

I've read up on Gene Wolfe, fascinating guy. There's also a great interview on youtube with Wolfe, Asimov and Harlan Ellison. It's amazing.
 

Similar threads


Back
Top