Interesting Literature

Examples of the ‘Mandela Effect’ in Works of Literature

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Here’s a question for you: which costume drama shows Colin Firth emerging soaking wet from a lake?

If you answered, ‘Pride and Prejudice, obviously’, then read on. The BBC television adaptation of Austen’s novel from 1995 does feature a rather damp Mr Darcy, played by Firth, but we never actually see him emerging from the lake. But this hasn’t stopped many people from being absolutely sure the scene’s there.

It isn’t. And needless to say, the whole thing is missing from Austen’s book.

John Cheever’s ‘The Fourth Alarm’: Summary and Analysis

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘The Fourth Alarm’ was published in 1970. This is significant given how much this John Cheever story reflects the sexual revolution of the 1960s (especially the last few years of that busy decade) and the changing attitudes to gender and sex that this brought. It features nudity, theatre, someone writing on a pair of naked buttocks, and a lack of regard for social mores. What’s not to love?

As if that wasn’t enough of an incentive to read it, it’s also blessed with that rare quality which often makes a short story even more appealing as a prospect: it’s one of Cheever’s shortest. It does everything it needs to in just six pages.

The Other Lesbian Poets

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Let’s begin, as I’m fond of doing, with a question. Who is being described here? This ancient Greek poet, associated with the island of Lesbos, is regarded by some as the founder of lyric poetry. However, little of their poetry has survived, so we know them more by their classical reputation than by their work.

Beasts and Un-Beasts: On Saki’s ‘The Penance’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘The Penance’ has everything we expect from a quintessential Saki story: cruel and borderline feral children, misunderstood animals, and some of the wittiest prose ever committed to paper. If you’ve never read Saki before, I previously compiled a list of ten of my favourite stories of his, though ten really isn’t a big enough number. On some level, every short story by Hector Hugh Munro (1870-1916) is worth reading (it’s thought he took his pen name Saki from The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam).

Why ‘Man Friday’ Wasn’t Man Friday

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Robinson Crusoe probably has more misconceptions surrounding it than just about any other novel in English literature.

For a start, it’s often claimed it was the first novel (it wasn’t). It’s sometimes claimed, with a little more nuance, that it was the first English novel (it wasn’t). It’s also claimed that it was inspired by one man, the real-life, shipwrecked Scot named Alexander Selkirk (it wasn’t). It’s then claimed that Crusoe was shipwrecked on a deserted island (he wasn’t). This last ‘fact’ is immediately refuted by the fact that it was on this supposedly deserted island that Crusoe met his servant Man Friday, who was so named because Crusoe discovered him on a Friday (he didn’t).

Let’s take these misconceptions one at a time.