Working in Bed

One: Mark Twain, Two: Truman Capote, Three: Vladimir Nabokov

Today I had a moment of indecisiveness before I left my apartment and quickly switched my plans. Instead of going to work at the library I headed back to bed, unpacked my bag, brewed a tea and got down to my reading. I don't have a desk at home, so it means that on the rare occasions when I don't work in the library or the office I end up on the sofa, or in my bed surrounded by books. I know from experience that working in bed every day isn't great for me - I end up having trouble sleeping at night if I do it too often - but now and then it's pretty fun. Would you be able to bring your work to bed? Mark Twain told writers who were struggling with their creative work 'Just try it in bed sometime. I sit up with a pipe in my mouth and a board on my knees, and I scribble away' and Truman Capote admitted 'I am a completely horizontal author. I can't think unless I'm lying down, either in bed or stretched on a couch and with a cigarette and coffee handy. I've got to be puffing and sipping. As the afternoon wears on, I shift from coffee to mint tea to sherry to martinis', what an image!

Ayn Rand

Image Credits: One, Two, Three

Today, in 1905, Ayn Rand was born. Here she is on her typewriter, and at home with her husband. I love the big leafy plants and the way the light comes in through those windows. Have you ever struggled with the pronunciation of her name? I have, many times, but this explanation on the Ayn Rand Institute website solves all my problems. Next time you're having an intellectual conversation about The Fountainhead you can show off...

"Ayn" rhymes with "mine."

Excerpt from a letter to a fan, 1937:

Your letter inquiring about the origin of my name has been forwarded to me. In answer to your question, I must say that 'Ayn' is both a real name and an invention. The original of it is a Finnish feminine  name .... Its pronunciation, spelled phonetically, would be: 'I-na.' I do not know what its correct spelling should be in English, but I chose to make it 'Ayn,' eliminating the final 'a.' I pronounce it as the letter 'I' with an 'n' added to it." 

Letters of Ayn Rand, p.40.

Happy Birthday Poe

Today it's Edgar Allan Poe's birthday. Do you like his former dorm room at the University of Virginia?  Gorgeous window. I struggle to read Poe in a dark room on my own, his writing is so chilling. It seems that Poe has become the writer I always go to read at Halloween, a bit like Dickens is the typical Christmas go-to for many of us. It may be cliche, but my favorite Poe piece is 'The Raven'. To me, this poem really does create the sense of feeling trapped in an echo chamber, and long after you've finished reading, the rhyme and tripping rhythm linger on.

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken, and the darkness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, 'Lenore!'
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, 'Lenore!'
Merely this and nothing more.

The Raven. 1845. Edgar Allan Poe.