"Hosts and hosts of ghost-writers"
Many major authors have had ghost-writers and researchers who helped in their productions over the ages.
"Homer," the blind father of western literature, about whose life and image, practically nothing is known, including when he lived, is the reputed author of THE ILIAD and THE ODYSSEY. When I first read the ILIAD in high school, or in junior high, in the 1960's his authorship was undisputed. Now, not only is his authorship, but his actual existence itself, is wrapped up and is subsumed within the "Homeric question." Ghostly, indeed!
Alexander Dumas, the most masterful of French novelists, and the most prodigious, certainly had such helpers, as I have learned from reading the introduction to TWENTY YEARS LATER, a work that I never knew to exist until last year, 2013. I thought that I had read his complete corpus upon reading THE THREE MUSKETEERS, THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK, THE BLACK TULIP, and THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO, my personal favorite.
James A. Michener, the much-celebrated author of CENTENNIAL , which I read, ironically, in 1976, while moving cross-country, and SOUTH PACIFIC, which I have not read, along with others of his bevy of block-buster novels, was another such employer of researchers, ghost writers, and aids.
Missouri's own immortal, Mark Twain, née Samuel L. Clemens, whose early works like TOM SAWYER, and THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN, his, and my, former slave-state adores, to the exclusion of his later works, was another such writer who has employed, or utilized, collaborators in, LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI and THE GILDED AGE, being among them. Twain's later works, I continue to read.
It has been argued for centuries that William Shakespeare was not a single person, but a guild of learned writers that employed that "nom de plume" to conceal their identities. Others argue that college-educated writers were really Shakespeare: like Christopher Marlowe or Sir Francis Bacon. That debate yet rages. All of Shakespeare's plays I have read, but I prefer OTHELLO above all others.
Of course, who wrote the BIBLE has long been a debated question over its thousands of years of existence. Similar questions have also nagged the QURAN, given the Prophet Muhammad's alleged illiteracy. I thoroughly enjoyed both of these great works, and return to the Bible frequently for solace, for allusions and for references.
Writing that stands the test of time is difficult and rigorous, to say the least. Given human vagaries and varieties, it must manipulate universal themes and memes in its ministrations. Otherwise, it is dust!
Personally, I am not offended by ghost writers being present or absent in connection with a great work. So long as that author's or creator's "touch" and genius is evident, it is of no consequence to me who the various laborers, subcontractors, suppliers, distributors, and artisans may have been, now and then, in any literary production, ancient or modern.
Doubtless, other professions and vocations, from science to theology with the fine and practical arts, in between, including music, have also been collaborative efforts.
As relates to "ghost-writers," John Donne's inspiring poem still rings true: "no man is an island, entire of itself, every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main..."
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
ghost writers
"Hosts and hosts of ghost-writers"
Many major authors have had ghost-writers and researchers who helped in their productions over the ages.
"Homer," the blind father of western literature, about whose life and image, practically nothing is known, including when he lived, is the reputed author of THE ILIAD and THE ODYSSEY. When I first read the ILIAD in high school, or in junior high, in the 1960's his authorship was undisputed. Now, not only is his authorship, but his actual existence itself, is wrapped up and is subsumed within the "Homeric question." Ghostly, indeed!
Alexander Dumas, the most masterful of French novelists, and the most prodigious, certainly had such helpers, as I have learned from reading the introduction to TWENTY YEARS LATER, a work that I never knew to exist until last year, 2013. I thought that I had read his complete corpus upon reading THE THREE MUSKETEERS, THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK, THE BLACK TULIP, and THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO, my personal favorite.
James A. Michener, the much-celebrated author of CENTENNIAL , which I read, ironically, in 1976, while moving cross-country, and SOUTH PACIFIC, which I have not read, along with others of his bevy of block-buster novels, was another such employer of researchers, ghost writers, and aids.
Missouri's own immortal, Mark Twain, née Samuel L. Clemens, whose early works like TOM SAWYER, and THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN, his, and my, former slave-state adores, to the exclusion of his later works, was another such writer who has employed, or utilized, collaborators in, LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI and THE GILDED AGE, being among them. Twain's later works, I continue to read.
It has been argued for centuries that William Shakespeare was not a single person, but a guild of learned writers that employed that "nom de plume" to conceal their identities. Others argue that college-educated writers were really Shakespeare: like Christopher Marlowe or Sir Francis Bacon. That debate yet rages. All of Shakespeare's plays I have read, but I prefer OTHELLO above all others.
Of course, who wrote the BIBLE has long been a debated question over its thousands of years of existence. Similar questions have also nagged the QURAN, given the Prophet Muhammad's alleged illiteracy. I thoroughly enjoyed both of these great works, and return to the Bible frequently for solace, for allusions and for references.
Writing that stands the test of time is difficult and rigorous, to say the least. Given human vagaries and varieties, it must manipulate universal themes and memes in its ministrations. Otherwise, it is dust!
Personally, I am not offended by ghost writers being present or absent in connection with a great work. So long as that author's or creator's "touch" and genius is evident, it is of no consequence to me who the various laborers, subcontractors, suppliers, distributors, and artisans may have been, now and then, in any literary production, ancient or modern.
Doubtless, other professions and vocations, from science to theology with the fine and practical arts, in between, including music, have also been collaborative efforts.
As relates to "ghost-writers," John Donne's inspiring poem still rings true: "no man is an island, entire of itself, every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main..."
