Dandyism is more than just a dress code. A dandy believes that, through a refined command of dress and manners, he or she can impress their greatness upon the world. This meant that a dandy could live a rather indolent, carefree lifestyle and still be regarded as influential and powerful despite not being born into wealth. It makes sense that so many writers were of the dandy sort, given the meager income their career path promised. This pursuit of elegance gave them access to bon vivance in Paris, lifestyles of jet-setting between the Swiss Alps and the Riviera, summers in coastal cottages, or early retirement (before retirement was even deemed acceptable). Dandyism is a interplay between fashion and mannerism, a perfect blend of style, sophistication, and caprice. Here we take a look at 10 authors who successfully made elegance, not just writing, an esteemed profession. … Read More
Oscar Wilde
New, Full-Text ‘Picture of Dorian Gray’ Restores Naughty Bits
If you thought the version of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray we’ve been reading for the past 130 years was transgressive for its time, you apparently ain’t seen nothin’ yet. The Guardian reports on the recent publication of an uncensored version of Wilde’s fin-de-siècle masterpiece, which was cut because… Read More
Watch Jersey Shore In the Style of Oscar Wilde
Santino Fontana and David Furr star in the new Broadway production of Oscar Wilde’s classic play, The Importance of Being Earnest, playing Algernon Moncrieff and John Worthing respectively. It seems that they (understandably) can’t quite get enough of their characters, and so have also embarked on a side project called “Jersey Shore Gone Wilde,” a five part series in which the pair reenact actual transcripts of Jersey Shore episodes ‘in the style of Oscar Wilde.’ Obviously, it’s basically the best thing we’ve ever seen and totally makes us want to go see them on Broadway. Which likely is the whole point, so good show, fellows. Tip top. Watch the entire series after the jump. … Read More
Gallery: Your Favorite Authors as Dogs and Cats
Today in things that are absurdly relevant to our interests: Illustrator Chet Phillips uses the program Painter to create animal portraits that range from Sinister Simians to Wrestle Pets. But, predictably enough, we have fallen in love with Phillips’s Literary Pets series, which transforms dozens of famous authors, from the Middle Ages through the present, into cats and dogs. Meet Oscar Wildecat, Dorothy Purrker, Joyce Feral Oates, and their four-legged friends after the jump, then click over to Etsy to buy an affordable print and see even more images from the series. For the indecisive among us, there are even two decks of Literary Pets trading cards. … Read More
30 Literary Quotes That Just Might Get You Laid
Wooing is hard work. Inevitably all of us will be crushed by disappointment from time to time when a chosen paramour rejects us with a single, cutting remark. However, we are almost certain here at Flavorpill that having a background in literature will work in your favor, whether you find yourself pining at a bar, a café, or at an awkward house party filled with graduate students clutching red plastic cups — their eyes glazing over as another person enters the throng and attempts to discuss his thesis on Levinas’s idea of irreducible relations. Rally against this stagnation, readers, and use the quotes below to find love… but don’t blame us if you get slapped. … Read More
Typewriters and Mug Shots: The Top 10 Literary Outlaws
It’s hard being a member of the creative class sometimes. Writers throughout history have been known to run afoul of the law, with charges ranging from disorderly conduct to murder. With the advent of the mug shot in the late 1800s, a latent image emerged of these various offenses, realized through this new, curious medium. In On Photography, Susan Sontag wrote, “The camera has the power to catch so-called normal people in such a way as to make them look abnormal.” But what if you’re unusual to begin with — what does the camera capture then? The following is a list of the top 10 authors to have walked the line. … Read More
Literature’s 10 Best-Dressed Authors
[Editor's note: Flavorwire is counting down our most popular features of 2010. This post comes in at position number 5. It was originally published October 12, 2010.] When it comes to writers’ fashion choices, most people know better than to judge a book by its cover. Although most authors are more closely associated with recluse-chic than aesthetic edge, there are those few who have become almost as recognizable for their stylistic sensibilities as for their literary skills. We’ve already explored the glamorous lives of fictional characters, but after the jump, check out ten great authors with equally distinctive personal styles. … Read More
An Exploration of Literary Tattoos [NSFW]
The world of literary tattoos is surprisingly large, yet it remains relatively niche. Sure, there was Shelly Jackson’s SKIN project about five years back, but otherwise it’s fairly infrequent that we hear about the two worlds intersecting. That’s why when Penguin announced Penguin Ink, their re-covering of several classic (or modern classic) novels with cover art from leading tattoo artists (including the now epically badass-looking Bridget Jones’ Diary,) it whet our appetite for more book/tatt intersection. Thanks to online communities like Bookworms With Ink and Contrariwise (as well as good old Flickr), we were able to not just satiate but gorge on skin ink of the bookish variety both good… and bad. We had a few caveats: no Harry Potter, no Twilight, and no Alice In Wonderland. Every single one of those has been done to death. Some of our favorites both highbrow and lowbrow (as well as a few very NSFW) after the cut. … Read More
Graphic Content: 10 Literary Classics Made Better as Comic Books
Most of us are familiar with the inevitable anxiety that comes with seeing a beloved book turned into a movie, but some stories can actually benefit from a little cross-media reinterpretation. Amid the medium’s own rapid ascension toward highbrow acceptance, the graphic novel has proved a flexible format for literary adaptation, transforming texts into improved visual narratives without eliminating the reading process.
Now, with a spate of recently published and upcoming graphic adaptations making headlines — including Robert Crumb’s The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb (which we previously reviewed here) and the sure-to-be-divisive Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Graphic Novel — we recommend ten classic works that have been effectively translated into comic books. … Read More
What’s on at Flavorpill: Links That Made the Rounds in Our Office
Today at Flavorpill, we watched Big Boi meet a seal. We were excited to learn new details about Green Day’s American Idiot musical. We released some anonymous angst. We read an interesting article about writers gone sober that compared William Faulkner and Scott Fitzgerald to Paris and Britney. We looked at… Read More
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