Ok, I'm just DYING to say this; if not for your benefit (you seem to know all) then for the benefit of some other hapless soul who is dragged to this post by some bully search engine years from now.
This little 4-line poem is the epigraph to F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" and is credited by Fitzgerald, with all innocence, as having been written (ostentsibly) by one Thomas Parke D'Invilliers.
Fair enough. But the inside joke is that this "Thomas Parke D'invilliers" is a fictional character from Fitzgerald's earlier novel, "This Side of Paradise."
Not funny enough? Not clever enough to qualify as British humor? How about one more level of absurdity? --
The fictional character, who ostensibly wrote the epigraph (though of course Fitzgerald really wrote it himself) is based on a real life friend of Fitzgerald's, the poet John Peale Bishop. They must have been a riot when they were at Princeton.
Great Scott! A high bouncer will surely win every time. I've never fancied gold hats.
ReplyDeleteOh, yeah?
ReplyDeleteI'll see your great Scott and raise you one shoethatFitz, Gerald.
And don't call me Gerald, you say. Fair enough.
::He bounds highly away::
Ok, I'm just DYING to say this; if not for your benefit (you seem to know all) then for the benefit of some other hapless soul who is dragged to this post by some bully search engine years from now.
ReplyDeleteThis little 4-line poem is the epigraph to F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" and is credited by Fitzgerald, with all innocence, as having been written (ostentsibly) by one Thomas Parke D'Invilliers.
Fair enough. But the inside joke is that this "Thomas Parke D'invilliers" is a fictional character from Fitzgerald's earlier novel, "This Side of Paradise."
Not funny enough? Not clever enough to qualify as British humor? How about one more level of absurdity? --
The fictional character, who ostensibly wrote the epigraph (though of course Fitzgerald really wrote it himself) is based on a real life friend of Fitzgerald's, the poet John Peale Bishop. They must have been a riot when they were at Princeton.
"Dead Poets Society" anyone?