Oh! The Humanities!

Some of these questions are from a former professor, Dr. B. Her lectures on the Humanities left a strong impression in me, not only because of what I learned in the classroom. When we covered America’s involvement in WWII, our assignment was to interview a person who had been alive at that time, and learn what life was like. She told us that she preferred if we spoke with those who had been young adults, possibly fighting in or assisting the armed forces. However, Dr. B. told us, there are so few of those people left that if we were only able to find someone who had been a child at that time, she would accept that as well.

I realize now how fortunate I was to have two relatives living at that time who had been directly involved in the War. My Great-Uncle Rudy was part of the 101^st Airborne Division, HQ Company that parachuted into Normandy on D-Day. Many of his friends and comrades were portrayed in the mini-series Band of Brothers. Both my grandfather (Dick) and my step-grandfather (Glen) fought in the Pacific in the Navy. I was able to capture Great-Uncle Rudy and Grampa Glen on tape as they spoke of their memories and opinions of that time in their lives. My father tells me that I am very fortunate to have done that, because my step-grandfather died a short time after that, and now my Great-Uncle is suffering from Alzheimer’s. Neither I nor any other family member ever recorded Granpa Dick's experiences before he died in 1983.

So I thank Dr. B. every time I think that a part of my family’s history that might have been lost if not for her assignment.

1) Who was the first African-American to win the Pulitzer Prize for literature?
Gwendolyn Brooks for Annie Allen (poem) in 1950.

2) Which 19th century British philosopher asked to have himself stuffed after death?

Both The Encyclopedia Britannica and The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy have wonderful articles on Jeremy Bentham, who indeed was stuffed after death. His body is still in a room at University College in London.

3) What did Monet’s father want him to be?
While I have not been able to find the exact answer to this question, from the many encyclopedias I searched I came to the conclusion that Monet’s father wanted him to continue in the family business, rather than become an artist. I realize that I could find the definitive answer from a biography of Monet, but I do not have the time to read such a book, nor would a Reference Librarian. Source : Claude Monet : Life and Art

Thank you for the music...

Today I will answer the music questions, sent in by Jim, Nola, and Gene.

1) What is the technical term for a 64th note?
Hemidemisemiquaver
Source : Picerno, Vincent J. Dictionary of Musical Terms. Brooklyn, N.Y. : Haskell House Publishers, 1976.

2) Is there credible evidence to suggest that Salieri killed Mozart, as the movie Amadeus claimed?
When he attempted suicide in 1823, and again at his death in 1825, Antonio Salieri did accuse himself of poisoning Mozart. This outburst caused controversy in its time, and has remained as one of History’s Mysteries. I refer you to the Official Site for the movie Amadeus, where the filmmakers explain that the movie (as well as the play it was based upon) was not meant to be a biography of Mozart, but rather Mozart’s life as viewed by a dying old man (Salieri). Also, please visit The Mozart Project, which is an excellent resource.

3) How many symphonies did Beethoven write?
Nine.
Source : Stanley Sadie’s Music Guide : an introduction. Stanley Sadie, ed. Englewood Cliffs, N.J. : Prentice-Hall, 1986.

4) Schubert wrote an unfinished symphony. Why was it unfinished?
Schubert’s 8^th symphony is often called the “Unfinished Symphony” because it had only two movements, rather than the standard four.
Sources : Stanley Sadie’s Music Guide : an introduction. Stanley Sadie, ed. Englewood Cliffs, N.J. : Prentice-Hall, 1986. and Dictionary of Music. Theodore Karp, ed. Evanston, IL : Northwestern University Press, 1973.

The Second World War

There were a number of questions sent to me regarding WWII.

1) What are the names of the 4 Japanese aircraft carriers sunk at the Battle
of Midway?
Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, Hiryu
Sources :The Oxford Companion to World War II. I.C.B. Dear, ed.
Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1995. and
Imperial Japanese Navy Webpage 

2) What was the one-word answer the American General gave to the
German General when asked by the Germans to surrender the town
of Bastogne?
“Nuts!”
Source : The Oxford Companion to World War II. I.C.B. Dear, ed.
Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1995.

3) What year was the battleship Missouri commissioned?
June, 1944
Re-commissioned 10 May 1986
Source : Battleship Missouri Memorial and Schroeder,
Richard E., Missouri at Sea. Columbia, MO : University of
Missouri Press, 2004

All Shakespeare - All the Time

I would like to share some websites that are very helpful with Shakespearean research :

Absolute Shakespeare
Mr. William Shakespeare and the Internet
Notes on Shakespeare
Shakespeare Authorship
Shakespeare-Oxford Society

There were two questions submitted regarding Shakespeare.
1) How many sonnets did Shakespeare write?
Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets

2) On what research are the claims based that Shakespeare's plays were actually authored by someone else? Francis Bacon? Ben Jonson? Are there contemporary (current) studies which still support such claims?

The claims that Shakespeare’s plays were not written by a man called Shakespeare, or even that there was never any man called William Shakespeare, stem from the basic premise that there is very little hard evidence that a man called William Shakespeare existed, and if he did exist, he did not have a good enough education and/or life experience to write all the plays that are attributed to him.

I could not immediately find information supporting or refuting that Ben Johnson was a possible author of the plays. Regarding Bacon, I quote from Absolute Shakespeare : "A major proof that Sir Francis Bacon truly authored the the Bard's plays is the 'Northumberland Manuscript'. This bore both Shakespeare’s name and Sir Francis Bacon’s. It also mentions by name the plays Richard II and Richard III. Tellingly, it included the phrase 'by Francis William Shakespeare', and the words, 'essays by the same author'. This has been used to prove Sir Francis Bacon used the name "Shakespeare" as a nom de plume."

There are contemporary studies that continue to investigate the authorship of these plays. The Shakespeare-Oxford Society publishes a scholarly journal, The Oxfordian, annually. This journal, and the Society, is “dedicated to exploring the Shakespeare authorship question and researching the evidence that Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford (1550 – 1604) is the true author of the poems and plays of ‘William Shakespeare’.”

The Phantom

My friend Julia sent me this reference question : Do you think you could find out how many people have played the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera since it opened on Broadway?

Short of contacting The Really Useful Group and asking for their official records, I was able to find this information : according to the Official website ,there are 16 separate actors listed as playing the role of the Phantom in a variety of different tours and companies since it debuted in 1986 in London. While I know 16 isn’t near the actual number, that is what the Official Website says. And according to the Internet Broadway Database , there have been 14 actors portraying The Phantom on Broadway since it debuted there in 1988.

And I hope everyone has a good rest of the week!

Home Library Software

Today I learned about library software for the Über-geek Librarian (such as I). My local IT guy sent me the link, the URL of which sounds like a bad porn film, but is not. The software looks helpful, and I have a few friends who have, in the past, expressed a desire for something like this to help them organize their substantial book/media collection. Delicious appears to be made just for use on Macs and also geared towards those with large media collections, since the information on the item is gleaned from www.amazon.com (and other websites) after the barcode or ISBN is inputted. Therefore, if one had a book published before 1967, that person would have to enter all the cataloging data for each individual book. And that process could take a while.

Home/Personal Library Software is a wonderful concept, but I will have to look around for more options, since I, and many of my acquaintances, have a good many books in our collections that were published pre-1967. Chris owns so many non-English books I wonder how the software would react. This is something I will have to look into – the search for the best Home/Personal Library Software.

The Maiden

This maiden post won't be very long, but will let people know what kind of blog this will (hopefully) become. This blog came about mostly because of an assignment in Library School, but also partly because my sister kept suggesting that I write one. My reaction was always that I did not have enough time in my schedule to write one, since I am working and attending school full time.

So, here is my big compromise / experiment. I'm not sure if this will survive after the semester is over, but for now the plan is to answer reference questions submitted to me by my friends and fellow students. I will also endeavor to review books and other media as they catch my attention or as they are thrust upon me.

That’s it. If you are one of the lucky people who submitted a question to me, please wait patiently for the answer. If it is still not answered by the end of the semester, then you may berate me.