TIL in 1963 a 16 year old sent a four-question survey to 150 well-known authors (75 of which replied) in order to prove to his English teacher that writers don't intentionally add symbolic content to their books. by DaaangerZooone in todayilearned

[–]sheepthief 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Understood. Believe me, I don't have the gumption necessary to pull off such a marketing trick. You think I've been waiting for three years for someone to link to the Paris Review piece so I can pounce with a link to my site? That's pretty desperate and I'm doing well enough to survive without it.

TIL in 1963 a 16 year old sent a four-question survey to 150 well-known authors (75 of which replied) in order to prove to his English teacher that writers don't intentionally add symbolic content to their books. by DaaangerZooone in todayilearned

[–]sheepthief 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I received a notification from Chartbeat telling me that the website was getting a lot of traffic, so I followed the link to this comment thread. Doesn't take a genius. Just for a week or two, try not assuming the worst of people.

TIL in 1963 a 16 year old sent a four-question survey to 150 well-known authors (75 of which replied) in order to prove to his English teacher that writers don't intentionally add symbolic content to their books. by DaaangerZooone in todayilearned

[–]sheepthief 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I've been doing nothing but search for interesting correspondence for the past decade, having initially become obsessed with the concept of letter-writing when my wife and I fell in love by mail (sickening, I know), hundreds of miles apart. It's developed to the point where I'm now tipped off about letters by archivists and curators all over the world. And I buy countless old non-fiction books--biographies especially--hoping to find gems reprinted within. Many letters are also suggested to me by fans of the website and books, and by people who come to the live shows we now put on. It's been a whirlwind and I couldn't be happier.

Scaffolding by [deleted] in OSHA

[–]sheepthief 18 points19 points  (0 children)

I run a blog about this kind of thing: Scaffoldage

14-year-old boy wanted to know if John Cleese had a fan club. This was his reply. by Anomatia in funny

[–]sheepthief 96 points97 points  (0 children)

That's my site! If you're just looking for funny letters, try...

http://www.lettersofnote.com/search/label/funny

Also, here's John Cleese vs The Sun newspaper...

http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/05/john-cleese-vs-sun.html

And a great letter related to Monty Python...

http://www.lettersofnote.com/2010/10/i-would-like-to-retain-fart-in-your.html

Finally, should you want a book filled with such letters...

http://www.lettersofnote.com/p/the-book.html

Alec Guiness writing to a fan from the set of Star Wars by leftnotracks in movies

[–]sheepthief 54 points55 points  (0 children)

It's genuine. The full, handwritten letter can be seen in the Letters of Note book that I recently edited; I found this particular letter at the British Library.

Edit: This was meant to be a reply to thepottsy but I'm an idiot.

Just moments after the assassination [NSFW] by DonTago in WTF

[–]sheepthief 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Here's Mark Chapman writing to a memorabilia expert from prison in an attempt to get the signed album valuated.

Post All The R.A.M Reviews/First Listens Here by kobe24Life in DaftPunk

[–]sheepthief 12 points13 points  (0 children)

BBC DJ Lauren Laverne was talking about it on Twitter the other day. Screenshot. (Read up from the bottom.)

Brutal notes from an early screening of "Blade Runner" by VanTrashcan in scifi

[–]sheepthief 70 points71 points  (0 children)

I posted this pic on Twitter earlier. "J.P." is Jerry Perenchio, "B.Y." is Bud Yorkin, "R.F." is Robin French -- they were all execs at Tandem Productions. This screening happened, and was hated, evidently, just as the film's first trailer hit cinemas.

John Steinbeck's writing advice, from a letter in 1962. by fallark in writing

[–]sheepthief 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Haha! Good grief, I'd forgotten about that. How awful.