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	June 18th, 2012 Famous novelists on symbolism in their work and whether it was intentional Posted about 19 hours ago by mental_floss to Holy Kaw! It was 1963, and 16-year-old Bruce McAllister was sick of symbol-hunting in English class. Rather than quarrel with his teacher, he went straight to the source: McAllister mailed a crude, four-question survey to 150 novelists, asking if they intentionally planted symbolism in their work. Seventy-five authors responded. Here’s what 12 of them had to say. McAllister’s Letter “My definition of symbolism as used in this questionnaire is represented by this example: In The Scarlet Letter there are four major characters. Some say that Hawthorne meant those four to be Nature, Religion, Science or other similar symbols in disguise. They apply the actions of the four in the story to what is presently happening or will happen to Nature, Religion, Science, etc.” Ayn Rand: “This is not a ‘definition,’ it is not true—and therefore, your questions do not make sense.” MacKinlay Kantor: “Nonsense, young man, write your own research paper. Don’t expect others to do the work for you.” Question 1 “Do you consciously, intentionally plan and place symbolism in your writing?… If yes, please state your method for doing so. Do you feel you sub-consciously place symbolism in your writing?” Jack Kerouac: Isaac Asimov: “Consciously? Heavens, no! Unconsciously? How can one avoid it?” Joseph Heller: “Yes, I do intentionally rely on symbolism in my writing, but not to the extent that many people have stated…No, I do not subconsciously place symbolism in my writing, although there are inevitably many occasions when events acquire a meaning additional to the one originally intended.” Ray Bradbury: “No, I never consciously place symbolism in my writing. That would be a self-conscious exercise and self-consciousness is defeating to any creative act. Better to let the subconscious do the work for you, and get out of the way. The best symbolism is always unsuspected and natural.” John Updike: “Yes—I have no method; there is no method in writing fiction; you don’t seem to understand.” See the rest at mental_floss. All the top stories from mental_floss. 富士を Posted about 23 hours ago by Koichi Mitsui to s a s u r a u 1 追いかけて。 What Dad doesn't want for Father's Day [video] Posted about 21 hours ago by Kate Rinsema to Holy Kaw! Sure, Dad thought having his mother-in-law in town for a month this summer was bad, but opening the door to a family of raccoons? Bad idea. Brad Gillete, however, appears to be using them for video practice. Funny, most of us pay big bucks to get rid of them. Embedded media -- click here to see it. Full story at Reddit via Neatorama. Grrrr, animals. Princess running duds make exercise magical Posted about 19 hours ago by Kate Rinsema to Holy Kaw! 1 Who says princesses need to sit around waiting for their Prince Charmings to come rescue them? Sometimes, a girl needs to get out there and chase him down or, when happily ever after isn’t the case, hightail her pampered posterior out of there. Whatever the case, Etsy seller Helen McCarty has just the thing. Feel the power with these lightweight alternatives to the corset and hoopskirt and be sure to draw a crowd wherever your wildest dreams take you. Remember, a princess doesn’t sweat, she glows. Full story at Etsy via io9. Royal running wear courtesy of Etsy. Sent by Posterous. Change your email settings or unfollow. Other questions? We'd love to help.