Writer’s Quote Wednesday: Dr Seuss

Welcome to my blog Kyrosmagica.

Join in the fun it’s time for  Writer’s Quote Wednesday http://silverthreading.com/2015/06/03/writers-quote-wednesday-douglas-Jerrold/

I haven’t been able to do much blogging this week I’ve been without internet for nearly a week, imagine that! I’ve been popping into the library to use free Wi-Fi when I can. So this post is a day out,  never mind, that seems quite appropriate given that this post is about Fantasy. Today as Dr. Seuss would say it’s Fox in Socks Day, (Wear Crazy Socks) Thursday instead of Green Eggs and Clothes day, (Wear something Green) Wednesday! Well of the two I prefer to wear crazy socks so a day late is lucky for me now I can wear some crazy socks! Yippeeeeeeeee!!!!!

Just recently I joined a reading group in Cambridge and one of the questions that we were asked was “Do we like fantasy?” I thought this was such an odd question, because for me all writing is a form of fantasy, unless the work in question is non-fiction. Fantasy is the thread that keeps our imagination nurtured, without it surely we will be at a terrible loss? Anyway to cut a long story short I was quite horrified when several people put up their hands indicating that they didn’t like fantasy.

If I was a cat I’d look something like this:

Who were these people? How can you not like fantasy? Did something terrible happen to them when they were children, so that they were unable to live and breathe fantasy?

So this week for Colleen’s Writer’s Quote Wednesday I’m going to focus on fantasy combined with a touch of humour now isn’t that a winning combination?

Definition of Fantasy:

Here’s a wonderful quote from a fellow I much admire, Dr. Seuss :

“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living. It’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a Telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life’s realities.”

Dr. Seuss.

Author Profile – courtesy of Goodreads.

Theodor Seuss Geisel was born 2 March 1904 in Springfield, MA. He graduated Dartmouth College in 1925, and proceeded on to Oxford University with the intent of acquiring a doctorate in literature. At Oxford he met Helen Palmer, who he wed in 1927. He returned from Europe in 1927, and began working for a magazine called Judge, the leading humor magazine in America at the time, submitting both cartoons and humorous articles for them. Additionally, he was submitting cartoons to Life, Vanity Fair and Liberty. In some of his works, he’d made reference to an insecticide called Flit. These references gained notice, and led to a contract to draw comic ads for Flit. This association lasted 17 years, gained him national exposure, and coined the catchphrase “Quick, Henry, the Flit!”

In 1936 on the way to a vaction in Europe, listening to the rhythm of the ship’s engines, he came up with And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, which was then promptly rejected by the first 43 publishers he showed it to. Eventually in 1937 a friend published the book for him, and it went on to at least moderate success.

During WW II, Geisel joined the army and was sent to Hollywood. Captain Geisel would write for Frank Capra’s Signal Corps Unit (for which he won the Legion of Merit) and do documentaries (he won Oscar’s for Hitler Lives and Design for Death). He also created a cartoon called Gerald McBoing-Boing which also won him an Oscar.

In May of 1954, Life published a report concerning illiteracy among school children. The report said, among other things, that children were having trouble to read because their books were boring. This inspired Geisel’s publisher, and prompted him to send Geisel a list of 400 words he felt were important, asked him to cut the list to 250 words (the publishers idea of how many words at one time a first grader could absorb), and write a book. Nine months later, Geisel, using 220 of the words given to him published The Cat in the Hat, which went on to instant success.

In 1960 Bennett Cerf bet Geisel $50 that he couldn’t write an entire book using only fifty words. The result was Green Eggs and Ham. Cerf never paid the $50 from the bet.

Helen Palmer Geisel died in 1967. Theodor Geisel married Audrey Stone Diamond in 1968. Theodor Seuss Geisel died 24 September 1991.

Also worked under the pen name:
Theo Le Sieg

What about you do you feel fiercely protective of the fantasy world? Do you look at the world through the wrong end of a telescope? Do leave a comment.  I’d love to find out your opinions. Thanks for stopping by,  do come again I love visitors.

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