Sunday, May 16, 2010

Notes to "What strange intoxication was it that he drew from books?"

* Mr Garnett is David Garnett, son of translator Constance Garnett. At the time of the publication of The Common Reader, David was running a bookshop near the British Museum and had received a lot of acclaim for Lady into Fox, a novel in which a man's young wife turns into a fox. It's one of those odd books that keeps popping up on the periphery of my reading, which means I really ought to give it a try. I see that the edition I've linked to is in the Collins Library series from McSweeney's, which is a very good sign.

** Mr Masefield, whom you most likely were more quick to identify, is John Masefield, author of, among other books, the children's classic The Box of Delights.

Monday, May 3, 2010

Notes to "The Glamorous World of Publishing, Revealed!"

* Ruk was played by Ted Cassidy, who at this point is better known from his earlier role as Lurch on The Adams Family. Cassidy would go on to appear in two other episodes of Star Trek, and in one of them he played yet another of the original series' many memorable villains, Gorn.

Or, more properly, Gorn!!!!!



Oh, it's also worth noting that the episode featuring Ruk, "What Are Little Girls Made Of?", was written by Robert Bloch.