At first I was going to do a column on Literature: Writers and Writings, but the list got so long that I soon realized I would be breaking it up into several columns (i.e., Prose, Poetry, Plays and then a separate column for Shakespeare).  So here we go with our first literature column on prose authors and their works.

Once again we end up with a few surprises by sticking to our "most frequently used words in crosswords" rule for the column.  Hemingway and Fitzgerald take a back seat with the cluemeisters, while their front-runner in the field turns out to be.....
 

AGEE... "1958 Pulitzer novelist" is "writer James from Tenn.", that is.  "Pulitzer writer James" is the "'A Death in the Family' author" (for which he received the Pulitzer award posthumously), and from among numerous other crossword clues we learn that he is also the "screenplay writer of 'Night of the Hunter'" as well as "co-author of 'The African Queen' screenplay".   Additionally he wrote book and movie reviews for Time and The Nation magazines during the late 1930s and early 1940s, but so far I haven't seen any crossword clues that cover that corner of his career.  Two interesting websites for AGEE can be reached by clicking on his high-lighted name for one and on his photo for the other.  Information about the movies he wrote can be found by mouse-clicking the high-lighted references above.

As might be expected, there are hundreds of words and names related to literature which turn up in puzzles, but the list narrows considerably when it comes to cluemeister favorites in frequent use.  Following are some of the most popular.

ELIA...Charles Lamb was a failed London poet and playwright (it is even recorded that he led the booing of one of his plays on its opening night) who gained lasting fame in the early 19th century as a humorist and essayist under the pseudonym of ELIA.  A grateful community of crossword composers has continued to honor him with a never-ending string of clues..."Lamb's alias", "London mag. essayist", etc., etc. etc.  Clicking on Lamb's photo will take you to a website containing a short biography of Charles Lamb by William Hazlitt, a contemporary and fellow writer who was part of a close knit group of their friends which included Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Wordsworth and Lord Byron.   The high-lighted ELIA at the start of this paragraph takes you to another website on the essayist which includes a short autobiography by Charles Lamb that shows us the extent of humor and wit contained in his writings.  We also need to remember that "director Kazan" also appears quite often as a clue for ELIA.  With his appearance to accept an honorary Oscar at the 1999 Academy Awards ceremony, controversial movie and stage directorElia Kazan will probably have inspired enough current interest to once again become a frequent visitor to many a puzzle.  Click on the high-lighted Kazan reference to read about the controversy.
 

ELIE...  "Peace Nobelist Wiesel" is the author of over 30 books pertaining primarily to the Jewish experience with particular attention to the Holocaust and German concentration camps during World War II.  In 1986 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.  Since that time he has become such a familiar stand-by with crossword composers that recently I have seen them try to divert us with "Peace Nobelist Ducommun" as the clue.  It seems there was a Swiss journalist named ELIE Ducommunwho was given the Nobel Peace Prize in 1902.   You can read all about Elie Wiesel by clicking on the high-lighted ELIE above, and you can read about Elie Ducommun by clicking on his high-lighted name.
 

ERLE...   Think for a moment how often you have seen "_ _ _ _ Stanley Gardner" as a clue.  Then think again how often you've run across "first name in mysteries" in a puzzle.  Erle Stanley Gardner is one of the most popular subjects with cluemeisters of the world.  With the assistance of a large staff of secretaries, he could turn out a new novel every week or so, and he authored something like 127 novels, 82 of them featuring lawyer Perry Mason.  In addition, he wrote a multitude of short stories, articles and other writings.  While on the subject of prolific writers, take a look at successful screenwriter and author William F. Nolan's sixteen-page website on Gardner and his work by clicking on the high-lighted ERLE above.
 

ERMA...   The death of Erma Bombeck in 1997 seems to have in no way diminished her  popularity with crossword designers, and we continue to see "humorous Bombeck", "witty Bombeck", "columnist Bombeck", "humorist Bombeck" and "first name in humor" as clues for ERMA in crosswords from every source imaginable.  For a brief biography, click on the book cover.  For an example of the Bombeck wit and wisdom check out some choice quotes by mouse-clicking the high-lighted ERMA at the beginning of the paragraph.
 

AESOP... This "ancient Greek fabler" may be the most enduring popular writer in history, and although it is relatively easy to find examples of his many fables on the web, biographical information is somewhat harder to come by.  It is generally agreed that he was a Greek slave born about 620 B.C., and that his writing prowess was eventually responsible for his earning his freedom.  Included among his many puzzle clues we find "fabler of yore" and "ancient moralist".  Click HERE for a brief biography which questions whether he ever actually existed as the sole author of all the fables with which he is credited, and then you can read a number of those famous fables (translated into English) at an excellent Greek website by clicking on his high-lighted name at the top of this paragraph.
 

URIS... Many of our clue writers seem to be familiar with everything "author Leon" has ever written, and we are informed quite regularly that he is the "'Exodus' author", the "'QBVII" author", the "'Hadj' author", the "'Trinity' author", etc.  Several times they have even insisted that I must surely know that "the hero of 'Exodus'" is ARI.  Click on URIS above to read a biography which may be as complete as we are likely to find about this author who obviously prefers keeping his private life to himself.
 

So much for prose writers in crosswords.  What about their writings?  Well, I didn't find any often-used titles by the authors listed above, but how about these?
 

OMOO... "Melville's 'Typee' sequel" seems to turn up as often as any other work of literature I can recall.  This "1847 South Seas adventure", the "sequel to 'Typee'", is such an obvious fit to the corners of any crossword puzzle that if crosswords had been invented in the mid-1800s, OMOO would probably have found its place in the very first one.  Both "Typee" and "Moby Dick" are Herman Melville works which are far better known that "Omoo," but you'll never convince cluemeisters of that .  Of course they do like to throw an occasional "Moby Dick's captain" or "one-legged whaling captain" into their puzzles in order to get AHAB for an answer.  A click on the high-lighted "Omoo" above will take you to a most informative page about this book, and a click on "Ahab" will give a description of Captain Ahab in the words of Melville himself.
 

TESS... The "Hardy heroine" of Thomas Hardy's "'_ _ _ _ of the D'Urbervilles'" appears nearly as often as OMOO in crosswords, and in addition to those first two clues for TESS, we have seen  everything from "Hardy soul?" to "Polanski's Hardy movie", this latter clue a reference to director Roman Polanski's film adaptation of the novel appropriately titled TESS.  Mouse-clicking the high-lighted title up front takes you to a single page website containing main and secondary character descriptions along with a single paragraph summary of the novel.  If you are interested in reading the complete book, you can do that on the web as well by clicking HERE.     If you are interested in learning more about the Polanski movie version of TESS, click on the high-lighted clue above.  You will be transported to the Internet Movie Database pages relating to the film, and if you haven't been introduced to that website before, you will probably be fascinated by their exhaustive and colorful coverage of everything relating to movies and television.
 

LORNA DOONE... Whether the clue is "_ _ _ _ _ Doone" or "Lorna _ _ _ _ _", and you have probably seen both many times, the reference is to "Blackmore's heroine" of that name from the Richard D. Blackmore 1869 novel.  Click on the high-lighted title above to read a short synopsis supplied by A&E television for their filmed version of the novel.
 

If you are into online crosswords, and have a Java-powered browser, try Timothy Parker's Universal Crossword.  Just click on the logo below.

Copyright 1999 C. Schnebel, Revised 2002
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