Historical Hoaxes

twain2Mark Twain wrote in his novel Pudd’nhead Wilson, “April 1. This is the day upon which we are reminded of what we are on the other three hundred and sixty-four.” April Fools’ Day has been popular since the 1800s, but pranks themselves have been around since at least the Middle Ages. Some famous jokes throughout history have been literary in nature, while others were carried out by well-known authors and poets of the time.

One widespread April Fools’ prank had to do with the origin of the holiday itself. In 1983, Joseph Boskin, a history professor at Boston University, made up an explanation about the beginnings of the day. He said that the holiday started in Constantine’s time. In his version of the origin, a group of jesters challenged the emperor, saying that they could run the empire better than he could. Constantine then let a jester be king for a day, and that jester passed a law saying that for that day, everyone should act absurd. That law then turned into an annual tradition. Boskin said of the story, “In a way, it was a very serious day. In those time fools were really wise men. It was the role of jesters to put things in perspective with humor.” When the Associated Press got wind of this explanation, the word spread, and many newspapers printed the story. It wasn’t until a few weeks later that they realized their story about April Fools’ Day was an April Fools’ joke itself.

trickersNot all pranksters throughout history have stuck to April Fools’ Day to pull off their hoaxes. At the age of 16, Benjamin Franklin posed as a woman and wrote letters to the newspaper his brother ran, The New England Courant. Under the name of Silence Dogood, and using forged handwriting, Franklin played the part of the middle-aged widow for a six-month period. His brother never caught on. In his autobiography, Franklin wrote of the arrival of each letter: “They read it, commented on it in my Hearing, and I had the exquisite Pleasure, of finding it met with their Approbation, and that in their different Guesses at the Author none were named but Men of some Character among us for Learning and Ingenuity.” Franklin eventually came clean after writing fourteen of the letters.

Famous poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, husband of Mary Shelley, also partook in pranks in his youth. His wife once wrote of him, “From his earliest years, all his amusements and occupations were of a daring, and in one sense of the term, lawless nature.” He attended Eton as a teenager, and while there he acted on this “daring” nature. He enjoyed setting fire to trees on campus, but one time he took his prank a step further by using gunpowder. Needless to say, the tree blew up, and Shelley got into trouble. Shelley’s fellow students, however, found the incident amusing, so much so that they wrote a poem about it.

More recently, Willie Morris, editor of Harper’s Magazine in the 1960s and bestselling memoirist, pulled a prank involving his dog, Skip, when he was younger. While driving one afternoon, he ducked down beneath the dashboard and propped Skip up against the steering wheel, so it would look to passersby as if Skip were driving the car. This caused one man to fall out of his chair, and Morris liked the reaction so much that he repeated the joke one Sunday morning as people were leaving church. A hush fell over the crowd as Morris and Skip drove by, and Morris later wrote of the incident, “It was as if the very spectacle of Old Skip driving that green DeSoto were inscrutable, celestial, and preordained.”

spaghettiAnd of course, no list of pranks would be complete without what The Museum of Hoaxes considers to be the greatest April Fools’ joke of all time: the Swiss Spaghetti Harvest. On April 1, 1957, a British news show broadcasted a segment showing the harvesting of spaghetti in Switzerland. A family was picking spaghetti right off of trees, and the video clip included the phrase, “For those who love this dish, there’s nothing like real, home-grown spaghetti.” Viewers immediately responded, some wondering where they could buy their own spaghetti tree.

So, this April Fools’ Day, use some of the above pranks for guidance or come up with your own practical jokes to play on friends and family members, and continue this tradition that so many literary greats have participated in.

— Cara Scott


Sara Korash-Schiff is a senior English and journalism and mass communications major at Washington and Lee.  She has served as  an intern for Hachette Book Group in Nashville and a reporting intern for The Springfield Republican.  After graduation, she plans to travel throughout Europe and attend a graduate creative writing program in fiction.

Writers’ Best Friends

On April 5, 1905, the Kansas City Star ran the following post about a lost cat: “Large and intensely black; thick, velvety fur; has a faint fringe of white hair acrosstwain his chest; not easy to find in ordinary light.” The author of this advertisement? None other than Samuel Clemens, otherwise known as Mark Twain, himself. Though this specific ad was about his beloved cat Bambino, Twain collected a variety of other cats throughout the years as well. He loved cats so much that he once said, “I simply can’t resist a cat, particularly a purring one. They are the cleanest, cunningest, and most intelligent things I know, outside of the girl you love, of course.” Twain, however, is not the only writer who fancied feline friendship.

Ernest Hemingway also enjoyed the companionship of cats. He had a six-toed white cat named Snowball, among others. Cats even made their way into his famous work For Whom the Bell Tolls: “No animal has more liberty than the cat, but it buries the mess it makes. The cat is the best anarchist.” hemingwayTo this day, visitors can find more than 50 six-toed (polydactyl, to use the technical term) cats roaming around Hemingway’s home in Key West. It is said that they are the descendants of dear old Snowball.

Joyce Carol Oates has even gone as far as crediting her cat for helping her write. She has said, “I write so much because my cat sits on my lap. She purrs so I don’t want to get up. She’s so much more calming than my husband.”

So what is it with writers and their cats? Why do so many choose to spend their time with those of the feline persuasion? Perhaps, as Oates said, cats encourage writing with their refusal to be dislodged from their resting places. Maybe they dissuade writers’ block with their mysterious air and playful antics. I certainly find cats to be the ideal writing companions. Their warm bodies create a cozy environment and their purring has a calming effect, making for a low-stress writing atmosphere. I can see this being the reason that authors for generations have adored their meowing muses.

It isn’t only cats that steal a place in writers’ hearts, however. Canine companions have been just as present throughout history. Emily Brontë, a great animal lover, had a trusty mastiff sidekick named Keeper. Some even argue that Emily’s adoration of all creatures influenced her writing in Wuthering Heights, as many characters in the novel have quite animalistic qualities. Her contemporary, Emily Dickinson, also had a love for dogs. Dickinson once said, “Dogs are better than human beings because they know but do not tell.”

HuxleyA more recent writer shared his predecessors’ preference for pups. Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World, once explained “the constant popularity of dogs” by saying, “To his dog, every man is Napoleon.” This quote could explain why some writers keep pooches as pets. Take a survey of any authors and chances are some are going to say they write because they want to make an impact on their readers or even on the world. Perhaps F. Scott Fitzgerald put it best when he said, “You don’t write because you want to say something; you write because you’ve got something to say.” Keeping a dog as a pet allows authors to experience that feeling of heroism on a smaller scale.

Or maybe writers simply have dogs because they bring a certain level of joy that encourages the writing process. Jonathan Safran Foer, author of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, asked, “Why does watching a dog be a dog fill one with happiness?” Just as cats inspire writers with their furtiveness, dogs can hearten writers’ work with their blatantly unconditional love and loyalty. Conversely, dogs can reveal the negative side of human nature as well. As John Steinbeck said after years with his treasured poodle, Charley, “I’ve seen a look in dogs’ eyes, a quickly vanishing look of amazed contempt, and I am convinced that basically dogs think humans are nuts.” While dogs do not necessarily create the same relaxed atmosphere that cats do, I find their constant cheerfulness to be a definite mood-booster, something that always helps with my writing.

Dogs and cats are not the only pets that have kept famous writers company, however. Lord Byron, 19th century poet, housed a pet bear during his time at Cambridge, even walking it through campus on a leashoconnor. And let us not forget about Flannery O’Connor and the famed peacocks that kept her company. She once wrote of them, “Visitors to our place, instead of being barked at by dogs rushing from under our porch, are squalled at by peacocks whose blue necks and crested heads pop up from behind tufts of grass, peer out of bushes, and crane downward from the roof of the house, where the bird has flown, perhaps for the view.”

So, while many authors may use historical figures or real-life acquaintances for inspiration in their writing, some turn instead to their furrier pals, giving a new perspective on the phrase “man’s best friend.”

— Cara Scott


Sara Korash-Schiff is a senior English and journalism and mass communications major at Washington and Lee.  She has served as  an intern for Hachette Book Group in Nashville and a reporting intern for The Springfield Republican.  After graduation, she plans to travel throughout Europe and attend a graduate creative writing program in fiction.

What Inspires a Writer?

hemingwayOne of the most interesting concepts in literature is the writer’s inspiration.  Whenever I read, I constantly wonder where authors get their ideas for stories and what motivates them to write.  Usually I write because I am facing an encroaching deadline.  The content of my writing also tends to be dictated by paper prompts and the books listed on my English course syllabi.  I decided to investigate authors’ views on writing to gain some insight into their sources of inspiration and to find what really makes a writer tick.  Toni Morrison said, “If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.”  Morrison’s statement concerns what the writer believes to be a void in the literary world.  The author seeks to fill this void with his or her own writing, a self-motivated way to benefit literature as a whole.

F. Scott Fitzgerald believed that writing develops out of a compulsion to share what one thinks or knows: “You don’t write because you want to say something; you write because you’ve got to say something.”  According to Fitzgerald, writing is not born out of a desire,Lightning_strike_jan_2007 but a burning need, a mandate to “say something.”  I believe writing is people’s way of aiding one another; writers share their life lessons and experiences through their works.  A book can be a lifeline from an author to a reader, or even from one author to another.  While the writing process can appear complicated and even daunting at times, some writers believe that transcribing thoughts to paper is a natural outpouring of their emotions.

Ernest Hemingway described his thoughts about the writing process: “There is nothing to writing.  All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”  Personally, I have always been intimidated by writing.  Staring at a blank word document when beginning a paper can be scary.  tumblr_lfjbpoBsFb1qdubwqo1_500Although writing may be hard for me initially, I ultimately agree with Hemingway.  The writer’s thoughts should spill from the mind to the page, becoming a reflection of his or her innermost thoughts and the author’s “need” to say something.  However, the writing process can often pose difficulties, especially concerning diction. Twain’s statement perfectly describes the need for precise diction: “The difference between the right word and the almost write word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.”  My first question about authors’ motivations and the root of their inspiration turned out to probe larger questions concerning the writing process and the precision required in creating a literary piece.


maddieMaddie Thorpe has twice served as a Shenandoah intern, once as Poem of the Week Editor and once as Social Networking Editor.  She is from Southern California and will take a degree in English from Washington and Lee in spring of 2014.

April Fools

In light of yesterday, I thought a post honoring some of my favorite tricksters in literature couldn’t be more appropriate. At an early age, my parents would rock me to sleep with tales of Brer Rabbit and Puss and Boots. In middle school, I first met Shakespeare’s Puck, whose clever schemes single-handedly convinced me that the playwright wasn’t as boring as he seemed. Last year, I was surprised to encounter  these folk in my course on Medieval Literature. As we read Sir Tomas Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur, it seemed like almost every quest contained at least one disguised knight. None of these examples, however, compares to the tricks conjured up by Twain in Huck Finn (at least for me). The Duke and the King’s cons, among others, will forever make the novel synonymous with trickery.

Enough about me. Do you have any other favorite trickster characters, novels, or films? Has anyone ever played a memorable joke on you?


@Shenandoah #AuthorsandSocialMedia

Lately in our Shenandoah Internship meetings we have been discussing the shift from print to an online medium.  We live in a world where practically everything and everyone seems to on the web, logged on, and high speed.  In this fast paced and instant gratification society one has to wonder what will happen to print, authors, and literature in general.

Here at Shenandoah we have come up with a few ways to work within the online the community.  The journal has a Facebook page, which is now under new management by the brilliant and witty team, Tim McAleenan and Caitlin Doyle.  In addition, you can even follow your favorite literary journal on Twitter @ShenandoahLit!  The idea of Shenandoah having a Twitter made me wonder what famous authors would subscribe to the popular social media site.  After sifting through my mental catalogue of authors I came up with at least one writer who would definitely have a Twitter.  Mark Twain, the legendary nineteenth century humorist and writer, was exactly the type of author who would have fully embraced Twitter.  Twain’s illustrious wit is perfectly suited to the frank and concise nature of Twitter’s 140-character per Tweet format.  I even took the liberty of choosing a few of my favorite Mark Twain quotes and converting them into proper Twitter-form.  Enjoy these hypothetical Mark Twain tweets!

TheMarkTwain: Be careful about reading health books.  You may die of a misprint #hypochondriacs

TheMarkTwain: I have never taken any exercise except sleeping and resting. #healthnuts#lazydays#oldage

TheMarkTwain: Clothes make the man.  Naked people have little or no influence on society. #annoyingfashions#toughlifefornudists

TheMarkTwain: It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt. #stupidquestions#ignorantpeople

What are your thoughts on authors using Twitter?  Can you think of any other writers who would be avid “Tweeters”?


Senior at Washington and Lee University. Originally from Chattanooga, TN. Majoring in English.

Some thoughts on being somewhat educated

As the semester, and the Shenandoah Internship, concluded this week, I prepared to return home to Southside Virginia, where I will spend some of the break working at the local library.  Yesterday was my first day back at the library, and as I was wandering among the bookcases, trying to force books onto overcrowded shelves, the authors’ names and book titles jumped out at me as I passed, just like they always have. It’s almost like playing a word association game. As soon as I’ve seen an author’s name, certain thoughts spring to mind. Charles Dickens – orphans. David Foster Wallace – footnotes. Dixie Cash – seriously? I realized yesterday that many names and titles I had hardly known before this past semester had taken on different meanings. Umberto Eco now makes me ponder innocence and sincerity in a postmodern age. When the biography Papa Hemingway catches my eye, I remember that the author, A. E. Hotchner, was Hemingway’s friend and is said to have suggested the title of A Moveable Feast.

In the midst of this reflection, my own thoughts begin to sound pretentious to me. Highfalutin, as people around here might be expected to say, although I’ve never heard it said.

In “Two Ways of Seeing a River,” from Mark Twain’s Life on the Mississippi, Twain, now that he has learned to see the river as a steamboat pilot, reflects “No, the romance and the beauty were all gone from the river.” He suggests a comparison between himself and a doctor who can no longer see the beauty in a woman because he is instead looking for the signs of disease in the color of her cheek. I don’t mean to say that when I became an English major, all the mystery went out of books. But I do think that my humility, my sense of the vastness of literary knowledge and my own inability to begin to understand even a significant portion of it, has been reduced somewhat by the new sense of knowingness that studying English intently has given me.

I don’t mean to say that getting an education is in any way a negative thing, but for writers, I know there is some debate over who is, well, cooler: the academic/career writer or the “real person” with a “real job” who writes based on their “real” experiences.  To offer an example of the value of experience, I would put forth the Shenandoah Internship. I personally believe I have learned more than I likely ever would have known otherwise about publishing and literary journals without writing a single academic paper, but instead being occupied with the blog and other tasks–all part of the modern literary journal trade. Yet, all the pretentious thoughts I was thinking at the library I learned in a pretty intense, research-filled English course, and I derive a great deal of satisfaction from having taken it and I know I will write better for it. Both have been equally valuable to me. For writers and readers, is anything lost in becoming immersed academically in literature and writing as opposed to learning about literature through other experiences? Obviously an immeasurable amount of knowledge (and experience) is gained, but is there a hidden cost to becoming an academic (besides tuition)?