Confessions Tuesday : about several authors...

When I woke up this morning my Droid was blinking -  as it  does when I get new e-mail. So I check my e-mail and realized that one is a notice - I was tagged on Facebook>

"Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen authors (poets included) who've influenced you and that will always stick with you. List the first fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes, and they don't have to be listed in order of relevance to you. "
I got to think a little about my list since I hate typing in the droid so I took my morning shower and got dressed before I opened my computer and wrote my own list:

"1. William Shakespeare


2. William Faulkner


3. Fyodor Dostoevsky


4. Marin Sorescu


5. Panait Istrati


6. Andre Gide


7. Reiner Maria Rilke


8. Omar Khayyam


9. Elizabeth Bishop


10. Adrienne Rich


11. Michael Ondaatje


12. Iris Murdoch


13. Paul Squires


14. George Bacovia


15. Hans Christian Andersen"


This is not an exhaustive list  - Being an aspiring writer myself I have to acknowledge the influence of some writers such is more about style than it is about an impact on my life. This explains the presence of Elizabeth Bishop.

In fact, it is interesting that when trying to figure out this list I excluded all authors of philosophy and non-fiction books. Although I owe more to Immanuel Kant, Plato, Wittgenstein, T.S. Kuhn or John Stuart Mill when making life changing decisions than to any author above - with the exception of Dostoevsky, Khayyam and Murdoch.  Not to mention that my good habit of questioning stereotypes was perhaps rooted in the works of Jean Henri Fabre and his notes on the helpfulness and friendliness of creatures long considered bearers of bad fortunes such as the owl, the bat and the frog.

But it also made me realize that there are several authors such as Koestler and Luise Rinser who did not make the list because I never got to read a second book by them even though the first had a definite impact on me. I am talking about The Call Girls  and  respective Mitte des Lebens. It is perhaps the time to add more titles to my list... this is why I am forwarding the request to Bea, Julie , Gautami, Hannah , Bryan, Dhyan and whomever wants to try it...No need to reply or foward it , just  try it for yourself...

PS If you would like to read one of the Romanian authors from the list but cannot read in Romanian

for Bacovia I'd  suggest Brenda Walker's translation :Complete Poetical Works and Selected Prose of George Bacovia

and for Marin Sorescu :Selected Poems. Translated By Michael Hamburger