liv | A cool question (Reply)

rysmiel asked me a cool question (well, several, but this is the one I want to talk about):

Of any figures who lived and died before the twentieth century, who would you most like to have on your friends list ? Of any fictional characters ?

Of pre-twentieth century historical figures, I choose Diderot. Because I love having writers on my friends list, and I find Diderot's style so absolutely engaging. Plus, he's a complete polymath, he's interested in and knowledgeable about absolutely everything, philosophy, politics, science, gossip, sex (incidentally, he's author of my absolute all-time favourite literary sex scene) and a whole load of other things. And the sort of person who would know all kinds of fascinating people.

And of fictional characters, I'd choose Cassandra Mortmain from Dodie Smith's I capture the castle. Not so much the sheltered teenager she is in the book itself, but a few years on. I'd be fascinated to see what such a quirky and original personality makes of the real world, and how she develops as a person and a writer (she has such a lovely voice, despite its naïveté, at 17, so I'd love to know what she'll be doing with a bit of maturity). And she's someone I'd very much like to interact with directly, I think, but not someone who would be easy to be close friends with, so reading and commenting on her journal would be a good start.

This is sort of connected to the 'Interview' meme, but I've mutated (exapted?) it to something only vaguely related. Basically, I would welcome any questions about anything that people would like me to talk about. I might not get round to answering them immediately, but I'll certainly bear them in mind for future posts. And if you'd like, I can provide questions in return. The framework is interview-style questions, but I'm not really fussed about keeping strictly to that. Also, I think I'd rather have single questions than sets of five, at least to start with.

Oh, and on the subject of books, I've put up a review of Dorothy Dunnett's King Hereafter.