Assorted Gems
Literary Gems
Joseph Roth: The Radetzky March: 1932. Everyman (1996) London
Joseph Roth: Radetzkymarsch: 1932: Gustav Kiepenheuer Verlag, Berlin
"...'Soon we'll be going up!' said Jacques with a smile and pointed to the ceiling.
'You've got plenty of time,' the District Captain replied.
'No, no!' said Jacques and let out a ringing laugh. 'I've had time long enough. Now
we'll be going up! Check on how old I am. I've forgotten.'
'Where should I check?'
'Down there!' said Jacques, pointing at the bedstead. It contained a drawer. The District
Captain pulled it out. He saw a small neatly tied package in brown wrapping paper, next
to a round tin box with a colorful but faded picture on the lid, a shepherdess in a
white wig, and he remembered that it was one of those candy boxes that had lain under
the Christmas trees of some of his childhood friends."
Georges Simenon: Maigret and the Reluctant Witnesses: 1959. Hamish Hamilton, London
Georges Simenon: Maigret et les témoins récalcitrants: 1959. France
"'Lucas, you ring up the Public Prosecutor's office. A man has been killed by a bullet
to the heart, on the Quai de la Gare at Ivry. Name of Lachaume... Lachaume's Biscuits...'
This called up memories that took him right back to his country childhood. In those
days, in a very dimly lit village grocery, where dried vegetables were offered for sale
alongside clogs and sewing cotton, you were sure to find cellophane-wrapped packets
labelled 'Biscuiterie Lachaume'.
Lachaume's made petits-beurre and wafer biscuits, both of which had the same
rather cardboardy taste.
He had not heard of them since those days. Neither had he seen any more of those
calendars showing a little boy with exaggeratedly rosy cheeks and an inane grin,
eating a Lachaume wafer, and it was even rare nowadys to see the name in faded letters
on a wall in some isolated village."
A.A. Milne: The House at Pooh Corner: 1928. Methuen, London.
" 'I don't think Roo had better come,' Rabbit said. 'Not today.'
'Why not?' said Roo, who wasn't supposed to be listening.
'Nasty cold day,' said Rabbit, shaking his head. 'And you were coughing this morning.'
'How do you know?' said Roo indignantly.
'Oh Roo, you never told me,' said Kanga reproachfully.
'It was a Biscuit Cough,' said Roo, 'not one you tell about.' "
Historical Gems
Peter Vansittart: In Memory of England: 1998. John Murray, London.
Writing about the Cromwellian Republic, page 121
"The Royal accumulation of paintings was sold to European collectors; Greenwich Palace,
beloved by Henry VIII and Elizabeth, was stripped of pictures, cabinets, musical
instruments, profane books, tapestries; became a biscuit factory."