http://philipschaefer.com/2008/06/25/where-london-books-take-place/ Theories, observations, and articles Fri, 18 May 2012 17:04:19 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://philipschaefer.com/2008/06/25/where-london-books-take-place/comment-page-1/#comment-1492 Mary Jane Schaefer Fri, 04 Jul 2008 16:29:01 +0000 http://philipschaefer.com/?p=849#comment-1492 I remember reading a story about a tour guide in Oxford who was taking around two jaded Americans who really didn't seem to care about anything she said. Finally, as a throw-away, she mentioned, "And this is where Peter Wimsey kissed Harriet Vane in a punt." They got very excited and made her go all over Oxford again, this time using "Gaudy Night" as the theme. She thought, and wrote, something to this effect: they were more excited about fictional characters and things that had never occurred than all the history I'd been telling them. Ah, the power of the imagination. You tell me Peter and Harriet aren't real! I remember reading a story about a tour guide in Oxford who was taking around two jaded Americans who really didn’t seem to care about anything she said. Finally, as a throw-away, she mentioned, “And this is where Peter Wimsey kissed Harriet Vane in a punt.” They got very excited and made her go all over Oxford again, this time using “Gaudy Night” as the theme. She thought, and wrote, something to this effect: they were more excited about fictional characters and things that had never occurred than all the history I’d been telling them. Ah, the power of the imagination. You tell me Peter and Harriet aren’t real!

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