The Bibliothèque held a fun Book Chat presentation this past Saturday called "Meet the Mieville Authors." Much like the classes that Perryn used to do, lots of info and illustrations were shared on the Victorian-era authors for whom the original five Mieville sims were named. This event was offered in conjunction with Mieville's first-ever Literary Street Fest, hosted by Grasshopper Street!
Bibliothèque Book Chat: Meet the Authors, Aug. 12, 2023 - Photo by Silver
- Doyle (named for Arthur Conan Doyle)
- Verne (named for Jules Verne)
- Wells - surprise! (This original sim was named for H.G. Wells, later renamed "Lakes")
- Shelley (named for Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
- Twain (named for Mark Twain)
All of these five sims were in place by 2009! Perryn's original idea for Mieville was to create a Victorian Steampunk community. Reviewing the five authors here, here are a few fun facts and questions:
- Only two of the authors were actually Victorian authors through and through! Do you know which ones?
- Shelley is the only remaining Mieville sim that was named for a woman. Do you know any previous Mieville sim(s) named for a woman?
- Only two of these authors actually wanted to be literary authors and enjoyed writing. The others did not think their writing was their most important work! Who were the two who wanted to be literary authors?
- Can you name which of the authors became famous public intellectuals during their lifetime?
- Besides the names, does anyone know any explicit connections between the sims and their namesakes? For example, was there anything particularly Sherlock Holmes-y going on at the Doyle sim, or Frankenstein-y stuff at Shelley?
- And have you read any of these authors? Do you have a favorite?
Let us know your questions & answers to any of these - just reply to this post! We will love to hear from you!
We had a lot of fun and learned a lot about each of these authors, their lives and works, narrative strategies, and so on. And I'll put in a plug for the Bibliothèque: we have books by all of these authors in our collections, ready for you to read and enjoy right here in SL! Visit us — you'll find them up on 2nd Floor of the Bibliothèque, plus you can also search our card catalog for other titles! 🥰📗📘📕🥰
I'm working on Meet the Mieville Authors, Part 2 (sequel!) so we can learn about five more Victorian-era authors for whom Mieville sims past and present have been named - stay tuned!! If there's interest, I may offer reprise presentations too. Just let me know!
Your friendly Mieville librarian & historian,
~ Farzaneh
I hope to be there for the second part : 8 am SLT is 5 pm for me. If we consider the Victorian era to be 1837 to 1901, Twain and Dickens were adults during the apogee of the era. Another region of Mieville was named for a woman : Lovelace (Ada) who was a mathematician and a writer, "chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's proposed mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine" (Wikipedia) ; Steampunk is in the background... I guess there is no explicit connections between the regions and their names, because the objective of Perryn was not to stick to the reality of the time of each author. For my part if I want to reproduce the novles of Verne, it will be quickly the mess (well it is already ?) I have read at least one novel of each of the authors and about all from Verne and Doyle who are my favorite for their writing style. Wells and Dickens my favorites for their engagements and Chesterton for his humor.
ReplyDeleteGreat! Hope to see you there! Yes, Lovelace (spoiler alert!) is indeed the other woman for whom a Mieville sim was named. The "which two were Victorian authors" is a trick question, lol: as an American author, Twain wouldn't be called a "Victorian" author. ;) And we'll cover Dickens in Part 2...
DeleteOkay, time for the Quiz answers :). 1. Doyle and Wells. (Although Twain lived during Victorian-era times, as a US author he would never be called a "Victorian" author). 2. Lovelace (sim now defunct) 3. Verne and Wollstonecraft Shelley. 4. All of them except Wollstonecraft Shelley. Hmm.... 5. I personally do not know of any deep connections between the author names and the actual im designs or activities. If anyone knows, please give a shout out! :)
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