Author: Howard Jacobson

Cites

• NULL (2)
  • IN: J (2014) Fiction, British
    EPIGRAPH: A grey wolf fell into conversation with a tarantula. ‘I love the chase,’ the grey wolf said. ‘Myself,’ said the tarantula, ‘I like to sit here and wait for my prey to come to me.’ ‘Don’t you find that lonely?’ the wolf asked. ‘I could as soon ask you,’ the tarantula replied, ‘how it is that you don’t get sick of taking your wife and kids along on every hunt.’ ‘I am by temperament a family man,’ the wolf answered. ‘And what is more there is power in numbers.’ The tarantula paused to crush a passing marmoset then said he doubted the wolf, for all the help he received, would ever be as successful a huntsman as he was. The wolf wagered a week’s catch on his ability to outhunt the tarantula and, returning to his lair, told his wife and children of the bet. ‘You owe me,’ he told the tarantula when they next met. ‘And your proof ?’ ‘Well I expect you to trust my word, but if you don’t, then go ahead and search the wilderness with your own eyes.’ This the tarantula did, and sure enough discovered that of all the wolf ’s natural prey not a single creature remained. ‘I salute your efficiency,’ the tarantula said, ‘but it does occur to me to wonder what you are going to do for sustenance now.’ At this the grey wolf burst into tears. ‘I have had to eat my wife,’ he admitted. ‘And next week I will start on my children.’ ‘And after that?’ ‘After that? After that I will have no option but to eat myself.’ Moral: Always leave a little on your plate.
    FROM: Argument: The Wolf and the Tarantula, (None), Short Story, NULL
  • IN: The Mighty Walzer (1999) Fiction, British
    EPIGRAPH: where dreams and retail collide.
    FROM: Nike ad, (1998), NULL, US
• James Joyce (1)
  • IN: Zoo Time (2012) Fiction, American
    EPIGRAPH: Will any man love the daughter if he has not loved the mother?
    FROM: Ulysses, (1922), Novel, Ireland
• William Shakespeare (1)
  • IN: Shylock is My Name (2016) Fiction, British
    EPIGRAPH: PORTIA: Which is the merchant here, and which the Jew? DUKE: Antonio and old Shylock, both stand forth. PORTIA: Is your name Shylock? SHYLOCK: Shylock is my name.
    FROM: The Merchant of Venice, (1600), Play, UK
• Robert Burns (1)
  • IN: Who's Sorry Now? (2002) Fiction, British
    EPIGRAPH: The sacred lowe o' weel-plac'd love, Luxuriantly indulge it; But never tempt th'illicit rove, Tho' naething should divulge it: I waive the quantum o' the sin, The hazard of concealing; But, och! it hardens a' within And petrifies the feeling!
    FROM: Epistle to a Young Friend, (1786), Poem, UK
• Marvin Kreitman (1)
  • IN: Who's Sorry Now? (2002) Fiction, British
    EPIGRAPH: The fuck it does.
    FROM: NULL, (2002), Fictional, US
• Jonathan Swift (1)
  • IN: Pussy (2017) Fiction, British
    EPIGRAPH: How is it possible to expect that Mankind will take Advice, when they will not so much as take Warning?
    FROM: Thoughts on Various Subjects, Moral and Diverting, (1706), Essay, Ireland
• Groucho Marx (1)
  • IN: Kalooki Nights (2006) Fiction, British
    EPIGRAPH: I knew a fellow named Otto Kahn, who was a very rich man, and he gave a lot of money to the Metropolitan Opera House at one time. His close friend was Marshall P. Wilder, who was a hunchback. And they were walking down Fifth Avenue, and they came to a synagogue, and Kahn turned to Wilder and said, "You know I used to be a Jew." "Really?" said Wilder. "I used to be a hunchback."
    FROM: From "Otto Kahn Story" in the comedy record An Evening with Groucho Marx, (1972), Speech, US
• John Berryman (1)
  • IN: The Making of Henry (2004) Fiction, British
    EPIGRAPH: Huffy Henry hid the day
    FROM: 77 Dream Songs, "Dream Song 1", (1964), Poem, US
• Bible (1)
  • IN: The Making of Henry (2004) Fiction, British
    EPIGRAPH: Honour thy father and thy mother
    FROM: Bible, Exodus 20:12, (-165), Bible, NULL