Dickens, Thurber, Andersen, London and Perseus :: science

Dickens, Thurber, Andersen, capital of the United Kingdom and PerseusAs far back as I can remember, my mind has always thought and learned by association. My brain fancifully connects things like computer terminals and bus terminals, Indian reservations with shroud ticket confirmations, and carpetbaggers with rug stealers. Dont ask me why, but I think I get bored with ordinary human communications and because lapse into my imaginary fantasy association world, finding it a great deal more fascinating than the nightly news, soap operas and talking head yakety-yak cable tabloid shows.Because my cerebrum delights in working by making off-the-wall associations, whenever my mind thinks of Charles Dickens, the great English author is filed and classified in a mental cabinet along with James Thurber, Hans Christian Andersen, Jack London and the mythical ancient Greek hero, Perseus. All of these personages had to overcome trials, tribulations and adversity. They elevated themselves prec eding(prenominal) grief and ridicule, stayed focused on their goals and were not defeated by an copiousness of criticism and rejection. They were motivated by failure.Charles Dickens (1812-1970) father had great monetary difficulties. The boy had a rather miserable childhood, and the lad spent frequently of his time in poorhouses and workhouses. Did poverty overwhelm Charles Dickens? Was his negative milieu to blame for an unproductive and fruitless life? No it wasnt. Dickens retreat into his imaginary world and incisively wrote about the need for social renew in what belatedlyr became such literary classics such as Oliver spell and David Copperfield. James Thurber (1894-1961) ranks as one of Americas most normal humorists. He is most renowned for his short story The Secret manners of Walter Mitty, a meek, absent-minded hen-pecked character who suffers the sharp-tongued ire of a dominant bossy wife. Thurbers stories and self-drawn cartoons appeared for over thirty years in the New Yorker magazine. James Thurber had been blind in one eye in a childhood accident, and then he lost vision in his other eye in later life. Despite those hardships, the author still continued his storytelling pursuits and even appeared late in life as himself in a popular Broadway mould The Thurber Carnival.Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) was born in a small fishing colonisation in Denmark. (If a last name ends in sen, the person is in all likelihood from Denmark in son, probably from Sweden). At age fourteen Andersen journeyed to Copenhagen to pursue any an acting or writing career. He auditioned as an opera singer, was a humiliating failure and spent the next three years anguishing in abject poverty.