Re: Morrissey Autobiography: hard for non-native speakers
Regarding Etty Hillesum: I read her diaries a couple of years ago by accident and found them to be very excellent. And, indeed, her whole mindset and her use of language reminded very strongly of a certain Mancunian with a quiff.
I'm from Germany and 28 years old, so it was quite hard for me to get the references in Autobiography. Actually I think it will took me a long time to get all of them. I found myself using Google constantly and that just for references who were quite obviously that: references. But, for example, just yesterday I discovered that 'Johnny I Hardy Knew Ye' is a popular traditional song or that 'Yakety Yak' was a song by Leiber & Stoller for The Coasters. Now I google almost everything, it's quite distressing. So I thought I start a thread for everyone who found a odd reference which most people wouldn't instantly spot.
Today I googled 'down on my knees beside a little white table' from page 411 and this is what emerged:
Etty: The Letters and Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941-1943 page 256 (in relation to reading I Corinthians 13)
"And when I read these words, I felt as if - yes, as if what? I cannot yet express it properly. They worked on me like a divining rod that touched the bottom of my heart, causing hidden sources to spring up suddenly within me. All at once I was down on my knees beside the little white table and all my released love coursed through me again, purged of desire, envy, spite, etc."
For me it sounds like something Moz would like. About Etty Hillesum: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etty_Hillesum
Regarding Etty Hillesum: I read her diaries a couple of years ago by accident and found them to be very excellent. And, indeed, her whole mindset and her use of language reminded very strongly of a certain Mancunian with a quiff.
