The reasons why a writer begins a work can be many: to record the reality of his time, to inspire other people or to free himself from his demons. However, during the process of it, or even before, many moments and people will be part of the life of an author who will go astray in more personal directions before telling us that story. As proof, you are 10 great dedications of literature.
For Phyllis, who made me put dragons in.
George RR Martin, A Song of Ice and Fire: A Storm of Swords.
Dear Pat:
You came to see me while you were carving a wooden figurine, and you said to me: -Why don't you do something to me? -
I asked you what you wanted and you replied: "A box."
-So that?-
(To put things in it)
-What things?-
"Everything you have," you said.
Okay, here is the box you wanted. I've put almost everything I had into it, and it's still not full. There is pain and excitement in it, good and bad feelings, and bad thoughts and good thoughts ... the pleasure of the builder, some despair and the indescribable joy of creation.
And the box is still not full.
John Steinbeck, East of Eden.
Dedicated to bad writing.
Charles Bukowski, Pulp.
What can I say about a man who knows how I think and still sleeps next to me with the light off?
Gillian Flynn, Dark Places.
My dear Lucy:
I wrote this story for you, but when I started it I hadn't realized that girls grow faster than books. So you are old enough for fairy tales, and by the time the story is printed and bound, you will be even older. However, one day you will be old enough to read fairy tales again, and then you can take it off the top shelf, dust it off, and tell me what you think of it. Probably, I will already be so deaf that I will not hear you, and I will be so old that I will not understand anything you say ... In spite of everything I will continue to be ... your affectionate godfather.
CS Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
I apologize to the children for having dedicated this book to a great person. I have a serious excuse: this great person is the best friend I have in the world. I have another excuse: this big person can understand everything; even children's books. I have a third excuse: this great person lives in France, where he is hungry and cold. It has real need of comfort. If all these excuses weren't enough, I want to dedicate this book to the boy that this great person was once. All the big people have been kids before. (But few remember it.) So I correct my dedication:
TO LEÓN WERTH
WHEN I WAS A CHILD
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince.
For Anna, who left The Lord of the Rings to read this book. (What more can you ask a daughter?). And for Elinor, who lent me her name, even though she didn't need it, for an elven queen.
Cornelia Funke, Inkheart.
Zembla, Zenda, Xanadu:
All of our dream worlds can come true.
Fairy lands can be terrifying too.
As I walk out of sight
Read, and bring home to you.
Salman Rushdie, Harun and the sea of stories.
(The three recipients form the code name for Zafar, the son to whom Rushdie wrote this dedication while he was hiding in hiding after publishing The Satanic Verses.)
I dedicate this issue to my enemies, who have helped me so much in my career.
Camilo José Cela, La familia de Pascual Duarte, 1973 edition.
(The first was dedicated to the playwright Víctor Ruiz Iriarte).
EE Cummings, No Thanks
(In 1935, Cummings published for $ 300 a set of 70 poems called No Thanks, which he dedicated to the 14 publishers who had rejected it, forming the design for a funeral urn.
Which of these dedications from literature did you like the most? Which would you add?
None.
That of: Camilo José Cela, La familia de Pascual Duarte, 1973 edition and that of: EE Cummings, No Thanks. An extraordinary way to give thanks to life for facing adversity.
I have always liked "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It is a dedication as magical as the work itself. I also find CS Lewis in "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" wonderful. So I have a story promised in silence for three gifts of life, one of which left us with just 11 years. (Promise that I do not forget). And the third dedication that I like is that of Cornelia Funke, "Heart of Ink": God bless children and what they are capable of doing for us.
That of Camilo José Cela in the 1973 edition of "La familia de Pascual Duarte": "I dedicate this edition to my enemies, who have helped me so much in my career." Cela, great, even in the scorn that hides a worthy and blessed hatred and contempt for the stubborn enemy.