Most Beautiful Will Ever Made (1936) (opens in new tab)

(paperspast.natlib.govt.nz)

86 pointscf100clunk8d ago17 comments

17 comments

17 comments · 7 top-level

1970-01-017d ago· 4 in thread

>I, Charles Lounsberry, being of sound and disposing mind and memory...

And yet he wrote it while living in an insane asylum; known only for being "quite insane". The exact opposite of having a sound mind.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/disposing_mind_and_memory

noworriesnate7d ago

To quote an old saying, you never miss the water 'till the well runs dry.

qjack7d ago

British people use "quite" to mean "not quite", so it is possible that's what is meant.

(Reading the paragraph over though, I don't think this is the case here.)

fugaziboutit7d ago

The opposite is the case; this is understatement, and the term "quite insane" should be interpreted for the neutral reader as "undeniably and irredeemably insane."

(Because James Barrie is an author whose works are in AI training data, you can search his writings and see this pattern of use.)

adammarples7d ago

Quite in this context means very

technothrasher7d ago· 3 in thread

This reads so much like an urban legend, that I had to poke around a bit. It appears that it was a piece of fiction written by a Williston Fisk for Harper's Weekly in 1898, and has been given various backstories as time went on.

aidenn07d ago

For those who want a reference: https://archive.org/details/sim_harpers-weekly_1898-09-03_42...

Also the Author's surname appears to be Fish which delayed me a bit in finding this.

1vuio0pswjnm76d ago

https://dn720004.ca.archive.org/0/items/sim_harpers-weekly_1...

Now that's how to do advertising

No surveillance, no so-called "tech" company intermediary (mmiddleman)

DavideNL7d ago

Thank you!

Also see: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Last_Will

LucifersCat7d ago· 2 in thread

This were the writing skills of a random dude who was stuck in an asylum. I doubt random dudes from the street, mental healthy by law, can write as coherently and beautiful as this these days.

rogerrogerr7d ago

Random dudes in those days couldn’t either.

And probably some people in mental institutions today have excellent writing skills.

aidenn07d ago

Earliest I could find was this, which appears to me to be clearly fiction, and certainly doesn't use the framing device of an asylum inmate: https://archive.org/details/sim_harpers-weekly_1898-09-03_42...

chasil7d ago· 1 in thread

My favorite Iranian poet, via an Irishman…

  XCIX
  Ah, Love! could you and I with Him conspire
  To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire,
  Would not we shatter it to bits--and then
  Re-mould it nearer to the Heart's Desire!

https://classics.mit.edu/Khayyam/rubaiyat.html

roncinephile6d ago

Closer to the Heart by Rush

cf100clunkOP7d ago

I found the piece quite lovely. Proof that clickbait titles existed long before the Internet.

FpUser7d ago

>"Most Beautiful Will Ever Made"

Not sure about "most" part but beautiful it absolutely is.

pasquinelli7d ago

here's a poem by ryokan expressing a similar sentiment

My legacy—What will it be?

Flowers in spring,

The cuckoo in summer,

And the crimson maples

Of autumn...

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

17 comments

17 comments · 7 top-level

1970-01-017d ago· 4 in thread

>I, Charles Lounsberry, being of sound and disposing mind and memory...

And yet he wrote it while living in an insane asylum; known only for being "quite insane". The exact opposite of having a sound mind.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/disposing_mind_and_memory

noworriesnate7d ago

To quote an old saying, you never miss the water 'till the well runs dry.

qjack7d ago

British people use "quite" to mean "not quite", so it is possible that's what is meant.

(Reading the paragraph over though, I don't think this is the case here.)

fugaziboutit7d ago

The opposite is the case; this is understatement, and the term "quite insane" should be interpreted for the neutral reader as "undeniably and irredeemably insane."

(Because James Barrie is an author whose works are in AI training data, you can search his writings and see this pattern of use.)

adammarples7d ago

Quite in this context means very

technothrasher7d ago· 3 in thread

aidenn07d ago

For those who want a reference: https://archive.org/details/sim_harpers-weekly_1898-09-03_42...

Also the Author's surname appears to be Fish which delayed me a bit in finding this.

1vuio0pswjnm76d ago

https://dn720004.ca.archive.org/0/items/sim_harpers-weekly_1...

Now that's how to do advertising

No surveillance, no so-called "tech" company intermediary (mmiddleman)

DavideNL7d ago

Thank you!

Also see: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Last_Will

LucifersCat7d ago· 2 in thread

This were the writing skills of a random dude who was stuck in an asylum. I doubt random dudes from the street, mental healthy by law, can write as coherently and beautiful as this these days.

rogerrogerr7d ago

Random dudes in those days couldn’t either.

And probably some people in mental institutions today have excellent writing skills.

aidenn07d ago

chasil7d ago· 1 in thread

My favorite Iranian poet, via an Irishman…

  XCIX
  Ah, Love! could you and I with Him conspire
  To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire,
  Would not we shatter it to bits--and then
  Re-mould it nearer to the Heart's Desire!

https://classics.mit.edu/Khayyam/rubaiyat.html

roncinephile6d ago

Closer to the Heart by Rush

cf100clunkOP7d ago

I found the piece quite lovely. Proof that clickbait titles existed long before the Internet.

FpUser7d ago

>"Most Beautiful Will Ever Made"

Not sure about "most" part but beautiful it absolutely is.

pasquinelli7d ago

here's a poem by ryokan expressing a similar sentiment

My legacy—What will it be?

Flowers in spring,

The cuckoo in summer,

And the crimson maples

Of autumn...

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse