Weird Lit Tales

https://buymeacoffee.com/cuentososcuros In 1898, fourteen years before the sinking of the Titanic, Morgan Robertson wrote a novel called "Futility", or "The Wreck of the Titan". It describes a British ocean liner called the Titan, which was considered unsinkable and had an insufficient number of lifeboats. The story takes place in April, when the ship collides with an iceberg and sinks in the North Atlantic, resulting in the loss of almost all passengers, much like the Titanic. In addition, details such as the size of the ship, its speed, and the month of the disaster coincide. Because of these similarities, Robertson was accused of being a seer for the rest of his life. In reality, however, he knew the world of navigation so well because he had worked on ships for many years.

https://buymeacoffee.com/cuentososcuros While Maupassant was writing in his study one night, he heard the door open. His servant had orders not to let anyone in while he was writing. Who could it be? When he turned to see who it was, he was terrified to see himself sitting down and dictating his writing. This wasn’t the only episode of this kind. He believed mysterious and threatening beings were by his side, as he described in his story The Horla. Maupassant died in 1893, consumed by incurable madness.

https://buymeacoffee.com/cuentososcuros Did Catulle Mendès dream of his own death? At a dinner with friends at the American café in 1899, Mendès appeared especially gloomy. He revealed that he suspected he wouldn’t live to see the end of the century. 'I’ve had a terrible nightmare: I dreamt I was dying inside a tunnel, on a railway track, and I was bleeding heavily!' His friends tried to console him, but ten years later he suffered a strange accident. Mendès fell from a train carriage, and a wheel severed his foot. Like in his dream, he bled to death in a tunnel, on the railway track. Was Mendès' dream a real prediction or just a coincidence?" #cuentososcuros #curiosities #frenchwriter #shorts #shortsfeed

https://buymeacoffee.com/cuentososcuros Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a prominent 18th-century writer, educator, and philosopher, but a negligent father. He lived with Thérèse Levasseur without marrying her and had five children, all of whom he sent to public orphanages immediately after their birth. None of his children survived beyond the first few months of life. Having children was an inconvenience for him because they would prevent him from continuing his work as a philosopher and writer. As he put it, he did not want to lower himself to take on a job he considered degrading. In his book, The Social Contract, Rousseau emphasized the need to create a paternalistic state dedicated to education from early childhood. And that's hardly surprising, coming from a philosopher whose motto was that happiness is doing nothing you don't want to do. #cuentososcuros #curiosities #shorts #shortsfeed #rousseau

https://buymeacoffee.com/cuentososcuros In addition to being a writer, Gérard de Nerval was a tireless traveler and adventurer. But he suffered from bipolar disorder, causing him to have mystical delusions and hear voices of biblical figures like Adam, Moses, and Joshua. He claimed to be a descendant of the Emperor Nerva, and his obsession with him was so intense that he changed his surname, Labrunie, to Nerval. During one of his delusions, he threw money in the air in a Paris cafe and hit a stranger. He believed that he was surrounded by an army of ghosts, and when it began to rain, he thought that it was the Second Great Flood. He also insisted that he had divine powers and tried to heal other patients by laying hands on them. He was committed to a psychiatric hospital where he remained for eight months. His last days were spent roaming the streets of Paris before committing suicide in 1855 with the manuscript of his autobiographical novel Aurelia in his pocket. #cuentososcuros #frenchpoetry #curiosities

Por si te apetece invitarme a un café: https://buymeacoffee.com/cuentososcuros It is well known that the English poet was obsessed with death, a theme that permeated his poetry, along with a fascination for funerary objects such as tombs, urns, and gravestones. He was diagnosed with tuberculosis at the age of 23 and passed away two years later, in 1821. According to a BBC article, it is possible that Keats wandered through cemeteries in search of fresh corpses for his classes at Guy's Hospital in London. At the time, medical schools needed bodies for practice, but the law only allowed the use of executed criminals' corpses. As a result, it was common for body snatchers to be hired to supply corpses—or, failing that, for the students themselves to take part in the task. Who knows if Keats's fascination with death in his work originated during his student days, shaped by the sight of tombs, gravestones, and the dead?

French novelist Théophile Gautier organized what became known as the Club of Exotic Herbs*, a gathering of individuals fascinated by the mind-altering experiences caused by indulging in these substances. The meetings took place in the exotic, oriental atmosphere of the Pimodan Hotel. These soirées were attended by painters such as Boissard, Meissonier, and Delacroix, as well as writers such as Flaubert, Daumier, Nerval, and Charles Baudelaire, the author of The Flowers of Evil, a collection of poems shaped by his indulgence in various substances. Another French writer, Balzac attended out of curiosity but claimed that his sharp intellect rendered him immune to their effects. Could it be that some of the greatest works of 19th-century French literature were inspired by the experiences of the members attending this unique club? *Not real name.

https://buymeacoffee.com/cuentososcuros Did you know that Alexis-Vincent-Charles Berbiguier was one of the most tormented writers in history? According to him, he was constantly harassed by little goblins, which he called farfadets, that had invaded his home. This is reflected in his three-volume autobiography Les Farfadets, or All Demons, are not from the other world. He claimed to have constant battles with these invisible creatures and attempted to rid himself of them through strange rituals, such as sticking needles into the heart of an ox or, when he captured one, trapping it in a bottle filled with tobacco, pepper, and aromatic herbs. Berbiguier was eventually admitted to the Salpêtrière mental institution, where he became one of the first people to receive psychotherapy from Dr. Philippe Pinel. Unfortunately, his condition could not be cured, and he died alone and insane, in a year that remains unknown.

Did you know it is believed that The Divine Comedy, written by Dante Alighieri, was inspired by a dream? At least, that's what literary critic Boismont thought. Additionally, a legend was circulating that after Dante's death in September 1321, the manuscript of The Divine Comedy was incomplete. The last thirteen cantos, corresponding to Paradise, were nowhere to be found. However, a few months later, his youngest son, Jacopo Alighieri, had a dream in which his father's radiant spirit pointed to a hiding spot in his room where the missing manuscripts were. At least, that's what Boccaccio recounts in his work The Life of Dante. Was this an invention of Boccaccio, or do we truly owe the completeness of The Divine Comedy to a dream? #literature #curiosity

Did you know that Lord Byron was a great animal lover? He even had a small zoo, although he had a special fondness for dogs. In fact, you can still visit the tomb of his dog, Boatswain. It is said that during a sea voyage, Byron was traveling with his dog when it accidentally fell overboard. Lord Byron begged the captain to stop the ship, but the captain replied that he wouldn’t do it for a dog. 'And for a man?' Byron asked. 'For a man, yes,' the captain responded. Then, Byron jumped into the sea, and both he and the dog were rescued. #cuentososcuros #lordbyron