Book Titles

Back in the day when I read fiction, I liked to know (and I still do) the sources of the titles. For example, Ernest Hemingway took the title for his novel “For Whom the Bell Tolls” from John Dunne’s 1623 “Meditations XVII.” That meditation is my favorite. Here’s that part:

“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. … any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”

We are all part of the same living tree of life. I recommend reading the whole bit.

Hemingway took the title “A Farewell to Arms” for his 1929 novel from a poem by George Peele. Economist Gregory Clark tipped his hat to Peele and used the homophony in ‘arms’ and ‘alms’ to title his 2007 book, “A Farewell to Alms”, with the subtitle “A Brief Economic History of the World.” I included that book in the reading list for a course on economic development I had taught some years ago.

William Easterly, another important development economist (he follows me on twitter :)), titled a book of his “White Man’s Burden”. The title refers to the 1899 poem “The White Man’s Burden” by Rudyard Kipling. It begins —

Take up the White man’s burden —
Send forth the best ye breed —
Go bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives’ need;
To wait in heavy harness
On fluttered folk and wild —
Your new-caught, sullen peoples,
Half devil and half child.

Lovely sentiments, aren’t they, describing those who “needed” to be saved as “sullen peoples, half devil and half child”? Kipling was a dyed in the wool racist, which is not surprising given that his compatriots colonized much of the world, including India. He was born in 1865 in Malabar Hill in Mumbai and died in London in 1936.

Poems lend themselves to being rich mines for titles. For example, T. S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” which I know by heart. I often say “Let us go, then you and I” when it is time to go. That poem has provided titles for many books and movies.

Do I dare
Disturb the universe?
In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.

It’s where Freeman Dyson lifted the title of this book “Disturbing the Universe” from. Cambridge University Press’s 2010 book “Decisions and Revisions: Philosophical Essays on Knowledge and Value” took it from there too. The 1986 Irish comedy movie title “Eat the Peach” was taken from that poem’s “Do I dare to eat a peach” line.

Now a final author, W. Somerset Maugham (1874 – 1965). His novels were quite popular among us friends in high school. The title of his semi-autobiographical novel “Of Human Bondage” is from Spinoza. In the ‘Ethics’ Spinoza argued that man’s inability to control his emotions constituted a form of bondage. Maugham faced many emotional struggles in his life and hence the title.

His novel titles are always interesting. The title of his 1925 novel “The Painted Veil” is from a sonnet by Percy Bysshe Shelley posthumously published in 1824  —

Lift not the painted veil which those who live
Call Life: though unreal shapes be pictured there,
And it but mimic all we would believe

Maugham’s 1932 novel “The Narrow Corner” gets its title from the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius: “Short therefore, is man’s life, and narrow is the corner of the earth wherein he dwells.” Marcus Aurelius’ meditations (167 CE) have more wisdom contained in them than a library full of philosophical books. Go read it at MIT.

Among Maugham’s novels, I love “The Razor’s Edge” (1944) the most. The title is taken from verse 1.3.14 of the Katha Upanishad.

उत्तिष्ठत जाग्रत
प्राप्य वरान्निबोधत ।
क्षुरस्य धारा निशिता दुरत्यया
दुर्गं पथस्तत्कवयो वदन्ति ॥ १४ ॥

Rise, awake!
Having obtained these boons, understand them!
Like the Razor’s sharp edge is difficult to traverse,
The path to one’s Self is difficult.

The protagonist, Larry Darrell, is an American. After experiencing the horrors of World War I, Larry becomes disillusioned with the superficiality and materialism of Western society. He feels a profound longing for something more meaningful in life. This leads him to India where he immerses himself in the study of Vedanta.

Vedanta explores the nature of reality, the self, and the ultimate goal of human existence. Through his travels and studies, Larry learns about the concept of “maya” in Vedanta. He discovers that true enlightenment lies in transcending the attachments and desires of the material realm, and attaining a higher level of consciousness.

Larry returns from India and spends some time in Paris. He eventually donates all of his considerable wealth and returns to the US with the intention of becoming a taxi driver in New York and to lead a simple and unpretentious life.

Maugham spent a good many pages describing (through the character Larry) the basics of Vedanta. He admits up front that he is no authority and his understanding is severely limited. But he is a sympathetic observer; he was an atheist and therefore free of Christian baggage. He had visited India in 1938 and met Ramana Maharishi at his ashram in Tamil Nadu.

Talking of Vedanta, I am sorry to say but most Hindus have little knowledge of it. Here’s a quick 5-minute tutorial for those who care to know. It’s Alan Watts:

Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.