Brandy, Star of Pop Culture : Literature
Charles Dickens' Brandy
In 1861, the great novelist of the Victorian era was at the peak of his maturity as an author when he published Great Expectations. Pip, Dickens' protagonist narrator, recounts his adventures as an orphan thrown into the randomness of encounters with colorful characters. Among them is the mysterious Miss Havisham, who invites the hero to her home to savor brandy and other luxuries.
Oscar Wilde's Brandy
If there is an author who embodies brandy as the spirit of choice for the dandy (characterized by his wit and impertinence), it is obviously the author of the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray , published the same year as Dickens' work. Wilde's characters—especially Lord Henry Wotton—enrich their conversations about art, beauty, morality, youth, or hedonism with a flavourful brandy.
Alexandre Dumas' Brandy
In The Count of Monte Cristo (1838), "Count" Edmond Dantès, after escaping from the Château d'If where he was unjustly imprisoned and rediscovering the treasure of Abbé Faria, begins his patient revenge against those who shattered his destiny. A complex plot, which he unveils little by little to his guests, often over a brandy flavoured with confidences.
Léon Tolstoï's Brandy
In Anna Karénina, a monumental classic of Russian literature, brandy is consumed by the characters during social gatherings and moments of emotion. In Chapter 20, Yashvin, the best friend of Anna's lover, declares an immoderate love for the wine distillate: "Brandy is better than anything."
Ernest Hemingway's Brandy
Hemingway and spirits... what a story ! In the first novel and first major success of the master of understatement -The Sun Also Rises - brandy is the travel companion of the discreet and moving hero Jake Barnes in the nocturnal Paris and then the Spain of the 1920s. In For Whom the Bell Tolls , a fresco of the Spanish Civil War, brandy travels again with the war correspondent writer, this time helping the men to bond and go to battle.
Evelyn Waugh's Brandy
The refined and sarcastic writing of Evelyn Waugh couldn't miss mentioning the not less refined distilled wine in his narratives. In Brideshead Revisited, his masterpiece regularly cited in the 100 classics of 20th century English literature, the various characters embodying the British elite are fervent brandy lovers.
Edith Wharton's Brandy
The only woman in our great "brandy library," the multi-award-winning New Yorker Edith Wharton loved France, and brandy. In her third major novel (The Age of Innocence , 1920), she paints a precise picture of the high bourgeoisie of the American East Coast, including their love for brandy. This Masterpiece resulted in the first Pulitzer Prize awarded to a woman and, much later (1993) became, a movie by renowned Director Martin Scorsese.
To be continued: brandy, a classic in the TV series...
CHARLES DICKENS, Great Expectations, Chapman and Hall, 1861
OSCAR WILDE,The Picture of Dorian Gray, Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, 1891
ALEXANDRE DUMAS, Le Comte de Monte-Cristo, Journal des débats, 1844
LEON TOLSTOI, Anna Karénine, Rousky vestnik, 1877
JAKE BARNES, The Sun Also Rises, editions Scribner, 1926
ERNEST HEMINGWAY, For Whom the Bell Tolls, editions Scribner, 1940
EVELYN WAUGH, Brideshead Revisited, The Sacred & Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder, Chapman & Hall, 1945
EDITH WHARTON, The Age of Innocence, D. Appleton & Company, 1920