10 Famous Book Characters Whose People Who Inspired Them Are Unknown To Many

Art is not born out of nowhere. She needs real-life ideas and images, or at least other types of art. That’s why painters draw pedestrians, musicians hear the sounds of birds, and writers dedicate books to loved ones. Anything can become a source of inspiration, even pretty scary stories, but it’s worth knowing them so that your favorite work is revealed from another point of view. Do you know why Alexandre Dumas wrote The Lady of Camellias and you didn’t use another type of flower?

O awesome.club decided to reveal the stories of 10 characters behind which unusual facts are hidden.

As a child, William Ernest Henley contracted tuberculosis, which led to the amputation of his left leg at the knee. Until the end of his days, he walked on crutches. His acquaintances described him as a tall man with a beard and a deep voice. One of these acquaintances was Robert L. Stevenson.

Later, the author wrote a letter to William: “It’s time to make a confession. Long John Silver was born while contemplating his weakened strength and authority… The idea of ​​someone who commands and inspires fear with just the sound of his voice was born exclusively thanks to you.”

the protagonist of The Lady of Camellias is inspired by Marie Duplessis, the lover of the writer Alexandre Dumas’ son — he had the same name as his father. Tuberculosis forced her to reject flowers with a strong scent, like roses, for example. That’s why she loved camellias, which have almost no scent.

Ginevra King was born into the family of a wealthy Chicago businessman and was a eligible bachelor. At 16, she was sledding with her friends when she met F. Scott Fitzgerald, who was 18. They immediately liked each other, their romance developed quickly and lasted two years, but then Ginevra married the son of a of his father’s partners. She told Fitzgerald about the engagement in a letter.

Biographers believe Fitzgerald heard the phrase “Young men should not think of marrying rich women” from Ginevra’s father.

The Austrian doctor of Dutch origin Gerard van Swieten was in charge of the health of the Empress Maria Theresa I of Austria and did not hesitate to take advantage of her high status for the benefit of science. He initiated a series of reforms, creating a state-of-the-art medical education system in Vienna. Thanks to Gerard, a botanical garden and a chemical laboratory were made.

The doctor was also a passionate enemy of superstitions, and when a part of the Balkans joined Austria, he personally went to Moravia to investigate “vampire attacks”, which the local population complained about. After this trip, Swieten published a report in which he explained all these cases from a scientific point of view, demonstrating that there were no vampires. The other doctors supported him, and the empress officially prohibited the murder of suspected vampirism, in which stakes or other traditional devices were driven.

Bram Stoker is considered to have been inspired by the doctor for the creation of the Dutch doctor who examined cases of vampirism in his novel. Dracula🇧🇷

C.S. Lewis was an extraordinary speaker with a beautiful tone of voice. When Lewis gave lectures, his voice was heard even by those outside the rooms where he was speaking, with the doors closed. And J.R.R. Tolkien gave that beautiful voice to one of the oldest Ents.

Gregorio Fuentes met Ernest Hemingway in 1928, 24 years before the first edition of The old and the sea🇧🇷 During that time, Gregorio was captain of the writer’s yacht and cooked for him. On repeated occasions they even fished together (once caught a 300kg marlin) and tracked submarines during WWII. Not surprisingly, Gregorio has been considered the inspiration for the character whose story won Hemingway many awards.

On the other hand, Fuentes was not without something in return: until the end of his days (he died at the age of 104), journalists came to interview him and all the sessions were paid.

In honor of Jules Verne’s 100th birthday, in 1928 the Danish newspaper Politiken announced a dispute between teenagers. The contest winner was given the possibility to travel the world at the publisher’s expense, but for that, he only had 46 days at most to do so. He could choose any means of transport except air. Out of hundreds of participants, a 15-year-old named Palle Huld was chosen and managed to complete the course in 44 days. On his way back, 20,000 people met him in Copenhagen. During his trip, Palle visited Germany, Great Britain, Poland, the Soviet Union, China, Korea, Japan, and Canada. Comics about Tintin began to come out in 1928, after Huld’s first voyage.

Tintin, like its inspirer, went around the world and got involved in all sorts of adventures. Visually, Palle and Tintin are also similar: they both have chubby faces, a spare lock of hair, and wear shorts and a raincoat.

Stieg Larsson did not hide that he was inspired by his colleague and countryman Astrid Lindgren for the characters in his book. Journalist Mikael Blomkvist is often called Bill Bergson in the books — a boy detective from Lindgren’s novel. Lisbeth’s image was inspired by an adult version of what Pippi Långstrump could have been. This is even reflected in her appearance: Lisbeth is a redhead.

During the Anglo-American War of 1812, Washington Irving worked as a field assistant to General Thompkins. Then, accompanying him on one of the inspections, he met Captain Ichabod Crane. However, the writer just borrowed his name. But the image of the provincial master he copied from Jesse Mervin, who taught in the village of Kinderhook, where Irving lived for several months in 1809. This was witnessed by the then President of the United States, Martin Van Buren, who knew Irving and Mervin very well. .

But unlike the literature professor, Mervin lived in silence into old age, enjoying universal respect.

Peter Benchley, who wrote Shark, imagined a giant shark for a long time, but could not write a decent script. He only dared to do so in 1964. At that time, in American magazines, he wrote about an extraordinary and lucky fisherman named Frank Mundus, who had managed to catch several great white sharks. One of them weighed almost 3 tons. Benchley even met Mundus in person and even went fishing with him. Afterwards, both Frank and Peter began giving lectures on shark protection.

When Mundus was asked what he thought of the film adaptation of Shark — Revengehe criticized the film’s details noting, for example, that no shark could drag a ship that way.

What other character do you think could have been inspired by a real person? Know someone whose life could be the inspiration for a good book or screenplay?