The Writer’s Thumbprint

By Cheryl Foggo

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Because all four members of our household are writers, I take every writer’s success personally and have been known to begin conversations by saying things like, “Did you know that the Anne of Green Gables franchise is the backbone of Prince Edward Island’s tourism industry?” Which probably explains why, when my husband, Clem, daughter Miranda and I were planning our trip to England (Chandra was away studying) last year, we got into a roaring debate after breakfast one morning about which British author has made the greatest mark on the world.

“Easy,” Clem said. “Shakespeare.”

Miranda waved him off. “Shakespeare, Shakespeare, blah, blah, blah. He’s had about a million years longer than anyone else. Look at J.K. Rowling. How many copies of the Harry Potter books have been sold in just ten years.”

“How many?” I asked.

She raced to the computer and typed a query. “More than three hundred million,” she reported. “And counting.”

The conversation went on at a feverish pace. Two dozen authors were proposed, some hastily shouted down. Someone suggested it would be fun to take the measure of some of these writers on their home territory and write about our findings.

“We could call it ‘The Writer’s Thumbprint,’” said Clem.

Later on I thought I’d get a wee bit of a jump on the situation by typing up a few notes. Little prepared for the fiercely competitive streak I would unleash in my family, I watched as the argument took a technological turn and unfolded via email over the next few days. It went a bit like this:

Cheryl writes: Tolkien is Undisputed King of Nerd Hall of Fame. Known as father of entire modern fantasy genre. Lord of the Rings published in at least 38 languages.

Clem responds: Piffle. Still Shakespeare. By comparison Tolkien barely rates a pinky print. The only language Will S. hasn’t been translated into is pig Latin. There’s even a Shakespearean text messaging study service. I’ve just Googled Shakespeare and found nearly 45 million entries. In his short life he penned 37 plays, 154 sonnets, and invented 1700 words and phrases.

Miranda: Dad, come on. If you ask me, the Old British Men’s Club of writers needs to be shaken up. Who cares about page-long soliloquies about merry mix-ups involving boys dressed as girls pretending to be boys?

Cheryl: That’s right. Plus, the Tolkien films have reportedly grossed almost $3 billion, and the books are at the top of so many “every adult must read before they die” list that I’ve lost track. And what about his influence on gaming culture? He’s spawned games that are threatening to take over the world - that’s a thumbprint. Tolkien even drafted a part of the Oxford English Dictionary!

Clem: Well, even if it wasn’t obvious that Shakespeare had left his thumbprint everywhere, it would by no means be certain that this honour would fall to the author famous for writing incomprehensible poems in a made-up elf language. Charles Dickens, for instance, wields mighty large thumbs. Who else has generated characters so vivid they have entered the English language? Pickwick, Scrooge. 

Miranda: Dad, get real. Dickens? The Pickwick Papers? If we go back to my original point about impact over a short period of time, J.K. Rowling blows everyone out of the water. Harry Potter has been credited with saving the publishing industry, improving children’s test scores and being the most requested title from the Guantánamo Bay library! In another ten years, her thumbprint will squish Shakespeare, Dickens and Tolkien like ants!

Cheryl: Agreed, but if we’re talking about children’s literature, what about C.S. Lewis? The Chronicles of Narnia is perhaps even more widely represented in pop culture than Tolkien’s work, having spawned myriad songs, comic books, games, and references on TV shows, including the episode of Family Guy where Peter falls down the dryer looking for his sock and meets Mr. Tumnus.

Miranda: Here’s another candidate: Jane Austen. If it weren’t for her, the novel as we know it might not exist. She dragged the form into the light, forcing society people to admit they all read and loved novels. And that was when writing was considered such a distasteful occupation for a woman that she had to start out publishing anonymously. She proved that women could write, that they could write about women and that those stories could be popular and relevant. Her books sell better today than they did in her lifetime. And don’t even get me started on Jane Austen films, spin-offs and TV shows.

Clem: It’s over to me to point out the obvious. Shakespeare inspired more films than any of your other feeble contenders, generated a curriculum taught in practically every school, has countless festivals dedicated to his name, plus he’s generated multiple secret identity conspiracy theories. Who can match that?

Miranda: Yes, much of the curriculum is devoted to spreading the Shakespearean gospel like a disease. The desire to venerate the man responsible for writing something as mind-numbing as Cymbeline should be rethought. Shakespeare held all the cards – he was of good social standing, British, male—so naturally, he’s identified by stuffy professors as the Greatest Writer of All Time. Women like Rowling, desperately poor and trying to support a child, and Austen, in a time when married women couldn’t even own property—no one would pick them out as destined to be wildly successful…and yet, here we are.

Cheryl: This has been a very interesting debate, but it’s late. Everyone should go to bed now.

Clem: I’ve got a lot more points to make.

Miranda: Me, too.

Cheryl: Nothing more needs to be said except good night. Debate closed.