--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I want to give just a slight indication…" description: "\"“I want to give just a slight indication of the influence the book has had. I knew that George Orwell , in his second novel, A Clergyman's Daughter , p..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0ce/christopher-hitchens-117_a-clergyman-s-daught_i-want-to-give-just-a-slight-indication_765777.jpg" --- # I want to give just a slight indication of the influence… ![“I want to give just a slight indication of the influence the book has had. I knew that George Orwell , in his second novel, A Clergyman's Daughter , published in 1935, had borrowed from Joyce for his nighttime scene in Trafalgar Square, where Deafie and Charlie and Snouter and Mr. Tallboys and The…” quote by Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0ce/christopher-hitchens-117_a-clergyman-s-daught_i-want-to-give-just-a-slight-indication_765777.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0ce/christopher-hitchens-117_a-clergyman-s-daught_i-want-to-give-just-a-slight-indication_765777.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0ce/christopher-hitchens-117_a-clergyman-s-daught_i-want-to-give-just-a-slight-indication_765777.jpg) > ““I want to give just a slight indication of the influence the book has had. I knew that George Orwell , in his second novel, A Clergyman's Daughter , published in 1935, had borrowed from Joyce for his nighttime scene in Trafalgar Square, where Deafie and Charlie and Snouter and Mr. Tallboys and The Kike and Mrs. Bendigo and the rest of the bums and losers keep up a barrage of song snatches, fractured prayers, curses, and crackpot reminiscences. But only on my most recent reading of Ulysses did I discover, in the middle of the long and intricate mock-Shakespeare scene at the National Library, the line 'Go to! You spent most of it in Georgina Johnson's bed, clergyman's daughter.' So now I think Orwell quarried his title from there, too.”” [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The author traces Orwell’s borrowing from Joyce, illustrating how writers recycle ideas across works. **In simple terms:** Writers often borrow from each other. Key Takeaway Recognize intertextual links. Themes literature influence intertextuality Mood analytical critical Type scholarly reflective When to use this quote - academic research - book clubs - writing workshops Key Concepts plagiarism creative borrowing literary history Questions to Reflect On - How does borrowing affect originality? - What responsibility do authors have to credit sources? A Different Perspective Attribution can be ambiguous. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [George-orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/george-orwell/) [Influence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/influence/) [James-joyce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/james-joyce-2/) [Literary criticism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/literary-criticism/) [Literature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/literature/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) ## Related quotes > [ “The book \[Joyce's "Ulysses"\] can just as well be read backwards, for it has no back and no front, no top and no bottom.… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-g-jung/the-book-joyce-s-ulysses-can-just-as-well-be-read-backwards-for-it/) [C.G. 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(to arts unknown he bends his wits, and alters nature.)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ovid/et-ignotas-animum-dimittit-in-artes-naturamque-nouat-to-arts-unknown/) [Ovid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ovid/) > [“I go to bed and then that man sits in the next room and continues laughing about his own writing. And then I knock…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nora-barnacle/i-go-to-bed-and-then-that-man-sits-in-the-next-room-and-continues/) Nora Barnacle > [“It was not his nature to believe that he should engage in any kind of meddling or become actively involved in politics. His vocation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carola-giedion-welcker/it-was-not-his-nature-to-believe-that-he-should-engage-in-any-kind-of/) Carola Giedion-Welcker > [ “A man \[Joyce\] whose earliest stories appeared next to the manure prices in the Irish Homestead knew that columns of prose, like columns of… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/declan-kiberd/a-man-joyce-whose-earliest-stories-appeared-next-to-the-manure-prices/) Declan Kiberd ## More by Christopher Hitchens > [“The spirit of our accurate and exact philosophy is outraged by conclusions that contradict each other so glaringly.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/the-spirit-of-our-accurate-and-exact-philosophy-is-outraged-by/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [“Many governments employ torture but this was the first time that the element of Saturnalia and pornography in the process had been made so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/many-governments-employ-torture-but-this-was-the-first-time-that-the/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [ It's \[Los Angeles\] mostly full of nonsense and delusion and egomania. 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