If you could meet a charismatic character from history real or fictional, who might that be & what would you say to them?

I would like to meet Des Esseintes and learn to play the scent organ.

Queen Elizabeth; “Are you really a virgin?”

Benjamin Franklin, not only for all he could tell me, but so I could see for myself if he was as licentious as he’s been reported to have been. He was no Adonis, so he must have had some kind of charisma, if that’s true.

Hey, I think I would have slept with old Ben back then, if he had asked me. I’m a sucker for a literate, witty intellectual.

I would like to meet Richard Dawkins and say “I want you to adopt me”.

@ragingloli G-d help you! :-)

Elvis or Jim Morrison and I’d tell them both drugs kill, just say no.

My Mom- Chillax PLEASE

Not exactly a charismatic character, but I’d like to go back to Vienna in 1944 and remind Dr. Hans Asperger to get his paper published in English…ASAP. It would have saved two generations of people with the syndrome that came to bear his name a lot of grief.

A charismatic character I’d like to meet is Theodore Roosevelt. I’d like to find out why he thought imperialism was such a great idea. He was a great president except for that one point.

I would pick Frederick Douglass, a man who was born into slavery, taught himself how to read, escaped slavery and became a great leader. I would ask him for his views on current events.

Mr. Darcy. I’d ask him, “Want to make out?”

eww, make out with his mom?

@MissAusten We’ve had this discussion before and I thought we’d established he’s mine. You get Colonel Brandon.

@janbb Perhaps, but I called him first in this thread. You picked Queen Elizabeth, and you’re stuck with her. :P

To be serious, though, I would actually like to sit and have a chat with Jane Austen. Few details of her personal life are known, and the letters to her sister that have survived the years don’t cover the time in her life when she probably had suitors or love affairs that didn’t last. It would be wonderful to find out if she really loved Tom Lefroy but couldn’t marry him simply because of money. And, who was the man she met at Lyme? They seemed to like each other, but he died. I’d love to have those details and then read her books again to see how much her personal life influenced the lives of her characters. And I still want to make out with Mr. Darcy. Maybe I’d hint to her that P&P needs a sequel where Elizabeth dies but Darcy consoles himself with an redhead from the colonies.

@MissAusten Did you know that Cassandra burned many of Jane’s most revealing letters to her after she died to protect her? Also, a whitewash was done on her by her nephew – James Austen-Leigh – who wrote her first biography.

But after I’m done with my one question for Queen Elizabeth, I’d like to sit on your Q@A with Jane Austen. And then maybe we could both make-out with Fitzwilliam?

Neither of you has any interest in Huysmans?

—-@janbb Yes, and I can understand Cassandra burning the letters for that reason, but it’s such a loss! As for the make-out session, that’s fine with me as long as I get to go first.—

@dpworkin Do I want to look like the portrait of Dorian Gray? (However, I am intrigued.)

@MissAusten You’re younger so you can go first and then go back to tend to your children!

Geeze if I could take that trip to England with Des Esseintes I could die happy.

@dpworkin I’ve never read anything of his. What would you suggest as a good start, assuming he’s been translated to English (also assuming the translation would do him justice).

Thought you had.

Au Rebours, variously translated as “Against the Grain” or “Against Nature” is my favorite and des Esseintes is the louche protagonist.

I hadn’t heard of him before but will look for it.

J.K. Huysmans. I was wondering what made you think of Dorian Grey.

Taking it to pm so as to not further derail.

Laura Ingalls Wilder. I’d have many questions to ask her.

Sherlock Holmes…so I could fuck his brain. And D’Artanyan – so I could fuck him.

I was thinking last night and I want a second go:

I want to meet Jo March and ask her why the fuck she didn’t marry Laurie!

She does not love Laurie. She never has, and she is too noble to want to marry for mere money. That’s why she married Mr. Baehr. (Mr. Alcott)
”...then wuv, twew wuv, shall follow you for evahhh…”

Oh pish!