The Common Reader

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Bacchylides and the Fitzgerald rule
It has been inferred from the elegance and quiet charm of his lyrics that he only gradually acquired fame towards the end of his life...
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Henry Oliver
The Fitzgerald Rule, waitress scriptwriter edition
She attended the University of Southern California and majored in business.
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Henry Oliver
Robert Frost and the Fitzgerald Rule
Robert Frost left Harvard due to illness and worked on a farm for nine years.
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Henry Oliver
Samuel Johnson, opsimath
Lazy, depressive, productive, late bloomer, Samuel Johnson is an example of the Fitzgerald Rule
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Henry Oliver
6
William Shakespeare and the Fitzgerald Rule
What was Shakespeare's first great play?
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Henry Oliver
Molière and the Fitzgerald Rule
Like many writers, Molière had an unsettled relationship with his parents.
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Henry Oliver
Michelangelo and the Fitzgerald Rule
Because all creative people start out as young people, we have a tendency to ascribe creativity to youth itself, but mature masters like Michelangelo…
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Henry Oliver
How to spot great talent. James Lees-Milne and the Fitzgerald Rule.
Finding good talent is important.
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Henry Oliver
Richard Hugo, 'Degrees of Grey in Philipsburg', and the Fitzgerald Rule
Richard Hugo's poem Degrees of Grey in Philipsburg was published in 1973, when Hugo was 50, and is regularly anthologised.
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Henry Oliver
John Berryman and the Fitzgerald Rule
Berryman published some of this early verse in his first book, Poems, in 1942.
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Henry Oliver
Welcome to the Common Reader
If you’re brand new, here are my two most popular posts, that have been on MarginalRevolution and The Browser.
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Henry Oliver
Do writers have to write every day?
There are many myths about this, with people citing all sorts of people to somehow demonstrate that writers need to write every day.
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Henry Oliver
© 2025 Henry Oliver
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