Lastly, and for me most importantly, literary references focus personal memories. Who knows? If he had lived in your room, wouldn’t that create discussion between you and your neighbors? Literary references sweeten the relationships between neighbors and sweeten the conversations. He might have lived on Green Bottle Street. He might have stayed in the room where you live on Tupper Street or Fort Street. Where did he live? He lived, probably, somewhere in the Shaughnessy Village while he was in Montreal. Can anyone remember the place where he stayed while he was in Montreal? You might not want to make a pilgrimage to the location since you might not have such deeply rooted anti-American sentiments, but at least you would want to know if he had lived next door to you? And what about Norman Bethune, that icon of Canadian socialists. He was lionized by the British for his treachery. Suppose Jefferson Davis, who was welcomed to British-controlled Montreal after his failed attempt to please the British by breaking up the American federation, had lived on your street. Who wouldn’t want to stay in an inn where Washington had slept? Think of the discussions that would ensue if Washington had slept in your neighborhood. Yes, literary references bring the tourists out to sip the honey.Īnd literary references give residents of a locale the habit of discussing the history of their street, their building. I’d make a pilgrimage there just to touch the door handle. Personally, I almost lost my life once on the Island of Ios in Greece while trying to find the (falsely named) burial site of Homer! Closer to home, I would love someone to tell me where Edgar Allan Poe lived in Montreal. They go all the way to Mecca because of a Book they jostle each other in the streets of Bethlehem and Jerusalem because of a literary reference. They touch the stones in the Agora in Athens reminding themselves that Socrates and Plato sat there teaching their students. People love to visit Shakespeare’s birth place. Literary connections attract like drops of honey on an old dry crust of bread. There are three reasons for this: literary connections attract tourists, increase discussion among residents, and focus personal memories. I want my neighborhood, Shaughnessy Village, to have literary connections. Everyone wants their neighborhood to have interesting attractions.