How do raconteurs keep track of all of their references/quotations?

Cafe Society
1

I’m reading Christopher Hitchens’ autobiography, and on pretty much every page he has quotes from and references to books, essays, speeches, whatever - ranging from common to exremely obscure.

I get that folk like he are terribly brilliant and extremely well read/travelled/acquainted. But how do they keep track of material to be able to trot it out when they wish? Are they so brilliant that they just remember it? Do they journal? Keep research files for future use?

It is especially frustrating that I’ve read a good portion of the works he references/quotes, but I couldn’t come close to pulling up anything other than the most general recollection of most of them.

2

Strip mining sources to write something is a skill taught in arts and humanities courses at university. And people use the strategies you note above, as well as hiring research assistants. I don’t know what particular methods Hitchens employed.

3

I was certainly trained in making a bibliography for papers I wrote when in high school and college.

This was before computers could help you with it.

Super pain to do and my least favorite part of writing those papers was generating the bibliography. But it was a skill and it was taught. Fry would certainly have gotten this education. He is just a lot better than most of us at it. And, at this point in his career, he doubtless has staff to help him with all that. Not to mention computers can now do a lot of that work too.

4

I think it’s just a skill some people have. Vaguely related anecdote…

My cousin’s university graduating class (IIRC, or something like the that? it’s clearly a skill I don’t have :wink: ) were to receive a commencement speech from the great Peter Ustinov. Before the speech however, it was put out there among the class, that they shouldn’t expect too much from him speech-wise him, as at that point he was getting on in years, and was seriously senile. However when the speech came it was absolutely hilarious, a perfectly delivered set of anecdotes and bon mot, recited without so much as an umm or err. From someone who apparently barely knew which day it was

5

I keep a commonplace book in which I write down interesting quotes. I’m also very handy at locating published quotations from vague recollections.

6

Peter Ustinov is a great example, and is probably the patron saint of raconteurs in Chat-show Heaven, with that having been his main gig and doing the odd acting turn in between for pin money.

Doubtless by the time you saw him he had given hundreds of versions of the same talk or parts to a vast range of other audiences and likely had the name of the town / class taped on the back of his guitar (a la Simpsons) to bring it home.

There are debating tricks to help you out, like ‘Was it Plato who said blah blah blah …? Well, it wasn’t but I’ve already given myself the out if anyone challenges.

And every well-read person expected to speechify occasionally had a book(s) of quotations in their library, along with after-dinner speaker jokes, bon mots etc.

Your OP reminds me of the time when the great French philosopher Rene Descartes … [see p. 10]

7

Plus, keep in mind that they don’t use any of the quotes they don’t remember. If you only know a dozen Great Quotes, because those were the ones that just happened to resonate with you, but then you put all twelve of them in a book, it makes you look like you know a bunch more.

8

And for the professional raconteurs, it is literally their job to do the work, unlike those of us who read something for pleasure or general interest.

9

There are reference books that list many quotes arranged by subject. Somebody writing a speech can consult them and find a suitable quote on any subject.

My late father was Worshipful Master of his masonic lodge twice, and also active in local politics. When he had to make a speech he frequently referred to a book named The Public Speaker’s Treasure Chest.

These days you can consult Wikiquote for a few bon mots on any subject you like.

10

Author Ryan Holiday has discussed his use of 4x6 index cards as his commonplace book. He stresses the importance of writing down the things that you wish to be able to recall.

While I haven’t seen any reference to Hitchens using any organized system, in his New Yorker remembrance Christopher Buckley recalled:

During the last hour I spent with Christopher, in the Critical Care Unit at M. D. Anderson, he struggled to read a thick volume of P. G. Wodehouse letters. He scribbled some notes on a blank page in spidery handwriting.

Presumably the notetaking wasn’t for any future use. Just for its own sake.

11

We Fake It.

12

“How do raconteurs remember stories and tell them well” strikes me as a question that looks at things the wrong way around.

I think it’s more like, “People who remember stories and tell them well are natural raconteurs.”

13

It’s worth bearing in mind that humans actually do have incredibly good memories, when we try to use them.

You young whipper-snappers won’t remember this, but back in the day bards used to be able to recite thousands of lines of epic poetry purely from memory, and more recently illiterate peasants could learn and recite huge chunks of dialogue in mystery plays and the like. Reading and taking notes is a good way to bring material together, but someone like Hitchens was also constantly writing, debating, preparing and rehearsing his arguments, so it’s not surprising that he honed his ability to link his general ideas to specific quotes and references. Even then, the OP’s example is from a book, which was doubtless the end-product of an extensive researching, drafting, re-drafting, editing and fact-checking process.

To put it anohter way, if any one of us were asked, right now, no prep time to give a 10 minute speech on, say ethical foreign policy, it would be patchy, error-ridden, poorly evidenced and all in all woeful.

If we were given a day to prepare, it would be better but we’d be reading from extensive notes. If we were given a week, it would be still better and we’d have a chance to memorise it.

If we then gave that speech 20 times in 6 months, with the chance to review, edit, punch-up, adorn and trim where necessary, not only would it be a hell of a speech but we could then give it apparently impromptu or - which looks better - use discreet chunks of it in conversation, drop in some quotes in other related topics and generally appear attractively erudite (which we would be, because we’d done the work).

And if we did that with half a dozen other topics, then we’d dazzle all and sundry - but we’d have to quit the day jobs, because that’s a lot of work.

14

I used to know a man (dead now) who had a stock of quirky/amusing stories from his life, but a rather limited stock, and most people who knew him for a few years must have heard them dozens of times. That’s what I’d call a ‘raconteur’. He didn’t seem to realise he’d told you before, or maybe didn’t care.

15

I guess I should just accept that folk like Hitchens and Ustinov are professionals at what they do and that, as well as being extremely talented, they work very hard. And, yes, they likely repeat and refine their material often. (Perhaps their greatest skill is conveying an apparent ease that covers their hard work!)

To clarify - my use of the word “raconteur” may be inapt. I was not talking about tellers of “stories” as much as folk who drop quotes, recite poetry excerpts, and other bon mots. Maybe I do a LITTLE bit of the same, in that I am able to generally refer to many things that might convey the impression that I have more than a vague idea of what I’m suggesting. But it really amazes me when I encounter something that is so littered with such references and quotes as this Hitchens bio. Did he write the bio and then insert the quotes? Did they occur to him as he wrote his recollections? Did he use his bio as a vehicle to flaunt his collection of epigrams?

Heck, I’m often surprised when a book/chapter is introduced by some quote. Not only am I often confused at how meaningful the quote is WRT what follows, but I wonder which happens first - the book/chapter or the introductory quote.

Also, for sake of this thread, I suppose I am thinking of the age before AI.

As always - thanks for the discussion.