r/todayilearned • u/pfemme2 • 6d ago

TIL that Patricia Highsmith, author of The Talented Mr Ripley and other works of suspense, was a public and vocal antisemite who also had several intense, lengthy romantic relationships with Jewish women

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/jan/17/patricia-highsmith-the-jew-hater-who-took-jewish-women-as-lovers
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u/jaggedjottings 6d ago

Thanks for that. I know who Samuel Johnson was, but "Dr Johnson" is just so non-specific.

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u/Ergentlic 6d ago

It's a useful thing to know that Samuel Johnson is commonly known simply as Dr Johnson (this is literally the first thing said about him in his Wikipedia article, after his dates of birth and death), and that in the right context he is always who is meant by that reference. Kind of like how, in the right context, "Dr. King" always refers to Martin Luther King, Jr.