My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk is packed with references to Persian and Islamic literature. It's not a Great Book in itself (it's ok) but served as a nice introduction to an unfamiliar culture.
My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk is packed with references to Persian and Islamic literature. It's not a Great Book in itself (it's ok) but served as a nice introduction to an unfamiliar culture.
Frankenstein's creature reads Goethe, Milton, and Plutarch.
Good taste
The book is pretty concerned with the idea of learning from literature, and particular with how the novel fits into those debates. Udolpho is the big allusion, but the novel opens with an ironic selection of "educational" quotes from Shakespeare, Gray, and Pope (if I remember correctly). Otherwise, there are also a number of occasions where people talk about books (Fielding and Burney are mentioned, along with a catalogue of obscure gothic romances), actually the characters almost incessantly talk about books throughout the entire novel (when they aren't discussing marriage prospects).
"If the national mental illness of the United States is megalomania, that of Canada is paranoid schizophrenia."
- Margaret Atwood
I'm only fifty pages into Henry James's Watch and Ward, but it already referenced Don Quixote and Jane Eyre.
According to Aldous Huxley, D.H. Lawrence once said that Balzac was 'a gigantic dwarf', and in a sense the same is true of Dickens.
Charles Dickens, by George Orwell
The narrator in Norwegian Wood makes friends with another student at his university partly through a shared love of The Great Gatsby.
According to Aldous Huxley, D.H. Lawrence once said that Balzac was 'a gigantic dwarf', and in a sense the same is true of Dickens.
Charles Dickens, by George Orwell
Rather than make this thread veer off topic, I decided to make a new thread.
http://www.online-literature.com/for...17#post1178917
Last edited by AuntShecky; 10-20-2012 at 03:48 PM. Reason: to add link to new thread
Les Misérables refers to the writings of Plutarch, Virgil, Dante, and Homer many times throughout, drawing parallels to his own arguments, or expanding on their characters and themes.
For grievous war these arms don't ask,
No armor, save this joyous flask
Holly Golightly refers to Wuthering Heights in Breakfast at Tiffany's. The narrator, who is a struggling author, says it is not fair to compare his stories with a work of genius, before realizing that Holly has only watched the movie. This leads to a falling out when Holly detects a hint of condescension.
According to Aldous Huxley, D.H. Lawrence once said that Balzac was 'a gigantic dwarf', and in a sense the same is true of Dickens.
Charles Dickens, by George Orwell
Arcadia by Iain Pears is probably not a great novel but it is very entertaining and playful. Part of the fun is noting the many nods at other books and literary forms.
The butler in The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins loved Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. He read it whenever he needed solace or guidance, in preference to the bible it seems. Curious, because Crusoe's ideas about right and wrong would have been questionable even then.
According to Aldous Huxley, D.H. Lawrence once said that Balzac was 'a gigantic dwarf', and in a sense the same is true of Dickens.
Charles Dickens, by George Orwell
"This is a story about something that happened long ago when your grandfather was a child...... In those days Mr. Sherlock Holmes was still living in Baker Street and the Bastables were looking for treasure on Lewisham Road...."
So begins "The Magician's Nephew", by C.S.Lewis. As an aside, anyone who didn't read "The Treasure Seekers" by E. Nesbit (referenced here) as a child should sue his parents for child abuse.