Settings in Literature

[k.brignell]

I have just finished reading Wuthering Heights by Bronte and I loved how the setting of the moors added so much to the story. This got me thinking about the London of Martin Amis and Dickens and the southern states of Faulkner and Hemingway's Paris in 'A moveable feast'. I was just wondering if anyone could think of any other novels where the setting brings so much character to the novel, thanks

[DanielBenoit]

Definiley Ulysses; the style and dialect of the novel is based on it's Irish setting.

[Adagio]

Hugo's Paris in both Notre Dame de Paris and Les miserables. I also agree with Bronte and Faulkner - amazing settings.

[kiki1982]

Hardy's England. Mostly the south with its beautyful green hills.

[sixsmith]

Chicago in the novels of Bellow.

[kelby_lake]

Brideshead Revisited

[Manchegan]

Knoxville in McCarthy's Suttree...actually setting has a pretty big role in all the McCarthy I've read. And it seems every Russian writer is heavily influenced by their country. It really makes me want to visit, but never ever live in, St. Petersburg and Moscow.

[mal4mac]

Trainspotting - the dark side of Edinburgh
The Pride of Miss Jean Brodie - not so dark side of Edinburgh.
A Confederacy of Dunces - New Orleans
Cervantes - Spain
Little Dorrit - Venice & the Alps
Crime & Punishment - St. Petersburg
The Cossacks - The Caucasus

[The Comedian]

The Nebraska prairie in Cather's My Antonia.

[JBI]

The various locations in Eco's Foucault's Pendulum, and his Abbey from The Name of the Rose.

[Gilliatt Gurgle]

The Island of Guernsey in Hugo's; Toilers of the Sea.

“I dedicate this book
to the
rock of hospitality and liberty
to that portion of old Norman ground
inhabited by
the noble little nation of the sea
to the island of Guernsey
severe yet kind, my present asylum
perhaps my tomb.”

Victor Hugo

[LitNetIsGreat]

I have just finished reading Wuthering Heights by Bronte and I loved how the setting of the moors added so much to the story. This got me thinking about the London of Martin Amis and Dickens and the southern states of Faulkner and Hemingway's Paris in 'A moveable feast'. I was just wondering if anyone could think of any other novels where the setting brings so much character to the novel, thanks

Yes for atmosphere of setting Wuthering Heights and A Moveable Feast are right up there. How about Hemingway's Fiesta that is very rich? I don't think you can beat Wuthering Heights though.

[five-trey]

Herman Melville's seas in Moby-Dick. Melville effectively conveys the isolation and turmoil that is associated with open water to create a genuine mood for an expansive tale.

Charles Dickens's France in A Tale of Two Cities. The chaos and violence of the Revolution is portrayed brilliantly.

Fyodor Dostoesvky's St. Petersburg in Crime and Punishment was living, breathing social depravity.

[Lulim]

The desert in Paul Bowles' "The Sheltering Sky" and
the forests and fields in David Gutersons "Snow falling on Cedars".

[kelby_lake]

Rebecca?

[waterfallin]

definetly the Hunchback of Notre Dame and Moby Dick, since the authors spend so much time describing the surroundings. Robinson Crusoe as well, because without the island setting the novel couldn't really take place now, could it? ;)

[Scheherazade]

Jamaica Inn is my bedtime reading these days and the setting is everything to the story.

But then again I do have a soft spot for Daphne du Maurier (even her name on its name commands attention, don't you think?)

[litman]

Tangier in Paul Bowles' Let IT Come Down.

[Emil Miller]

Jamaica Inn is my bedtime reading these days and the setting is everything to the story.

But then again I do have a soft spot for Daphne du Maurier (even her name on its name commands attention, don't you think?)

I once stayed with a friend in Cornwall and we drove out to Jamaica Inn which is accurately described in the novel. I subsequently read the book and was disappointed to find that it was just another smuggling yarn.