The most memorable hotels and motels in fiction literature

[EugeneKrall]

Hi everybody.

I guess many of us have thought about how our background, our expertise and education affects the way we perceive written word. Those of you who are somehow related to firearms can easily detect when an author has flaws in their description of weapons. The same goes with lawyers and actual policemen who can easily tell the difference between real police work and that described in detective novels.

Yes, writers make mistakes from time to time, but that's what we can forgive them in favor of a good style and mesmerizing story. After all, they can not cover every field of knowledge.

So what I am getting at is that I've been working in travel industry for quite a while (hotel related industry to be exact) and every time I come upon a description of a hotel, inn, motel and stuff like that, it captures my attention at once.

At this particular moment I can think of "Cheap Hotel" described by William Gibson in the "Neuromancer" novel. The one with small compartments in it where there is only enough space to accommodate your body in horizontal position. The compartments might be somewhat reminiscent of those you see in morgues with dead people lying inside.

The second hotel that comes to my mind is the one described in the novel "Mostly Harmless" by Douglas Adams. Actually, it was a motel on the planet of NowWhat. Maybe some of you can remember it.

What I want is for everyone interested to try to remember some of the most prominent stays and accommodation mentioned in fiction literature. Even 10 of those would be quite nice.

I hope for some feedback and I beg your pardon for my English since it is my second language.


Given the feedback from the readers, I will be adding the hotels in the list below to keep all the stuff together. Later on I believe I will make an article based on the list.

The Almayers Inn, the "Ocean Sea" novel by Alessandro Baricco & Alastair McEwen
Hotel Trianon, "The Comedians" novel by Graham Greene
The Overlook Hotel, "The Shining" novel by Stephen King
Bates Motel, "Psycho" novel by Robert Bloch

[AlysonofBathe]

Interesting question - I'd have to say the only one that really sticks out in my mind is the Hotel Trianon from Greene's The Comedians. A lot of that book takes place in it, and I think I've read somewhere that it was based on an actual hotel in Port-au-Prince.

Cheers,
Alyson

[Charles Darnay]

The Almayer inn from ocean sea

[Calidore]

The Overlook from The Shining certainly has the most personality.

[dfloyd]

from Psycho

[dfloyd]

from Psycho.

[EugeneKrall]

Interesting question - I'd have to say the only one that really sticks out in my mind is the Hotel Trianon from Greene's The Comedians. A lot of that book takes place in it, and I think I've read somewhere that it was based on an actual hotel in Port-au-Prince.

Cheers,
Alyson


I can not believe that I could have forgotten about Stephen King's "Shining", even though the whole story takes place in it. It is certainly going to be in the top 10 hotels described in a work of fiction.

It was one of the first novels by Stephen King I read. Back in the good old days when I still read in Russian.

Thanks Alyson for not letting me pass on this one.

[EugeneKrall]

The Overlook from The Shining certainly has the most personality.

I can not believe that I could have forgotten about Stephen King's "Shining", even though the whole story takes place in it. It is certainly going to be in the top 10 hotels described in a work of fiction.

It was one of the first novels by Stephen King I read. Back in the good old days when I still read in Russian.

Thanks Alyson for not letting me pass on this one.

[EugeneKrall]

Interesting question - I'd have to say the only one that really sticks out in my mind is the Hotel Trianon from Greene's The Comedians. A lot of that book takes place in it, and I think I've read somewhere that it was based on an actual hotel in Port-au-Prince.

Cheers,
Alyson

It is something I've never heard of (shame on me, of course), but the fact the hotel is based on a real one certainly makes me think of checking this out. I will find time to read it (or listen to an audiobook based on the novel) in the nearest future.

[EugeneKrall]

from Psycho.

Since I've been thinking on reading the novel, I guess I will have a chance to find out more about this motel, and given the popularity of the novel I believe it's gonna be something standing out.

[EugeneKrall]

The Almayer inn from ocean sea

It is something from the new stuff? From the description I can tell it is one of those which leave permanent impression on you. I should give it a check.

[kelby_lake]

The Greengage Summer by Rumer Godden

[mal4mac]

Room with a View - Forster. The room was in a fascinating hotel in Florence.

[tonywalt]

Interesting question - I'd have to say the only one that really sticks out in my mind is the Hotel Trianon from Greene's The Comedians. A lot of that book takes place in it, and I think I've read somewhere that it was based on an actual hotel in Port-au-Prince.

Cheers,
Alyson

Yes, it's based on the Oloffson Hotel in Port-au-Prince. I have been there and it's pretty charming. It's also still a eclectic gathering place for the Elite, Greene fans, and curious people.

[Prince Smiles]

The Maypole Inn - Barnaby Rudge A Tale of the Riots of 'Eighty

The Maypole Inn, on the edges of Epping Forest, at a distance of about twelve miles from London is central to the plot, a character in the book itself.
Old John Willet the proprietor and son Joe

The Maypole stood for old England and is burnt to the ground by the rioters. The rebuilding of the inn at the end of the book symbolizes a new beginning and hope for the future.

[Prince Smiles]

Here is an interesting look at spatial awareness and set design Kubrick used in the filming of The Shining.

I found it very fascinating:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sUIxXCCFWw

[kasie]

Hotel du Lac - Anita Brookner - won the Booker Prize in 1984 - set in Switzerland, if I remember correctly and [SPOILER] deals with the impermanence of relationships formed in hotels/holiday settings.

Death in Venice - Thomas Mann - most of the events take place in and around the Hotel des Bains in Venice.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel - Deborah Moggach (originally called These Foolish Things) - just made into a film and relased in UK, so the book has been reissued with the film's title. Very British! Deals with a group of pensioners going to live in retirement in an hotel in India.

Ice Cold in Alex by Christopher Landon, probably better known as a 1950s film, ends up in the bar of the Cecil Hotel in Alexandria which is certainly still there in business and the bar tender does not fail to tell customers it is the bar in the film/book.

[AuntShecky]

What about the lengthy road trip in Lolita?

[byquist]

He doesn't name it, but Chekhov's "Lady with the Pet Dog" with Anna and Gurov, the seaside beach to walk on, the coffee to sip and newspaper to read at the cafe, the hotel room, plays a big part in the first half of the story.

[cacian]

Jamaica Inn- Daphne du Maurier.

[R.F. Schiller]

This thread screams Lolita, particularly the Enchanted Hunters motel.

[Whosis]

There are I think a series of hotels in Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald. They play a major role in the lifestyle of the characters, and it may be relevant to the lifestyle Fitzgerald chose abroad. It's one of the top 100 novels of the 20th century in a listing, so it may be a good candidate.

The other hotel I remember was in Travels With Charley, a short scene that commented on what a mess he was near the front desk and how Steinbeck found a discarded note--another person's trash--in the hotel, which Steinbeck had to elaborate on.

[kelby_lake]

Jamaica Inn- Daphne du Maurier.

That's what I was thinking.

Also, the hotel in The Greengage Summer.

[qimissung]

The fictional Hôtel Côte d'Azur, Monte Carlo where Max De Winter stayed and where he met his second wife in "Rebecca."

[Ecurb]

I'll nominate The Admiral Benbow (Treasure Island) and The Prancing Pony (Fellowship of the Ring).

In addition to the motels in Lolita, surely the unnamed motel in Pale Fire in which Charles Kinbote composed his commentaries on John Shade's poem played an important literary role (if the motel itself is not "memorable). If memory serves, it is located in "Cedarn, Utana".

[aliengirl]

The Tabard, the famous inn of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, where it all began.



I'll nominate The Admiral Benbow (Treasure Island) and The Prancing Pony (Fellowship of the Ring).



Good choices. :nod:

[ladderandbucket]

The Spouter-Inn from Moby-Dick.