When authors refer to other great works, people, and events, it’s usually not accidental. Put on your super-sleuth hat and figure out why.
Literary and Philosophical References
- Vita Sackville West (Prologue.1)
- Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady (1.4)
- Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina (1.4)
- Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway(1.4)
- John Ashbery (1.22)
- James Merrill (1.22)
- Adrienne Rich (1.22)
- W. S. Merwin (1.22)
- Robert Mapplethorpe (1.30)
- Louise Glück (1.30)
- T. S. Eliot (2.11)
- Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass (4.25)
- Rainer Maria Rilke, "Archaic Torso of Apollo" (6.15)
- Plato (7.1)
- William Morris (7.1)
- Doris Lessing, The Golden Notebook (8.30)
- Doris Lessing, "To Room Nineteen" (12.1-33)
- Sappho (16.50)
- O. Henry (16.100)
Visual Culture References
- Botticelli, "The Birth of Venus" (1.29)
- Rembrandt (2.26)
- Velázquez (2.26)
- Michelangelo (4.10)
- Giotto (10.10)
- Giacometti (18.8)
Pop Culture References
- Byrds, "Eight Miles High" (1.9)
- Meryl Streep (1.47)
- Vanessa Redgrave (1.47)
- Susan Sarandon (4.4)
- Olivia De Havilland (9.29)
- Barbara Stanwyck (9.29)
- John Wayne (14.57)
- Batman and Robin (16.38)
- The Grateful Dead (18.67)