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The Hours Allusions & Cultural References

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)