When authors give shout outs 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
- Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, All the President's Men (1.11)
- Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot (1.23)
- Günter Grass (1.33)
- Anaïs Nin (1.34)
- John Knowles (1.40)
- William Golding, Lord of the Flies (1.40)
- Robert Browning, "My Last Duchess" (1.125)
- Edward Albee, The Sandbox (1.177)
- Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1.197)
- Euripides, The Trojan Women (3.39)
- Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar (4.1; 13.104)
- The Moonies/Unification Church (4.29; 12.12)
- Constantin Stanislavski (4.154)
- Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun (5.76)
- Aldous Huxley, The Doors of Perception (6.60)
- Norman Mailer (7.30)
- John Updike (7.30)
- William Styron (7.30)
- Joan Didion (7.30)
- Edna St. Vincent Millay (7.64)
- T.S. Eliot, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (8.70)
- Paul Zindel, The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (8.116)
- Robert Frost (8.132)
- Grimm's Fairy Tales (8.163)
- Agatha Christie, Curtain (9.72)
- John Kennedy Toole, A Confederacy of Dunces (10.16)
- Herman Wouk, Marjorie Morningstar (10.36)
- Alice Miller, The Drama of the Gifted Child (10.171)
- Henrik Ibsen, Ghosts (11.115)
- Hare Krishnas (12.12)
- Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House in the Big Woods (13.77)
- Günter Grass, The Tin Drum (14.63)
- Euripides, Hecuba (16.47)
- Tennessee Williams, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (18.11)
- William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream (20.21)
Historical References
- Nixon (1.12, 1.22; 4.24; 14.64)
- My Lai massacre (1.61)
- John F. Kennedy (1.174)
- Ronald Reagan (4.24; 11.25; 12.67; 16.4)
- The Holocaust (4.86)
- Chairman Mao (4.173)
- The Russian Revolution (5.91)
- Vietnam (6.31; 7.127; 8.14)
- George McGovern (7.34)
- Take Back the Night marches (8.43)
- Jimmy Carter (8.142; 16.48)
- General Norman Schwarzkopf (13.105)
- The Iraq War (15.63)
- Al Qaeda (15.93)
- Osama bin Laden (15.129)
- Mikhail Gorbachev (16.4)
Pop Culture References
- Gepetto, Disney's Pinocchio (1.43)
- "Amazing Grace" (1.89)
- Disney's Nine Old Men (1.118)
- Snow White (1.120)
- "What Have They Done to the Rain" (1.168)
- Cass Elliot, the Mamas and the Papas (1.180)
- Silver Screen magazine (2.11)
- Rastafarians (4.104)
- David Hockney (4.153)
- Glamour magazine (5.1)
- Charles Bronson (5.1)
- Steamboat Willie (5.24)
- The Three Stooges (5.94)
- Hayley Mills (7.67)
- Scott Joplin, "Solace" (7.73)
- Bob Dylan (7.78)
- The Rolling Stones (7.82)
- Cream (7.82)
- The Kinks (7.82)
- Joseph Haydn, Surprise (7.84)
- The Marx Brothers (7.95)
- Behind the Green Door (7.109)
- Marilyn Chambers (7.109)
- Herbie Hancock (1.128)
- Dick Clark (7.140)
- Taxi Driver (8.14)
- Neil Young (8.29)
- Rashomon (8.57)
- Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law (8.94)
- Zsa Zsa Gabor (8.140)
- All the President's Men (the film) (8.142)
- Skedaddle (8.168)
- Pink Floyd (9.14)
- Led Zeppelin (9.14)
- A Clockwork Orange (9.14)
- The Exorcist (9.68)
- The Beatles, "I'm Looking Through You" (10.62-64)
- Talking Heads (12.98)
- B-52s (12.98)
- Julie Andrews, The Sound of Music (13.94)
- James Earl Jones (14.120)
- Bertolt Brecht, Threepenny Opera (15.1)
- The Bee Gees (15.79)
- My Fair Lady (15.98)