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Authors : Homer
Literary Time period : The Bronze Age
Connections to other works : The Iliad as it is a continuation of the story and Odyssey's journey home.
Contribution to literature : Themes from “The Odyssey” have been replicated in many books. It is read in many schools to help students understand the ese and concepts that are prominent in literature. -
Authors : Sophocles
Literary Time period : The Golden Age of Ancient Greece
Connections to other works : Hamlet is a victim of the Oedipus Complex, named after Oedipus Rex, and loves his mother and kills his father.
Contribution to literature : This novel was written as one of the first tragedies and was one of the most famous for a long time. The story also contributed a new psychological complex which has been displayed in many literary characters since: the Oedipus Complex. -
Authors : Unknown
Literary Time period : Old English Period
Connections to other works : It connects to The Odyssey because both works are epics which center around a character who goes on a quest to bring order or happiness to people.
Contribution to literature : It is referred to as the first important work of literature in English. It is mostly written in old English that slowly evolved into the English now spoken. -
Authors : Geoffrey Chaucer
Literary Time period : Middle English Period
Connections to other works : In this book, pilgrimage is the primary motivator for the characters. Similarly, in Siddhartha that characters are motivated by a pilgrimage toward spiritual understanding
Contribution to literature : It became popular because of its poetic power and entertainment value, as well as its depiction of the different social classes of the 14th century. -
Authors : Thomas More
Literary Time period : The Renaissance
Connections to other works : This work connects to 1984 because both stories focus on how societies in certain people’s opinions ‘should be’ and tries to eliminate all the bad in the world.
Contribution to literature : It provides a new style of government that could just possibly work. It influenced everything from the thinking of Gandhi to the tech giants of Silicon Valley. It inspires writers to write about government. -
Authors : William Shakespeare
Literary Time period : Elizabethan Period
Connections to other works : It inspired West Side Story and many other forbidden love stories.
Contribution to literature : It is the most famous love story in English literary tradition. It has inspired many romantic writers and at the time was the only play that offered all genres. -
Authors : William Shakespeare
Literary Time period : Elizabethan Period
Connections to other works : This work connects to The Bible, specifically the part where Judas betrays Jesus, because after Brutus betrayed Caesar, his life fell apart just as Judas’ did.
Contribution to literature : It brings the story of Julius Caesar to life and starts the retelling of history in literature. -
Authors : William Shakespeare
Literary Time period : Jacobean Time Period
Connections to other works : The pursuit of power is present in both Othello and Macbeth and both characters are encouraged to kill others by other females in their respective stories.
Contribution to literature : It is the first story to have a black hero presented on the stage. -
Authors : William Shakespeare
Literary Time period : The Renaissance Period
Connections to other works : This work connects to Othello, in part because they are both written by the same author, but also because they explore the same themes of corruption, manipulation, and military.
Contribution to literature : It is a literary work that was also performed, which impacted literature in the theatrical aspects. -
Authors : John Milton
Literary Time period : The Neoclassical Period
Connections to other works : This work primarily connects to The Bible because of the stores drawn upon the Bible and biblical teachings
Contribution to literature : It influences many literary works with its use of a biblical story. The poem concerns the story of the Fall of Man. -
Author : Jonathan Edwards
Literary Time period : The Great Awakening
Connections to other works : The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Crucible by Arthur Miller because each work revolves around the beliefs of the Puritan faith and the consequences as a result of that faith
Contribution to literature : It’s one of the most popular sermons from The Great Awakening era. It displays the values of the English people during that time and focuses on the aggressive nature of religion. -
Authors : Jane Austen
Literary Time period : The Romantic Era
Connections to other works : Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen because both novels are kind of like a soap opera and revolve around themes of marriage. They are also both written by the same author.
Contribution to literature : It introduced a new style of writing, using new literary devices to describe daily life, and continuing to remain current throughout the centuries. -
Authors : Mary Shelley
Literary Time period : The Romantic Period
Connections to other works : Connects to Heart of Darkness because both novels include horrific occurrences caused by terrifying characters. The Monster is horrifying because people treated him badly and Jurtz is bad just by nature.
Contribution to literature : It has become a classic not only because of its pioneering theme of reanimating the dead, but also because of the interactions between its two main characters. -
Authors : Edgar Allan Poe
Literary Time period : Romanticism, specifically Gothic
Connections to other works : Frankenstein by Mary Shelley because both the short stories and the novel are gothic works which typically revolve around supernatural elements and include freaky or horrific themes
Contribution to literature : His stories became a central figure of Romanticism in the United States and of American literature. -
Authors : Charlotte Bronte
Literary Time period : The Victorian Period
Connections to other works : This work connects to Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte because both tackle the responsibilities of living in Victorian society and include Byronic heroes in them. They are also written by sisters.
Contribution to literature : It introduces the idea of the “modern individual.” -
Authors : Emily Bronte
Literary Time period : Victorian Era
Connections to other works : Has similar themes to Jane Eyre which was written by her sister Charlotte Bronte. Both highlight gothic elements but, Wuthering Heights has more than Jane Eyre
Contribution to literature : It shows Victorian elements of how society runs and how much social class and education plays a role in an individual’s life. -
Authors : Charles Dickens
Literary Time period : The Victorian Era
Connections to other works : Similar to Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte because both stories follow a central character from early life to later years of their life and because they are both placed in Victorian society.
Contribution to literature : It highlights themes and characters of this Victorian novel that are translatable and applicable in today’s society. -
Authors : Edwin Abbott Abbott
Literary Time period : The Victorian Period
Connections to other works : Flatland has similar satirical elements that can be found in Utopia. Both works are within fictional places that are written to be perfect but, both show that there is no such place that is perfect.
Contribution to literature : It uses classic science fiction to describe 19th Century one-dimensional society. -
Authors : Joseph Conrad
Literary Time period : Modernism
Connections to other works : A novel which connects to this work Frankenstein by Mary Shelley because both novels depict monsters who hurt those around them. Kurtz is feared and respected while The Monster is only feared.
Contribution to literature : It plays on racist anxieties about immigration: the idea that certain places and people are primitive, exotic, and dangerous. -
Authors : Willa Cather
Literary Time period : The Modernist Period
Connections to other works : The other two books that are in the trilogy this work is apart of which have similar themes of family struggles and romance which take place in the Great Plains of Nebraska.
Contribution to literature : It referred to much modernism and is considered to be a masterpiece of that era. -
Authors : Hermann Hesse
Literary Time period : Modernist
Connections to other works : This novel and the theme of searching connect to The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. The protagonist spends the entirety of the novel searching for something and each goes on a long journey to find what they are looking for.
Contribution to literature : Hermann Hesse receives a Nobel Prize for Literature for this book and this book has shaped the way people view Buddist teaching. -
Authors : F. Scott Fitzgerald
Literary Time period : 1920s America, The Modernist Period
Connections to other works : Connects to My Antonia by Willa Cather because both novels include a main character who is unsure about themselves and in both novels death is a moving factor in characters lives.
Contribution to literature : Despite the different eras, Gatsby’s story is relevant today as it was when it was written. It explores universal themes that are prominent even today. -
Authors : John Steinbeck
Literary Time period : The Modernist Period
Connections to other works : Grapes of Wrath is another novel by John Steinbeck shares similarities with Of Mice and Men as they both involve a farm and take place during the Great Depression.
Contribution to literature : It is a novella that shows the platonic love between non-blood relationships, and highlights challenges disabled people face as well as life of farmhands. -
Authors : George Orwell
Literary Time period : The Contemporary Period
Connections to other works : Brave New World by Aldous Huxleyis also a dystopian novel which tackles elements of fiction and repressing people’s natural inclinations
Contribution to literature : It is a classic literary example of political and dystopian fiction that has inspired other writers. -
Authors : Arthur Miller
Literary Time period : The Contemporary Period
Connections to other works : This work connects to Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God which was a sermon given to Puritan people who believe that they are evil. This sermon highlights the religious practices which The Crucible is based upon.
Contribution to literature : It is still a relevant piece of literature today because it shows what happens in nature when there is no central governing body. -
Authors : John Steinbeck
Literary Time period : Contemporary
Connections to other works : This work has stories which parallel tales from The Bible, which could have influenced Steinbeck’s writing
Contribution to literature : It contains writing from the Bible and inspires writing that symbolizes religion as well as the dichotomy between good and evil. -
Authors : Ray Bradbury
Literary Time period : The Contemporary Period
Connections to other works : The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is similar to this novel because they both involve the censorship of novels and destruction of literature as well as deaths in the people the characters surround themselves with
Contribution to literature : It is praised for its stance against censorship and its defense of literature as necessary both to the humanity of individuals and to civilization. -
Authors : Elie Wiesel
Literary Time period : Second World War in Europe
Connections to other works : It discusses the Holocaust just as The Book Thief does.
Contribution to literature : It displays the Holocaust through the eyes of a child. It provides such an in-depth description of the catastrophe that was the Holocaust. -
Authors : William Golding
Literary Time period : The Contemporary Period
Connections to other works : This work connects to Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury because both works examine the horrors people would go through to seemingly save themselves from danger.
Contribution to literature : The book explores the dark side of human nature and stresses the importance of reason and intelligence as tools for dealing with the chaos of existence. -
Authors : Arthur Laurents
Literary Time period : Mid 1950s
Connections to other works : It was inspired by the theme of forbidden love from Romeo and Juliet.
Contribution to literature : It addressed issues of immigration, discrimination, evolving gender roles, urban neighborhoods in transitions, and disenfranchised, but yet was able to make it whimsical with a beautiful love story. -
Authors : John Knowles
Literary Time period : World War II
Connections to other works : This works is similar to other works about World War II such as Night and The Book Thief
Contribution to literature : This contributes to literature by providing a childlike view and mindset during a serious time of violence. -
Authors : Robert Bolt
Literary Time period : The Postmodern period
Connections to other works : This work relates to The Crucible by Arthur Miller because in both novels a main characters is punished for something they didn’t do.
Contribution to literature : It explores the religious and personal ethics that led to Sir Thomas More’s beheading in 1535. It displays the strictness of the 16th century. It gives a whole different perspective to the story of More. -
Authors : Sandra Cisneros
Literary Time period : The Contemporary Period
Connections to other works :
Contribution to literature : It provides a detailed description of what the Mexican-American War was like through the eyes of a woman in a largely patriarchal Hispanic society. -
Authors : Toni Morrison
Literary Time period :
Connections to other works : This work reveals the horrors people of color face and the segregation which people enforced upon them just as Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry by Mildred Taylor does.
Contribution to literature : It starts up the literature of segregation debate and writing because of injustice. -
Authors : Jon Krakeuer
Literary Time period : 19th century transcendentalism movement
Connections to other works : It connects to Thoreau’s Walden as it references it along with the author Emerson. It relates to these because of transcendental themes.
Contribution to literature : It gives a more modern take on the transcendental literary movement. -
Authors : Markus Zusak
Literary Time period : World War II and the Holocaust
Connections to other works : Both this book and Night discuss the times of the Holocaust.
Contribution to literature : It gave a new take of a narrator. The narrator of the novel is Death and this impacted people due to the fact that Death was prominent during the Holocaust. It has inspired authors to create unique narrators for other stories.