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, Philosophical, Artistic, and Musical References
- Peter Abelard (2.2)
- Joseph Addison (11.102)
- Charles A. Beard (5.187)
- Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy (first mention: 2.6)
- Elizabeth Barrett Browning (3.237)
- John Calvin (5.189)
- Cassandra (2.6)
- Geoffrey Chaucer, "The Wife of Bath's Tale" (14.53)
- G.K. Chesterton (11.108)
- Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness (5.179)
- Divine Right of Kings (first mention: 7.300)
- The Enlightenment (first mention: 2.4)
- Fairy Godmother (10.22)
- Fortuna (first mention: 1.2)—The Wheel of Fortune, or luck, and a central concept in Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy.
- French Symbolists (9.80)
- Sigmund Freud (first mention: 3.233)
- The Great Chain of Being (2.4)—The belief that all matter and life are ordered in a hierarchy by God; often used to justify the rule of Kings.
- Edvard Grieg, "In the Hall of the Mountain King" (14.28)
- Ernest Hemingway (8.4)
- Sherlock Holmes (first mention: 11.321)
- Hroswitha (first mention: 2.169) \
- Fanny Hurst (8.4)
- Seymour Krim (7.297)
- William Langland, Piers Plowman (2.4)
- Thomas Babington Macaulay, Essays (5.174)
- Machiavelli (first mention: 9.203)
- Norman Mailer (7.297)
- Medusa (3.187)
- Arthur Miller (4.179)
- John Milton (first mention: 4.197)
- John Milton, Areopagitica (9.188)
- Moses (5.178)
- Oedipus (first mention: 7.298)
- Scarlet O'Hara (first mention: 3.184)
- Pandora's Box (5.161)
- Vernon Louis Parrington (5.187)—A progressive historian.
- Plato (4.191)
- Marcel Proust (2.183)
- Domenico Scarlatti (first mention: 7.13)—A classical composer of the 1700s.
- Friedrich Schiller (2.185)
- William Shakespeare, King Lear (5.304)
- Sistine Chapel (10.78)
- Sodom and Gomorrah (9.39)
- Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin (first mention: 5.177)\
- Svengali (3.22)—An evil hypnotist in the novel Trilby by George du Maurier.
- Mark Twain (first mention: 2.185)
- Trinity (2.2)—In Catholicism, the three-part Godhead of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
- Johannes Vermeer, Girl With a Pearl Earring (12.85)—A famous painting; Dorian deliberately misnames it as "Girl With a Golden Earring."
- Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Grey (first mention: 10.219)
- Grant Wood (12.81)
- Xanadu (4.134)
Historical and Not-So-Historical References
- American Legion (1.148)
- Aetna Life Insurance (2.254)
- King Alfonso (5.51)
- Angola (1.162)
- St. Anthony (5.51)
- King Arthur (5.304)
- Avon Products (11.168)
- Thomas Beckett (2.2)
- Big Chief Tablet (first mention: 2.1)
- Bourbon Street (first mention: 1.37) Cabildo (10.233)
- St. Cassian of Imola (5.305)
- Winston Churchill (7.53)
- Clearasil (2.114)
- Communists (first mention: 1.66)—Communists believe that working people should control factories and productive goods. In 1963, when Confederacy was written, the U.S. was in a rivalry called the Cold War with Communist Russia, and anti-Communist sentiment was high.
- Thomas Edison (9.191)
- French Quarter (first mention: 1.81)
- Henry Ford (4.158; 9.191)
- Billy Graham (7.60)
- Great Depression (13.120)
- Greenwich Village (first mention: 1.235)—A neighborhood in New York famous for its artistic and gay communities.
- Guggenheim Foundation (11.247)
- Patrick Henry (6.197)
- Herbert Hoover (13.120)
- Infant Jesus of Prague (8.84)
- St. James of Less (10.61)
- Joan of Arc (10.119)
- Father James Keller (7.60)
- John F. Kennedy (10.60)
- Rose Kennedy (10.60)
- Kiwanis (5.48)
- Ku Klux Klan (first mention: 6.197)
- Jean Lafitte (first mention: 10.92)—A 19th century French pirate.
- Robert E. Lee (11.341)
- Life Magazine (first mention: 2.254)
- Luftwaffe (7.53)
- Mardi Gras (first mention: 10.172)
- St. Martin de Porres (5.201)
- St. Mathurin (9.196)
- Mau Mau (9.81)
- Joseph McCarthy (9.62; 13.184)
- St. Medericus (9.196)
- Methuselah (9.195)
- Nazis (first mention: 1.298)
- Florence Nightingale (8.26)
- Hannah Nixon (10.60)
- Richard Nixon (10.60)
- Ivan Pavlov (5.183)
- Marco Polo (9.50)
- Reformation (2.6)
- John D. Rockefeller (9.191)
- Eleanor Roosevelt (10.182)
- Franklin Roosevelt (10.60)
- Sara Roosevelt (10.60)
- Scotland Yard (11.221)
- Al Smith (2nd epigraph)
- Smithsonian Institution (5.177)
- Soho (9.190)
- Sports Illustrated (8.15)
- Third Reich (13.40)
- Tokyo Rose (11.332)—Female broadcasters of Japanese propaganda during World War II.
- Tories (6.197)—The Loyalist party during the American Revolution.
- Harry Truman (10.60)
- Volunteers of America (1.131)
- Woolworth (first mention: 1.164)—An American five-and-dime store.
- St. Zita (9.197)
Pop Culture References
- Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle (10.92)
- Batman (10.61, 10.213)
- Broadway (14.80)
- Gary Cooper (13.261)
- Chicago Bears (2.76)
- Perry Como (first mention: 4.136)\
- Doris Day (first mention: 2.6)
- Daytona 500 (4.178)
- Kentucky Derby (first mention: 3.80)
- Walt Disney (14.108)
- Fats Domino (8.277)
- Marie Dressler (10.92)
- Clark Gable (4.94)
- Judy Garland (12.129)
- Gold Diggers film series (3.194)
- Green Bay Packers (2.76)
- Gypsy (12.202)
- Jean Harlow (4.94)
- Lena Horne (first mention: 12.181)
- Ruby Keeler (10.174)
- Fritz Lang (5.177)
- Charles Laughton (10.99)
- Mary Marvel (10.107) — A comic-book character.
- Jeanette MacDonald (12.167)
- Ethel Merman (12.202)
- Metropolis (5.177)
- Mickey Mouse (first mention: 7.2)
- George Pal (14.108)
- Red Dust (4.94)
- Debbie Reynolds (first mention: 11.1)
- "Stranger in Paradise"
- Superman (13.170)
- Shirley Temple (2.114)
- "Turkey in the Straw" (first mention: 7.14)—An American folk song from the 1900s, first popularized by blackface performers.
- The Twilight Zone (10.26)
- Franki Valli and the Four Seasons, "Big Girls Don't Cry" (first mention: 2.61)
- Lawrence Welk (8.19)
- World Series (4.178)
- Jane Wyman (11.9)— The film they are referring to with the famous rape scene is the 1949 movie Johnny Belinda.
- Yogi Bear (first mention: 9.72)
- Zorro (5.308)