The Confidence-Man 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.

Myths and Classical References

  • Myth of Manco Capac (1,1)
  • Myth of Endymion (2, 17)
  • Seneca (9, 41)
  • Tacitus (5, 9) (9, 42)
  • Ovid (5, 18)
  • Horace (5, 18)
  • Anacreon (5, 18)
  • Aeschylus (5, 18)
  • Thucydides (5, 18)
  • Juvenal (5, 18)
  • Lucian (5, 18)
  • Medea (16, 11)
  • Virgil, Aeneid (16, 65)
  • Myth of Titan (17, 9)
  • Cassandra (17, 9)
  • Diogenes (24, 55)
  • Alexander the Great (26, 4)
  • Julian in Gaul (26, 4)
  • Thersites (42, 11)
  • Agamemnon (42, 11)

Shakespeare and Other Medieval and Early Modern Literary References

Biblical and Religious References

  • 1 Corinthians 13 (1, throughout) (8, 3; 23)
  • Genesis (6, 49)
  • Exodus (16, 10) (26, 4)
  • Solomon (16, 11)
  • St. Augustine, Confessions (22, 90)
  • Quran (24, 32)
  • St. Paul (29, 48)
  • Noah (30,1)
  • Wisdom of Jesus, the Son of Sirach, Apocrypha (43, 44) (45, 14)

17-18th Century Scientists and Thinkers References

  • Sir Francis Bacon, invented scientific method (9, 54) (24, 31)
  • Sir Humphry Davy, chemist (13, 1)
  • David Hume (24, 31)