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, Artistic, and Philosophical References
- Edward Albee (5.128)—The line about monkey nipples is from the play "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"
- Sherwood Anderson (5.4)
- Jane Austen (6.141)
- Beowulf (13.14)
- Ingmar Bergman, The Seventh Seal (14.191)
- Thomas Carlyle (14.141)
- Geoffrey Chaucer (3.286)
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge, "Cristabel" (7.196)
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge, "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (3.285)
- James Dickey, "Kudzu" (13.111-112)
- Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes stories (14.58) (14.401 reference to Mycroft Holmes from the stories)
- Sigmund Freud (11.27) (13.81) (13.82) (13.107)
- James Frazier, The Golden Bough (13.13)
- Fu Manchu (11.397) (11.402)
- Nathaniel Hawthorne (13.72)
- Hepplewhite (4.94)—Valuable furniture, made by George Hepplewhite, an English cabinetmaker in the 1700s.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes (11.77)
- Mr. Hyde (6.165)—The monster from the Robert Louis Stevenson novel Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
- Impressionist painters (3.290) (14.164)
- Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House (Part One epigraph; 5.87)
- Henry James (6.141)
- Sybil Leek, On Exorcism: Driving Out the Devils (13.78)—Father Callahan gets the title wrong in the text.
- C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters (13.14)
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (11.77)
- H.P. Lovecraft (13.72)
- James Russell Lowell (11.77)—Shmoop believes that this is who Matt is referring to as the poet "Russell." You can forgive him the mistake; he's under a good deal of stress.
- Anthony Masters, Natural History of the Vampire (13.13)
- Travis McGhee (11.413)—A fictional detective in stories by John D. MacDonald.
- Grace Metalious, Peyton Place (9.213)—A 1956 novel about secrets and lusts in a small town. One of the inspirations for 'Salem's Lot. It was turned into a TV series from 1964-69.
- Richard Nixon (14.411)
- O. Henry (11.360)
- Elliott O'Donnell, Strange Disappearances (14.950)—A 1927 book about the occult. Matt is talking about it when he dies.
- Edgar Allan Poe (13.72)
- Edgar Allan Poe, "The Haunted Palace" (Part Three epigraph)
- Edgar Allan Poe, "The Masque of the Red Death" (14.750)
- Ellery Queen (10.153)
- Edwin Arlington Robinson (5.4)
- Norman Rockwell (11.123 first reference)
- James Malcolm Rymer, Varney the Vampire, or, The Feast of Blood (13.13)
- Shangri-La (3.155)
- William Shakespeare (3.285)
- William Shakespeare, "The Merchant of Venice" (13.84) – The character of Shylock is mentioned.
- Mary Shelly, Frankenstein (6.127) (11.112)
- John Steinbeck (3.286)
- St. Paul (14.259)
- St. Stephen (6.299)
- Wallace Stevens, "The Emperor of Ice Cream" (Part Two epigraph) (8.184) (14.1154)
- Bram Stoker, Dracula (6.165) (7.196) (8.95) (13.13) (14.154, reference to Van Helsing, the vampire hunter in Stoker's novel) (14.333)
- Bram Stoker, Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Stories (13.13)
- Henri Toulouse-Lautrec (9.173)
- Mark Twain (4.414)
- Rabelais (3.18)
- George Seferis, "Mythistorema" (Epilogue first epigraph)
- George Seferis, "Now she's eyeless…. (Epilogue second epigraph)
- George Seferis, "The Return of the Exile," lines 1-5 (Preface epigraph)
- George Seferis, "This column has," (Chapter Two epigraph)—A haiku.
- James Whittier (11.77)
- Gahan Wilson (11.184)
- Thomas Wolfe (5.195)
Historical References
- Napoleon Bonaparte (9.173)
- George Washington Carver (5.189)
- Civil War (3.2)
- Hiroshima (10.155)
- Adolf Hitler (first reference 2.224)
- Harry Houdini (first reference 12.122)
- Kennedy family (9.34)
- Peter Kurten (13.15)—Misspelled as "Kurtin" in the novel. A German serial killer in the early twentieth century.
- Mad Bomber (George Metesky) (2.158)—A criminal who placed bombs in various places, especially movie theaters, during the 1940s and 1950s before being apprehended. He was declared insane and placed in a mental hospital.
- Mary Celeste (Preface.22)—A British merchant ship found abandoned in the Atlantic in 1872. No one knows what happened to the crew.
- Missouri Compromise (2.138)
- Jonas Salk (5.189)
- B.F. Skinner (9.213)
- Vietnam War (first reference 2.148)
- Watergate (11.195) (14.411)
- Ziegfeld Follies (2.140)
Pop Culture References
- Muhammad Ali (6.299)
- Amazing Stories. (2.224)
- Fred Astaire (first reference 6.293)
- Johnny Carson (7.161)
- Cosmopolitan (11.391)
- Walter Cronkite (2.148)—A newscaster.
- Dick Curless, "Bury the Bottle With Me" (3.357)
- Doris Day (10.374)
- "Dialing for Dollars" (8.250)—A television game show.
- Disneyland (3.155)
- Bob Dylan, "North Country Blues" (Part Three Epigraph)
- "Endless Sleep" (Part Three Epigraph)—This is the rock song King quotes but doesn't name.
- Frank Frazetta (14.465)—A pulp fantasy and comics artist.
- Joe Frazier (6.299)
- Marvin Gaye, "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" (5.186)
- Goodbye Mr. Chips (3.287)—A film about a schoolteacher, based on the novella by James Hilton.
- Good Housekeeping (9.91)
- Gunsmoke (10.174)
- Boris Karloff (11.112)—The actor who played Frankenstein's monster in several famous movies in the 1930s.
- Hammer horror films (8.95) (11.207)
- Buddy Holly (7.31)
- Hollywood Squares (2.152)—A game show.
- Rock Hunter (10.374)
- Ross Hunter (3.287)—Hollywood film producer.
- Sonny James (14.1042)
- Christopher Lee (8.95)—Actor famous for horror film roles.
- Marcus Welby, M.D. (11.125)—A television medical drama.
- Peter Marshall (2.148)—A television personality.
- National Enquirer (6.90)
- New Yorker (2.224)
- "Okie From Muskogee" (5.217)—A country song by Merle Haggard.
- Random House Publishers (Preface.8)
- Reader's Digest (3.2) (14.918)
- Ginger Rodgers (6.293)
- Mickey Rooney (6.293)
- Saturday Evening Post (first mention 2.224)
- Spencer Tracy (6.278)
- Vampirella (13.19)
- Wall Street Journal (6.141)
- Winnie the Pooh (14.936)
- Wolfman Jack (Preface.12)—a famous rock DJ
- "You've Never Been This Far Before" (5.128)—Country song made famous by Conway Twitty.