The Shining Allusions and Cultural References

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

  • Edgar Allan Poe, "The Masque of the Red Death" (epigraph)
  • Writer's Digest (5.13)
  • Samuel Pepys (6.23)
  • Charles Olson (6.23)
  • Esquire (6.25, 14.29)
  • Victoria Holt (8.4)
  • Bluebeard (11.97, 19.28, 25.23)
  • Arthur Miller (12.47)
  • E.L. Doctorow, Welcome to Hard Times (15.1)
  • William Shakespeare (15.5)
  • Eugene O'Neill (15.5)
  • Horace Walpole (19.5)
  • National Enquirer (21.9)
  • Cashelmara (32.1)
  • Reader's Digest (45.5)

Historical References

  • Goya (epigraph)
  • The Vanderbilts (1.33)
  • The Rockefellers (1.133)
  • President Woodrow Wilson (1.33)
  • President Warren G. Harding (1.33)
  • President Theodore Roosevelt (1.33)
  • President Richard Nixon (1.33)
  • The Donner Party (8.17, 10.29)
  • The Titanic (11.23, 24)
  • Nelson Rockefeller (18.14)
  • Michelangelo (21.43)
  • Bartok (26.1)
  • Bach (26.1)

Pop Culture References

  • Sesame Street (4.1, 16.5)
  • Lon Chaney (5.76)
  • Phantom of the Opera (5.76)
  • Billie Holiday (6.5)
  • Peggy Lee (6.5)
  • W.C. Fields (9.2)
  • The Boston Red Sox (11.46)
  • Nolan Ryan (11.34)
  • Marilyn Monroe (12.47)
  • Abbot and Costello Meet the Monsters (12.72)
  • Robert Redford (14.71)
  • Electric Company (15.5)
  • Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore, and Christopher Robin (15.29)
  • Jean Harlowe (18.14)
  • Clark Gable (18.14)
  • Carole Lombard (18.14)
  • Daryl F. Zanuck (18.14)
  • "Bad Moon Rising," John Fogerty (22.134)
  • The Waltons (32.1)
  • Secret Agent Man (34.17)
  • The Avengers (34.18)
  • Al Green (38.26, 27)
  • Edie Cochran (39.1)