Literature by Place

It's kind of crazy to what extent geography can inform an author's work. Jack London spent most of his life at sea, dog-sledding across Alaska, boxing and generally being an adventurous guy who would put today's REI crowd to shame. Would he have penned some of the greatest American novels otherwise? especially ones concerned primarily with man battling the elements for survival in both a mental and physical sense? Very probably not, which explains why Oscar Wilde didn't write about wolves and crazy ship captains.

No, Oscar Wilde wrote primarily about fops and society people parrying witticisms incessantly. That's not to say his work has no place in a serious consideration of literature—au contraire, The Picture of Dorian Grey is one of the finest novels written in English. It's just more evidence that if you're an author who lives in the Canadian mountains or the clubs of London, your writing will reflect that.

Physical terrain isn't the only consideration. Sartre wrote about people lolling about with no real sense of purpose except to drink wine and smoke cigarettes and look languorous because he lived in France in the 1940s. Friedrich Nietzsche had immense mustaches and espoused a form of nihilism because he was German. The Russians wrote impossibly long novels because they lived in Russia. And Chinua Achebe was almost entirely influenced by his African upbringing.

That's not to say no one can write well about a context they haven't experienced firsthand. I'm pretty sure Robert Heinlein never visited Mars, and even if he did it wasn't as his books describe; the same goes for Bradbury. And no, Roald Dahl was never lost in a delightfully (though at times, terrifyingly) absurd chocolate factory. Yet even with these examples, the authors conveyed essentially the attitudes of the countries they came from—Heinlein and Bradbury from the U.S., Dahl from the U.K.

Our Literature by Place subcategories are admittedly Anglo-centric. North American literature features, well, American literature, and you can be pretty sure British literature reflects the same system; everything else goes in world literature. We have plenty of non-American or -British literature, we just don't have much from any one place besides those two. At any rate, we hope these categories are helpful, and if they guide you toward one book you're looking for (or maybe one you didn't even know existed), they've done their job.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
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467 Items found Print
Active Filters: 19th Century Literature, 9th grade (Ages 14-15)
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Sterling Classics
by Jules Verne, translated by Lewis Page Mercier and illustrated by Scott McKowen
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for 5th-10th grade
in Science Fiction (Location: FIC-SCI)
Abraham Lincoln: Selected Speeches and Writings
by Abraham Lincoln, introduction by Gore Vidal
from Library of America
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$18.95
Adam Bede
Everyman's Library
by George Eliot
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$24.00
Adventures and Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
by Arthur Conan Conan Doyle
from Penguin Classics
for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$11.20
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain
from Dover Publications
Realistic Fiction for 7th-10th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$6.00
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain
from Bantam Books
Realistic Fiction for 7th-10th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain
from Penguin Classics
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$8.00
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain
from Nelson Doubleday, Inc.
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain, edited by Mary R. Reichardt
from Ignatius Press
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$6.00 (2 in stock)
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Oxford World's Classics
by Mark Twain, edited with an introduction and notes by Emory Elliott
2008 Reissue from Oxford University
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Mark Twain Library
by Mark Twain, illustrated by E.W. Kemble and John Harley, edited by Victor Fischer, Lin Salamo with Harriet Elinor Smith and Walter Blair
from University of California Press
Realistic Fiction for 7th-10th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$13.00 (1 in stock)
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Reader's Digest World's Best Reading
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, illustrated by Richard Lebenson
from Reader's Digest
for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Books of Wonder
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, illustrated by Barry Moser
from HarperCollins
for 7th-12th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, illustrated by Sidney Paget
100th Anniversary from SeaWolf Press
in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW)
$8.76
Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Whole Story Series
by Mark Twain, illustrated by Claude Lapointe
from Viking Press
Realistic Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Dover Thrift Editions
by Mark Twain
from Dover Publications
for 6th-10th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.00
Adventures of Tom Sawyer
by Mark Twain
Limited Edition from Franklin Library
Realistic Fiction for 8th-Adult
in Leather Bound Collectible Books (Location: VIN-LEA)
Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Reader's Digest World's Best Reading
by Mark Twain, illustrated by Paul Geiger
from Reader's Digest
for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Puffin Classics
by Mark Twain
from Penguin Classics
Realistic Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$10.00
Alexandre Dumas Three Musketeers Collection
Oxford World's Classics
by Alexandre Dumas
from Oxford University
Historical Fiction/Adventure for 9th-12th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
from Sweetwater Press
for 9th-Adult
in Poetry (Location: POET-GEN)
Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass
by Lewis Carroll
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
by Lewis Carroll, illustrated by John Tenniel
from Macmillan
Fantasy for 7th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$18.00 (1 in stock)
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass
Rainbow Classics
by Lewis Carroll, illustrated by John Tenniel
from World Publishing Company
for 4th-10th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass
by Lewis Carroll
from Bantam Books
for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Annotated Alice
by Lewis Carroll
from Bramhall House
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$10.00 (2 in stock)
Annotated Alice
by Lewis Carroll
Definitive Edition from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Annotated Hans Christian Andersen
by Hans Christian Andersen
from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Annotated Hans Christian Andersen
by Hans Christian Andersen
from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$18.00 (1 in stock)
Annotated Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain
from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Annotated Pride and Prejudice
by Jane Austen
Revised & Expanded from Anchor Books
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$20.00 $12.00 (1 in stock)
Annotated Sherlock Holmes Volumes 1 & 2
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
from Clarkson Potter Publishers
for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Apologia Pro Vita Sua
Dover Giant Thrift Editions
by John Henry Newman
from Dover Publications
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$7.00
Around the World in 80 Days
Reader's Digest World's Best Reading
by Jules Verne
from Reader's Digest
for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Around the World in Eighty Days
by Jules Verne, George M. Towle (Translator)
from Bantam Books
for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.95 $3.00 (1 in stock)
Around the World in Eighty Days
Sterling Classics
by Jules Verne, illustrated by Scott McKowen
Unabridged from Sterling Publishing Co.
Adventure for 6th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Around the World in Eighty Days
by Jules Verne, translated by William Butcher
Reprint from Oxford University
for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$9.95
Around the World in Eighty Days
Books of Wonder
by Jules Verne, illustrated by Barry Moser
from William Morrow & Company
Adventure for 6th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Autobiography of Charles G. Finney
by Charles G. Finney
from Bethany House
Autobiography for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$19.00
Ben-Hur
Reader's Digest World's Best Reading
by Lew Wallace
from Reader's Digest
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Ben-Hur
by Lew Wallace
from Dover Publications
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$7.00
Ben-Hur
Signet Classics
by Lew Wallace
from Signet Classics
Historical Fiction for 7th-10th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$9.95
Ben-Hur
by Lew Wallace
from Heritage Press
Historical Fiction for 7th-10th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Ben-Hur
by Lew Wallace
from Harper & Brothers
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Black Arrow
Scribner Illustrated Classics
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by N.C. Wyeth
from Atheneum
Historical Fiction for 7th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Black Arrow
Dover Evergreen Classics
by Robert Louis Stevenson
from Dover Publications
Historical Fiction for 7th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$5.99
Black Arrow
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by N. C. Wyeth
from SeaWolf Press
Historical Fiction for 7th-10th grade
in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW)
$8.95
Black Arrow
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Frances Brundage
from Living Book Press
Historical Fiction for 7th-10th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Bold Dragoon
by Washington Irving, illustrated by James Daugherty
1960 printing from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 6th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Brownings: Letters and Poetry
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Robert Browning
from International Collectors Library
for 9th-12th grade
in Poetry (Location: POET-GEN)
Bulfinch's Greek and Roman Mythology
by Thomas Bulfinch
from Dover Publications
for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$6.00
Bulfinch's Medieval Mythology
by Thomas Bulfinch
from Dover Publications
for 6th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$10.00
Bulfinch's Mythology: The Age of Chivalry
by Thomas Bulfinch
from Living Book Press
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Bulfinch's Mythology: The Age of Fable
by Thomas Bulfinch
from International Collectors Library
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Bulfinch's Mythology: The Age of Fable
by Thomas Bulfinch, illustrated by Stanley William Hayter
from Heritage Press
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Bulfinch's Mythology: The Age of Fable
by Thomas Bulfinch
from Living Book Press
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Bulfinch's Mythology: The Complete Texts
by Thomas Bulfinch
from Gramercy Books
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Bulfinch's Mythology: The Legends of Charlemagne
by Thomas Bulfinch
from Living Book Press
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Captains Courageous
Signet Classics
by Rudyard Kipling
from Signet Classics
Nautical Fiction for 7th-10th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.95
Captains Courageous
Signet Classics
by Rudyard Kipling
from Living Book Press
Nautical Fiction for 7th-10th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$8.99
Captains Courageous
Reader's Digest World's Best Reading
by Rudyard Kipling
from Reader's Digest
Nautical Fiction for 7th-10th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Celebrated Jumping Frog and Other Stories
Reader's Digest World's Best Reading
by Mark Twain
from Reader's Digest
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$8.00 (2 in stock)
Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
by Mark Twain, illustrated by Harold Berson
from Franklin Watts
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Charge of the Light Brigade & Other Poems
Dover Thrift Editions
by Alfred Tennyson
from Dover Publications
for 9th-Adult
in Poetry (Location: POET-GEN)
$4.00
Christmas Carol
Whole Story Series
by Charles Dickens, illustrated by William Geldart
from Viking Press
Fantasy for 6th-10th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Christmas Carol
Dover Thrift Editions
by Charles Dickens
from Dover Publications
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$3.00
Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens, illustrated by Arthur Rackham
from Gramercy Books
for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens
from Bantam Books
for 6th-10th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$3.95
Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens,
Enriched Classic from Pocket Books
for 9th-12th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens, illustrated by Everett Shinn
from Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens, illustrated by Greg Hildebrandt
Unabridged from Simon and Schuster
Fantasy for 6th-10th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens, illustrated by John Leech
from J. G. Ferguson Publishing Co.
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens, illustrated by Roberto Innocenti
Unabridged from Stewart, Tabori, & Chang
Fantasy for 6th-10th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman
Unabridged from Holiday House
Fantasy for 6th-10th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens, illustrated by P.J. Lynch
Unabridged from Candlewick Press
Fantasy for 6th-10th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$19.99
Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens, illustrated by Robert Ingpen
Unabridged from Palazzo Editions Limited
Fantasy for 6th-10th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$24.99
Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens; illustrated by Julian Brazelton
from Pocket Books
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Civil Disobedience and Other Essays
Dover Thrift Editions
by Henry David Thoreau
from Dover Publications
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$3.00
Civil War Stories
by Ambrose Bierce
from Dover Publications
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.00
Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy
by Jacob Burckhardt
from Penguin Classics
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$17.00
Classic Fairy Tales
by Peter Opie & Iona Opie
from Oxford University
for 6th-10th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Classic Stories of Edgar Allen Poe
by Edgar Allan Poe
from Barnes & Noble
for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Cloister and the Hearth
by Charles Reade, illustrated by Lynd Ward
from Heritage Press
for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Collected Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe
by Edgar Allan Poe
from Modern Library
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$25.00
Complete Fairy Tales
Penguin Classics
by George MacDonald
from Penguin Classics
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Folklore for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$17.00
Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm
3rd edition from Bantam Books
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Folklore for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$24.00
Complete Illustrated Stories of the Brothers Grimm
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by E.H. Wehnert
Redesigned Edition (1st Edition in this form) from Chancellor Press
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Complete Plays of Gilbert and Sullivan
by William Gilbert & Arthur Sullivan
from W. W. Norton and Co.
Drama for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$29.95
Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson
by Emily Dickinson
from Little, Brown & Company
for 7th-Adult
in Poetry (Location: POET-GEN)
$23.99
Complete Poems of Samuel Taylor Coleridge
by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
from Penguin Classics
for 9th-Adult
in Poetry (Location: POET-GEN)
Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe
by Edgar Allan Poe
from Barnes & Noble
for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Complete Tales of Uncle Remus
by Joel Chandler Harris
from Houghton Mifflin
Animal Fantasy for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Complete Tales of Uncle Remus
by Joel Chandler Harris, retold by Julius Lester, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney
from Dial Press
Animal Fantasy for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$50.00
Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Penguin Classics
by Mark Twain
from Penguin Classics
Social Satire/Comedy for 8th-10th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$10.00
Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Signet Classics
by Mark Twain
from Signet Classics
Social Satire/Humor for 8th-10th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.95
Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Reader's Digest World's Best Reading
by Mark Twain
from Reader's Digest
Social Satire/Comedy for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
by Mark Twain
from International Collectors Library
Social Satire/Comedy for 8th-10th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Signet Classics
by Mark Twain
from New American Library
Social Satire/Humor for 8th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
by Mark Twain, illustrated by Honore Guilbeau
from Heritage Press
Social Satire/Comedy for 8th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Count of Monte Cristo
by Alexandre Dumas, translated, with an introduction and notes, by Robin Buss
from Penguin Classics
Realistic Fiction/Adventure for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$16.00
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