Literature by Place - Exodus Books

Store Location

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.

Did you find this review helpful?

41 Items found Print

Active Filters:

Philosophy & Social Commentary,

9th grade (Ages 14-15)

	Bondage of the Will by Martin Luther from Revell Publishing for 9th-Adult in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN) $8.50 (1 in stock)
	Bondage of the Will by Martin Luther, translated by J. I. Packer and O. R. Robinson from Baker Academics for 9th-Adult in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN) $24.99
	Bondage of the Will by Martin Luther, translated by Henry Cole from Canon Press for 9th-Adult in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN) $12.95
	C. S. Lewis: The Signature Classics Boxed Set by C. S. Lewis Box from HarperOne for 9th-Adult in Boxed Sets & Literature Packages (Location: FIC-BOX) $120.00
	Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy by Jacob Burckhardt from Penguin Classics for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $17.00
	Common Sense Dover Thrift Editions by Thomas Paine from Dover Publications Political Philosophy for 9th-Adult in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18) $4.00
	Common Sense Dover Thrift Editions by Thomas Paine from Living Book Press Political Philosophy for 9th-Adult in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
	Federalist Papers Signet Classics by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison & John Jay from Signet Classics American Political Philosophy for 9th-Adult in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18) $7.95
	Federalist Papers Dover Thrift series by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison & John Jay from Dover Publications American Political Philosophy for 9th-Adult in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18) $7.00
	Five Dialogues of Plato by Plato, translated by G.M.A. Grube, revised by John M. Cooper 2^nd edition from Hackett Publishing Company Ancient Philosophy for 9th-Adult in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC) $4.00 (2 in stock)
	Five Great Dialogues of Plato by Plato 2^nd edition from Walter J. Black, Inc. Ancient Philosophy for 9th-Adult in Walter J. Black Classics Club (Location: VIN-LITWJB) $4.00 (1 in stock)
	Four Loves by C. S. Lewis from Harcourt Philosophy for 9th-Adult in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20) $8.00 (1 in stock)
	Four Loves Reissue from HarperOne for 9th-Adult in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20) $17.99
	God in the Dock by C. S. Lewis from Eerdmans Religion/Philosophy for 9th-Adult in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20) $18.00
	Gorgias Penguin Classics by Plato from Penguin Classics Ancient Philosophy for 9th-Adult in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC) $10.00
	Gorgias Oxford World's Classics by Plato from Oxford University Ancient Philosophy for 9th-Adult in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC) $8.95 $6.00 (2 in stock)
	Great Dialogues of Plato Signet Classics by Plato from Signet Classics Ancient Philosophy for 9th-Adult in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC) $6.95
	If The South Had Won The Civil War by MacKinlay Kantor from Forge for 9th-Adult in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20) $15.99
	In Praise of Folly Dover Thrift Editions by Desiderius Erasmus from Dover Publications Religious Satire for 9th-Adult in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN) $3.00
	Last Days of Socrates Penguin Classics by Plato from Penguin Classics Ancient Philosophy for 9th-Adult in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC) $14.00
	Marcus Aurelius and His Times by Marcus Aurelius from Walter J. Black, Inc. Classic Literature for 9th-Adult in Walter J. Black Classics Club (Location: VIN-LITWJB)
	Meditations by Marcus Aurelius from Modern Library Classic Literature for 9th-Adult in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC) $11.00
	New Testament by Richmond Lattimore from North Point Press for 9th-Adult in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC) $25.00
	Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle from Dover Publications Ancient Greek Political Philosophy for 9th-Adult in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC) $6.00
	Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle from University of Chicago Ancient Greek Political Philosophy for 9th-Adult in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC) $15.00
	Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle from Hackett Publishing Company Ancient Greek Political Philosophy for 9th-Adult in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC) $21.00
	On the Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau from Dover Publications Philosophy for 9th-Adult in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18) $5.00
	Origin of Species Penguin Classics by Charles Darwin from Penguin Putnam Scientific Philosophy for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $13.00
	Origin of Species 150th Anniversary Edition Penguin Classics by Charles Darwin Rep Anv from Signet Classics Scientific Philosophy for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $6.95
	Poetics by Aristotle from Dover Publications Ancient Greek Philosophy of the Arts for 9th-Adult in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC) $2.00
	Poetics by Aristotle from Penguin Classics Ancient Greek Philosophy of the Arts for 9th-Adult in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC) $5.00 (1 in stock)
	Politics A Treatise on Government by Aristotle from Dover Publications Ancient Greek Political Philosophy for 9th-Adult in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC) $7.00
	Praise of Folly Dover Thrift Editions by Desiderius Erasmus from Penguin Classics Religious Satire for 9th-Adult in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN) $15.00
	Praise of Folly Walter J. Black Classics Club by Desiderius Erasmus from Princeton University Press Religious Satire for 9th-Adult in Walter J. Black Classics Club (Location: VIN-LITWJB)
	Problem of Pain by C. S. Lewis from HarperCollins Religion/Philosophy for 9th-Adult in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20) $16.99
	Republic Dover Thrift Editions by Plato from Dover Publications Ancient Philosophy/Utopian Literature for 9th-Adult in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC) $5.00
	Rhetoric by Aristotle from Dover Publications Ancient Greek Philosophy for 9th-Adult in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC) $8.00
	Scarlet Letter A Romance Copper Lodge Library by Nathaniel Hawthorne, annotated by Stephanie B. Meter from Classical Conversations for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Utopia Walter J. Black Classics Club by Sir Thomas More from Walter J. Black, Inc. for 9th-Adult in Walter J. Black Classics Club (Location: VIN-LITWJB)
	Walden Or, Life in the Woods Copper Lodge Library by Henry David Thoreau, annotated by Stephanie B. Meter from Classical Conversations for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $14.95
	Walden and Other Writings by Henry David Thoreau, edited and an introduction by Joseph Wood Krutch from Bantam Books for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $3.00 (1 in stock)

Shop

Support

Hours & Directions

Connect