Literature by Place - Exodus Books

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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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	Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton from SeaWolf Press for 10th-Adult 1921 Pulitzer Prize winner in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW) $9.95
	Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte, Illustrated by Edmund Dulac from SeaWolf Press Realistic Romantic Fiction for 10th-Adult in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW) $7.95
	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)
	Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder from SeaWolf Press for 9th-Adult 1928 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW) $6.95
	Dracula by Bram Stoker from SeaWolf Press for 10th-Adult in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW)
	Emma by Jane Austen, Illustrated by Hugh Thomson 200th Anniversary from SeaWolf Press Romantic Realistic Fiction for 8th-12th grade in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW) $12.99
	Five Weeks in a Balloon by Jules Verne, translated by William Lackland and illustrated by Edouard Riou Illustrated Fir from SeaWolf Press for 5th-10th grade in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW) $9.95
	Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald 1925 edition reprint from Amazon Realistic Fiction for 9th-12th grade in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
	Great Gatsby and Winter Dreams by F. Scott Fitzgerald from SeaWolf Press Realistic Fiction for 9th-12th grade in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW) $7.95
	Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle, Illustrated by Sidney Paget 100th Anniversary from SeaWolf Press for 7th-Adult in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW) $7.95
	Invisible Man by H. G. Wells, illustrated by Louis Strimpl from SeaWolf Press Science Fiction for 7th-Adult in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW) $7.95
	Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott, Illustrated by Frank E. Schoonover 200th Anniversary from SeaWolf Press Historical Fiction for 9th-Adult in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW)
	Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson from Living Book Press Historical Romance for 9th-Adult in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV) $11.99
	Kim Reader's Digest World's Best Reading by Rudyard Kipling from Living Book Press for 8th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Last of the Mohicans Leatherstocking Tales #2 by James Fenimore Cooper, Illustrated by N. C. Wyeth from SeaWolf Press Realistic Action/Adventure Novel for 9th-Adult in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW) $11.95
	Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Illustrated by Harry Rountree 100th Anniversary from SeaWolf Press for 9th grade-adult in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW) $8.95
	Mansfield Park by Jane Austen, Illustrated by Hugh Thomson 200th Anniversary from SeaWolf Press Romantic Realistic Fiction for 8th-12th grade in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW) $12.95
	Mysterious Island by Jules Verne, illustrated by N. C. Wyeth from SeaWolf Press Science Fiction for 10th-Adult in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW) $15.95
	Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, illustrated by Hugh Thomson 200th Anniversary from SeaWolf Press Romantic Realistic Fiction for 8th-Adult in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW) $8.95
	Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens from Living Book Press Realistic Fiction for 10th-12th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
	Penrod by Booth Tarkington from Living Book Press Realistic Fiction for 7th-Adult in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $11.99
	Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc by Mark Twain from Living Book Press Biography for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $17.99
	Persuasion by Jane Austen, Illustrated by Hugh Thomson 200th Anniversary from SeaWolf Press Realistic Romantic Fiction for 8th-12th grade in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW) $8.95
	Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Illustrated by Hugh Thomson 200th Anniversary from SeaWolf Press Realistic Romantic Fiction for 8th-12th grade in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW) $11.95
	Red Badge of Courage and An Occurrence at Owl Bridge by Stephen Crane & Ambrose Bierce from SeaWolf Press Historical Fiction for 7th-10th grade in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW) $7.45
	Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, illustrated by Hugh Thomson 200th Anniversary from SeaWolf Press Romantic Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW) $11.45
	Sign of Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 1892 Illustrated from SeaWolf Press Mystery for 8th-Adult in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW) $6.95
	Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Signet Classics by Robert Louis Stevenson from Living Book Press Mystery/Suspense for 8th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Illustrated by George Hutchinson 1891 Illustrated from SeaWolf Press Mystery for 8th-Adult in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW) $7.49
	Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte, Illustrated by Edmund Dulac from SeaWolf Press Realistic Fiction for 10th-Adult in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW) $12.95
	Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll, Illustrated by John Tenniel from SeaWolf Press for 10th-Adult in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW)
	Time Machine by H. G. Wells 100th Anniversary Edition from SeaWolf Press for 10th-Adult in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW) $6.29
	Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea Seawolf Classics by Jules Verne, translated by F. P. Walter Illustrated 1875 from SeaWolf Press for 10th-Adult in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW) $15.45
	Valley of Fear by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Illustrated by Arthur Keller 1915 Illustrated from SeaWolf Press Detective Stories for 10th-Adult in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW) $7.95
	War in the Air by H. G. Wells, illustrated by A.C. Michael from SeaWolf Press for 10th-Adult in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW) $9.79
	War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells, Illustrated by Henrique Alvim Corrêa Illustrated 1898 from SeaWolf Press for 10th-Adult in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW)
	White Company by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Illustrated by N. C. Wyeth 100th Anniversary from SeaWolf Press Historical Fiction for 8th-Adult in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW) $12.95

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