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 Candian 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 is a husband and father, teaches adult Sunday school in his Presbyterian congregation, and likes 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?

1,763 Items found Print

1984

Signet Classics

by George Orwell

from Signet Classics

for 10th-Adult

in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)

$8.49

1984

by George Orwell

from Harcourt

for 10th-Adult

in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)

$13.60

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Sterling Classics

by Jules Verne

from Sterling Publishing Co.

for 5th-10th grade

in Sterling Classics (Location: FIC-STE)

2001: A Space Odyssey

by Arthur C. Clarke

from ROC Science Fiction

for 9th-Adult

in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)

$7.64

The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey

Aubrey/Maturin #21

by Patrick O'Brian

from W. W. Norton and Co.

Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult

in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)

Abolition of Man

by C. S. Lewis

from HarperCollins

Philosophy/Religion for 10th-Adult

in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)

Abraham Lincoln: Great Speeches

Dover Thrift Editions

by Abraham Lincoln & John Grafton, editor

from Dover Publications

Political Philosophy for 10th-Adult

in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)

$1.70 $0.96 (2 in stock)

Abraham Lincoln: Selected Speeches and Writings

by Abraham Lincoln

from Library of America

for 9th-Adult

in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)

$14.41 $9.49 (1 in stock)

Account of Mary Rowlandson and Other Indian Captivity Narratives

by Mary Rowlandson

from Dover Publications

for 9th-Adult

in 17th Century Literature (Location: LIT4-17)

$5.06

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)

$20.40

Adventures and Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

by Arthur Conan Conan Doyle

from Penguin Classics

for 7th-Adult

in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)

$11.90

Adventures and Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

Sterling Classics

by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Unabridged from Sterling Publishing Co.

for 7th-12th grade

in Sterling Classics (Location: FIC-STE)

$11.96

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

by Mark Twain

from Dover Publications

Realistic Fiction for 7th-10th grade

in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)

$5.10 $2.80 (2 in stock)

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

by Mark Twain

from Penguin Classics

for 9th-Adult

in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)

$6.80

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

by Mark Twain

New Ed from University of California Press

for 10th-Adult

in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)

$15.95

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

by Mark Twain

3^rd edition from W. W. Norton and Co.

for 10th-Adult

in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)

$6.40 (1 in stock)

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

by Mark Twain

from Bantam Books

Realistic Fiction for 7th-10th grade

in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)

$5.06

Adventures of Robin Hood

Reader's Digest World's Best Reading

by Paul Creswick

from Reader's Digest

for 6th-12th grade

in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)

$7.20 (1 in stock)

Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

Reader's Digest World's Best Reading

by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

from Reader's Digest

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 Tom Sawyer

Whole Story Series

by Mark Twain

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)

$4.25

Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Reader's Digest World's Best Reading

by Mark Twain

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)

$7.65

Adventures of Tom Sawyer

by Mark Twain, Samuel Clemens

from Grosset & Dunlap

for 4th-6th grade

in Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)

$4.00 (1 in stock)

Aeneid

by Virgil (translation by Robert Fitzgerald)

from Vintage Classics

Ancient Literature/Epic Poetry for 10th-Adult

in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)

$11.90 $6.40 (1 in stock)

Aeneid

Penguin Classics

by Virgil (translation by David West)

Reissue from Penguin Classics

for 9th-Adult

in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)

$13.60

Aeneid

Penguin Classics

by Virgil (translation by Sarah Ruden)

Reissue from Yale University Press

for 9th-Adult

in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)

Aeneid Of Virgil

by Virgil

from Bantam Books

for 10th-Adult

in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)

Aeschylus I: The Oresteia (old)

The Complete Greek Tragedies

by Aeschylus (translation by Richmond Lattimore)

from University of Chicago

Ancient Greek Tragedy for 10th-Adult

in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)

$6.00 (1 in stock)

Aeschylus II: The Oresteia

The Complete Greek Tragedies

by Aeschylus (translation by Richmond Lattimore)

3^rd edition from University of Chicago

Ancient Greek Tragedy for 10th-Adult

in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)

$10.20

Aeschylus' Oresteia

Penguin Classics

by Aeschylus (translation by Robert Fagles)

from Penguin Classics

Ancient Greek Tragedy for 10th-Adult

in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)

$11.05

Aeschylus' Oresteian Trilogy

Penguin Classics

by Aeschylus (translation by Phillip Vellacott)

from Penguin Classics

Ancient Greek Tragedy for 10th-Adult

in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)

$10.20

Aesop's Fables

by Aesop

from Signet Classics

Fairy Tales & Fables for 10th grade-adult

in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)

$5.06

Aesop's Fables

Puffin Classics

by Aesop

Reprint from Puffin Books

for Kindergarten-4th grade

in Myths, Fairy Tales & Folklore for Children (Location: FIC-MYT)

$5.94

Africa Letters

by Sarah Allen

2^nd edition

for Adult

in Clearance: Literature (Location: CLE-LIT)

$4.00 (1 in stock)

Age of Innocence

by Edith Wharton

from Charles Scribner's Sons

for 10th-Adult

1921 Pulitzer Prize winner

in Clearance: Literature (Location: CLE-LIT)

$4.00 (1 in stock)

Agnes Brown Trilogy

by Brendan O'Carroll

from Plume Books

for Adult

in Clearance: Literature (Location: CLE-LIT)

$5.00 (1 in stock)

Agnes Grey

Penguin Classics

by Anne Bronte

from Penguin Classics

Realistic Romantic Fiction for 10th-Adult

in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)

$10.20

Alchemist

by Paulo Coelho

from HarperCollins

for 10th-Adult

in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)

$14.44

Alexander of Macedon

Journey to World's End

International Collectors Library

by Harold Lamb

from International Collectors Library

for 4th-8th grade

in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)

Alfred the Great

Asser's Life of King Alfred and Other Contemporary Sources

by Asser

from Penguin Classics

Biography for 9th-Adult

in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)

$15.30

Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass

Illustrated Junior Library Series 2

by Lewis Carroll

from Grosset & Dunlap

for 5th-8th grade

in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)

Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass

Illustrated Junior Library Series 1

by Lewis Carroll

from Grosset & Dunlap

for 5th-8th grade

in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

and Through the Looking-Glass

Penguin Classics

by Lewis Carroll

from Penguin Classics

Fantasy for 5th-8th grade

in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)

$9.35

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass

by Lewis Carroll

from Modern Library

for 10th-Adult

in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)

$9.35

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass

by Lewis Carroll

from Barnes & Noble

for 7th-Adult

in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)

$2.40 (1 in stock)

All Creatures Great and Small

James Herriot Series Book 1

by James Herriot

from St. Martin's Press

Realistic Fiction for 7th-Adult

in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)

$14.44

All In the Family

International Collectors Library

by Edwin O'Connor

from International Collectors Library

for Adult

in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)

All Quiet on the Western Front

by Erich Maria Remarque

from Ballantine Books

War/Realistic Fiction for 10th-Adult

in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)

$6.79

Shop

Support

Hours & Directions

Connect