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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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Active Filters: 20th & 21st Century Literature
'Tis
by Frank McCourt
from Charles Scribner's Sons
Autobiographies & Memoirs for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
1984
Signet Classics
by George Orwell
from Signet Classics
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$9.99
1984
by George Orwell
from Harcourt
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.00
2001: A Space Odyssey
by Arthur C. Clarke
from ROC Science Fiction
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$8.99
21
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)
A.B.C. Murders
A Hercule Poirot Mystery #13
by Agatha Christie
from William Morrow & Company
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)
$17.99
Accordion Crimes
by E. Annie Proulx
from Charles Scribner's Sons
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Adventures of Menahem-Mendl
by Sholom Aleichem
from G.P. Putnam's Sons
for Adult
in Clearance: Literature (Location: ZCLE-LIT)
Adventures of Robin Hood
Reader's Digest World's Best Reading
by Paul Creswick, illustrated by N. C. Wyeth
1991 Edition from Reader's Digest
for 6th-12th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$8.00 (3 in stock)
African Queen
by C. S. Forester
from International Collectors Library
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
After the Funeral
A Hercule Poirot Mystery #29
by Agatha Christie
2011 Reissue from William Morrow & Company
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Age of Innocence
by Edith Wharton
from Charles Scribner's Sons
for 10th-Adult
1921 Pulitzer Prize winner
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
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
Aku-Aku
by Thor Heyerdahl
from Rand McNally
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Alchemist
by Paulo Coelho
from HarperCollins
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$16.99
Alchemist
by Paulo Coelho
from HarperCollins
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Alexander of Macedon
International Collectors Library
by Harold Lamb
from International Collectors Library
for 4th-8th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Alice Adams
by Booth Tarkington
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 9th-Adult
1922 Pulitzer Prize winner
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
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)
$18.00
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)
$8.99
All Quiet on the Western Front
by Erich Maria Remarque
Book Club (BCE/BOMC) from Ballantine Books
War/Realistic Fiction for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
All the King's Men
by Robert Penn Warren, edited and afterword by Noel Polk
from Mariner Books
for Adult
1947 Pulitzer Prize
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
All Things Bright and Beautiful
James Herriot Series Book 2
by James Herriot
from St. Martin's Press
Realistic Fiction for 7th-12th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$18.00
All Things Wise and Wonderful
James Herriot Series Book 3
by James Herriot
from St. Martin's Press
Realistic Fiction for 7th-Adult
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$17.99
Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
by Michael Chabon
from Picador
for Adult
2001 Pulitzer Prize winner
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
American Childhood
by Annie Dillard
from Harper & Row
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
And Then There Were None
by Agatha Christie
from HarperCollins
Murder Mystery for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
And Then There Were None
by Agatha Christie
75th Anniversary from HarperCollins
Murder Mystery for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.99
Animal Farm
Signet Classics
by George Orwell
from Signet Classics
Utopian/Dystopian Literature for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$9.99
Animal Farm
by George Orwell
from Plume Books
Utopian/Dystopian Literature for 6th-12th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$16.00
Anthem
by Ayn Rand
Expanded 50th Anniversary from Signet Classics
for 11th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Appointment with Death
A Hercule Poirot Mystery #19
by Agatha Christie
2011 Reissue from William Morrow & Company
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Appointment with Death
A Hercule Poirot Mystery #19
by Agatha Christie
1975 Printing from Dell Publishing
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Arrowsmith
International Collectors Library
by Sinclair Lewis
from International Collectors Library
for Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Asimov's Guide to Shakespeare
by Isaac Asimov
from Avenel Books
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
At Bertram's Hotel
A Miss Marple Mystery #10
by Agatha Christie
Reprint from William Morrow & Company
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
At Bertram's Hotel
A Miss Marple Mystery #10
by Agatha Christie
from Dodd, Mead & Co.
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Atlas Shrugged
by Ayn Rand
50th Anniversary Edition from Signet Classics
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$9.99
Atlas Shrugged
by Ayn Rand
Reprint from Plume Books
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Atlas Shrugged
by Ayn Rand
Centennial from Plume Books
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Atonement
by Ian McEwan
Reprint Edition from Anchor Books
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
August 1914
by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
for Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$12.00 (2 in stock)
Autobiography of G. K. Chesterton
by G. K. Chesterton
from Ignatius Press
Autobiography for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.95
Ball and the Cross
by G. K. Chesterton
from Dover Publications
Allegory for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$9.95
Band of Angels
by Robert Penn Warren
from Louisiana State University Press
for 11th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Beau Geste
by Percival Christopher Wren
from Reader's Digest
for 11th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Beejum Book
by Alice O. Howell
Revised
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Bell Jar
by Sylvia Plath
from Harper Perennial
for Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Beloved
by Toni Morrison
from Vintage Classics
for Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary
by Anonymous (translation by J. R. R. Tolkien)
from Houghton Mifflin
for 9th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$30.00
Best of Father Brown
by G. K. Chesterton
from Everyman's Library
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$9.95
Best of James Herriot
by James Herriot
from St. Martin's Press
for 10th-Adult
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$8.00 (2 in stock)
Best of James Herriot
by James Herriot
from St. Martin's Press
for 10th-Adult
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Best Short Stories of O. Henry
by O. Henry
from Modern Library
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$22.95 $14.00 (1 in stock)
Best-Loved Folktales of the World
by Joanna Cole
from Anchor Books
for 7th-12th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Big Four
A Hercule Poirot Mystery #5
by Agatha Christie
Reissue from William Morrow & Company
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Big Over Easy
by Jasper Fforde
from Penguin Putnam
for 11th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.00
Black Coffee
A Hercule Poirot Mystery #7
by Agatha Christie
Reissue from St. Martin's Press
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Black Like Me
by John Howard Griffin & Robert Bonazzi
35th anniversary from Signet Classics
for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$9.99 $6.00 (1 in stock)
Black Odyssey
by Mary Cable
from Penguin Classics
for 10th-Adult
in Slavery & the Underground Railroad (Location: HISA-19SL)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Blood Meridian
by Cormac McCarthy
1st edition from Vintage Classics
for 11th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.00
Blue at the Mizzen
Aubrey/Maturin #20
by Patrick O'Brian
from W. W. Norton and Co.
Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Blue Danube
by Ludwig Bemelmans
from Viking Press
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Blue Like Jazz
by Donald Miller
from Thomas Nelson Publishers
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$3.00 (3 in stock)
Blue Shoes and Happiness
No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency #7
by Alexander McCall Smith
Edition from Anchor Books
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
Body Artist
by Don DeLillo
1st edition from Charles Scribner's Sons
for Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Body in the Library
A Miss Marple Mystery #2
by Agatha Christie
2022 Reissue from William Morrow & Company
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.99
Bonfire of the Vanities
by Tom Wolfe
from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
for Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Book of the Dun Cow
by Walter Wangerin Jr.
from HarperCollins
for 8th grade-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$16.99
Born Free
by Joy Adamson
Anniversary from Pantheon Books
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Born Free
by Joy Adamson
Anniversary from Pantheon Books
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Bounty Trilogy
by Charles Nordhoff & James Norman Hall
from Little, Brown & Company
Nautical Fiction for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$53.52
Bounty Trilogy
by Charles Nordhoff & James Norman Hall
from Little, Brown & Company
Nautical Fiction for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Bounty Trilogy (School Edition)
by Charles Nordhoff & James Norman Hall
from Globe Book Company
Nautical Fiction for 7th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Bounty Trilogy - Wyeth Edition
by Charles Nordhoff & James Norman Hall, illustrated by N.C. Wyeth
from Little, Brown & Company
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Brave New World
by Aldous Huxley
from HarperCollins
Dystopian Literature for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$16.99
Brave New World
by Aldous Huxley
from Harper Perennial
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
Brave New World
by Aldous Huxley, illustrated by Mara McAfee
from Easton Press
Dystopian Literature for 10th-Adult
in Leather Bound Collectible Books (Location: VIN-LEA)
Brendan Voyage
Modern Library Exploration
by Tim Severin
from Modern Library
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Bridal Wreath
by Sigrid Undset
from Vintage Books
for Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Brideshead Revisited
by Evelyn Waugh
from Back Bay Books
for 11th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Bridge of San Luis Rey
by Thornton Wilder
from HarperCollins
for 9th-Adult
1928 Pulitzer Prize Winner
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$15.99
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
Bridge to the Sun
by Gwen Terasaki
from Rock Creek Books
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$15.99 $8.00 (1 in stock)
Bridge Too Far
by Cornelius Ryan
from Simon and Schuster
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Bridges of Madison County
by Robert James Waller
First. from Warner Books
for 11th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Busman's Honeymoon (11)
A Lord Peter Mystery, Book 11
by Dorothy L. Sayers
Reprint from HarperCollins
Murder Mystery for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.99
C. S. Lewis: The Academic Collection
by C. S. Lewis
for Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$140.69
C. S. Lewis: The Essay Collection
by C. S. Lewis
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
C. S. Lewis: The Personal Collection
by C. S. Lewis
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$91.94
C. S. Lewis: The Poetry & Fiction Collection
by C. S. Lewis
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$111.92
C. S. Lewis: The Signature Classics Audio Collection
by C. S. Lewis
from HarperAudio
for 10th-Adult
in Audio Books & Dramas (Location: CD-AUDIO)
$59.99
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
C. S. Lewis: The Ultimate Collection
by C. S. Lewis
for 3rd-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$613.84
Caine Mutiny
by Herman Wouk
from Back Bay Books
for 10th-Adult
1952 Pulitzer Prize Winner
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.99
Caine Mutiny
by Herman Wouk
from Doubleday & Company
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Caine Mutiny
International Collectors Library
by Herman Wouk
from International Collectors Library
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Caine Mutiny
by Herman Wouk, illustrated by John Thompson
from Reader's Digest
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
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