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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18th Century Literature,

9th grade (Ages 14-15)

	Anti-Federalist Papers and the Constitutional Convention Debates Signet Classics by Patrick Henry & John DeWitt from Signet Classics American Political Philosophy for 9th-Adult in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18) $8.95
	Anti-Federalist Papers and the Constitutional Convention Debates Dover Thrift Editions by Patrick Henry & John DeWitt from Dover Publications American Political Philosophy for 9th-Adult in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18) $9.00
	Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin Dover Thrift Editions by Benjamin Franklin from Dover Publications for 9th-Adult in Biographies (Location: BIO) $6.00
	Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin World's Greatest Literature by Benjamin Franklin from Spencer Press for 9th-Adult in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
	Benjamin Franklin: The Autobiography and Other Writings Signet Classics by Benjamin Franklin Reprint from Signet Classics Autobiography for 9th-Adult in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18) $5.95
	Boswell's London Journal 1762-1763 by Frederick A. Pottle 1^st edition from McGraw-Hill for 9th-Adult in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC) $10.00 (1 in stock)
	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)
	Constitution of the United States of America by Founding Fathers from Applewood Books Primary Source Documents for 9th-Adult in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18) $9.95
	Constitution of the United States of America with the Declaration of Independence by Founding Fathers from Fall River Press Primary Source Documents 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
	Federalist Papers Signet Classics by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison & John Jay from Racehorse American Political Philosophy for 9th-Adult in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
	Great American Short Stories by Wallace & Mary Stegner, editors from Dell Publishing Realistic Fiction for 9th-12th grade in Short Stories (Location: LIT-ANTH) $8.99
	Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift from Oxford University Satire/Social Commentary for 9th-Adult in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18) $7.95
	Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift from Dover Publications for 7th-Adult in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18) $6.00 $4.00 (2 in stock)
	Gulliver's Travels Calla Editions by Jonathan Swift, illustrated by Arthur Rackham from Dover Publications for 8th-12th grade in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
	Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, illustrated by Arthur Rackham from Gramercy Books for 8th-12th grade in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
	Gulliver's Travels Penguin Classics by Jonathan Swift from Penguin Classics Satire/Social Commentary for 9th-Adult in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
	Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, illustrated by R. M. Powers from World Publishing Company for 7th-10th grade in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
	Gulliver's Travels (Adapted) by Jonathan Swift, adapted by Sarel Eimerl and illustrated by Maraja from Golden Press for 7th-10th grade in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
	Jonathan Edwards' Resolutions And Advice to Young Converts by Jonathan Edwards from P&R Publishing for 9th-Adult in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18) $4.99
	Major Works of William Wordsworth by William Wordsworth from Oxford University for 9th-Adult in Poetry (Location: POET-GEN) $18.95
	Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe from Oxford University for 9th-Adult in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18) $13.95
	On the Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau from Dover Publications Philosophy for 9th-Adult in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18) $6.00
	Poor Richard's Almanack by Benjamin Franklin from Peter Pauper Press for 7th-Adult in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18) $10.95 $7.00 (1 in stock)
	Poor Richard's Almanack by Benjamin Franklin from Hallmark Publications for 7th-Adult in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
	Poor Richard's Almanacks International Collector's Library by Benjamin Franklin from International Collectors Library for 9th-Adult in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
	Robinson Crusoe Signet Classics by Daniel Defoe from Signet Classics Realistic Adventure Novel for 8th-Adult in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18) $5.95 $3.50 (1 in stock)
	Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe from Oxford University for 8th-12th grade in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18) $7.95
	Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe from Dover Publications for 8th-Adult in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18) $11.00
	Robinson Crusoe Sterling Classics by Daniel Defoe, illustrated by Scott McKowen from Sterling Publishing Co. for 10th-Adult in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
	Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe from Doubleday & Company for 9th-Adult in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
	Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, with an introduction by Virginia Woolf Reissue from Modern Library for 8th-12th grade in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18) $10.00
	Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, illustrated by Edward A. Wilson from Heritage Press for 8th-12th grade in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC) $16.00 (1 in stock)
	Robinson Crusoe Classics Club by Daniel Defoe, with illustrations and maps from early editions from Walter J. Black, Inc. for 8th-12th grade in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
	Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God by Jonathan Edwards from P&R Publishing for 9th-Adult in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18) $3.99
	Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God by Jonathan Edwards from P&R Publishing for 9th-Adult in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18) $3.99 $2.00 (2 in stock)
	Tales from Shakespeare by Charles & Mary Lamb from Nelson Doubleday, Inc. for 7th-Adult in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
	Thelma English American Literature Book List from Dover Publications for 8th-12th grade in 17th Century Literature (Location: LIT4-17) $48.60

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