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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	Adventures of Tom Sawyer Dover Thrift Editions by Mark Twain from Dover Publications for 6th-10th grade in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $5.00
	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) $10.00
	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) $11.00
	Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll from Bantam Books for 8th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Ben-Hur A Tale of the Christ Signet Classics by Lew Wallace from Signet Classics Historical Fiction for 7th-10th grade in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $9.95
	Black Arrow Dover Evergreen Classics by Robert Louis Stevenson from Dover Publications Historical Fiction for 7th-10th grade in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV) $5.00 (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
	Call of the Wild Dover Thrift Editions by Jack London from Dover Publications Action/Adventure for 7th-10th grade in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20) $3.00 $2.00 (1 in stock)
	Captain Blood Penguin Classics by Rafael Sabatini from Penguin Classics Historical Romance for 7th-Adult in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20) $16.00
	Emma Penguin Classics by Jane Austen from Penguin Classics Romantic Realistic Fiction for 8th-12th grade in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $9.00
	Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card from Tor Classic Science Fiction for 7th-Adult in Science Fiction (Location: FIC-SCI) $10.99
	Farewell Summer by Ray Bradbury 1^st edition from William Morrow & Company for 7th-12th grade in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20) $7.99
	Frankenstein Dover Thrift Editions by Mary Shelley from Dover Publications for 7th-10th grade in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $6.00
	Great Expectations (abridged) Puffin Classics by Charles Dickens from Puffin Books Realistic Fiction for 7th-10th grade in Puffin Classics (Location: FIC-PUF) $7.99
	I, Robot by Isaac Asimov from Bantam Books Science Fiction for 7th-Adult in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20) $9.99
	Invisible Man by H. G. Wells, with an introduction by W. Warren Wagar and an afterword by Scott Westerfeld from Signet Classics Science Fiction for 7th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $3.00 (2 in stock)
	Mansfield Park Penguin Classics by Jane Austen from Penguin Classics Romantic Realistic Fiction for 8th-12th grade in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $9.00
	Middlemarch OSI by George Eliot from Signet Classics Realistic Fiction for 8th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Northanger Abbey Penguin Classics by Jane Austen from Penguin Classics Romantic Realistic Fiction for 8th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $8.00
	Once and Future King by T. H. White from ACE Publishing for 7th-Adult in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
	Once and Future King / Book of Merlyn by T. H. White from ACE Publishing for 7th-Adult in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
	Persuasion Penguin Classics by Jane Austen from Penguin Classics Realistic Romantic Fiction for 8th-12th grade in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $7.00
	Pride and Prejudice Penguin Classics by Jane Austen from Penguin Classics Realistic Romantic Fiction for 8th-12th grade in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $9.00
	Prince and the Pauper Signet Classics by Mark Twain from Signet Classics Historical Fiction for 8th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $6.95
	Pudd'nhead Wilson Signet Classics by Mark Twain from Signet Classics Mystery for 8th-10th grade in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $4.95
	Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane from Bantam Books Historical Fiction for 7th-10th grade in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $4.95
	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
	Scarlet Pimpernel Signet Classics by Baroness Orczy from Signet Classics Action/Adventure for 8th-Adult in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20) $6.95
	Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy from Bantam Books Action/Adventure for 8th-Adult in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20) $5.95
	Shane by Jack Schaefer from Harcourt for 7th-Adult in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20) $8.99
	Silas Marner Signet Classics by George Eliot from Signet Classics Realistic Fiction for 8th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $4.95
	Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Signet Classics by Robert Louis Stevenson from Signet Classics Mystery/Suspense for 8th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $6.95
	Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Tales of Terror by Robert Louis Stevenson, introduction by Robert Mighall Revised from Penguin Classics Mystery/Suspense for 8th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $9.00
	Study in Scarlet & The Sign of Four Dover Thrift Editions by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle from Dover Publications Mystery for 8th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $7.00 $4.00 (1 in stock)
	Tale of Two Cities Dover Thrift Editions by Charles Dickens from Dover Publications Victorian Novel for 8th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $7.00 $4.00 (1 in stock)
	Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens from Ignatius Press for 8th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Thirty-Nine Steps Dover Thrift Editions by John Buchan from Dover Publications Action Adventure for 8th-Adult in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20) $3.00
	Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan from Penguin Classics Action Adventure for 8th-Adult in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20) $14.00
	Time Machine by H. G. Wells from Dover Publications for 7th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $2.00 (1 in stock)
	Treasure Island by Sir Robert Louis Stevenson from Bantam Books for 6th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $5.99
	Treasure Island by Sir Robert Louis Stevenson from Signet Classics for 6th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $3.00 (4 in stock)
	Yearling by Marjorie Rawlings from Simon Pulse Realistic Animal Stories for 6th-Adult in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20) $9.99

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