Places Summaries

First published: 1880 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Historical Time of work: Time of Christ Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Roman Empire *Roman Ben-HurEmpire. The broad context of the novel is the Roman Empire during the Golden Age of the Julio-Claudian emperors, who ruled from 27 b.c.e. to 68 c.e. […]

First published: 1987 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Psychological realism Time of work: Late nineteenth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Ohio River *Ohio BelovedRiver. River separating the slave and free states that Sethe crosses while fleeing from Kentucky to Ohio. She gives birth to Beloved as she crosses the […]

First published: 1980 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Gothic Time of work: Mid-sixteenth to late twentieth centuries Places Discussed Bellefleur Manor Bellefleur BellefleurManor. Ancestral home of the Bellefleurs, a large American clan whose roots go back to the American Revolution. The family mansion sits on the shores of mythic Lake Noir near the […]

First published: 1963 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Psychological realism Time of work: 1953 Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *New York City *New Bell Jar, TheYork City. Approximately the first third of The Bell Jar is set in the urbane, cosmopolitan environs of Manhattan, where Esther Greenwood–a young, ambitious college […]

First published: 1944 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Social realism Time of work: 1943 Places Discussed Adano Adano Bell for Adano, A (AH-dah-no). Fictional town on the southern coast of Sicily, based on the island’s real town of Licata, which was one of the initial landing points of the Allied Occupation of Italy […]

First published: 1801 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Social realism Time of work: Late eighteenth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *London *London. BelindaThe major metropolitan area and capital city of Great Britain, London is also the fall and winter meeting place for the nobility and aristocracy of England’s countryside–people […]

First published: 1885 (English translation, 1889) Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Naturalism Time of work: c. 1885 Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Paris *Paris. Bel-AmiCapital of France and the social, political, and cultural center of French life. Georges Duroy’s rise (and there are passages where he literally climbs stairways to […]

First published: 1728 First produced: 1728 Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Social satire Time of work: Early eighteenth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *London *London. Beggar’s Opera, TheScenes in London places such as Newgate Prison expose hypocrisy and corruption in the justice system and further heighten the invective against […]

First published: Becket: Ou, L’Honneur de Dieu, 1959 (English translation, 1960) First produced: 1959, at the Théâtre Montparnasse-Gaston Baty, Paris Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Historical Time of work: Twelfth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Canterbury Cathedral *Canterbury BecketCathedral. Medieval cathedral located in Canterbury, a city southeast of London. […]

First published: Klop, 1929 (English translation, 1931) First produced: 1929, at the Meyerhold Theater, Moscow Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Satire Time of work: 1929 and 1979 Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Tambov (1929) *Tambov Bedbug, The (1929). Russian city located about 260 miles southeast of Moscow that provides the […]

First published: 1707 First produced: 1707 Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Comedy of manners Time of work: Early eighteenth century Places Discussed Litchfield Inn Litchfield Beaux’ Stratagem, TheInn. Way station for travelers coming and going from London to the country that is utterly corrupt. At the inn highwaymen plot to commit crimes with […]

First published: La bahía de silencio, 1940 (English translation, 1944) Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Existentialism Time of work: 1926-1939 Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Buenos Aires *Buenos Bay of Silence, TheAires. Capital of Argentina and the primary setting of the novel. Argentina’s only major urban center, Buenos Aires is […]

First published: Batouala, véritable roman nègre, 1921; definitive edition, 1938 (English translation, 1922; definitive edition, 1972) Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Social realism Time of work: 1917 Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Grimari *Grimari Batouala (gree-MAH-ree). Village in the southern part of French Equatorial Africa’s Ubangi-Shari colony (which is now […]

First published: 1631 First produced: 1614 Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Satire Time of work: Early seventeenth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Bartholomew Fair *Bartholomew Bartholomew FairFair (BART-le-mee). London’s raucous Bartholomew Fair, held at Smithfields from 1120 onward. The original site was the area where animals were slaughtered and […]

First published: serial, 1844; book, 1852 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Picaresque Time of work: Mid-to late eighteenth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Barryville Barryville. Barry LyndonIrish town that is the birthplace and early home of the braggart and bully Redmond Barry–later to become Barry Lyndon. The novel opens […]

First published: 1971 Type of work: Autobiography Type of plot: Historical Time of work: 1910-1920 Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Jalcocotán *Jalcocotán Barrio Boy (hal-ko-ko-TAN). Small mountain village in central Mexico. Referred to as Jalco, this isolated and seemingly inaccessible pueblo provides the idyllic, almost edenic, setting for young Ernesto. In this […]

First published: 1925 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Social realism Time of work: Late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Pedlar’s Mill Pedlar’s Barren GroundMill. Fictional Virginia community located in fictional Queen Elizabeth County. Pedlar’s Mill is a rural, farming community whose inhabitants are embattled by […]

First published: 1785 (serial form for the bulk of the first edition, Vademecum für Lustige Leute, 1781 and 1783) Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Picaresque Time of work: Eighteenth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Moon *Moon. Baron Münchausen’s Narrative of His Marvellous Travels and Campaigns in RussiaThe baron twice […]

First published: 1841 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Historical Time of work: 1775-1780 Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Maypole Inn Maypole Barnaby RudgeInn. Old building near the real English village of Chigwell, twelve miles northeast of London. It is believed to be based on an actual Chigwell inn, the King’s […]

First published: 1857 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Social satire Time of work: Mid-nineteenth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Barsetshire Barsetshire. Barchester TowersFictional English county based, according to Trollope, on Somerset. A peaceful rural environment where families have lived for generations, Barsetshire is emblematic of traditional English values: respect […]

First published: Le Barbier de Séville: Ou, La Précaution inutile, 1775 (English translation, 1776) First produced: 1775 Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Comedy Time of work: Eighteenth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Seville *Seville. Barber of Seville, TheThough a real Spanish city, Seville is never portrayed as a real […]

First published: 1950 (English translation, 1951) Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Moral Time of work: First century c.e. Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Jerusalem *Jerusalem. BarabbasLeading city of Judaea and its environs, during the tenure of Pontius Pilate as prefect of Judaea in the first century c.e., that is the […]

First published: Bambi: Eine Lebensgeschichte aus dem Walde, 1922, serial; 1923, book (English translation, 1928) Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Fable Time of work: Indeterminate Places Discussed Forest Forest. BambiThe location of this story is not specified but appears to have been inspired by woods that Salten saw during a vacation in Europe’s […]

First published: La Cantatrice chauve, 1954 (English translation, 1956) First produced: 1950, at the Théâtre des Noctambules, Paris Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Absurdist Time of work: Mid-twentieth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *London *London. Bald Soprano, TheGreat Britain’s capital city, in a suburb of which Mrs. Smith and […]

First published: Badenheim, ‘ir nofesh, 1975 (English translation, 1980) Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Parable Time of work: 1939 Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Badenheim Badenheim Badenheim 1939 (BAH-dehn-him). Fictitious Austrian resort town based on real Austrian resorts that Aharon Appelfeld and his family visited during the late 1930’s. The […]

First published: 1921 First produced: 1922 Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Fantasy Time of work: From the beginning of time to 31,920 c.e. Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Garden of Eden Garden Back to Methuselahof Eden. Playground of the biblical Adam and Eve, whose petty quarrels are interrupted by a […]

First published: 1960 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Social satire Time of work: Mid-twentieth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *London *London. Bachelors, TheGreat Britain’s capital city and largest metropolis. Muriel Spark’s characters do not inhabit the showplace London of St. Paul’s Cathedral and Buckingham Palace. Instead, she sets her […]

First produced: Bakchai, c. 405 b.c.e. (English translation, 1781) Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Tragedy Time of work: Antiquity Places Discussed Pentheus’s palace Pentheus’s Bacchae, Thepalace. Home of the Theban ruler Pentheus, Dionysus’s cousin, in front of which the action of Euripides’ play takes place. The palace represents the social structure of Thebes […]

First published: 1922 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Social satire Time of work: 1920’s Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Zenith Zenith. BabbittMidwestern city that Lewis made a principal setting in this novel, as well as in Elmer Gantry (1927) and Dodsworth (1929). The opening sentences of Babbitt celebrate the material […]

First published: 1899 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Social realism Time of work: 1890’s Places Discussed Mrs. Brookenham’s drawing room Mrs. Awkward Age, TheBrookenham’s drawing room. Central meeting place in the home of the Brookenhams’ home at Buckingham Crescent in London. It is not the room itself but what happens in it that […]

First published: 1899 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Psychological realism Time of work: Late nineteenth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Grand Isle *Grand Awakening, TheIsle. Island resort in the Gulf of Mexico about fifty miles south of New Orleans, Louisiana, where Léonce Pontellier’s family stays in a summer cottage. […]

First published: 1971 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Historical realism Time of work: Mid-1860’s to early 1960’s Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Bryant plantation Bryant Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, Theplantation. Louisiana farm on which Jane Pittman is born into slavery with the name Ticey. There she spends the first […]

First published: 1912 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Psychological realism Time of work: Early twentieth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Connecticut *Connecticut. Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man, TheNew England state to which the unnamed Georgia-born narrator moves as a small child. There he is reared by his mulatto mother […]

First published: 1933 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Historical realism Time of work: 1903-1932 Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Paris *Paris. Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, TheFrance’s capital city, in which Gertrude Stein spent much of her adult life, including years of it lived with her companion Alice B. Toklas. […]

First published: 1856 Type of work: Poetry and novel (verse novel) Type of plot: Künstlerroman Time of work: Mid-nineteenth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Italy *Italy. Aurora LeighCountry in which Aurora Leigh begins her life. She is born in Florence–a major Italian cultural center–to a Florentine mother and an English father. […]

First published: Avgust chetyrnadtsatogo, 1971; expanded version, 1983 (English translation, 1972; expanded English translation, 1989, as The Red Wheel) Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Historical realism Time of work: Early twentieth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Tannenberg *Tannenberg. August 1914Village in East Prussia that gave its name to the […]

First published: Aucassin et Nicolette, early thirteenth century (English translation, 1880) Type of work: Fiction Type of plot: Romance Time of work: Twelfth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Provence *Provence. Aucassin and NicoletteRegion of southeastern France composed of fiefdoms controlled by various noblemen. At the time of this tale, Provence was […]

First published: 1865 Type of work: Poetry Type of plot: Tragedy Time of work: Antiquity Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Greece *Greece. Atalanta in CalydonAncient Mediterranean land in which the poem is set. Greece is famous for its gods, myths, and philosophy that individual destinies are controlled by fate. By employing the […]

First published: 1801 (English translation, 1802) Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Philosophical realism Time of work: Early eighteenth century Places Discussed New York State New AtalaYork State. When François-René de Chateaubriand visited the United States in 1791, he saw only parts of New York and the New England states. Nevertheless, he impressed his […]

First published: 1957 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Social realism Time of work: 1930’s Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Grocery store Grocery Assistant, Thestore. Morris Bober’s family store in Manhattan. As an economic and social barrier, the store resembles a bit of European ghetto transported to New York, though it […]

First published: 1888 Type of work: Novella Type of plot: Psychological realism Time of work: Late nineteenth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Juliana’s palace Juliana’s Aspern Papers, Thepalace. Venetian home of the American expatriate Juliana Bordereau. Arriving at this home by gondola via one of Venice’s hundreds of canals, the unnamed […]

First published: 1623 First produced: c. 1599-1600 Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Comedy Time of work: Middle Ages Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Arden Forest *Arden As You Like ItForest. Arden, William Shakespeare’s mother’s maiden name, is also an actual forest north of Stratford. Shakespeare’s forest owes more to associations […]

First published: 1930 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Psychological realism Time of work: Early twentieth century Places Discussed Bundren house Bundren As I Lay Dyinghouse. Home of Addie and Anse Bundren, located in Yoknapatawpha County on a ridge far removed from a secondary gravel road and nearly inaccessible. The house is a fortress […]

First published: Delo Artamonovykh, 1925 (English translation, 1927) Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Family Time of work: c. 1863-1917 Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Dromov Dromov Artamonov Business, The (droh-MOV). Russian town in which the Artamonov family establishes its business. Located on the Oka River in central Russia, not far […]

First published: 1925 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Social realism Time of work: Early twentieth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Winnemac Winnemac. ArrowsmithImaginary midwestern state–bordered by Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana–in which many of Lewis’s novels are set. Martin spends his boyhood in the small Winnemac town of Elk […]

First published: 1898, in Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant First produced: 1984, at the Avenue Theatre, London Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Comedy Time of work: 1885-1886 Places Discussed Bedroom Bedroom. Arms and the ManBedroom of twenty-three-year-old Raina Petkoff, a member of an upper-class Bulgarian family, in which the play opens with Raina’s mother […]

First published: 1968 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: New journalism Time of work: October, 1967 Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Pentagon *Pentagon. Armies of the Night, TheMammoth government building located across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., that houses the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense. Norman Mailer refers […]

First published: 1590; revised, 1593 as The Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia; revised, 1598 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Pastoral Time of work: Antiquity Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Arcadia Arcadia. ArcadiaArcadia is a real place in southern Greece’s mountainous Peloponnese region; however, its name has been used conventionally for idyllic […]

First published: 1934 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Naturalism Time of work: 1930 Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Gibbsville Gibbsville. Appointment in SamarraPennsylvania town that John O’Hara invented for this novel and to which he repeatedly returned in his later books. Here, the central character is hard-drinking car dealer Julian […]

First published: 1943 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Historical Time of work: First century c.e. Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Roman Empire *Roman Apostle, TheEmpire. Caesar’s dominion, stretching from the River Thames in Britain to the Tiber in Italy to the Tigris in the Middle East, is the essential setting […]

First published: 1623 First produced: c. 1606-1607 Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Tragedy Time of work: c. 30 b.c.e. Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Egypt *Egypt. Antony and CleopatraLocated on the outskirts of the vast Roman Empire, the Egypt of 30 b.c.e. is portrayed as an exotic land of mystery, […]

First published: 1816 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Fiction of manners Time of work: Late eighteenth century Places Discussed Fairport Fairport. Antiquary, TheFictional town on the eastern coast of Scotland that forms the novel’s central setting. Fairport is based on the real Scottish coastal town of Arbroath. Like its original, Fairport is a […]

First produced: Antigonē, 441 b.c.e. (English translation, 1581) Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Tragedy Time of work: Antiquity Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Thebes *Thebes Antigone (theebz). Ancient Greek city located in Boeotia, a district northwest of Athens, Thebes was famous in the ancient world for its tragic royal family […]

First published: 1946, in Nouvelles Pieces noires (English translation, 1946) First produced: 1944, at the Théâtre l’Atelier, Paris Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Tragedy Time of work: Antiquity Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Thebes *Thebes Antigone (theebz). Ancient Greek city northwest of Athens that provides the nominal setting of this […]

First published: 1962 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Social realism Time of work: Mid-twentieth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *New York City *New Another CountryYork City. Great northern city in whose borough of Manhattan most of the novel’s action unfolds. New York plays a determining role in the lives […]

First published: 1902 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Domestic realism Time of work: Late nineteenth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Five Towns Five Anna of the Five TownsTowns. Chief setting of the novel, modeled closely on the Potteries, the pottery-manufacturing area of central England where Bennett grew up. Much […]

First published: 1875-1877 (English translation, 1886) Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Social realism Time of work: Nineteenth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Moscow *Moscow. Anna KareninaTraditional capital and largest city of Russia, in which the novel opens in the prosperous, comfortable home of Stepan Arkadievich Oblonsky, Anna’s brother. The […]

First published: 1923 First produced: 1921 Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Social realism Time of work: Early twentieth century Places Discussed North Atlantic seacoast North Anna ChristieAtlantic seacoast. Eugene O’Neill’s depiction of the seacoast is based on his own youthful experience as a seaman during a time when he had dropped out of […]

First published: 1945 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Satire Time of work: Mid-twentieth century Places Discussed Manor Farm Manor Animal FarmFarm. English farm at which the entire novel is set. When the novel opens, it is called Manor Farm and is run by a farmer named Jones. These names indicate that this farm […]

First published: 1971 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Historical realism Time of work: 1860-1970 Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Zodiac Cottage Zodiac Angle of ReposeCottage. Last home of Oliver Ward, the grandfather of Lyman Ward, a retired history professor who is constructing a narrative of his grandparents’ lives from documents […]

First published: Part 1, Millennium Approaches, 1992; part 2, Perestroika, 1994 First produced: Part 1, Millennium Approaches, 1991; part 2, Perestroika, 1992 Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Political Time of work: Mid-1985 to 1990 Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *New York City *New Angels in AmericaYork City. This play uses […]

First produced: 1667 Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Tragedy Time of work: Shortly after the ancient Trojan War Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Epirus *Epirus Andromache (ih-PAR-rahs). Region along the northwestern Greece coast and what is now southern Albania. In ancient times Epirus was a Greek kingdom whose most famous […]

First produced: Andromachē, 426 b.c.e. (English translation, 1782) Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Tragedy Time of work: Shortly after the Trojan War Places Discussed Temple of Thetis Temple Andromacheof Thetis. Temple in Thessaly, the central region of ancient Greece, near Phthia, the home of Neoptolemus, the goddess Thetis’s grandson and son of Achilles, […]

First published: Tikhii Don, 1928-1940 (partial English translations, 1934 as And Quiet Flows the Don; 1940 as The Don Flows Home to the Sea; complete English translations, 1942 as The Silent Don; 1967 as And Quiet Flows the Don) Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Historical realism Time of work: 1913-1918 Asterisk denotes entries […]

First published: 1877 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Psychological realism Time of work: Mid-nineteenth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Europe *Europe. American, TheEurope represents culture and sophistication, but also mystery and corruption. Christopher Newman (the “American” of the title), a self-made American millionaire educated in the school of hard […]

First published: 1925 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Naturalism Time of work: 1897-1908 Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Kansas City *Kansas American Tragedy, AnCity. Northwestern Missouri city in which the novel opens when the fictional Clyde Griffiths at the age of twelve years is living an uneasy life there with […]

First published: 1751 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Domestic realism Time of work: c. 1733 Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Newgate Prison *Newgate AmeliaPrison. Notorious London prison in which the narrative begins after Captain William Booth is arrested for beating a watchman when he is, in fact, saving a stranger […]

First published: 1903 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Psychological realism Time of work: c. 1900 Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *England *England. Ambassadors, TheThe book opens at Chester, England, where Strether–Mrs. Newsome’s “ambassador”–arriving from Liverpool to meet his friend Waymarsh, has a first encounter with Maria Gostrey, who will become […]

First published: Amadís de Gaula, 1508 (English translation, 1619) Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Chivalric romance Time of work: Dark Ages, before the time of King Arthur Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Great Britain *Great Amadís of GaulBritain. Island comprising England, Scotland, and Wales, where the knight Amadís spends his […]

First published: 1850 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Social realism Time of work: 1840’s Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *London *London. Alton LockeThe novel’s London is a place of two nations: the powerful and the dispossessed, signed by the terms “West End” and “East End” respectively. The West End comprises […]

First published: 1895 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Social realism Time of work: Late nineteenth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Pantai River Pantai Almayer’s FollyRiver (pan-TI). Fictional river in the Dutch East Indies to which the novel’s subtitle alludes (“A Story of an Eastern River”). Conrad modeled the Pantai […]

First published: 1623 First produced: c. 1602-1603 Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Comedy Time of work: Sixteenth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Rousillon *Rousillon All’s Well That Ends Well (rew-see-YOHN). Region in southern France in which the play opens. The palace of Bertram, the count of Rousillon, is a […]

First published: 1946 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Social realism Time of work: Late 1920’s and early 1930’s Places Discussed Southern state Southern All the King’s Menstate. Unnamed state in the Deep South that appears to be modeled on Louisiana, whose governor Huey P. Long had a political career during the 1930’s closely […]

First published: 1957 First produced: 1957, BBC Third Programme, London Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Absurdist Time of work: Twentieth century Places Discussed Village Village. All That FallUnnamed rural community in Ireland that serves as the peripheral setting of the play and establishes the foundation of its humor and tragedy. While Samuel Beckett’s […]

First published: 1947 First produced: 1947, at the Coronet Theatre, New York City Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Psychological realism Time of work: Mid-twentieth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Keller’s backyard Keller’s All My Sonsbackyard. This setting represents a family having achieved the American Dream, but the dream is […]

First published: Im Westen nichts Neues serial, 1928; book, 1929 (English translation, 1929) Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Political Time of work: World War I Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Western front *Western All Quiet on the Western Frontfront. Theater of World War I in which German forces faced the […]

First published: 1945 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Allegory Time of work: October, 1945 Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Westminster Bridge *Westminster All Hallows’ EveBridge. Bridge over the River Thames near London’s Westminster Abbey and Houses of Parliament, where the novel opens with Lester Furnival standing by the bridge and […]

First transcribed: Shuihu zhuan, earlist version, c. thirteenth century; fuller text versions by sixteenth century (English translation, 1933; also translated as Water Margin) Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Adventure Time of work: Thirteenth century or earlier Places Discussed Mountain lair Mountain All Men Are Brotherslair. Hideout in the most remote mountains of Shandong […]

First published: 1678 First produced: 1677 Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Tragedy Time of work: First century b.c.e. Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Alexandria *Alexandria. All for LoveEgyptian port city in whose Temple of Isis all the play’s action is set. The temple is more like a palace or government […]

First published: 1960 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Bildungsroman Time of work: Late 1950’s Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Williams family home Williams All Fall Downfamily home. Located in Cleveland, Ohio, the family home, in its moods and changing states of cohesion, reflects the periods of alienation, dislocation, and close […]

First published: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass: And What Alice Found There (1871 but dated 1872) Type of work: Short fiction Type of plot: Fantasy Time of work: Victorian era Places Discussed River bank River Alice’s Adventures in Wonderlandbank. The story opens on the bank of a river. The location is […]

First published: 1962 (includes Justine, 1957; Balthazar, 1958; Mountolive, 1958; Clea, 1960) Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Psychological realism Time of work: Before and during World War II Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Alexandria *Alexandria. Alexandria Quartet, TheEgyptian port city whose position, on the Nile Delta, has made it one […]

First published: 1934 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Social realism Time of work: Late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Virginia *Virginia. Aleck Maury, SportsmanSouthern state in which Aleck spends his early years. His first memories are of the woods and pastures he sees from his […]

First transcribed: Alkēstis, 438 b.c.e. (English translation, 1781) Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Tragicomedy Time of work: Antiquity Places Discussed Admetus’s palace Admetus’s Alcestispalace. Pherae, Thessaly, Greece. All of the action of the play takes place in front of this palace. The house itself connects Admetus with the other characters in the play. […]

First transcribed: Aias, early 440’s b.c.e. (English translation, 1729) Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Tragedy Time of work: Trojan War Places Discussed Greek camp Greek Ajaxcamp. Encampment of the Greek army outside the walled city of Troy where the play opens in front of the Greek hero Ajax’s hut. His position is dangerously […]

First published: 1847 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Domestic realism Time of work: Mid-nineteenth century Places Discussed Parsonage Parsonage. Agnes GreyFamily home in an unnamed village in the north of England, that is provided to Agnes’s father because he is the parish priest. It is portrayed as modest but well-furnished and comfortable. The […]

First published: 1920 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Social realism Time of work: Late nineteenth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *New York City *New Age of Innocence, TheYork City. The novel’s city is the “Old New York” of the second half of the nineteenth century, comprising affluent old families […]

First published: À rebours, 1884 (English translation, 1922) Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Character study Time of work: Late nineteenth century Places Discussed Fontenay-aux-Roses Fontenay-aux-Roses Against the Grain (fahn-teh-NAY-oh-rohz). French town in which Des Esseintes takes up residence. The suburban house he selects seems at first to be a sensible compromise between the […]

First published: Les Précieuses ridicules, 1660 (English translation, 1732) First produced: 1659 Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Comedy of manners Time of work: Seventeenth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Paris *Paris. Affected Young Ladies, TheCapital of France and fashion capital of Western Europe. To pinpoint the place represented in […]

First transcribed: Aesopea, fourth century b.c.e. (English translation, 1484) Type of work: Short fiction Type of plot: Fable Time of work: Antiquity Places Discussed Earthly settings Earthly Aesop’s Fablessettings. Tales in Aesop’s Fables rely on diverse settings to frame the ethical conflicts that lead to the point of each fable–a moral lesson illustrated by the […]

First transcribed: c. 29-19 b.c.e. (English translation, 1553) Type of work: Poetry Type of plot: Epic Time of work: After the Trojan War Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Troy *Troy. AeneidSite of the Trojan War, located in Turkey, in northwestern Asia Minor. Homer sets the Iliad (c. 800 b.c.e.; English translation, 1616), […]

First published: 1876; illustrated Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Adventure Time of work: Early to mid-nineteenth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed St. Petersburg St. Adventures of Tom Sawyer, ThePetersburg. Fictional Missouri village on the west bank of the Mississippi River in and around which the entire novel is set. […]

First published: 1748 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Picaresque Time of work: Eighteenth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Scotland *Scotland. Adventures of Roderick Random, TheRoderick’s Scottish home is sketchily described, but, as his grandfather is a landowner, the house and estate must be somewhat grand and extensive. After Roderick […]

First published: The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, in Which Are Included Memories of a Lady of Quality, 1751 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Picaresque Time of work: Early eighteenth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *England *England. Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, ThePeregrine’s home and the scene of many of his […]

First published: 1884 (1885; United States); revised new edition, 2001 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Social satire Time of work: Early to mid-nineteenth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Mississippi River *Mississippi Adventures of Huckleberry FinnRiver. The novel’s primary backdrop, the Lower Mississippi is the motive force that drives both […]

First published: 1953 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Picaresque Time of work: 1920-1950 Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Chicago *Chicago. Adventures of Augie March, TheGrowing midwestern metropolis whose diversity and harshness in the post-Depression era create opportunities and conflicts at every corner. The novel alludes to the city’s ethnic diversity […]

First published: 1816 (English translation, 1816) Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Psychological realism Time of work: Late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Cerenza *Cerenza. AdolpheVillage on the River Neto, near the larger town of Cosenza, in southern Italy. Although the novel situates Cerenza in the […]

First published: 1914 First produced: 1902 Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Satire Time of work: Early twentieth century Places Discussed Loam House Loam Admirable Crichton, TheHouse. Home of the earl of Loam in London’s Mayfair district–one of the most expensive districts of London, where the cream of the English aristocracy maintained their town […]

First published: 1859 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Domestic realism Time of work: 1799 Places Discussed Hayslope in the county of Loamshire Hayslope Adam Bedein the county of Loamshire Midlands village in a fictional county of where Adam Bede, a skilled carpenter, works for Jonathan Burge. Scenes alternate between the indoors (the workshop, […]

First published: 425 b.c.e. First produced: Acharēs, 425 b.c.e. (English translation, 1812) Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Satire Time of work: 431-404 b.c.e. Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Athens *Athens. Acharnians, TheGreek democratic city-state at the height of its power when Aristophanes wrote in the late fifth century b.c.e. and […]