Places Summaries

First published: c. 45 b.c.e. or c. 395 c.e. First produced: Abhijnānaśākuntala, c. 45 b.c.e. or c. 395 c.e. (English translation, 1789) Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Love Time of work: Golden Age of India Places Discussed Sacred forest Sacred Śakuntalāforest. Site where King Dushyanta is hunting as the play opens and where […]

First published: Szent Péter Esernyöje, 1895 (English translation, 1900) Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Comic realism Time of work: Late nineteenth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Glogova Glogova St. Peter’s Umbrella (glog-AH-vah). Small Hungarian village (now part of Slovakia), between Selmecbánya and Besztercebánya, located in a narrow valley between […]

First published: 1924 First produced: 1923 Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Historical Time of work: Early fifteenth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Vaucouleurs castle *Vaucouleurs Saint Joancastle (voh-kew-lewr). Castle of Robert de Baudricourt in which the play opens. A historical place, the castle stands near the Meuse River, between […]

First published: Gogo no eikō, 1963 (English translation, 1965) Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Psychological realism Time of work: After World War II Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Yokohama *Yokohama. Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea, TheMajor Japanese seaport that represents the symbolic place where the land or […]

First transcribed: Grettis Saga, c. 1300 (English translation, 1869) Type of work: Folklore Type of plot: Adventure Time of work: Eleventh century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Iceland *Iceland. Saga of Grettir the Strong, TheNorthern Atlantic island nation, populated mainly by farmers and ruled by chieftains, that is Grettir’s homeland. Much of […]

First published: 1901 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Psychological realism Time of work: 1890’s Places Discussed Newmarch Newmarch. Sacred Fount, TheHouse in the English countryside, somewhere between London and Birmingham. Because of the “detective” angle to the story, Newmarch bears a faint resemblance to a remote Gothic estate. However, while the Gothic heroines […]

First published: Ruslan i Lyudmila, 1820 (English translation, 1936) Type of work: Poetry Type of plot: Mock-heroic Time of work: Late tenth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Kiev *Kiev Ruslan and Lyudmila (kyehv). Russian city (now part of Ukraine) that is the home of the knight Ruslan and the princess Lyudmila; […]

First published: 1920 (English translation, 1923) First produced: 1921 Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Social satire Time of work: The future Places Discussed Island Island. R.U.R.Unnamed island in an unspecified remote location that is the initial launching ground for the robot revolt. By the end of the play, the island becomes a kind […]

First published: 1973 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Social realism Time of work: Early 1950’s through late 1960’s Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *New York City *New Rubyfruit JungleYork City. Largest and most cosmopolitan city in the United States that has long symbolized the highest challenge for American artists and […]

First published: 1859 Type of work: Poetry Places Discussed Tavern Tavern. Rubáiyát of Omar KhayyámPublic inn in which the poet finds momentary relief from life’s woes as he contemplates the fate of all humans: a brief life filled with cares and misfortune and followed by eternal oblivion. He counsels readers to devote themselves to a […]

First published: 1724 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Picaresque Time of work: Seventeenth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *London *London. RoxanaDuring the late seventeenth century, early capitalist London was the trade capital of the world, and Daniel Defoe’s own obsession with commerce carries over into Roxana. Indeed, money, upon […]

First published: 1886 (English translation, 1889) First produced: 1887 Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Social realism Time of work: Mid-nineteenth century Places Discussed Rosmersholm Rosmersholm. RosmersholmSeat of the Rosmer family within which the entire play unfolds, located in an unnamed Norwegian coastal village. Rosmersholm is literally the home of Johannes Rosmer, but in […]

First published: 1967 First produced: 1966, at Cranston Street Hall, Edinburgh, Scotland Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Existential Time of work: 1600 Places Discussed Elsinore Castle Elsinore Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are DeadCastle. Apparent location of the play’s first act. Tom Stoppard’s stage directions for act 1 describe the scene as “Two Elizabethans passing […]

First produced: Rudens, late third or early second century b.c.e. (English translation, 1694) Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Comedy Time of work: Late third century b.c.e. Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Mediterranean Sea *Mediterranean Rope, TheSea. Seaway on which the slave-dealer Labrax tries to abscond with Daemones’ daughter Palaestra to […]

First published: 1976 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Historical realism Time of work: 1750-the twentieth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Juffure *Juffure Roots (jew-FUR-ee). Village on West Africa’s Gambia River in which Haley’s ancestor Kunta Kinte was born and raised. Two centuries after Kunta was forcibly taken from this […]

First published: 1908 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Social realism Time of work: Early twentieth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Windy Corner Windy Room with a View, ACorner. Home of Lucy Honeychurch and her mother and brother. Windy Corner is located near Summer Street, in the Surrey hills. The […]

First published: 1957 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Social realism Time of work: 1947 Places Discussed Warley Warley. Room at the TopTown in Yorkshire’s West Riding district that is the center of a prosperous woolen mill industry. Not many years after World War II, people who have been made rich by the war […]

First published: 1862-1863 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Historical realism Time of work: 1492-1498 Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Florence *Florence. RomolaItalian center of art, philosophy, scholarship, and religious and political intrigue that made the city famous as the cradle of the Renaissance. Eliot’s novel is filled with allusions to […]

First published: 1597 First produced: c. 1595-1596 Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Tragedy Time of work: Fifteenth century Places Discussed Capulets’ orchard Capulets’ Romeo and Julietorchard. Walled orchard overlooked by Juliet’s window. A place where domestic comfort meets wild nature, the orchard is the place where the play’s star-crossed lovers pledge their troth, […]

First published: 1926 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Fiction of manners Time of work: 1920’s Places Discussed Queenborough Queenborough. Romantic Comedians, TheVirginia town in which the novel is set; modeled after Richmond, Virginia. Queenborough is known for its beautiful women, who define the mood of the town and its inhabitants during each generation. […]

First published: San kuo chih yen-i, fourteenth century (English translation, 1925) Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Historical Time of work: c. 180-c. 280 Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Wei kingdom Wei Romance of the Three Kingdomskingdom. First among the three kingdoms in northern China, under the control of Ts’ao Ts’ao. […]

First published: 1791 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Gothic Time of work: Seventeenth century Places Discussed Forest of Fontanville Forest Romance of the Forest, Theof Fontanville (fon-tan-veel). Imaginary forest in the south of France, where the disgraced aristocrat Pierre de la Motte sets up temporary residence after fleeing with his wife and servants […]

First published: 1876 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Psychological realism Time of work: 1870’s Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Rome *Rome. Roderick HudsonCapital city of Italy after 1871 and one of the world’s art capitals, in which most of the novel takes place. Rowland Mallet, a man of inherited wealth […]

First published: 1719, as The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Adventure Time of work: 1651-1705 Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *England *England. Robinson CrusoeHome of Robinson Crusoe. When the novel opens, England is being ruled by Oliver Cromwell during […]

First published: c. 1490 Type of work: Fiction Type of plot: Adventure Time of work: Thirteenth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Sherwood Forest *Sherwood Robin Hood’s AdventuresForest. Large forested park stretching across the center of England that offers plentiful opportunities for social and dramatic conflict. As a land preserve, the forest […]

First published: 1888 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Social realism Time of work: 1882-1886 Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Westmoreland *Westmoreland. Robert ElsmereSecluded section of the Lake District in northeastern England. While on a holiday in the region, the young clergyman Robert Elsmere meets Catherine Leyburn, a serious and pious […]

First published: 1817 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Historical Time of work: 1715 Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Scottish Highlands *Scottish Rob RoyHighlands. Mountainous area of northern Scotland that was home to the historical Rob Roy. The Highlands are the romantic setting for Scottish clan life in the novel. Several […]

First published: 1775 First produced: 1775 Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Comedy of manners Time of work: Eighteenth century Places Discussed Bath Bath. Rivals, TheResort town in western England; it and its surrounding area would have been as familiar to London theater audiences as similar well-known resort areas would be to modern readers, […]

First published: 1905 First produced: 1907 Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Protest Time of work: Early twentieth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Ireland *Ireland. Rising of the Moon, TheIsland nation west of Great Britain that is under unwelcome British rule at the time this play is set. The play’s […]

First published: 1885 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Domestic realism Time of work: Late nineteenth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Boston *Boston. Rise of Silas Lapham, TheMassachusetts city in which the action of the novel unfolds. Having lived in Boston, Howells was familiar with the city and deftly portrays […]

First published: 1819-1820 (in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.) Type of work: Short fiction Type of plot: Tall tale Time of work: Eighteenth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Dutch village Dutch Rip Van Winklevillage. Unnamed village of Dutch settlers in New York that is the home of Rip Van […]

First published: 1798 Type of work: Poetry Type of plot: Allegory Time of work: Late medieval period Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Kirk Kirk. Rime of the Ancient Mariner, TheUnnamed church at which the poem opens and closes. This church, as well as other sites to which the Mariner alludes–such as a […]

First published: 1918 (English translation, 1922) First produced: Così è (se vi pare), 1917 Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Parable Time of work: Early twentieth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Agazzi’s drawing room Agazzi’s Right You Are (If You Think So)drawing room (ah-GATZ-ee). Comfortable apartment of an unnamed central […]

First published: 1903 First produced: 1904 Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Tragedy Time of work: Late nineteenth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Cottage Cottage. Riders to the SeaIsland home within sight of the sea that is the home of the play’s main characters. The play’s entire action takes place […]

First published: 1961 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Parable Time of work: After World War II Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Sarsaparilla Sarsaparilla. Riders in the ChariotFictional suburb west of Sydney in which most of the action unfolds. It is probably based on Castle Hill, the actual Sydney suburb where […]

First published: 1597; revised, 1623 First produced: c. 1592-1593 Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Historical Time of work: Fifteenth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Westminster Palace *Westminster Richard IIIPalace. London residence of the rulers of England from the eleventh through sixteenth centuries (later used for the Houses of Parliament), […]

First published: 1600 First produced: c. 1595-1596 Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Historical Time of work: Late fourteenth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *England *England. Richard IISet during the late fourteenth century reign of the historical English king Richard II, the play does much to offer audiences a variety […]

First published: 1923 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Social realism Time of work: 1919 Places Discussed Riceyman Steps Riceyman Riceyman StepsSteps. Public staircase leading from London’s Kings Cross Road to Riceyman Square, directly over the Underground Railway, which throbs with the passage of trains, in the middle of Clerkenwell, a shabby neighborhood. Adjacent […]

First published: 1959 as Rhinocéros (English translation, 1959) First produced: 1959, in German; 1960, in French Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Absurdist Time of work: Mid-twentieth century Places Discussed Town square Town Rhinocerossquare. Typical small French town, perhaps close to Paris, in which the play opens shortly before noon on a sunny summer […]

First transcribed: c. 1175-1250 (English translation, 1481) Type of work: Short fiction Type of plot: Satire Time of work: Middle Ages Places Discussed Noble the Lion’s court Noble Reynard the Foxthe Lion’s court. Imaginary court meant to represent the court of the French king. The animals present their grievances to Noble the king, whose weakness […]

First published: 1607 First produced: 1606-1607 Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Tragedy Time of work: Renaissance Places Discussed Italian dukedom Italian Revenger’s Tragedy, Thedukedom. Unspecified Italian principality in which the play unfolds. Although the location is clearly Italian, the play provides not a single place name. By depicting a court in Italy as […]

First published: 1878 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Tragedy Time of work: Mid-nineteenth century Places Discussed Wessex Wessex. Return of the Native, TheImaginary English region that was the setting for Hardy’s major fiction. Born in Dorsetshire, one of five counties in southern England, Hardy re-created this region in his novels as “Wessex.” This […]

First published: 1955 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Epic Time of work: Third Age in a remote legendary past Places Discussed Paths of the Dead Paths Return of the King, Theof the Dead. Accompanied by Gimli, Legolas, and his kinsmen Rangers of the North, Aragorn leads his forces south to the coast, passing […]

First published: 1910 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Ghost Time of work: Nineteenth century Places Discussed Herbert home Herbert Return, Thehome. Ramshackle house in the English countryside, home to Herbert Herbert and his sister Grisel. Herbert describes the residence as a “queer old shanty,” but Arthur Lawford finds it a pleasing refuge from […]

First published: Voskreseniye, 1899 (English translation, 1899) Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Social realism Time of work: Late nineteenth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Law court Law Resurrectioncourt. Government court in which the prostitute Katusha is tried and sentenced for murder. When Prince Nekhludoff, acting as an officer of […]

First published: 1951 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Psychological realism Time of work: 1930’s Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Jefferson Jefferson. Requiem for a NunFictional town based on Faulkner’s hometown of Oxford, in the northeastern part of Mississippi. In several novels and stories, he created his own microcosm, his own […]

First published: 1864 (English translation, 1888) Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Naturalism Time of work: Nineteenth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Paris *Paris. Renée MauperinCapital city of France and, in French eyes, the very definition of civilization. Paris is metaphorically personified in the plot by Monsieur Denoisel, a “true […]

First published: À la recherche du temps perdu, 1913-1927 (English translation, 1922-1931, 1981): Du côté de chez Swann, 1913 (Swann’s Way, 1922); À l’ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs, 1919 (Within a Budding Grove, 1924); Le Côté de Guermantes, 1920-1921 (The Guermantes Way, 1925); Sodome et Gomorrhe, 1922 (Cities of the Plain, 1927); La Prisonnière, […]

First published: 1962 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Psychological realism Time of work: May, 1905 Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Jefferson Jefferson. Reivers, TheSeat of William Faulkner’s imaginary Mississippi county of Yoknapatawpha that is Lucius’s hometown. Jefferson is patterned after Faulkner’s own home of Oxford in northern Mississippi. Early in […]

First published: 1941 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Psychological realism Time of work: 1930’s Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Army post Army Reflections in a Golden Eye post. Unnamed military installation in the South that is the novel’s main setting. Because the novel is set during peacetime, the atmosphere is […]

First published: 1849 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Bildungsroman Time of work: c. 1839 Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Highlander HighlanderRedburn. Ship on which the young sailor Wellingborough Redburn travels between Liverpool and New York City; based on the actual ship, the St. Lawrence, in which Melville made a similar […]

First published: 1895 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Psychological realism Time of work: 1861-1865 Places Discussed Camp Camp. Red Badge of Courage, TheEncampment of Henry’s regiment where the novel opens. Although the regiment has only been lodged there for a few months, the novel’s initial location seems to Henry to be “sort of […]

First published: Le Rouge et le noir, 1830 (English translation, 1898) Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Psychological realism Time of work: Early nineteenth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Verrières Verrières. Red and the Black, The (vehr-ee-YER). One of the prettiest little towns in the Franche-Comté, a province in eastern […]

First published: 1706 First produced: 1706 Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Comedy Time of work: Early eighteenth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Shrewsbury *Shrewsbury. Recruiting Officer, TheMidlands market town on the Severn River in the county of Shropshire, near England’s Welsh border, in which the play is set. For […]

First published: 1938 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Gothic Time of work: 1930’s Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Manderley Manderley. RebeccaEstate in Cornwall to which Max de Winter brings his new bride, the second Mrs. de Winter. There, he earlier lived with his first wife, Rebecca. From the blood-red rhododendrons […]

First published: 1941 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Parody Time of work: Early twentieth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *St. Petersburg *St. Real Life of Sebastian Knight, ThePetersburg. Capital of Imperial Russia that is the birthplace of both Sebastian and V. The novel initially depicts the city in winter […]

First published: 1944 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Psychological realism Time of work: Early twentieth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Chicago *Chicago. Razor’s Edge, TheIllinois’s largest city, which in the early twentieth century was one of the most prosperous of midwestern cities and a major center of the rapidly […]

First published: The Prince of Abissinia: A Tale, 1759 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Philosophical Time of work: Eighteenth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Happy Valley Happy RasselasValley. Imaginary place in Africa, vaguely located in the mountains of Abyssinia (now Ethiopia), a country that interested Samuel Johnson because his […]

First published: German translation, 1805; French original, 1821 as Le Neveu de Rameau (English translation, 1897) Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Philosophical Time of work: 1761 Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Paris *Paris. Rameau’s NephewFrance’s capital city was the center of all the nation’s social and intellectual activity in the […]

First transcribed: Rāmāyana, c. 350 b.c.e. (English translation, 1870-1874) Type of work: Poetry Type of plot: Epic Time of work: Antiquity Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Ayodhya *Ayodhya Ramayana, The (ah-YOH-dyah). Mythical Indian kingdom that may be the same place as the historical ancient kingdom of Ayodhya, in the far north of […]

First published: c. 1566 First produced: c. 1552 Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Farce Time of work: Sixteenth century Places Discussed Street Street. Ralph Roister DoisterUdall’s play calls for a set comprising canvas stretched over wooden frames to represent houses with a street running between them. There are entrances to the stage from […]

First published: 1959 First produced: 1959, at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, New York City Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Family Time of work: 1950’s Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Chicago’s Southside *Chicago’s Raisin in the Sun, ASouthside. Primarily African American neighborhood of Chicago in which members of three generations of […]

First published: 1948 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Historical realism Time of work: Late nineteenth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Raintree County Raintree Raintree CountyCounty. Imaginary Indiana county in which the novel focuses on the small town of Waycross. Located on the National Road and near the tracks of […]

First published: 1915 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Psychological realism Time of work: Nineteenth and early twentieth centuries Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Cossethay Cossethay. Rainbow, TheTiny Midlands village in which the Brangwens are living when the novel opens. The village is the center of a circle about two miles […]

First published: 1973 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Historical realism Time of work: 1846-1950’s Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Lake Tahoe *Lake Rabbit BossTahoe. Large lake straddling the California-Nevada border in the Sierra Nevada. A deep lake with cold, clear water and surrounded by snow-capped peaks, Tahoe is a place […]

First published: Rabbit, Run, 1960; Rabbit Redux, 1971; Rabbit Is Rich, 1981; Rabbit at Rest, 1990 Type of work: Novels Type of plot: Domestic realism Time of work: 1950’s-1980’s Places Discussed Brewer Brewer. Rabbit Angstrom Novels, ThePennsylvania town in which the novels are centered. Updike’s fictionalized version of Reading, Pennsylvania, serves as the principal location […]

First published: Quo vadis, 1896 (English translation, 1896) Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Historical Time of work: c. 64 c.e. Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Rome *Rome. Quo VadisCapital of the vast Roman Empire, which ruled over perhaps fifty million people in Nero’s time, most of Europe and the Middle […]

First published: 1955 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Tragedy Time of work: Early 1950’s Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Vietnam *Vietnam. Quiet American, TheCountry in Southeast Asia that was colonized by France during the late nineteenth century. The novel is set in Vietnam in the early 1950’s at a time […]

First published: 1928 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Psychological realism Time of work: Late 1920’s Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Naxos Naxos. QuicksandSchool for African Americans in rural Alabama patterned on Tuskegee Institute. Helga Crane, a native of Chicago and educated in Nashville, Tennessee, teaches literature at Naxos but feels […]

First published: c. 1300 Type of work: Fiction Type of plot: Arthurian romance Time of work: Early eighth century Places Discussed Camelot Camelot. Quest of the Holy Grail, TheCastle home of the legendary English king Arthur and the base from which the knights of his Round Table ride out on adventures, including quests for the […]

First published: 1823 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Historical Time of work: 1468 Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Castle of Plessis-les-Tours *Castle Quentin Durwardof Plessis-les-Tours (pleh-SEE-lay-TEWR). Royal French stronghold situated two miles south of the ancient capital of Touraine, in and around which the early phases of the story take […]

First published: 1912 First produced: 1913 (in German), 1914 (in English) Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Comedy Time of work: c. 1900 Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *London *London. PygmalionIn the early twentieth century, London was the center of world commerce and the leading city of the democratic societies. However, […]

First published: 1940 First produced: 1944 Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Satire Time of work: 1940’s Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Ormond manor Ormond Purple Dustmanor. Aging Tudor mansion in Ireland that the English expatriates Basil Stoke and Cyril Poges are renovating. The house is represented by its “great room” […]

First published: 1939 First produced: 1938 Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Fantasy Time of work: Early twentieth century Places Discussed Ruined house Ruined Purgatoryhouse. Charred and derelict building before which the play’s only two characters, an Old Man and a Boy (his son), stand throughout the play. The Old Man explains to his […]

First produced: 191 b.c.e. (English translation, 1774) Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Comedy Time of work: Late third century b.c.e. Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Athens *Athens. PseudolusAncient Greek city that was the center of Greek culture. Although Athens provides the setting for the play, the play might have been […]

First published: Det forjættede land, 1891-1895 (English translation, 1896) Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Social criticism Time of work: Late nineteenth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Skibberup Skibberup. Promised Land, TheOne of two rival villages in rural Denmark that make up Emanuel’s parish, the other being Veilby. Skibberup is […]

First published: 1820 Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Allegory Time of work: Antiquity Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Caucasus *Caucasus. Prometheus UnboundMountain range between the Black and Caspian Seas. The mountain to which Prometheus is chained may be seen as an image of permanence, similar to Mont Blanc in Shelley’s […]

First produced: Prometheus desmōtes, date unknown (English translation, 1777) Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Tragedy Time of work: Antiquity Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Scythian mountaintop Scythian Prometheus Boundmountaintop. All the action of this play takes place atop an unnamed mountain on the edge of the Greek world–probably in the […]

First published: 1925 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Psychological realism Time of work: A few years after World War I Places Discussed Professor’s old house Professor’s Professor’s House, Theold house. Located adjacent to the college campus at which the professor teaches, the old, oddly built but simple house of Professor St. Peter has […]

First published: 1930 First produced: 1930 Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Comedy of manners Time of work: 1929 Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed French hotel French Private Liveshotel. Unnamed Parisian hotel in which the play is set. Noël Coward’s stage directions describe the terrace of a French hotel as the […]

First published: 1894 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Adventure Time of work: 1880’s Places Discussed Ruritania Ruritania. Prisoner of Zenda, TheImagnary country in central Europe whose name suggests isolation, as in the word “rural.” The country is presented as a real place because the novel’s protagonist, Rudolph Rassendyl, reaches it via the Dresden […]

First published: La Princesse de Clèves, 1678 (English translation, 1679) Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Psychological Time of work: Mid-sixteenth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Louvre *Louvre Princess of Clèves, The (lew-vruh). Parisian palace that is the mid-sixteenth century site of the royal court of King Henri II in […]

First published: serial, 1885-1886; book, 1886 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Social realism Time of work: Late nineteenth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Lomax Place *Lomax Princess Casamassima, ThePlace. Working-class section of Pentonville in north London that is home to Amanda Pynsent, the foster mother of Hyacinth Robinson, who […]

First published: Prinz Friedrich von Homburg, 1821 (English translation, 1875) First produced: 1821 Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Historical Time of work: 1675 Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Fehrbellin Palace *Fehrbellin Prince of Homburg, ThePalace. Located forty miles northwest of Berlin, this palace was the Prussian headquarters for the campaign […]

First published: 1881 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Social satire Time of work: Sixteenth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *England *England. Prince and the Pauper, TheThe novel can be read as an attack on England’s monarchical institutions and hereditary privilege. The book depicts mid-sixteenth century England as a grim […]

First published: 1813 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Domestic realism Time of work: Early nineteenth century Places Discussed Longbourn Estate Longbourn Pride and PrejudiceEstate. Home of the Bennet family in southeastern England’s Hertfordshire. The estate is “entailed,” meaning that it can be passed down only through male heirs. Austen uses the estate to […]

First published: 1827 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Adventure Time of work: 1804 Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Prairie Prairie. Prairie, TheSet just after the Louisiana Purchase, the novel’s events occur in a vague area of the prairie, about five hundred miles west of the Mississippi River. Cooper had not […]

First published: Vlast tmy: Ili, “Kogotok uvyaz, vsey ptichke propast,” 1887 (English translation, 1890) First produced: 1888 Type of work: Drama Type of plot: Domestic tragedy Time of work: Nineteenth century Places Discussed Russian village Russian Power of Darkness, Thevillage. The setting of the play is an unnamed, large Russian village, in which peasants live […]

First published: 1940 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Psychological realism Time of work: 1930’s Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Mexico *Mexico. Power and the Glory, TheCountry in which the entire novel is set. The novel uses psychological realism to depict the corruption and violence associated with the government’s revolutionary vision. […]

First published: Jud Süss, 1925 (English translation, 1926) Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Historical Time of work: Mid-eighteenth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Duchy of Württemberg *Duchy Powerof Württemberg (WUR-tehm-bayrg). German principality in what is now southwestern Germany. Bisected by the Neckar River, the duchy has hilly green country […]

First published: 1934 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Psychological realism Time of work: 1933 Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Twin Oaks Tavern Twin Postman Always Rings Twice, TheOaks Tavern. Described by Cain as a “roadside sandwich joint, like a million others in California.” The diner also includes living quarters for […]

First published: Besy, 1871-1872 (English translation, 1913) Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Psychological realism Time of work: Mid-nineteenth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Provincial capital Provincial Possessed, Thecapital. Unnamed town that Dostoevski modeled on the city of Tver (located approximately one hundred miles northwest of Moscow), where he spent […]

First published: serial, 1914-1915; book, 1916 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Bildungsroman Time of work: 1882-1903 Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *University College *University Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, ACollege. Roman Catholic university in Dublin, as opposed to Trinity College, which was reserved for the Protestant elite. […]

First published: 1940 Type of work: Short fiction Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Swansea *Swansea Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog (SWAHN-see). Industrial seaport in southern Wales in which Thomas was born and raised. Wales’s second largest town, Swansea stands at the mouth of the River Tawe, from which it […]

First published: serial, 1880-1881; book, 1881 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Psychological realism Time of work: c. 1875 Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Rome *Rome. Portrait of a Lady, TheCapital of Italy and major center of Western art and culture that provides the novel’s primary setting. Isabel Archer’s initial response […]

First published: 1969 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Bildungsroman Time of work: Mid-twentieth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *Newark *Newark. Portnoy’s ComplaintNew Jersey city in which Portnoy grows up. At the time he is born, his family lives in Jersey City in a building inhabited entirely by Jews but […]

First published: 1925 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Regional Time of work: Early twentieth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Catfish Row Catfish PorgyRow. Fictitious section of Charleston in which a disabled beggar, Porgy, and other black characters in the novel live. Most of the time, Catfish Row is full […]

First published: 1959 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Social satire Time of work: Mid-twentieth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Diamond County Home for the Aged Diamond Poorhouse Fair, TheCounty Home for the Aged. Home for elderly people in which the novel is primarily set. A converted mansion that once […]

First published: 1920 Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Psychological realism Time of work: 1866-1900 Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed Mudcat Landing Mudcat Poor WhiteLanding. Missouri town in which Hugh McVey was born, Mudcat Landing is a place where life without drinking is unbearable, where slavery has left poor whites with […]

First published: Bednye Lyudi, 1846 (English translation, 1887) Type of work: Novel Type of plot: Impressionistic realism Time of work: Early nineteenth century Asterisk denotes entries on real places. Places Discussed *St. Petersburg *St. Poor FolkPetersburg. Capital of Russia at the time in which the novel is set. The main characters of the novel, the […]