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- Birago Diop's The Bone and Mother Crocodile
refer extensively to aspects of Islamic culture, covered
in "The Rise of Islam and Islamic Literature"
(see pages 1419–1618 in volume
B). Diop's Mother Crocodile also refers
to regional variations of the African Soun Diata Keita,
also known as the Epic of Son-Jara, covered in
"Africa: The Mali Epic of Son-Jara" (see
pages 2415–2462 in volume C).
-
An important poet of the négritude movement, Léopold Sédar Senghor's
work is influenced by the poetry of Baudelaire and Verlaine, covered in
"Realism, Naturalism, and Symbolism in Europe" (see pages 1380–1398 and
1405–1410, respectively, in volume E).
- The description in Aimé Césaire's Notebook of
a Return to The Native Land of a female corpse, floating
belly up in a river after a community suicide, alludes to
Ophelia's suicide in William Shakespeare's Hamlet,
covered in "The Renaissance in Europe" (see
pages 2828–2918 in volume C).
- The thematic focus on the family in Eileen Chang's
Love in a Fallen City dates back to the eighteenth
century and the Story of the Stone, covered in
"Vernacular Literature in China" (see
pages 148–279 in volume D).
- Mahasweta Devi's Breast-Giver draws extensively
on Hindu mythology. References to Krishna can be found in
the Mahabharata
and Bhagavad-Gita,
covered in "India's Heroic Age" (see,
pages 959–1001 and 1014–1028, respectively, in
volume A). Descriptions of the image of a perfect
Hindu wife in Mahasweta Devi's the Breast Giver
allude to Sita
of the Ramayana,
also covered in "India's Heroic Age" (see
pages 895–953 in volume A).
-
Chinua Achebe's Okonkwo bears a strong resemblance to Homer's Achilles
of the Iliad, covered in "Ancient Greece and the Formation of
the Western Mind" (see pages 120–225 in volume A) in terms of his
desire to cling to values of pride and wartime aggression, and his
willingness to die in order to preserve the values.
-
Throughout Derek Walcott's Omeros, reference is made to Homer's
Iliad and Odyssey, covered in "Ancient Greece and the
Formation of the Western Mind" (see pages 120–225 and 225–530,
respectively, in volume A). Walcott's sea of African diaspora evokes
the underworld into which Achilles and Odysseus descend.
- Characters in Anita Desai's Rooftop Dwellers
frequently watch televised versions of the Hindu epics Ramayana
and Mahabharata,
covered in "India's Heroic Age" (see
pages 895–953 and 959–1001, respectively, in volume
A).
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