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Andrew Delahunty and Sheila Dignen are freelance lexicographers who have extensive experience compiling dictionaries. From classical mythology to modern movies and TV shows, the revised and updated Oxford Dictionary of Reference and Allusion, third edition explains the meanings of more than 2,000 allusions in use in modern English, from Abaddon to Zorro, Tartarus to Tarzan, and Rambo to Rubens.
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Michelle Rafferty, Publicity Assistant
Barry Blake is Emeritus Professor of Linguistics at La Trobe University, and his books include Playing with Words, All About Language, and this May’s Secret Language: Codes, Tricks, Spies, Thieves, and Symbols. In the following piece he samples some allusions that may have eluded you over the years.
Have you ever wondered where the titles of novels, plays, films and the like come from? Some are obvious, at least after you’ve read the book or seen the movie, as with Star Wars and The English Patient, but many titles are not transparent and leave you wondering just why the author chose them. These are usually allusive, they refer to something in history or literature or they take their wording from a text. These allusions are often quite esoteric, and authors must know that only some of the audience or readership will pick up on them. Presumably they get satisfaction from choosing a title with some kind of hidden significance and some theatregoers or readers probably find gratification in spotting the allusion. Surveys I have conducted over the years reveal that many allusions are lost on university students, so I’ve rounded up some examples I find to be the most “elusive.”
LITERATURE
John Steinbeck’s novel East of Eden takes its title from the Bible (Genesis 4:16) and refers to Cain, who slew his brother Abel and was exiled to live ‘on the East of Eden’. There is no mystery about the source of the title for it is discussed in the novel, but its use summons up an allusion to the whole story of Cain and Abel. The novel is about two rival sons, the goody-goody Aron and the not-so-good Cal, and as the story proceeds the reader sees parallels with the Bible story and begins to wonder if Cal will kill Aron.
Along with the Bible the other main source of literary allusions is Shakespeare. Another novel by Steinbeck, The Winter of Our Discontent takes its title from the opening words of Richard III,
Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this son of York
These lines, which incidentally contain a pun, have become a most hackneyed source of allusion, and journalists writing about any unpleasant winter are likely to trot out this phrase in the title of their article.
TELEVISION AND FILM
A few years ago there was a television series called To the Manor Born. This combines a pun and an allusion since it is based on Hamlet’s remark,
-though I am a native here,
And to the manner born,-it is a custom
More honour’d in the breach than the observance.
There is a fi
