Literary Connections

Authors expect at least some of their literary references to be recognized and also hope that their texts will affect their readers in the ways that they intend whether or not those readers fully understand how this has been done. Biblical or Shakespearean quotations usually have their own resonances whether or not their source is recognized. See "Give Me Strength!"

However, memory also operates by entirely accidental associations or resemblances that cannot possibly be anticipated or intended. Rereading a book can remind any of us of where we were the first time that we read it which is unique to each reader. There was a time when the name of Selden, the escaped convict in The Hound Of The Baskervilles, automatically made me think of Seldon, the psychohistorian in Asimov's Foundation, although there is no possible connection between these two guys even if, just possibly, "Selden" was somewhere in Asimov's memory when he wrote "Seldon." Nowadays, Holmes texts recall the fruitful connections between that series and Poul Anderson's works and these connections, of course, were fully intended by Anderson although not necessarily recognized by all readers. Indeed, "Altamont" and The Origin Of Tree Worship are quite obscure.