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A literary allusion is a reference to a work of literature in entertainment or art, often through direct quotation. It can occur in literature, movies, TV, popular culture, and even video games. Allusions can be subtle or obvious, and are used to evoke ideas or styles from other works. They can be found in titles, character names, and dialogue. Allusions expand upon ideas in literature and create context within the literary canon.
A literary allusion is a reference in some type of entertainment or work of art to a work of literature, usually through a direct quotation from the original work. This type of allusion can occur in literature, often as a reference to another book or literary work. Movies and television also frequently make literary allusions, including episode names that come from various literary sources, lines of dialogue that directly or indirectly refer to a literary work, and even character names. Popular culture has used such allusions as well, and it’s not unusual for a literary allusion to be found in a video game, comic strip, or evening news.
Just like any other type of allusion, a literary allusion is a reference within one work to another. If a writer wants to evoke a particular idea or style that has been used by another work of literary significance, then he might make an allusion to that other work. Someone who has a character who simply responds, “Nevermore,” for example, is making a clear and easily recognizable literary allusion to Edgar Allen Poe’s story The Raven. Other allusions may be more subtle, such as a character in a book having the same name as a character in a famous work of literature.
While a literary allusion may be used within a written work, such as a novel or other literary work, such allusions may be found in other contexts as well. Movies and television shows have increasingly used allusions to works of literature to expand upon the various ideas in those works. A character might quote a famous passage from a particular work, for example, to indicate what kind of interests or attitude that character has. The names of movies and television episodes often include a literary allusion, which can help establish the idea of that work in the mind of someone who understands the allusion.
It has even become quite common for readers to find a literary allusion in works of popular culture, including comic books and video games. Comic book characters are often found quoting particularly famous works of literature. The title of a particular comic number may also be a literary allusion, serving to create context for the story within the larger body of various literary works. Video games may also include allusions, both within the game’s name and in the characters and events featured in the game, providing a richer background for the game world within the literary canon.
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