Literary Allusions
in the Q-orpus
Penny Fielding
[Editor's note: Penny Fielding, a professor of
literature, has gathered from the Q-orpus a number of quotations, or near-quotations,
used by Adam Hall as elements of his first-person Quiller narration.
Some of them you are sure to recognize, others you may not; in any case,
they give us another view of Elleston's remarkable eclecticism.]
"...he's got promises to keep before he sleeps..." [Quiller Bamboo,
13:56]
Source: Robert Frost, "Stopping by the Woods
on a Snowy Evening"
Original: "But I have promises to keep /
And miles to go before I sleep"
"Night and silence, who is here?" [Quiller Meridian, 19:08]
Source: William Shakespeare, A Midsummer
Night's Dream
Original: Same
"...not with a whimper, gentlemen, with a bang when it's got to come."
[Quiller/Northlight, 01:76]
Source: T.S. Eliot, "The Hollow Men"
Original: "This is the way the world ends
/ Not with a bang but a whimper"
"Tiger, tiger burning bright, in the warehouse of the night" [Quiller/Northlight,
22:69]
Source: William Blake, "The Tiger"
Original: "Tiger, tiger burning bright /
In the forest of the night"
"'I fear he doth protest too much,' I said." [Quiller KGB, 27:09]
Source: William Shakespeare, Hamlet
Original: "The lady doth protest too much,
methinks."
"The shark thing had just been impulsive, but it proved their intention:
death in the afternoon." [Quiller KGB, 12:100]
Source: Death in the Afternoon is
the title of a novel by Ernest Hemingway.
"Someone had blundered..." [The Scorpion Signal, 02:59]
Source: Alfred Tennyson, "The Charge of
the Light Brigade"
Original: Same
"Mine not to reason why, of course.... Mine but to do or die, yes,
quite." [The Scorpion Signal, 15:49-50]
Source: Alfred Tennyson, "The Charge of
the Light Brigade"
Original: "Theirs not to reason why, theirs
but to do or die."
Do you have a favorite literary allusion in the Q-orpus?
It doesn't have to be a direct quotation
(few of the ones caught by Penny are),
but if you do notice one, just send the complete
reference to me,
ironmouth@sprintmail.com
including, if possible, the quotation from the Q-orpus;
the novel, chapter, and approximate point in the
chapter
from which it is taken; and the original quotation
and
as much of its source as you know. I'll include
your submission
on the list and give you credit for finding it.
Created by Rick Holt (Iron Mouth) E-mail: ironmouth@sprintmail.com
Copyright (c) 1997
Disclaimer: all opinions not expressly attributed
to other contributors are solely my own.