The Oxford Dictionary of Allusions

Product Description

Allusions give us a marvelous literary shorthand, drawing on our collective knowledge of literature, mythology, and the Bible to help us describe people, places, feelings, and events. A miser is a Scrooge, a strong man is a Samson or a Hercules, a beautiful woman is a Venus or a modern-day Helen of Troy. We can suffer like Sisyphus or linger like the smile of the Cheshire Cat.
Ranging from classical mythology to modern movies and TV shows, this new reference work explains the meanings of the allusions in use in modern English, from Abaddon to Zorro, Tartarus to Tarzan, and Rubens to Rambo. Based on an extensive reading program that has identified the most commonly used allusions, this fascinating volume includes numerous quotations to illustrate usage, from a range of authors and sources, from Thomas Hardy and Charles Dickens to Bridget Jones's Diary. Moreover, the dictionary is thematically structured, so that readers not only can look up Medea to find out who she was and how her name is used as an allusion, but also can look up the theme of "Revenge" and find, alongside Medea, entries for other figures used to allude to revenge, such as The Furies or The Count of Monte Cristo.
Product Details

* Amazon Sales Rank: #1030890 in Books
* Published on: 2001-07-12
* Original language: English
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Hardcover
* 480 pages

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal
Adult/High School-This volume arranges literary, mythological, biblical, and popular references by theme. A line or two introduces each subject noting common associations, and/or scope of the entries that follow. "Nonconformity" includes brief entries on Bohemia, Holden Caulfield, James Dean, Galileo, and other characters and individuals. Many of these entries are accompanied by an excerpt illustrating its use in a work of literature (with author, title, and date). "Abundance and Plenty," "Change," "Destiny and Luck," "Freedom," and "Time" are just a few of the broad topics examined. There are also some in-depth discussions of allusions to Don Quixote, Odysseus, Achilles, the Trojan War, Moses, and other characters, events, and concepts. One of these covers David, describing the Old Testament hero's battle with Goliath, his relationship with Bathsheba, and the rebellion of Absalom, while cross-references will lead readers to other related entries. A list of the topics examined is given in the front of the book. Students will find using this resource similar to working with a thesaurus and will appreciate the simplicity of the dual index containing both themes and references. Purchase as an aid to creative writing and literary analysis.

Vicki Reutter, Cazenovia High School, NY

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Wonderfully conceived and extraordinarily useful, this new literary dictionary has been created by a team of freelance lexicographers who have compiled many dictionaries, and their experience shows. The contents have been drawn from a wide-ranging reading program designed to identify the allusions encountered most frequently in literature both modern and canonical. Thus, it covers classical myths and modern culture and ranges from "Ahab" to "Teflon," "Eve" to "Darth Vader." The dictionary is alphabetical but can be searched both by the word used as an allusion and by the theme represented. The dictionary is particularly well laid out, with the major theme of the allusion captioned and explained, followed by the words representing that allusion. Many entries include a quotation illustrating the allusion in use. For allusions based on names, the editors have added explanatory sections describing who these figures were and why they and/or their stories represent various themes. What results is a supremely useful dictionary that is highly recommend for all libraries. Neal Wyatt, Chesterfield P.L., VA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
`Review from previous edition Wonderfully conceived and extraordinarily useful' Library Journal

`an attractive addition to a writer's shelf of Reference works' US Universal Press syndication

`A brilliantly organized handbook of names, places and phrases...A highly readable text' Choice
Customer Reviews

References, NOT Allusions2
While this book has many interesting tidbits of information that may make their way into writing, they are most definitely not allusions. At best they are simply literary REFERENCES and therefore this book provides little beyond what you would find in a typical encyclopedia entry about the keyword. Who was Ahab, Frodo, Medusa, etc. Where is hell, olympus, or Narnia. What was manna and so on. Unfortunately, the examples follow the same pattern. Whereas an allusion is indirect and subtle, the examples in this book are direct and explicit references to the keywords (ie "He was crazy like Ahab," instead of something like a subtle quotation from Moby Dick suggesting the character of Ahab). I got this book mainly for the examples in order to see the different ways allusions have been used, but all the examples are simply examples of literary references, not allusions.

waking our language5
The day the Oxford Dictionary of Allusions arrived, I unwrapped it, poured a cup of coffee, and took it and my cup of coffee out to the patio where I opened it randomly. The first entry I saw was Worzel Gummidge. Now, I can use that. I am working on a character sketch of a locally known celeb of sorts, and have been searching for just the right word... the picture to put in the reader's mind. And there it is. Perfect. Never heard of it before.
Another entry that caught my eye as I flipped through the pages was Mrs. Malaprop. I have been teased for years. "Turn off the cat and put out the light", I said once when the family was going out the door. Nobody ever told me I was making malapropisms. I love our language, but sometimes it gets stale, repetitious . We become lazy, use the same old expressions, and forget the countless colorful idioms that can dance in our imaginations.
You cannot put this book down. You will find old favorite words you've forgotten and many new ones you may never have known. Your heart will be happier, your conversations more inspiring.
I'm going to get another cup of coffee and go back to painting the Forth Bridge. If you want to know what that means, buy this book and look it up.

Limited4
The Oxford Dictionary of Allusions is limited in content. I would have preferred something more complete.

The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations From Oxford University Press, USA

Product Description

This is a major new edition of Oxford's largest and most comprehensive dictionary of quotations, bringing you the wisdom of the ages and the sound bites of today in 20,000+ quotations. The text is a browser's paradise, covering people and events from Cleopatra to J. K. Rowling, and the battle of Marathon to the Hutton Inquiry. The keyword index will help you to trace that half-remembered quote, and identifies the quotations that give us key phrases such as 'state of the Union' and 'dodgy dossier'. Special sections bring together categories such as Misquotations and Film lines. Traditional areas have been enriched and the best of the new added, and the Introduction tells the story of the nation's favourite quotations dictionary over 60 years. 'Come, and take choice of all my library.' William Shakespeare 'Trifles make perfection, and perfection is no trifle.' Michelangelo 'If business always made the right decisions, business wouldn't be business.' J. Paul Getty 'I was captured for life by chemistry and by crystals.' Dorothy Hodgkin 'Superhuman effort isn't worth a damn unless it achieves results.' Ernest Shackleton
Product Details

* Amazon Sales Rank: #141157 in Books
* Published on: 2004-12-09
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Hardcover
* 1168 pages

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
Samuel Johnson once observed that "Every quotation contributes something to the stability or enlargement of the language." And since every book of quotations certainly contributes to the enlargement of the reference collection, why add another?

This is no ordinary book of quotations. As one would expect from the publishers of the Oxford English Dictionary, this work is thoroughly cross-referenced, packed with special features, and, most importantly for a collection of quotations, provides citations and context for each entry. Among the special features set off in boxes throughout the text are lists of epitaphs, catchphrases, borrowed titles, misquotations, opening lines, last words, and film lines and titles. The keyword index is exhaustive.

Since its first edition, in 1941, the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations has offered a wide array of quotations, succeeding in preserving the wisdom of the ages as well as presenting the latest catchphrases and sound bites. The fifth edition (1999) restored sections devoted to proverbs and nursery rhymes that had been cut from an earlier edition; these sections remain. That edition had paid particular attention to the sacred texts of several world religions, and those passages are also enshrined in this new edition. A comparison of this edition with its predecessor found that although George Abbott, Beryl Bainbridge, Lord Bancroft, Antonio Callado, Salvador Dali, Newton Gingrich, Ice Cube, Barry Scheck, Emma Thompson, and Raquel Welch have been dropped, Elizabeth David, Amelia Earhart, Carly Fiorina, Penelope Fitzgerald, Indira Gandhi, Bill Gates, Frank Gehry, Rudolph Giuliani, David Hare, Eddie Izzard, Frida Kahlo, Donna Karan, Estee Lauder, Alison Lurie, Thurgood Marshall, Georgia O'Keefe, Vladimir Putin, J. K. Rowling, Ernest Shackleton, Ariel Sharon, and Sam Walton have been added.

Large collections will want to add this edition to the previous ones on their shelves; smaller collections should consider it as a way to add depth to their quotation holdings. Carolyn Mulac
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
`Review from previous edition Invaluable.' Brian MacArthur in The Times 3 December 1999

`Still the best.' John Walsh in The Independent 20 June 2002

`I could re-read it over and over again and never grow bored, for its pages contain all the insight of a library.' Minette Walters in Daily Mail 11 January 2002

About the Author
Elizabeth Knowles is Publishing Manager for Oxford Quotations Dictionaries and is a historical lexicographer, having previously worked on the 4th edition of the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary.
Customer Reviews

It's... Good... Not For Me Though... 3
There's a plethora of quotes and people, it's an amazing book. It's by author name. My beef with it is...

Some of my favorite people are really slacked on. Most notably American writers, essayists and thinkers. Twain get barely a full page. Melville a few lines (Moby Dick has quite a few more worthy here) Thoreau, Emerson, even Churchill has some of my favorite lines he's said missing... Nietzsche too imo should have pages he has not even one. And more disappointed with.

NOW - there are more speakers here yeah the good thing, still, I expected more.

Now I've gotten the Yale's Book of Quotations. Almost half the quotes here but they have so much more from the names I mentioned above. I don't know maybe my American Bias but I selfishly give this book 3 stars for skimping imo on many of my favorite people.

(Not to say they don't have tons of names won't find other places deservingly and other famous people, notiable English writers... many pages (Blake, Lord Tennyson) Definitely poets are NOT skimped here, you'll find many great ones here that other books won't have.)

So don't get me wrong, it's not bad, and some of my favs DO have lots of quotes here and lines and poems. I just wish it had more, and it has tons n tons! =)

Not my cup of tea2
The following comments refer to the second (1955) edition. Let us hope the third edition is substantially improved.

A stuffy, dated, donnish, and relentlessly Anglocentric compilation, reeking of the classics curriculum at Oxford. According to the preface, familiarity is the chief criterion for inclusion. Familiarity to whom, for heaven's sake? Professors of antique languages and literatures? Horace gets seven pages. Emily Dickinson gets two lines, as does Hawthorne. Melville and Conrad get nothing at all. "The horror! The horror!"

********** TEN STARS!5
Who said what, when and for what reason? If it's been said, written, shouted, exclaimed or moaned in a breathy sigh, you'll find it recorded here. Three-thousand years worth of quotes from everyone who has ever been anyone: generals, saints, writers, actors, politicians, judges, criminals, heroes, the infamous, the dying, the triumphant, the fictional and the mythical. In this magnficent volume you can search either by an individual name and see all listings for that person, or by subject, and see all recorded passages about whatever topic you wish to investigate. Great for public speakers, students, writers, or lovers of wit, excoriation, or profundity, and absolutely deserving of the word "Encyclopedia" in its title.