Literary References
Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll wrote two novels about Alice. The first was called Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and the second was called Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There. There are a number of references to these books in the Outlander series.
Part one of Dragonfly in Amber is entitled 'Through a looking glass, darkly' This references both Carroll's second book Through the Looking Glass and the biblical passage from 1 Corinthians 13:12
Call me Ishmael - Joe Abernathy complains that because his son Lenny has changed his name to Muhammad Ishmael Shabazz III, that makes Joe, Muhammad Ishmael Shabazz Junior. When a man walks into Joe's room and asks if he is Dr Abernathy, Joe quips 'Call me Ishmael' (V, chapter 20) 'Call me Ishmael' is the first sentence of the novel, Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Cock-Robin - Mother Hildegarde summons a nun who pops up "on the general order of Cock-Robin" (DIA, chapter 12). Presumably this is a reference to the nursery rhyme 'Who Killed Cock Robin?'
Don Quixote - After Jamie asks Murtagh to flog him for the carelessness that allowed the 16 year old John Grey to attack him, Claire asks Jamie if he knows the meaning of the word 'quixotic' (DIA, chapter 36) 'Quixotic' refers to an action which is characterised by extravagant and romantic chivalry and comes from the character Don Quixote in the book of the same name by Miguel de Cervantes
For whom the bell tolls - when Claire sees the highhanded entitled behaviour of the Vicomtesse de Rambeau she reflects that the Vicomtesse will likely lose her life in the forthcoming French Revolution, and remarks to Master Raymond, 'Ask not for whom the tumbril calls, it calls for thee'. (DIA, chapter 8) This is an illusion to the last lines of John Donne's poem, No Man is an Island, which read "And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." A tumbril was the name of the carts used during the French Revolution to carry victims to the guillotine
Fretful porpentine - when Claire wakes Jamie up with a fright by shouting 'Horrocks' she notes that his hair is standing on end like quills and tells him he looks like a 'fretful porpentine' (Outlander, chapter 23). This is from Hamlet, Act I, Scene V - the ghost of Hamlet's father tells Hamlet that he could tell him tales that would make "Thy knotted and combined locks to part, And each particular hair to stand on end, Like quills upon the fretful porpentine"
Gnome King - when Claire returns to find all the Lallybroch men in her room after being released from the Tolbooth she describes Murtagh as "perched on the bedstead like the Gnome King on a toadstool" (DIA, chapter 42) The Gnome King is a character from L. Frank Baum's Oz series of books
Hamish MacBeth - one of Jamie's Lallybroch men who accompanies him to fight Charles Stuart is called Hamish MacBeth (DIA, chapter 36) Hamish MacBeth is the title character of the Hamish MacBeth Mysteries by M.C.Beaton, a series of mystery novels set in the Scottish Highlands
Hawk from a handsaw - After sleeping one night, Jamie tells Claire he dreamed a lot about naked women and food, and Claire says she hopes he doesn't confuse the two. Jamie replies, "I can tell a hawk from a handsaw, when the wind sets north by nor'west ..." (V, chapter 33) Jamie is paraphrasing Hamlet, (Act II, scene II), "I am but mad north-north-west. When the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw."
Homer's Odyssey - when Jamie and Claire first arrive at Lallybroch, Jamie is greeted rapturously by the Lallybroch dogs and Claire compares this to Odysseus returning from the Trojan War and being recognised by his faithful hound. Jamie extends the metaphor by comparing himself to Odysseus returning home disguised as a beggar and having to deal with Penelope and her suitors (Outlander, chapter 26)
Humpty-Dumpty - Mr Overholt, the purser on board the Porpoise who is small, plump and bald, is described as peering out of the deep collar of his coat "like an undersized Humpty-Dumpty" (V, chapter 46)
Lymond Chronicles - in DIA Jamie writes something on the back of a broadsheet describing the scurrilous affair between the Comte de Sevigny and the wife of the Minister of Agriculture (DIA, chapter 9) The Comte de Sevigny is the title held by Francis Crawford of Lymond, the main character in Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles series
Merlin's stones - Claire refers to the stones at Craigh na Dun as Merlin's stones. Merlin is the sorcerer from the King Arthur legend. Geoffrey of Monmouth credits Merlin with transporting the stones of Stonehenge from Ireland to England (Outlander, chapter 25)
Paradise Lost - when Jamie tries to stop Young Ian from going with a prostitute on the night of the fire in the print shop, Claire asks him if it was the Archangel Michael who drove Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden (V, chapter 27) The angel is not named in the Bible (Genesis 3:24), but in Paradise Lost by John Milton, it is Michael whom God sends to escort Adam and Eve out of Paradise.
Pepys - Frank mentions Pepys in the lecture that Claire dreams about (DIA, chapter 10) This is a reference to the Diary of Samuel Pepys, a famous diary of daily life and observation in 17th century London kept by Samuel Pepys
Romeo and Juliet - in the aftermath of Claire and Jamie's scandalous dinner party when Alex Randall is lying unconscious on the landing after being punched out by Jamie and Mary Hawkins is lying next to him after being drugged by Claire, Claire muses that they "looked like Romeo and Juliet laid out in the public square as a reproach to their relatives" (DIA, chapter 19)
The Postman Always Rings Twice - this is the chapter title of chapter 34 of Dragonfly in Amber. It is the title of a crime novel written by James M. Cain in 1934 and later made into a movie. The meaning of the title is that the consequences of your actions will always catch up with you. If you don't hear the postman ring the first time, he will always ring a second time.
The Scarlet Letter - when Ian is taken from the seal's island and put onto a ship, Claire asks Jamie if the ship has a name and is surprised to learn that it is not common for ships to have names on them. Claire asks Jamie how you can tell which ship is which, and Jamie replies that he can tell Claire from other women and she doesn't have her name stitched upon her bosom. Claire flippantly replies, "Not so much as a letter 'A'", which goes right over Jamie's head (V, chapter 39) Claire is referring to Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, The Scarlet Letter, published in 1850, about a Puritan woman called Hester Prynne who is forced to wear a scarlet coloured letter A on her clothing to denote that she is an adulteress
Through the Looking Glass - the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll - refer to Alice in Wonderland above
Treasure Island - Claire quotes the first two lines of the song, Fifteen Men on a Dead Man's Chest, to Jamie when they learn the coins in the seal's treasure belonged to the Duke of Sandringham (V, chapter 40) This song is from Robert Louis Stevenson's book, Treasure Island
Westmoreland Dynasty Saga - Claire thinks she recognises the Duchess of Claymore at Versailles (DIA, chapter 9). The Duchess of Claymore is the title held by the heroines in the first two books in Judith McNaught's Westmoreland Dynasty Saga series - Whitney, My Love and A Kingdom of Dreams
Wife of Bath - when Claire explains the finer points of lovemaking to Jamie she feels like the Wife of Bath, a character from The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer (Outlander, chapter 15)
You Can't Go Home Again - this is the title of part five of Voyager. It is also the title of a book by Thomas Wolfe
Part one of Dragonfly in Amber is entitled 'Through a looking glass, darkly' This references both Carroll's second book Through the Looking Glass and the biblical passage from 1 Corinthians 13:12
Call me Ishmael - Joe Abernathy complains that because his son Lenny has changed his name to Muhammad Ishmael Shabazz III, that makes Joe, Muhammad Ishmael Shabazz Junior. When a man walks into Joe's room and asks if he is Dr Abernathy, Joe quips 'Call me Ishmael' (V, chapter 20) 'Call me Ishmael' is the first sentence of the novel, Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Cock-Robin - Mother Hildegarde summons a nun who pops up "on the general order of Cock-Robin" (DIA, chapter 12). Presumably this is a reference to the nursery rhyme 'Who Killed Cock Robin?'
Don Quixote - After Jamie asks Murtagh to flog him for the carelessness that allowed the 16 year old John Grey to attack him, Claire asks Jamie if he knows the meaning of the word 'quixotic' (DIA, chapter 36) 'Quixotic' refers to an action which is characterised by extravagant and romantic chivalry and comes from the character Don Quixote in the book of the same name by Miguel de Cervantes
For whom the bell tolls - when Claire sees the highhanded entitled behaviour of the Vicomtesse de Rambeau she reflects that the Vicomtesse will likely lose her life in the forthcoming French Revolution, and remarks to Master Raymond, 'Ask not for whom the tumbril calls, it calls for thee'. (DIA, chapter 8) This is an illusion to the last lines of John Donne's poem, No Man is an Island, which read "And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." A tumbril was the name of the carts used during the French Revolution to carry victims to the guillotine
Fretful porpentine - when Claire wakes Jamie up with a fright by shouting 'Horrocks' she notes that his hair is standing on end like quills and tells him he looks like a 'fretful porpentine' (Outlander, chapter 23). This is from Hamlet, Act I, Scene V - the ghost of Hamlet's father tells Hamlet that he could tell him tales that would make "Thy knotted and combined locks to part, And each particular hair to stand on end, Like quills upon the fretful porpentine"
Gnome King - when Claire returns to find all the Lallybroch men in her room after being released from the Tolbooth she describes Murtagh as "perched on the bedstead like the Gnome King on a toadstool" (DIA, chapter 42) The Gnome King is a character from L. Frank Baum's Oz series of books
Hamish MacBeth - one of Jamie's Lallybroch men who accompanies him to fight Charles Stuart is called Hamish MacBeth (DIA, chapter 36) Hamish MacBeth is the title character of the Hamish MacBeth Mysteries by M.C.Beaton, a series of mystery novels set in the Scottish Highlands
Hawk from a handsaw - After sleeping one night, Jamie tells Claire he dreamed a lot about naked women and food, and Claire says she hopes he doesn't confuse the two. Jamie replies, "I can tell a hawk from a handsaw, when the wind sets north by nor'west ..." (V, chapter 33) Jamie is paraphrasing Hamlet, (Act II, scene II), "I am but mad north-north-west. When the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw."
Homer's Odyssey - when Jamie and Claire first arrive at Lallybroch, Jamie is greeted rapturously by the Lallybroch dogs and Claire compares this to Odysseus returning from the Trojan War and being recognised by his faithful hound. Jamie extends the metaphor by comparing himself to Odysseus returning home disguised as a beggar and having to deal with Penelope and her suitors (Outlander, chapter 26)
Humpty-Dumpty - Mr Overholt, the purser on board the Porpoise who is small, plump and bald, is described as peering out of the deep collar of his coat "like an undersized Humpty-Dumpty" (V, chapter 46)
Lymond Chronicles - in DIA Jamie writes something on the back of a broadsheet describing the scurrilous affair between the Comte de Sevigny and the wife of the Minister of Agriculture (DIA, chapter 9) The Comte de Sevigny is the title held by Francis Crawford of Lymond, the main character in Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles series
Merlin's stones - Claire refers to the stones at Craigh na Dun as Merlin's stones. Merlin is the sorcerer from the King Arthur legend. Geoffrey of Monmouth credits Merlin with transporting the stones of Stonehenge from Ireland to England (Outlander, chapter 25)
Paradise Lost - when Jamie tries to stop Young Ian from going with a prostitute on the night of the fire in the print shop, Claire asks him if it was the Archangel Michael who drove Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden (V, chapter 27) The angel is not named in the Bible (Genesis 3:24), but in Paradise Lost by John Milton, it is Michael whom God sends to escort Adam and Eve out of Paradise.
Pepys - Frank mentions Pepys in the lecture that Claire dreams about (DIA, chapter 10) This is a reference to the Diary of Samuel Pepys, a famous diary of daily life and observation in 17th century London kept by Samuel Pepys
Romeo and Juliet - in the aftermath of Claire and Jamie's scandalous dinner party when Alex Randall is lying unconscious on the landing after being punched out by Jamie and Mary Hawkins is lying next to him after being drugged by Claire, Claire muses that they "looked like Romeo and Juliet laid out in the public square as a reproach to their relatives" (DIA, chapter 19)
The Postman Always Rings Twice - this is the chapter title of chapter 34 of Dragonfly in Amber. It is the title of a crime novel written by James M. Cain in 1934 and later made into a movie. The meaning of the title is that the consequences of your actions will always catch up with you. If you don't hear the postman ring the first time, he will always ring a second time.
The Scarlet Letter - when Ian is taken from the seal's island and put onto a ship, Claire asks Jamie if the ship has a name and is surprised to learn that it is not common for ships to have names on them. Claire asks Jamie how you can tell which ship is which, and Jamie replies that he can tell Claire from other women and she doesn't have her name stitched upon her bosom. Claire flippantly replies, "Not so much as a letter 'A'", which goes right over Jamie's head (V, chapter 39) Claire is referring to Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, The Scarlet Letter, published in 1850, about a Puritan woman called Hester Prynne who is forced to wear a scarlet coloured letter A on her clothing to denote that she is an adulteress
Through the Looking Glass - the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll - refer to Alice in Wonderland above
Treasure Island - Claire quotes the first two lines of the song, Fifteen Men on a Dead Man's Chest, to Jamie when they learn the coins in the seal's treasure belonged to the Duke of Sandringham (V, chapter 40) This song is from Robert Louis Stevenson's book, Treasure Island
Westmoreland Dynasty Saga - Claire thinks she recognises the Duchess of Claymore at Versailles (DIA, chapter 9). The Duchess of Claymore is the title held by the heroines in the first two books in Judith McNaught's Westmoreland Dynasty Saga series - Whitney, My Love and A Kingdom of Dreams
Wife of Bath - when Claire explains the finer points of lovemaking to Jamie she feels like the Wife of Bath, a character from The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer (Outlander, chapter 15)
You Can't Go Home Again - this is the title of part five of Voyager. It is also the title of a book by Thomas Wolfe