Literary, Historical, and Mythological References in Amber

[weilide]

This is a list that I started on the Amberpedia wiki. It would be nice to come up with a comprehensive list. I'll try to fill it out a little bit over time.

Shakespeare, William.

Sartre, Jean-Paul. No Exit.

Sisyphus.

Everett, Hugh. John Archibald Wheeler. "Many Worlds" interpretation of quantum mechanics.

Turing, Alan. Turing Test.

Peake, Marvin. The Gormenghast Trilogy.

Arthurian Legend.

Carroll, Lewis. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Through the Looking-Glass.

Jackson, Polly.

Henry of Navarre. (See Gregory of Tours' History of the Franks)
Yggdrasil.

Keats, John. "La Belle Dame Sans Merci."

Tree of Life, kabbalah.

Wagner, Richard. Die Walküre. (See especially Brünnhilde trapped within the ring of fire).

Frost, Robert.

[RPGPundit]

I would mention that Oberon himself might be a reference to traditional english Faerie folklore.

I often think of Corwin's character, and the overall writing style of the novels, as an homage to Hemmingway.

There are a number of Jazz references, courtesy of Random.
And I believe that Droppa's act is said to be a rip-off of George Carlin.

There's so many others, this would be quite the task.

RPGPundit

[weilide]

I would mention that Oberon himself might be a reference to traditional english Faerie folklore.

I often think of Corwin's character, and the overall writing style of the novels, as an homage to Hemmingway.
RPGPundit

Yes! Actually, in Midsummer Night's Dream Puck addresses Oberon as "King of Shadows" (Act Three, Scene Two).

I can definitely see Hemmingway in Corwin. I also see a lot of Dashiell Hammett / Sam Spade in there. I can almost hear Humphrey Bogart narrating sometimes.

[Corambis]

There was a famous actress named Merle Oberon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merle_Oberon), whose name obviously caught my attention when I first saw it.  This may just be coincidence, or a case of the names being taken from a similar source.  It is interesting to note that Merle Oberon had two heritages though, being half Indian, and half British.