# Literary Works Instantly Identifiable By A Single Image **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 25, 2007, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-works-instantly-identifiable-by-a-single-image/393595 "2007-02-25T08:54:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2007, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-works-instantly-identifiable-by-a-single-image/393595/41 "2007-02-26T15:05:52Z")
I think everyone has the same image for [The Great Gatsby](http://www.gmu.edu/library/specialcollections/ms4.gif). ---
**Author:** ![Sunrazor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sunrazor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunrazor)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2007, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-works-instantly-identifiable-by-a-single-image/393595/42 "2007-02-26T15:57:10Z")
We actually did some research on this during one of the graduate classes I’m taking. Two images most recognized by people who had never actually read the literary work: Robinson Crusoe and Gulliver’s Travels. ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2007, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-works-instantly-identifiable-by-a-single-image/393595/43 "2007-02-26T16:46:35Z")
A poster of a man’s face, with the caption BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU A little boy standing in front of a large, snow-covered hotel in the mountains. ---
**Author:** ![Cemetery\_Savior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@Cemetery\_Savior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cemetery_Savior)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2007, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-works-instantly-identifiable-by-a-single-image/393595/44 "2007-02-26T17:03:01Z")
Dammit, people! HOw am I supposed to concentrate with such an excellent thread?!!?!? Now someone has to compile all of these and give the hints/answers! I’m supposed to be working, or I’d try. [ul] [li]A line (left-to-right) of monkeys getting more upright, ending in a human.[/li][li]A picture of a man in a Yosemite-style lookout, looking at a distant forest fire and eating a can of beans.[/li][li]A burning book, with a high-temperature thermometer sitting on display.[/li][/ul] **Der Trihs** …how about a disheveled albino with a small vial of medicine. Or a monstrous black sword if the albino thing isn’t enough? -Cem ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2007, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-works-instantly-identifiable-by-a-single-image/393595/45 "2007-02-26T17:12:54Z")
A terrifying and horrific looking man menacing a young boy in a foggy, shadowy church courtyard, among the tombstones. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2007, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-works-instantly-identifiable-by-a-single-image/393595/46 "2007-02-26T18:01:14Z")
A teenage boy in Renaissance attire gesturing toward a young lady perched on a balcony. ---
**Author:** ![Gadarene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2007, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-works-instantly-identifiable-by-a-single-image/393595/47 "2007-02-26T18:12:51Z")
A man, beating his horse to death, surrounded by a crowd. ---
**Author:** ![sleestak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@sleestak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleestak)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2007, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-works-instantly-identifiable-by-a-single-image/393595/48 "2007-02-26T18:25:56Z")
A young woman standing on a stage, covered in blood, wiht her eyes wide open. Slee ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2007, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-works-instantly-identifiable-by-a-single-image/393595/49 "2007-02-26T18:30:17Z")
A black man and a white woman, in Renaissance-era clothing, embracing. ---
**Author:** ![Sevastopol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@Sevastopol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sevastopol)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2007, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-works-instantly-identifiable-by-a-single-image/393595/50 "2007-02-26T18:42:38Z")
Titles: A hunchback in a French Cathedral with a single tear welling would ring a bell. \*\* Hunchback of Notre Dame\*\* A madeleine partly just touched in a cafe beside a diary should stir some remembrances. \*\* Remembrance of Times Past\*\* A great, fat man in Elizabethan dress could be none other. \*\* Henry IV\*\* A philosopher-alchemist in discourse with a demon indicates a unique bargain taking place. \*\* Dr Faustus\*\* A sleepwalking woman who will not stop her handwashing motions speaks of a sad end. \*\* Macbeth\*\* A handful of dust. \*\* The Wasteland\*\* A damsel with a dulcimer. \*\* Xanadu\*\* A knight in armour alone and pale’ly loitering. \*\* La Belle Dame Sans Merci\*\* A woman’s derriere extended out an ill lit window. \*\* Canterbury Tales\*\* A gallant swordsman with a prominent nose. \*\* Cyrano de Bergerac\*\* A painting in an attic showing the decay of a handsome young man. \*\* Portrait of Dorian Gray\*\* A prism monolith. \*\* The Sentinel \*\* (2001 is the film) A blind young man in the dress of ancient greeks, blood streaming from his eye-sockets. \*\* King Oedipus\*\* A blind old man in ancient dress, blood streaming from his eye sockets. \*\* King Lear\*\* ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2007, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-works-instantly-identifiable-by-a-single-image/393595/51 "2007-02-26T19:39:57Z")
[QUOTE=Sevastopol] A great, fat man in Elizabethan dress could be none other. \*\* Henry IV\*\* [/QUOTE] I didn’t know Bolingbroke was overweight, although his grandson’s cousin’s son is often portrayed as very fat. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2007, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-works-instantly-identifiable-by-a-single-image/393595/52 "2007-02-26T19:40:34Z")
[QUOTE=Cemetery Savior] **Der Trihs** …how about a disheveled albino with a small vial of medicine. Or a monstrous black sword if the albino thing isn’t enough? [/QUOTE] The Elric series ! If answers are desired . . . [QUOTE=Der Trihs] An old man with long grey hair and a beard in a grey robe, armed with a sword and a staff. He stands on a stone bridge, facing a flaming demonic being. **The Fellowship of the Ring** A man with fangs in formal clothing holding a woman in old style English clothing who has two bleeding marks on her neck. **Dracula** A man with pointed ears, black skin, white hair, and red eyes holding a scimitar in either hand, with a black panther next to him. **The Drizzt Do’Urden books by RA Salvatore** A man on a white horse with blue eyes, facing a pass filled with a huge army all in black armor. **Magic’s Price by Mercedes Lackey** A bowman aiming a black arrow at a vast red dragon flying far overhead. **The Hobbit** A furred snake with the head of a cat. **A World Out of Time by Larry Niven** A young man with a huge sword covered in blue flames, facing a man in black robes and a steel mask, wielding a black sword. **Enchanter’s End Game by David Eddings** A small, pretty woman with black hair, flanked by a handsome man, and another man who is handsome on one side, and terribly scarred on the other. **The Anita Blake : Vampire Hunter series by Laurell Hamilton** A young red headed man with a winged snake. **The Flinx of the Commonwealth series by Alan Dean Foster** A man with a knife falling out of an opening in his arm into his hand. **The Sten series by Allen Cole and Chris Bunch** A man with the head of a jackal facing the huge black shadow of a horse. He holds a silver bridle in one hand. **Creatures of Light and Darkness by Roger Zelazny** A long haired man armed with sword and rifle, riding what looks like a velociraptor, surrounded by larger aliens with four arms who are riding the same sort of creatures. **The Empire of Man series by David Weber and John Ringo** A man in blue and black armor standing before a smallish bridge, wielding a M-16 in either hand. An army of skeletal riders is approaching **The Thor comic; the issue with the Executioner’s stand at the Gjallerbru** [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![Tracy\_Lord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@Tracy\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tracy_Lord)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2007, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-works-instantly-identifiable-by-a-single-image/393595/53 "2007-02-26T19:56:10Z")
[QUOTE=saoirse] I didn’t know Bolingbroke was overweight, although his grandson’s cousin’s son is often portrayed as very fat. [/QUOTE] …not quite, but his half-brother’s great-great-grandson was a bit of a doozy. Which I can happen when you pastime with good company! (If you must be pedantic, also please note that the thread title reads “Literary _Works_,” not characters. ;)) ---
**Author:** ![NailBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecae2f/32.png) [@NailBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NailBunny)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2007, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-works-instantly-identifiable-by-a-single-image/393595/54 "2007-02-26T19:58:36Z")
A beautiful young woman, a handsome rogue, a man in checkered trousers and another in a loincloth playing a flute, seated at a table around a mummified corpse. A row of children in drab, similar clothing, each bouncing a ball in exact time with the rest. A young woman in a prom dress, covered in blood. A young man lounging on a beach with a typewriter and a bottle of rum. A noticably headless man on the back of a wild black horse, waving an axe. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2007, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-works-instantly-identifiable-by-a-single-image/393595/55 "2007-02-26T21:18:26Z")
[QUOTE=glee] …A man with a deerstalker hat hailing a hansom cab. [/QUOTE] One tiny quibble. The deerstalker hat is not for urban wear. It’s more suitable wear for–say–a foggy moor. But I would surely recognize a tall, aquiline figure in late Victorian genleman’s dress striding through the _urban_ fog–perhaps towards a hansom cab. Followed by a shorter, stockier gentleman with a slight limp. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2007, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-works-instantly-identifiable-by-a-single-image/393595/56 "2007-02-26T21:27:22Z")
Let’s try it a bit differently. Yes, a man in a loincloth would instantly bring to mind Tarzan, but would we instantly guess Tarzan if the very same picture was painted over so he was wearing a tuxedo. How many of the above would fail that test? See what I mean? Paint Hamlet (as in my OP) in any style of dress, but have him holding Yorick’s skull, and 999 times out of a 1000 we’d all still guess “Hamlet.” And I consider myself pretty well-read, but some of the fantasy series mentioned in clues left me scratching my head. I doubt a great many people (even very intelligent ones) would know of scenes from Eddings or Niven’s every series. Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2007, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-works-instantly-identifiable-by-a-single-image/393595/57 "2007-02-26T21:47:54Z")
A guy wih very long dark brown hair, face painted blue, wearing a kilt. ---
**Author:** ![SiXSwordS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@SiXSwordS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiXSwordS)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2007, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-works-instantly-identifiable-by-a-single-image/393595/58 "2007-02-26T22:10:09Z")
A woman in mid nineteenth century American dress standing in front of a burning Southern Plantation. (A bit confusing if you put her in a tuxedo I think) A family of Okies riding in a 1930’s era pick-up. (Tuxedoes get you the Beverly Hillbillies.) A man with the head of an ass and some fairies dancing around. And I think a top five would have to be: A young man with a glowing blue sword fighting a tall guy with a black life-support helmet and a glowing pink sword. (FWIW, I think the kids whitewashing the fence might be number one.) On the obscure side: A man with bright red hair diving off a tall rock face into a pond. Two monks, one old and one young, walking toward a remote abbey. And, one to make everyone wretch: A man and a woman in a dark museum in front of the Mona Lisa with words, So Dark the Con of Man written across it. I guess that should be a dead, naked man posed to resemble Vitruvian man with the words, “Oh, lame Saint” written in blood above his head. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2007, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-works-instantly-identifiable-by-a-single-image/393595/59 "2007-02-26T22:43:11Z")
[QUOTE=NailBunny] A row of children in drab, similar clothing, each bouncing a ball in exact time with the rest. A noticably headless man on the back of a wild black horse, waving an axe. [/QUOTE] Those two would be **A Wrinkle in Time** and **The Legend of Sleepy Hollow**. (I might have added in one little boy chasing his ball out of sight, in the background for AWIT though, along a row of children jumping rope in time with the children playing ball.) ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2007, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-works-instantly-identifiable-by-a-single-image/393595/60 "2007-02-26T22:55:39Z")
[QUOTE=Sir Rhosis] Yes, a man in a loincloth would instantly bring to mind Tarzan, but would we instantly guess Tarzan if the very same picture was painted over so he was wearing a tuxedo. How many of the above would fail that test? See what I mean? Paint Hamlet (as in my OP) in any style of dress, but have him holding Yorick’s skull, and 999 times out of a 1000 we’d all still guess “Hamlet.” [/QUOTE] I don’t understand your quibble. Taking away Tarzan’s loincloth is like taking away Hamlet’s skull. It is the thing which identifies the character. I agree with your quibble about the fantasy titles, though. I got the impression from the OP that we were looking for images that would call to mind a particular literary work for _most people_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-works-instantly-identifiable-by-a-single-image/393595.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-works-instantly-identifiable-by-a-single-image/393595.md?page=4)