# 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:** 7\ **Page:** 4
**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, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-works-instantly-identifiable-by-a-single-image/393595/61 "2007-02-26T22:56:44Z")
[QUOTE=Sir Rhosis] 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. [/QUOTE] But the people who actually read the books would. I lack an interest in most classic literature, and don’t recognize most of those images; that’s not because those images aren’t iconic of those works. ---
**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, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-works-instantly-identifiable-by-a-single-image/393595/62 "2007-02-26T22:59:45Z")
I suppose I was looking for (but did not make it clear in my OP) scenes that instantly identified a work. Hamlet and Yorick’s skull, Gulliver being tied by the Lilliputians. Tarzan in a loincloth could be from any of the 24 ERB novels. But… it’s no big deal. I’m enjoying the thread as it is. My only real quibble, and I wonder if I’m alone in this, is that a lot of unmemorable stuff is being thrown in. But a thread has a life of its own… Sir Rhosis ---
**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, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-works-instantly-identifiable-by-a-single-image/393595/63 "2007-02-26T23:09:08Z")
Just reread my own OP. I did say “characters/scenes,” so my quibbling is in error. Sorry. Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![enigm4tic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@enigm4tic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enigm4tic)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2007, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-works-instantly-identifiable-by-a-single-image/393595/64 "2007-02-26T23:13:42Z")
> [@](#): > > A man with bright red hair diving off a tall rock face into a pond. Fountainhead I presume? The fellowship of the Ring could also be the ring itself; a burning eye at the top of a tower (even before the movie), a depiction of all the members of the fellowship ---
**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2007, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-works-instantly-identifiable-by-a-single-image/393595/65 "2007-02-26T23:23:47Z")
An old man with a long white beard and a pointed cap smiling enigmatically at a boy pulling a sword from a stone. A clown smiling evilly at a child from a gutter drain in the street. A pig watching a spider build a web. A girl witching a rabbit wearing a waistcoat go down a hole. A mother figure surrounded by four young girls of various ages, dressed in early 1900’s style, one girl playing a piano, the rest sewing or reading. A boy and a huge black horse standing on the shore of a deserted island. A young girl standing next to a noble-looking lion, a stone table in the background. A young thin boy holding a golden ticket. A young boy in a green cap, flying with a tiny fairy. ---
**Author:** ![SiXSwordS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@SiXSwordS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiXSwordS)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-works-instantly-identifiable-by-a-single-image/393595/66 "2007-02-27T16:28:43Z")
[QUOTE=enigm4tic] Fountainhead I presume? [/quote] Yes. Maybe that was distinctly unmemorable, sorry. Maybe I can atone for my error with: A prince with a glass slipper at the foot of a disheveled young woman. or A small, ugly man spinning straw into gold while a young woman looks on. or A young boy and girl coming out of a dense forest and approaching a house made of gingerbread. Do those count? ---
**Author:** ![CJJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@CJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJJ)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-works-instantly-identifiable-by-a-single-image/393595/67 "2007-02-27T17:37:06Z")
For those of you having trouble with some of the “obvious” examples given in this thread,Ithink it’s interesting to note that in viewing a lot of art from the ancient world we are in exactly this position: A character/scene from mythology which was instantly identifiable to folks alive at the time, but which today seems obscure. I was in Rome a few years ago touring the [Domus Aurea](http://www.utexas.edu/courses/figura/latin506/fall98/projects/g/982G2.htm). Like many ancient houses this one was filled with wall paintings, and in one room there was a ceiling painting showing a single boy standing with a sword and shield in the middle of a group of women looking at the floor (I managed to find this image on-line [here](http://wings.buffalo.edu/AandL/Maecenas/rome/domus_aurea/ac990624.html). Being as well-read in the classics as I am, I was able to identify the scene immediately before the tour guide did, something that impressed the young lady I was with; any guesses? To return to the OP, it seems to me the phenomenon is quite common; Hagiographic art has depended on prop symbology for centuries (it’s why St. Peter is always depicted holding keys, while St. Joseph always carried a carpenter’s square). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-works-instantly-identifiable-by-a-single-image/393595.md?page=3)