Cultural Allusions
Some of the imagery in the book is inspired by Tarot art. For example, when Ganelon ties the golden-haired youth by one ankle to a tree branch, this mimics the Tarot card "The Hanged Man". The wheel that Corwin dreams about is inspired by the Tarot card "Wheel of Fortune".
In addition to being a character in French medieval literature, Ganelon is also the name of the main character in The Dark World by Henry Kuttner — one of the chronicles' main inspirations.
The poem about Avalon that Corwin quotes to Ganelon alludes to both Psalm 137 ("By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept when we remembered Zion") as well as to a classic nursery rhyme ("How many miles to Babylon? Threescore miles and ten").
Read more about this topic: The Guns Of Avalon
Famous quotes containing the word cultural:
“If in the earlier part of the century, middle-class children suffered from overattentive mothers, from being “mother’s only accomplishment,” today’s children may suffer from an underestimation of their needs. Our idea of what a child needs in each case reflects what parents need. The child’s needs are thus a cultural football in an economic and marital game.”
—Arlie Hochschild (20th century)