The Line of Beauty - Allusions To Other Works

Allusions To Other Works

• The novel is dedicated to journalist and short-story writer Francis Wyndham.
• An excerpt from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is quoted before the first section. Nick is said to like Alexander Pope more than William Wordsworth. Lord Kessler praises Anthony Trollope after Nick picks up his copy of The Way We Live Now. Nick goes on to say he prefers the style of Henry James, Joseph Conrad and George Meredith. Later, Jenny Groom says she has read Mister Johnson by Joyce Cary. Wani is said to have books by William Shakespeare, George Eliot's Middlemarch and Henry Fielding's Tom Jones in his bedroom. In the Feddens's house in France, there are copies of books by Frederick Forsyth. Later Nick has a book of verse by John Berryman.
• Sophie is to play Lady Agatha in Oscar Wilde's Lady Windermere's Fan. At the end, Nick compares the Feddens to William Shakespeare's Pericles, Prince of Tyre.
• The Feddens have a painting by Francesco Guardi in their house. Leo's mother has a replica of William Holman Hunt's The Shadow of Death in her house. She also mentions his The Light of the World. Lord Kessler has a painting by Paul Cézanne and Rembrandt, and is said to have a Kandinsky. Later in the narrative Howard Hodgkin is mentioned. Lord Kessler gives them a painting by Paul Gauguin.
• Leo and Nick go to the cinema to see Scarface. Together, they have seen Rumble Fish and Federico Fellini's And the Ship Sails On. Later at the pool, a man asks Wani if he has seen A Room with a View. Later, Merchant Ivory Productions is mentioned, along with Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket.
• Leo plays some Mozart at the piano, which is said to sound like Bach; Liszt is also mentioned with regard to Toby. Moreover, Nick says he doesn't like Richard Strauss and prefers Richard Wagner. The Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra is mentioned. In Wani's parents's bedroom, Vivaldi's The Four Seasons can be heard when the curtains are being closed. Later, Nina plays Chopin, Schubert, Beethoven, Busoni and Khachaturian. Kiri Te Kanawa is mentioned. Nick is said to like Anton Bruckner. At the end, Catherine plays Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances and dances like Natalia Makarova.
• Nick quotes phrases from Henry James's The Outcry and The High Bid. Later, he says he is working on a film adaptation of The Spoils of Poynton with Wani – he mentions Ezra Pound, who said it was a book about furniture. In France, he reads A Small Boy and Others. Later, the film adaptation of The Bostonians is mentioned. The Portrait of a Lady is also mentioned at the end.
• André Charles Boulle is mentioned with regard to Pete.
• Architects Aston Webb, along with Christopher Wren and Francesco Borromini are alluded to. Nick is also said to have read books by Nikolaus Pevsner.
• Nick suspects Lord Kessler's wedding anniversary present to the Feddens is by Paul de Lamerie.
• Catherine plays The Clash. Nick and Margaret Thatcher later dance to Get off of My Cloud by The Rolling Stones.
• Morgan le Fay is mentioned.