Set in 1960s Britain, the third novel of Byatt's Frederica Potter quartet follows Frederica through a bitter custody battle over her son while an obscenity trial unfolds around 'Babbletower,' a violent underground novel that echoes and comments on her own story.
Books mentioned in Babel Tower (83)
Women in Love by D. H. Lawrence: “Frederica 'feels involved in Women in Love, which is a book about which she feels a fierce ambivalence'; subject of her own lecture on love and marriage.”
Howards End by E. M. Forster: “Frederica writes a lecture comparing 'love and marriage in Howards End and Women in Love'; 'Only connect' recurs as a motif.”
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert: “On Frederica's teaching reading list: 'Madame Bovary, The Idiot, Middlemarch, The Castle, Anna Karenina...'”
Middlemarch by George Eliot: “Same reading-list sentence: 'Madame Bovary, The Idiot, Middlemarch, The Castle, Anna Karenina, I think Mansfield Park, perhaps La Nausée.'”
The Castle by Franz Kafka: “Among the books burned in the 'Skoob' happening: 'The Castle, The Trial, The Idiot, Madame Bovary...'”
The Trial by Franz Kafka: “Same book-burning list of Frederica's teaching texts.”
The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky: “Appears repeatedly in Frederica's reading lists and the burned-books scene.”
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy: “Listed among the novels Frederica teaches and later sees burned.”
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen: “Listed among Frederica's teaching texts: '...Anna Karenina, I think Mansfield Park, perhaps La Nausée.'”
Nausea (La Nausée) by Jean-Paul Sartre: “'She has chosen Death in Venice, La Nausée, The Castle, all of which are still to come.'”
La Chute (The Fall) by Albert Camus: “Named in the burned-books list: '...La Chute, The Age of Reason, Lord of the Flies, Free Fall...'”
The Age of Reason by Jean-Paul Sartre: “Same burned-books list, grouped with Camus, Golding and Lawrence as mid-century fiction: '...La Chute, The Age of Reason, Lord of the Flies, Free Fall, Women in Love, Howards End.'”
Lord of the Flies by William Golding: “Named in the same burned-books list of Frederica's course texts.”
Free Fall by William Golding: “Named alongside Lord of the Flies in the burned-books list.”
Paradise Lost by John Milton: “'a class in Calverley coming to grips with Paradise Lost'; also among books set alight in the Skoob scene: 'Paradise Lost, Euripides, Dr. Faustus.'”
Death in Venice by Thomas Mann: “'She has chosen Death in Venice, La Nausée, The Castle, all of which are still to come.'”
Doctor Faustus by Thomas Mann: “Section epigraph directly credits Mann's own account of writing it: '(Thomas Mann, Die Entstehung des Dr. Faustus)'; also named twice more as 'Dr. Faustus' among Frederica's course texts and the burned books.”
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky: “A man 'hearing The Brothers Karamazov read on the wireless' is seized with a violent impulse.”
Bleak House by Charles Dickens: “'a class in Scarborough reading Bleak House' in Frederica's imagined alternate life.”
The Birth of Tragedy by Friedrich Nietzsche: “'I got a lot out of The Birth of Tragedy from the Spirit of Music, I nicked dear John's copy.'”
In the Penal Colony by Franz Kafka: “'I read another story by Kafka, "The Penal Colony," in which there is a terrible instrument of torture...'”
The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien: “Daniel reads it to Leo as 'his favourite book'; a school frieze depicts Bilbo and the dwarves.”
The Lord of the Rings by J R R Tolkien: “'His publisher wanted to reject The Lord of the Rings and it was published as a profit-sharing venture.' A description of Orthanc is also used as a section epigraph.”
Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy: “Jude Mason is asked, 'Would I be wrong in suggesting that you chose Jude as a tribute to Thomas Hardy's hero Jude the Obscure?'”
Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence: “Its 1960 obscenity trial is the explicit real-world model for the Babbletower trial; discussed at length in court.”
The Rainbow by D. H. Lawrence: “'Ulysses, Lady Chatterley's Lover, The Rainbow "discharge their emotions inside the book itself, producing the catharsis of art."'”
Ulysses by James Joyce: “Repeatedly invoked as the benchmark of great, 'static' literature during the trial testimony.”
Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby Jr.: “Author's Note explains its 1967 obscenity trial as a model for Babbletower's fictional trial.”
The 120 Days of Sodom by Marquis de Sade: “Jude's 'Tour Bruyarde' is called 'plagiarised from the terrible Marquis's Château de Silling in The 120 Days of Sodom.'”
The Scourge of the Swastika by Edward Frederic Langley Russell: “Prosecution cites it alongside Sade as reading material in the (real) Moors Murders case.”
Saint Genet by Jean-Paul Sartre: “'like Jean-Paul Sartre's Saint Genet, in his book of that name' — an expert witness compares Jude Mason to Genet.”
The Olympia Reader by Maurice Girodias: “A witness quotes 'a passage from Maurice Girodias's Olympia Reader, which I criticised in my book.'”
Marat/Sade by Peter Weiss: “Described in full: 'The Persecution and Assassination of Marat as Performed by the Inmates of Charenton under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade.'”
Saved by Edward Bond: “A theatrical witness 'speaks with enthusiasm of Edward Bond's Saved.'”
The Maids by Jean Genet: “'He speaks of Genet's Maids and Balcony' in trial testimony about transgressive theatre.”
The Balcony by Jean Genet: “Named alongside The Maids in the same testimony.”
Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake: “Babbletower is said to appeal to 'the disciples of Artaud and Peter Brooke, Gormenghast and Burroughs.'”
Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs: “'Daring is Naked Lunch, is Allen Ginsberg, is Artaud' in a discussion of transgressive literature.”
Confessions by Jean-Jacques Rousseau: “Jude Mason testifies: 'He gave me Rousseau's Confessions. Rousseau couldn't reach orgasm without being whipped.'”
Confessions of an English Opium Eater by Thomas De Quincey: “'Frederica writes: Thomas de Quincey: Confessions of an English Opium-Eater' on a reading list.”
Areopagitica by John Milton: “'I would quote John Milton's Areopagitica: "I cannot praise a fugitive and cloistered virtue..."'”
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson: “'In 1963 Rachel Carson's Silent Spring was published in England, and Jacqueline gave a copy to Marcus.'”
King Lear by William Shakespeare: “'King Lear is a great and terrible tragedy. Are you comparing Babbletower to that kind of work?'”
Venus and Adonis by William Shakespeare: “Jude Mason's mentor's poetic tastes: 'Shakespeare. The sonnets. The early poems. Venus and Adonis.'”
The Rape of Lucrece by William Shakespeare: “Named in the same passage as Venus and Adonis.”
The Ballad of Reading Gaol by Oscar Wilde: “'Oscar Wilde, by extension. The Ballad of Reading Gaol. "Each man kills the thing he loves."'”
Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie: “Jude Mason 'repudiates this, quoting Peter Pan about being a little chicken sprung from the egg.'”
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi by Rudyard Kipling: “'one child has read Rikki-Tikki-Tavi' during a discussion of snakes.”
Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis: “'the burning of the blankets in Lucky Jim' cited by a taxi-driver as the only funny bit in a novel.”
The Wizard of Oz by L Frank Baum: “'The story also has all sorts of echoes (unintentional, I imagine) of The Wizard of Oz.'”
Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti: “'I had better stop writing this long letter and go back to marking essays on Goblin Market.'”
Don Juan by George Gordon Byron: “'Frederica assumes he votes Tory—it is part of his illicit attraction, like Don Juan, like Byron.'”
The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan: “Jude Mason on his childhood story-templates: '...the story of Pilgrim's Progress and the story of The Coral Island.'”
The Coral Island by R. M. Ballantyne: “Named in the same passage as Pilgrim's Progress.”
Bells and Pomegranates by Robert Browning: “Hugh Pink, naming his own poems: 'Can't call it "Bells and Pomegranates," that's spoken for.'”
Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge: “'She writes down "Kubla Khan," The Ancient Mariner, "The Immortality Ode"...' on a reading list.”
Ode: Intimations of Immortality by William Wordsworth: “Quoted at length and attributed as a section epigraph: 'William Wordsworth, "Ode: Intimations of Immortality."'”
Hyperion by John Keats: “On Frederica's reading list, alongside other Romantic poems: 'She writes down "Kubla Khan," The Ancient Mariner, "The Immortality Ode," "The Death of Hyperion."'”
Burnt Norton (Four Quartets) by T. S. Eliot: “Quoted as a section epigraph, attributed 'T. S. Eliot, Four Quartets, "Burnt Norton."'”
Death's Echo by W. H. Auden: “Quoted as a section epigraph: 'W. H. Auden, "Death's Echo," 1936.'”
Circe by W. H. Auden: “Quoted as a section epigraph: 'W. H. Auden, "Circe."'”
Peter Quince at the Clavier by Wallace Stevens: “Credited on the copyright page as an excerpt reprinted 'from Collected Poems by Wallace Stevens.'”
Life Against Death by Norman O. Brown: “Quoted at length as a section epigraph: '(Norman O. Brown, "Death and Childhood," Life Against Death, p. 113).'”
Politics of Ecstasy by Timothy Leary: “Credited on the copyright page and quoted in epigraphs of Leary's psychedelic lectures.”
The Ground of Our Being by Paul Tillich: “A copy is burned in the 'Skoob' happening: 'the next one down, however, is Tillich's The Ground of Our Being.'”
Honest to God by John A. T. Robinson: “Burned alongside Tillich's book: 'below that, Bishop Robinson's Honest to God.'”
Songs of Innocence and of Experience by William Blake: “'facsimiles of the contrary "Nurse's Song" and "Nurses Song" from Blake's Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience.'”
Visions of the Daughters of Albion by William Blake: “'I can't make head or tail of the Visions of the Daughters of Albion, I thought of chanting them.'”
The Tyger by William Blake: “'illustrations to William Blake's poems "The Lamb," "The Tiger," "The Little Boy Lost," "The Clod and the Pebble" celebrate the school's name.'”
The Lamb by William Blake: “Named in the same corridor-illustrations sentence as The Tyger, The Little Boy Lost, and The Clod and the Pebble.”
The Little Boy Lost by William Blake: “Named in the same corridor-illustrations sentence as The Tyger, The Lamb, and The Clod and the Pebble.”
The Clod and the Pebble by William Blake: “Named in the same corridor-illustrations sentence as The Tyger, The Lamb, and The Little Boy Lost.”
A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift: “'Swift's Modest Proposal for solving the Irish problem by roasting and stewing the infant Irish' invoked as a comparison during the trial.”
Emma by Jane Austen: “Essay topic Frederica sets: 'Show the different methods by which Jane Austen invites and discourages the reader's sympathy for Emma Woodhouse and/or Fanny Price.'”
Beauty and the Beast by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont: “'She's closed off from us, like Beauty and the Beast, like Gwendolen and Grandcourt, and one of these days she'll turn up with bag and baggage.'”
Little Red Riding Hood by Charles Perrault: “'a well-meaning young woman has done a pretty Perrault and give me your opinion of her Puss-in-Boots and her Little Red Riding Hood.'”
Puss in Boots by Charles Perrault: “Named in the same 'pretty Perrault' passage as Little Red Riding Hood.”
Sleeping Beauty: “'He thinks about spindles, touches on Sleeping Beauty and her pricked finger, goes back to Persephone, dreaming girls who have eaten forbidden bloody seeds.'”
The Theatre and Its Double by Antonin Artaud: “'The new theatre is based on Artaud's Theatre of Cruelty.'”