Literary works

The following literary works, references or authors have been mentioned or shown in the series to date. Please see their main articles for details; this page is primarily for listing.

After All These Years

by Susan Isaacs

• While Sawyer recovers inside the Swan, this book is seen next to him.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Adventures of Alice in Wonderland

by Lewis Carroll

• Locke mentions this novel when speaking to Jack about the White Rabbit in "White Rabbit" (Season One).
• The episode title "White Rabbit" is a reference to the character of the same name.
• Ben uses a white rabbit in "Every Man For Himself" (Season 3) to intimidate Sawyer

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret

by Judy Blume

• Sawyer is seen reading this book in "The Whole Truth" (Season Two). He says it's "Predictable. Not nearly enough sex," when Sun approaches him.

Bad Twin

by "Gary Troup"

• Hurley is reading the manuscript for Bad Twin in "The Long Con".
• Sawyer is reading the manuscript in "Two for the Road".

Bible, The

• Mr. Eko gives Locke a book that he found in the Arrow. When Locke opens the book, he realizes that it is the Bible and also finds that part of the center of the book has been removed. Inside this opening is a missing piece of the Swan Orientation Film.
• A Bible is also on display on the bookshelf in Jack's office in "A Tale of Two Cities" (Season Three).

Brothers Karamazov, The

by Fyodor Dostoevsky

• Locke gave this book to Ben (who was then claiming to be "Henry Gale") for reading in "Maternity Leave" (Season Two), to which Ben replied, "You don't have any Stephen King?"

Carrie

by Stephen King

• The book that Juliet and the other members of the book club are reading in "A Tale of Two Cities" (Season Three).

Dirty Work

by Stuart Woods

• This book is shown on the bookshelf in the Swan hatch during "Orientation" (Season Two).
• A copy of this book is also displayed on the bookshelf in Jack's office in "A Tale of Two Cities" (Season Three).

Epic of Gilgamesh, The

• The crossword puzzle that Locke is solving in "Collision" (Season Two) contains a clue referencing "The Epic of Gilgamesh".

Harry Potter

• While no specific book in the J.K. Rowling series is mentioned, Hurley does mention Harry when commenting on how Sawyer looks wearing his new glasses in "Deus Ex Machina" (Season One).

Heart of Darkness

by Joseph Conrad

• In "Numbers" (Season One), Charlie tells Hurley, "One minute you're happy-go-lucky, good-time Hurley, and the next you're Colonel bloody Kurtz!"
  • Colonel Kurtz is a character in the 1979 film Apocalypse Now, which is based on Heart of Darkness.

Hemingway, Ernest

• Locke and Ben both mention him in comparison to Dostoevsky.

Hindsight

by Peter Wright

• While Sawyer is recovering inside the Swan, this book is seen next to him.

Hume, David

• An 18th century Scottish philosopher, influenced by John Locke.
  • The likely namesake of Desmond.

I Ching

• Ideograms from the I Ching appear in the DHARMA logos.

Jack's Bookshelf

• Identified from A Tale of Two Cities; see main article.

Julius Caesar

• Sawyer says to Locke, "You too, Brutus?", in "Two for the Road" (Season Two). This is a reference to the famous quote, "Et tu, Brute?", which are Caesar's last words in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. According to the chronicles, his last words were actually "Tu quoque, mi fili? ["You too, my son?"]" or even "Kaï sù, tèknon?", which is the same question, in Greek.

Juvenal

• Quotes from this Roman author are found on the Blast Door Map.

Lancelot

by Walker Percy

• Sawyer was reading this on the beach in "Maternity Leave" when Kate asked him for a gun.
• The title of this book references, in turn, the entire Arthurian canon.

Li Bai

• An early Tang Dynasty (618-907) poem by Chinese poet Li Bai, "Third Eye Ascended in Dreams" is seen as calligraphy in flashbacks of Jin and Sun's home.
• The content itself is surreal, being about a man who journeys far in a dream as though in a vivid parallel dimension, only to be abruptly awoken to the mundaneness and bitterness of reality. This is a paradox meaning that dreams can be better at revealing the truth than reality.

Locke, John

• John Locke was a 17th century English Enlightenment philosopher who wrote two treaties on government as well as other essays about man's role as a social being.

Lord of the Flies

by William Golding

• This novel is mentioned by Sawyer during "...In Translation" (Season One).
• In "What Kate Did" (Season Two), Charlie mentions how the Tailies went "all Lord of the Flies."
• The Oceanic Airlines website has a link to the Stephen King novel Hearts in Atlantis, which is about a boy who receives a copy of The Lord of the Flies and becomes enthralled by it.

Shannon has asthma, like Piggy. Sawyer needs glasses and the glasses are subsequently broken, like Piggy. Jack is the leader of the wild boys in the novel. The boys kill a boar and become crazed hunters in the novel. Sam and Eric are twins who are coerced to the dark side in the novel. (Bad Twin)

Lucan

• Quotes from this Roman author are found on the Blast Door Map.

Musset, Alfred de

• Locke attempts to recreate his brief sighting of the Blast Door Map on a page from a 1939 book of poems by Alfred de Musset, called Sur les Débuts de Melles Rachel et Pauline (Of the Debuts of Rachel and Pauline).

Mysterious Island, The

by Jules Verne

• In the novel, several people crash-land a balloon onto an island in the South Pacific (as the actual Henry Gale apparently did), where odd things happen.
• There is an orangutan called "Jupe" (short for "Jupiter") on the island. The Hanso Foundation's Joop is very likely a reference to this.

Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge, An

by Ambrose Bierce

• Locke is shown holding this book upside down, in the Swan, flipping through the pages as if he's trying to find loose papers between them.

Odyssey, The

• Epic Greek tale by Homer, sequel to The Iliad, with parallels to themes in Lost, particularly the story of Desmond and Penelope.

Of Mice and Men

by John Steinbeck

• Classic novel referenced by Sawyer and quoted by Ben in "Every Man for Himself".
• Sawyer is reading this book while in prison in Every Man For Himself.

Our Mutual Friend

by Charles Dickens

• Desmond had planned for this to be last book he reads before he dies.

Outsiders, The

by Susan E. Hinton

• In the flashback scene in the van during "Everybody Hates Hugo" (Season Two), Hurley's friend Johnny says to him, "Stay gold, Ponyboy." This is a reference to The Outsiders and this phrase being used in the book is, in turn, a reference to the Robert Frost poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay".

Plautus

• Quotes from this Roman author are found on the Blast Door Map.

Rainbow Six

by Tom Clancy

• This book is shown on the bookshelf in the Swan hatch during "Orientation" (Season Two).

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques

• Influential 18th century Swiss French philosopher who wrote The Social Contract and introduced the idea of the "noble savage".
  • Is likely the inspiration for Danielle Rousseau's name.

Stand, The

by Stephen King

• Damon Lindelof has said that this novel was a major influence on Lost. Several characters in that book share certain similarities with those on the island.

Tale of Two Cities, A

by Charles Dickens

• This is the title of the first episode of Season Three.
• Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse revealed in the official podcast that the "two cities" refer to the two seperate societies of the crash survivors and the Others.

Third Policement, The

by Flann O'Brien

• This book is seen when Desmond is gathering his things as he prepares to run from the Swan after Jack damages the computer.

To Kill a Mockingbird

by Harper Lee

• Before Juliet plays the fake movie for Jack, the movie she claims she is putting in is the classic film To Kill a Mockingbird, the 1962 Movie starring Gregory Peck, based on the 1960 novel of the same name.

• The mockingbird metaphor is that it is a sin to kill an innocent creature that is misunderstood; the protagonist (Atticus) follows his moral compass to defend the weak.
• It's also important to note that Juliet's cue cards say "Ben is a liar." Traditionally mockingbirds are used to represent liars, cheats, and pranksters - which is how Juliet is attempting to portray Ben in her video. Thus one could conclude that she chose the title of the movie in order to represent her overall plot to kill Ben.

Turn of the Screw, The

by Henry James

• In the Swan, Desmond tells Jack and Locke that the DHARMA Initiative orientation film is on the shelf behind this book.
• In the book Bad Twin, Manny Weissman compares The Turn of the Screw to other detective novels.

Virgil

• Quotes from this Roman author are found on the Blast Door Map.

Watership Down

by Richard Adams

• Kate finds Sawyer sitting on the beach reading this book. Boone said that he was reading it while on vacation in Australia. According to Sawyer, the book had just washed ashore.

Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The

by L. Frank Baum

• Henry Gale is the name of Dorothy's uncle. When initially captured, Ben (then insisting his name was "Henry Gale"} claimed to have come to the island in a balloon, as did the Wizard. The real Henry Gale apparently did.
• In The Hunting Party, Sawyer calls Mr. Friendly Zeke. Zeke is the name of the Cowardly Lion in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

Wrinkle in Time, A

by Madeleine L'Engle

• Sawyer is reading this book while Michael is working on the first raft.