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The Lathe of Heaven Allusions & Cultural References

When authors refer to other great works, people, and events, it’s usually not accidental. Put on your super-sleuth hat and figure out why.

Literary and Philosophical References

  • A.A. Milne, Winne the Pooh and the Honey Tree (3.5)
  • Zen Buddhism (5.17)
  • The Darmachakra (7.96)
  • ALCU (5.18)
  • William Shakespeare (5.42)
  • Macbeth (11.2)
  • Hamlet (11.3)
  • Gordian Knot (5.103)
  • Lafcadio Hearn, Out of the East (6.0)
  • Aesop, The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs (6.21)
  • Victor Hugo, Travailleurs de la Mer (7.0)
  • Fyodor Dostoevsky (7.153)
  • The Golden Rule (8.54)
  • Jesus (9.17)
  • Buddha (9.17)
  • Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man (9.40)
  • Nirvana (9.120)
  • Victor Hugo, Les Contemplations (10.0)
  • "Praise God from whom all blessings flow," Protestant Christian Doxology (10.44)
  • T.S. Eliot, The Four Quartets (11.18)

Science Fiction References

Taoist References

  • Zhuangzi (1.0 and throughout)
  • Laozi, Tao Te Ching (5.0 and throughout)
  • Historical References
  • William C. Dement (2.97)
  • Eugene Aserinsky (2.97)
  • Hans Berger (2.97)
  • Ian Oswald (2.97)
  • Heinz Hartmann (2.97)
  • Sigmund Freud (2.97)
  • John Kennedy (3.59)
  • Abraham Lincoln (3.71)
  • Thomas Paine (4.40)
  • Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (4.65)
  • Reverend Thomas Malthus (5.33)
  • The Black Plague (6.45)
  • Apartheid in South Africa (6.49)
  • The 1812 Fire of Moscow (7.22)
  • Black Power (7.123)
  • The Back to Africa Movement (7.123)
  • Slavery (7.123)
  • Herbert Spencer, Principles of Biology (7.136)
  • Ludwig Van Beethoven, Große Fuge (8.27)
  • Pre-Civil Rights Era (9.17)
  • Abraham Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address (9.18)
  • Martin Luther King, Jr. (9.18)
  • Pompeii (9.30)
  • President Eisenhower (10.5)
  • Franz Shubert (10.19)
  • Napoleon Bonaparte (10.56)
  • Alexander the Great (10.57)

Pop Culture References

  • Iron Eyes Cody (7.13)
  • The Age of Aquarius (7.13)
  • Bob Dylan (7.13)
  • Hippies (7.13)
  • Mary Had A Little Lamb (8.25)
  • Down by the Riverside (9.34)
  • MAD comics (10.19)
  • The Beatles, With a Little Help from My Friends (10.24)
  • Def Leppard, Rock of Ages (11.2)