The Maidens

An allusion is an indirect reference either to another work of art or to a well-known person, place, historical event, concept, etc. Given its academic setting, many of The Maidens’ references to literature are explicit. However, it does also gesture more obliquely towards a range of other works. Coupled with the novel’s murders, Sebastian’s memories of the butchered animals on his father’s farm recalls The Silence of the Lambs. The comparison of the atmosphere on campus following Veronica’s murder to “a plague […] the sickness that destroyed Thebes; an invisible airborne poison drifting through the courtyards” is a reference to the Greek myth of Oedipus, whose unwitting murder of his father and marriage to his mother calls down divine punishment on the city. It therefore reflects both the novel’s interest in father-child relationships and motifs of blindness, vengeance, sacrifice, etc. Mariana’s dreams of “endless journeys—expeditions through desolate arctic landscapes, trudging through icy winds and snow searching endlessly for Sebastian” evoke the Gothic and Dark Romantic fascination with the Arctic, which features in works like “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, and Frankenstein. The latter, which culminates in Frankenstein chasing the monster across the Arctic, is especially significant given Sebastian’s description of himself as a “monster” created by his father, perhaps serving as a subtle hint regarding the murderer’s identity. These and other allusions are a major form of intertextuality in the novel.