Who’s Read what of Iron Maiden’s literary source material?

[Murder of Rue Morgue]

The Phantom of the Opera: a classic. Read it recently.

Murders in the Rue Morgue: another classic. Read it a couple of years ago, among with other crime/mystery novels (And Then There Were None, The Hound of the Baskervilles...).

Icarus (Greek myths): I went to Classic High School

The Charge of the Light Brigade: read it in middle school thanks to Maiden, then again with Ulysses in high school.

Rime of the Ancient Mariner: read it thanks to Maiden in my high school years. 10th/11th grade, IIRC. I also read Xanadu because it was in the same edition I bought (years later I listened to Rush's song).

The Name of the Rose: M A S T E R P I E C E. A great novel, but not so easy to read. Funfact: Umberto Eco actually hated this book, which he claimed was his worst work as an author.

Lord of the Flies: I read it. Another great book. One of the darkest novels I have ever read, along with Heart of Darkness.

I've not read Brave New World. I planned to do it years ago after having read 1984, but Huxley's still on the shelf.

Anyway, this one's missing, but I haven't read it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_the_Wind_Blows_(comics)

 

[MindRuler]

Anyway, this one's missing, but I haven't read it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_the_Wind_Blows_(comics)

Missing indeed. It's a great graphic novel. Glad I have it in my collection (bought it for 0,50 € at a library sale)
It's the dutch translation though "Toen viel de bom"

 

[Frenetic Heretic]

Anyway, this one's missing, but I haven't read it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_the_Wind_Blows_(comics)

That’s a legit miss on my list. Added it, plus Tam o Shanter, as SRFC pointed out.

I expected Stranger in a Strange Land (Heinlein) or The Man who Would be King (Kipling) to be pointed out first, but I don’t think Maiden intentionally based their songs on those despite the coincidental titles.

 

[Diesel 11]

And Then There Were None

In the running for my favorite book ever. Certainly the best mystery novel I have ever read. And it’s mostly because, unlike many of its genre, the re-readability of it is fantastic.

Although I think most would agree that the best title for it is And Then There Were None. Much better and more sinister than the original.

 

[Murder of Rue Morgue]

That’s a legit miss on my list. Added it, plus Tam o Shanter, as SRFC pointed out.

I expected Stranger in a Strange Land (Heinlein) or The Man who Would be King (Kipling) to be pointed out first, but I don’t think Maiden intentionally based their songs on those despite the coincidental titles.

Stranger in a Strange Land is loosely based on both Heinlein and a true story, if I'm not mistaken. I haven't read Kipling, but I don't think Steve based the song on that book. Also The Red and the Black shares its title with a famous novel by Stendhal, but the song has almost nothing to do with it.

 

[Murder of Rue Morgue]

BTW, I also read Suetonius' Lives of the Twelve Caesars and Plutarch's Life of Brutus, i.e. the sources for the Ides of March

 

[GhostofCain]

By literary, I mean books (fiction or non) or poems, not stage plays, television, or film.

Thanks for clarifying things. For a moment I thought the Daily Mail (‘Arry reads it, you know?) would be on that list!

 

[MindRuler]

BTW, I also read Suetonius' Lives of the Twelve Caesars and Plutarch's Life of Brutus, i.e. the sources for the Ides of March

Maiden did a great job with the lyrics, they captured the spirit of it quite well.

 

[GhostofCain]

BTW, I also read Suetonius' Lives of the Twelve Caesars and Plutarch's Life of Brutus, i.e. the sources for the Ides of March

The influence in the lyrics is particularly remarkable!

 

[Frenetic Heretic]

Thanks for clarifying things. For a moment I thought the Daily Mail (‘Arry reads it, you know?) would be on that list!

Is that the one with the page 3 ladies?

 

[Welsh Phantom]

I read Lord of the Flies in School for English Literature classes, and yes it was over-analysed

The same for Midwich Cuckoo (I loved the fact that it was sy-fi, as I had no idea from the title and the teacher never gave us any clues before we actually started reading it in class)

I also read Rime in the last year or so.

I read Murders in the Rue Morgue a couple of years ago when I read the complete works of Edgar Allan Poe (it's free on Kindle and there were loads of short stories by Poe that I was interested in)

Edit: oh, plus El Dorado by Poe, but from memory that has nothing to do with the song apart from the title

Just those 5, although Tam O'Shanter is now about to be read thanks to this thread.

 

[GhostofCain]

Is that the one with the page 3 ladies?

That’s The Sun, another rag as horrible as the Daily Mail.

 

[Murder of Rue Morgue]

That’s The Sun, another rag as horrible as the Daily Mail.

And that’s where the inspiration for 22 Acacia Avenue came from.

 

[LooseCannon]

I have updated the title of an Agatha Christie novel to the modern one. Not doing anything more this time, but when given the option to choose a title with/without a racial slur, please do so.

 

[Magnus]

Into the river with it!

 

[Magnus]

 

[Frenetic Heretic]

Into the river with it!

But what if it hits Huckleberry Finn?

 

[Magnus]

But what if it hits Huckleberry Finn?

Serves him right, shouldn't be on the river in the first place.

 

[Frenetic Heretic]

Now that I’ve read it, I’d remove El Dorado by Poe from the list If I could. The title’s the only thing the poem and the song have in common, and El Dorado’s not a name unique to specific literature.

Of course, Murders in the Rue Morgue’s lyrics have little to do with the story unless Paul’s an orangutan, but the title’s distinct enough to say it’s inspired by Poe’s story.

Full disclosure, I culled this list from Wikipedia here, which is a solid enough reference, but not error-free.

List of songs based on literary works - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[srfc]

For a moment I thought the Daily Mail (‘Arry reads it, you know?) would be on that list!

Definitely the inspiration for Age of Innocence