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Literature in The Shell Part I

By 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒂

For literature lovers - A list of all the books I have found mentioned in Kara no Shojo / The Shell Part I

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Category: Secrets, Story or Lore

Languages: English

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Updated

11 Jan, 2024 @ 6:28am

22 Mar, 2024 @ 4:16am

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Guide Index

Overview

literature mentioned & how it matches to The Shell

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literature mentioned & how it matches to The Shell

The Divine Comedy by Dante Aligheri

One of the most important works here - as we have three parts of KnS because of that. It's the main core of this visual novel in the first murders & the journey that Reiji and Toko have to endure

" The poem discusses "the state of the soul after death and presents an image of divine justice meted out as due punishment or reward", and describes Dante's travels through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven.
Allegorically, the poem represents the soul's journey towards God, beginning with the recognition and rejection of sin (Inferno), followed by the penitent Christian life (Purgatorio), which is then followed by the soul's ascent to God (Paradiso). Dante draws on medieval Catholic theology and philosophy, especially Thomistic philosophy derived from the Summa Theologica of Thomas Aquinas "
Goethe's Faust

It appears in a conversation with Orihime, about being born with a purpose or not, about forgiveness & arrogance- I think it matches with her character very well

"Goethe’s Faust reworks the late medieval myth of a brilliant scholar so disillusioned he resolves to make a contract with Mephistopheles. The devil will do all he asks on Earth and seeks to grant him a moment in life so glorious that he will wish it to last forever. But if Faust does bid the moment stay, he falls to Mephistopheles and must serve him after death. In this first part of Goethe’s great work, the embittered thinker and Mephistopheles enter into their agreement, and soon Faust is living a rejuvenated life and winning the love of the beautiful Gretchen. But in this compelling tragedy of arrogance, unfulfilled desire, and self-delusion, Faust heads inexorably toward an infernal destruction."
The Lady of the Camellias by Alexandre Dumas

As this work speaks of tragic love & affairs, I can match it with Reiji (a personal way to see the 'routes', which almost everyone ends with a tragic end; also some sexual references can be compared to the murders & 'the black madonna' story

La Dame aux Camélias is a semi-autobiographical novel based on the author's brief love affair with a courtesan, Marie Duplessis. Set in mid-19th-century France, the novel tells the tragic love story between fictional characters Marguerite Gautier, a demimondaine or courtesan suffering from consumption, and Armand Duval, a young bourgeois. Marguerite is nicknamed la dame aux camélias (French for 'the lady of the camellias') because she wears a red camellia when she is menstruating and unavailable for sex and a white camellia when she is available to her lovers.
The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas

Thrown in prison for a crime he has not committed, Edmond Dantes is confined to the grim fortress of If. There he learns of a great hoard of treasure hidden on the Isle of Monte Cristo and becomes determined not only to escape but to unearth the treasure and use it to plot the destruction of the three men responsible for his incarceration.

As a curiosity, this work is mentioned but also an adaptation by Ruiko Kuroiwa, called 'The ruler of the Cave', have to read this one!
Edogawa Rampo works

Reiji is a detective and I can see why they decided to mention this author here (no work in particular)

"A Japanese author and critic who played a major role in the development of Japanese mystery and thriller fiction.
Ranpo was an admirer of Western mystery writers, and especially of Edgar Allan Poe. His pen name is a rendering of Poe's name. Other authors who were special influences on him were Sir Arthur Conan Doyle."
Hell Screen, by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

This is a short story about a painter ~ pretty fit for Shinzo, right? When you commit your life to a work ignoring the consequences of madness, and when love becomes an obsession
The work follows one of Akutagawa's major styles: the updating of ancient tales to reflect modern psychology. One major psychological theme is artistic obsession, as Makoto Ueda puts it: “For Akutagawa the dilemma was insoluble: if the artist chooses to place his art ahead of his life, in the end he must suffer the destruction of his life”.
The spider's thread, by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

'Shakyamuni is meandering around Paradise one morning, when he stops at a lotus-filled pond. Between the lilies, he can see, through the crystal-clear waters, the depths of Hell. His eyes come to rest on one sinner in particular, by the name of Kandata. Kandata was a cold-hearted criminal, but had one good deed to his name: while walking through the forest one day, he decided not to kill a spider he was about to crush with his foot. Moved by this single act of compassion, the Buddha takes the silvery thread of a spider in Paradise and lowers it down into Hell.'
Another short story about Hell and descending into it, a story which unveils the vile and greedy nature of man.
The human Chair, by Edogawa Ranpo

One of my faves, mentioned only in an intersection screen for Act 08.
Just a short story about a creepy chair which holds many dark secrets- I wonder if it ties somehow with the egg which contains 'a person'. I just love how they reference everything & put so many works here
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum

Innocent Grey surely loves this one!! It appears algo on their other visual novel saga; Flowers, a lot.
"A Kansas farm girl named Dorothy ends up in the magical Land of Oz after she and her pet dog Toto are swept away from their home by a cyclone. Upon her arrival in the magical world of Oz, she learns she cannot return home until she has destroyed the Wicked Witch of the West."
Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll

I love this one! Mentioned only in an investigation on 4/12 tho.
It tells of a girl named Alice falling through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures.
Seishi Yokomizo works

Again, no specific work mentioned, but it's an author known for it's detectivesque - mistery novels, also historic ones & written in World War II, so it matches perfectly too
Motojiro Kaiji works

Mentioned in a conversation with Tsuzuriko; a japanese writer & poet.
There are dead bodies buried under the cherry trees! It's true, I swear. How else could they flower that beautifully?