Top Ten Tuesday is sponsored by Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl
This week's topic is all about literary dynamic duos. I have listed ten of my favorites from among the many literary duos I've encountered in my many years of reading.
1. The Iliad by Homer: Achilles and Patroclus are perhaps the greatest of friends in this magnificent epic. Unfortunately neither of them survived the Trojan War, but their cohort Odysseus was able to carry on in The Odyssey.
2. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are perhaps the closest duo in this list since they are two sides of the same human. They are also the eeriest of duos on my list.
3. The Epic of Gilgamesh: This earliest of duos established the mold, for Enkidu and Gilgamesh were a legendary dynamic duo in ancient Mesopotamian mythology: Enkidu as the wartime comrade and friend of Gilgamesh, king of Uruk.
4. Don Quixote by Cervantes: Don Quixote and Sancho Panza made one of the most delightful and interesting duos I've ever encountered in all my reading.
5. Gargantua and Pantagruel by Rabelais: This duo was made famous in Rabelais' ribald and utterly undefinable satire that made fun of everyone and everything.
6. Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain: Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, his buddy, are the epitome of the American dynamic duo and a favorite from my youthful reading.
7. The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett: Nick and Nora Charles are my favorite dynamic detective duo who solved crimes on a lark (with drink in hand).
8. Dracula by Bram Stoker: Jonathan Harker and Dr. Van Helsing make a macabre but thoroughly dynamic duo that could not exist without each other.
9. Alices's Adventures Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll: Tweedledum and Tweedledee are two rotund little men who are identical except that they are left-right reversals of each other. Just two of the amazing and often dynamic characters that Alice encounters in this book and her Adventures in Wonderland.
10. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: Sherlock and Watson are the last on my list but certainly among the most dynamic of duos.
6 comments:
Ha nice! We had four in common, and very nearly a couple more. I thought of Gargantua and Pantagruel, and also considered the Tweedles.
Thanks for your observation- I think my favorite duo is the Don and Sancho for their humanity and ability to persevere through so many adventures.
Jekyll and Hyde are on my list as well! Since I had a twist on the theme, Watson and Holmes, Tom and Huck, and Tweedledum and Tweedledee did not make it on my list (but I love those duos!!)
Here is my TTT: Top Ten Twos Day: 22 Wonderful Books With Titles Featuring Duos (of a sort!)
Thanks for your comment - and I loved your twist! The tweedles have been favs along with Alice and her adventures for most of my reading life.
I think it’s cool that you went for classic examples!
My post: https://lydiaschoch.com/top-ten-tuesday-dynamic-duos/
Lydia,
Thanks for your comment. My favorite reads are often the classics and they seem to provide the most dynamic of literary duos.
Post a Comment