The History of Love

Throughout The History of Love, Nicole Krauss alludes to many famous authors and literary works. In doing so, she comments on the connective power of storytelling and situates The History of Love within the legacy of world literature. Many of the characters are avid readers. Leo often visits the library and brings back audiobooks for Bruno, including Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina and James Joyce’s Ulysses, which he can hear Bruno listening to through the walls. The allusion to Ulysses draws a parallel between Alma’s and Leo’s investigations, which take them all around New York City and the larger metropolitan area, and Leopold Bloom, Joyce’s protagonist whose day in Dublin spins out into an epic. In one of his letters, Leo’s son mentions reading Bruno Schulz’s The Street of Crocodiles three times, perhaps trying to understand his unknown father, who would have been a contemporary of the Polish writer. There are also passing references to Franz Kafka, Miguel de Cervantes, Nicanor Parra, Jorge Luis Borges, William Shakespeare, Pablo Neruda, and others. All these literary allusions highlight the importance of literature and storytelling throughout human history.