Bye Bye Braverman called him "The Joyce of Brighton Beach," suggesting by analogy a comparison between Markfield and this quintessentially Jewish neighborhood and the essential literary synergy between James Joyce and his native Dublin, but also suggesting other connections. The structure of Markfield's "To an Early Grave", and therefore of the movie based upon it, is to some extent a comic parallel of Joyce's novel "Ulysses", specifically "Episode 6" (which is commonly known as the "Hades" chapter) where protagonist Leopold Bloom and three friends travel in a carriage to attend the funeral of Patrick "Paddy" Dignam who has died in a drunken stupor.
Penrod and Sam (novel) Penrod and Sam (novel) Penrod and Sam is a novel by Booth Tarkington that was first published in 1916. it is set pre-World War 1. The book is the sequel to his 1914 work the same as the first book, "Penrod", and focuses more on the relationship between the main character of the previous book, Penrod Schofield, and his best friend, Sam Williams. More of Penrod's adventures appear in the final book of the series "Penrod Jashber" (1929). The three books were published together in one volume, "Penrod: His Complete Story", in 1931. "Penrod and Sam" was the most popular