I am low-key obsessed with labyrinths and/or the myth of the minotaur, and I also love books that are labyrinths themselves. I loved "House of Leaves," as well as "S" and "The Physics of Sorrow" and "Subcutanean." I appreciate y'all's recommendations!
by The-Director1119
8 Comments
Piranesi!
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
A murder mystery on the surface but set in a mysterious labyrinthine library. Also, because it’s Eco, it contains philosophy, religion, and history. It’s really, really good.
You need to go read some Jorge Luis Borges – he was big on labyrinths and mazes as a major theme to his works. He was prolific in the short story format. He’s a straight up genius and writes some really mind blowing stuff. I don’t think he ever wrote a novel – only short stories and essays but many of his short stories have influenced a lot of works after him.
The specific short stories you’ll want to check out are –
The Circular Ruins
The Library of Babel
The Garden of Forking Paths
The Secret Miracle (this one isn’t related to labyrinths or anything but it’s really good regardless)
The House of Asterion (this is a minotaur / labyrinth story)
The Two Kings and the Two Labryniths
Go grab Collected Fictions – it’s a collection of all of his short stories. All of these are in there. There’s 101 stories in total in there – most of them are really quite amazing.
Edit: and as a bonus – if you enjoy The Library of Babel (and if you don’t then I don’t think we can be friends anymore) – then you should go read A Short Stay in Hell by Steven L Peck after that. He takes Borges’ short story and essentially blows it out to a novella length horror story. It’s also really great!
At the Palaces of Knossos by Nikos Kazantzakis is an amazing retelling of the Theseus and Ariadne story
The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K Le Guin (you might want to read A Wizard of Earthsea first to understand who one of the characters is, but it’s not vital to the story itself)
Hide by Kiersten White is loosely based around the labyrinth myth. It’s a fantastic book imo with great character writing. It’s a suspense/thriller.
The King Must Die by Mary Renault is historical fiction about Theseus. Very nicely written with a unique take on the Labyrinth myth. Regarded as a classic in the genre.
Matrix, by Lauren Groff, has a subplot where nuns build a labyrinth to protect themselves