Wikipedia:WikiProject Novels/List of literary works with eponymous heroes
The titles of the following works of literature generally consist of the name of the male protagonist only. The title need not include the character's entire name, and may even consist of a diminutive form, alias, nom de guerre, or nickname. Other information that may accompany the male protagonist's name in the title include: titles, such as "Don Quixote" or "King John"; parenthetical information referring directly to the character's name, such as "Pericles, Prince of Tyre"; and other information generally included in addressing that character, such as "Ethan of Athos."
A title is eponymous if its main title follows the above rules; additional information in subtitles will not disqualify it. In some cases, especially 19th century and earlier books, the full title included a longer preamble like "The History of...", but has been shortened in general use to just the hero's name; these regardless of whether their entry is called by the full or shortened title (cf. Dickens vs Defoe).
The female counterpart of this list is List of literary works with eponymous heroines.
Traditional/author unknown
[edit]A
[edit]B
[edit]- Richard Bach: Jonathan Livingston Seagull
- Beryl Bainbridge: Master Georgie
- John Banville: Kepler
- Clive Barker: Cabal
- J. M. Barrie: Peter Pan
- Samuel Beckett: Watt; Molloy; Murphy
- Saul Bellow: Herzog; Henderson the Rain King
- Jorge Luis Borges: Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote
- Gillian Bradshaw: Hawk of May
- Anita Brookner: Lewis Percy
- Kevin Brooks: Martyn Pig
- Charles Brockden Brown: Wieland
- Steven Brust: Agyar; Taltos
- John Buchan: John Burnet of Barns
- Georg Büchner: Woyzeck
- Lois McMaster Bujold: Ethan of Athos
- Frances Hodgson Burnett: Little Lord Fauntleroy
C
[edit]- James Branch Cabell: Jurgen, A Comedy of Justice
- Orson Scott Card: Prentice Alvin; Alvin Journeyman; Speaker for the Dead
- Peter Carey: Jack Maggs
- Miguel de Cervantes: Don Quixote
- James Chapman: Stet
- Anton Chekhov: Uncle Vanya
- Winston Churchill: Richard Carvel
- Winston S. Churchill: Savrola
- Beverly Cleary: Henry Huggins; Otis Spofford; Ribsy; Runaway Ralph; Ralph S. Mouse; Lucky Chuck
- Colette: Chéri
- Eoin Colfer: Artemis Fowl
- Arthur Conan Doyle: Micah Clarke; Rodney Stone; Sir Nigel
- Michael G. Coney: Fang the Gnome
- Joseph Conrad: Lord Jim; Nostromo
D
[edit]- Avram Davidson: Peregrine: Primus; Peregrine: Secundus
- Daniel Defoe: Robinson Crusoe
- Philip K. Dick: Dr. Bloodmoney
- Charles Dickens: Barnaby Rudge; David Copperfield; Martin Chuzzlewit; The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby; Oliver Twist
- Benjamin Disraeli: Vivian Grey; Coningsby; Tancred
- Mary Mapes Dodge: Hans Brinker
E
[edit]- George Eliot: Adam Bede; Silas Marner; Felix Holt, the Radical; Daniel Deronda
- M. J. Engh: Arslan
- Euripides: Herakles; Ion; Orestes; Hippolytus
F
[edit]- Philip Jose Farmer: Hadon of Ancient Opar; Lord Tyger
- Howard Fast: Spartacus
- Henry Fielding: The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling; Joseph Andrews; Jonathan Wild
- Gustave Flaubert: Bouvard et Pécuchet
- Esther Forbes: Johnny Tremain
- C. S. Forester: Lord Hornblower; Mr. Midshipman Hornblower; Lieutenant Hornblower
- Max Frisch: Gantenbein; I'm Not Stiller (original title: Stiller)
G
[edit]- Leon Garfield: Jack Holborn; Smith; John Diamond
- William Gibson: Count Zero; Mona Lisa Overdrive; "Johnny Mnemonic"
- George Gissing: Will Warburton
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Faust
- Nikolai Gogol: Taras Bulba
- William Golding: Pincher Martin
- Ivan Goncharov: Oblomov
- Winston Graham: Ross Poldark; Jeremy Poldark; Warleggan
- Robert Graves: I, Claudius; Claudius the God; Count Belisarius
- Alasdair Gray: Lanark
- Graham Greene: Monsignor Quixote; Doctor Fischer of Geneva
- Winston Groom: Forrest Gump
H
[edit]- H. Rider Haggard: Allan Quatermain
- Thomas Hardy: Jude the Obscure
- Thomas Harris: Hannibal
- Thomas Heggen: Mister Roberts
- Robert A. Heinlein: Starman Jones
- George Wylie Henderson: Jule
- Peter Henisch: Pepi Prohaska Prophet
- James Herbert: Creed
- Hermann Hesse: Peter Camenzind; Siddhartha
- Odo Hirsch: Slaughterboy
- Russell Hoban: Kleinzeit; Pilgermann; Riddley Walker
- Dorothy B. Hughes: Johnnie
I
[edit]J
[edit]- Brian Jacques: Mattimeo; Martin the Warrior; Lord Brocktree; Rakkety Tam
- Henry James: Roderick Hudson
- Richard Jefferies: Bevis
- K. W. Jeter: Dr. Adder
- Samuel Johnson: Rasselas
K
[edit]- Charles Kingsley: Alton Locke; Hereward the Wake
- W.P. Kinsella: Shoeless Joe
- Rudyard Kipling: Kim
- Heinrich von Kleist: Michael Kohlhaas
L
[edit]- Louis L'Amour: Catlow; Fallon; Hondo; Jubal Sackett; Milo Talon
- John Lanchester: Mr. Phillips
- Stephen Lawhead: Merlin
- Sheridan Le Fanu: Uncle Silas; Guy Deverell
- Charles Lever: Harry Lorrequer
- Sinclair Lewis: Arrowsmith; Babbitt; Elmer Gantry
- Jack London: White Fang; Martin Eden
M
[edit]- Michelle Magorian: Goodnight Mister Tom
- Thomas Mann: Doktor Faustus; Tonio Kröger
- Hilary Mantel: Fludd; The Giant, O'Brien
- Frederick Marryat: Peter Simple; Mr Midshipman Easy; Percival Keene; Masterman Ready
- Patrick McGrath: Spider
- Herman Melville: "Bartleby the Scrivener" ; Billy Budd; Israel Potter; Pierre: or, The Ambiguities
- Steven Millhauser: Edwin Mullhouse; Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer; "August Eschenburg" ; "Eisenheim the Illusionist"
- A. A. Milne: Winnie-the-Pooh
- Molière: Tartuffe
- Ferenc Molnár: Liliom
- Michael Moorcock: Elric of Melniboné
- Michael Morpurgo: Billy the Kid; Private Peaceful
N
[edit]- Vladimir Nabokov: Pnin
- Bill Naughton: Alfie
- Frank Norris: McTeague
- Novalis: Heinrich von Ofterdingen
O
[edit]- Eugene O'Neill: The Emperor Jones
- Baroness Emmuska Orczy: The Scarlet Pimpernel
- Daniel Owen: Enoc Huws; Rhys Lewis
P
[edit]- Edgar Pangborn: Davy
- Christopher Paolini: Eragon
- Boris Pasternak: Doctor Zhivago
- Mervyn Peake: Titus Groan; Mr. Pye
- William Plomer: Turbott Wolfe
- Dudley Pope: Ramage
- John Cowper Powys: Wolf Solent; Porius
- Terry Pratchett: Mort; Eric; Hogfather; Wintersmith
- V. S. Pritchett: Mr. Beluncle
R
[edit]- Matthew Reilly: Scarecrow
- Mike Resnick: Santiago: a Myth of the Far Future
- Anne Rice: The Vampire Lestat
- Henry Handel Richardson: Maurice Guest
- Samuel Richardson: The History of Sir Charles Grandison
- Edwin Arlington Robinson: "Richard Cory"
- J. K. Rowling: The Harry Potter novels
S
[edit]- Saki: Reginald; The Chronicles of Clovis; The Unbearable Bassington
- Jack Schaefer: Shane
- Walter Scott: Waverley; Guy Mannering; Rob Roy; Ivanhoe; The Fortunes of Nigel; Peveril of the Peak; Quentin Durward; Count Robert of Paris
- William Shakespeare: Coriolanus; Hamlet; Henry IV, part 1; Henry IV, part 2; Henry V; Henry VI, part 1; Henry VI, part 2; Henry VI, part 3; Henry VIII; Julius Caesar; King John; King Lear; Macbeth; Othello; Richard II; Richard III; Timon of Athens; Titus Andronicus
- Michael Shea: Nifft the Lean
- Mary Shelley: Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus
- Percy Bysshe Shelley: Zastrozzi
- Upton Sinclair: Jimmie Higgins
- John Sladek: Roderick; Tik-Tok
- Charlotte Turner Smith: Desmond
- Tobias Smollett: The Adventures of Roderick Random; The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle; The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom; The Life and Adventures of Sir Launcelot Greaves; The Expedition of Humphry Clinker
- S. P. Somtow: Valentine
- Sophocles: Oedipus Rex; Ajax
- Ivan Southall: Josh
- Robert Southey: Thalaba the Destroyer; Madoc; Roderick the Last of the Goths
- Jerry Spinelli: Maniac Magee
- Olaf Stapledon: Odd John; Sirius
- Laurence Sterne: The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
- Robert Louis Stevenson: Prince Otto; Weir of Hermiston
- Adalbert Stifter: Witiko
- Theodor Storm: Pole Poppenspäler
- Randolph Stow: Midnite: The Story of a Wild Colonial Boy
- Gene Stratton-Porter: Freckles; Michael O'Halloran
- Noel Streatfeild: Luke
- Theodore Sturgeon: Godbody
- Rosemary Sutcliff: Simon
T
[edit]- Booth Tarkington: Monsieur Beaucaire
- Steve Tesich: Karoo
- William Makepeace Thackeray: The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon, Esq.; Pendennis; The History of Henry Esmond
- Anthony Trollope: Cousin Henry; Doctor Thorne; Phineas Finn
- Mark Twain: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; Pudd'nhead Wilson
U
[edit]- Sigrid Undset: The Master of Hestviken (Olav Audunssøn i Hestviken; Olav Audunssøn og Hans Børn)
- Eleanor Updale: Montmorency
V
[edit]- Jules Verne: Michael Strogoff
- Gore Vidal: Myron; Lincoln; Burr; Julian
- Voltaire: Candide; Zadig
- Kurt Vonnegut: Deadeye Dick
W
[edit]- Lew Wallace: Ben-Hur
- Hugh Walpole: Jeremy
- Robert Walser: Jakob von Gunten
- H. G. Wells: Kipps
- Edith Wharton: Ethan Frome
- E.B. White: Stuart Little
- John Edward Williams: Stoner; Augustus
- Henry Williamson: Tarka the Otter; Young Phillip Maddison
- P. G. Wodehouse: Mike; Ukridge
- Virginia Woolf: Orlando: A Biography
- P. C. Wren: Beau Geste
- Ernest Vincent Wright: Gadsby