The Battle of the Books
Jonathan Swift worked for William Temple during the time of the controversy, and Swift's "A Tale of a Tub" (1703/1705) takes part in the debate. From its first publication, Swift added a short satire entitled "The Battle of the Books" to the "Tale of a Tub." In this piece, there is an epic battle fought in a library when various books come alive and attempt to settle the arguments between moderns and ancients. In Swift's satire, he skilfully manages to avoid saying which way victory fell. He portrays the manuscript as having been damaged in places, thus leaving the end of the battle up to the reader.
A Swiftly Tilting Planet
Matthew Maddox's second novel, "The Horn of Joy" (1868), serves as a MacGuffin in "A Swiftly Tilting Planet". Charles Wallace spends a significant portion of the book trying to remember or discover what Maddox wrote in it, or to reach Maddox himself. Readers sometimes wonder whether "The Horn of Joy" ever existed; but it is a fictional book, created by L'Engle. Polly O'Keefe finds a copy of "The Horn of Joy" in her room (formerly Charles Wallace's room) when she visits her grandparents in "An Acceptable Time". Maddox's equally fictional first novel, "Once More United", is said to have been published in 1865.