This phrase has been referred to frequently in subsequent literature. [[Nathaniel Hawthorne]]'s tale ''The Celestial Railroad'' is a satirical contrast between Bunyan's ''The Pilgrim's Progress'' and Hawthorne's perception of the current state of society. In [[Emily Brontë]]'s ''[[Wuthering Heights]]'' the character Mr. Heathcliff likens his son's state of [[Major depressive disorder|depression]] to having been dropped "into a Slough of Despond". In George Gissing's [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Grub_Street|New Grub Street], Milvain expresses concern for his friend Reardon's mental health, "His friends should exert themselves to raise him out of this fearful slough of despond". In ''[[Horatio Hornblower]]: The Even Chance'', by [[C. S. Forester]], Midshipman Archie Kennedy describes Hornblower's new home as "His Majesty's ship of the line Justinian, known elsewise among her intimates as the good ship Slough of Despond." In [[Mary McCarthy (author)|Mary McCarthy]]'s novel ''The Group'' (1954), "Kay saw that [her husband, Harald] was sinking into a Slough of Despond (as they termed his sudden, Scandinavian fits of depression)..." [[W. Somerset Maugham]] alludes to the Slough in his book ''[[Of Human Bondage]],'' where in a letter to the protagonist, Philip Carey, the failed poet Cronshaw details that he has "hopelessly immersed [himself... in] the Slough of Despond," referring to his poverty. In [[Gerald Brom]]'s novel, ''[[The Child Thief]]'', The Slough is a passage of terror into the world Avalon, which Peter must travel through. In [[John Steinbeck]]'s novel, ''[[Sweet Thursday]]'' (1954), Mack describes Doc's melancholic condition in suggesting that his fellow denizens of the Palace Flophouse help him out, using a punning conflation of slang and Bunyan: "Gentlemen [ . . . ] let us highly resolve to get Doc's ass out of the sling of despond" (79). In [[Harlan Ellison]]'s short story "[[I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream]]" (1967) the last five surviving humans are tortured by a godlike artificial intelligence named AM. The narrator relates how, among other harrowing experiences, "We passed through the Slough of Despond."<ref>[http://www.answers.com/topic/i-have-no-mouth-and-i-must-scream-story-2 Plot summary of "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream"] on About.com</ref> In [[Louisa May Alcott]]'s ''[[Hospital Sketches]]'', a grateful Tribulation Periwinkle remarks that she feels "as did poor Christian [ . . . ] on the safe side of the Slough of Despond." In [[J. G. Farrell]]'s [[Booker Prize]] winner, ''[[The Siege of Krishnapur]],'' the haunted Padre refers to a particularly dangerous crossing thus:
<blockquote>"The Padre was looking more haggard and wild-eyed than ever. He had thought that he would never be able to reach the banqueting hall because he had had to cross the stretch of open lawn swept by musket fire and grape which lay between the Church and the hall and which he had thought of as the Slough of Despond." (1973)</blockquote>
