Characters based on inspiration from earlier authors

[Oblomov]

This is a slightly complicated phenomenon that I am trying to express, but in my 40 odd years as a reader, I have concluded that many authors subconsciously build their characters on inspiration from (rather than "based on") others from a different era. I am not referring to plots, but to indivudual characterisation. For example, I am convinced that Ken Follet consciously or subconsciously bases his character pattern in the style of Somerset Maugham. Considering that the two men not only belonged to different eras but had widely different writing styles, this might seem preposterous, but the similarity is there. Both writers quite delibrately leave a gray area between "good" and "bad" or "right" and "wrong" natures in their characters which gives a very "down to earth" feeling. Characters in their books are never better or worse than they need to be and almost everyone has hidden agendae that even others closest to them would never know. To me, that very closely reflects real life characters....something that I always admired in Maugham's stories. Follett too keeps getting us deep into the innermost feelings of his characters and even though his plots don't always jell, I quite enjoy reading his books for that reason.

[Echo]

I noticed something similar about the Pendergast books by Lincoln/Child. Agent Pendergast, being a brilliant detective seemed like a modern-day Sherlock Holmes. When his evil brother came into the story as his nemesis, they even made an allusion to the brother being the Moriarty to Pendergast's Holmes. I know this isn't the same thing, but your post reminded me of it.