-The Pilgrim's Progress

Written while Bunyan was imprisoned for twelve years for preaching outside of the Church of England, this work is an allegory for Bunyan’s own religious conversion and persecution. The Pilgrim’s Progress was published in eleven editions during the author’s lifetime and translated into dozens of languages to become one of the most widely read and influential English books of all time. The pilgrimage follows the main character, Christian, traveling from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City, which is home to the Tree of Life and has streets paved with gold. Locations encountered on Christian’s pilgrimage include the Slough of Despond, the Interpreter's House, the House Beautiful, the Valley of Humiliation, the Valley of the Shadow of Death, Vanity Fair, Doubting Castle, and the Delectable Mountains. Vanity Fair, which William Makepeace Thackeray used as the title of his 1848 novel, is imagined by Bunyan as a city established by the demons Beelzebub, Legion, and Apolloyon where everything is for sale, from land and house to people and souls. Similarly, Mark Twain gave his travelogue The Innocents Abroad the subtitle The New Pilgrims' Progress.