10,807 articles
Untouchable
Untouchable is a 1935 novel by Indian writer Mulk Raj Anand, following a single day in the life of Bakha, a young Dalit sweeper in colonial India.
Unwind (novel)
Unwind (2007) is Neal Shusterman's YA dystopian novel, first of the Unwind Dystology, in which teens 13 to 18 can be legally dissected for organs under the Bill of Life; protagonists Connor, Risa, and Lev flee unwinding.
Up from Slavery
Up from Slavery is a 1901 autobiography by American educator Booker T. Washington, tracing his rise from slavery to founding the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.
Upakhyana
Upakhyana (उपाख्यान, upākhyāna) is a Sanskrit term for a subordinate tale or episode embedded in a longer narrative, especially the Mahabharata, whose 67 cataloged upakhyanas clarify points of dharma.
Upamitibhavaprapanchakatha
Upamitibhavaprapanchakatha is a tenth-century Jain allegorical narrative in Sanskrit by the monk Siddharshi, completed in 906, which Hermann Jacobi called the first elaborate allegory in Indian literature.
Upapandavas (उपपाण्डव)
Upapandavas (उपपाण्डव), the five sons of Draupadi in the Mahabharata: Prativindhya, Sutasoma, Shrutakarma, Shatanika, Shrutasena, one by each Pandava; all killed by Ashwatthama in the Sauptika Parva night raid.
Upapurana
Upapurana (उपपुराण, "secondary Purana") is a genre of Sanskrit Hindu religious literature beside the eighteen Mahapuranas, resembling them in mythology and ritual; lists disagree, and over 100 titles are known.
Uparvas
Uparvas (ઉપરવાસ) is a 1975 Gujarati novel by Raghuveer Chaudhari, first part of the trilogy Uparvas Kathatrayi, which won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1977 and depicts village life in North Gujarat.
Uplift Universe
Uplift Universe (Uplift Saga) is David Brin's hard science fiction setting of six novels, 1980-1998, where patron races genetically uplift species to sapience and own them for 100,000 years; unuplifted humanity, with neo-chimp and neo-dolphin clients, upends the galactic order.
Upward Bound (novel)
Upward Bound is Woody Brown's 2026 Hogarth debut novel (208 pages, ISBN 9780593979976), a New York Times bestseller set in a Los Angeles adult day-care center for disabled, mostly autistic adults, told across 12 chapters from eight viewpoints, whose authorship was debated because Brown is nonspeaking.
Urban Cowboy
Urban Cowboy is Aaron Latham's 1980 novelization of the film he co-wrote with James Bridges, drawn from his 1978 Esquire article about Houston's Gilley's honky-tonk and mechanical-bull riders; distinct from later romance novels of the same title.
Urban fantasy
Urban fantasy: fantasy fiction subgenre placing supernatural beings and magic in real-world modern cities; emerged in the 1980s with Emma Bull, Charles de Lint, and Borderland, consolidated in the 1990s by Gaiman and Miéville; distinct from paranormal romance.
Urban novel
The urban novel (German Großstadtroman, big-city novel) is a novel in which the modern metropolis is the central subject; the genre peaked in Berlin between 1910 and 1933.
Urdu Ki Aakhri Kitab
Urdu Ki Aakhri Kitab (اردو کی آخری کتاب, "The Last Book of Urdu") is a 1971 work of Urdu satire by Ibn-e-Insha, written as a parody school textbook.
Urdu poetry (اردو شاعری)
Urdu poetry (اردو شاعری) is South Asian verse in Urdu, born in the Deccan and Delhi from the 13th century. Key forms are the ghazal, nazm, masnavi, qasida, and marsiya; masters include Khusrau, Mir, Ghalib, Iqbal, and Faiz.
Urmila (ऊर्मिला)
Urmila (ऊर्मिला) is a princess of Mithila in the Ramayana, wife of Lakshmana and younger sister of Sita. Valmiki names her once; her famous fourteen-year sleep comes from Telugu women's songs, and modern retellings like Saket and Sita's Sister center her.
Urotsukidōji (うろつき童子)
Urotsukidōji (うろつき童子), full title Chōjin Densetsu Urotsukidōji, is Maeda Toshio's 1980s adult manga and OVA series about three worlds and the Chōjin who unifies them every 3,000 years; a forerunner of tentacle erotica.
Ursula (The Little Mermaid)
Ursula (アースラ) is the sea witch villain of Disney's The Little Mermaid (1989), voiced by Pat Carroll, designed after drag queen Divine, and reimagined as Triton's sister played by Melissa McCarthy in the 2023 remake.
Ursula K. Le Guin bibliography
Bibliography of Ursula K. Le Guin (1929–2018): 23 novels, 12 story volumes, 11 poetry volumes, 13 children's books, five essay collections, and four translations, including the Earthsea series and the Hainish novels The Left Hand of Darkness (1969) and The Dispossessed (1974).
Urubhanga
Urubhanga (ऊरुभङ्ग, "the breaking of the thighs") is a one-act Sanskrit play attributed to Bhāsa, dramatizing Duryodhana's final hours after Bhima shatters his thighs in a mace duel.
Urusei Yatsura (うる星やつら)
Urusei Yatsura (うる星やつら) is Rumiko Takahashi's debut manga, a sci-fi romantic comedy about Moroboshi Ataru and the alien oni girl Lum, serialized in Weekly Shōnen Sunday 1978–1987, adapted into a 1981–1986 TV anime and a 2022–2024 remake.
Usagi Yojimbo (兎用心棒)
Usagi Yojimbo, Japanese for rabbit bodyguard, is an American comic series by Stan Sakai begun in 1984, following a rabbit ronin in early seventeenth-century Japan.
Usopp (ウソップ)
Usopp (ウソップ), the sniper of the Straw Hat Pirates in Eiichiro Oda's One Piece, son of Yasopp of the Red Hair Pirates; a lying, cowardly marksman and inventor also known as Sogeking, the King of Snipers.
Uta monogatari
Uta monogatari (歌物語, "poem tales") is a Heian-period Japanese literary genre of short episodes explaining how waka poems were composed, including Ise monogatari and Yamato monogatari.
Uta no Prince-sama
Uta no Prince-sama (うたの☆プリンスさまっ♪), also UtaPri, is a Broccoli multimedia franchise begun with a 2010 PSP otome game about idol trainees at Saotome Gakuen, expanded through the Maji LOVE anime series, Elements Garden CDs, and rhythm games like Shining Live.
Utawarerumono (うたわれるもの)
Utawarerumono (うたわれるもの) is an Aquaplus/Leaf Japanese media franchise begun April 26, 2002 as a Windows adult visual novel-SRPG; it grew into a trilogy, anime, action spin-offs, Monochrome Mobius, and the 2026 finale Shiro e no Michishirube.
Utendi wa Tambuka
Utendi wa Tambuka, also called the Book of Heraclius or Herekali, is a Swahili religious epic dated 1728–1729, attributed to Mwengo and recounting the Battle of Tabuk.
Utengano
Utengano, Swahili for "separation," is a 1980 Kiswahili novel by the Zanzibari writer Said Ahmed Mohamed, known for its elaborated style and its woven-in taarab lyrics.
Utenzi wa Ayubu
Utenzi wa Ayubu, also written Utendi wa Ayubu, is an anonymous classical Swahili narrative poem retelling the prophet Job's temptation and restoration, probably composed in 1723 or earlier.
Utenzi wa Mwana Kupona
Utenzi wa Mwana Kupona, also written Utendi wa Mwana Kupona, is a 19th-century Swahili advice poem composed around 1858 by Mwana Kupona binti Msham for her daughter.