As was the case with The Demolished Man, elements in The Stars My Destination can be traced back to numerous examples in the science fiction genre (space and time travel and teleportation are obvious examples). There are also stylistic resonances with James Joyce, typographical connections with Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy (1759-1767), and the aforementioned thematic links with William Blake's poetry.

Bester's fiction is filled with literary allusions, and one of the most interesting literary precedents for this novel is the incorporation of the plot line from Alexandre Dumas's The Count of Monte Cristo (1844). In "My Affair with Science Fiction" Bester admits that he had been "toying with the notion of using the Count of Monte Cristo pattern for a story. The reason is simple; I'd always preferred the antihero, and I'd always found high drama in compulsive types." He then goes on to relate how a...