A cultural divide?

[damigella]

"here encountering the first knot in the smooth skein of her argument." (V. Woolf, Orlando: A Biography)
"the smooth skein of his imagination had encountered the first knot:" (my fic A Member Of The Wedding)

How come quotations from Gone With The Wind, The Muppet Show or The Little Mermaid (Disney, not Andersen) are immediately recognized while a sentence lifted almost verbatim from Virginia Woolf goes unnoticed? 
Maybe I should use precise quotations. Maybe it's a US/UK issue. Feedback appreciated.

Comments

[menolly-au.livejournal.com]

It reminds me that Sick!Wilson Camp last year did a pop culture challenge, where you had to write the quote into a story, macro etc http://sick-wilson.livejournal.com/326498.html - I must admit I didn't recognise some of the references, I think you'd recognise even less? It's the same with the show - there are pop culture references in there that I just don't get...

[damigella-314.livejournal.com]

"pop culture references in there that I just don't get"

I got eight out of fifty, and the Toto/Kansas I got from I thing a Gary Larson sketch.

Funnily enough, I find that "Put a tiger in your tank" sounded better in Italian (put a tiger in your engine, plus tiger was male instead of female as it usually is).