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A Lifetime Reading Plan of the Finest Literature Ever Written in no particular order. Even if you don't read them - Be aware of the ideas and personnages
Mother Courage and Her Children Bertholdt Brecht
1945 Artfully wrenching portrayal of the realities of war during the 30
Years War
by the founder of the "epic theater". Although later
work is
too closely allied with Communist ideology, Brecht has a
powerfully humanistic message. Faust Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
1832 Sometimes called the last "Universal Man", Goethe almost
single-handedly
founded modern German literature. Devoting much of
his life to various versions of the European Faust
legend, he
also found time to be a diplomat and a statesman and
remains
the supreme authority on German culture almost 200 years later.
2 The Hunger Artist Franz Kafka
1912 The story about an artist who sits in a cage and does not eat is
a stunning
example of Kafka's brilliance as a short story writer.
The Fall of the House of Usher Edgar Allen Poe
1843 Although synonymous with the idea of the unhappy, penniless
author,
Poe stands as one of the first "American" authors. Possessing
an exceptionally original mind, writing some of the
earliest
examples of the detective story, science fiction, and the
psychological
novel. "Usher" is an artful classic of suspense
that still
seems modern.
4 Das Niebelungenlied Unknown
900 The best of the medieval epics traces the ancient legends of
Germany
from the time period lost somewhere in the Dark Ages.
Serves as
the basis for Wagner's Ring. Ulysses James Joyce
1922 The most influential novel of the 20th Century was written by an
Irishman who spent much of his writing life in Italy and Switzerland. Its
details life in Dublin on June 16, 1904. To do this, Joyce
invents interior monologue and stream of consciousness, makes
heavy allusions to the Greeks, coins words, and in general
allows you to get inside the heads of his characters.
6 Animal Farm George Orwell
1947 An allegorical, futuristic, and pertinent view of modern politics,
specifically
the horrors of the totalitarian state. To quote the author,
"all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than
others." Othello William Shakespeare
1590 Masterpiece of drama and plot. Classic…classic…classic. The Sorrows of Young Werther Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
1779 This classic book about desire and longing spawned countless
imitators
during the 1770s and 1780s. Labyrinths Jose Luis Borges
1962 Borges ranks somewhat below Kafka as the most gifted short
story
writer of our era. His chief theme is the hallucinatory
nature of
the world and our dreams. To this he adds a great deal
of
historical allusions, which make him endlessly challenging
and
rewarding.
10 The Aeneid Virgil
50 Beginning with a great story (the Homeric epics) Virgil writes his
own
version for Augustus, injecting a good amount of
nationalism,
with a subtlety and melancholy that has made him
one of our
most quoted poets. Candide Voltaire
1760 Belonging to the category of "philosophical romance" like
"Gulliver's'
Travels", Voltaire's work shares the same biting wit
and
analysis of the follies of human nature. As the head of the
Age of
Enlightenment, his criticism of the old regime was a key
influence
leading up to the revolution. With something to say on
almost
every topic, he is perhaps the chief literary figure contributing to the French
revolution. A Confederacy of Dunces John Kennedy O'Toole
1990 A humorous and outrageous adventures of a good for nothing in
American
society that takes aim on small-mindedness and satirizes
the overly zealous intellect, set in New Orleans. The
book is
only known because his mother had it published after his
death.
13 Crime and Punishment Fyodr Dostoyevsky
1875 The author condenses a lifetime of extravagance, violence,
uncertainty
and theological doubt into the nine days that the
novel
encompasses. Dead Souls Nikoly Gogol
1880 Think of it as Russia's "Canterbury Tales" but with a
political
twist. As
Gogol's rouge protagonist makes his way through early 19th
century Russia we are treated to a wide variety of
characters
in various states of melancholy that foretells the
nation's
upcoming overthrow of its aristocracy and the old
regime.
15 Death in Venice Thomas Mann
1988 The location (decadent Venice) and subject matter (the conflict
between
desire and propriety) are portrayed brilliantly. More
profound,
the mood of old Europe just before WW I hearkens
back to a
time far away. Galapagos Kurt Vonnegut
1984 Darwin, modernity, and the future of humanity collide in this
engaging
novel, in which the author's protagonists devolve into
seals. Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad
1902 The author was born a Pole and later became an Englishman,
with years
of seafaring adventures from which to draw material.
Here in his best known novel, he writes about a journey
into Africa in search of the nature of man. The story serves as
an archetype for modern literature.
The Iliad Homer
800 This founding epic of our Western civilization tells the story of
the siege
of Troy, and, in doing so, outlines the very nature of
war with a
great sense of nobility. Serves as the basis of many
allusions
still use today, such as Achilles' heel or the beauty of
Helen of
Troy. The Magic Mountain Thomas Mann
1928 One of those novels that sums up a culture, this masterpiece
does just
that about the state of European culture in the aftermath
of the Great War. Filled with intense intellectual
discussions
about the nature of music and politics, this is a
challenging
work that takes a sanatorium in Switzerland as its
setting
from which to analyze humankind.
20 The Name of the Rose Umberto Eco
1983 Anyone interested in the Medieval needs to read this tale of
conspiracy
set in a monastery. The best example of historical
fiction
that I've seen. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich Alexander Solzhenitsyn
1962 While a good deal of his work chronicles the terrors of the
Russian
people in prisons at the hands of their own government, this
novella is the most accessible, telling about how a man
simply
manages to survive one day at a time in the Gulag. This
book was
allowed to be published during the Khrushchev thaw.
22 The Plague Albert Camus
1946 His most complex work is far more developed than "The
Stranger".
Uses his home city of Oran, Algeria as the setting for
the
plague, which is associated with war and human misery.
Greatly
misunderstood by those who know of him instead of
reading
him, Camus, an excellent dramatist as well, carries a
message of
hope in much of his work.
23 Protagoras Plato
370B Much of what Plato writes is a history of what Socrates did and
said
through his pupil Plato's eyes, and this one, in the form of a
dialogue
with other philosophers, features Plator at his literary
best.
"Protagoras" is also more accessible to the modern reader
than the
more dense "Republic." Remembrance of Things Past Marcel Proust
1900 This is one of those novels that you will either hold among the
all-time
best or consider unreadable. At the turn of the century
Proust
gave us this monumental metaphysical rumination on the
nature of
time and the functioning of our individual memory. War and Peace Leo Tolstoy
1890 The novel known as the greatest ever written is actually mainly
a unique
insight into the Napoleonic invasion of Russia. 26 The War of the Worlds H G Wells
1890 This is early science fiction at its best. A view of what might
have
happened in and around London if Martians invaded. The Weight of the World Peter Handke
1975 Like to see how an author processes ideas while writing? Read
someone
else's notebook. 28 Beyond Good and Evil Friedrich Nietzsche
1886 In need of something different? Nietzsche was a true
revolutionary
standing outside much of Western tradition, capable of
shocking you with both his naked truth and far-reaching
statements. A brilliant philologist, he reserves some
of his
scant admiration for the pre-Socratics. This book shows
him at the
peak of his philosophizing powers.
29 The Demon-Haunted World Carl Sagan
1994 Our very personable physicist wrote this book that nicely brings
together
the ancient origins of many of our everyday beliefs and
fears. The
Duino Elegies Rainer Maria Rilke
1924 Probably the best poetry sequence of the 20th Century. Rilke
wrote
these in a brilliant period of creativity after not being able
to write
anything for 10 years due to depression caused by WW I.
31 A Season in Hell Arthur Rimbaud
1872 The author wrote this unconventional and influential work in a
frenzy of
creativity that lasted only a few years before he went
off to the
civil service in Africa. One of the founders of the
surrealist
movement in poetry. The
Clouds Aristophanes
400B Aristophanes is one of the few remaining Greek comedy
playwrights
we have, and in "The Clouds" he provides us with a
satire of
the philosophers of his time, including Socrates. The Doll's House Henrik Ibsen
1880 Ibsen founded modern drama in the middle of the 19th Century,
turning
the theater into an exciting discussion forum. Social plays like
this one about the status of women are his most frequently
performed, yet he is also responsible for outstanding
symbolic
dramas like "When We Dead Awaken". Hamlet William Shakespeare
1600 Perhaps the most quoted of Shakespeare's works, "Hamlet"
is a
stunning
portrayal in psychology. 5 Marat Peter Weiss
1962 This dramatic gem places the legendary French revolutionary
theorist
in an insane asylum. Medea Euripedes
420B Euripides won Athens chief prize for drama 5 times, second to
Sophocles'
18. More radical, poetic, and theatrical for his time
than
Sophocles, his "Medea" is an ancient female philosophical
study. Oedipus
Rex Sophocles
425B No less a critic than Aristotle considered "Oedipus Rex"
the ideal play.
Although aspects like the chorus strikes us as archaic, the
play is a
product of its time and remains the most influential play
in
existence.
38 Rhinoceros Euguene Ionesco
1951 This Romanian author, who spent much of his creative life in
France,
wrote this humorous absurdist comedy about what else -
numerous rhinoceros
racing around us in daily life. Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare
1595 The play highlights love, beauty and youth in a delicate way that
has
perhaps never been equaled. The
Tempest William Shakespeare
1596 This is the master near the peak of his powers in his later years.
The
setting: a horrendous storm. The basis: one of his few
forays
into ancient myth. Gulliver's Travels Jonathan Swift
1726 Perhaps the oldest satire in the English language, Swift's work
was more
successful as political allegory its time than it was
famous for
the merits of its humor and wit, for which we treasure
it today. Confessions Augustine
400 One of the earliest Christian texts is a masterpiece in spiritual
autobiography
and self-revelation. Augustine's own words about his
conversion to Christianity. The
Divine Comedy Dante
1300 Serving as the basis of "modern" Western literature,
Dante's
classic,
although filled with dense theology based on Aristotle
and
Aquinas, still moves the modern reader. With 100 cantos, the most
ordered poem that we know ironically stems from a
period of
great disorder.
44 The Canterbury Tales Geoffrey Chaucer
1300 Chaucer's piece about everyday 14th century life in England
provides a
vivid picture of a wide cross section of life and
paints it
with great humor and humility.
45 A Christmas Carol Charles Dickens
1845 Along with Tolstoy, Dickens is one of the few novelists
accepted
by the world. Easy to read yet a serious author,
Dickens'
characters remain with us despite the intervening 150
years. The Decameron Bocaccio
1350 Similar in concept to "The Canterbury Tales", this
collection of
medieval
tales is set in Italy. With such classical inspiration, it's
full of
ideas for the writer. The
Trial Franz Kafka
1914 Belongs with Joyce, Proust, Yeats, and Eliot to the chief writers
of our age
and has aged the best of all. This novel, like much of his work,
deals with the horrors of bureaucracy, feelings of
guilt and
angst, and modern dehumanization. Always seeking a
way to
truth, he is easy to read and attains a chilling effect. One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel Garcia Marquez
1968 The term "magic realism" applies to this novel and makes
it unlike
the
English-American tradition. It tells the story of a Columbian
family
across several generations and verges on becoming a
Latin
American novel due to its breadth. Atlas Shrugged Ayn Rand
1934 Here the author posits her theory of objectivism in literary form.
One of the
only philosophical novels of note written in English. The
Clown Heinrich Boell
1963 One of the few authors who can deal with difficult material
easily.
This book examines the position of Germany in the
post-war
period.51 De Bello Gallico Julius Caeser
1 Accounts of the conquest of France and England by Julius
Caesar
himself are fascinating both for their literary and
historical
significance.
52 The Wasteland TS Eliot
1922 Eliot embodied the very nature of the poet laureate and a man of
letters.
Besides this poem, which captures the anguish of the
Lost
Generation after WW I in a painfully intellectual fashion, he
was a
brilliant theorist and revitalized our interest in writers from the past
such as Donne and Dante. Utopia Thomas More
1680 For centuries political idealists, including Marxists, have drawn
inspiration
from this short novel. Paradise
Lost John Milton
1670 This difficult work about man's fall from God's grace remains the
most
important poem in Modern English. Written during his final
years in
deafness and in ailing health, the work is a monument to
English
prose. Giles
Goat Boy John Barth
1966 A gargantuan novel with multiple plot lines that is simultaneously
satire,
parody, myth, allegory and fact. Very inventive work from
one of
America's most cerebral living authors. The
Cherry Orchard Anton Chekov
1905 Writing generally later than the Russian novelists Tolstoy and
Dostoyevsky,
Chekov is one of the founders of modern drama. His
characters speak about everyday, sometimes trivial things,
and you
suddenly realize that his gift is to hold a mirror up to us
as we
become aware of time passing and try to fill that time in conversation. 7 Waiting for Godot Samuel Beckett
1952 This story of four people who do little more but utter brief
statements
about how they are still waiting for something is
perhaps
the most influential drama after WW II. Although
associated
with absurdist drama, Beckett, who served as an assistant
to Joyce for several years, searched eternally and
somewhat
optimistically for truth and was also a gifted novelist. The Man Without Qualities Robert Musil
1930 This lengthy, unfinished novel is a gem of cultural analysis, a
lesser
Proust. The
Prince Niccolo Machiavelli
1400 The reader must remember that the author described the brutal
aspects of
politics from what he observed in everyday life, considering
them as a means and not necessarily and end. Gravity's
Rainbow Thomas Pynchon
1973 There is no known photograph of this American author, who
communicates
with his publishers only by mail. This is a difficult
work on
the nature of modern warfare and a rumination on
mankind's
place in the modern world. Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte
1850 Emily was one of several sisters writing about life around the
family
parsonage in Yorkshire. In giving us Cathy and Heathcliff
in this
novel, she gave us a wrenching, emotional story of love
and desire
that remains painful. Very unlike the domestic comedy of
her sister Charlotte, Emily gives us undomesticated
tragedy
that haunts us even now.
62 Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain
1890 Whereas "Tom Sawyer" remains an icon of children's'
literature,
Huck is an
American epic that teases us with its views of a
tension-filled
lost paradise before full industrialization. Notable
for his
usage of ordinary speech, the social overtones and
overwhelming
presence and symbolism of the Mississippi River have made
Twain as the closest thing we have to a national
author.
63 Being and Time Martin Heiddegger
1928 One of the few philosophical books of our era that is interesting
to the
everyday reader. The author ruminates about the nature
of time in
a post-Einstein world, inventing words at every turn.
The German
is exceedingly difficult.
Democracy in America Alexis de Tocqueville
1835 The young Frenchman arrived in the US in 1831 and wrote
down his
observations of the American experiment. The result is
the
best-known work of socio-logical and political observation
known.
Even today, the author seems to have an uncanny sense of
the future as he looked ahead and saw our great Walden Henry David Thoreau
1860 Now far eclipsing the man who initially posited the life of self
reliance,
Emerson, Thoreau's words have turned him into a radical,
influencing Gandhi and King. His "Walden" remains a
treatise
on his philosophy and the American idea of independence.
66 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Lewis Carroll
1890 The book combines the worlds of childhood, dream, nonsense
and logic,
and in its fanciful tone it continues to delight us as
children
and adults. Collected
Poems Wiliam Butler Yeats
1930 For native English speakers it is critical to understand the
central
influence
of Yeats to our poetry. Living long enough to undergo
a series
of phases, he moves from earlier Celtic lyricism to a
difficult
intellectual verse filled with allusions to antiquity. He
serves as
an Irish national icon as well as a shining example of
a great
intellect.
68 Long Day's Journey into Night Eugene O'Neill
1949 O'neill is a rarity among American authors in that he aims to write
serious
tragedy in a Greek vein in 20th Century America. He
succeeds
admirably, and in this play he transforms naked autobiography
into a painfully contemporary setting. The Bible Unknown
350 In its original languages, the Bible remains an exquisite poetic
work. It
also functions as the base of much of Western civilization
an theology and is an integral part of everyday thought
and speech. Sonnets William Shakespeare
1595 Although overshadowed by his drama, the strict 14 line
structure
married to delicate language make the sonnets one of
the
highpoints of the English language. The
Odyssey Homer
800B This sequel to "The Iliad" tells us about what happened
to the
Greek
heroes after Troy, especially Odysseus on his 10 year
journey
home. Unlike the tragic tone of its precursor, we identify
more
readily with the theme of his eternal journey and the sense
of the
future's possibilities. Even more ripe with allusions than
"The
Iliad" and a permanent fixture of the Western mind. The Koran Muhammad
650 The book revealed to Muhammad contains many similarities to
the Bible,
on which it is based. Its differences make it necessary
reading in
order to understand the differences between Western
culture and the Islamic theocracies. Don Quixote Miguel de Cervantes
1600 Cervantes' work stands at the crossroads of the medieval and
the modern
and stems from a period when Spain was still master of
Europe. Supremely humorous, especially for its time,
this long
work offers insights into all aspects of life. Songs and Sonnets John Donne
1600 This contemporary of Shakespeare composed the most sensual
love
poetry of his time and seems oddly in tune with our age.
However,
unable to make ends meet, he became first a minister
and then
the most famous preacher of his age, leaving us with
17th
century sermons that are also Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems Galileo Galilei
1632 Disguising his revolutionary message in the form of Plato-like dialogues,
through use of his astronomical telescope the 17th
century
scientist proves Copernicus' theory that earth is not
center of
the universe. His reward? Near execution at the hands
of the
inquisition era church. Essays Michel Montaigne
1592 The essays are the everyday observations of a 16th century
nobleman.
Filled with the classical quotations of this learned
humanist
and unusually frank, all topics are covered to reveal a
unique
picture of the times, our first personal essays. Thoughts Blaise Pascal
1662 A contemporary of Descartes, Pascal was also tormented by
the same
need for mathematical certainty. His "Thoughts" are a
rather
disjointed set of notes that represent a 17th century
doubting
mind who questions all. Lacking the strict formality of
Descartes,
he questions passionately with an intensity that is
more
understandable to us today. Second Treatise on Government John Locke
1690 Locke's idea of the "social contract" as the basis of
rational
government
unleashed the torrents of the American and French
revolutions
within the next 100 years. The Epic of Gilgamesh Unknown
2000 The world's oldest surviving narrative poem tells the legends of the ancient Sumerian king, Gilgamesh. Lost until the 19th century, it provides a window into the distant past. |