Books

Classic Literature That Will Not Leave You Indifferent


classic literature - reading books

Literature continues to be the most effective means of passing messages through generations. Everything that has ever happened since the very beginning of times has been recorded in historical writings. We know that classical literature is timeless. But what does that mean? There is no difference when a particular classical book was written, because it draws attention to important issues as well as touches upon such eternal feelings as love, friendship or maternity.

The importance of foreign classical writings has been underestimated for ages. Universities and colleges usually choose their native authors and their most popular works to create courses for their students. Even developed countries like the US have fallen victim to this practice.

This results in misunderstanding among graduates of different universities worldwide, because they are taught differently about what classical literature is. Lots of Americans and many other people across the globe miss out exceptional characters, unbelievable stories, moving emotions and enlightening experience. All these aspects of classical literature change the way people perceive our world.

Classical literature is not an ancient one, as it gives ideas for contemporary novels as well. You can use some concepts, combine them with some new facts and characters and then create perfect pieces of modern literature. If you want to write a book, but you are not sure, whether it contradicts those already written, you can always find a good essay writer online, who will provide you with the best analysis of your work.

We are going to introduce you eight essential works of different authors.

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Pride and Prejudice

Written by Jane Austen in 1813, Pride and Prejudice gained an immediate success. Jane called this book her darling child, while her main heroine, Elizabeth Bennet, is her delightful creature.

This was a revolutionary novel, as romantic relationships between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy represented the roots of modern civilization. It is not just about romance, as it presents another side of comedy as characters dance a delicate quadrille of flirtation and intrigue. This book is a worldwide bestseller and almost everyone claims that he had read it at least once in a life.

To Kill a Mockingbird

There have been over 18 million copies of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee sold worldwide. This book was published in 1960 and was the most influential literary work of its time.

Everyone who has read this unforgettable novel about childhood in sleepy town is never going to be the same. It presents a crisis of conscience that rocked a town.

In 1961, this book won the Pulitzer Prize award and later was developed into an Academy Award-winning film.

There are no other novel like this, as it helps reader understand the human behavior through deeply moving story about how people communicate and how wrong they could be in their decisions. Innocence, experience, kindness, cruelty, love, hatred, human and pathos, are all human emotions, which we face in our everyday life. They are all presented in o Kill a Mockingbird , which is translated into over two hundred languages.

1984

In this novel, George Orwell presents his vision of hell. It is the best work of this political satirist. Lots of people define it as one of the most terrifying novel they have ever read. Since its publication, 1984 is a must to read book for students.

This dystopia was published in 1949 as author’s outlook on the future. It is quite terrifying because lots of his predictions came true, as, for example, that everyone has a TV in a dining room or hall. He tells about his nightmarish vision of a totalitarian, bureaucratic world and one individual trying to find himself in it.

Nausea

Nausea is one of the most intriguing classic works by Jean-Paul Sartre, a popular novelist who refused to accept his Nobel Prize. Sartre is well known as father of Existentialism, a 19th and 20th –century revolutionary philosophical movement.

This movement advocated freedom of choice and personal responsibility as essential to human existence. Emphasizing the idea of existence over nothingness, J. Sartre writes Nausea to show how people make their choices.

If you are looking for a book to boost your knowledge and open your mind for new thoughts, you shouldn’t miss this one. It helps the reader think outside the box of unconscious choices.

And Quiet Flows

And Quite Flows is a literary work of Mikhail Sholokhov. Sholokhov won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1965 for this novel. However, this writer remains almost unknown in the US.

This novel is perhaps one of the best representations for how people live today. He uses the character, Don Cossacks, whose seemingly timeless way of life was fiercely interrupted and torn apart. It offers insight into the 20th-century war and the position of Russian revolutionists.

Many literary critics argue that this novel of Mikhail Sholokhov is a contemporary version of Tolstoy’s War and Peace. This is because of its stunning naturalism and how it represents historical accuracy of this time.

Little Women

Louisa May Alcott’s most popular and enduring novel, Little Women has been a love for many generations of readers. It talks about a talented tomboy and author-to-be Jo, tragically frail Beth, beautiful Meg, and romantic, spoiled Amy. They are all united in their devotion to each other as they struggle to survive during the Civil War in New England.

This book is all about Alcott’s early years, when she was abandoned with her sisters. At that time, her father, Bronson Alcott who was an abolitionist, was quite busy at work. Louisa Alcott would engage in women activities such as sewing, doing laundry, and working as a domestic servant. Her life turned to the best when she started to write and earn some money for that.

This book brought her fame. Her publications explore such timeless themes like love and death, war and peace as well as reveals a problem of family conflicts and cultural clashes issues between Europe and America.

classic literature - reading books

The Plague

This famous novel was written by Albert Camus. He was the best friend of Sartre. He was also the second youngest writer  to receive a Nobel Prize for literature (after Rudyard Kipling). His work, The Plague has been considered as a great existentialist classic. It narrates how this deadly plague kills the whole city and how people feel about it from the very beginning till the end.

He asks questions about the nature of destiny and the general condition of human existence. Take a seat and a glass of ice-cold wine as this book will amaze you for sure.

The Odyssey

The Odyssey was written by Homer and translated by Robert Fagles. It is well known worldwide. It stands on the same level as The Iliad, the world’s greatest epic about war. The hero Odysseus relies fully on his willingness to survive as he encounters natural and divine forces on his 10-year voyage from Trojan to Ithaca, his home. This is a timeless story, which will not leave you indifferent.

Conclusion

Literature is not just about writing great works. It goes beyond the boundaries of generational differences. Classic literature shared above is proven to be the most readable and most preferable for thousands of readers. These are the greatest works of all times. No one can deny that these books continue influencing people and shaping their understanding of our world.


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