Closer to mid-February, it seems that even love vibes are in the air. And if you haven’t felt this mood yet, the gray sky and cold wind spoil all the romance - will come to your aid best classic about love!
Antoine François Prevost's History of the Chevalier de Grieux and Manon Lescaut (1731)
This story takes place in Regency France after the death of Louis XIV. The story is told from the perspective of a seventeen-year-old boy, a graduate of the Faculty of Philosophy in northern France. Having successfully passed his exams, he is about to return to his father's house, but accidentally meets an attractive and mysterious girl. This is Manon Lescaut, who was brought to the city by her parents to be sent to a monastery. Cupid's arrow pierces the heart of the young gentleman and he, forgetting about everything, persuades Manon to run away with him. Thus begins the eternal and beautiful love story of the Chevalier de Grieux and Manon Lescaut, which will inspire entire generations of readers, writers, artists, musicians, and directors.
Author love story- Abbot Prevost, whose life rushed between monastic solitude and secular society. His fate - complex, interesting, his love for a girl of another faith - forbidden and passionate - formed the basis of a fascinating and scandalous (for its era) book.
“Manon Lescaut” is the first novel where, against the backdrop of a reliable depiction of material and everyday realities, a subtle and heartfelt psychological picture heroes. The fresh, winged prose of Abbé Prévost is unlike all previous French literature.
This story tells about several years in the life of de Grieux, during which an impulsive, sensitive young man thirsting for love and freedom manages to turn into a man with great experience and difficult fate. The beautiful Manon also grows up: her spontaneity and frivolity are replaced by depth of feelings and a wise outlook on life.
“Despite the cruelest fate, I found my happiness in her gaze and in firm confidence in her feelings. Truly I have lost everything that other people honor and cherish; but I possessed the heart of Manon, the only good that I honored.”
A novel about pure and eternal love, which arises out of thin air, but the strength and purity of this feeling is enough to change the heroes and their destinies. But is this power enough to change life around?
Emily Bronte "Wuthering Heights" (1847)
Having made their debut in the same year, each of the Bronte sisters presented the world with their own novel: Charlotte - “Jane Eyre”, Emily - “Wuthering Heights”, Anne - “Agnes Gray”. Charlotte's novel created a sensation (it, like any book by the most famous Brontë, could have ended up in this top), but after the death of the sisters it was recognized that Wuthering Heights was one of the best works of that time.
The most mystical and reserved of the sisters, Emily Bronte, created a piercing novel about madness and hatred, about strength and love. His contemporaries considered him too rude, but they could not help but fall under his magical influence.
The story of generations of two families unfolds against the picturesque backdrop of the Yorkshire fields, where maddening winds and inhuman passions reign. Central characters- freedom-loving Catherine and impulsive Heathcliff are obsessed with each other. Their complex characters, different social status, exceptional destinies - all together form a canon love story. But this book is more than just an early Victorian love story. According to modernist Virginia Woolf, “the idea that at the heart of the manifestations of human nature lie forces that elevate it and raise it to the foot of greatness, and puts Emily Brontë’s novel in a special, outstanding place among similar novels.”
Thanks to " Wuthering Heights“The beautiful fields of Yorkshire have become a nature reserve, and we have inherited, for example, such masterpieces as the film of the same name with Juliette Binoche, the popular ballad “It"s All Coming Back to Me Now” performed by Celine Dion, as well as touching quotes:
“What doesn’t remind you of her? I can’t even look at my feet without her face appearing here on the floor slabs! It is in every cloud, in every tree - it fills the air at night, during the day it appears in the outlines of objects - her image is everywhere around me! The most ordinary faces, male and female, my own features - everything teases me with its likeness. The whole world is a terrible panopticon, where everything reminds me that she existed and that I lost her.”
Leo Tolstoy "Anna Karenina" (1877)
Exists famous legend about how it was discussed among writers that there are no good novels about love in literature. Tolstoy perked up at these words and accepted the challenge, saying that he would write good novel about love in three months. And he did write it. True, in four years.
But that, as they say, is history. And “Anna Karenina” is a novel that is included in the school curriculum. This school reading. And so, every decent graduate learns at the exit that "All happy families look alike...", and in the Oblonskys’ house “everything is mixed up...”
Meanwhile, Anna Karenina is a truly great book about great love. Today it is generally accepted (thanks, in particular, to the cinema) that this is a novel about the pure and passionate love of Karenina and Vronsky, which became Anna’s salvation from her boring tyrant husband and her own death.
But for the author himself, this is, first of all, family romance, a novel about love, which, having united two halves, grows into something more: a family, children. This, according to Tolstoy, is the main purpose of a woman. Because there is nothing more important, and most importantly, more difficult than raising a child, preserving the real strong family. This idea in the novel is personified by the union of Levin and Kitty. This family, which Tolstoy largely copied from his union with Sofia Andreevna, becomes a reflection of the ideal union of a man and a woman.
The Karenins are an “unhappy family,” and Tolstoy dedicated his book to analyzing the reasons for this misfortune. However, the author does not indulge in moralizing, accusing sinful Anna of destroying a decent family. Leo Tolstoy, “an expert on human souls,” creates a complex work where there is no right and wrong. There is a society that influences the heroes, there are heroes who choose their path, and there are feelings that the heroes do not always understand, but to which they give themselves fully.
I'll wrap it up here literary analysis, for much has already been written about this and better. I’ll just express my thought: be sure to re-read the texts from school curriculum. And not only from school.
Reshad Nuri Gyuntekin “The Kinglet - a songbird” (1922)
The question of which works of Turkish literature have become world classics can be perplexing. The novel “The Songbird” deserves such recognition. Reshad Nuri Güntekin wrote this book at the age of 33, it became one of his first novels. These circumstances make us even more surprised by the skill with which the writer depicted the psychology of a young woman, social problems provincial Turkey.
A fragrant and original book captures you from the first lines. These are diary entries of the beautiful Feride, who recalls her life and her love. When this book first came to me (and it was during my puberty), on the tattered cover there was “Chalykushu - a songbird.” Even now it seems to me that this translation of the name is more colorful and sonorous. Chalykushu is the nickname of the restless Feride. As the heroine writes in her diary: “...my real name, Feride, became official and was used very rarely, like a festive outfit. I liked the name Chalykushu, it even helped me out. As soon as someone complained about my tricks, I just shrugged my shoulders, as if saying: “I have nothing to do with it... What do you want from Chalykushu?..”.
Chalykushu lost her parents early. She is sent to be raised by relatives, where she falls in love with her aunt’s son, Kamran. Their relationship is not easy, but the young people are drawn to each other. Suddenly, Feride learns that her chosen one is already in love with someone else. In feelings, the impulsive Chalykushu fluttered out of the family nest towards real life, which greeted her with a hurricane of events...
I remember how, after reading the book, I wrote quotes in my diary, realizing every word. It’s interesting that you change over time, but the book remains the same piercing, touching and naive. But it seems that in our 21st century of independent women, gadgets and social networks A little naivety wouldn't hurt:
“A person lives and is tied by invisible threads to the people who surround him. Separation sets in, the threads stretch and break like violin strings, emitting sad sounds. And every time the threads break at the heart, a person experiences the most acute pain.”
David Herbert Lawrence "Lady Chatterley's Lover" (1928)
Provocative, scandalous, frank. Banned for over thirty years after first publication. The inveterate English bourgeoisie did not tolerate description sex scenes and "immoral" behavior main character. In 1960, a high-profile trial took place, during which the novel “Lady Chatterley's Lover” was rehabilitated and allowed to be published when the author was no longer alive.
Today the novel and its storyline hardly seem so provocative to us. Young Constance marries Baronet Chatterley. After their marriage, Clifford Chatterley goes to Flanders, where during the battle he receives multiple wounds. He is permanently paralyzed from the waist down. Connie's married life (as her husband affectionately calls her) has changed, but she continues to love her husband, caring for him. However, Clifford understands that it is difficult for a young girl to spend all nights alone. He allows her to have a lover, the main thing is that the candidate is worthy.
“If a man has no brains, he is a fool; if he has no heart, he is a villain; if he has no bile, he is a rag. If a man is not capable of exploding like a tightly stretched spring, he does not have masculine nature. This is not a man, but a good boy.”
During one of her walks in the forest, Connie meets a new huntsman. It is he who will teach the girl not only the art of love, but also awaken real deep feelings in her.
David Herbert Lawrence is a classic of English literature, the author of no less famous books “Sons and Lovers”, “Women in Love”, “Rainbow”, he also wrote essays, poems, plays, and travel prose. He created three versions of the novel Lady Chatterley's Lover. The last version, which satisfied the author, was published. This novel brought him fame, but Lawrence’s liberalism and the proclamation of human freedom of moral choice, glorified in the novel, could only be appreciated many years later.
Margaret Mitchell "Gone with the Wind" (1936)
Aphorism “When a woman can’t cry, it’s scary”, and the image itself strong woman belong to the pen of the American writer Margaret Mitchell, who became famous thanks to her only novel. There is hardly a person who has not heard of the bestseller Gone with the Wind.
“Gone with the Wind” is the story of the civil war between the northern and southern states of America in the 60s, during which cities and destinies were destroyed, but something new and beautiful could not help but be born. This is the story of young Scarlett O'Hara coming of age, who is forced to take responsibility for her family, learn to manage her feelings and achieve simple female happiness.
This is that successful novel about love when, in addition to the main and rather superficial theme, it gives something else. The book grows with the reader: open in different time, it will be perceived in a new way every time. One thing remains unchanged in it: the hymn of love, life and humanity. And unexpected and open ending inspired several writers to create sequels to the love story, the most famous of which are Alexander Ripley's Scarlett or Donald McCaig's Rhett Butler's People.
Boris Pasternak "Doctor Zhivago" (1957)
Pasternak's complex symbolist novel, written in an equally complex and rich language. A number of researchers point to the autobiographical nature of the work, but the events or characters described barely resemble real life author. Nevertheless, this is a kind of “spiritual autobiography”, which Pasternak characterized as follows: “I am now writing a large novel in prose about a man who forms some resultant between Blok and me (and Mayakovsky, and Yesenin, perhaps). He will die in 1929. What will remain from him is a book of poems, which makes up one of the chapters of the second part. The time covered by the novel is 1903-1945.”
The main theme of the novel is reflection on the future of the country and the fate of the generation to which the author belonged. Historical events play an important role for the heroes of the novel, it is the whirlpool of complex political situation determines their lives.
The main characters of the book are the doctor and poet Yuri Zhivago and Lara Antipova, the hero’s beloved. Throughout the novel, their paths accidentally crossed and separated, seemingly forever. What really captivates us in this novel is the inexplicable and immense love, like the sea, that the characters carried through their entire lives.
This love story culminates in several winter days in the snow-covered Varykino estate. It is here that the main explanations of the heroes take place, here Zhivago writes his best poems dedicated to Lara. But even in this abandoned house they cannot hide from the noise of war. Larisa is forced to leave to save the lives of herself and her children. And Zhivago, going crazy from the loss, writes in his notebook:
A man looks from the threshold,
Not recognizing home.
Her departure was like an escape,
There are signs of destruction everywhere.
The rooms are in chaos everywhere.
He measures ruin
Doesn't notice because of tears
And a migraine attack.
There is some noise in my ears in the morning.
Is he in memory or dreaming?
And why is it on his mind
Are you still thinking about the sea?..
“Doctor Zhivago” is a novel awarded the Nobel Prize, a novel whose fate, like the fate of the author, turned out to be tragic, a novel that is alive today, like the memory of Boris Pasternak, is a must read.
John Fowles "The French Lieutenant's Mistress" (1969)
One of Fowles's masterpieces, representing an unsteady interweaving of postmodernism, realism, the Victorian novel, psychology, allusions to Dickens, Hardy and other contemporaries. The novel, which is the central work of English literature of the 20th century, is also considered one of the main books about love.
The outline of the story, like any plot of a love story, looks simple and predictable. But Fowles is a postmodernist, influenced by existentialism and passionate about historical sciences, created a mystical and deep love story from this story.
An aristocrat, a wealthy young man named Charles Smithson, and his chosen one meet Sarah Woodruff on the seashore - once "mistress of a French lieutenant", and now - a maid who avoids people. Sarah looks unsociable, but Charles manages to establish contact with her. During one of the walks, Sarah opens up to the hero, talking about her life.
“Even your own past does not seem like something real to you - you dress it up, try to whitewash it or denigrate it, you edit it, somehow patch it up... In a word, you turn it into fiction and put it away on the shelf - this is your book, your novelized autobiography. We are all running from the real reality. This is the main one distinguishing feature homo sapiens."
A difficult but special relationship is established between the characters, which will develop into a strong and fatal feeling.
The variability of the endings of the novel is not only one of the main techniques of postmodern literature, but also reflects the idea that in love, as in life, anything is possible.
And for fans of Meryl Streep's acting: in 1981, a film of the same name directed by Karel Reisz was released, where the main characters were played by Jeremy Irons and Meryl Streep. The film, which received several film awards, has become a classic. But watch it like any film based on literary work, better after reading the book itself.
Colin McCullough "The Thorn Birds" (1977)
During her life, Colleen McCullough wrote more than ten novels, the historical series “The Lords of Rome,” and a series of detective stories. But she was able to take a prominent place in Australian literature and thanks to just one novel - The Thorn Birds.
Seven parts fascinating story big family. Several generations of the Cleary clan move to Australia to settle here and from simple poor farmers become a prominent and successful family. The central characters of this saga are Maggie Cleary and Ralph de Bricassart. Their story, which unites all the chapters of the novel, tells about the eternal struggle of duty and feelings, reason and passion. What will the heroes choose? Or will they have to stand on opposite sides and defend their choice?
Each part of the novel is dedicated to one of the members of the Cleary family and subsequent generations. Over the fifty years during which the novel takes place, not only the surrounding reality changes, but also life ideals. So Maggie’s daughter Fia, whose story opens in the last part of the book, no longer strives to create a family, to continue her kind. So the fate of the Cleary family is in jeopardy.
“The Thorn Birds” is a finely crafted, filigree work about life itself. Colleen McCullough managed to reflect the complex overflows of the human soul, the thirst for love that lives in every woman, the passionate nature and inner strength of a man. Ideal reading on long winter evenings under a blanket or sultry days on the summer veranda.
“There is a legend about a bird that sings only once in its entire life, but is more beautiful than anyone else in the world. One day she leaves her nest and flies to look for a thorn bush and will not rest until she finds it. Among the thorny branches she begins to sing a song and throws herself against the longest, sharpest thorn. And, rising above the unspeakable torment, he sings so, dying, that both the lark and the nightingale would envy this jubilant song. The only, incomparable song, and it comes at the cost of life. But the whole world stands still, listening, and God himself smiles in heaven. For all the best is bought only at the price of great suffering... At least that’s what the legend says.”
Gabriel Garcia Marquez "Love in the Time of Plague" (1985)
I wonder when the famous expression that love is a disease appeared? However, it is precisely this truth that becomes the impetus for understanding the work of Gabriel García Márquez, which proclaims that “...the symptoms of love and plague are the same”. And the most important idea of this novel is contained in another quote: "If you meet your true love, then she won’t get away from you - not in a week, not in a month, not in a year.”
This happened with the heroes of the novel “Love in the Time of Plague,” the plot of which revolves around a girl named Fermina Daza. In her youth, Florentino Ariza was in love with her, but, considering his love only a temporary hobby, she marries Juvenal Urbino. Urbino's profession is a doctor, and his life's work is the fight against cholera. However, Fermina and Florentino are destined to be together. When Urbino dies, the feelings of old lovers flare up with renewed vigor, colored in more mature and deeper tones.
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Classmates
By Russian classical literature we mean the works of classics: writers who are not only exemplary, but also who have become symbols of Russian culture. Only the person who knows classical works, appreciates their merits, feels their inner beauty, and can be considered truly educated. Today you will find out by opinion women's magazine Charla.
10 best books of Russian literature: “The Brothers Karamazov”
"The Brothers Karamazov" was conceived as the first part of the novel “The Life of a Great Sinner.” The first sketches were made in 1878, the novel was completed in 1880. However, Dostoevsky did not have time to complete his plans: the writer died a few months after the publication of the book. Most of The Brothers Karamazov was written in Staraya Russa- the prototype of Skotoprigonyevsk, where the main action takes place.Perhaps this novel can be considered the most complex and controversial work of the great Russian writer. Critics have dubbed it an “intellectual detective story,” and many call it the best work about the mysterious Russian soul. This is the last and one of the most famous novels Dostoevsky, it was filmed both here and in the West, where, by the way, this work is held in special esteem. What is this novel about? Each reader answers this question differently. The author himself defined his great creation as “a novel about blasphemy and its refutation.” One thing is certain, this is one of the most profound philosophical works of world literature about sin, mercy, and the eternal struggle occurring in the human soul.
10 best books of Russian literature: “The Idiot” by Fyodor Dostoevsky
"Idiot"- Dostoevsky's fifth novel. Published from 1868 to 1869 in the Russian Messenger magazine. This novel occupies a special place in the writer’s work: it is considered one of Dostoevsky’s most mysterious works. The main character of the book is Lev Nikolaevich Myshkin, whom the author himself called a “positively wonderful” person, the embodiment of Christian goodness and virtue. Conducted most life is closed, Prince Myshkin decided to go out into the world, but he did not know what cruelty, hypocrisy, and greed he would have to face: for his unselfishness, honesty, philanthropy and kindness, the prince was contemptuously nicknamed “idiot”….10 best books of Russian literature: “War and Peace” and “Anna Karenina” by Leo Tolstoy
Epic novel by Leo Tolstoy "War and Peace" about the times of two wars against Napoleon - 1805 and 1812 - one of the most famous works not only Russian, but also world literature. This book is one of the eternal classics, because it reveals with deep skill the main components human life: war and peace, life and death, love and betrayal, courage and cowardice. The greatest epic work is a tremendous success all over the world: the book was filmed several times, plays and an opera were staged based on it. The novel consists of four parts, the first part was published in 1865 in the Russian Messenger.The tragic novel about the love of married Anna Karenina for the handsome officer Vronsky is one of the greatest masterpieces of Russian literature, still relevant today. “All happy families are alike, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way” - these lines are familiar to every person.
"Anna Karenina"- a complex, deep, psychologically sophisticated work that captures the reader from the first lines and does not let go until the end. The novel by the brilliant psychologist Tolstoy captivates with its absolute artistic authenticity and dramatic narrative, forcing the reader to watch intensely how the relationship will develop between Anna Karenina and Vronsky, Levin and Kitty. It is not surprising that this book captivated not only Russian readers, but also Europe and America.
10 best books of Russian literature: “The Master and Margarita” by Mikhail Bulgakov
Bulgakov wrote this brilliant novel over the course of eleven years, constantly changing and adding to the text. However, Bulgakov never managed to see it published: a full thirty years passed before one of the greatest works of Russian prose of the twentieth century was allowed to be published. "Master and Margarita"- the most mysterious and mystical novel in Russian literature. This book received worldwide recognition: Many countries around the world are trying to comprehend its secrets.10 best books of Russian literature: “Dead Souls” by Nikolai Gogol
Gogol's immortal work "Dead Souls" about human tricks and weaknesses should definitely be in your home library. Gogol showed very clearly and colorfully human souls: after all " dead Souls“- these are not only those that Chichikov bought, but also the souls of living people, buried under their petty interests.The novel was originally conceived in three volumes. The first volume was published in 1842. However, subsequent events have a mystical connotation: having finished the second volume, Gogol completely burned it - only a few chapters remained in the drafts. And ten days after that the writer died...
10 best books of Russian literature: “Doctor Zhivago” by Boris Pasternak
"Doctor Zhivago"- the pinnacle of Pasternak’s creativity as a prose writer. The writer created his novel over ten years from 1945 to 1955. This is a sincere and poignant love story against a backdrop of chaos. Civil War, which is accompanied by poems by the main character - Yuri Zhivago. These poems, written by Pasternak in different periods his life reveals in the best possible way the unique facets of the author’s poetic talent. For Doctor Zhivago, Boris Pasternak received the Nobel Prize on October 23, 1958. But in the writer’s homeland, unfortunately, the novel became the cause of a huge scandal, and besides, the book was long years banned. Pasternak was one of the few who defended freedom of speech to the end. Perhaps this is what cost him his life...10 best books of Russian literature: collection of stories “Dark Alleys” by Ivan Bunin
Stories « Dark alleys» - frank, sincere, exquisitely sensual stories about love. Perhaps these stories can be considered the best example of Russian love prose. Nobel Prize Laureate, brilliant writer was one of the few authors of his time (the stories were written in 1938) who spoke so openly, sincerely and beautifully about the relationship between a man and a woman, about beautiful love, which can last a lifetime... “Dark Alleys” will definitely appeal to all women and girls as one of the most poignant stories about love.10 best books of Russian literature: “Quiet Don” by Mikhail Sholokhov
Epic novel "Quiet Don" in four volumes was published in 1940 in Roman-Gazeta. This is one of the largest works of Russian literature, which brought Mikhail Sholokhov world fame. Moreover, in 1965 the writer was awarded the Nobel Prize “For the artistic strength and integrity of the epic about the Don Cossacks at a turning point for Russia.” This is a grand novel about fate Don Cossacks, a fascinating saga about love, devotion, betrayal and hatred. A book about which controversy continues to this day: some literary scholars believe that the authorship does not actually belong to Sholokhov. In any case, this work deserves to be read.10 best books of Russian literature: “The Gulag Archipelago” by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Another Nobel Prize winner, classic Russian literature, outstanding writer of the twentieth century - Alexander Solzhenitsyn, author of the world-famous documentary epic "GULAG Archipelago", which tells about repressions in Soviet years. This is more than a book: it is an entire study based on personal experience the author (Solzhenitsyn himself was a victim of repression), documents and testimonies of many eyewitnesses. This is a book about suffering, tears, blood. But at the same time, it shows that a person can always remain human under the most difficult circumstances.Of course, this is far from full list outstanding books of Russian literature. Nevertheless, these are books that every person who appreciates and honors Russian culture should know.
Alisa Terentyeva
Literature as an art form is extremely diverse. But each of its genres has its best, so to speak, exemplary works. These books constitute an array of classical literature; they will never go out of fashion, they will be understandable and close to people of different countries and eras.
About the classics
So, we have already found out that classic literature represents the best, most talented works created in certain periods. The very concept of classics arose at the end of antiquity. Then it was understood as certain writers who, thanks to their authority, were models for masters of words, as well as in the field of obtaining various knowledge.
First classic writer the Greeks certainly considered the famous Homer . Already in ancient times of the classical period of Hellas, his works “Odyssey” and “Iliad” were considered absolute standards dramatic genre which no one will ever be able to achieve.
Upon completion ancient times In Europe, a list of canonical works—those texts that were used for educational purposes—begins to take shape. In different cultural centers The list of names on this list varied, although only slightly. The backbone of the canon was made up of the same authors everywhere.
Only at the end of the Middle Ages did not only ancient authors, but also writers who lived in later eras begin to be classified as classics. The list of classical literature began to gradually expand. These works were considered practically impersonal; they were the common property of mankind.
A more modern interpretation of the classics emerges during the European Renaissance when literature moves away from religion, secularization of all spheres occurs public life. At that time, Greek writers were considered the greatest authorities.
Over time, interest in antiquity increased so much that such a thing arose cultural direction like classicism. Its essence was to imitate the best examples Greek art.
Gradually, in addition to the narrow concept of classics, which included Greek literature, a broader interpretation appeared, which included all the best works of literature in a particular genre.
The best books of classical literature
There are many great works in this category that are worth reading. Some things are closer to modern man, some not so much. But all classical literature has significant artistic and universal value . However, there are the best of the best who modern world are considered a must-read for any educated person:
- Lev Tolstoy ;
- Fedor Dostoevsky ;
- Victor Hugo ;
- Erich Maria Remarque ;
- Ernest Hemingway ;
- Mikhail Bulgakov and many others.
Theodore Dreiser
In this book of the famous American writer tells the life story of Clyde Griffiths. He set himself the goal of achieving success and climbing up the social ladder.
To do this, Griffiths uses absolutely any methods, be it meanness, betrayal or even crime. Novel , who is dressed in the form of a detective, in fact touches on a number of important philosophical and social issues relating to modern society .
William Somerset Maugham
In this famous creation classics of British literature tells of a tragic love story set in an exotic setting . A young and promising bacteriologist, Walter Fein, falls madly in love with the frivolous and superficial girl Kitty. The young lady agrees to marriage only for the reason that “it’s time.”
Since Kitty doesn't love her husband, she quickly starts an affair in Hong Kong, where the couple moved after their wedding. When Walter finds out about the betrayal, he decides to take revenge on his wife in the most brutal way. Further the plot becomes more and more tragic character and ends with Walter's death.
Well, don’t waste time and start reading the best works of classical prose, which, by the way, are available on our website for free online access.
Being an active reader, I will try to take on the role of an assistant and sketch out a few ideas, compiling a list of the most recognized and most successful, from my point of view, works of both domestic and foreign literature. Most of these novels have already gained, and continue to gain, popularity, which means that these are exactly the books that you need to read in order to discover and understand this magical, mysterious and so tempting world of literature.
- What to read from the classics? Relevance of the issue.
Typically, a similar question arises from those who suddenly realized the need for self-education or decided to fill in their gaps from the school course on Russian literature.
This is where the main difficulty arises. Everyone definitely wants to read something from the collection of world masterpieces. But is there even such a thing as a literary masterpiece? Critics argue that there is no clear answer to this question It’s impossible: some people like Russian literature, some like foreign ones, some read until they read, and some can’t imagine an evening without an exciting love story.
Having visited one of the large used bookstores in the capital, I asked the sellers what questions visitors most often ask. As it turns out, one of the most common requests is precisely the request for advice on what to read from the classics.
It turns out that in fact there are many people interested, literature of this kind is in demand, but low awareness sometimes scares off potential clients.
First of all, let's focus on the short stories. By the way, they should be understood as more short form presentation of current events than, for example, a story or story. This type of narration is characterized by the presence of only one storyline, and the quantity characters very limited.
I would highlight the following works:
- Augustine "Treatises"
- D. Swift "Gulliver's Travels"
- F. Kafka "The Process"
- M. de Montaigne "The Complete Essay"
- N. Hawthorne "Letter to Scarlet"
- G. Melville "Moby Dick"
- R. Descartes "Principles of Philosophy"
- Charles Dickens "Oliver Twist"
- G. Flaubert "Madame Bovary"
- D. Austin "Pride and Prejudice"
- Aeschylus "Agamemnon"
- Sophocles "The Myth of Oedipus"
- Euripides "Medea"
- Aristophanes "Birds"
- Aristotle "Poetics"
- W. Shakespeare "Richard III", "Hamlet", "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
- Moliere "Tartuffe"
- W. Congreve "This is what they do in the world"
- Henrik Johan Ibsen "A Doll's House"
Dreamers and romantics very often try to find answers to their questions in poetry. What to read from the classics in the poetic genre? Many things. But I would especially highlight:
- Homer "Iliad" and "Odyssey"
- Horace "Odes"
- Dante Alighieri's Inferno
- W. Shakespeare "Sonnets"
- D. Milton "Paradise Lost"
- W. Wordsworth "Selected"
- S.T. Coleridge "Poems"
As for the works of our country, is there really nothing worthy? - Well, of course not! - If I were asked to answer the question of what to read from Russian classics, I would, of course, recommend “The Master and Margarita” by M. Bulgakov, “Mtsyri” by M. Lermontov, poetry and poems by A. Pushkin.
3. Reading masterpieces of world literature. What does this give us?
Is it worth returning to this direction or is it better and more correct to pay more attention modern works? It is very, very difficult to answer this question unambiguously.
Sometimes opinions are simply divided radically.
For example, opponents argue that it is already completely outdated, has lost its relevance, and has gradually turned into some kind of utopia. In turn, philologists and students of linguistic universities defend the masterpieces of the world epic, insisting that without studying history, culture and the intricacies of language, it is impossible to understand and comprehend our today's world.
Well, well... Each side is right in its own way... Probably everyone will agree that, say, Homer’s “Odyssey” is not the so-called pulp reading for a vacation or an empty pastime. It is difficult to read a work of this kind and you need to do it thoughtfully, slowly and without distraction, comprehending and remembering the details. Not everyone can do this.
It is precisely such books that can introduce the reader to the world of both native and foreign literature and help to better understand the traditions, culture and mentality of peoples. They will also reveal all the charm and richness of colors of the narrative language, thereby expanding the reader’s vocabulary.
Undoubtedly, reading all the books mentioned in this article may take several years, but in any case, it will certainly not be time wasted.
The current generation now sees everything clearly, marvels at the errors, laughs at the foolishness of its ancestors, it is not in vain that this chronicle is inscribed with heavenly fire, that every letter in it screams, that a piercing finger is directed from everywhere at it, at it, at the current generation; but the current generation laughs and arrogantly, proudly begins a series of new errors, which posterity will also laugh at later. "Dead Souls"
For what? It's like inspiration
Love the given subject!
Like a true poet
Sell your imagination!
I am a slave, a day laborer, I am a tradesman!
I owe you, sinner, for gold,
For your worthless piece of silver
Pay with divine payment!
"Improvisation I"
Literature is a language that expresses everything a country thinks, wants, knows, wants and needs to know.
In the hearts of simple people, the feeling of the beauty and grandeur of nature is stronger, a hundred times more vivid, than in us, enthusiastic storytellers in words and on paper.
"Hero of our time"
And everywhere there is sound, and everywhere there is light,
And all the worlds have one beginning,
And there is nothing in nature
Whatever breathes love.
In days of doubt, in days of painful thoughts about the fate of my homeland, you alone are my support and support, oh great, powerful, truthful and free Russian language! Without you, how can one not fall into despair at the sight of everything that is happening at home? But one cannot believe that such a language was not given to a great people!
Poems in prose, "Russian language"
So, I complete my dissolute escape,
Prickly snow flies from the naked fields,
Driven by an early, violent snowstorm,
And, stopping in the wilderness of the forest,
Gathers in silver silence
A deep and cold bed.
Listen: shame on you!
It's time to get up! You know yourself
What time has come;
In whom the sense of duty has not cooled,
Who is incorruptibly straight in heart,
Who has talent, strength, accuracy,
Tom shouldn't sleep now...
"Poet and Citizen"
Is it really possible that even here they will not and will not allow the Russian organism to develop nationally, with its own organic strength, and certainly impersonally, servilely imitating Europe? But what should one do with the Russian organism then? Do these gentlemen understand what an organism is? Separation, “detachment” from their country leads to hatred, these people hate Russia, so to speak, naturally, physically: for the climate, for the fields, for the forests, for the order, for the liberation of the peasant, for Russian history, in a word, for everything, They hate me for everything.
Spring! the first frame is exposed -
And noise burst into the room,
And the good news of the nearby temple,
And the talk of the people, and the sound of the wheel...
Well, what are you afraid of, pray tell! Now every grass, every flower is rejoicing, but we are hiding, afraid, as if some kind of misfortune is coming! The thunderstorm will kill! This is not a thunderstorm, but grace! Yes, grace! It's all stormy! The northern lights will light up, you should admire and marvel at the wisdom: “from the midnight lands the dawn rises”! And you are horrified and come up with ideas: this means war or pestilence. Is there a comet coming? I wouldn’t look away! Beauty! The stars have already taken a closer look, they are all the same, but this is a new thing; Well, I should have looked and admired it! And you are afraid to even look at the sky, you are trembling! Out of everything, you have created a scare for yourself. Eh, people! "Storm"
There is no more enlightening, soul-cleansing feeling than that which a person feels when acquainted with a great work of art.
We know that loaded guns must be handled with care. But we don’t want to know that we must treat words in the same way. The word can kill and make evil worse than death.
There is a well-known trick by an American journalist who, in order to increase subscriptions to his magazine, began to publish in other publications the most harsh, arrogant attacks on himself from fictitious persons: some in print exposed him as a swindler and perjurer, others as a thief and murderer, and still others as a debauchee on a colossal scale. He didn’t skimp on paying for such friendly advertisements until everyone started thinking - it’s obvious he’s a curious and remarkable person when everyone is shouting about him like that! - and they began to buy up his own newspaper.
"Life in a Hundred Years"
I... think that I know the Russian person to his very depths, and I do not take any credit for this. I didn’t study the people from conversations with St. Petersburg cab drivers, but I grew up among the people, on the Gostomel pasture, with a cauldron in my hand, I slept with it on the dewy grass of the night, under a warm sheepskin coat, and on Panin’s fancy crowd behind the circles of dusty habits...
Between these two clashing titans - science and theology - there is a stunned public, quickly losing faith in the immortality of man and in any deity, quickly descending to the level of a purely animal existence. Such is the picture of the hour illuminated by the brilliant noonday sun of the Christian and scientific era!
"Isis Unveiled"
Sit down, I'm glad to see you. Throw away all fear
And you can keep yourself free
I give you permission. You know, the other day
I was elected king by everyone,
But it doesn't matter. They confuse my thoughts
All these honors, greetings, bows...
"Crazy"
- What do you want abroad? - I asked him while in his room, with the help of the servants, his things were being laid out and packed for sending to the Warsaw station.
- Yes, just... to feel it! - he said confusedly and with a kind of dull expression on his face.
"Letters from the Road"
Is the point to get through life in such a way as not to offend anyone? This is not happiness. Touch, break, break, so that life boils. I am not afraid of any accusations, but I am a hundred times more afraid of colorlessness than death.
Poetry is the same music, only combined with words, and it also requires a natural ear, a sense of harmony and rhythm.
You experience a strange feeling when, with a light pressure of your hand, you force such a mass to rise and fall at will. When such a mass obeys you, you feel the power of man...
"Meeting"
The feeling of the Motherland should be strict, restrained in words, not eloquent, not talkative, not “waving your arms” and not running forward (to appear). The feeling of the Motherland should be a great ardent silence.
"Secluded"
And what is the secret of beauty, what is the secret and charm of art: in the conscious, inspired victory over torment or in the unconscious melancholy of the human spirit, which does not see a way out of the circle of vulgarity, squalor or thoughtlessness and is tragically condemned to appear complacent or hopelessly false.
"Sentimental Memory"
Since birth I have lived in Moscow, but by God I don’t know where Moscow came from, what it is for, why, what it needs. In the Duma, at meetings, I, together with others, talk about the city economy, but I don’t know how many miles there are in Moscow, how many people there are, how many are born and die, how much we receive and spend, how much and with whom we trade... Which city is richer: Moscow or London? If London is richer, why? And the jester knows him! And when some issue is raised in the Duma, I shudder and be the first to start shouting: “Pass it over to the commission!” To the commission!
Everything new in an old way:
From a modern poet
In a metaphorical outfit
The speech is poetic.
But others are not an example to me,
And my charter is simple and strict.
My verse is a pioneer boy,
Lightly dressed, barefoot.
1926
Under the influence of Dostoevsky, as well as foreign literature, Baudelaire and Edgar Poe, my fascination began not with decadence, but with symbolism (even then I already understood their difference). I entitled the collection of poems, published at the very beginning of the 90s, “Symbols.” It seems that I was the first to use this word in Russian literature.
The running of changeable phenomena,
Past the howling ones, speed up:
Merge the sunset of achievements into one
With the first shine of tender dawns.
From the lower reaches of life to the origins
In a moment, a single overview:
In one face with a smart eye
Collect your doubles.
Unchanging and wonderful
Gift of the Blessed Muse:
In the spirit the form of harmonious songs,
There is life and heat in the heart of the songs.
"Thoughts on Poetry"
I have a lot of news. And all are good. I'm lucky". It's written to me. I want to live, live, live forever. If you only knew how many new poems I wrote! More than a hundred. It was crazy, a fairy tale, new. Publishing new book, not at all similar to the previous ones. She will surprise many. I changed my understanding of the world. No matter how funny my phrase may sound, I will say: I understand the world. For many years, perhaps forever.
K. Balmont - L. Vilkina
Man - that's the truth! Everything is in man, everything is for man! Only man exists, everything else is the work of his hands and his brain! Human! It's great! It sounds... proud!
"At the bottom"
I'm sorry to create something useless and no one needs now. Collection, book of poems in given time- the most useless, unnecessary thing... I don’t want to say that poetry is not needed. On the contrary, I maintain that poetry is necessary, even necessary, natural and eternal. There was a time when everyone seemed to need entire books of poetry, when they were read in bulk, understood and accepted by everyone. This time is the past, not ours. For the modern reader no need for a collection of poems!
Language is the history of a people. Language is the path of civilization and culture. That is why studying and preserving the Russian language is not an idle activity because there is nothing to do, but an urgent necessity.
What nationalists and patriots these internationalists become when they need it! And with what arrogance they mock the “frightened intellectuals” - as if there is absolutely no reason to be afraid - or at the “frightened ordinary people”, as if they have some great advantages over the “philistines”. And who, exactly, are these ordinary people, the “prosperous townsfolk”? And who and what do revolutionaries care about, in general, if they so despise the average person and his well-being?
"Cursed Days"
In the struggle for their ideal, which is “liberty, equality and fraternity,” citizens must use means that do not contradict this ideal.
"Governor"
“Let your soul be whole or split, let your worldview be mystical, realistic, skeptical, or even idealistic (if you are so unhappy), let creative techniques be impressionistic, realistic, naturalistic, let the content be lyrical or fabulistic, let there be a mood, an impression - whatever you want, but I beg you, be logical - may this cry of the heart be forgiven me! – are logical in concept, in the structure of the work, in syntax.”
Art is born in homelessness. I wrote letters and stories addressed to a distant, unknown friend, but when the friend came, art gave way to life. I'm not talking about, of course home comfort, but about life, which means more than art.
"You and I. Love Diary"
An artist can do no more than open his soul to others. You cannot present him with pre-made rules. It is a still unknown world, where everything is new. We must forget what captivated others; here it is different. Otherwise, you will listen and not hear, you will look without understanding.
From Valery Bryusov's treatise "On Art"
Well, let her rest, she was exhausted - they tormented her, alarmed her. And as soon as it’s light, the shopkeeper gets up, starts folding her goods, grabs a blanket, goes and pulls out this soft bedding from under the old woman: wakes the old woman up, gets her on her feet: it’s not dawn, please get up. It's nothing you can do. In the meantime - grandmother, our Kostroma, our mother, Russia! "
"Whirlwind Rus'"
Art never addresses the crowd, the masses, it speaks to the individual, in the deep and hidden recesses of his soul.
Mikhail Andreevich Osorgin (Ilyin) (1878 - 1942)
How strange /.../ There are so many cheerful and cheerful books, so many brilliant and witty philosophical truths, but there is nothing more comforting than Ecclesiastes.
Babkin was brave, read Seneca
And, whistling carcasses,
Took it to the library
Noting in the margin: “Nonsense!”
Babkin, friend, is a harsh critic,
Have you ever thought
What a legless paralytic
A light chamois is not a decree?..
"Reader"
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The critic's word about the poet must be objectively concrete and creative; the critic, while remaining a scientist, is a poet.
"Poetry of the Word"
Only great things should be thought about, only great tasks should a writer set himself; put it boldly, without being embarrassed by your personal small strengths.
“It’s true that there are goblins and water creatures here,” I thought, looking in front of me, “and maybe some other spirit lives here... A powerful, northern spirit that enjoys this wildness; maybe real northern fauns and healthy, blond women wander in these forests, eat cloudberries and lingonberries, laugh and chase each other.”
"North"
You need to be able to close a boring book...leave a bad movie...and part with people who don't value you!
Out of modesty, I will be careful not to point out the fact that on my birthday the bells were rung and there was general popular rejoicing. Gossips associated this rejoicing with some big holiday, which coincided with the day I was born, but I still don’t understand what this other holiday has to do with it?
That was the time when love, good and healthy feelings were considered vulgarity and a relic; no one loved, but everyone thirsted and, as if poisoned, fell for everything sharp, tearing apart the insides.
"The Road to Calvary"
“Well, what’s wrong,” I say to myself, “at least in a short word for now?” After all, exactly the same form of saying goodbye to friends exists in other languages, and there it does not shock anyone. great poet Walt Whitman, shortly before his death, said goodbye to his readers with a touching poem “So long!”, which means in English - “Bye!”. The French a bientot has the same meaning. There is no rudeness here. On the contrary, this form is filled with the most gracious courtesy, because the following (approximately) meaning is compressed here: be prosperous and happy until we see each other again.
"Alive as Life"
Switzerland? This is a mountain pasture for tourists. I myself have traveled all over the world, but I hate these ruminant bipeds with Badaker for a tail. They devoured all the beauty of nature with their eyes.
"Island of Lost Ships"
Everything that I have written and will write, I consider only mental rubbish and I do not regard my merits as a writer as anything. And I’m surprised and perplexed why by appearance smart people find some meaning and value in my poems. Thousands of poems, whether mine or those of the poets I know in Russia, are not worth one singer from my bright mother.
I am afraid that Russian literature has only one future: its past.
Article "I'm afraid"
We have been looking for a long time for a task similar to a lentil, so that the connected rays of the work of artists and the work of thinkers, directed by it to a common point, would meet in general work and could ignite and turn even the cold substance of ice into a fire. Now such a task - the lentil that guides together your stormy courage and the cold mind of thinkers - has been found. This goal is to create a common written language...
"Artists of the World"
He adored poetry and tried to be impartial in his judgments. He was surprisingly young at heart, and perhaps also in mind. He always seemed like a child to me. There was something childish in his buzz cut head, in his bearing, more like a gymnasium than a military one. He liked to pretend to be an adult, like all children. He loved to play “master”, the literary superiors of his “gumilets,” that is, the little poets and poetesses who surrounded him. The poetic children loved him very much.
Khodasevich, "Necropolis"
Me, me, me. What a wild word!
Is that guy over there really me?
Did mom love someone like that?
Yellow-gray, half-gray
And all-knowing, like a snake?
You have lost your Russia.
Did you resist the elements?
Good elements of dark evil?
No? So shut up: you took me away
You are destined for a reason
To the edges of an unkind foreign land.
What's the use of moaning and groaning -
Russia must be earned!
"What you need to know"
I didn't stop writing poetry. For me, they contain my connection with time, with new life my people. When I wrote them, I lived by the rhythms that sounded in heroic story my country. I am happy that I lived during these years and saw events that had no equal.
All the people sent to us are our reflection. And they were sent so that we, looking at these people, correct our mistakes, and when we correct them, these people either change too or leave our lives.
In the wide field of Russian literature in the USSR, I was the only literary wolf. I was advised to dye the skin. Ridiculous advice. Whether a wolf is dyed or shorn, it still does not look like a poodle. They treated me like a wolf. And for several years they persecuted me according to the rules of a literary cage in a fenced yard. I have no malice, but I am very tired...
From a letter from M.A. Bulgakov to I.V. Stalin, May 30, 1931.
When I die, my descendants will ask my contemporaries: “Did you understand Mandelstam’s poems?” - “No, we didn’t understand his poems.” “Did you feed Mandelstam, did you give him shelter?” - “Yes, we fed Mandelstam, we gave him shelter.” - “Then you are forgiven.”
Maybe go to the House of Press - there will be one sandwich with chum caviar and a debate - “about proletarian choral reading”, or in Museum of Science and Industry– there are no sandwiches, but twenty-six young poets read their poems about the “locomotive mass.” No, I will sit on the stairs, shiver from the cold and dream that all this is not in vain, that, sitting here on the step, I am preparing the distant sunrise of the Renaissance. I dreamed both simply and in verse, and the results turned out to be rather boring iambics.
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