Larsen
RECOMMENDED WORKS
Novels and Short Stories
Drama
Poetry
Miscellaneous
RECOMMENDED WORKS
Novels and Short Stories
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (Br, 1813)
A novel about love and marriage among the English country gentry of
Austen's day. The hero's pride in his social class conflicts with the
heroine's prejudice against him.
Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin (Am, 1953)
This semi-autobiographical novel about a 14-year-old black youth's religious
conversion is based on Baldwin's experience as a storefront preacher
in Harlem.
Seize the Day by Saul Bellow (Am, 1956)
In this novella, a son grapples with his love and hate for his father.
When he won the Nobel Prize in 1976, Bellow was cited for "the
human understanding and the analysis of contemporary culture that are
combined in his work."
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (Br, 1847)
This romantic novel introduced a new type of heroine to English fiction.
Jane Eyre is an intelligent and passionate young woman who falls in
love with a strange, moody man tormented by secrets.
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (Br, 1847)
One of the masterpieces of English romanticism, this is a novel of love
and revenge. The demonic passion of the hero-villain Heathcliff destroys
his beloved Catherine, her family, and eventually himself.
The Stranger by Albert Camus (Fr, 1942)
An existential novel in which a young man, observing rather than participating
in life, commits a senseless murder. In prison awaiting execution, he
comes to value life.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
by Lewis Carroll (Br, 1865)
Alice follows the White Rabbit to a dream world. The characters she
encounters (the Mad Hatter, the Queen of Hearts, and others) are part
of the adult world she must deal with.
My Antonia by Willa Cather (Am, 1918)
A realistic novel about immigrant pioneers as they strive to adapt to
the Nebraska prairies. The character of Antonia and other women are
shaped as they face the harsh realities of life.
Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes (Sp, 1605)
An eccentric old gentleman setting out as a knight goes "tilting
at windmills" to right the wrongs of the world. This work, made
up of 12 stories, has been translated into more languages than any other
book except the Bible.
The Awakening by Kate Chopin (Am, 1899)
The story of a New Orleans woman who abandons her husband and children
to search for love and self-understanding. A controversial book when
it was published because of the character's extramarital affair, the
book was ignored for 50 years.
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (Br, 1902)
A probing psychological novel that explores the darkness in the soul
of people. Conrad's narrator, Marlow, makes a journey into the depths
of the Congo where he discovers the extent to which greed corrupts.
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane (Am, 1895) This Civil War novel, which Crane called "a psychological portrayal of fear," reveals the grim aspects of war. Henry Fleming joins the army full of romantic visions of battle which are shattered by combat.
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (Br, 1719)
Based on the true story of Alecander Selkirk's sea experiences, this
novel is about the adventures of a man who spends 24 years on an isolated
island. With the help of an islander named Friday, Crusoe shows courage
and ingenuity in meeting challenges.
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (Br, 1860)
A novel about Pip, a poor boy made rich by a mysterious benefactor,
sets out to realize his "great expectations," and finally
becomes a man of worth and character. As in all his works, Dickens populates
this novel with memorable and eccentric characters.
Crime and Punishment by Feodor Dostoevski (Ru, 1866)
A psychological novel about a poor student who murders an old woman
pawnbroker and her sister. After the crime, his conscience bothers him
until he confesses. He is sent to Siberia and finally repents.
The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot (Br, 1860)
The Victorian world of male supremacy is the background for this novel
of a stormy relationship between a brother and sister. Maggie Tulliver's
life is miserable because her brother, Tom, disapproves of her romances.
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (Am, 1947)
"I am an invisible man," begins this novel of a black man's
search for identity. This story goes beyond one man's search and chronicles
every person's struggle to find the self.
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner (Am, 1929)
The theme is the decline of the Southern family. Presented through five
points of view, this novel examines the decline of the Compson family.
Tom Jones by Henry Fielding (Br, 1749)
A humorous novel about the adventures of an amorous young man whose
impulsiveness leads to difficult situations.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Am, 1925)
A young man corrupts himself and the American Dream in order to regain
lost love.
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert (Fr, 1857)
A realistic novel in which a young wife is bored with her husband. In
her extramarital affairs, she seeks to find the emotional experiences
she has read about in romantic novels.
A Passage to India by E. M. Forster (Br, 1924)
A pessimistic novel about man's inhumanity to man. A young English woman
in British-ruled India accuses an Indian doctor of sexual assault. As
a result, racial tension between British and Indian communities destroys
the young man's career.
One Hundred Years of Solitude
by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Co, 1967)
This Latin American novel portrays seven generations in the lives of
the Buendia family. Garcia Marquez employs magical realism * magic,
myth, and religion to intensify reality.
Lord of the Flies by William Golding (Br, 1954)
A group of English schoolboys stranded on an island
become savage. This moral fable implies that defects in society are
caused by defects in individuals.
Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy (Br, 1891)
A Victorian novel in which the happiness and marriage of Tess and her
husband are destroyed because she confesses to him that she bore a child
as the result of a forced sexual relationship with her employer's son.
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (Am, 1850)
A novel about an adulterous Puritan woman, Hester Prynne, who keeps
secret the identity of the father of her baby. Her sin and secret are
dwarfed by the vengefulness of her husband.
A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway (Am, 1929)
In this semiautobiographical novel that takes place during World War
I, an American lieutenant falls in love with the woman who nurses him
to health. Hemingway, winner of the 1954 Nobel Prize, is known for his
journalistic style.
Their Eyes Were Watching God
by Zora Neale Hurston (Am, 1937)
A novel about a black woman's search for happiness. The image of the
woman as the mule of the world becomes a metaphor for the roles that
Janie rejects in her quest for fulfillment.
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (Br, 1932)
In this bitter satire about the future, Nobel prize-winner Huxley conceives
a world controlled by advances in science and social change. Individuals
are no longer important and their lives are automatically planned.
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James (Am, 1898)
This novella is a study of good and evil in which children constitute
the arena and the victims. A governess in charge of two children discovers
they are under the influence of ghosts and tries to save them.
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
by James Joyce (Ir, 1916)
A novel about a young man growing up in Ireland who rebels against family,
country, and religion in order to become an artist. Joyce's use of stream-of-consciousness
has influenced many modern writers.
The Trial by Franz Kafka (Cz, 1925)
A man is tried for a crime he knows nothing about, yet he feels guilty
and is executed.
Sons and Lovers by D. H. Lawrence (Br, 1913)
An autobiographical novel about a youth torn between a dominant, working-class
father and a possessive, genteel mother.
Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis (Am, 1922)
A satirical novel about a middle-class businessman in an average midwestern
city. Babbitt becomes a pathetic yet comical character because of an
exaggerated sense of his importance. Lewis was the first American to
win the Nobel Prize for Literature.
The Assistant by Bernard Malamud (Am, 1957)
A novel in which a Gentile hoodlum "out of compelling pity"
goes to work for a Jewish grocer whom he has robbed. Finally taking
the grocer's place, he becomes Jewish.
Moby Dick by Herman Melville (Am, 1851)
A complex novel about a mad sea captain's pursuit of the White Whale.
Sula by Toni Morrison (Am, 1973)
A novel about the lifelong friendship of two vastly different women
who become estranged when one causes the other's husband to abandon
her.
A Good Man is Hard to Find
by Flannery O'Connor (Am, 1955)
A triad of short stories set in Georgia. The title story is about a
deadly confrontation between a religious grandmother and a murderer.
Tell Me a Riddle by Tillie Olsen (Am, 1960)
A group of short stories, including a novella, about the problems of
aging. An old man and woman quarrel bitterly about whether to stay in
their home or to move to Haven, a retirement home.
Animal Farm by George Orwell (Br, 1945)
The classic satire of communism in which the pigs lead the other farm
animals in a revolution against the humans, setting up their own government
where "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than
others."
Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton (SA, 1948)
A novel about a black minister in South Africa who goes in search of
his children and finds them corrupted and destroyed by white society.
The roots of generational and racial conflict of black South Africans
are explored.
Great Tales and Poems by Edgar Allan Poe (Am, 1845)
Poe is considered the father of detective stories and a master of supernatural
tales. The stories most often recommended are: "The Fall of the
House of Usher," "The Purloined Letter," "The Cask
of Amontillado," "The Pit and the Pendulum," and "The
Tell-Tale Heart."
The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger (Am, 1951)
A prep school dropout rejects the "phoniness" he sees around
him.
Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott (Br, 1820)
A story of chivalry in which the Norman hero, Wilfred, finally wins
his true love, the Saxon Rowena, with the help of the Black Knight (Richard
the Lion-Hearted in disguise) and brings temporary peace between the
Normans and Saxons.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (Br, 1818)
A gothic tale of terror in which Frankenstein creates a monster from
corpses. Because everyone who sees him fears him, the monster despairs
and turns on his creator.
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (Am, 1939)
A historical novel by the 1962 Nobel Prize-winner about the desperate
flight of tenant farmers from the Midwest during the Depression. The
Joad family struggles to retain their humanity and dignity in the face
of hostility they find in California.
Gulliver's Travels Jonathan Swift (Br, 1726)
A satire on mankind in which an 18th-century Englishman visits foreign
lands populated by bizarre creatures that illuminate many of the vices
and weaknesses of society.
Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray (Br, 1848)
A novel of 19th-century upper-middle-class British society that portrays
20 years in the lives of two young women very opposite in character:
gentle Amelia and cunning Becky.
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (Ru, 1869)
A historical novel of the Napoleonic Wars that celebrates the Russian
spirit and shows the effect of war and peace on every social class in
Russian society.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain (Am, 1886)
In this novel, Huck takes a trip down the river with a runaway slave
and learns the worth of life. According to Ernest Hemingway, "All
modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called
Huckleberry Finn."
Rabbit, Run by John Updike (Am, 1961)
The first of the Rabbit Angstrom novels in which an immature young man
still longing for the lost glory of his youth runs away from his responsibilities
and abandons his wife and child.
Candide by Voltaire (Fr, 1759)
A satire against those who complacently accept life's disasters. This
bitter criticism is disguised as a rollicking travel story in which
Candide is puzzled because everything bad happens to him in this "best
of all possible worlds."
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut (Am, 1969)
A semiautobiographical novel about the firebombing of Dresden in World
War II. In the story a time traveller, Billy Pilgrim, finds peace in
a future world where he is "grateful that so many of those moments
are nice."
The Color Purple by Alice Walker (Am, 1982)
A young black girl sees herself as property until another woman teaches
her to value herself. A novel that focuses on the role of male domination
and the frustration of the black woman's struggle for independence.
Thirteen Stories by Eudora Welty (Am, 1965)
A collection of short stories about people and life in the deep South.
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton (Am, 1920)
A novel about a couple condemned to a loveless marriage by the conventions
of social class.
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf (Br, 1927)
Written in stream-of-consciousness, this semiautobiographical novel
describes the Ramsey family in their country home. The lighthouse they
see from the window is a symbolic goal.
Native Son by Richard Wright (Am, 1940)
In this novel, Bigger Thomas, a young black man from the Chicago slums,
lashes out against society by committing two murders. The book is based
partly on Wright's experiences and partly on an actual murder.
Orestia by Aeschylus (Gr, 458 BC)
A triad of plays in which a son seeks revenge against his mother for
the murder of his father. In the final play he is pardoned for killing
his mother by a tribunal of Athenian judges and goddess Athena.
Lysistrata by Aristophanes (Gr, 411 BC)
In this comedy, the women of warring Athens and Sparta go on a marital
strike until their men end their fighting. Aristophanes makes a last
appeal, half farcical, half serious, for peace.
Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett (Ir, 1952)
A Theater of the Absurd play in which two tramps sit endlessly waiting
for someone named Godot who never arrives.
The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov (Ru, 1904)
The members of an aristocratic family are unable to face the loss of
their property. Their plight depicts the decline of the powerful Russian
landowners following the end of the feudal system in 1861.
Medea by Euripides (Gr, 431 BC)
In this tragedy of vengeance, Medea is a passionate woman whose love
turns to hate when her husband deserts her. The climax occurs when she
kills her two sons.
Faust by Johann von Goethe (Ge, 1808)
A play about the legendary scholar who sells his soul to the devil.
In this poetic drama, Faust is attracted to a young peasant girl. The
devil's plans for his soul are temporarily defeated because lust turns
to love.
Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe (Br, 1604)
In this play, Faust is torn between his lust for knowledge as power
and his awareness of the sinfulness of his desires.
A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen (No, 1879)
In this play, a wife slams the door and walks out on a marriage based
on inequality. Her revolt against her selfish, hypocritical husband
who treats her as a doll influenced the fight for women's rights.
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller (Am, 1949)
A traveling salesman "riding on a smile and a shoeshine" realizes
that his dreams will never be real. Unable to cope with the failures
of his life, he kills himself.
Desire Under the Elms by Eugene O'Neill (Am, 1924)
A naturalistic drama about love, lust, and greed that contrasts a sensitive,
emotional son with his severe, puritanical father.
Hamlet by William Shakespeare (Br, 1600)
A prince is troubled by his inability to avenge the "murder most
foul" of his father. *Many colleges urge students to read as much
Shakespeare as possible: at least one tragedy, one comedy, and one history.
Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw (Br, 1913)
A professor of phonetics interferes with the social order by teaching
a Cockney girl to act and speak like a duchess.
Oedipus Rex by Sophocles (Gr, 430 BC)
The tragedy of a king who unwittingly kills his father and marries his
mother. When he discovers the truth, he blinds himself for "there
is nothing beautiful left to see in this world."
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde (Br,
1895)
A cynical farce about confusion of identity that ends happily when the
real Earnest turns out to be a long-lost infant whose nurse had misplaced
him.
Our Town by Thornton Wilder (Am, 1938)
In this play, the stage manager speaks directly to the audience from
a set without props. The play tells the story of two families as they
experience daily life, love, marriage, and death.
The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams (Am, 1945)
The mother in this play dwells on the past and longs to find "a
gentleman caller" for her crippled daughter drawn into a world
of glass animals. As in many of Williams' plays, the characters live
in a world of unfulfilled dreams.
Norton Anthology of Poetry by Allison Alexander ed.
A collection of poetry by American and British poets. The poets most
frequently recommended are William Blake, Robert Browning, Emily Dickinson,
T.S. Eliot, Robert Frost, John Keats, William Shakespeare, Alfred Lord
Tennyson, William Wordsworth, and William Butler Yeats.
Beowulf by anonymous (Br, c 700 AD)
In this Old English epic poem, Beowulf overcomes monsters and slays
a fire-breathing dragon. The poem is based on Norse legends and historical
events of the sixth century.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
by anonymous (Br, c 1350-1400)
This Arthurian tale is about the ordeals a knight undergoes to prove
his courage and virtue. The two main episodes are Gawain's beheading
of the terrible Green Knight and his efforts to resist the advances
of a beautiful lady.
Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer (Br, c 1387-1400)
Chaucer presents a colorful group of medieval travelers on their way
to a religious shrine. On their journey they tell each other stories
-- some funny, some serious.
Inferno by Dante (It, c 1320)
In this first book of The Divine Comedy, Dante's journey through Hell
reveals the medieval view of sin. As he travels the Underworld, he witnesses
punishments for sin.
The Odyssey by Homer (Gr, circa 9th century BC)
The epic of Odysseus, after the Trojan War, as he tries for ten years
to return home to Ithaca. On his journey he faces the dangers of the
Cyclops, the Sirens, Circe, and others.
Paradise Lost by John Milton (Br, 1667)
Considered the greatest epic in any modern language, this poem tells
of Satan's temptation of Adam and Eve, their expulsion from Eden, and
the promise of salvation.
The Aeneid by Virgil (It, c 18 BC)
This epic poem recounts the journey of Aeneas as he leads the survivors
of Troy to Italy where they establish Rome.
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman (Am, 1855)
In his use of free verse and his emphasis on the importance of the individual,
Whitman was a forerunner of modern poetry. In these twelve untitled
poems he wanted to "elevate, enlarge, purify, deepen, and make
happy the attributes of the body and soul of man."
RECOMMENDED WORKS
Miscellaneous
Poetics by Aristotle (Gr, 4th century BC)
A treatise on literary principles. Aristotle's theories of tragedy still
influence Western drama today.
Confessions by Saint Augustine (It, 397-401)
A spiritual autobiography of St. Augustine's early life and conversion
to Christianity.
The Bible
A collection of the sacred literature of Judaism and Christianity. Many
colleges suggest the King James version for literary study.
Origin of Species by Charles Darwin (Br, 1859)
Darwin's book on his theory of natural selection and evolution sold
out the day it was issued and caused a storm of controversy that continues
today.
"The American Scholar" in Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson (Am, 1837) An address at Harvard in which Emerson urged Americans to declare intellectual independence from Europe, to be thinkers and "not parrots of other men's thought."
Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin (Am, 1867)
Benjamin Franklin's life and achievements during the first 51 years
of his life.
Civilization and Its Discontents
by Sigmund Freud (Ge, 1930)
A book about the conflict between the desire for freedom and the demands
of society. Freud writes, "The price we pay for our advance in
civilization is a loss of happiness through the heightening of the sense
of guilt."
Mythology by Edith Hamilton (Am, 1940)
A collection of Greek, Roman, and Norse myths and legends that are often
alluded to in the language and literature of the Western world.
The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli (It, 1532)
A treatise giving the absolute ruler practical advice on ways to maintain
a strong central government. The term Machiavellian often means "ruthless
and deceitful."
Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx (Ge, 1848)
This short book expresses Marx's belief in the inevitability of conflict
between social classes and calls on the workers of the world to unite
and revolt.
Republic by Plato (Gr, c 370 BC)
In this dialogue, Plato creates an ideal society where justice is equated
with health and happiness in the state and in the individual. Ralph
Waldo Emerson said of this work, "Burn the libraries, for their
value is in this book."
Walden by Henry David Thoreau (Am, 1854)
Thoreau, an extreme individualist, claimed "a man is rich in proportion
to the number of things he can afford to let alone." This work
is about the 26 months he spent alone in the woods to "front the
essential facts of life."
