Literature as an art form is extremely diverse. But each of its genres has its best, so to speak, exemplary works. These books make up an array of classic literature; they will never go out of fashion, they will be understandable and close to people 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.
The Greeks certainly considered the famous Homer to be the first classical writer . Already in the ancient times of the classical period of Hellas, his works “Odyssey” and “Iliad” were considered absolute standards of the dramatic genre, which no one would be able to achieve.
At the end of the ancient era in Europe, a list of canonical works began to take shape - those texts that were used for educational purposes. 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 humanity.
A more modern interpretation of the classics appears during the period European Renaissance When literature moves away from religion, there is a secularization of all spheres of public life. At that time, Greek writers were considered the greatest authorities.
Over time, interest in antiquity increased so much that such a cultural movement as classicism arose. Its essence was to imitate the best examples of 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, which in the 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 and ends with the death of Walter.
Well, don't waste time and start reading best works classical prose, which, by the way, are available on our website for free online access.
The article was updated and supplemented in July 2018. We present a selection of 65 books that have become classics of world literature, and 10 online libraries where you can find a lot of fiction, scientific, historical and journalistic literature in the public domain.
1. “One Hundred Years of Solitude” – Gabriel García Márquez (“Cien años de soledad” – Gabriel José de la Concordia “Gabo” García Márquez)
“One Hundred Years of Solitude” is one of the most characteristic and popular works in the direction of magical realism.
2. “Moby-Dick, or The White Whale” – Herman Melville (“Moby-Dick, or The Whale” – Herman Melville)
The story is told on behalf of the American sailor Ishmael, who went on a voyage on the whaling ship Pequod, whose captain, Ahab, is obsessed with the idea of \u200b\u200brevenge on the giant white whale, the killer of whalers, known as Moby Dick.
3. “The Great Gatsby” – Francis Scott Fitzgerald (“The Great Gatsby” – F. Scott Fitzgerald)
The action of the novel takes place near New York, on the “gold coast” of Long Island, among the villas of the rich. In the 1920s, following the chaos of World War I, American society entered an unprecedented period of prosperity: in the “Roaring 20s,” the US economy developed rapidly.
At the same time, Prohibition made many bootleggers millionaires and gave a significant impetus to the development of organized crime. While Fitzgerald admires the rich and their charm, he also decries the unrestricted materialism and lack of morality in America at the time.
4. “The Grapes of Wrath” – John Steinbeck
The novel takes place during the Great Depression. Poor family Tenant farmers, the Joads, are forced to leave their Oklahoma home due to drought, economic hardship and changes in farming practices. In an almost hopeless situation, they head to California along with thousands of other Okie families, hoping to find a means of livelihood there.
5. “Ulysses” – James Joyce (“Ulysses” – James Joyce)
The novel tells the story of one day (June 16, 1904, currently this date is celebrated as Bloomsday, “Bloom's Day”) of a Dublin man in the street and a Jew by nationality - Leopold Bloom.
6. “Lolita” – Vladimir Nabokov (“Lolita” – Vladimir Nabokov)
Lolita is the most famous of all Nabokov's novels. The theme of the novel was unthinkable for its time - the story of an adult man who became passionately interested in a twelve-year-old girl.
7. “The Sound and the Fury” – William Faulkner
The main storyline tells of the decline of one of the oldest and most influential families of the American South - the Compsons. Over the course of the approximately 30 years described in the novel, the family faces financial ruin, loses respect in the city, and many family members end their lives tragically.
8. “To the Lighthouse” – Virginia Woolf (“To The Lighthouse” – Virginia Woolf)
The novel centers on two visits by the Ramsay family to a rented country house on the Isle of Skye in Scotland in 1910 and 1920. To the Lighthouse follows and expands on the modernist literary tradition of Marcel Proust and James Joyce, where plot fades into the background in favor of philosophical introspection.
9. “Anna Karenina” – Leo Tolstoy
“Anna Karenina” is a novel by Leo Tolstoy about the tragic love of a married lady Anna Karenina and a brilliant officer Vronsky against the backdrop of a happy family life noblemen Konstantin Levin and Kitty Shcherbatskaya.
10. “War and Peace” – Leo Tolstoy
“War and Peace” is an epic novel describing Russian society during the era of the wars against Napoleon in 1805-1812.
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11. “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” – Mark Twain
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Huckleberry Finn, who escaped from his cruel father, and a runaway black man, Jim, go rafting down the Mississippi River.
12. “1984” – George Orwell (“1984” – George Orwell)
The novel "1984", along with such works as "We" by Yevgeny Ivanovich Zamyatin (1920), "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley (1932) and "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury (1953), is considered one of the most famous works in the dystopian genre.
13. “The Catcher in the Rye” – J.D. Salinger
The novel, on behalf of a 16-year-old boy named Holden, tells in a very frank form about his heightened perception of American reality and rejection of the general canons and morality of modern society.
14. “Invisible Man” – Ralph Ellison (“Invisible Man” – Ralph Ellison)
The Invisible Man is the only completed novel by Ralph Ellison, an African-American writer. literary critic and literary critic. The novel is about the search for identity and place in society.
15. “Catch-22” – Joseph Heller (“Catch-22” – Joseph Heller)
1944 On the islet of Pianosa in the Tyrrhenian Sea, a US Air Force bomber regiment (flying North American B-25 Mitchell bombers) is stationed, in which Captain Yossarian, the main character of the novel, and his colleagues serve.
The command of the air regiment over and over again increases the rate of combat sorties, thereby extending the service of pilots who have flown their quota, after which they have the right to return home. Thus, it becomes almost impossible to fly off the norm.
16. “Midnight’s Children” – Salman Rushdie (“Midnight’s Children” – Salman Rushdie)
A multi-faceted, fantastic, “magical” narrative covers the history of India (partly Pakistan) from 1910 to 1976. Political events, presented vividly and biasedly, do not exhaust the whimsical reality of the novel.
17. “On the Road” – Jack Kerouac (“On the Road” – Jack Kerouac)
The book, considered the most important example of Beat Generation literature, tells the story of the travels of Jack Kerouac and his close friend Neal Cassady across the United States of America and Mexico.
18. “In Search of Lost Time” – Marcel Proust (“À la recherche du temps perdu” – Marcel Proust)
In Search of Lost Time is the magnum opus of the French modernist writer Marcel Proust, a semi-autobiographical cycle of seven novels. Published in France between 1913 and 1927.
19. “Pale Fire” – Vladimir Nabokov (“Pale Fire” – Vladimir Nabokov)
“Pale Fire” is a novel by V.V. Nabokov, written in English language in the USA and first published in 1962. The novel, conceived before moving to the United States (the passages “Ultima Thule” and “Solus Rex” were written in Russian in 1939), is structured as a 999-line poem with commentary replete with literary allusions.
20. “Madame Bovary” – Gustave Flaubert (“Madame Bovary” – Gustave Flaubert)
The main character of the novel is Emma Bovary, a doctor's wife who lives beyond her means and starts extramarital affairs in the hope of getting rid of the emptiness and ordinariness of provincial life.
21. “Middlemarch” – George Eliot (“Middlemarch” – George Eliot)
Middlemarch is the name of the provincial town in and around which the novel takes place. Many characters inhabit its pages, and their destinies are intertwined by the will of the author.
22. “Great Expectations” – Charles Dickens
The hero of the novel "Great Expectations", the young man Philip Pirrip, strives to become " a true gentleman", achieve a position in society, but disappointment awaits him. Money stained with blood cannot bring happiness, and the “world of gentlemen” on which Philip had placed so many hopes turned out to be hostile and cruel.
23. “Emma” – Jane Austen (“Emma” – Jane Austen)
The daughter of a wealthy landowner and a big dreamer, Emma tries to diversify her leisure time by organizing someone else's personal life. Confident that she will never get married, she acts as a matchmaker for her friends and acquaintances, but life gives her surprise after surprise.
24. “And Destruction Came” – Chinua Achebe (“Things Fall Apart” – Chinua Achebe)
"And Came Destruction" is the story of a tribal warrior who cannot adapt to a new society under the colonial regime. The book has been translated into 45 languages and is today the most widely read and translated book by an African writer among his contemporaries.
25. “Pride and Prejudice” – Jane Austen
Young girls dreaming of marriage, respectable mothers who do not shine with intelligence, selfish beauties who think that they are allowed to control the destinies of other people - this is the world of the heroes of Jane Austen, an English writer who was significantly ahead of her time and ranked among the classics of world literature by subsequent generations.
26. “Wuthering Heights” – Emily Brontë (“Wuthering Heights” – Emily Brontë)
“Wuthering Heights” is a story full of love and hatred of the fatal passion of Heathcliff, the adopted son of the owner of the Wuthering Heights estate, for the owner’s daughter Catherine.
27. “Nostromo” – Joseph Conrad (“Nostromo” – Joseph Conrad)
The novel tells the story of the liberation struggle of the fictional South American state of Costaguana. The author is occupied with the problem of imperialism and its corrupting effect even on the best people, which is the main character of the novel, the sailor Nostromo.
28. “The Brothers Karamazov” - F. M. Dostoevsky
"The Brothers Karamazov" - last novel F. M. Dostoevsky. Three brothers, Ivan, Alexey (Alyosha) and Dmitry (Mitya), “are busy resolving questions about the root causes and ultimate goals of existence,” and each of them makes his own choice, trying in his own way to answer the question about God and the immortality of the soul.
29. “To Kill a Mockingbird” – Harper Lee (“To Kill a Mockingbird” – Harper Lee)
The novel depicts the events of the 30s of the 20th century, the period of the Great Depression, which took place in the state of Alabama. The narration is told from the perspective of a child, but the severity of interracial conflicts social problems this does not lose its power.
30. “The Process” – Franz Kafka (“Der Prozess” – Franz Kafka)
“The Trial” is a unique book by Franz Kafka, which actually “created” his name for the culture of world postmodern theater and cinema of the second half of the 20th century, or rather, “wove” this name into the idea of postmodern absurdism.
31. “Slaughterhouse-Five” – Kurt Vonnegut (“Slaughterhouse-Five” – Kurt Vonnegut)
Slaughterhouse-Five is an autobiographical novel by Kurt Vonnegut about the bombing of Dresden during World War II.
32. “Mrs. Dalloway” – Virginia Woolf (“Mrs Dalloway” – Virginia Woolf)
The novel tells the story of one day in the life of the fictional heroine Clarissa Dalloway, a society woman in post-war England. One of the most famous novels writers.
33. “Jane Eyre” – Charlotte Brontë (“Jane Eyre” – Charlotte Brontë)
The book tells about the difficult fate of an orphan with a strong, independent character, about her childhood, growing up, finding her way and overcoming the obstacles that stand along the way.
34. “The Lord of the Rings” – J. R. R. Tolkien
“The Lord of the Rings” is an epic novel by the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien, the most famous work of the fantasy genre.
35. “A Passage to India” – Edward Forster (“A Passage to India” – E.M. Forster)
At the center of A Passage to India is the relationship between the Indian Aziz and the Englishman Fielding. The twists and turns of the plot, exciting in themselves, help to make these relationships stand out more clearly and reveal themselves to their extreme potential.
36. “All the King's Men” – Robert Penn Warren (“All the King's Men” – Robert Penn Warren)
Main character novel - politician Willie Stark. A born leader who rose from the bottom of society sincerely believed that he could make the world a better place. However, the truth of life revealed to him turns him into a cruel, unprincipled politician. His motto: “Good can only be made from evil, because there is simply nothing else to make from it.”
37. Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
“Brave New World” – dystopian satirical novel, which takes place in London of the distant future (circa 26th century of the Christian era, namely in 2541). People all over the Earth live in a single state, whose society is a consumer society, the symbol of the consumer god is Henry Ford, and instead of the sign of the cross, people “sign themselves with the sign T.”
38. “As I Lay Dying” – William Faulkner (“As I Lay Dying” – William Faulkner)
W. Faulkner's novel “As I Lay Dying” is unique. There is no author's speech at all, the book is torn into a chain of monologues, sometimes long, sometimes short, and sometimes even fitting into one or two phrases, and they are led by fourteen characters - mainly the Bundrens, and next to them are neighbors, the same poor farmers.
39. “The Big Sleep” – Raymond Chandler
The Deep Sleep is the first in a series of novels about private detective Philip Marlowe. Classic hardboiled detective.
40. “Stories” – Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
A collection of stories by a classic of world literature.
41. “Crime and Punishment” - F. M. Dostoevsky
“Crime and Punishment” is considered one of the most philosophical books in the world, which “poses the problems of good and evil, freedom and necessity, crime and moral responsibility, revolution, socialism, philosophy of history and the state.”
42. “Molloy”, “Malone Dies” and “Nameless” – Samuel Beckett (“Molloy”, “Malone Dies”, “The Unnamable” – Samuel Beckett)
“Molla”, “Malon Dies” and “Nameless” are three works that make up a trilogy and represent a separate milestone in creative biography Beckett.
43. “The Stranger” – Albert Camus (“L"Étranger” – Albert Camus)
The story is narrated by a 30-year-old Frenchman. His name remains unknown, but his last name is mentioned in passing - Meursault. Three key events in his life are described - the death of his mother, the murder of a local resident and the trial, as well as brief relationship With girl.
44. “The Tin Drum” – Günter Grass (“Die Blechtrommel” – Günter Grass)
The Tin Drum is Günter Grass's first novel. It was this work, which reflected the history of Germany in the 20th century in a grotesque form, that brought its author world fame.
45. “Sons and Lovers” – David Herbert Lawrence (“Sons and Lovers” – D. H. Lawrence)
The book describes the life of a young man named Paul Morel, born into a coal miner's family in the small town of Bestwood, Nottinghamshire. The love of children for their mother runs through the novel as a red thread. Paul is most attached to her: unlike his brothers and sister, he will never be able to leave his mother’s house until her death.
46. “The Golden Notebook” – Doris Lessing
The story of Anna Wolfe, talented writer and a convinced feminist who, teetering on the brink of madness, writes down all her thoughts and experiences in four multi-colored notebooks: black, red, yellow and blue. But over time, a fifth, golden notebook also appears, the entries in which become a real revelation for the heroine and help her find a way out of the impasse.
47. “The Magic Mountain” – Thomas Mann (“Der Zauberberg” – Thomas Mann)
Immediately after its release, The Magic Mountain received recognition as a key philosophical novel German literature new century. It is generally accepted that, using the example of the closed microcosm of a sanatorium, Mann gave a panorama of the ideological life of European society on the eve of World War.
48. “Beloved” – Toni Morrison (“Beloved” – Toni Morrison)
Beloved, Toni Morrison's most famous novel, was awarded a Pulitzer Prize and then a Nobel Prize. The book is based on real events that took place in Ohio in the 80s of the nineteenth century: the story of a black slave who kills her daughter, saving her from slavery.
49. “Blood Meridian” – Cormac McCarthy (“Blood Meridian” – Cormac McCarthy)
Booker winner John Banville called the novel "a sort of mixture of Dante's Inferno, The Iliad and Moby Dick." The protagonist of Blood Meridian, a fourteen-year-old teenager from Tennessee known only as “the kid,” becomes the hero of a new epic based on real events and circumstances of the Tex-Mex borderland. mid-19th century, where the market for Indian scalps is booming.
50. “The Man Without Qualities” – Robert Musil (“Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften” – Robert Musil)
An ironic panorama of Austria-Hungary on the eve of the First World War, a partly autobiographical “novel of ideas” written by one of the most brilliant European intellectuals of the first half of the 20th century, is a phenomenon grandiose in concept and execution.
51. “The Sun Also Rises” – Ernest Hemingway
The Sun Also Rises is a novel by Ernest Hemingway, written in 1926. Based on real events that happened in the author's life.
52. “Gone With the Wind” – Margaret Mitchell (“Gone With the Wind” – Margaret Mitchell)
A novel by American writer Margaret Mitchell, the events of which take place in the southern states of the United States in the 1860s, during (and after) civil war. The novel was published on June 30, 1936 and became one of the most famous bestsellers in American literature.
53. “Alice's Adventures in Wonderland” – Lewis Carroll (“Alice's Adventures in Wonderland” – Louis Carroll)
“Alice's Adventures in Wonderland” is a fairy tale written by the English mathematician, poet and writer Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells the story of a girl named Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into an imaginary world inhabited by strange, anthropomorphic creatures.
54. “Heart of Darkness” – Joseph Conrad (“Heart of Darkness” – Joseph Conrad)
“Heart of Darkness” is an adventure story by English writer Joseph Conrad, published in 1902. The story is told from the perspective of the main character, the sailor Marlow, who recalls his trip to Central Africa.
55. “For Whom the Bell Tolls” – Ernest Hemingway
The novel tells the story of Robert Jordan, a young American fighter of the International Brigades, sent behind Franco guerrilla lines during the Spanish Civil War. As a demolition expert, he is tasked with blowing up a bridge to prevent Franco reinforcements from approaching Segovia.
56. “An American Tragedy” – Theodore Dreiser (“An American Tragedy” Theodore Dreiser)
In the novel “An American Tragedy,” Dreiser depicts the tragedy of Clive Griffiths - a young man who has tasted all the charm of the life of the rich, so eager to establish himself in their society that he commits a crime for this.
57. “The Adventures of Augie March” – Saul Bellow
An exciting, touching, multifaceted, full of philosophical meaning story of a boy who was destined to grow up, make discoveries, love and seek his place in the world during the most dramatic moments of history.
58. “The Call of the Wild” – Jack London (“The Call of the Wild” – Jack London)
The novel takes place in Yukon, Canada during the Gold Rush. The main character, the dog Beck (a cross between a Scottish Sheepdog and a St. Bernard), brought from a shepherd's ranch in California, finds himself in the harsh reality of life as a sled dog. The novel tells the story of Beck's struggles to survive despite the harsh treatment of his owners, other dogs, and the cruelty of nature.
59. “American Pastoral” – Philip Roth (“American Pastoral” – Philip Roth)
The main character, Swede Leivow, married the beautiful Miss New Jersey, inherited his father's factory and became the owner of an old mansion in Old Rimrock. It would seem that dreams have come true, but one day the leafy American happiness suddenly turns to dust...
60. “Deliverance” – James Dickey
The four embark on a journey into the wilderness and desolation of the Appalachian Mountains. They go down the river in two boats. Their intentions are simply to relax, unwind and see picturesque places... But they did not know that they would be ambushed by illiterate local mountaineers, thugs and sadists.
61. “Lucky Jim” – Kingsley Amis (“Lucky Jim” – Kingsley Amis)
A young teacher on probation at a provincial university.
The only “living soul” in a world of dull snobbery and meaningless rules of behavior.
Jim Dixon is sick of this, but he wants to get into the state! So, you have to be like everyone else. But one day love invades Jim's life, and all his conformist endeavors go to hell overnight...
62. “Tropic of Cancer” – Henry Miller (“Tropic of Cancer” – Henry Miller)
The novel takes place in the 1930s in France (mainly Paris). The novel describes the life of struggling writer Henry Miller in Paris.
63. Lord of the Flies – William Golding
A strange, scary story of boys who, by the will of fate, ended up on a desert island. Boys who played with cruelty, hunting, war. Book about secret corners human soul and desire for power.
64. “Under the Volcano” – Malcolm Lowry
"At the Foot of the Volcano" is a novel that takes place in a small Mexican town during one day in November 1939 - All Souls' Day. This day is the last in the life of Geoffrey Fermin, a former British consul who finds refuge from life in continuous drunkenness. Fermin's ex-wife Yvonne, his half-brother Hugh and his friend, film director Laruelle, are trying to save the consul, persuade him to stop drinking and start life again...
65. Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
A fragment of the film based on the book Brideshead Revisited.
The novel, published at the end of the Second World War, subtly captures the characters of the passing era of prosperity of the English aristocracy. The protagonist of the novel, the young artist Charles Ryder, meets Sebastian Flyte, a representative of the famous aristocratic family. After his arrival in Brideshead, the Flight family estate, Charles falls into the whirlpool of bohemian life, and over the next years his fate is inextricably linked with this family.
Libraries with freely accessible literature
Reading room books on American history from the New York Public Library. Photo: Warren Weinstein. 500px. Creative Commons. (CC).
2.Project Gutenberg
One of the oldest online libraries where you can download or read online more than 33,000 free e-books.
3. Google Books
If the book you're looking for is out of copyright, you can read it online using Google Books by searching for "full preview books."
4. University of Pennsylvania Books Page
Here you can find over a million free resources to read and download.
5. Open Library
IN library Open The Library also contains more than a million books of classical literature, including the rarest works.
6. eBooks at Adelaide
The University of Adelaide's online library offers classics, science, philosophy and medicine.
7.Bartleby
The free encyclopedia of world history and Harvard classics.
8. Bibliomania
On the site you can find more than 2,000 free classical texts, including scientific works.
9. Internet Archive
The largest digital library with free resources.
10.ManyBooks
Here you will find over 29,000 books available for download.
Russian classical literature is an important component of the world cultural heritage . The works of Russian writers are appreciated in many countries and have become benchmarks for authors working in the literary genre.
About Russian classics
Russian literature, like all classical works, touches on eternal themes that are important for people in any era. Among such topics are the following: the meaning of life, love, death, fidelity, friendship, homeland, God.
Classics never become outdated or go out of fashion. Her tall artistic level and deep content make such books interesting in any country and at any time. Using the example of literary works, we learn to understand the people around us, weigh our actions, and look at life correctly.
The humanistic and philosophical content of Russian literature represents a special moral core, the foundation of society, and the moral background human life. A psychological images created by talented writers, so vividly and detailedly drawn that it seems that we are looking into the human soul .
It should be noted that they do not become classics during their lifetime. Only subsequent generations can appreciate the true genius of the author and artistic, as well as universal value his works.
A classic work has been revalued over the course of several generations. , sometimes some of his ideas, sometimes others, become the main ones. The distribution of a book over a long period of time leads to its enrichment, because each generation looks at some new facet in it and over time the work becomes more complete and filled with different meanings.
Russian classical prose is rich in the names of talented writers whose work has gone far beyond the boundaries of the country and era. There are many of them and it is impossible to name them all, but we can list the most famous authors:
- Lev Tolstoy;
- Anton Chekhov;
- Ivan Turgenev;
- Fedor Dostoevsky;
- Nikolay Gogol;
- Ivan Goncharov;
- Mikhail Bulgakov and others.
Michael Bulgakov
This collection includes stories written by Mikhail Afanasyevich based on his own experience as a zemstvo doctor in the Smolensk province from 1916 to 1920. From the book we learn about the realities of working as a doctor during a breakup. Russian Empire and the Civil War.
We see not only the horrific life and living conditions of the population of the outback of Russia, but also the backwardness of medicine, which is almost entirely based on the enthusiasm of caring people who give last strength, in order to somehow help the sick in small towns and villages located far from civilization.
Lev Tolstoy
This book, atypical for Lev Nikolaevich, became the pinnacle of his late creativity. It tells the story of a Russian aristocrat who was fed up with fun and tired of social life. A turning point comes in his fate when he experiences a kind of spiritual insight.
This moment comes after Nekhlyudov’s meeting with Katyusha, once his friend, who became a fallen woman. And this happened precisely through Nekhlyudov’s vein. The book not only opens inner world person, but also makes us think about the fact that our decisions can have a very significant impact on the lives of other people.
IN electronic library On our website you will find a wonderful selection of Russian classics, which you can read online. This literature is one of the most valuable treasures of world literature; every educated and thinking person is obliged to become familiar with its main works.
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 hearts simple feeling 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, “disengagement” 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 show yourself). 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. I am publishing a new book, completely different from 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 useless thing... I don’t want to say by this 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 talking, of course, not about 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 They connected this rejoicing with some big holiday that coincided with the day of my birth, but I still don’t understand what another 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. The great poet Walt Whitman, shortly before his death, said goodbye to his readers with a touching poem “So long!”, which in English means “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 consider my merits as a writer at all. I’m surprised and perplexed why apparently 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 united rays of the work of artists and the work of thinkers, directed by it to a common point, would meet in a common work and would be able to 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 the new life of my people. When I wrote them, I lived by the rhythms that sounded in the heroic history of 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 is one sandwich with chum caviar and a debate - “about the proletarian choral reading”, or to the Polytechnic Museum - there are no sandwiches there, 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.
"The Extraordinary Adventures of Julio Jurenito and His Students"
Classic Literature Foundation in different times filled with outstanding geniuses of their peoples and their era. We love them for the opportunity to plunge into the world of the distant past, which is why classical literature remains popular at all times.
Classical literature: general characteristics
It happens that a certain mood makes us pay attention to classic books, because the most famous works often the best. Not in vain, because it was these best works that inspired others famous authors- representatives of subsequent popular generations in literature. Golden classic, an eternal series of books, will be a salvation for those who are not seduced by modern literary works, after all, it was the authors from this list of classics who were genre pioneers long before the postmodern era arrived, and the literary world flared up with all the genre diversity that was difficult to even imagine in the conventional 19th century. Nevertheless, all this became possible precisely thanks to the classics, as evidenced by numerous reviews.
Books of world classics: list
As you know, classical works are not just books, but also markers of an era, which are considered exemplary examples of how the best writers saw their literary heritage. Moreover, most often the problem classical works resonates with the worldview of an entire generation, which makes the mass reader love these books with all his soul. This is also the reason that these books are often included in the school curriculum of different countries, because such works help to understand what a whole cross-section of society was thinking and breathing in a specific time frame.
This list contains just some of the best examples of classic literature. But if you are wondering what to read from the literature included in the golden fund of world culture, then here you will definitely find something for yourself.
