The list of worthy foreign books is endless and, of course, different for everyone. Here are only some of the works that deserve attention and have left their mark on the history of literature.
Classic literature
1. Dante Alighieri "Divine Comedy" - the work has absorbed the best from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. A love poem and a hymn to human humility and dignity.
2. Sei Shonagon "Notes at the head" - the maid of the Japanese empress wrote these notes for her own pleasure, she could not imagine that after ten centuries they will not lose their value. This book is a collection of subtle observations, sketches, excerpts from a diary. In terms of the sophistication of the literary form and accuracy, the Notes are the pearl of medieval literature.
3. Oscar Wilde "The Portrait of Dorian Gray" - a novel that caused a controversial assessment of contemporaries, perfectly reveals the theme of narcissism. A talented artist paints a portrait of a beautiful but vicious young man who does not want to grow old. Desire comes true, and the portrait begins to age in its place.
4. Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice - Despite the fact that the book is a love story, it is not typical. The mores and shortcomings of the society of that time were noted with great observation. The difficult love story of Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy is one of the most amazing in world literature.
5. Gustave Flaubert "Madame Bovary" - the author has been working on the work for a long time, as a result, all the characters are spelled out with great care, and the image of the main character, far from a positive character, clearly shows how immoderate desires and immorality have a destructive effect on a person.
It is believed that the heroine of the novel, Emma Bovary, has a real prototype - Delphine Delamare, an acquaintance of the writer's mother, whose story is almost identical to that described by Flaubert. However, the author has repeatedly argued that this is not the case.
Foreign literature of the twentieth century
1. Erich Maria Remarque "Three Comrades" - the book turned out to be very lively, close to the reader. This work is about the most ordinary people living in the difficult post-war times of devastation and unemployment, who, having gone through the horrors of war, have not forgotten how to rejoice, love and help each other even to their own detriment.
2. J. D. Salinger "The Catcher in the Rye" is a story told from the perspective of an ordinary teenager, which has become a symbol of non-conformism and purity for a whole generation. A simple and honest book about the problems of a little person in the adult world.
3. George Orwell "1984" - one of the most famous dystopian works. Society is depicted as a suppressed totalitarian system, permeated with fear and hatred, everything is under control and constant observation. But there is always at least one person who decides to challenge the established system
Many features of a totalitarian society were borrowed from the example of Nazi Germany, as well as from the realities of the Soviet Union during the dictatorship of Stalin.
4. Ken Kesey "Over the Cuckoo's Nest" - the first book by the author, which caused a lot of noise and became one of the cult among the beatniks and hippies. The line between sanity and insanity is clearly depicted, with a sharp, sometimes rough style of storytelling. The book is about the struggle for the ability to think and be yourself.
5. John Fowles "The Magus" - a bizarre combination of mysticism and realism, which lasts until the end of the intrigue. In the novel on the lost island of Greece, a mysterious "doctor" puts violent psychological experiments on people, exposing them to various strong emotions. The scenes of an erotic nature described by the author are considered one of the best displays of carnal love in the second half of the twentieth century.
