The best books are a relative concept. A good print at the moment is a work that brings comfort, advice, knowledge, wisdom, and vivid impressions to a person. Thus, the defining moment is the satisfaction by the book of demand of a certain reader.
For some people, exclusively specialized literature is valuable: documentary, scientific, technical, medical, and specialized. But it is rather food for the mind. However, most readers are still interested in art books. They contribute to the formation of the spiritual image. They will be discussed in this article.
An art book is a unique invention. The Pleiades of thinkers of different times and eras trusted the paper with their hopes, observations, understanding of truth, life, humanity. It is wonderful when the vivid images created by these authors, along with deep and unique quotes (sometimes decades ago, and sometimes centuries) illuminate the lives of our contemporaries!
The role of the Russian competition "Book of the Year"
The current literary process in Russia is unusually fruitful and has the characteristic features inherent in decadence:
- creativity went beyond: authors often write anything if only the reader likes;
- mutation of linguistic expressive styles;
- the principle of impromptu when combined by the author of innovation and tradition;
- texts acquire signs of multi-layeredness, interactivity;
- the human environment is portrayed as chaotic, unknown, pointless.
To direct the literary process in a constructive direction, to avoid erosion of the national and to stimulate really talented beginnings in it is the archival task of modern Russian culture. An indicator of the success of books written by our contemporaries is the annual national contests of the Book of the Year type. They are organized in order to stimulate both writers and publishers.
For example, in the 2014 Russian competition, traditionally held in mid-September, 150 publishers participated in submitting more than 500 books to the competition. Winners in 8 nominations were announced:
- prose works - the novel "The Abode" (Zakhar Prilepin);
- poetic work - translation of Shakespeare's “King Lear” (Gigoriy Kruzhkov);
- fiction for children - the story "Where does a rooster horse ride?" (Svetlana Lavova);
- art book - “Kargopol journey” (prepared by the local architectural and art museum);
- Humanitas nomination - an art-documentary album "Lermontov" (state archive of arts and literature);
- e-book - the media project "Yasnaya Polyana" and "Yaroslavl temples" (project bureau "Sputnik");
- nomination "Printed in Russia" - album "Vetka. Book culture ”;
- The main award of the Book of the Year 2014 contest is the three-volume Russia in the First World War (a team of 190 researchers from universities, museums, archives).
We summarize: the objectives of the aforementioned competition is to increase the status of books in the current public life; stimulation of the best authors and publishers. Over the sixteen years of its existence, this event has in practice proved its motivating role in the development of Russian literature.
At least, he was nominated by Russian writers, who can rightly be called classics:
- 2004, the nomination “Prose” - “Sincerely yours, Shurik” (Lyudmila Ulitskaya); Best Seller nomination - Night Watch (Sergey Lukyanenko);
- 2005, nomination "Prose" - "Volterians and Volterian women" (Vasily Aksenov);
- 2011, nomination “Prose” - “My lieutenant” (Daniil Ganin).
International Book Ratings
As we have already mentioned, the best, most sought-after books, thanks to the thought crystallized in them, become real friends, advisers, joy for their readers. And the authors who wrote them are called classics.
The best books created by talent are studied in schools and higher educational institutions, and they are widely quoted in everyday life.
The modern fashion trend to make ratings of everything that surrounds us has not spared literature.
At the very least, Internet navigation reveals dozens of variants of the "One Hundred Best Books."
Such lists have a certain value. Thanks to them, it becomes much easier for a novice reader to find for reading the really best books among tens and hundreds of thousands of works. If a person feels his gaps in the knowledge of world culture (domestic and foreign literature is an integral part of it), then such a rating can become a route map.
What direction to choose for such a landmark? If you are really interested in world literature, then we would recommend using one of the ratings by version:
- English Broadcasting Company (BBC);
- English newspaper The Observer;
- Union of Writers of Russia;
- French newspaper Le Monde;
- American publisher Modern Library;
- Norwegian book club.
Of course, the news agency of each country, listing the best books, is trying to give leading places in the compiled lists to the fellow countrymen. And it is justified. Indeed, the talents of recognized classics, who created their masterpieces from the times of the ancient world to the present day, are in reality not comparable. Each of them in his own way finds a path to the hearts of readers.
A phenomenon that has come down to us after millennia: literature of the ancient world
The list of books that have come to us through the millennia and inherited from other eras is quite limited. However, they appear in modern ratings. Therefore, we write about them. Unfortunately, history did not preserve the ancient libraries: the Gentiles fought with books in the same way as with enemies. So, for example, the richest Alexandria library was destroyed, numbering up to 700,000 papyrus scrolls.
What books of our classic ancestors should be mentioned first of all when speaking about the ancient world? Of course, the fame in the Latin language deserves Publius Virgil Maron, the author of "Aeneid", and in ancient Greek - Homer, the author of "Odyssey" and "Iliad." Guided by the theory of Virgil, the Russian scientist and poet Mikhail Vasilievich Lomonosov developed the syllabonic-tonic system of versification, which served as a launching pad for the further development of Russian poetry.
However, not only Virgil and Homer are considered ancient classics. Horace, Cicero, Caesar also performed in Latin, and Aristotle, Plato, Aristophanes in ancient Greek. However, it is precisely the two names mentioned earlier that most represent the literature of the ancient world.
Books of the European era of the formation of capitalism
Foreign literature, of course, is represented by a much more saturated list of authors than Greece and Ancient Rome. The rapid development of European states contributed to this.
France, with its Great Revolution, aroused the romantic human aspirations for freedom, equality, and brotherhood. In German literature, which began to create its own statehood, romanticism also prevailed in unison with French.
In contrast, the industrialized, urbanized, and politically stable Britain - the ruler of the seas - demonstrated the most powerful and mature literary process, which tends toward realism.
It is generally recognized that the most famous writers who wrote in French at that time were Victor Hugo (Les Miserables, Notre Dame de Paris) and Georges Sand (Consuelo).
However, speaking of the French contribution to world literature, mention should be made of the names of Alexander Dumas the father (“The Iron Mask”, “The Three Musketeers”, “Count of Monte Cristo”), Voltaire (the poem “Agathocles”), Charles Baudelaire (poetry collections “ Paris Dumps ”,“ Flowers of Evil ”), Moliere (“ Tartuffe ”,“ Tradesman in the Nobility ”,“ Stingy ”), Stendhal (“ Perm Monastery ”,“ Red and Black ”), Balzac (“ Gobsek ”,“ Evgenia Gande ” ”,“ Godis-sar ”), Prosper Merimee (“ Chronicles of the times of Charles IX ”,“ Tamango ”).
The list of romantic books characteristic of early bourgeois Europe is continued by mentioning the works of the Spaniards and Germans. A brilliant representative of Spanish classical literature is Cervantes ("The Cunning Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha"). Of the German classics Johann Wolfgang Goethe (“Faust”, “Wild Rose”), Heinrich Heine (“Journey through the Harz”), Friedrich Schiller (“The Fiesco Conspiracy in Genoa”, “Rogues”), Franz Kafka (“Missing "," Process ").
Romantic adventure books discarded the entourage of real life, their plot was based on the actions of exceptional heroes in unusual conditions.
The heyday of British literature
In the 19th century, British writers were rightly considered the legislators of "book fashion" on the European continent. After the collapse of Napoleon Bonaparte, the French authors, initiated by the Great Revolution, were less favored.
The British had their own literary tradition. As far back as the fourteenth century, the whole world recognized the genius of William Shakespeare and the innovative social ideas of Thomas More. Developing their literature in a stable industrial society, British authors already in the XVIII century began the evolutionary transition from the classical chivalric novel (romanticism) to social, psychological works.
They are more pragmatic than the French, tried to answer the philosophical question: "What is Man, and what is Society?" These new thinkers are Daniel Defoe (Robinson Crusoe) and Jonathan Swift (Gulliver). However, at the same time, Britain outlined a new trend in romanticism, as demonstrated by George Gordon Byron, author of Don Giovanni and Childe Harold's Pilgrimage.
The literary tradition of realism in the first half of the 19th century was powerfully developed by the following famous writers:
- brilliantly talented Charles Dickens (whom F. M. Dostoevsky later called his teacher);
- intellectual to uniqueness, stoically enduring hunger and poverty, Charlotte Bronte, known from the novel "Jane Eyre";
- Creator of the world famous Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle;
- Thomas Hardy, kneeling and haunted by the venal press (Tess of the Deberville family).
Russian golden literature of the XIX century. The biggest names
The classics of Russian literature are associated in the world primarily with the names of Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, Anton Pavlovich Chekhov. Although in general in the 19th century (which is universally recognized), Russian literature turned into the most striking cultural phenomenon of a global level.
We illustrate the above. An indisputable classic was the Tolstoy style of writing novels. So, the American writer Margaret Mitchell wrote her famous epic "Gone with the Wind", imitating the style of Lev Nikolaevich.
The piercing psychology of the highest standard inherent in the work of Dostoevsky was also universally recognized in the world. In particular, the famous scientist Freud argued that no one in the world could tell him anything new about the inner world of man, no one except Fyodor Mikhailovich.
And Chekhov's innovation inspired the authors to start writing works based on the world of human feelings. In particular, the venerable British playwright Bernard Shaw recognized himself as his student. Thus, foreign literature in the 19th century received both powerful ideological nourishment and a new vector of development from Russian literature.
Therefore, friends, to read War and Peace, Anna Karenina, Crime and Punishment, Demons, The Cherry Orchard, and The Seagull is your sacred duty.
Literary Rating Note
The fact remains: among hundreds of the best works, a significant part is occupied by books written in the 19th century. It is these writers that it is customary to study in schools, for which inertial and unjustifiably stable curricula have been developed.
Is this fair? Not at all. It is more advisable to change the curriculum, taking into account the tastes of a real advanced readership. In our opinion, the work of writers of the 20th and 21st centuries should occupy no less than the works of the 19th century in the curriculum.
The classic of Russian literature today is not only the works of Pushkin, Gogol, Turgenev, but also the books of Mikhail Bulgakov, Victor Pelevin. We intentionally express the idea figuratively, mentioning only the individual names of famous poets and writers.
Raising the topic: “Which books are the best?”, It’s reasonable to tell in more detail about the works of classics of this and past centuries.
The best book by the Air Force. Critical eye
The first place in the ranking of the best books, according to the BBC, is occupied by the novel-trilogy of John Ronald Tolkien “The Lord of the Rings”. We pay special attention in this article to this fantasy work. Books with a similar depth of elaboration of a plot based on ancient legends are very rare.
What served the rating experts as the motive for such a high rating? Indeed, a professor at Oxford University with his fascinating work served Britain a great service. He, having deeply and comprehensively studied the folklore of the Misty Albion (hitherto fragmented and fragmentary), figuratively speaking, he spread it on a thread and wove it in a single concept of the struggle between Good and Evil. It’s not enough to say that he did this talentedly. The uniqueness of the trilogy is evidenced by a curious fact. Once, an angry scientist and colleague came to the author of The Lord of the Rings after his lecture and accused the writer of plagiarism.
Modern fiction, perhaps, hitherto did not have such associations. The writer’s opponent turned out to be evidence-based, he brought to the confused author of The Ring the copies of drawings from ancient British annals unknown to the latter, which seemed to illustrate Tolkien's work.
It happens! One person managed the impossible - to unite, systematize and, importantly, presentably present the ancient folklore of his homeland. No wonder Queen Elizabeth II awarded the writer the honorary title of British gentleman.
Some Other BBC Rating Books
Traditionally, the English information rating contains classic books of the 20th century, for example, Anglo-American literature for reading (novels):
- Children's fantastic trilogy "Dark Beginnings" (Philip Pulman).
- “To Kill a Mockingbird” (Harper Lee).
- 1984 (George Orwell).
- Rebecca (Daphne Dumorier).
- "The Catcher in the Rye" (Salinger Jerome).
- The Great Gatsby (Francis Fitzgerald).
Opinion of Russian readers
What is the assessment of the fairness of the British rating on Russian book-lover forums? The answer is short: ambiguous.
Fairly high appreciation is given to the work of the writer George Orwell. For many readers, their favorite book was an exciting novel with an unpredictable plot - Rebecca. For reading, children can recommend the story of the travel of the girl Lira Belakva from Oxford through the fantastic worlds from Philip Pulman.
However, there are quite motivated comments. For example, for a domestic sophisticated reader who has fallen in love with such novel books as the realistic-mystical Bulgakov novel “The Master and Margarita”, the work “Doctor Zhivago” by Boris Pasternak, as well as “Picnic by the Road” and “City Doomed” from the Strugatsky brothers, to put it mildly, the criterion for prioritizing the BBC rating is not entirely clear.
Understand correctly: we are not at all trying to lower the artistic value of a number of talented novels such as “Trick 22”, “The Great Gatsby”, “The Catcher in the Rye”, when we state a fact: their genre is an ideological novel. Unless, objectively speaking, can they compete with the voluminous and multi-problematic work “The Master and Margarita”?
Such novel books, which consistently reveal only one thought of the author, should be rated lower! After all, their depth of meaning is initially limited by design, devoid of volume, multidimensionality. Therefore, according to our readers, the dubious positioning of novels and ideas in the list of books at positions that are higher than the ratings of War and Peace or Masters and Margarita is completely absurd.
Modern Postmodern Books
Postmodern books today are perhaps at the peak of popularity, as they represent an ideological antithesis to the stagnating mass consumer society. Modern postmodern writers dissect the consumer lifestyle that surrounds them, filled with soulless advertising and primitive glossy glamor.
Such ideological authors exist even in well-fed America. Recognized in his homeland as a true connoisseur of consumer society problems, a writer of Italian origin Don Delillo (Underworld novels, White Noise). Another Italian scientist, professor of semiotics at the University of Bologna, Umberto Eco, immerses the reader in such an intellectually rich outline of the work (The Foucault Pendulum, The Name of the Rose) that his creations are in demand by an intellectual audience.
A softer postmodern is demonstrated by another author. One of the representatives of Russian contemporary literature of this trend is Boris Akunin. The books of this modern classic (“The Adventures of Erast Fandorin”, “Azazel”, “The Adventures of Sister Pelagia”) are in demand by the general reader and even filmed. Many note the author’s talent, his masterful syllable, and the ability to create fascinating stories. In his reasoning, he demonstrates a special personal philosophy of an oriental character.
The latter is especially noticeable in his Jade Rosary and Diamond Chariot.
It is noteworthy that, captivating the reader with detective stories taking place in the general outline of historical events in Russia, the modern classic Akunin does not bypass the problems of poverty, corruption and theft. His books, however, are not sustained in the strict framework of the historical plot. In the West, this prose genre is called folk-history.
The chronological point determining the start of the concept of “modern Russian literature” is 1991. Starting from this time, the works of authors of the sixties were closed to the public at large:
- “Sandro from Chegem” by Fazil Iskander.
- “Crimea Island” by Vasily Aksenov.
- “Live and Remember” by Valentin Rasputin.
Following them, modern writers came to literature, whose worldview was initiated by perestroika. In addition to Boris Akunin, mentioned above, other Russian literary stars of the first magnitude were brightly lit up: Victor Pelevin (Numbers, Insect Life, Chapaev and Void, T, Empire V) and Lyudmila Ulitskaya (Kazus Kukotsky "," Sincerely yours, Shurik "," Medea and her children ").
Modern fantasy books
Perhaps a remake of the decadence era was a remake of the romantic genre, revived in the form of fantasy. What is only the phenomenon of popularity of the series of novels about Harry Potter by Joan Rowling! This is true: everything is back to square one, romanticism is winning back its lost ground from realism!
No matter how much they say that realism once (in the 30s of the 20th century) was crushed to death by romanticism, no matter how much its crisis hides, it’s back on horseback! This is hard not to notice. Recall only one of the classic definitions of this literary style: "Exceptional heroes act in unusual situations." Isn't the last statement true to the spirit of fantasy ?! What else to add ...
It is noteworthy that the current Russian authors who write fantasy books are widely popular and demonstrate a high literary level. For reading, readers can recommend the following works of this genre:
- “Night Watch”, “Day Watch” (Sergey Lukyanenko).
- “Forbidden Reality”, “The Gospel of the Beast”, “Catharsis” (Vasily Golovachev).
- The series of novels "The Secret City", the cycle "Enclaves" (Vadim Panov).
We also recall the popularity in Russia of the fantasy cycle "The Witcher" by the Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski. In a word, adventure books are now again in favor with readers.
Recommended books by writers from other continents
Looking through the forums of domestic readers, we found that among the outstanding writers of the XX century, non-European and non-American books are much less often mentioned. However, among them there are very bright and talented works:
- “One Hundred Years of Solitude” (Colombian Gabriel Garcia Marquez).
- “Woman in the Sands” (Japanese Abe Kobo).
- “Waiting for the Barbarians” (South African John Coetzee).
Conclusion
Bottomless fiction ! The books of its authors (meaning the best), the average person, unfortunately, a priori will not be able to read throughout his life. Therefore, navigation in the boundless book "sea" is extremely important. “Why do we need to read purposefully?” - the uninitiated person will ask ...
We will answer: “Yes, to decorate your life, to make real friends! After all, books are advisers, inspirers, and comforters.
In conclusion, we note that if in the future you are lucky enough to find at least a dozen books, each of which, like a tuning fork, will ideally suit you, your soul, in a certain life situation, we will assume that it was not in vain that we worked on this article. Enjoy your reading!