For the inexperienced reader, modern novels are a unique opportunity to plunge headlong into the maelstrom of eventful events in today's life through literary works of this genre. Due to the fact that this genre of modern prose is trying to fully satisfy the needs of all readers, its variety is impressive. It is constantly developing, improving, delighting the public with new ideas and names. The works of modern authors are rapidly becoming popular, collecting hundreds of thousands, millions of fans, competing with the classics.
Modern prose is multifaceted
You can endlessly list the universally recognized masters of today's prose: Camus, Pelevin, Anders and others. Their contemporary novels diverge in huge editions, making their creators famous around the world, many become the basis for a variety of cinematic studies. Modernity does not have strict censorship; the reader himself acts as a demanding critic, carefully selecting the most valuable and interesting books from all the books offered. Modern novels describe not only the unadorned realities of today's life, they are so multifaceted that absolutely all genres are reflected in them - detective story, science fiction, adventure and love.
The work of a novelist
The work of a novelist does not differ much from any other type of human activity. At the source of the plan (novels by contemporary authors is no exception) lies the irresistible desire of the author to talk about something or express something. In other words, a modern novel is not just a thick book with a decent number of characters, but such an inspired text, the process of working on which changes the author himself, reveals something in him that he had not thought about or suspected before. Unfortunately, in contemporary literature, short, contemporary testimonial novels are on the verge of extinction, since these projects are always laborious. And the role of the witness of history has long been entrusted to the memoirists. In addition, the somewhat belated feminization of literature has led to the fact that the author’s ability to squeeze tears from readers becomes the main criterion for success and professional suitability. But the quality of the works can only be determined by the number of goosebumps caused . And the selected writers undoubtedly succeed, among them: Haruki Murakami, Bernard Werber, Janusz Wisniewski, Erica L. James, Jody Pickolt, Victor Pelevin and many others.
Russian literary works
Modern Russian novels are all the same literary narrative works that have limited maximum permissible sizes. Their content traditionally includes a very significant period of time and describes the life stories of several characters in the series of events. Art in Russia (including literature) has been considered “sensible” for centuries, unfortunately, now it is turning into a hobby. Modern authors do not live their creations, they are only carried away depending on the degree and speed of development of their talent. Some are attracted only by significant financial grants and the possibility of publication in world famous collections, which means fame. However, the writers in our country did not translate, the modern Russian novel is alive and developing.
Female novelists - sentimental generators
Lyudmila Ulitskaya
The work: "The Green Tent" is a novel about true love, about different fates, about original characters. In fact, this is a real strong psychological prose. And at the same time, this new work by Ulitskaya is much wider than these clear definitions.
The second novel by this author also deserves close attention - "Medea and her children." The content of the work is a well-known myth turned inside out by the passionate Colchian princess Medea, of the generosity and mercy that appear in the same places on the Crimean coast.
Ulitskaya’s next no less interesting modern Russian novel, “Sincerely yours, Shurik”, confirmed her talent as a novelist, while emphasizing the novelty of the chosen novel form, which absolutely no one expected from a recognized “sentimental generator”. L. Ulitskaya is characterized by the adaptation of the classical novel form to the new-fangled literary habits of "facilitated consumption", which translates her author's syllable into a more accessible language of modern culture.
Maya Kucherskaya
The author is a leading prose writer, along with this a literary critic; the author of the book “The God of Rain”, which received the Student Booker Award, and the novel “Modern Patericon. Reading for Disheartened”, which was awarded the “Bunin Prize”. The new work "Aunt Motya" is a description of a passage from the life of the main character Marina, who in the past was a teacher of Russian and literature, and now works as a corrector for a weekly newspaper. She, dry and tired of life, once becomes the epicenter of developing romantic relationships, with all the consequences, respectively.
Marina Stepnova
This is the author of the book "Women of Lazarus" (which has a short list of awards "National Bestseller", "Big Book", "Russian Booker", "Yasnaya Polyana"). Her works are published with great enthusiasm by newfangled thick magazines, while Marina is a talented stylist and competent editor-in-chief of a well-known men's magazine. In her new novel “The Surgeon”, the life story of the gifted plastic surgeon Arkady Khripunov in close interweaving with the story of Hassan ibn Sabbah, the prophet and founder of the 11th-century Nizari Islamist state, is brought to the readers' court.
Men's premium brand
Victor Pelevin
This is a real high-quality premium brand in the conditional book market, because for all the years of publication of works it has established itself impeccably. The books of this writer are read by absolutely everything: students, oligarchs, housewives and politicians and the President of the Russian Federation himself. They are readily quoted in rating media, and in social networks, and in fashionable parties. His new work - the modern Russian novel "Pineapple Water for a Beautiful Lady" - will certainly become one of the most successful and vibrant events in the world of literature. After all, opening his every book, the reader receives not only high-class model literature, but also an up-to-date modernized philosophy of one of the most bold and original-minded people of our time.
Aleksey Ivanov
The author of the novel with the concretizing title "Geographer drank the globe." It may seem that the outwardly plot of the book is everyday and uncomplicated: the young biologist Vitya Sluzhkin is forced to go to work as a simple geography teacher in one of Perm schools. He conflicts with students, the head teacher, drinks wine, tries to improve relations with his wife and daily leads his baby daughter to kindergarten. He just lives. Even such seemingly ordinary everyday life stories are based on modern novels.
Evgeny Vodolazkin
The author is a philologist, a competent specialist in Old Russian literature and the author of the novel "Soloviev and Larionov", an excellent collection of essays "Instrument of Language" and many other books. His new novel "Laurel" tells the story of the life of a medieval doctor who, having a unique gift of healing, is not able to save his dying beloved, therefore he is going to go the hard way of the earth instead of her.
20 best foreign books of the XXI century
The category "best contemporary novels" would not be complete without the best foreign books:
- "Middle Sex" Pulitzer Prize winner Jeffrey Eugenidis.
- "Kafka on the beach" by Japanese writer and translator Haruki Murakami.
- "Don't Let Me Go" by a British writer Kazuo Ishiguro of Japanese descent .
- The Short and Amazing Life of Oscar Wo, an American Dominican writer, Juno Diaz.
- "2666" by the Chilean poet and prose writer Roberto Bolagno.
- "Cloud Atlas" by the English novelist David Mitchell.
- The "Road" of the American novelist, playwright Cormack McCarthy.
- "Austerlitz" by the German poet, prose writer and essayist V. G. Zebald.
- "Atonement" by British writer, Somerset Maugham Prize winner Ian McEwan.
- "Running after the wind" by an American writer of Afghan origin Khaled Hosseini.
- "The Adventures of Cavalier and Clay" by American writer and screenwriter Michael Chabon.
- "Corrections" by an American author of numerous novels and essays by Jonathan Franzen.
- "White Teeth" by English writer Zadie Smith.
Not the last of the popular
The following books are also included in the list called “The Best Modern Novels”: Kelly Link's trendsetter of off-genre prose trendsetter “It's All Very Strange”, “The Explored World” by famous American writer Edward P. Jones, “Bastion of Solitude” by American born Jonathan Lethem , “It's Time to Lead the Horses,” by Norwegian author Per Petterson, “Pastoralia. The devastation in the Civil War Park by essayist and screenwriter George Saunders.