The best Non-English/American Literature

[Dark Muse]

I have a list that I aquired sometime ago from one of my teachers, of what is considered to be the 100 Greatest novels of the 20th century written in English, and most the liteature I have read has been primiarly American-English, I have lately been growing more intrigued by reading more non-English/American lit.

So I would like to ask, at do you consider to be some of the best Non-American/English novels

[Virgil]

Here are a few favorites off the top of my head. I'm sure I'm forgetting some good novels.

Favorite French novel: Madam Bovary, Flaubert

Favorite Russian novel: The Brothers Karamazov, Dostyevski and Anna Karinina, Tolstoy

Favorite Spanish novel: Don Quixote, Cervantes

Favorite Italian novel: The Leopard, Lampadusa

Favorite German novel: All Quiet On the Western Front, Remarque

[Dark Muse]

Madam Bovary

That sounds familar to me for some reason, though I am not sure why, perhaps I have just seen the book mentioned elsewhere before.

All Quiet On the Western Front

I use to have a copy of that, but I do not think I do anymore, but I have not acutally read it yet

[Dori]

The following are a few which I particularly liked.

French Novels: Les Miserables, Notre-Dame de Paris (AKA The Hunchback of Notre Dame) both by Victor Hugo; Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne; Candide by Voltaire;

Russian: Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev; Poor Folk by Dostoevsky.

[Ryduce]

You can never go wrong with Dostoevsky and Hugo.

Some others you may enjoy...

Von Goethe(German)-The Sorrows of Young Werther(Napoleon actually carried around a copy of this wherever he went.)

Gabriel Garcia Marquez(Colombian)-One Hundred Years of Solitude

Bulgakov(Russian)-The Master and Margarita

[Dark Muse]

Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne;

Though I have not read the novel I am familar with the story, and I have always loved the story, I use to have this old computer game made after the story. I loved that game. I would be interested in reading the book.


Candide by Voltaire;

I have done some reading on Voltaire and find him interesting I would like to acutally get to read some of his work.


Von Goethe(German)-The Sorrows of Young Werther(Napoleon actually carried around a copy of this wherever he went.)

I would like to read Goethe, I loved his poem The Earl King

[superunknown]

Russian literature is some of the best ever produced in any language. The Master and Margarita, The Brothers Karamazov, Crime and Punishment, War and Peace, Anna Karenina, Dead Souls, Fathers and Sons, A Hero of Our Time, Eugene Onegin, And Quiet Flows the Down, A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Doctor Zhivago, We... the list goes on.

I'm just wondering, when you say English/American literature do you mean literature that is specifically by English (or more precisely British) and American authors? Maybe you're thinking of authors who write in English but don't come from those countries. Things Fall Apart by the Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe is the most widely read book of African literature, but still originally written in English.

[Etienne]

Rabelais - Gargantua and Pantagruel
Cervantes - Don Quixote
Gogol - Petersburg Tales (or if you're looking only for novels, Dead Souls)
Tolstoy - War and Peace
Bely - Petersburg
Döblin - Berlin Alexanderplatz
Voltaire - Candide
Garcia Marquez - 100 Years of Solitude
Dostoevsky - The Brothers Karamazov
Hugo - Les Misérables
Goethe - Faust

And a few thousand others...

[Dark Muse]

Sorry if I did not make myself clear, I meant of little bit of both really, American/British authors, as well as works that were written in English originally though not nessciarly from England or America.

Crime and Punishment

I think I might acutally own a copy of this book. The titile looks really familar, and not just from this forum LOL


Gogol - Petersburg Tales (or if you're looking only for novels, Dead Souls)

I am open to short story suggestions as well, if anyone has some they would like to recomend

[Etienne]

Gonbrowicz's Bakakai, Gogol's Petersburg Tales, Borges' Fictions and Chekhov's and Maupassant's short stories are some of the best.

[Dori]

Gonbrowicz's Bakakai, Gogol's Petersburg Tales, Borges' Fictions and Chekhov's and Maupassant's short stories are some of the best.

Oh yes, I failed to mention Chekhov's short stories. They are excellent.

[superunknown]

You might also be interested in Latin American literature. Everyone knows Borges and Garcia Marquez but there are other writers who are giants in the Spanish-speaking world but aren't very well known outside of it, for example Mario Vargas Llosa, Julio Cortazar (absolutely icnredible writer, the stylistic successor of Borges if there is one, and not anywhere near as recognized outside of the Spanish-speaking world as he should be), Ernesto Sabato, Carlos Fuentes, Alejo Carpentier, Isabel Allende...

[mayneverhave]

I notice everyone keeps suggesting The Brothers Karamazov. Good to know so many others enjoy the novel as much as I do. I'd pick that up before Crime and Punishment, honestly, as I think The Brothers K is far superior.

Also try:

Thomas Mann - Death in Venice (german)
Albert Camus - The Stranger (french)
Marcel Proust - In Search of Lost Time (french - a bit of an investment)

[Dark Muse]

The Brothers Karamazov

I have seen a lot of mention of this mention of this book on this forum lately, though prior to this forum I have not heard of this book before, I would be currious if anyone could tell me a little of what it is about.

[Etienne]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brothers_Karamazov

[Dark Muse]

Thanks for the link

[bazarov]

It is absolutely the best book ever written!

I agree with posts before, and would like to add Goncharov's Oblomov.

[johann cruyff]

Dark Muse,if you haven't picked it up yet,I strongly suggest that you do - no article,essay,or literary critique/review can give you the slightest idea of how brilliant that book is.I agree with Bazarov,it may quite be the best book ever written.

[Kafka's Crow]

The Brothers Karamamzov is by far the best book ever written by man or dictated by 'God'. Nothing comes even near in terms of greatness and profundity. Dostoevsky has to be the greatest human being ever along with Jesus, Socrates and Shakespeare. I despise English novel. Russian, French, German novel yes, but no great English novel for me. Keep your Dickens and Lawrence or whoever, give me a Russian novel any day. It is such a shame, there must be thousands or even millions of great books we never heard about because of our anglo-centric intellect and imagination.

[Erichtho]

If you are interested in German literature, I recommend you to have a look at Der Kanon by M. Reich-Ranicki, the most famous of all German critics.
http://www.derkanon.de/ (only in German though)
That was the latest attempt to create a canon of German literature, especially aimed at students and I think it is a good starting point for everyone who wants to get a general idea.

It includes the following twenty novels (chronologically):
J.W. von Goethe: The Sorrows of Young Werther and Elective Affinities
E.T.A. Hoffmann: Die Elixiere des Teufels
G. Keller: Green Henry
Th. Fontane: Frau Jenny Treibel and Effi Briest
Th. Mann: Buddenbrooks and The Magic Mountain
H. Mann: Professor Unrat
H. Hesse: Beneath the Wheel
R. Musil: The Confusions of Young Törleß
F. Kafka: The Trial
A. Döblin: Berlin Alexanderplatz
J. Roth: Radetzky March
A. Seghers: The Seventh Cross
H. von Doderer: The Strudelhof Steps
W. Koeppen: Tauben im Gras
G. Grass: The Tin Drum
M. Frisch: Montauk
Th. Bernhard: Cutting Timber

If you follow the link I gave you, you will also see a list of stories, dramas, poetry and essays.

[Virgil]

I am open to short story suggestions as well, if anyone has some they would like to recomend

Short stories by Chekov and the short novels of Tolstoy, especially Master and Man and The Death of Ivan Illych. Italo Calvino is a really good Italian writer. I recommend a novel called The Baron In The Trees. For some reason I think you would really like that one D-M. It fits your personality. Of course there's The Name of the Rose, but I know you're reading that now.

[tractatus]

I have seen that kind of lists a lot,
well, without any irony I can say that, If we compile a World Top 100 Novel from all languages, hardly 5-10 book of your list appear in this new list.

I like Etienne's second list, the short one: "...And a few thousand others..."
this is fairly true answer.
=====
I can count ten great Russian writer, not book.
So do French literature, is another giant tradition on any kind of written art.
Italian, Spanish, German, Greek literature from Europe have quite masterpieces too.
and plus Latin Americans, Japans...

And many more we dont know. For instance, world think that Orhan Pamuk is the best writer of Turkish Literature, but actually -and objectively- he is not in top 5. He is quite good, but not enough yet.

[Kafka's Crow]

I enjoyed The Castle more than The Trial. As the movement of populations around the globe becomes more substantial, I believe, The Castle will become more significant as it depicts the angst of 'arriving but not not quite reaching there.' Mann's The Magic Mountain and Musil's The Man Without Qualities should also be on any list of the great German novels.

Among French novelists, Proust leads the way for his amazing ability to depict what we feel in our ordinary lives. He makes you wonder why you had failed to look at your own experiences in that manner. Camus's The Stranger is a great novel and if you ever find time, read the most weird book out there, Isidore Ducasse, Comte de Lautreamont's The Songs of Maldoror. Literature changed for good after Lautreamont, he is the great grandfather of Surrealism. The man, the persona, the myth, the work, Lautreamont is absolutely fascinating, very dark and very mysterious. He died young and left only one complete work and some smaller poems, the one work he completed was to immortalise himhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Chants_de_Maldoror:

Read some excerpts here:

http://www.kisa.ca/maldoror/english.html

[Virgil]

Oh there's a contemproary French novel i read last year that was marvelous. The Lover by Margurite Duras. I think you might like that too DM.

[kandaurov]

May seem like I'm just waving my flag, but since no one mentions him I'll have to do the honours: Fernando Pessoa, Portugal's finest. A genius, a truly fascinating individual... 'individual'? From him stemed three different personalities (heteronyms), with three distinct ways of writing poetry; even the handwriting was different for each! My favourite is Alberto Caeiro, but I strongly recommend every poem from every heteronym.

[Dark Muse]

Well sense The Brothers Karamamzov is getting such high praise from wel everyone, I will add it to my lest I am composing of books I want to look into and keep an eye out for.

Erichtho, thanks a lot for the info and the list I will look it over when I get the opperutnity to do so.

And thank you everyone else for your informaiton, and suggestions, all very interesting and helpful.


Short stories by Chekov and the short novels of Tolstoy, especially Master and Man and The Death of Ivan Illych. Italo Calvino is a really good Italian writer. I recommend a novel called The Baron In The Trees. For some reason I think you would really like that one D-M. It fits your personality. Of course there's The Name of the Rose, but I know you're reading that now.

Thanks a lot for that, there have not been many Italain recomendations, and I am quite enjoying the Name of the Rose thus far, so I will be sure to look into the others you have mentioned.


Isidore Ducasse, Comte de Lautreamont's The Songs of Maldoror. Literature changed for good after Lautreamont, he is the great grandfather of Surrealism. The man, the persona, the myth, the work, Lautreamont is absolutely fascinating, very dark and very mysterious. He died young and left only one complete work and some smaller poems, the one work he completed was to immortalise him

That sounds right up my alley, I enjoy the werid and strange, and I love surrealisim, as well as anything dark and mysterious intrigues me.

[Oomoo]

The Brothers Karamamzov is by far the best book ever written by man or dictated by 'God'. Nothing comes even near in terms of greatness and profundity. Dostoevsky has to be the greatest human being ever along with Jesus, Socrates and Shakespeare. I despise English novel. Russian, French, German novel yes, but no great English novel for me. Keep your Dickens and Lawrence or whoever, give me a Russian novel any day. It is such a shame, there must be thousands or even millions of great books we never heard about because of our anglo-centric intellect and imagination.

What about George Eliot?

[Dori]

Short stories by Chekov and the short novels of Tolstoy, especially Master and Man and The Death of Ivan Illych.

"Hadji Murad" and "The Kreutzer Sonata" are also both great novellas written by Tolstoy.

[V.Jayalakshmi]

Dear Dark Muse,
If you are interested in Indian English literature( Writing by Indians in English),do read the following books.
1) All of Ravindranath Tagore's writings.Do a google search.He is a Nobel winner.
2) Arundhati Rai's 'God of Small things".
3) Chetan Bhagat's "one Night at The Call Center",and "five Point Someone".
4) Jumpha Lahiri's short stories.

[Dark Muse]

Thanks a lot, I will differently look into those suggestions, I have read some Indian English Poetry before that I really quite liked, I would be interested to read some of thier novels/stories as well.

I have read some of the writings of Ravindranath Tagore as well as his father Debendranath Tagore.

[Morten]

It might be interesting for you to read novels written in the English language by non-English writers. Theirs is usually a unique perspective and grasp of the English language. Joseph Conrad, Isak Dinesen, Vladimir Nabokov and Aleskandar Hemon are all great writers who wrote in the English language, but who were Polish, Danish, Russian and Bosnian, respectively.

Otherwise, I'd also recommend the work of the European giants: Dostoevsky, Proust, Flaubert, Mann, Goethe, Tolstoy, Musil, Kafka. Of all the Asian writers I've read, Yukio Mishima stands the tallest, and you'll find many themes similar to those of Dostoevsky.

All that said, be careful not to discriminate writers based on their nationality. Every writer is unique in his or he own right.

I'd recommend, by the way, Milan Kundera's brilliant and easily read essay The Curtain. He explores European literature from a historical and nationalistic perspective.

[Dark Muse]

I tried reading Conrad once, but could not get through it. I was just so lost and confused and could not track just what was suppose to be hapening in the story.

[Virgil]

I'd recommend, by the way, Milan Kundera's brilliant and easily read essay The Curtain. He explores European literature from a historical and nationalistic perspective.

I have that and while I haven't read the entire thing, it is a marvelous work of literary criticism. It's real literary criticism, not this deconstruction or new historicism crap that they teach in universities. And his The Art of the Novel is even better. Kundera seems great at explaining the art of novels. It's ashame though that I have not enjoyed any of his novels. :blush: But he really understands what makes a novel a work of art.

[Morten]

I have that and while I haven't read the entire thing, it is a marvelous work of literary criticism. It's real literary criticism, not this deconstruction or new historicism crap that they teach in universities. And his The Art of the Novel is even better. Kundera seems great at explaining the art of novels. It's ashame though that I have not enjoyed any of his novels. :blush: But he really understands what makes a novel a work of art.

I haven't read The Art of the Novel. But it sounds like I should. I love his criticism, though it can hardly be labelled as such. It's swift and easily rad, but heavy in what it offers.

[Oomoo]

What is the best novel by Yukio Mishima?

[Virgil]

I tried reading Conrad once, but could not get through it. I was just so lost and confused and could not track just what was suppose to be hapening in the story.

Joseph Conrad, though not born in an English speaking country, writes in English and is considered an English novelist. Some of his novels are great though: Lord Jim, The Heart of Darkness, Nostromo. Though I don't think they're a fit with you DM. I can see why you wouldn't like them.

[Dark Muse]

Lord Jim is the one I tried reading, but could not make heads or tails out of what was suppose to be happening

[Morten]

What is the best novel by Yukio Mishima?

I liked The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea. That juxtaposition of having the most brutal acts written in absolutely gorgeous language sold me.

[bazarov]

The Brothers Karamamzov is by far the best book ever written by man or dictated by 'God'. Nothing comes even near in terms of greatness and profundity. Dostoevsky has to be the greatest human being ever along with Jesus, Socrates and Shakespeare. I despise English novel. Russian, French, German novel yes, but no great English novel for me. Keep your Dickens and Lawrence or whoever, give me a Russian novel any day. It is such a shame, there must be thousands or even millions of great books we never heard about because of our anglo-centric intellect and imagination.

This is the best post I have ever seen on this forum! :thumbs_up :thumbs_up

[Kafka's Crow]

What about George Eliot?

:lol: You caught me there! I can never say that I dislike George Eliot or even Hardy but on the whole most English novel is thoroughly over-rated. Somebody mentioned Indian writing in English. There is a very rare book by G V Dessani called All About H. Hatter. Hilarious stuff. Dessani is considered to be one of the fathers of Indian writing in English:

http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/printed-books/all-about-h-hatterr-g-v-desani/339164/

[Virgil]

Lord Jim is the one I tried reading, but could not make heads or tails out of what was suppose to be happening

Yeah, that is confusing at the beginning. Try Heart of Darkness. I think it may be the most important novel of the 20th century.

[bazarov]

Yeah, that is confusing at the beginning. Try Heart of Darkness. I think it may be the most important novel of the 20th century.

Really? It was extremely boring to me, I couldn't wait to finish it.

[Dark Muse]

Yeah, that is confusing at the beginning. Try Heart of Darkness. I think it may be the most important novel of the 20th century.

I think I might have a copy of Heart of Darkness, maybe I will give it a try, I did plan on eventrually trying to go back to Lord Jim as well.

[Virgil]

Really? It was extremely boring to me, I couldn't wait to finish it.

:lol: Well, to each his own. But even if boring (which I would say it's not) it doesn't preclude its importance.

[kandaurov]

Yeah, that is confusing at the beginning. Try Heart of Darkness. I think it may be the most important novel of the 20th century.

That's an interesting thing to say, Virgil. I've read it this semester. What to make of it, I don't know. I guess I liked it. The part where he says "the horror! the horror!" is a terrific moment, but I felt that the narrator shifts sympathies too arbitrarily. The most important novel of the 20th century - could you elaborate on that? Is it because it deals with colonialism?

[Virgil]

That's an interesting thing to say, Virgil. I've read it this semester. What to make of it, I don't know. I guess I liked it. The part where he says "the horror! the horror!" is a terrific moment, but I felt that the narrator shifts sympathies too arbitrarily. The most important novel of the 20th century - could you elaborate on that? Is it because it deals with colonialism?

Well, colonialism is an important part and yes colonialism is an issue throughout the century. But even more important than that are the themes of (1) the darkness inside every human heart, even of a great man like Kutz and (2) the striving for greatness with all its implications (good and bad), sort of an update to the Faust motif, updated to modern times.

[JBI]

French Canadian - The Tin Flute (Bonheur d'occasion, "secondhand happiness"
by Gabrielle Roy
Russian - Eugene Onegin by Aleksandr Pushkin
Hebrew - A Perfect Peace by Amos Oz
short stories: 21 tales by Shmuel Yosef Agnon
Yiddish - In my Father's Court by Isaac Beshevis Singer
German - Metamorphosis by Kafka
Anglaphone Canadian: this list will encompass poets as well as novels
Jay Macpherson - Poems Twice Told
Robertson Davies - The Deptford Trilogy
Alden Nowlan - I'm a Stranger Here Myself
Margret Lawrence - The stone Angel
Michael Ondaatje - The English Patient
Duncan Campbell Scott - Indian Poems
Anne Hebert - Collected Poems
Northrop Frye - essays, Anatomy of Criticism
E. J. Pratt - Selected Poems
Timothy Findley - Not Wanted On the Voyage

That's a starter on the Canadian anyway. I have a huge list, but no need to flood the thread with novels you won't read.

[JBI]

Oh, and if you want a real list, just check Bloom's list
http://home.comcast.net/~dwtaylor1/chaoticcanon.html

[Dark Muse]

Thanks for the great list, I will check some of those titiles out, and take a look at the link when I get a chance.

[kandaurov]

Fair enough! Would'nt call it the best novel of the century, but it's great that we don't all think the same, or this sort of forum wouldn't exist :) We shouldn't forget, however, that Kurtz is for some a personification of weak-willedness (sp?) rather than greatness. A Faust-like premisse, eh? Never thought of that, very spot-on! And the psychological insight of a disturbed mind, I'll grant that much, is quite good. It kind of reminds me of Poe, but that could be because I'm now doing a paper about him, heh

[manolia]

Yes JBI's list is very good. Thanks for sharing ;)

If you are into poetry

C.P. Cavafy
Yannis Ritsos
Odysseas Elytis

These are three of greece's best contemporary poets. I have a soft spot for Yannis Ritsos ;) Magnificent poet, magnificent man ;)

As for novels Nikos Kazantzakis, won't disappoint you ("Zorba the greek" -i hate the english title, but that's how it is called in english or "The last temptation of Crtist") There are many great authors, but i believe you'll find Kazantzakis' books easier ;)

[tractatus]

If you are into poetry

C.P. Cavafy
Yannis Ritsos
Odysseas Elytis



When it comes to poem, see how profilic, fertile, the Mediterranean is.

And add Seferis, say Four Horsemen.

[Dark Muse]

Acutally I think I have The Last Temptation of Christ floating around here somewhere.

[Dark Muse]

Alden Nowlan - I'm a Stranger Here Myself

This title caught my eye, but I could not find any informaiton about it, I would like to know more about it.

[Virgil]

D-M you started some thread. It's already on it's fourth page with no sign of slowing down. Do you think you got enough advice? ;)

[superunknown]

Check out The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera as well. Important modern philosophical work and great novel, not too heavy going either. I don't really agree with all of it from a philosophical standpoint but it really is beautifully written.

Also you might want to check out Haruki Murakami, probably the best known Japanese writer. He has many bestselling books including Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, Kafka on the Shore, Norwegian Wood, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, and more. Very good writer and also good if you want to check out recently written stuff. I'm surprised no one's mentioned him yet actually.

[Dark Muse]

D-M you started some thread. It's already on it's fourth page with no sign of slowing down. Do you think you got enough advice? ;)

LOL I really am surprsied it has taken off like this but it is proving quite interesting and I am enjoying it, nice to find out about different books I might not have come across previously. I am compling quite the list for myself from it.

[Mark F.]

Camus. A couple of people mentioned The Stranger, but The Fall and The Plague are far better.

[thelastmelon]

It seems as the book I'd want to mention has many titles in English. In Swedish it's Körkarlen, but some English versions of the title are: The Phantom Carriage, The Phantom Chariot, The Stroke of Midnight, and Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness. And it's a novel written by Selma Lagerlöf. It's a wonderful book. If you like Swedish or Scandinavian literature, this should be a good read.

[JBI]

Alden Nowlan - I'm a Stranger Here Myself

This title caught my eye, but I could not find any informaiton about it, I would like to know more about it.

It's a poetry anthology. It's on the lighter side, and barely known outside of Canadian circles. Basically he was every inch a peoples poet, and wrote primarily about every-day things. Though his style is beautifully Ironic, and quite witty.

I don't know how available that book will be outside of Canada though, your better off starting with something else.

[Dark Muse]

Sounds interesting, hehe well if I ever find myself in Canada perhaps I will look for it.


It seems as the book I'd want to mention has many titles in English. In Swedish it's Körkarlen, but some English versions of the title are: The Phantom Carriage, The Phantom Chariot, The Stroke of Midnight, and Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness. And it's a novel written by Selma Lagerlöf. It's a wonderful book. If you like Swedish or Scandinavian literature, this should be a good read.

Apperently it was also made into a movie, I tried to google it to get more information about the book and I tried using a few of the different titiles, but only information about the movie would come up

[Kafka's Crow]

Favorite French novel: In Search of Lost Time, Marcel Proust. Here is a life re-lived and understood thoroughly.

Favorite Russian novel: The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoevsky. The greatest of them all, honestly it is.

Favorite Spanish novel: Don Quixote, Cervantes. I found it too long and drawn-out but then... Anybody read The Club Dumas by Reverte and The Shadow of the Wind by Zafon?

Favorite Italian novel: The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco. Relive the Middle Ages. Intertextuality incarnate.

Favorite German novel: The Magic Mountain, Thomas Mann (not a novella, though!) Big book, big themes, huge influence.

Favorite Dutch novel: Rituals by Cees Nooteboom. A little gem of a book. You will always think about it whenever you make your 'cuppa'.

Favorite Irish novel: The Trilogy (Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnameable) by Samuel Beckett. Spent my life grappling with Beckett. I love these three books. Beckett's fiction writing at its very best. Dark, tragic and absolutely hilarious!

Favorite Mexican novel: Mexican Bolero by Angeles Mastretta. Political intrigue, corruption and infidelity!

Favorite South American novel: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Magic, simply magic!

Favorite Eastern European novel: The Castle by Franz Kafka. You may try hard as you can, it will never let you in (and will stay in your mind to haunt you for the rest of your life).

Favorite Indian novel: All About H. Hatter by G V Desani. An absolutely hilarious book.
Favorite Indian novel: The God of Small Things by Arundhutti Roy. It made me "re-return" to the list, it is that good!

Favorite Canadian novel: The Life of Pi by Yann Martel. Is it a bad dream?

[crystalmoonshin]

I just immersed myself in East Asian literature just last year.
Here are some of which I'd like to recommend:

Dream of the Red Mansions (Hong Lou Meng by Chao Xuejin and Gao E)- I'm partly Chinese so when the urge to try Chinese literature rose, I picked this one up and it didn't disappoint.

Thirst for Love (by Yukio Mishima)

Daughter of Autumn (by Yan Tingyun)

Kokoro (by Natsume Soseki)

Tale of Genji (by Lady Murasaki)

The reason why I like Japanese and Chinese fiction is because of the usual presence of nostalgia and because of their love for nature. I also like tragic endings.

[Dark Muse]

I love Lisa See's Peony in Love, though See is Chinese-American. I loved the book because it dealt with the 15th century, opera, and was also a romantic ghost story.

That sounds good

[islandclimber]

South American: Borges collection of short stories "Labyrinths" fascinating, magical, amazing...
and of course Neruda's "residence on earth" the best book of poetry ever written in any language

Russia: the brothers karamazov, the idiot, crime and punishment, the devils... any of those four major works by Dostoevsky, as well as "Notes from the Underground" for short works...

and then any decent collection of Chekhov's short stories...

Ireland: "Finnegan's Wake" by Joyce... "Picture of Dorian Gray" by Wilde
Beckett's play "Waiting for Godot"


French: Albert Camus "The Fall" , some Balzac and Maupassant short stories are quite good too and of course the king: Hugo

German: Kafka's complete stories.... Hesse "Siddhartha"

Italian: something by Italo Calvino

Indo/Canadian: "A fine balance" by Rohinton Mistry... one of the best modern books I have read and would recommend it to anyone... it is wonderful and tear inspiring..

other books: Saramago's "The Gospel According to Jesus Christ" i found fascinating... Rushdie's "the satanic verses" I thought was better than his "Midnight's Children"... and there are others that I do not want to comb my mind for lol

cheers

[kiki1982]

Jose Saramago. He's absolutely devine! He won the Nobel Price for literature in 1998 (I believe). He's portuguese.
'Blindness', 'All the names' and 'The cave' are a trilogy about society today. 'The stone Raft' is also a captivating book of his.
Very deep well thought about stories, sometimes surrealistic, but always about modern society and it's impact on man. Also great writing, what you can't always say about modern authors...
Harry Mulisch as well (dutch): The Assault (absolutely great, with very much symbolical situations and links with the Ilias of Homer)

[Nossa]

I'd have recommened Midaq Alley by Naguib Mahfouz, I'm currently reading it and it's amazing. But the problem with Mahfouz is that translations take away a lot from his brilliant style and description. But I think if you want something Egyptian (or Middle Eastern) you can try this one. And also The Cheapest Nights by Yusuf Idris, it's a collection of short stories. These are my fav. books right now in terms of Arabic books.
If I have to recommend something else, I'd go for anything Russian, esp. Chekhov, which everyone seems to be recommending too. And also anything Kafka, that man was brilliant!

[Jane's Nemesis]

The Brothers Karamamzov is by far the best book ever written by man or dictated by 'God'. Nothing comes even near in terms of greatness and profundity. Dostoevsky has to be the greatest human being ever along with Jesus, Socrates and Shakespeare. I despise English novel. Russian, French, German novel yes, but no great English novel for me. Keep your Dickens and Lawrence or whoever, give me a Russian novel any day. It is such a shame, there must be thousands or even millions of great books we never heard about because of our anglo-centric intellect and imagination.

It is true that the English novel is often the most popular with English-speaking readers, and there is often a lot of ignorance surounding novels from other countries. Having said that, it does seem rather snobbish to reject novels on the basis of the nationality of their authors. What's to say that a novel is no good just because it is not Russian or German? Are not Russian novels as emulated throughout the world as English novels, and furthermore, are they not coloured by a distinctly Russian vision, just as English novels are clearly "English"?

Back to the original thread, though. Australian writers tend to be fairly under-represented in these forums. Unfortunately, some classic Australian novels (particularly from the 19th century) are out of print, like Catherine Spence's "Clara Morrison", which is about a Scottish woman's emigration to Australia. Other novels, however, have remained very popular, such as "My Brilliant Career" by Miles Franklin. I am currently reading "An Australian Girl" by Catherine Martin, which is pretty interesting as well. Amongst the 20th century writers, I would recommend Peter Carey and David Malouf (especially Peter Carey's short stories). I think it might be a little difficult to read Patrick White (he is notoriously difficult, which people tend to explain as being a result of changing fashions in writing since the 70s).

Olive Schreiner's "The Story of an African Farm" is unabashedly feminist, but worth reading. It also serves as a view of white 19th century South Africa. I would also recommend "Wide Sargasso Sea" as a West Indian response to English writing.

[Etienne]

Favorite Mexican novel: Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo

I'm finishing it at the moment, it's absolutely great!

[dramasnot6]

Chen Ran is a brilliant Chinese author I've read a lot of recently.

[promtbr]

A personal fav topic as I am world lit freak, to the point of almost ignoring my native country lit in favour of translated works. Unfortunately as an english speaking monolinguist, its been made apparent that there ARE works that lose so much in translation that the end result is a heavily 'filtered' or interpreted representation, several removes from the original text...

The good part is that there are a lot more recently translated works whose renderings are closer to the original. Long story short, pay attention to which version/translation.

Back on-topic, I see Kafka's Crow and I share a lot of tastes in translated lit!

Ditto on Proust, Kafka and Mann (and I'm more confident in their most recent translations) Also as he said, Cees Nootebom is an awesome contemporary Dutch writer. Kafka mentioned Rituals (sounds as if I need to get this)
I can recommend his The Following Story..

Also from recent reads:

2008 Nobel Prize Winner, French novelist J.M.G Le Clezio's Onitsha is a fine novel, haunting, lyrical and symbol laden (but not overly so)

Norwegian Novelist Per Petterson (won some prize last year I forget)
Out Stealing Horses Is not a brain twisting read and a very unique narrative voice.

Another GREAT and underappreciated Norwegian, Knut Hamsun, not his famous work, Hunger, but his even more haunting (and better IMHO) Mysteries...

[Saladin]

Good choice, promtbr. It were about a time that someone mentioned the scandinavian/nordic literature :D

Speaking about Hamsun. Beside Hunger which is according me his best novel, you can also check out Growth of the Soil. For that novel he recieved the Nobel Prize in Literature. I am going to mention authors and not specific novels. You should also check out some of Astrid Lindgrens (swedish) even though she wrote children literature and Hans Christian Andersen (danish).

[Saladin]

If you like Dostoevskys writing you will probably find Hunger interesting. Hamsun were deeply influenced by Dostoevsky.

[Dark Muse]

Out Stealing Horses sounds familair, I think I have seen or read something about that book somewhere. I am not sure if I have it on my own list of books I want, I will have to check

[Dr. Hill]

French- Count of Monte Cristo
Spanish- Don Quixote
Russian- Crime and Punishment
German- Faust
Czech? probably German- The Metamorphosis, The Trial, some Kafka