Books where the background is more important than the plot?

[kelby_lake]

In other words, what may look like a simple love triangle/melodrama plays out against a certain social era, such as in The Quiet American.

[mayneverhave]

I would argue Hemingway's early novels.

There are also a significant amount of books where a certain historical knowledge is necessary to even comprehend what is going on in the plot.

[Chilly]

I would argue Hemingway's early novels.

There are also a significant amount of books where a certain historical knowledge is necessary to even comprehend what is going on in the plot.

I'm interested in reading those books, can you name a few?

[mayneverhave]

I'm interested in reading those books, can you name a few?

If you're refering to Hemingway, then I mean The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms.

If you mean the later, then I would suggest that one needs to be armed with at least a general knowledge of history (to different degrees depending on the work) to understand Shakespeare's history plays, The Divine Comedy, Ulysses, and the extremely topical poetry of Dryden, etc.

[kelby_lake]

Not too heavy-going! I want books that show what it was like to live in a certain time- atmospheric- but show it through a simple plot.

[Lokasenna]

I think Moll Flanders is more about 18th century society than about the woman herself. Far more detail is paid to settings and circumstances than to character - if memory serves, only a couple of characters (out of a cast of dozens) are actually named.

[kasie]

I've always thought that the city of Dublin in Joyce's Dubliners is a character in its own right, even though there are few if any specific descriptions of the place. It seems to me that these people and their lives would have been entirely different if played out in any other city.

[Lulim]

"Snow falling on Cedars" by David Guterson might fit also, or "Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides.

[Eryk]

The novels of James Michener, Gary Jennings, and Michael Crichton have so much background information, I think they just wanted to teach in an entertaining way.

And in Science Fiction, the background is the foreground: the impact of science and technology on society.

[Modest Proposal]

What about "Winesburg, Ohio" by Sherwood Anderson?

[JBI]

Utopia - Thomas More.

[Cagliostro]

We should go through different countries or geographical areas:

If you want to understand the decadence and changes in Europe after the Great War and the end of the Belle-Époque, as well as the beginning of Fascism and in general the coming of the modern era in Europe and the last moments of the Last Imperial Powers in Europe (Austria Hungary and Germany) I strongly suggest you read books of Joseph Roth, that Viennese genius. His books are impressive, and the background is of the utmost importance. The plot is irrelevant, as only serves as a vehicle to express the change and end of a lifestyle and an era in Central Europe, mainly France, Austria and Germany. The descriptions are just impressive and give a very clear and sad picture of that dark era.

After reading those books, you will be another person. They are so beautifully written and have such a degree of magic that they are hauntingly attractive, distilling nostalgia, fear and melancholy.

The main books of Roth about this are:

Spider’s Web
Radetzky March
The Emperor’s Tomb
The Bust of the Emperor
The Legend of the Holy Drinker

In the same line as Roth, the Hungarian Lajos Zilahy depicts very well the last moments of grandeur of his country and a murky account of the end of the First World War in “Two Prisoners”.

If we take Spain, the best books to understand this country recent history through the background of novels are:

To understand the aftermath of the Spanish civil war and the post-war, you should read a book from Camilo José Cela, the noble prize winner, called “The Hive”. That is a masterpiece, and the characters are simply fantastic. I also recommend as a curiosity a little novel called “Christ Versus Arizona”, in which Cela describes on purpose the OK corral duel in a grotesque way through just a single sentence that lasts over a hundred pages.

Also, the best depiction of the Spain of the XIX century is the gigantic saga called: “los episodios nacionales”, which comprises 46 novels”. However, I doubt there are good translations, and that is really a tough job. However, that is the best way to comprehend an era of Spanish history. This is probably the best example of books serving the purpose of narrating and describing an era.

For Russia, especially the pre-revolutionary and post-revolutionary moments we do have Soljenitsin:

I would advice just three novels:

August 1914
A day in the life of Ivan Denisovich

Gulag Archipelago

For the Russian Civil war, a beautiful period from an aesthetic point of view, I do advice:

- The White Despot, written by Vladimir Pozner, an account of the atrocities perpetrated by the “white armies”, focusing on the absolutely marvellous and outstanding figure of Baron Romain Feodorovich Von Ungern-Sernmberg, a Siberian Warlord fighting the reads in Asia who later created an Empire in Mongolia, believe it or not. This book is from a red –communist point of view.
- Asian Odyssey: written by an ex-tsarist officer called Dmitri Alioshin, is one of the most beautiful books I have ever read, and shows how difficult, tough and hard was to live in that moment of history.
- Men, Beasts and God: written by the Russian-polish engineer and politician Ferdinand Ossendowsky describes very well the life of the émigrés and outcasts expelled from the Russian revolution and also touches the subject of the delicious life of barbaric splendour of the East Warlords, like Baron Ungern and Semenov.
- Mijail Bulgakov: “The white Guard” also depicts the Russian revolution and the Russian civil war.


Napoleonic era:

If we take Erckmann-Chatrian, you must read his books: they describe very well the Napoleonic era in “The Napoleonic Novels”.

If you want to get a picture of ancient countries and civilizations I do advice Robert Graves. Well, the plots are not totally irrelevant. However, here you get both benefits: one, a wonderful plot, and also an excellent background.

For Rome, I would take “I Claudius” and his sequel, and for Byzantium, I would read “Count Belisarius”. In the same line, if you are interested in Egypt you may read The Egyptian by Mika Walthari.

Hope to have been of help,

Fernando

[dfloyd]

You're off by at least 100 years.

[mayneverhave]

You're off by at least 100 years.

Is 1722 suddenly not part of the 18th century?

[Janine]

I think all of these figure in the backgrounds as a prominent feature of the novel:

King Solomon's Mines ~ H. Rider Haggard
She ~ H. Rider Haggard
South ~ The Endurance Expedition ~ Sir Ernest Shackleton
Walden ~ Thoreau
The Woodlanders ~ Thomas Hardy
The Mayor of Casterbridge ~ Thomas Hardy
Tess of the D'Urbervilles ~Thomas Hardy
Far From the Madding Crowd ~Thomas Hardy
Out of Africa ~ Isak Dinesen
Call of the Wild and White Fang ~ Jack London

[JBI]

The Guyana Quartet, Wilson Harris - though the actual writing of the book is very beautiful, and can be appreciated with minimal knowledge, but perhaps more so with better knowledge.

[mono]

As others mentioned Hemingway, I would certainly argue for the same, but more along the lines of A Moveable Feast or Death in the Afternoon, two memoirs of his times spent in France and Spain. Otherwise, like most others, I would certainly recommend many other semi-historical novels, such as those of Karen Blixen (a.k.a. "Isak Dinesen"), Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Virginia Woolf, Kate Chopin, or James Joyce.