Literature with old fashioned morals/values

I have had a hard time tracking down literature written by people with values that are more old fashioned/traditional/conservative. I am not religious but am politically conservative and was raised with old fashioned morals and values.

I am not really interested in most of the commonly known authors, just from over-exposure. I'd rather read something from another country (other than England/USA). I am partial to Russian authors due to being Russian myself.

I really enjoyed Tolstoy's Kreutzer Sonata, for example, and I have explored some Dostoevsky and Chekhov. These authors seem to lean more towards old fashioned/religious values.

I am not really interested in 20th century writers as much as 19th, but I'll accept them if they coincide with the old fashioned values/morals. I just find that most are more progressive at this point, so I think what I am looking for is more 19th century or prior to it.

I particularly like philosophical fiction, philosophy itself, or just general realism.

Well, classic literature does tend to have old-fashioned morals. You might enjoy reading some well-written children's literature from the period, like The Secret Garden or Little Women.

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Originally Posted by Polotentse

I have had a hard time tracking down literature written by people with values that are more old fashioned/traditional/conservative. I am not religious but am politically conservative and was raised with old fashioned morals and values.

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Have you considered following Donald Trump on Twitter?

I suspect by “old fashioned” Polotentse means no explicit sex and no sex before marriage for the good characters, unless they are tragic.

Nearly all nineteenth century novels work on that “old fashioned” basis.

If you enjoyed Dostoevsky, you certainly can cope with strong meat. He liked Dickens. Try Little Dorrit or Great Expectations, which are both highly moral works in a more general sense and no hanky panky. Or indeed Jane Austen. Try Mansfield Park, which makes many contemporary readers uneasy for its “old fashioned” values. Sexual attraction is simmering away there, but never spelt out.

A shameless adulterer like Donald Trump certainly isn’t old fashioned in the sense I mention above..

I'm fond of Herman Hesse. He may be what you're looking for. Also, Marcus Aurelius' 'Meditations', though not a fiction, is a great primer for stoicism.

Whatever you do, do not read Jean Genet's 'A Thief's Journal'.

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Originally Posted by Polotentse

I have had a hard time tracking down literature written by people with values that are more old fashioned/traditional/conservative.

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I would like to ask the same question as Polotentse did - do you know more authors like this?

[As an answer to Polotentse`s question from my own reading experience - I read almost all of the works by the British author C. S. Lewis (for example "The Screwtape letters", "The Great Divorce", "The pilgrim`s regress" (autobiographical allegory) and "The inner ring and other essays") and the German author Karl May (in his earlier novels the focus is mainly on the adventure story; in his later novels - and in his early short novels/stories - he focused more on philosophical/Christian topics).
I also read "Quo vadis?" by the Polish author H. Sienkiewicz, "Ben Hur" (Wallace), parts of the "Confessions" (Augustine) and some works by the British author J. Bunyan ("Pilgrim`s Progress" plus its sequel and his autobiography).]

Read Babbit by Sinclair Lewis

I think Anna Karenina was conservative in its time for how it viewed adultery and extramarital sexual relations. Much of Tolstoy is morally and culturally conservative in some way or another

Well, it was the 19C and not the 21C.

But I think one of the advanced features of the novel is that the adultery privileges the situation of the woman.

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Originally Posted by ajvenigalla

I think Anna Karenina was conservative in its time for how it viewed adultery and extramarital sexual relations. Much of Tolstoy is morally and culturally conservative in some way or another

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Wow, did you misread that book! The point is the double standard, the difference between what happens to women committing adultery versus what happens to men. This couldn't be more clear since Anna's philandering brother is there as an obvious foil.

The novels of Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy are full of old fashioned American values.

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Originally Posted by ajvenigalla

I think Anna Karenina was conservative in its time for how it viewed adultery and extramarital sexual relations. Much of Tolstoy is morally and culturally conservative in some way or another

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVEAqd7WVQM
Wow, did you misread that book! The point is the double standard, the difference between what happens to women committing adultery versus what happens to men. This couldn't be more clear since Anna's philandering brother is there as an obvious foil.

The novels of Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy are full of old fashioned American values.