November / Philosophical Novel Poll

[DanielBenoit]

To many good choices.

[armenian]

i got to say 'the fall' was camus' best and most underrated work. the narration made the way it was written unique, like it the stranger, but much different.

[Jozanny]

I will no doubt cause some groans, but I will nominate Umberto Eco's The Name of The Rose if Lit Net has not already done it in whatever the time period is for exclusion. I read it once as a student years ago, and my Medeval Lit professor chided himself for thinking the novel would do for travel reading.

I need to get to it for a critical paper I want to write anyway, and did something I rarely do with read novels, and purchased my own copy. On one level it is a historical mystery, on another it is a lesson about the anxiety of knowledge, and more.

[Scheherazade]

Would faulkner's A Fable or Reivers be considered philosophical?

I really need to nominate something from the Pulitzer list!

[Jozanny]

Would faulkner's A Fable or Reivers be considered philosophical?

I really need to nominate something from the Pulitzer list!

Sche, the first author I thought of when I scrolled this thread was Musil, which your Wiki link lists, but I would imagine many challenging novels could be considered philosophical. Sometimes, these genre divisions get a bit frustrating, like Eco's work, which can fit into a number of slots.

I imagine some of Faulkner's work could be defended for this category, but the Germans and the Austrians and to a lesser extent, the Italians, have a leg up on England and America in this sphere. Maybe the Africans too, come to think of it.

[NickAdams]

Would faulkner's A Fable or Reivers be considered philosophical?

I really need to nominate something from the Pulitzer list!

A Fable may be considered philosophical.

[bigben]

]If I could nominate, which I can't, I might go for When the Sacred Ginmill Closes, by Lawrence Block. It seems to me -an old prof- that we hold philosophy to far apart from ordinary life. Block is good and wise, though cynical.

[optimisticnad]

I'm going to be selfish and say 'Atlash Shrugged' - I'm half-way through and really need a push!

[Dark Muse]

I'm going to be selfish and say 'Atlash Shrugged' - I'm half-way through and really need a push!

I really wanted to nominate that, but I didn't think anyone else would acutally vote for it. Now it is going to be a tough call on what I should vote for when the poll comes out.

[mal4mac]

Kaufmann, in Nietzsche PHILOSOPHER, PSYCHOLOGIST, ANTICHRIST, is less dismissive of Zarathustra than Bloom, but suggests that Zarathustra contains most of Nietzsche's ideas in veiled and symbolical form - a good summary for those who know Nietzsche thoroughly, but hard to understand correctly for those who do not.

I disagree with Kaufmann, and agree with Bloom. I think the symbolism doesn't work, it's just "too much", so it isn't a good summary.

But, anyway, it's an advanced work and perhaps not a good choice as many will not know Nietzsche thoroughly.

I also think it's just painful to read. It's off my re-read list. Of the other suggestions - I've read Nausea, that's a good read. I'd read that again.

To many good choices.

I'll withdraw Thomas Mann. It is a bit long, and I fancy reading some of the others just as much.

[Scheherazade]

Nominations so far:

1. Thus Spake Zarathustra

2. The Fall by Camus

3. Jacques the Fatalist by Diderot

4. As I Lay Dying byWilliam Faulkner

5. Nausea - Jean Paul Sartre

6. The Name of The Rose

7. Atlas Shrugged

[JBI]

A Fable may be considered philosophical.

Yes, but whether it can be considered good literature or not is another question.

Nominations so far:

1. Thus Spake Zarathustra

2. The Fall by Camus

3. Jacques the Fatalist by Diderot

4. As I Lay Dying byWilliam Faulkner

5. Nausea - Jean Paul Sartre

6. The Name of The Rose

7. Atlas Shrugged

We already read The Name of the Rose did we not?

I'd like to nominate Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse

[rimbaud]

and i don't know who to vote: Faulkner or Nietzsche

[Jozanny]

We already read The Name of the Rose did we not?

I'd like to nominate Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse

If we did I will change it. I will wait for Sche to rule on the matter.

[Scheherazade]

Yes, but whether it can be considered good literature or not is another question.



We already read The Name of the Rose did we not?

I'd like to nominate Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse

Yes, thatis true; we read it last year (I was thinking it was the year before).

Nominations so far:

1. Thus Spake Zarathustra

2. The Fall by Camus

3. Jacques the Fatalist by Diderot

4. As I Lay Dying byWilliam Faulkner

5. Nausea - Jean Paul Sartre

6. Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse

7. Atlas Shrugged