I won’t even venture to guess how many books have been published over the course of human history, but safe to say, it’s more than we’ll end up remembering. With such limited time available to us and so many different books to read, we were forced to come up with a system which would help us classify and identify the works which ought to stand timelessly.
Thus, the idea of classic literature was born. An all-encompassing genre for all the stories which transcend the times they were written in, and more often than not, imparting some valuable wisdom about any given aspect of life.
With our access to books growing easier than ever before, we’ve found the need to sort the best from the rest faster and faster, giving birth to what are known as modern classics. Though they haven’t stood the test of time like their traditional classic brethren, they’ve very much managed to leave a strong impact in their wake and are expected to remain current for the foreseeable future.
As you can surely imagine by now, in this category we will be reviewing books which have been classified as modern classics. From Kafka and Hemingway to Lovecraft and Capote, these are literary works which defined the 20th century, and I believe will remain without equal so long as our love for the written word exists.
Newest Reviews
“The Young Lions” by Irwin Shaw – Different Perspectives on Atrocity
Irwin Shaw is one of the writers whose works have a defined place in history, chronicling a reality we can never afford to forget. The Young Lions is perhaps his best-known work, depicting the Second World War and its immense complexity through three different perspectives: an observant young Nazi, a weary American film producer, and a shy Jewish boy who just got married.
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“One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez – Time is Indeed a Circle
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982, is a figure who needs little introduction among book lovers.
His works have always been distinguished by their profound and meaningful nature, and One Hundred Years of Solitude represents those qualities like none other.
Telling of the rise and fall of a mythical town called Macondo, the story follows the lives of multiple generations belonging to the Buendia family.
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“Ragtime” by E.L. Doctorow – The Recurring Patterns in Life
E.L. Doctorow is revered as one of the greatest and most influential authors of the 20th century, and I think anyone who picks up his works, whether they like them or not, can understand why.
Ragtime was considered one of his best works and a true classic, presenting a relatively disjointed narrative following many characters, some real and others imagined, across their trials and tribulations in a snapshot of early 1900s New York City.
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“For Whom the Bell Tolls” by Ernest Hemingway – The Last Stand of Love
Ernest Hemingway has always had a real talent for portraying complex characters in equally complicated situations, made even more impressive with his concise vocabulary.
For Whom the Bell Tolls might be one of his more popular stories, following a young American, Robert Jordan, as he fights through the Spanish Civil War as a member of the International Brigades, attached to an antifascist guerrilla unit in the mountains.
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Short Stories About the Old Gods by H. P. Lovecraft – The World of Eldritch Horrors
H. P. Lovecraft has been one of the most influential horror writers of all time, pioneering many of the concepts and tropes we’ve come to enjoy time and time again in all kinds of media. It is safe to say that without his groundbreaking work, we wouldn’t be enjoying the likes of Stephen King and his peers.
Among the many short stories he wrote where Dagon, Nyarlathotep and the all-time famous The Call of Cthulhu , all three revolving around the theme of ancient and otherworldly gods coming to Earth.
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“In Cold Blood” by Truman Capote – Reconstruct the American Tragedy
Truman Capote may very well have revolutionized the world of journalism when he wrote the novelized yet non-fictional account of the Clutter family murder, but more than that, he created one of the most powerful and compelling true crime narrations that takes us into the emotional and psychological depths of the American tragedy.
Praised by one side and criticized by the other, In Cold Blood remains a rather controversial book to this very day, one that is nevertheless deemed an important milestone in American literature.
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“The Trial” by Franz Kafka – The State Knows Best
Franz Kafka was one of the more complex and thought-provoking authors of the twentieth century, and though he may have died young, his classics like The Trial will live on forever, telling the timeless story of an ordinary man, Joseph K., who one day wakes up only to find himself accused of a crime he has no recollection of committing.
What’s worse, not a person in the world seems to be able to tell him what crime he’s actually being accused of. Standing before the grinding gears of the bureaucratic machine Joseph K. must resolve the impossible matter or be grinded down into nothingness, like so many before him.
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“The Stranger” by Albert Camus – The Meaningless Past
Albert Camus was always known for his complex stories that were profound studies of human nature, and The Stranger fits that description perfectly, telling the story of a young disinterested in life whose fate quickly spirals out of control for seemingly inexplicable reasons. Meursault isn’t the kind of person anyone is used to, having his own outlook on life and a curious way of justifying his actions and inactions.
However, when his unusual philosophy leads him into dire straits, he cannot help but question all he has ever held true and whether or not a human life, even one such as his, can have a real meaning to it.
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“Foucault’s Pendulum” by Umberto Eco – Meet the Millennium’s Greatest Hoaxers
Umberto Eco has never failed to surprise us with original ideas and plots in his books, and that’s more the case with “Foucault’s Pendulum” than any other work of his, telling the ridiculous story of a hoax conspiracy between various cults and orders becoming, in the middle of which three editors find themselves plunged headlong into peril.
As the unlucky trio will soon find out (much to their chagrin), fiction can quickly seep over into reality and the most ridiculous corners of our imagination can indeed have some truth to them.
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