Great literature about the human condition

[kublacant]

I’m not sure how else to word it. I have had some bereavement recently close family and further afield and it has really made me contemplate life ((and death)

I am sure greater minds than mine have grappled with this!

does anyone know any great literature deals with life/human condition? I’m thinking they are probably German or Russian!

I am an avid reader, so it’s natural for me to turn to books at these sorts of times. Fiction only.

Have you read any books by Elizabeth Strout? I think her Olive Kitteridge books might be exactly what you're looking for. All her books are wonderful but the Olive Kitteridge ones are best, especially her most recent 'Tell Me Everything' (though you should read in order). I listened to, rather than read them and the narrator was perfect.

I’ve read quite a lot of Elizabeth Strout and think I have already read Olive Kitteridge (years ago)

But I will take a look at it, so thank you!

Ah okay, I'll get my thinking hat on...

Actually I'd still recommend 'Tell me Everything, it only came out a few months ago and is possibly the most humane and insightful book book I've ever read. Olive and Lucy Barton are equal main characters in it.

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

I loved Steppenwolf...

Agree re Elizabeth Strout.

Also Jane Smiley A Thousand Acres , epic. Based on King Lear.
Just read The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker - based on the Iliad but from the women's pov.

Oh yes, yes to Life After Life. And A Thousand Acres was Life changing for me. Both are brilliant books..

Carol Shields - the Stone Diaries
William Boyd - Any Human Heart

These both follow a person through all the ups and downs of a life from the beginning to the end. I particularly liked the Stone Diaries which changed what I thought the trajectory of a life should look like, and what it means to be old and frail and close to death.

The following are epics of human experience, rich and deep:
Tolstoy - War and Peace
Vikram Seth - A Suitable Boy

Two more which I think have extraordinary insight into the human condition are
George Eliot - Middlemarch
Chimanada Ngochi Adichie - Half of a Yellow Sun

Perhaps Cats Eye by Margaret Atwood, also anything by Alice Munro.

I’ve read Life after Life, also, amazingly Steppenwolf but was a teenager then so I suspect most of it went over my head.

I meight dig that out again @Echobowels

I haven’t heard of Jane Smiley, I’ll definitely look her up thank you!

I also loved the Neopolitan quartet by Elena Ferranti. A whole life journey, quite a commitment but deeply satisfying.

@Mandarinaduck i’ve read all of those apart from MiddleMarch and War and Peace. I think I’m going to have to go classic and epic 😀

Get some Dostoyevsky!

I knew I needed the Russians! Which Dostoyevsky would you recommend?

I'm so happy to see people mention Jane Smiley - A Thousand Acres. It had a tremendous impact on me.

@MounjaroMounjaro oh me too, that concluding line 'How do you forgive someone who doesn't know what they've done'.

The Brothers Karamazov - my favourite.
The Idiot
Crime and Punishment

You're in for a treat!

How about the c19th French realists? Zola or Balzac.

It's not great literature but fantastic for reflecting on the human condition is Irvin Yalom. He's a therapist first, writer second.

Kazuo Ishiguro. Deceptively simple prose but really make you think.
Never Let Me Go
Remains of the Day
Klara and the Sun

Diana Athill 'Somewhere Towards The End'. Although it's autobiography it reads more like a novel, she wrote it in her late 80's and she contemplates life in a wise and sharp way.

What makes you think the Russians and Germans have all the answers? The Brits haven’t done so bad!! George Eliot’s Middlemarch? Dickens? Jane Austen? You can be funny and profound. It’s a mistake to think a funny writer can’t have anything serious to say (btw, both Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky admired Dickens and were influenced by him). How about Thomas Hardy?

Personally, I’ve always found Aldous Huxley, Oscar Wilde and Iris Murdoch deep and profound writers.

Then of course there is Shakespeare, Wordsworth and Blake.

don’t worry I’m not doing a disservice to classic English literature!

It’s simply that I’ve read a huge amount of it and not a lot of classic European literature apart from a bit of Hesse and Camus as a teen.

So I’m wanting to expand my horizons and seek new (to me) wise voices.

One English author I haven’t read is George Eliot so Middlemarch is now firmly on my list.