I have in mind two (fiction) classics on the subject: An Enemy of the People (Ibsen) and The Winter of Our Discontent (Steinbeck). I would appreciate it if you could guide me to other valuable works on this issue.
posted by Basque13
on Apr 23, 2013 -
27 answers
South African novel? A Boer seduces a black girl, they have sex in his Mercedes Benz. The book deals with the seduction that comes before, and the problems afterwards. The white guy is NOT cast as a villain. My friend read this book in the 70s and is looking for it. Thanks!
posted by Tom-B
on Jul 17, 2012 -
10 answers
Excellent Action Scenes In Books? I'm looking for examples of tense, fast paced action sequences in novels and short stories. The written equivalent to the cinematic on-the-edge-of-your-seat-oh-crap-the-person-may-die-how-will-they-escape thing. Bonus if the situation is complex yet reads like a clear, clockwork machine.
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posted by The Whelk
on Feb 8, 2012 -
42 answers
What-was-that-book-filter: 70's or 80's (?) heist (?) novel that involved shutting down L.A. by closing a couple of freeways and the central telephone switching system.
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posted by dersins
on Jul 15, 2011 -
10 answers
Foreign Literature filter: Non-depressing but non-dumb novel/other literature in written English, written Spanish and Audiobook (either/both languages).
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posted by lalochezia
on Mar 7, 2011 -
5 answers
I remember a college professor telling me about a book, probably Latin American, possibly magical realism, in which the table of contents could be shuffled around according to some provided lists, and the book re-read accordingly, acquiring new meanings and interpretations with each shuffle. What is it called? Also welcome: suggestions for novels with a similar style or feeling, or which play with the medium in a similar way (I've already read House of Leaves).
posted by lhall
on Nov 30, 2010 -
16 answers
What novel, published in the last five years, will keep my interest and be not-too-overly-verbose as to make my job harder (I have to write a paper discussing it's literary merits)?
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posted by makethemost
on Feb 23, 2010 -
24 answers
What sci-fi novels feature small community habitats which are the petri dishes of social/political experimentation? By "habitat" I mean a structure or ship that's totally isolated and self-sufficient. Dystopia in miniature!
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posted by cowbellemoo
on Feb 13, 2010 -
45 answers
People talk about "writing the Great American Novel." What do you think are valid examples of the G.A.N.? What novels, American or otherwise, did you enjoy reading and wish you had written?
posted by Busoni
on Jun 20, 2009 -
70 answers
I crave a great novel that's as addictive as a popcorn movie. Please recommend me some
literary page-turners.
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posted by Beardman
on Jun 5, 2009 -
105 answers
Can anyone recommend good novels about gay people? Not just genre fiction but actually literature? It seems to me there must be, but I've never been able to find any.
posted by blue shadows
on Dec 14, 2008 -
57 answers
Help me find this book!
It's about a family, possibly from the North of the UK / Scotland, but the thing I remember most is one of the brothers travelling through South America. He washes up on a riverbank, plants almost grow up around him. Local indigenous people save him and he becomes a medicine man.
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posted by pipstar
on Nov 18, 2008 -
0 answers
Is there a reasonable English translation of Goethe's "
The Sorrows of Young Werther" in the 1787 version?
Thomas Carlyle and the nowadays authoritative translation by Burton Pike both used the 1774 version, but Goethe went thoroughly over it for his Complete Works. Online and printed editions fail in most cases to tell the version used. Can you recommend a book or even an online source?
posted by Wolfen
on Sep 4, 2008 -
4 answers
I'm reading Richard Ford's
A multitude of sins short stories collection, and I find it rather dull... (less powerful Raymond carver to me) but it seems that he's considered as a "master of the short story" (Esquire), "one of the country's best writers" (San Francisco chronicle)... Could you give me elements to modify my judgement ?
posted by nicolin
on Aug 10, 2008 -
8 answers
What one book will allow others to gain the truest insight into the soul of each city or region
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posted by reenum
on May 6, 2008 -
16 answers
Literature filter: Novels in the form of a first-person diary (day-by-day entries, or entries set against calendar dates). Can you name any good examples, particularly contemporary? I'm aware that it was relatively common format in earlier novels (for example, Dracula).
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posted by long haired lover from liverpool
on Dec 12, 2007 -
42 answers
Anybody know any good novels either about or a good chunk of which is set in the Caribbean?
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posted by Heminator
on Mar 21, 2007 -
40 answers
Everybody hates this, but I need help identifying a book so I can "rebuild" a preteen, YAL library...
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posted by oflinkey
on Jan 5, 2007 -
11 answers
Has Finnegans Wake ever been translated? How?
posted by dead_
on Oct 20, 2006 -
36 answers
Has anyone vastly improved -- or just changed -- someone else's already published writing by editing?
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posted by callmejay
on Aug 30, 2006 -
25 answers
