01
Douban: 8.7 points
"The Man Without Personality" is the unfinished posthumous work of Austrian writer Robert Musil, a "spiritual novel" and a literary work rich in essay thinking, through the miniature world of the novel, the writer sketches the transition from the upper civil society shaped by Enlightenment reason to the modern mass society, showing the wax museum of his era figures, occupying an important place in twentieth-century modernist literature.
The novel is set in Austria-Hungary before 1914. In Vienna, a committee was formed to prepare for the celebration of the seventieth anniversary of the reign of Emperor Franz Joseph in 1918, the same year that Germany will celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the reign of Kaiser Wilhelm II; Therefore, people call this Austrian operation a "parallel operation" (however, 1918 will be the year of the fall of the two kingdoms, which puts a comical bomb into the base of the novel).
The novel's protagonist, Ulrich, secretary of the Parallel Action Committee, realizes that for himself the possibility is more important than the rigid reality of the mean; He felt that he was a man without personality, because he no longer saw man, but material matter, as the center of modern reality: "Today... A world of unmanned personalities has been produced, a world of experiences of those who have no experience. He saw himself forced to confront the problems of his time, the contradictions between reason and mind, scientific faith and cultural pessimism. In addition, the novel also portrays a series of various characters that the protagonist comes into contact with in the circle of activities of parallel operations, such as the head of operations, Diottima, the financial magnate and "great writer" Arnheim, his young friends Walter and Clarisser, the deranged murderer Mossbrueger, and so on.
02
Douban: 8.8 points
Masterpiece by Krasnoholkay Laszlo, winner of the Manbok International Prize;
the original novel of film master Tal Bella's legendary work "Satanic Tango";
A reading experience that tests reality to the level of madness and pushes the limits;
The famous translator Yu Zemin challenges the "impossible" and creates a miracle in the history of translation!
In a small run-down village, a dozen villagers with nowhere to make a living stage in the rainy and muddy late autumn season staged a drama of alcoholism, adultery, voyeurism, betrayal, dreaming and dreaming. Indifference and numbness cruelly kill all life, until the appearance of two liars ignites everyone's hope, leading them to a rounded dance of death to the bright future they imagined...
The book's wonderful structure and unique language style make it one of the most mysterious works in the history of literature and a miracle in the history of translation.
03
Douban: 8.8 points
"Retreat Notes" is Stetson's first novel, and it is also his semi-autobiographical work. Separated by space and vast time, the writer leads readers to gaze at the sorrow and impermanence of life, and appreciate the richness and shortness of history. The novel is beautifully written, condensed, and the emotions are sincere and heavy, trying to reflect the sadness and understanding of the vicissitudes of the world. "I am part of my impression, and my whole impression is 'me'." This novel focuses on the impression of life, the truth in the impression, and the different starting points and destinations of the soul that expand at the same time as life, thinking about nothingness through the reproduction of animals, the life and death of plants, through childhood experience, revolution and betrayal, the meaning of love, etc., and thinking about the philosophical propositions of soul, spirit, metaphysics, essence and so on.
04
Douban: 9.1 points
"Hunter's Notes" is the famous work of Turgenev, a master of realist literature and one of the "three giants of Russian literature", making it famous in the literary circle, not only on Russian literature, but also on Chinese writers such as Lu Xun, Guo Moruo, Mao Dun, and Ba Jin. "Hunter's Notes" records the rural life in Russia in the 40s and 50s of the 19th century, taking a hunter's hunting as a clue, strung together 25 condensed and vivid stories, showing a magnificent natural picture scroll and simple Russian folk customs. "Hunter's Notes" is a must-read classic stipulated in the new curriculum standards of the Ministry of Education. This edition adopts the classic full translation of Mr. Feng Zikai, translated from Russian, deep and elegant, beautiful and picturesque, of which "Woods and Grasslands" is selected for translation of the Chinese textbook. This edition also includes illustrations by the famous Russian painter Sokolov, whom Mr. Lu Xun admires, and 23 full-color paintings vividly present the main plots and scenes of "Hunter's Notes".
05
Douban: 8.9 points
Hermann Hesse (1877–1962), German writer, won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1946. The Glass Ball Game is Hesse's most important novel.
In a futuristic world, the glass ball game is a symbolic system evolved from music and mathematics, and is all the intellectual and spiritual wealth of mankind. With all kinds of politics and wars, human civilization is facing the threat of destruction. In order to save and propagate this spiritual culture of mankind, a certain religious group is making unremitting efforts. An orphan raised by the religious community, Knecht was gifted and rose through this elite group with his outstanding talent and superior organizational skills, until he reached the top of the group and became a master of the glass ball game. But as he grew older, he was no longer satisfied with this isolated spiritual kingdom, and felt that it was impossible to contribute to the people in this ivory tower. He came to the real world to try to improve the world with education, but before his career was completed, he drowned during a swim.
The Glass Ball Game is the culmination of the spiritual experience of the elderly Hesse looking back on his life. Twelve years of painstaking creation, the author has used almost all literary means: poetry, novels, aphorisms, letters, biographies, literary theories, etc., all kinds of themes are both integrated and relatively independent in the book, and the three biographies of believers in different countries in different historical periods in the appendix are particularly concise, they seem to be unrelated to each other, but in essence they are integrated with the entire work, closely echoing, amazing.
"Glass Ball Game" is translated by Zhang Peifen.