Tristessa
Jack Kerouac
Jack Kerouac’s Tristessa focuses on Kerouac’s own encounters with the title character, a prostitute in Mexico City. The triumph of the piece is Kerouac’s sympathetic and wonderfully melancholic treatment of his muse. While describing her addictions and troubles, Kerouac constantly casts her in a saintly light of beautiful tragedy.
A prominent part of the Beat Generation, Kerouac is an essential author and Tristessa is a wonderful introduction to his work. The obvious evolution (if you ever get the time) would be to follow it by reading his masterpiece, On the Road, which carries many of the same themes and stylistic traits.
The Metamorphosis
Franz Kafka
The Metamorphosis is one of Kafka’s most accesible and famous works and and can be read over a day. If you enjoy it, The Metamorphosis is the perfect base to further explore Kafka’s amazing works.
Gregor Samsa is our protagonist. He is a travelling salesman who wakes one day to find that he has inexplicably transformed into a terrible vermin. It might sound like a Rob Schneider movie but, thankfully, The Metamorphosis is a far more accomplished and relevent piece of social and philosophical commentary.
The Death of Ivan Ilyich
Leo Tolstoy
I haven’t read Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace. I fully intend to but, like many people, I suspect, I just haven’t got around to it. If it is better than The Death of Ivan Ilyich it must really be phenomenal. A fraction of the length of his magnum opus, The Death of Ivan Ilyich is a torturously brilliant book that tells the story of the physical and mental dénoument of the title character.
The ending is assured from the outset; there is no escaping death. Indeed, the first chapter of the book is set at Ivan’s wake. Death is the framing device of the circular narrative. Once we accept that there is no hope for Ivan we can only follow the fulfillment of the book’s own prophecy. Ivan is forced to contemplate his own suffering and eventually both he and the reader come to see that the ultimate cathartic epiphany is death itself.
The Turn of the Screw
Henry James
The most prominent arguement concerning Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw regards the questionable reality of perception of one of the principal characters. In one sense it is completely central to the book. On the other hand, the ambiguity increases the attraction. Indeed, it is that ambiguity and wonder in the story that makes James’ most famous novella so great.
Subjectivity of perception is one of the main themes of the piece not only due to the inclusion and exploration of falible characters, but also due to the falibility of the independent narrator. The result is a book that’s interpretation can often change significantly and interestingly after a second read or between different readers.
Rameau’s Nephew
Denis Diderot
I must admit my luck in finding this gem – a copy was left abandoned in the Harbour Bar in Bray during the summer. As much a philosophical work as a fictional story, Denis Diderot’s Rameau’s Nephew is intensely interesting for many different reasons. Diderot sets a simple scene; a converstaion between himself and the emphatically bourgeois nephew of a composer called Rameau who I will not pretend to be familiar with.
The action is primarily focused on the conversation of Diderot and his single-serving friend in a late 18th century chess room. They speak of genius, art, money and social circumstances. Much like an Oscar Wilde text, Diderot and (particularly) his consort reaveal gems of truth and political commentary within a wittily self-subversive irony.
