The Courtier by Baldassare Castiglione 1528
A book that, through fictional conversations, sets forth
the expected behavior of courtier and ladies of the time period.
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
A collection of short stories that depict and satirize
the English society at the time.
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert 1856
The story of an adulterous woman seeking to escape the
drudgery of her middle-class life. The book is a landmark in
the realist ideology.
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy 1873
A Russian woman leaves her husband for her lover and thereby
challenges the conventions of her society. It offers an inside
view on the Russian state of affairs of the time.
Moby Dick by Herman Melville 1851
A seemingly simple tale on the surface is really an exploration of complex
themes of social class and status, good and evil, and religion.
It also is a symbol of the American Romanticism movement.
Great choices Kristi, but I wonder if you'd have a hard time with some of the longer ones? Skimming is harder when longer texts--maybe it would be good to read a summary first so that you all have a general idea of the storyline.
ReplyDeleteI read synopses of all the novels, even the long ones. But I do like a challenge...
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