Classic Fiction.Click the letter and you will be brought to the beginning of the list beginning with that letter.
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-A-
- Ambassadors (1903) by Henry James.
- § An American, Chad Newcome, the son of a rich woman, is living the high life in Paris. His mother would like him back and sends her "ambassador" (the other ambassador is Chad's sister) to talk Chad into coming back home to Woolett, Massachusetts. This ambassador is Lambert Strether, a suitor of the rich mother. He is converted to Chad's way of thinking, and finally ends up giving Chad some parting advise, " Live all you can; it's a mistake not to."
- Adam Bede (1859) by George Eliot.
- American Tragedy (1925).
- § Written by Theodore Dreiser. My edition contains a 6 page introduction by H. L. Mencken. Dreiser tells the story of Clyde's struggle with the forces of justice, or injustice, and how he is found guilty in a trial (it takes up a quarter of the book) of the killing of Roberta. He is found guilty and executed, not because he did what he set out to do, but rather what he did not do. Clyde is the victim of a political ambitious prosecutor; and, as well, the "capitalists," the system which "runs" the United States.
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-B-- Barnaby Rudge (1841)
- § Written by Charles Dickens. Here, in Barnaby Rudge, Dickens gives a "very vivid" description of the Gordon Riots which occurred in London, 1780.
- Book (The) of Daniel (1971) (New York: Bantam, 1979).
- § E. L. Doctorow was Inspired to write this book by the execution of Julius & Ethel Rosenberg. "Articulates the dilemma produced by the confrontation of a mammoth system of procedures with relatively passive and powerless people."
- The Brothers Karamozov (1879-80).
- § Written by Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-81).
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-C-- Caine Mutiny (1951); RWL(A); (New York: Doubleday, 1951).
- § Written by Herman Wouk (1915- ).
- Caleb Williams (1794).
- § This work of literature was written by one of the earlist political agiatator's for democracy, William Godwin. Hazlitt, who could hardly be described as a philosophical admirer of Godwin, was of the view that Caleb Williams was a "splendid and impressive work ... a masterpiece, both as to invention and execution."
- Charterhouse of Parma (1827) by Stendhal.
- § The Charterhouse of Parma is a historical novel which brings us from the Battle of Waterloo, and through the post-Napoleonic era; an analysis of Romanticism. My copy (London: Chatto & Windus, 1951) includes, as a preface, a study (65 pp.) written by Balzac and Stendhal's eight page reply.
- Chancery, In by Galsworthy.
- I Come as a Thief (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1972).
- § Written by Louis Auchincloss about contemporary Manhattan and the countryside where "the rich repair for weekends and holidays." Auchincloss writes of, "What happens to people when their loyalties are put under unexpected acute pressure, particularly to the man who loves everyone the same."
- The Count of Monte Cristo (1844).
- § Written by Alexandre Alexandre Dumas (1802-70).
- Cousin Bette (1846) by Balzac.
- § "The Limburger cheese of literature, ... one has to hold up their nose as he reads." (Gest, The Lawyers in Literature.)
- Crime & Punishment (1866).
- § Written by Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-81).
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-D-- David Copperfield (1849-50).
- § Written by Charles Dickens, David Copperfield is semi-autobiographical. The hero is distressed by his experiences of early childhood; his time at a London factory; and his time as an attorney's clerk. Finally, Copperfield turns to writing.
- Don Quixote (1605).
- § Written by Cervantes.
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-E-- The Egoist (1879).
- § Written by George Meredith. The Egoist is the story of the fictional character, Sir Willoughby Patterne; rich, handsome, selfish, fatuous, and conceited.
- Erewhon (1872).
- § Written by Samuel Butler. Erewhon (nowhere, backwards) is an utopian satire where many of the conventional practices and customs are reversed, for example, crime is treated as an illness and illness a crime. In 1901, Butler wrote Erewhon Revisited, the dominant theme of which is the origin of religious belief.
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-F-- The Fall (1957) (New York: Knopf, 1957).
- § Written by Albert Camus.
- Forsyte (The) Saga by Galsworthy.
- Felix Holt (1866) by George Eliot.
- § Felix Holt has a "plot turning on a base fee in land."
- The First Circle (1968); RWL(A,C).
- § Written by Alexander Solzhenitsyn (1918- ), The First Circle deals with Stalin's penal system.
- The Fixer (1960); RWL(A).
- § Written by Bernard Malamud (1914-86).
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-G-- The Good Earth (1931).
- § Written by Pearl S. Buck.
- Great Expectations (1860-1).
- § This Dickensian, story is narrated in the first person by Philip Pirrip ("Pip). The story opens on the Kentish marshes where we see the orphaned Pip helping a run away convict, Abel Magwitch. It then advances through the various stages of the great expectations of Pip's life. Pip is soon sent to the home of a Miss Havisham to live. In the household is another charge, Miss Havisham, is Estella, who treats Pip's developing love with coolness. Into the picture arrives a lawyer, Jaggers, who advises that Pip shall be the recipient of a generous monthly allowance, due to an anonymous benefactor. This allowance allows Pip to lead the life of a gentlemen. The story continues to unfold and the various characters play out there roles in a "melodramatic plotting and its richly stocked gallery of cosmic minor characters ..." (Cambridge's Guide.)
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-H-- The Heart of Midlothian (1818); WL(A,B,D).
- § Written by Sir Walter Scott.
- Henry Esmond by Thackeray.
- The House of the Seven Gables (1851).
- § Written by Nathanial Hawthorne (1804-94).
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-I-- Ivanhoe (1819); WL(A).
- § Written by Sir Walter Scott.
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-J-- Jane Eyre (1847) by Charlotte Bronteë.
- § Jane Eyre is a story based on the author's unhappy days at the Clergy Daughters' School at Cowan Bridge, run by people who believed that physical discomfort was spiritually edifying (Bronteë's two oldest sisters died there in 1825).
- Jean-Christophe (1904-1912) by Romain Rolland.
- § This is a massive work consisting of a number of volumes. The hero in Jean-Christophe is Jean-Christophe Kraft. Jean-Christophe is a German born musician who travels throughout France and Germany where he observes and critiques the society that he finds. The work deals with a familiar literary theme: the artist, alone in his world. Rolland speaking through his musician hero concludes that the purpose of art is to "express moral truth" and in so doing to "combat the disintegration of values."
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-K-- Kidnapped (1886).
- § Written by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-94).
- To Kill A Mocking Bird (1960) (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1965).
- § Written by Harper Lee(1926- ).
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-L-- Lady Chatterley's Lover (1928).
- § Written by D. H. Lawrence. Because of its sexual explicitness this work was first privately printed in Florence. The first unexpurgated English edition did not appear until 1960. Penguin Books were prosecuted in England under the Obscene Publications Act. It was to be a very major test case, R. v. Penguin Books Limited. The courts found in favour of the publisher.
- Les Miserables (1866).
- § Written by Victor Hugo(1802-85).
- Let, To by Galsworthy.
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-M-- Man (A) of Property (1906) by Galsworthy.
- Mansfield Park (1871-2) by Jane Austen.
- § The story of Fanny Price who comes from an improvident family to live with her aunt and uncle, Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram, at Mansfield Park. Fanny is patronized by three of her cousins (two girls and a boy); but the forth, Edmund, befriends her.
- Middlemarch (1871-2) by George Eliot.
- § "... considered not only Eliot's finest work but one of the greatest novels to come out of 19th-century England." (Benet's.)
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-N-- Newcomes (1855) by Thackeray.
- Ninety-three.
- § Written by Victor Hugo, Ninety-three deals with the last Days of a condemned Man.
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-O-- The Old Curiosity Shop (1840).
- § Written by Charles Dickens.
- Oliver Twist (1837-9).
- § Written by Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist deals with the "system of police and petty justice in London."
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-P-- Partners (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1974).
- § Written by Louis Auchincloss.
- Pendennis, History of (1848-50) by Thackeray.
- Pere Goriot (1834) by Balzac.
- Pickwick Papers (1837) (London: Collins, 1963).
- § Written by Charles Dickens. "There is no more plot in Pickwick than there is in an omelette; yet, allowing for exaggeration and caricature, the book is really important because it contains a vivid and interesting picture of life, especially low or middle class life, in England, in the Thirties, for which 'histories may be searched in vain.'" [John Marshall Gest, The Lawyers in Literature (Boston: The Boston Book Co., 1913)]; The Pickwick Club was a takeoff on a British association known as the Advancement of Science, organized by Sir David Brewster and others in 1831.
- The Plague (1948); (London: Hamilton, 1948).
- § Written by Albert Camus.
- Portrait of a Lady (1881) by Henry James.
- § About Isabel Archer, a romantic and independent American woman who inherits an English fortune; and about, her suitors and her marriage to one of them.
- Pride and Prejudice (1813) by Jane Austen.
- § Pride and Prejudice is a story which concerns itself with the middle class household of the Bennets. It is Mrs Bennet's aim in life to find a good match for each of her five daughters. Mr. Bennet refuses to take this project seriously. Elizabeth, one of the daughters, is to be matched to Darcy. She is prejudiced against him (it dissolves); He is proud of his station in life (it is false). There is a most impressive page on the net that is devoted to Austin's Pride and Prejudice.
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-Q-
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-R-- The Rebel (1954) (New York: Vintage, 1956).
- § Written by Albert Camus. The Rebel is a book-length statement of Camus' philosophical views.
- Red (The) & The Black (1830) by Stendhal.
- § In this most celebrated work (the red stands for the red of the military, the black stands for the clergy) in which the hero (Julien Sorel), living in the aftermath of the Napoleonic dreams of glory, chooses the clergy as the only route for social advancement, a satiric analysis of the French social order under the Bourbon restoration.
- Red Rock (1898).
- § Written by Thomas Nelson Page (1853-1922), a lawyer, Red Rock concerns itself with the post American civil war period, reconstruction.
- Robinson Crusoe (1719-20).
- § Written by Daniel Defoe. This work of Defoe's "contains (not for boys but for men) more religion, more philosophy, more political economy, more anthropology, than are found in many elaborate treatises on these special subjects."
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-S-- The Scarlet Letter (1850); WL(C).
- § Written by Nathanial Hawthorne (1804-94).
- Sense & Sensibility (1811) by Jane Austen.
- § Sense & Sensibility is a story about the two Dashwood sisters Elinor (she is sense), and Marianne (she is sensibility), and their suitors.
- Silas Marner (1861) by George Eliot.
- Sister Carrie (1900).
- § Written by Theodore Dreiser. The two main characters, Carrie and Hurstswood switch roles; she starts in the dreary streets of Chicago; he ends up in the dreary streets of New York. The one loses riches and luxuries, and the other gains. Given the age, the subject matter, a woman who sold herself to become successful, was considered a shocking matter. The characters, really, are simply people caught up in the business of survival, and the reader is left to judge. Are we to judge them by a code of morality drawn by those who are safe from danger?
- Sons and Lovers (1913).
- § Written by D. H. Lawrence. Sons and Lovers is largely autobiographical. The woman is a schoolteacher who falls for a miner and marries him and finds herself in a life quite different then the Puritan atmosphere in which she was brought up. If the problem of being married to a drunk and a liar is one of interest to you, then Sons and Lovers is a book to read.
- The Stranger (1942)
- § Written by Albert Camus.
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-T-- Tales of Manhattan (1964-'67) (Boston: Houghton Mifflin).
- § Written by Louis Auchincloss. These are three tales about Manhattan Island, a borough of New York City that contains the stock market, the great banks and law offices, the art galleries, the theaters, the luxury hotels, and the best clubs. One of the stories is about the distinguished law firm of "Arnold & Degener, One Chase Manhattan Plaza," and its members.
- A Tale Of Two Cities (1859).
- § Written by Charles Dickens.