LITERATURE
" Outside of a dog, books are a man's best friend; inside of a dog, it's too dark to read. "
- Groucho Marx
Novels are the easiest way to connect with the rest of the human race (if that is what you so desire)... I used to think that all the interpretive crap they taught us in AP English in high school and in freshman English was just that: a load of hooey. But reading with a critical eye, aware of place, context, and reference, makes literature come alive.
The Russian Way
My favorite pieces come from Russian literature. No one masters the "bludgeon you over the head" style of writing more than Dostoevsky, Gogol, Tolstoi, Turgenev, and their ilk. Reading the 19th century Russian masters is a glimpse into a society in turmoil, a stratified social order that was soon to be rent asunder. Without a doubt, my favorite novel of this era is The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoevsky’s epic tale of murder and familial relations. If I were so inclined to go on for a PhD in literature (and thus become a grocery store clerk), the chapter on "Ivan and the Devil" would be the topic of my dissertation, hands down.
Dostoevsky also has a fantastic ability to pen short stories, with my personal favorite being "White Nights," the tale of a lonely man who finds love for a brief period in St. Petersburg’s summer evenings, only to have it snatched away as quickly as it came. The ending quote is possibly the most poignant cry ever written:
"Good Lord, only a moment of bliss? Isn’t such a moment enough to sustain a man for all of his days?"
Dostoevsky links:
Resource Station – a great bastion of knowledge about Fyodor. Unfortunately not enough in the way of short stories or text.
http://www.stlawu.edu/rkre:http/ltrn101/Dostoevs.htm – a course from some university (I know not which) that contains much in the way of Dostoevsky.
Beyond 19th century Russian Literature, the Soviet-era provided the brave soul with plenty of fodder for satire. The inanities of communism, coupled with the self-effacing Russian spirit, brought many a classic work to light. My favorite in the "satirical" category is Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita, a whimsical look at the day the devil came to Moscow. I also think (but don’t tell anyone) that this story is just RIPE for a movie, so I might be working on a screenplay for this in the future...
Russian literature isn't all whimsy, and the brutality of the Terror and Stalinism forced many authors underground (some literally). While Arthur Koestler’s Darkness at Noon is fawned over as a prime example of the terrors of interrogation, I feel a much better novel is Yuri Dombrovsky’s The Faculty of Useless Knowledge, a Kafkaesque look at Kazakstan in 1937 under Stalin. It tells the tale of an archaeologist falsely accused, coming to grips with the Terror apparatus and the loss of his freedom and his love. A fantastic book.
Soviet era literature: http://russianculture.miningco.com/msub56.htm?TMog=92842079832724m&Mint=93717047842342.
Moving to the West
I am more than a Russophile, however... Eastern Europe has some excellent authors and novels as well. Dominated alternately by the Germans, the Russians, and sometimes the Austrians has given the Eastern Europeans a jaundiced eye and a biting sarcasm that English and French work lacks (or fails to utilize sincerely). A noble example of Czech satire is Jaroslav Hasek’s The Good Soldier Svjek, a humorous look at the life of a soldier in World War One. Other, more slice-of-life type material includes "Skylark" by Hungarian author Dezso Kosztolanyi, about parents who live vicariously through their daughter to the point of suffocation. I have heard that Boleslaw Prusz is a fantastic writer as well, and his "The Doll" is a classic of Polish lit.
American Lit
Lest you think that all I read are foreign works, let us not forget some of America’s greatest writers. I believe Ayn Rand, despite her high-minded pontificating, scripted one of the best books ever written in The Fountainhead. It’s a moving exposition of her manifesto, and much more terse and tightly written than the mastubatory Atlas Shrugged. And probably not coincidentally, Rand was born in Russia and writes in the style of the greats described above.
But for the novel that best sums up who I am, read Saul Bellow’s Henderson the Rain King. The Counting Crows song "Rain King" is loosely based on it (more than they’re willing to admit, in my opinion), and it tells the tale of a man motivated by an inner voice crying out "I want! I want!’ but never specifying what the source of his craving is, what the object of desire will be. Pretty much a metaphor for my life.