Thirty books that influenced the world

[jw5]

14. 'The Epic of Gilgamesh,' author unknown (c. 22nd-10th Centuries BCE) - Written about 1,500 years before Homer wrote his epic poems, 'The Epic of Gilgamesh' chronicles the heroic stories of the King of Uruk, as per History on the Net. The Sumerian poems come from ancient Mesopotamia and were carved on clay tablets that were discovered by Hormuzd Rassam in 1853.

 

[jw5]

13. 'Romeo and Juliet,' William Shakespeare (1597) -

It seems that William Shakespeare's tragedies were more influential than his comedies! The doomed story of teenage lovers Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet has inspired numerous adaptations for the screen and stage.

 

[jw5]

12. 'The Divine Comedy,' Dante Alighieri (1308-1320) - The 14th century Italian narrative poem tells the story of Dante's trip through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven in the afterlife. Along the way he meets Virgil, the famous Roman poet, and Beatrice, Dante's ideal woman. This allegory of human absolution looks at questions of desire, enlightenment, and faith, and is arguably one of the world's greatest literary works.

 

[jw5]

11. 'Beloved,' Toni Morrison (1987) - Set in the aftermath of the American Civil War, ‘Beloved’ tells the story of a former slave mother (Sethe) and her daughter. Their home is plagued by the presence of a ghost believed to be Sethe's murdered daughter, who she must learn to overcome. The novel won the Pulitzer prize for Fiction in 1988 and was made into a movie starring Oprah Winfrey in 1998.

 

[jw5]

10. 'The Iliad,' Homer (8th Century BCE) - Written after, but set before ‘The Odyssey,’ Homer's ‘Illiad’ tells stories from the Trojan War, including the famous tale of the Trojan Horse. Like ‘The Odyssey,’ the epic poem is written in dactylic hexameter.

 

[jw5]

9. 'One Hundred Years of Solitude,' Gabriel García Márquez (1967) - Márquez’s magical realism work follows the story of seven generations of the Buendía family in the mythical town of Macondo. Through fortune and misfortune, the story portrays the idea that time is circular and that omens from the past do come true.

 

[jw5]

8. 'Hamlet,' William Shakespeare (1603) - Shakespeare's famous tragedy, at the end of which almost everyone seems to be killed, sees Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, battle with deep questions on life and mortality as he tries to avenge his father's murder.

 

[jw5]

7. 'Don Quixote,' Miguel de Cervantes (1605-1615) - The world would be a much poorer place without the stories of whimsical nobleman Don Quixote and his stalwart companion Sancho Panza. The duo roam the land attacking windmills, rescuing imaginary princesses, and getting into futile fights. Cervantes' Spanish Golden Age novel was a point of departure for many other classic works of literature that came later.

 

[Majulah]

howabou Memoirs of Lee kuan You ? john tan favourite.

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[jw5]

6. 'One Thousand and One Nights,' various authors (8th-18th Centuries) - Commonly known as ‘Arabian Nights,’ this is a plethora of stories from all over the Middle East. The tales of "Aladdin, Ali Baba," and "Sinbad the Sailor" are perhaps the most famous in the Western world, although these were apparently added by European translators at a later date.

 

[jw5]

5. 'Things Fall Apart,' Chinua Achebe (1958) - Chinua Achebe describes typical life in pre-colonial Nigeria in this famous novel, which follows the decline of protagonist Okonkwo and his fictional clan Umuofia due to the arrival of the British and Christian missionaries in the country.

 

[jw5]

4. 'Nineteen Eighty-Four,' George Orwell (1949) - This dystopian novel by English author George Orwell was the inspiration behind reality TV series ‘Big Brother.’ Set in a futuristic world where the population is constantly watched by security cameras, the 1949 book strikes chilling similarities with the constant monitoring society is subjected to in the present day.

 

[jw5]

3. 'Frankenstein,' Mary Shelley (1818) - ‘Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus’ was written by Shelley when she was a guest of Byron's on Lake Geneva in 1816. It was proposed that each guest should write a supernatural tale, and Shelley wrote about a young scientist who accidentally gives life to a creature following an extreme scientific experiment involving a collection of bones.

 

[jw5]

2. 'U n c l e T o m's Cabin,' Harriet Beecher Stowe (1852) - Harriet Beecher Stowe penned ‘U n c l e T o m's Cabin’ in a pre-Civil War America. Her anti-slavery novel came in reaction to her encounters with fugitive slaves and the Underground Railroad that helped them escape plantations in the south. Her book has often been said to have paved the way for the outbreak of war between the northern and southern states in 1861.

 

[jw5]

1. The Odyssey, Homer (8th century BCE) -

The famous Greek epic poem was written by Homer, and tells the story of Odysseus' 10-year journey to return to his kingdom Ithaca, his wife (Penelope), and his son (Telemachus) after the Trojan War. Along the way he is thwarted and aided by Greek gods and friends.

 

[JakeWade]

Wow, 'The Epic of Gilgamesh' is such a fascinating piece of ancient literature, isn't it? It's mind-blowing to think it predates Homer's epics by such a long time. Those clay tablets must hold so much history. Have you ever explored how epic tales like Gilgamesh might have influenced modern literature? It's incredible to see how themes from these ancient stories still resonate today. I recently came across a great resource on Game of Thrones books and their connections to historical epics at bookwormera.com. It's a treasure trove for book lovers like us!