8 questions · Literature
What turns a book into world literature? Perhaps that it is known equally well in Bogotá, Moscow and Oxford and that its story leaps across borders, languages and generations. The journey starts in early 19th-century England, where Jane Austen portrayed the marriage politics of her day with fine wit in 'Pride and Prejudice', yet published her novels anonymously. A few decades later Fyodor Dostoevsky traced a murderer's tormented conscience in 'Crime and Punishment': written by a man who had himself once been sentenced to death and reprieved only at the last moment. On the Mississippi of his childhood Mark Twain, whose pen name is a riverboat call meaning 'two fathoms deep', set 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'. Ernest Hemingway told in terse, clear sentences of the fisherman who battles a giant marlin in 'The Old Man and the Sea', and won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. The Colombian Gabriel García Márquez made magical realism famous with 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' and received the same honour in 1982. Imagination has its classics too. The pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupéry wrote 'The Little Prince', a fable for children and adults alike, before vanishing over the Mediterranean in 1944. The linguist J. R. R. Tolkien invented the Elvish languages first and Middle-earth afterwards: 'The Lord of the Rings' founded modern fantasy. And J. K. Rowling reportedly had the idea for 'Harry Potter' on a delayed train; the seven books have been translated into over 80 languages.
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Ernest Hemingway
The US author is famous for his terse, clear style. 'The Old Man and the Sea' tells of a fisherman's struggle with a giant marlin.
💡 Did you know? He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954.
Gabriel García Márquez
The Colombian author shaped 'magical realism', in which the marvellous erupts matter-of-factly into everyday life. His novel follows a family across generations.
💡 Did you know? He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982.
Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Russian author probed the dark sides of the human soul. 'Crime and Punishment' follows the guilty conscience of a murderer.
💡 Did you know? For political activity he was once sentenced to death: reprieved only at the last moment.
J. K. Rowling
With the seven-part 'Harry Potter' series the British author created one of the most successful book projects in history. It has been translated into over 80 languages.
💡 Did you know? The idea for Harry Potter reportedly came to her during a delayed train journey.
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
The French author was also a pilot, and his flying experiences shape his work. 'The Little Prince' is world-famous as a poetic fable for children and adults.
💡 Did you know? Saint-Exupéry vanished on a reconnaissance flight over the Mediterranean in 1944.
Jane Austen
The English author depicted the social life and marriage politics of her time with fine wit. Her novels remain hugely popular.
💡 Did you know? In her lifetime her novels appeared anonymously: the first credited only 'By a Lady'.
Mark Twain
The US author is regarded as a master of American humour. His novels about Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn are set on the Mississippi of his childhood.
💡 Did you know? 'Mark Twain' is a pen name: a riverboat call meaning 'two fathoms deep'.
J. R. R. Tolkien
The British professor invented an entire world, Middle-earth, with its own peoples, maps and languages. 'The Lord of the Rings' founded modern fantasy.
💡 Did you know? As a linguist he invented the Elvish languages first: the stories came afterwards.
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