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Ask HN: What are some great books that are relatively unknown in the US?

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Re: Ask HN: What are some great books that are relatively unknown in the US?

#121

Post by _jgdh »

zawerf wrote: post #27

The "Four Great Classic Novels" from 14th-18th century China: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classic_Chinese_Novels Specifically: Water Margin Romance of the Three Kingdoms Journey to the West Dream of the Red Chamber They are referenced in everything in asian media and there a bajillion tv/movie adaptations of them but they are relatively unknown in the west.

I think it’s interesting because even when a person outside of China is exposed to them, they might not realise the influence. Close to a million people a day play Dota 2 but I doubt they know that the Monkey King (https://youtube.com/watch?v=guGFT27SavM) is the main character of Journey to the West.

About these 4 books, are there any translations or Kindle versions you recommend?

Re: Ask HN: What are some great books that are relatively unknown in the US?

#122

Post by resource0x »

If someone asked me to recommend a single XX century novel in Russian, I would certainly point to this one: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1060818.It_s_Me_Eddie

Provokes very strong emotions (both positive and negative :). I cannot vouch for the quality of English translation though.

Re: Ask HN: What are some great books that are relatively unknown in the US?

#123

Post by splittingTimes »

Robert Musil's "The Man Without Qualities" [1] is by far the most outstanding novel i have read, as it stretches the limits of what language can express past anything i tought possible. The protagonist is a mathematician whose scientific mind applies allegorical dissections over a wide range of existential themes concerning humanity and feelings. The polarity makes it for an extraordinary read.

Hermann Broch "The Death of Virgil". The novel creates out of a dying poet a rich, profound vision both of civilization and of primal concerns of all mankind.

Austrian authors where on another level in the late 30s and 40s of the 20th century.

Finally, Victor Pelevin's "Empire V: The Prince of Hamlet" [3] You gain instruction into the vampire life and by extension the humans which vampires feed and the nature of god and existence itself, with interesting meditations on existence, theology, matter, illusion and withering attacks on fashion, advertising, politics, the Davos elite, literature and particularly the nature of money.

===

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Without_Qualities

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_Virgil

[3] https://www.amazon.de/Empire-Prince-Hamlet-Victor-Pelevin/dp...

Re: Ask HN: What are some great books that are relatively unknown in the US?

#124

Post by wrinkl3 »

archagon wrote: post #99

In 1935-36, two Soviet humorists took a coast-to-coast road trip across the US and gathered their experiences in a book called "Single-Story America" (or "Little Golden America" in English). The translation by Charles Malamuth seems rather wooden compared to the hilarious, witty tone of the original Russian, but I think it's still very much worth reading: an uncanny number of their observations about American life an…

The same two authors also have a duology of satyrical novels about a conman in the 30s Soviet Russia: The Twelve Chairs [1] and The Little Golden Calf [2]. The novels are incredibly witty and their quotes/references are still part of the common Russian vernacular.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twelve_Chairs

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Golden_Calf

Re: Ask HN: What are some great books that are relatively unknown in the US?

#125

Post by reducesuffering »

anacleto wrote: post #113

19th Century Russian literature is almost unknown to US. - Dostoevsky - Bulgakov - Sorokin - Tolstoy - Chekhov

Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and Bulgakov's Master and Margarita are all renowned in the US. They pop up in this thread and in pop culture references like in Tron and Seinfeld.

Re: Ask HN: What are some great books that are relatively unknown in the US?

#126

Post by frasinet »

splittingTimes wrote: post #123

Robert Musil's "The Man Without Qualities" [1] is by far the most outstanding novel i have read, as it stretches the limits of what language can express past anything i tought possible. The protagonist is a mathematician whose scientific mind applies allegorical dissections over a wide range of existential themes concerning humanity and feelings. The polarity makes it for an extraordinary read. Hermann Broch "The Dea…

I can vouch for "The Man Without Qualities", the book is really extraordinary. I read it when I was 18 and I still remember not quite knowing why I liked it so much.

Re: Ask HN: What are some great books that are relatively unknown in the US?

#127

Post by mindcrime »

Thersites wrote: post #112

This is more a question, in terms of Sci-Fi are people familiar with China Miéville? Perdido Street Station, Embassytown, and The City and the City are classics, Perdido Street Station might be the best fiction I have ever read. Dark stuff

Perdido Street Station was one of the best sci-fi novels I've read. I haven't read much - if any - of Miéville's other material, but it's on my list.

FWIW, his work seems to be at least relatively well known in the US. As one example, I'm sitting at a random Barnes & Noble store in Durham NC as I write this, and they have several Miéville titles on the shelf.

Re: Ask HN: What are some great books that are relatively unknown in the US?

#128

Post by aresant »

vram22 wrote: post #102
Noos wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of Moebius's work is relatively unknown as well, although his designs are very recognizable in film.

>Moebius You mean the Moebius of the Moebius strip?

No, Moebius as in Jean Giraud

Great primer

http://www.tcj.com/jean-moebius-giraud-1938-2012/

Great collection of his awe inspiring art and a short film

https://www.rabbleboy.com/the-amazing-art-of-moebius-jean-gi...

And if you're looking for something outrageously creative and courageously insane go buy a copy of "the incal" which is his graphic novel collaboration with Alejandro Jodorowsky

Re: Ask HN: What are some great books that are relatively unknown in the US?

#129

Post by closeparen »

LandR wrote: post #50

Not sure how well these are known in the US.. Mans search for meaning by Victor Frankl. Anything by Dostoyevsky. José Saramago's the double. They made a film based on this with jake gyllenhall but not sure how well known the book and saramego is in the US, both book and film are excellent. A girl is a half formed thing by Elmer mcbride is the best thing I've read in years with a really unique writing style. It's an i…

Dostoyevsky is an icon of serious literature in the US. I wouldn’t call him unknown.

Re: Ask HN: What are some great books that are relatively unknown in the US?

#130

Post by closeparen »

Arun2009 wrote: post #53

If by "great" you mean influential, then definitely India's epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata would fit the bill IMO. Wikipedia has this to say about Mahabharata: > The Mahābhārata is the longest epic poem known and has been described as "the longest poem ever written".[7][8] Its longest version consists of over 100,000 śloka or over 200,000 individual verse lines (each shloka is a couplet), and long prose pass…

This is a staple of any high school or college world literature class.
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