Britannica: 12 Novels Considered the "Greatest Book Ever Written" (13 books) (2024)

FAQs

Was F. Scott Fitzgerald part of the Lost Generation? ›

Notable figures of the Lost Generation include F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway, T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Jean Rhys Henry Strater, and Sylvia Beach.

Heart of Darkness Setting: Time Period

It is a generally accepted time period by scholars and is lauded as a true story because Conrad wrote Heart of Darkness shortly after returning from a voyage. He had even captained his own riverboat. The main character, Marlow, is most likely based on Conrad himself.

The term “lost generation”, coined by Gertrude Stein, is applied to a group of writers, poets, and musicians in Paris during the 1920s, often characterized by the similar themes discussed in their work, such as disillusionment in the post-World War I society, loss of identity and tradition, and an uncertainty of the ...

With over 5 billion copies sold and distributed, the Bible takes the top spot as the most read and widely distributed book in the world. It is considered the holy scripture of Christianity and is also revered by Judaism.

"In Search of Lost Time," written by Marcel Proust, is recognized by the Guinness World Records as the world's longest book.

Predictably, his excessive drinking sapped his health and creative energy. As he told his editor, Max Perkins, in 1935: It has become increasingly plain to me that the very excellent organization of a long book or the finest perceptions and judgment in time of revision do not go well with liquor.

The loss of faith in traditional values and ideals led many who came of age during World War I to become hedonistic, rebellious, and aimless—“lost.” This cynicism and disillusionment defined the literary and creative landscape of the 1920s.

F. Scott Fitzgerald (left) partly based the character of Jay Gatsby on his wealthy neighbor Max Gerlach (right). The character's obsession with Daisy Buchanan was based on Fitzgerald's romantic pursuit of Chicago heiress Ginevra King.

Heart of Darkness is criticised in postcolonial studies, particularly by Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe. In his 1975 public lecture "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness", Achebe described Conrad's novella as "an offensive and deplorable book" that de-humanised Africans.

Why does Kurtz go crazy? Marlow suggests that the loneliness and unfamiliarity of the African environment induces Kurtz's madness, and that his mind weakens the deeper he travels into the “heart of darkness.” As Marlow describes it: “Being alone in the wilderness...

Why is Heart of Darkness so hard to read? ›

The three most important aspects of Heart of Darkness: Conrad intentionally made Heart of Darkness hard to read. He wanted the language of his novella to make the reader feel like they were fighting through the jungle, just like Marlow fought through the jungle in search of Kurtz.

These individuals have often been described as driven, patriotic, and team players. The Greatest Generation members also tend to be the parents of the Baby Boomer generation. There are fewer than 100,000 of the Greatest Generation left today in the U.S.

We all went through pandemic, but for them: wage stagnation, Great Recession, unprecedented levels of college student loans to pay back, delays in buying a home. Am I missing anything? Chris Farrell: No, those are the main reasons why millennials, they've been called the unluckiest generation and the lost generation.

None of its members are alive today, but people who belonged to the so-called “Lost Generation” were born between the early-1880s up through the turn of the Twentieth Century.

According to Guinness World Records as of 1995, the Bible is the best sold book of all time with an estimated 5 billion copies sold and distributed.

The Holy Bible is the most read book in the world. In the past 50 years, the Bible has sold over 3.9 billion copies. It is the most recognizable and famous book that has ever been published.

Which is why, right now, the Great American Novel is To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, with F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne as runners-up.

A la recherche du temps perdu by Marcel Proust contains an estimated 9,609,000 characters (each letter counts as one character. Spaces are also counted, as one character each).