Lu Xun
A Call to Arms · The True Story of Ah Q: what to read next?
Books close in genre, era, author or reading level, to read in bilingual editions.
Guy de MaupassantBoule de SuifDuring the war of 1870, ten travellers leave Rouen, occupied by the Prussians, in the same stagecoach: local notables, two nuns, a democrat and a prostitute nicknamed Boule de Suif. Held at an inn by a Prussian officer who sets his conditions, they discover what their…Same genre
Stefan ZweigChess StoryOn a liner sailing from New York to Buenos Aires travels Mirko Czentovic, the world chess champion, a boatman's son who knows almost nothing beyond the board. The narrator persuades a few passengers to buy a game from him, which the champion wins easily. A stranger, Dr B.,…Same genreSame era
Karl MarxThe Communist ManifestoWritten on the eve of the 1848 revolutions, this short text presents history as a succession of struggles between classes. Marx and Engels describe the rise of the bourgeoisie, the way industry transformed labour, and the formation of a working class they hold bound to…Same genre
Émile ZolaLourdesOne August morning, the national pilgrimage leaves Paris for Lourdes, with whole trains full of the sick and of pilgrims. On board are Marie de Guersaint, a young woman who can no longer walk, and Father Pierre Froment, her childhood friend, who became a priest but no longer…Same genreSame era
Osamu DazaiNo Longer HumanThree notebooks, found with a few photographs, tell the life of Ōba Yōzō from childhood on. Convinced early that he understands nothing of other people, he plays the clown so that no one will guess his fear, and takes no rest from the act. As a student in Tokyo he drifts into…Same genreSame era
Herman MelvilleBartleby, the ScrivenerA Wall Street lawyer hires a new copyist, Bartleby, silent and at first beyond reproach. Asked one day to do an ordinary task, the clerk answers that he would prefer not to, and repeats it to every later request. Settled in the office, demanding nothing and yielding nothing, he…Same genre
Leo TolstoyWar and PeaceIn 1805 Russia goes to war against Napoleon, and the salons of Petersburg discuss it in French. The novel follows Pierre Bezukhov, an awkward heir seeking meaning, Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, who joins the army to escape his life, and Natasha Rostov, whose childhood ends between…Same genre
José RizalRizal's Own Story of His LifeA collection published in Manila in 1918 by Austin Craig for the schoolchildren of the Philippines. In simplified language, it brings together texts in which José Rizal tells the story of his own life. He describes his childhood in Kalamba, on the shore of a large lake, his…Same genreSame era
Stefan ZweigLetter from an Unknown WomanA well-known novelist comes home on his birthday and finds a long letter from a woman whose name he does not know. In it she tells her whole life, from the day when, still a girl, she watched him move into her building in Vienna. For years she loved him without making herself…Same genreSame era
Stefan ZweigThe World of Yesterday (Volume 2)The second volume opens in the first hours of August 1914, with cheering crowds and the loneliness of those who refuse. Zweig describes his work in the war archives, his stay in Switzerland near Romain Rolland, then the collapse of Austria and the inflation that emptied…Same genreSame era
Stefan ZweigThe World of Yesterday (Volume 1)Stefan Zweig begins with the Vienna of his youth, what he calls the world of security: a city that believed in progress and cared more for the theatre than for politics. He recalls an Austrian schooling, the discovery of literature, then travels to Paris, Berlin, London and…Same genreSame era
Victor HugoLes MisérablesFreed after nineteen years in the galleys for a stolen loaf, Jean Valjean finds neither work nor shelter, until a bishop takes him in. A different man under a false name, he takes in Cosette, daughter of a working woman dead in destitution, and raises her in hiding. Inspector…Same genre