“A pigeon had settled on the windowsill. It was gray, with a dirty white breast, and it sat there motionless, as if it had been sitting there forever.” […]
German literature
The Black Obelisk
“The dead are always wrong. They should have stayed alive.” Chapter 1: Post-War Germany Ludwig Bodmer, a young veteran of World War I, works at a monument company […]
German literature
The Metamorphosis
“When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from unsettling dreams, he found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin.” Chapter 1 Gregor Samsa, a traveling salesman, […]
German literature
Steppenwolf
“For what I always hated and detested and cursed above all things was this contentment, this healthiness and comfort, this carefully preserved optimism of the middle classes, this […]
Russian literature
Moscow-Petushki
“Everything in this world is drinkable—only some things must be filtered first.” Moscow-Petushki (also known as Moscow to the End of the Line) is a surreal, darkly comic […]
Russian literature
A Dreary Story
“Life has no meaning, and death has no meaning either.” Chapter 1: The Professor’s Reflections Nikolai Stepanovich, an aging professor of medicine, reflects on his life as he […]
Russian literature
The Death of Ivan Ilyich
“Ivan Ilyich’s life had been most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible.” Chapter 1: The Announcement of Death The novel opens with colleagues of Ivan Ilyich, […]
French literature
Windows on the World
“The sky was so blue it hurt your eyes.” Windows on the World by Frédéric Beigbeder is a harrowing and experimental novel that intertwines two parallel narratives set […]
French literature
Submission
“The world had changed, and I hadn’t noticed.” Chapter 1: A Disillusioned Academic The novel opens with François, a middle-aged literature professor at the Sorbonne, reflecting on his […]
French literature
Coup de Grâce
“The heart is a dark forest.” Chapter 1: The Setting and Introduction The novel opens in the aftermath of World War I, in the Baltic region where civil […]