World Classics

The books, in order

1. 1

   Fiction · 13 min

   The Old Man and the Sea

   Ernest Hemingway

   When a battle lasts for days, the memory of an old trial becomes fuel: remembering what you've already endured helps you keep going.

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2. 2

   Fiction · 14 min

   Siddhartha

   Hermann Hesse

   According to the novel, teachers can point the way, but only each person's own experience turns knowledge into wisdom.

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3. 3

   Fiction · 15 min

   The Metamorphosis

   Franz Kafka

   In the Samsa household, which depended only on Gregor's paycheck, his body becomes a work tool before he is still seen as a member of the family.

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4. 4

   Fiction · 17 min

   Pride and Prejudice

   Jane Austen

   According to the book, accepting a marriage for security instead of affection can be a rational decision, not a flaw of character, when the alternative is poverty.

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5. 5

   Fiction · 16 min

   Great Expectations

   Charles Dickens

   In this novel, building your own identity on top of a secret you don't control leaves Pip waiting for the moment the explanation collapses.

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6. 6

   Fiction · 15 min

   The Great Gatsby

   F. Scott Fitzgerald

   The faded billboard of Doctor Eckleburg looks over everything without judging anything, and that's exactly the point: in The Great Gatsby, the people at the top rarely answer for what they do to the people below.

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7. 7

   Fiction · 15 min

   The Picture of Dorian Gray

   Oscar Wilde

   In the book, the first change in the painting's expression shows up before any visible punishment: conscience records the damage right away, even when life looks exactly the same on the outside.

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8. 8

   Fiction · 14 min

   One Hundred Years of Solitude

   Gabriel García Márquez

   The book suggests that people who spend their lives in wars they cannot win end up losing, along the way, the very thing they wanted to defend.

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9. 9

   Fiction · 17 min

   Crime and Punishment

   Fyodor Dostoevsky

   For Raskolnikov, the theory of the extraordinary man worked like a new outfit for an old desperation to escape poverty.

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10. 10

    Fiction · 13 min

    Les Misérables

    Victor Hugo

    According to the book, sincere mercy can change a person more deeply than punishment does.

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