Literature is the most fundamental incarnation of story in existence. One cannot be a painter without knowing how to draw. One cannot write without knowing the alphabet. And one certainly cannot craft story in any format without having an understanding and appreciation of literature.

 

This is one of the reasons why I feel there are so many bad movies, video games, TV shows, and comic books out there; people just don't care about literature these days. This is not a lament on my part for times past, however, but more of a mockery. By overlooking literature, one is passing up a huge oppurtunity to greatly understand story and narrative, and, depending on the attitude, without a whole lot of work, really. To pass up such oppurtunity would be, quite frankly, stupid. I'm not lamenting. In fact, this is fine by me, as it gives me a huge advantage over other writers.

 

Here are some authors or literary works that I feel are worth particular merit. Click the images for some relevant links.

"To be, or not to be, — that is the question: —
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles"

 

I used to think Shakespeare sucked. I was basically an idiot.

 

Shakespeare is a forerunner of pretty much all modern story and plot. I realize now that he was so ahead of his time - the Nostradamus of fiction. There is so much complexity to his works, his characters. His language, though archaic, is absolutely exquisite and has a timeless quality to it that transcends the ages.

 

It's too bad that people have become blind to the real luster of his writing. Partially, it's a result of bad high school English class experiences; I know it was with me. But once I rediscovered what makes Shakespeare the master he really is, my views on story and narrative, as well as the human condition, were forever changed for the better.

Borges is one of those authors that has attained extreme levels of academic prestige and honor, but nobody I generally come across has any idea who he is.

 

Jorge Luis Borges is the cryptographer's fiction writer. He constructs literary and philosophical webs of such intricacy that it makes your head spin. No, these are not simply webs. These are labyrinths that force you to reexamine your conceptions of time and existence.

I am a pretty analytical individual, and I can have a pretty intellectual approach to a lot of things, art in particular. With that being said, Ender's Game is just a great story, plain and simple.

 

Ender's Game is a story that everyone remembers. Nobody reads this book and thinks badly of it. Why? It has lead characters that people can identify with, specifically the young Ender Wiggin, a gifted, isolated boy that just doesn't fit in no matter what, yet whose shoulders the fate of the world rests upon.

 

The plot is well structured. Card had me cheering when Ender arose victorious, and empathizing when Ender fell flat on his face, usually the result of someone else cruelly tripping him up.

 

It's a story that everyone can relate to, with an interesting, unique sci-fi setting. It's a great story told on Card's terms, not anyone else's, and that's something I deeply respect and, indeed, aspire to.

Perhaps one of the most important political works ever crafted, I view 1984 as less a work of fiction and more a warning. Orwell's dystopian vision of the future is something that seems more relevant today than ever before.

 

As a literary work, it has strong plot and structure. Orwell's characters lack life, and he uses them as tools to explore his agenda. Normally this is something I would decry, but because Orwell's visions are so frighteningly pertinent, and his agenda is both honorable and, indeed, essential, I feel this is entirely forgivable, and even helps to convey a feeling of lifelessness in such a gray and oppressive world.

 

1984 is not a work read for enjoyment. It is a work read to understand what happens when politics break down, when people begin sacrificing their rights, and when the few in control are allowed to run things their way. This is a book I feel everyone ought to read.

Edgar Allan Poe had a pretty rough life. He never got much attention or recognition during his lifetime, and he died broke, miserable, and partially insane. Too bad no one could have told him that he would be considered one of the greatest American authors and poets of all time.

 

The macabre appeal to Poe's work is obvious and goes without saying. However, Poe has somehow been relegated to 8th grade English class. A true Dark Romantic writer, Poe's work is so wonderfully complex, rife with emotion - paranoia and terror - that it goes well beyond the realms of adolescent literature and into the realms of primal adulthood.

 

His use of language is beautifully ornate, yet nonethless hard-hitting, almost Shakespearean in stature, yet twisted according to the anguish and passion of a man lost in the depths of the torment of the human condition.

 

Poe is, to say the least, one of my favorite authors.

I don't have much to say about Watership Down, other than that I feel it's one of the greatest novels ever written. If you can figure out why, then you have my permission to buy yourself a cookie. But oh how satisfying a cookie it will be!

Kafka never got much recognition for his work during his lifetime either. In fact, he told his friend, his literary executor, to burn all his work upon his death. Thankfully, he didn't, or we would have been deprived of some really great, heartfelt literature.

 

The Metamorphosis is not an exceedingly artistic work. Indeed, it's actually a bit absurd, with the whole premise of the story being that the main character wakes up having been transformed into a giant cockroach of sorts.

 

But it is a work that, through its austere depiction of the true nature of the domestic family, gets at the root of the tragic nature of what people have really become.