9.A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
A Tale of Two Cities is a historical novel set in London and Paris at the end of the 19th century. It depicts the social conditions and political atmosphere in France and Great Britain leading up to and during the French Revolution.
At that time, French peasant-farmers (the nation’s poorest social class) were in dire straits and discontent was rapidly rising under the tyranny of the absolute monarchy. Meanwhile in Britain, workers who had lost their jobs due to the industrial revolution were concentrated in the cities, where crime was on the rise. The American Revolution had also sparked much social unrest. In his book, Dickens takes a mostly antipolitical tone, but he is critical of both absolute tyranny and the post-revolutionary Reign of Terror.
Charles Dickens’ novel is known for its opening paragraph, which is perhaps the most famous in all of English literature. It begins like this:
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair…
This duality applies not only to the French Revolution but to our time as well: the rapid development of ICT has made our lives immeasurably more convenient, but it has also become the source of our discontent. And while the new coronavirus pandemic is our “winter of despair", it is also our chance to reassess our values and our way of life—and perhaps open the door toward a “spring of hope".
10.Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is a classic children's novel by the British writer Lewis Carroll. It is a fantasy story about a young girl, Alice, who chases after a white rabbit and falls down a hole into a subterranean fantasy world. There, she meets whimsical anthropomorphic creatures such as a grinning Cheshire cat, a hookah-smoking caterpillar, and the Queen of Hearts.
British children's literature at the time was didactic—written to instruct the reader about moral lessons. But Carroll’s tale is one of the best examples of the literary nonsense genre, where the story plays around with logic and there are many parodies of Victorian popular culture. Its popularity and legacy is based largely on the fact that it liberated the genre of children’s literature from didacticism.
That being said, it is nonetheless a tale about a young girl that is forced to grow up through extraordinary circumstances. Alice frequently finds herself growing or shrinking and is generally uncomfortable in her body—reflecting adolescence. When the Mad Hatter puts forth an unanswerable riddle, the lesson is that there are just some things in life that can’t be solved by knowledge you acquired in school.
In that sense, it is also a tale of the loss of childhood innocence. Alice is only seven years old, and her adventures reflect the way that Western cultures push their children to grow up as quickly as possible.
11.Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind is the epic story following the life of Scarlett O’Hara, the daughter of a plantation owner, in Atlanta, Georgia during the American Civil War and Reconstruction eras. Against the backdrop of the war, the self-centered Scarlett finds herself torn between her feelings for archetypal Southern gentleman Ashley Wilkes and the charming rogue Rhett Butler.
The book was adapted into a film in 1939 and was a worldwide success, winning nine Academy Awards, include Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay. It’s interesting to note that the southern belle Scarlett O’Hara was played by the British actress Vivien Leigh.
A few years ago, violence erupted surrounding the controversy over Confederate statues and monuments still standing in the American South. The conflict, of course, has been going on for years. African-Americans living in the South have been protesting the statues for a long time on the grounds that they are a reminder of the darkest chapter in American history. Local whites have pushed back, saying people are out to destroy Southern culture and history. President Trump said in a tweet that the statues and memorials were "beautiful" and that he was very sad to see some of them being removed.
Sad to see the history and culture of our great country being ripped apart with the removal of our beautiful statues and monuments. You.....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 17, 2017
In any case, the ongoing debate is a clear sign that despite it being more than 150 years since the end of the Civil War, the American South has yet to truly come to terms with its loss. Gone With the Wind offers us some insight into why Southern whites are reluctant to let it go. The title refers to the fact that the Civil War caused the disappearance of the Southern way of life.
12.Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Jane Austen is known for her novels about the private lives of middle class women living in the English countryside in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. At the heart of those stories is the tradition of marriage. The famous first line of Pride and Prejudice is as follows: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."
The novel’s protagonist is the very intelligent and very emotional Elizabeth Bennet. Elizabeth is the second daughter of five sisters, and with no sons in the family, they will not be able to inherit their father’s estate. Thus, their mother is determined to marry them off to practically any eligible bachelor. At a ball, Elizabeth meets the rich and haughty Mr. Darcy, but both are blinded by their preconceptions and vanity. Gradually, as they shed their pride and prejudice and gain moral understanding, their relationship deepens.
The central lesson of Austen’s book is that you can’t judge a book by its cover; her original intended title for the book was “First Impressions". While pride can refer to confidence and self-respect, too much of it can result in an excessively high opinion of one’s own importance.
Pride and Prejudice has been adapted for TV and the silver screen numerous times, and even inspired the film Bridget Jones’ Diary.
13.Moby-Dick; or, The Whale by Herman Melville
Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick is the classic example of the Great American Novel, but ask any American if they’ve read it and most will try to fudge their way out of admitting they haven’t. Everybody who begins reading this book gives up at least once at some point. It has long, (some would say excessively) detailed descriptions of whales and whale hunting, and getting through to the end can be a battle.
The book follows Captain Ahab and his monomaniacal quest to kill Moby-Dick, the great white sperm whale that bit off his leg on his most recent whaling voyage. Ahab is prepared to travel to the ends of the Earth for his mission, intimidating his motley crew to stick with him until the bitter end. The story demonstrates the futility of attempting to subjugate nature to our will. Ahab’s fate is sealed from the start.
It is also a cautionary tale about obsession—something that Americans know a lot about. Ahab’s quest is not dissimilar to President George W. Bush’s mission to capture Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, or President Donald Trump’s determination to build a wall along the border between the U.S. and Mexico. It turns out the American dream is ultimately more about the chase and the journey than it is the destination.
Side note, the dance music DJ/producer Moby is said to be the great-great-great nephew of Melville. Unsurprising, then, that Moby is a known animal activist.
A second side note—Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham conjures up a storm in his drum solo in the instrumental “Moby Dick".
14.Epilogue
American readers and literary critics like to debate about something called the “Great American Novel". They are always searching for the book that captures the spirit of an era and is representative of the American identity. This is born of an inferiority complex; America is only 240 years old, and what it lacks in terms of history it builds through epic fictional narratives. Every work in this article written by an American author has at one time or another been called a Great American Novel.
On the other hand, British literary works like the ones I’ve covered in this article are often frivolous and concerned with the minutiae of everyday life among rural class society. Yet somehow they exude an air of epic storytelling—a product of the fact that Great Britain has a more clearly defined identity backed by a long history.
American literature is almost always about the pursuit of a big dream—the American dream, the idea that everyone, regardless of their upbringing, has the chance and right to pursue their dreams and achieve fame and fortune. Some books affirm that dream, and others lament the fact that it is an illusion, but their protagonists are always searching and chasing.
Over the past 50 years or so, however, the illusion of the American dream has completely shattered, and a war is being waged for America's very identity. The quagmire of the Vietnam War. The war in Iraq. The spread of money-worship and the 2008 global financial crisis. 9/11 and the failure to spread democracy in the Middle East. Economic disparity has grown, and the racial divide has only become more pronounced. American society is fractured. The pursuit of efficiency and the dream of consumerism and capitalism has ultimately brought misery.
Now in the 21st century, America is lost and hope is under threat of disappearing altogether. The once resilient American people have either lost sight of or given up on their dreams. This is why slogans like “Make America Great Again" appeal to so many, regardless of how empty they may be; those opposed to President Trump respond with slogans like “America Has Always Been Great".
Meanwhile, the sun had already begun to set on the British Empire after the First World War, and the end of the Second World War signaled its end. In 1947, it granted independence to its biggest and most important colony: the Indian subcontinent. In 1997, it handed Hong Kong—its last colony—over to the People's Republic of China. An influx of immigrants began to gradually reshape its society starting the 1970s, culminating now in Brexit confusion as the U.K. tries to decide on its path forward. Dark times have descended upon what was once a beacon of the world.
What about the place of media? Back when the novel rose to prominence as the dominant form of narrative art, there was no TV, no Hollywood, and reading was the only pastime for most people. What’s more, the pace of life was slower than it is today, and readers had the time to read to their heart's content, while writers endeavored to write longer and longer works to help their audiences pass the time. American writers traveled across the country and overseas, having great adventures and actively interacting with their contemporaries. British writers from affluent families wrote in detail about their social interactions and romantic experiences in a rigid class society. Some modern readers might find their writing and storytelling tedious, but for people at the time, there was meaning in length and narrative detours—enjoying the journey rather than being obsessed with the destination. The literary works I’ve covered in this article come from such times.
Over the past 50 years, however, media has advanced by leaps and bounds, changing our lives irreversibly in the process. The dinner table used to be where families congregated and connected; today it is where they gather to stare blankly at the TV or their smartphones. From news programs to the latest TV dramas, shows are watered down and oriented for the lowest common denominator. Since we’ve entered the 21st century, we have been conditioned by the internet and social media to crave news and information in short sound bytes and headlines, and it has become a Herculean effort to get users to read things longer that 280 characters.
In our society’s blind pursuit of efficiency, the slack has been removed from our lives—the redundancies ironed out. As a result, we have reached a point where we are able to get our hands on the information we want almost immediately. Packages from Amazon are delivered within a day, or, God forbid, two.
Given all of this, it seems clear that the new coronavirus pandemic is a red light—a signal for people around the world to reassess their lifestyles and truly think about what they value in life. We’ve gone from consuming information as efficiently as possible to trying to figure out ways to pass the time with joy.
And what about the Japanese? Naturally, taking time off of work is out of the question for the workaholic society. What’s more, a recent survey the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare conducted on LINE indicated that only 5.6% of people had started teleworking. These books might just be required reading for the Japanese more than anybody else.
