'”, The Saga of Gosta Berling by Selma Lagerlof, translated by Paul Norlen (Sweden, 1891): “The eponymous hero, a country pastor whose appetite for alcohol and indiscretions ends his career, falls in with a dozen vagrant Swedish cavaliers and enters into a power struggle with the richest woman in the province.”, Selected Poems of Gabriela Mistral by Gabriela Mistral, translated by Ursula K. LeGuin (Chile, early 20th century): “The first Nobel Prize in literature to be awarded to a Latin American writer went to the Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral. The Republic, Plato. AI applied in linguistic technology: Neural translation. 4. Screech (France, late 16th century): “To overcome a crisis of melancholy after the death of his father, Montaigne withdrew to his country estates and began to write, and in the highly original essays that resulted he discussed themes such as fathers and children, conscience and cowardice, coaches and cannibals, and, above all, himself.”, Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes, translated by Edith Grossman (Spain, 1615): “Widely regarded as one of the funniest and most tragic books ever written, Don Quixote chronicles the adventures of the self-created knight-errant Don Quixote of La Mancha and his faithful squire, Sancho Panza, as they travel through sixteenth-century Spain.”, Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz: Selected Works by Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, translated by Edith Grossman (Mexico, 17th century): “Sor Juana (1651–1695) was a fiery feminist and a woman ahead of her time. But the world of duty, culture, and progress they had been taught breaks in pieces under the first bombardment in the trenches.”, Grand Hotel by Vicki Baum, translated by Basil Creighton (Austria, 1929): “A grand hotel in the center of 1920s Berlin serves as a microcosm of the modern world in Vicki Baum’s celebrated novel, a Weimar-era best seller that retains all its verve and luster today.”, Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by Charlie Louth (Germany, 1929): “Written when Rainer Maria Rilke was himself still a young man with most of his greatest work before him, [these letters] are addressed to a student who had sent Rilke some of his work, asking for advice about becoming a writer.”, The Street of Crocodiles by Bruno Schulz, translated by Celina Wieniewska (Poland, 1934): “The Street of Crocodiles in the Polish city of Drogobych is a street of memories and dreams where recollections of Bruno Schulz’s uncommon boyhood and of the eerie side of his merchant family’s life are evoked in a startling blend of the real and the fantastic.”, Journey by Moonlight by Antal Szerb, translated by Len Rix (Hungary, 1937): “The trouble begins in Venice, the first stop on Erzsi and Mihály’s honeymoon tour of Italy. It became one of the best-selling Chinese novels in translation after it was praised by Barrack Obama, is an alternative history novel that begins in 1967 before jumping to the present day and a strange but wonderfully realised virtual world. According to Wiki : French literature is, generally speaking, literature written in the French language, particularly by … Empty Hearts … ... Might I also add that this is a very personal list and I have not included all translated literature I have loved. Tragedy unfolds as Anna rejects her passionless marriage and thereby exposes herself to the hypocrisies of society.”, A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen, translated by Michael Meyer (Norway, 1879): “A Doll’s House is a masterpiece of theatrical craft which, for the first time portrayed the tragic hypocrisy of Victorian middle class marriage on stage. For that reason alone it’s … The play ushered in a new social era and ‘exploded like a bomb into contemporary life. Winner of the 2013 Best Translated Book Award, Satantango was first published in 1984 and took master translator Georges Szirtes over two decades to translate. These titles represent some of the most influential books that examine politics, economics, and philosophy. ; Watch Tower Society. We have now reached the seventh list in our series: the best novels translated … They become soldiers with youthful enthusiasm. For the next two years, until their whereabouts were betrayed to the Gestapo, the Franks and another family lived cloistered in the ‘Secret Annexe’ of an old office building.”, The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir, translated by Constance Borde and Sheila Malovany-Chevallier (France, 1949): “Simone de Beauvoir’s essential masterwork is a powerful analysis of the Western notion of ‘woman,’ and a revolutionary exploration of inequality and otherness.”, Thus Were Their Faces by Silvina Ocampo, translated by Daniel Balderston (Argentina, mid 20th century): “Here are tales of doubles and impostors, angels and demons, a marble statue of a winged horse that speaks, a beautiful seer who writes the autobiography of her own death, a lapdog who records the dreams of an old woman, a suicidal romance, and much else that is incredible, mad, sublime, and delicious.”, The Poetry of Pablo Neruda by Pablo Neruda, translated by Ilan Stavans (Chile, mid-20th century): “This selection of Neruda’s poetry, the most comprehensive single volume available in English, presents nearly six hundred poems, scores of them in new and sometimes multiple translations, and many accompanied by the Spanish original.”, The Complete Stories by Clarice Lispector, translated by Katrina Dodson (Brazil, 1950s–1970s): “From one of the greatest modern writers, these stories, gathered from the nine collections published during her lifetime, follow an unbroken time line of success as a writer, from her adolescence to her death bed.”, Pinjar: The Skeleton and Other Stories by Amrita Pritam, translated by Khushwant Singh (India, 1950): “An emotional story of a girl—once kidnapped, even her father refused to accept her. 4. She struggles to return such another girl and succeeds.”, Waiting for God by Simone Weil, translated by Emma Craufurd (France, 1950): “Emerging from the thought-provoking discussions and correspondence Simone Weil had with the Reverend Father Perrin, this classic collection of essays contains the renowned philosopher and social activist’s most profound meditations on the relationship of human life to the realm of the transcendent.”, Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar, translated by Grace Frick (France, 1951): “In [Memoirs of Hadrian], Marguerite Yourcenar reimagines the Emperor Hadrian’s arduous boyhood, his triumphs and reversals, and finally, as emperor, his gradual reordering of a war-torn world.”, Bonjour Tristesse by Francois Sagan, translated by Irene Ash (France, 1954): “Endearing, self-absorbed, seventeen-year-old Cécile is the very essence of untroubled amorality. Published in 1960, [this book] was very bold for its time in exploring a middle-class Egyptian girl’s coming of sexual and political age, in the context of the Egyptian nationalist movement preceding the 1952 revolution. Not many would choose a document published by the United Nations as one of the most translated pieces of work of all time. The Buddhist priest Kenko clung to tradition, Buddhism, and the pleasures of solitude, and the themes he treats in his Essays, written sometime between 1330 and 1332, are all suffused with an unspoken acceptance of Buddhist beliefs. The Kagero Diary is the first extant work of that rich and brilliant tradition.”, The Pillow Book by Sei Shōnagon, translated by Meredith McKinney (Japan, 990s–early 1000s): “Written by the court gentlewoman Sei Shonagon, ostensibly for her own amusement, The Pillow Book offers a fascinating exploration of life among the nobility at the height of the Heian period.”, The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu, translated by Royall Tyler (Japan, early 1000s): “The Tale of Genji is a very long romance, running to fifty-four chapters and describing the court life of Heian Japan, from the tenth century into the eleventh.”, The Sarashina Diary: A Woman’s Life in Eleventh-Century Japan by Lady Sarashina, translated by Moriyuki Ito (Japan, 11th century): “A thousand years ago, a young Japanese girl embarked on a journey from the wild East Country to the capital. Famous and beloved during her lifetime all over Latin America and in Europe, Mistral has never been known in North America as she deserves to be.”, The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa, translated by Margaret Jull Costa (Portugal, early 20th century): “An ‘autobiography’ or ‘diary’ containing exquisite melancholy observations, aphorisms, and ruminations, this classic work grapples with all the eternal questions.”, The Complete Poems of Anna Akhmatova by Anna Akhmatova, translated by Judith Hemschemeyer (Russia, early 20th century): “From the artistic passion of the St Petersburg poets and bohemians, to the collective suffering of a nation, Anna Akhmatova spoke to, and for, the soul of her people.”, The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov, translated by Michael Heim (Russia, 1904): “[The Cherry Orchard] is one of the most critically admired and performed plays in the Western world, a high comedy whose principal theme, the passing of the old semifeudal order, is symbolized in the sale of the cherry orchard owned by Madame Ranevsky.”, I am a Cat by Soseki Natsume, translated by Katsue Shibata and Motonari Kai (Japan, 1905): “The novel-essay I Am a Cat by Soseki Natsume is considered a milestone in contemporary Japanese literature. 10. And there’s certainly nothing wrong with reading what you know and love—but part of the reason we read is to glean a wider understanding of the world, and there’s no better way than to read brilliant books by writers from around the world. This is a list of literary works (including novels, plays, series, collections of poems or short … Le Petit Prince, or The Little Prince in its English version, is the most beloved children’s book of all time, and it has the translations to prove it. Some of these books are well-known and can also be found on the list of best selling books… 7. late twelfth century) is the earliest known French woman poet and her lais—stories in verse based on Breton tales of chivalry and romance—are among the finest of the genre.”, The Confessions of Lady Nijo by Lady Nijo, translated by Karen Brazell (Japan, early 13th century): “In about 1307 a remarkable woman in Japan sat down to complete the story of her life. Originally penned in English, it’s viewed as one of the most important pieces of Christian literature. Written when Chang was still in her twenties, these extraordinary stories combine an unsettled, probing, utterly contemporary sensibility, keenly alert to sexual politics and psychological ambiguity, with an intense lyricism that echoes the classics of Chinese literature. The topic of the most translated book in the world is one which is often up for question; whilst the Bible is the most translated in terms of at least one book, Listen to God and Live Forever has been translated – as a whole – into 583 languages, which is more than the combined New and Old Testament translated versions. Here is a list of classics in translation from around the world, written in languages other than English, that have something to teach us about our fellow human beings. Keep an eye on your inbox. 9. Journey to the End of the Night. Written over a period of almost 20 years, the beautifully crafted tales of Hans Andersen grace the bookshelves of children around the world. The result was an autobiographical narrative, a tale of thirty-six years (1271–1306) in the life of Lady Nijo, starting when she became the concubine of a retired emperor in Kyoto at the age of fourteen and ending, several love affairs later, with an account of her new life as a wandering Buddhist nun.”, Essays in Idleness by Yoshida Kenkō, translated by Meredith McKinney (Japan, 1330–1332): “The Buddhist priest Kenko clung to tradition, Buddhism, and the pleasures of solitude, and the themes he treats in his Essays, written sometime between 1330 and 1332, are all suffused with an unspoken acceptance of Buddhist beliefs.”, The Book of the City of Ladies by Christine de Pizan, translated by Rosalind Brown-Grant (French Italian, 1405): “The pioneering Book of the City of Ladies begins when, feeling frustrated and miserable after reading a male writer’s tirade against women, Christine de Pizan has a dreamlike vision where three virtues—Reason, Rectitude and Justice—appear to correct this view.”, The Inferno by Dante Alighieri, translated by Robert Hollander (Italy, 1472): “Guided by the poet Virgil, Dante plunges to the very depths of Hell and embarks on his arduous journey towards God.”, The Heptameron by Marguerite Navarre, translated by Paul Chilton (France, 1559): “In the early 1500s five men and five women find themselves trapped by floods and compelled to take refuge in an abbey high in the Pyrenees. 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