9 books by modern writers that could become classics

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Perhaps these works will be used to remember the beginning of the 21st century.

Every year an incredible number of novelties of different genres are published in the world - but dozens, if not a few, remain in the history of literature. We tried to guess what creations of modern writers will become classics and will be included in school textbooks of the future.

1. "Petrovs in and around the flu", Alexey Salnikov

The writer and poet from Yekaterinburg Alexei Salnikov is a phenomenon. His novel, first published in the Volga magazine, helped the author break into the world of great literature: the success with critics and ordinary readers was deafening.

It makes no sense to retell the plot of the book - the title fully reflects it. In the amazing flu-like world of heroes, between reality and hallucinations, our whole life seems to be reflected.

In 2018, The Petrovs in and around the Flu were included in all sorts of premium lists, and the novel was recognized as a National Bestseller. Performances are staged based on his motives, and director Kirill Serebrennikov shot a full-length film.

2. "Jacob's Ladder", Lyudmila Ulitskaya

The name of Lyudmila Ulitskaya has long been a sign of quality, and the new books of the writer always come under the scrutiny of the public.

Winning the prestigious Big Book literary prize in 2016, Jacob's Ladder is a parable novel, a family drama spanning nearly three centuries. This is a philosophical, but at the same time a very lively text, which is able to write into eternity not only the author, but also his heroes, behind whom are real people. As in the case of the novel "Daniel Stein, Translator", Ulitskaya did a great job with the documents: this time the book grew out of the author's personal archive - from the correspondences of Lyudmila's grandfather and his diary notes.

3. iPhuck 10, Victor Pelevin

The one and only Viktor Olegovich has already become a classic during his lifetime. After the overwhelming success of "Chapaev and Pustota" in 1996 and "Generation" P "" in 1999, even those who do not follow modern literature learned about his books.

IPhuck 10, Pelevin's fifteenth novel, written in 2017, refers to (alas!) The infrequent successes of his later work. The main character, the literary-police algorithm Porfiry Petrovich, investigates crimes and writes novels, and Pelevin is very curious about the relationship between artificial intelligence and the people around him.

The novel iPhuck 10 was awarded the Andrei Belyi Literary Prize.

4. "Submission", Michel Houellebecq

Almost all of Michel Houellebecq's books are worthy of being carefully studied in the course of contemporary world literature. The action of "Obedience" - one of the best works of the writer - takes place in France in 2022, where a Muslim president comes to power, and the country begins to change before our eyes. Interestingly, the novel went on sale on January 7, 2015 - on the day of the terrorist attack in the editorial office of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. By the way, the clever Houellebecq skillfully mixes reality with fiction, so on the pages of the book you can find real political figures such as Marine Le Pen and François Hollande.

5. "Zuleikha opens her eyes", Guzel Yakhina

Another deafening debut is the novel, after the release of which the writer woke up famous. Controversial and debated, it raises the painful and important topic of dispossession in the USSR in the 1930s. The plot revolves around a woman's fate against the backdrop of horrific historical events.

The work "Zuleikha Opens Her Eyes" topped the rating of the most popular books among Russians, written after 1992. In 2020, a TV series of the same name with Chulpan Khamatova in the title role was released on the Rossiya TV channel.

6. Girls, Emma Kline

The debut novel "Girls" by American Emma Kline also turned out to be very bright. We can say that this is a story about a sect and its internal mechanisms, or we can designate the work as a novel of growing up - both options will be correct.

In this story, the prototypes of the heroes are quite recognizable. The "Girls" sect from the novel by Kline operates in the United States of the 60s, the cultists are responsible for several brutal murders, and in their leader, Russell, the features of Charles Manson are guessed. This is an important text that shows how insecurity, dislike and youthful restlessness can lead a teenager into very bad company.

7. "Day of the Oprichnik", Vladimir Sorokin

If anyone can tell about our life bitterly and piercingly, mercilessly and at the same time with compassion, it is Vladimir Sorokin. I suppose that each of his books (from "The Ice Trilogy" and "Blizzard" to "Telluria") took a significant place in the culture, but I would especially like to mention the "Day of the Oprichnik". This is a dystopia about Russia in 2027, where autocracy has been restored, repressions are being carried out and punitive detachments are operating. Reading this book is scary, and not returning to it in thoughts, watching the news feed, is simply impossible.

8. "In memory of memory", Maria Stepanova

The novel, or rather the romance, by the poetess Maria Stepanova became an amazing discovery in the literary world. The author works with the phenomenon of memory: he studies its mechanisms and studies what happens to memories and people who are consigned to oblivion.

It was with the book by Maria Stepanova that a large-scale conversation about private and historical memory in the 21st century began in modern Russian literature. In the work "In Memory of Memory" the author tried to show and tell the history of the country through the history of a kind.

9. "Normal People" by Sally Rooney

The book by Irish writer Sally Rooney is also a phenomenon of its own kind. The young and successful Rooney made a bright debut with the text Conversations with Friends, and her second novel, Normal People, was included in the Booker Prize long list even before its official publication. The rights to film it were immediately bought out, and in 2020 a 12-part film was released on the BBC channel.

"Normal people" are interesting because it is a universal story about youth and first love - ridiculous, funny, doomed. And while many refer to the writer as Salinger for millennials, this is not entirely true. Rooney is an author for people who still remember the taste of youth, no matter how old they are.

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