Could you recommend me novels from your country that might help foreigners understand your country a little bit better?
It can depict important historical events or just everyday life as a person living in your country.
Or it can be a book that's beloved in your country.
I'm from korea and one book i would recommend is "Human Acts "(by Han Kang). This book is based on the 1980 Gwangju uprising, which is one of the most tragic moments of modern korean history. Citizens in Gwangju protested calling for democratization, and the soldiers violently suppressed the protest, resulting in hundreds of ppl being killed or gone missing. This story is told from the eyes of the victims, including a teenage boy.
by SquareRegular2871
2 Comments
From The Netherlands:
Het Achterhuis by Anne Frank
I’m from Hungary and here are my recommendations:
– Anything from Antal Szerb, he is my favourite author. Journey by moonlight is his most famous work, but my personal favourite is The Pendragon Legend. Although it’s not set in Hungary, the protagonist is a Hungarian man who gets invited to a castle in Wales where he tries to investigate the history of the mysterious family living there.
– Eclipse of the Crescent Moon by Géza Gárdonyi is a historical novel set in 16th century Hungary, when Turks were invading the country. The main focus of the story is the siege of Eger, where the Ottoman Army deployed around 40k soldiers against the defenders of Eger who numbered only around 2k. It’s one of the most famous stories in Hungarian history, and the castle of Eger is still standing today.
– Kálmán Mikszáth is another one of my favourite authors, but he isn’t really popular outside of Hungary. He wrote lots of books about the everyday life of Hungarians in the 19th century, his most popular work is St. Peter’s Umbrella.
– I want to keep it short so my last recommendation is Anna Édes by Dezső Kosztolányi. The main character is a girl called Anna who goes through lots of hardships while working for a rich family. The book represents how bourgeois families exploited poor people and how rich men took advantage of women.