A novel for every nation
A list of the literature of the world for all to build.
What novel best represents each nation/territory and why?
Fiction only. Any time period. You must be able to make a reasonable argument that the book represents the soul of the country in some way. The book does not have to be published in that country. But the author must be from it.
I’ll update the list with suggestions as they appear.
Feel free to suggest amendments to the list itself.
**Afghanistan**
*A Thousand Splendid Suns* by Khaled Hosseini
**Albania**
**Algeria**
*Meursault, contre-enquête* by Kamel Daoud
**Andorra**
**Angola**
**Antigua and Barbuda**
**Argentina**
**Armenia**
**Australia**
*Voss* by Patrick White
**Austria**
**Azerbaijan**
**Bahamas, The**
**Bahrain**
**Bangladesh**
**Barbados**
**Belarus**
**Belgium**
*Chapel Road* by Louis Paul Boon
**Belize**
**Benin (Dahomey)**
**Bolivia**
**Bosnia and Herzegovina**
*The Bridge on the Drina* by Ivo Andrić
**Botswana**
**Brazil**
**Brunei**
**Brunswick and Lüneburg**
**Bulgaria**
**Burkina Faso (Upper Volta)**
**Burma**
**Burundi**
**Cabo Verde**
**Cambodia**
**Cameroon**
**Canada**
*Alias Grace* by Margaret Atwood
**Cayman Islands, The**
**Central African Republic**
**Chad**
**Chile**
**China**
*Rickshaw Boy* by Lao She
**Colombia**
*One Hundred Years of Solitude* by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
**Comoros**
**Costa Rica**
**Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast)**
**Croatia**
**Cuba**
**Cyprus**
**Czechia**
**Czechoslovakia**
**Democratic Republic of the Congo**
**Denmark**
**Djibouti**
**Dominica**
**Dominican Republic**
*The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao* by Junot Diaz
**Ecuador**
**Egypt**
*Miramar* by Naguib Mahfouz
*God died by the Nile* by Nawal el Saadawi
**El Salvador**
**Equatorial Guinea**
**Eritrea**
**Estonia**
**Eswatini**
**Ethiopia**
*The Shadow King* by Maaza Mengiste
**Fiji**
**Finland**
**France**
*Les Miserables* by Victor Hugo
**Gabon**
**Gambia, The**
**Georgia**
**Germany**
*The Reader* by Bernhard Schlink
**Ghana**
*Homegoing* by Yaa Gyasi
**Greece**
*Zorba the Greek* by Nikos Kazantzakis
**Grenada**
**Guatemala**
**Guinea**
**Guinea-Bissau**
**Guyana**
**Haiti**
**Holy See**
**Honduras**
**Hungary**
*The Melancholy of Resistance* by Laszlo Krasznahorkai
**Iceland**
**India**
For India:
*A Fine Balance* by Rohinton Mistry
*Train to Pakistan* by Khushwant Singh
**Indonesia**
**Iran**
**Iraq**
**Ireland**
*Milkman* by Anna Burns
**Israel**
**Italy**
*The Name of the Rose* by Umberto Eco
**Jamaica**
**Japan**
**Jordan**
**Kazakhstan**
**Kenya**
*The River Between* by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o
**Kiribati**
**Kosovo**
**Kuwait**
**Kyrgyzstan**
**Laos**
**Latvia**
**Lebanon**
**Lesotho**
**Liberia**
**Libya**
**Liechtenstein**
**Lithuania**
**Luxembourg**
**Madagascar**
**Malawi**
**Malaysia**
**Maldives**
**Mali**
**Malta**
**Marshall Islands**
**Mauritania**
**Mauritius**
**Mexico**
*Like Water for Chocolate* by Laura Esquivel
**Micronesia**
**Moldova**
**Monaco**
**Mongolia**
**Montenegro**
**Morocco**
**Mozambique**
**Namibia**
**Nauru**
**Nepal**
**Netherlands, The**
*Eline Vere* by Louis Couperus
**New Zealand**
**Nicaragua**
**Niger**
**Nigeria**
*Half of a Yellow Sun* by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
**North Korea**
**North Macedonia**
**Norway**
*Growth of the Soil* by Knut Hamsun
**Oman**
*Celestial Bodies* by Jokha Alharthi
**Pakistan**
**Palau**
**Palestine, State of**
**Panama**
**Papua New Guinea**
**Paraguay**
**Peru**
**Philippines**
*Bibliolepsy* by Gina Apostol
**Poland**
*Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead* by Olga Tokarczuk
**Portugal**
**Qatar**
**Republic of Korea (South Korea)**
**Republic of the Congo**
**Romania**
**Russia**
*Anna Karenina* by Leo Tolstoy
**Rwanda**
**Saint Kitts and Nevis**
**Saint Lucia**
**Saint Vincent and the Grenadines**
**Samoa**
**San Marino**
**Sao Tome and Principe**
**Saudi Arabia**
**Senegal**
**Serbia**
**Seychelles**
**Sierra Leone**
**Singapore**
**Slovakia**
**Slovenia**
**Solomon Islands, The**
**Somalia**
**South Africa**
*Cry, the Beloved Country* by Alan Paton
**South Sudan**
**Spain**
*Don Quixote* by Miguel de Cervantes
**Sri Lanka**
*A Passage North* by Anuk Arudpragasam
**Sudan**
**Suriname**
**Sweden**
**Switzerland**
**Syria**
**Tajikistan**
**Tanzania**
**Thailand**
**Timor-Leste**
**Togo**
**Tonga**
**Trinidad and Tobago**
*The Mermaid of Black Conch* by Monique Roffey
**Tunisia**
**Turkey**
*Snow* by Orhan Pamuk
**Turkmenistan**
**Tuvalu**
**Uganda**
**Ukraine**
**United Arab Emirates, The**
**United Kingdom, The**
**United States, The**
*Beloved* by Toni Morrison
*Of Mice and Men* by John Steinbeck
**Uruguay**
**Uzbekistan**
**Vanuatu**
**Venezuela**
**Vietnam**
**Yemen**
**Zambia**
**Zimbabwe**
by prankishracketeer
3 Comments
For India:
1. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry – discusses the lives of 4 Indians from very different backgrounds brought together (cuz of the rapidly changing economic situation in the country) during the chaos of the Emergency declared by the then PM Indira Gandhi
2. Train to Pakistan by Khushwant Singh – set in the fictional border town of Mano Majra amidst the violent aftermath of the partition of India where the different religious communities (mainly Muslims & Sikhs) hate each other, a young Sikh man sacrifices himself for his Muslim gf Nooran
Additions:
**Cameroon**: Une vie de boy (Houseboy) by Ferdinand Oyono. Published in 1956 considered a literary classic from Cameroon that criticises the morality of colonialism. Oyono served as a diplomat for Cameroon to the UN and later as government minister.
**Democratic Republic of the Congo**: Tram 83 by Fiston Mwanza Mujila. Tram 83 is a frentic frank exploration of a modern African gold rush in an unnamed city through the lens of its seedy underwold as they gather at a notorious nightclub.
**Somalia**: The Orchard of Lost Souls by Nadifa Mohamed. 1988, the eve of revolution, 3 unconnected protagonists – a young orphan girl, a female soldier, and an elderly activist. The novels reaches deep into the impact of the state, Rebellion, and revolution on women in society.
**Tanzania**: Paradise by Abdulrazak Gurnah. In Paradise, Nobel laureate Gurnah writes a coming of age and adventure novel of a young Swahili boy claimed as a debt slave by an Arab merchant. The story is set against a backdrop of intensifying German colonialism which is uprooting swahili and Arab ways of live, and the eve of WWI.
2nd options/challenges
**Ethiopia** The Case of the Socialist Witchdoctor by Hama Tuma. Tuma is an Ethiopian advocate, poet, and author whose been banned by 3 separate Ethiopian governments. The Case of the Socialist Witchdoctor is a collection of short stories written in the 1980s in which Tuma puts the state on trial and explores live of the everyday Ethiopian with satire and irony. Read this 15 years ago and still have vivid memories of some of the stories
**South Africa**
1) July’s People by Nadine Gordimer. Written by antiapartheid activist and Nobel laureate, July’s People presents an alternate history of a future civil war in which a liberal white family goes to live in the village of their domestic servant. The novel wrestles with the psychological and sociological nuances of belief, action, identity, and relationship.
2) Fools and Other Stories by Njabulo Ndebele. These 5 stories set in unnamed townships in the closing days if Apartheid focus on the life in the backdrop of oppression. Ndebele argued, and practiced, that South African literature should move away from an easy focus on oppression to looking and how and why people survive under the existing harsh conditions. Fools and Other Stories probably have the most soul capturing moments relevant both when written and now of the SAn books suggested so far
Edit: readability
There is a specific Reddit group dedicated to this so you might want to go there and save on effort.