What are some complicated pieces of literature?

Pre-College Topics High School Cafe
1

<p>Does anyone know of any hard-to-understand plays or poems or anything (the ones with deep levels of meaning and flowery, archaic language)? I’m trying to improve my reading skills.</p>

2

<p>You can never go wrong with Shakespeare:)
Other than that, maybe War and Peace:></p>

3

<p>paradise lost</p>

4

<p>Finnegan’s Wake</p>

5

<p>The Brothers Karamazov</p>

6

<p>lol at the finnegan’s wake. Seconded.</p>

7

<p>paradise lost second.</p>

8

<p>No mention of Ulysses yet?</p>

9

<p>Thanks :)</p>

<p>I’m more looking for shorter pieces (poems and excerpts and stuff) than full books, though I’ll see if I can find them anyway…</p>

10

<p>I don’t know if this is considered that hard or if you’ll like it, but:</p>

<p>The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Gilman.</p>

11

<p>I found Heart of Darkness interesting and complicated. Same with The Brothers Karamazov. But yeah, Shakespeare’s good. A lot of his stuff is pretty short.</p>

12

<p>Waiting for Godot…?</p>

<p>My favorite book.</p>

13

<p>J. Alfred Prufrock – it’s not too hard to read, but there’s a lot under the surface</p>

14

<p>Scarlet Letter: archaic diction, but pretty straightforward besides that.</p>

15

<p>Ulysses and Finnegan’s Wake (I have read neither, though I plan to this year). If you want some lighter books (these I have read) with a lot of meaning, try: Lord of the Flies, 1984, Animal Farm, All Quiet on the Western Front, or Catcher in the Rye. All have great meaning.</p>

<p>If you want a WONDERFUL book (not nearly as “heavy” as the aforementioned, though) try Catch-22 (it’s not easy, trust me)…</p>

16

<p>Agree with the Catch-22 suggestion. It’s bloody brilliant, and deceptively straightforward, but it is NOT easy to stomach!</p>

17

<p>Not easy to stomach, but not in the way like 1984 is…</p>

18

<p>I love 1984. So much that Brave New World felt a bit like a copy, even though it was written before, and completely disappointed me.</p>

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<p>1984 was great too.</p>

20

<p>Anything written in 18th/19th century German and translated into English is a pain, although a sometimes delightful pain, to read.</p>

<p>Kant and Hegel are staples. Try Max Stirner’s “The Ego and Its Own” if you want a shorter read; it’s challenging to understand fully but quite satisfying if you do.</p>