Best literary work of all time????

Question

What do you believe is the greatest literary work of all time, and why?

Answer 1

Here's a good top ten list:

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald
In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust
The Stories of Anton Chekhov by Anton Chekhov
Middlemarch by George Eliot

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy is what is considered to be Tolstoy's first true novel.

The character of Anna was likely inspired, in part, by Maria Hartung (1832–1919), the elder daughter of the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin.

Soon after meeting her at dinner, Tolstoy started reading Pushkin's prose and once had a fleeting daydream of "a bare exquisite aristocratic elbow", which proved to be the first intimation of Anna's character.

Tolstoy seamlessly weaves together the lives of dozens of characters in this novel. The complexity of the characters and there interactions displays an amazing portrait of Russian society at this time.

Answer 2

Oh, that's hard!
Um... Crime and Punishment, maybe? Or Pride and Prejudice. And I thought The Scarlet Letter was excellent, but I'm not sure about it being "the best of all time". I also might say The Great Gatsby. To Kill a Mockingbird just annoys me (too cheesy and a bit heavy-handed with the "I'm an innocent girl and you're seeing this through my eyes" thing) but it's a popular one.
(And, by the way: The Bible [since someone mentioned it and it's been chosen as the answer on this same question on Y!A before], though it has had a lot of significance in history, culture, and morality, and continues to play a great role in society, is NOT a piece of literature. If you were asking for the most influential book of all time, I would definitely say the Bible. But, whatever you believe, God and/or the authors of the Bible weren't too concerned about giving it LITERARY value. I dare say they had other things on their minds, lol.)
Fun question to think about, though. :)

Answer 3

I guess there are many kind of literary that we could named as the greatest work. for example I like Anna Karenina and The Count of Monte Christo for classic, or semi classic. for contemporary literature I love Too Kill a Mockingbird, The Alchemist, and Sophie's World.
some people say Gone with the wind is the greatest literary, other say Romeo and Juliet. but I'm not a big fan of love story, so I'll go with Les Miserables. It contain satire, love, struggle, betrayal, everything. Perfect for me

Answer 4

Of all time? Wow. I don't know. If given time, I'm sure I would come up with something different, but I'm going to throw this out there anyway because I'm about to finish working and get some sleep, and I think my choice is as valid as most.

Dante's Divine Comedy.

I'm saying this because it worked on several levels, and it was all intentional. It is a commentary on the times in which the author lived. It is sort of a personal auto-biography of the author's own spiritual growth and development. It is a sort of model of the author's idea of what personal growth and development in general is for people. It of course relates to religious beliefs. The structure of the work itself was well planned out and had meaning to the author. It is a book that can help people of any belief system begin to think about some deep topics that will help them to grow and develop as individuals.

I believe a lifetime of effort was required to write it.

Answer 5

There are 2 books that I think are just sooo amazing!!!!

The Giber by Lois Lowry

To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee

I've read them both several times! I can't get enough of them.

Answer 6

I have read so many books I don't know, but one that I absolutely loved was House of the Scorpion. It was just so interesting!!! Well, if it was nonfiction it would be the Bible, but if you're talking nonfiction, that was it.