The following is a list of books considered classics. What makes a book a classic? Authorities say that it is enriched by timeless symbols, its theme is a profound, mature and significant appraisal of human life; and, of course, the familiar cliché that the classic “has stood the test of time.”
Unless call numbers are noted below, the majority of these works can be found in our fiction section under the author’s last name. We may also have copies in other formats, such as paperback or sound recordings. If you have trouble locating this material, please ask a Reference Librarian.
|
882 |
Aeschylus |
Prometheus Bound (1956) |
|
FIC |
Bunyan |
Pilgrim’s Progress (1895) |
|
821.1 |
Chaucer, G. |
Canterbury Tales (1934) |
|
851.1 |
Dante |
Divine Comedy (1950) |
|
880.9 |
Hamilton, E. |
The Greek Way (1942) |
|
883 |
Homer |
The Iliad (1956) |
|
883.01 |
Homer |
Odyssey (1909) |
|
320.8 |
Machiavelli |
The Prince (1938) |
|
888 |
Plato |
The Republic (1930) |
|
882 |
Sophocles |
Oedipus, The King (1954) |
|
220.5 |
|
The Bible |
|
|
|
|
|
FIC |
Austen, Jane |
Pride and Prejudice (1940) |
|
FIC |
Austen, Jane |
Sense and Sensibility (1957) |
|
FIC |
Balzac, H. |
Pere Goriot (1950) |
|
FIC |
Bellamy, Edward |
Looking Backward (1951) |
|
FIC |
Bronte, Charlotte |
Jane Eyre (1943) |
|
FIC |
Bronte, Emily |
Wuthering Heights (1962) |
|
FIC |
Butler, Samuel |
Way of All Flesh (1944) |
|
FIC |
Carroll, Lewis |
Alice in Wonderland (1955) |
|
FIC |
Cervantes, S. |
Don Quixote (1930) |
|
FIC |
Cooper, James F. |
Last of the Mohicans (1957) |
|
FIC |
Crane, Stephen |
Red Badge of Courage (1925) |
|
FIC |
Defoe, Daniel |
Robinson Crusoe (1946) |
|
FIC |
Dickens, Charles |
David Copperfield (1912) |
|
FIC |
Dickens, Charles |
Tale of Two Cities (1922) |
|
FIC |
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor |
Brothers Karamazov (1949) |
|
FIC |
Doyle, Arthur Conan |
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1949) |
|
FIC |
Dumas, Alexander |
Three Musketeers (1920) |
|
FIC |
Flaubert, Gustave |
Madame Bovary (1949) |
|
FIC |
Galsworthy, John |
Forsyte Saga (1922) |
|
FIC |
Gogol, Nikolai |
Dead Souls (1937) |
|
FIC |
Hardy, Thomas |
Return of the Native (1922) |
|
FIC |
Hawthorne, Nathaniel |
Scarlet Letter (1948) |
|
FIC |
Henry, O. |
Complete Works of O Henry (1911) |
|
FIC |
Hugo, Victor |
Les Miserables (1962) |
|
FIC |
Kipling, Rudyard |
Captain’s Courageous (1897) |
|
FIC |
McCullers, Carson |
Member of the Wedding (1946) |
|
FIC |
Melville, Herman |
Moby Dick (1933) |
|
FIC |
Mitchell, Margaret |
Gone With the Wind (1936) |
|
FIC |
Monsarrat, Nicholas |
Cruel Sea (1951) |
|
FIC |
Nordhoff, Charles |
Mutiny on the Bounty (1932) |
|
FIC |
Norris, Frank |
Octopus (1956) |
|
FIC |
Oates, Joyce Carol |
Them (1969) |
|
FIC |
Orwell, George |
Animal Farm (1946) |
|
FIC |
Orczy, Emmuska |
Scarlet Pimpernell (1966) |
|
FIC |
Paton, Alan |
Cry, The Beloved Country (1948) |
|
818.3 |
Poe, Edgar Allan |
Complete Tales (1938) |
|
FIC |
Rawlings, Marjorie |
Yearling (1938) |
|
FIC |
Remarque, Erich |
All Quiet on the Western Front (1929) |
|
FIC |
Richter, Conrad |
Sea of Grass (1937) |
|
FIC |
Roberts, Kenneth |
Northwest Passage (1937) |
|
FIC |
Salinger, J.D. |
Catcher in the Rye (1951) |
|
FIC |
Saroyan, William |
Human Comedy (1943) |
|
FIC |
Scott, Walter |
Ivanhoe (1933) |
|
FIC |
Shelley, Mary |
Frankenstein (1957) |
|
FIC |
Shute, Nevil |
On the Beach (1957) |
|
FIC |
Sinclair, Upton |
Jungle (1906) |
|
FIC |
Stegner, Wallace |
Crossing to Safety (1987) |
|
FIC |
Steinbeck, John |
East of Eden (1952) |
|
FIC |
Steinbeck, John |
Grapes of Wrath (1939) |
|
FIC |
Stevenson, Robert L. |
Treasure Island (1943) |
|
FIC |
Stoker, Bram |
Dracula (1897) |
|
FIC |
Stone, Irving |
Love is Eternal (1954) |
|
FIC |
Stowe, Harriet B |
Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1851) |
|
FIC |
Styron, William |
Confessions of Nat Turner (1967) |
|
FIC |
Swift, Jonathan |
Gulliver’s Travels (1947) |
|
FIC |
Thackeray, William |
Vanity Fair (1943) |
|
FIC |
Thoreau, Henry |
Walden (1910) |
|
FIC |
Tolstoy, Leo |
War and Peace (1942) |
|
FIC |
Twain, Mark |
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) |
|
FIC |
Twain, Mark |
Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1903) |
|
FIC |
Updike, John |
Rabbit Run (1960) |
|
FIC |
Verne, Jules |
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1962) |
|
843 |
Voltaire |
Candide (1929) |
|
FIC |
Vonnegut, Kurt |
Slaughterhouse Five (1969) |
|
FIC |
Walker, Alice |
Color Purple (1982) |
|
FIC |
Well, H.G. |
War of the Worlds (1926) |
|
FIC |
Wharton, Edith |
Ethan Frome (1911) |
|
FIC |
White, T.H. |
Once and Future King (1958) |
|
FIC |
Wilde, Oscar |
Picture of Dorian Grey (1909) |
|
FIC |
Wilder, Thornton |
Bridge of San Luis Rey (1927) |
|
FIC |
Wolfe, Thomas |
Look Homeward Angel (1929) |
|
FIC |
Wouk, Herman |
Caine Mutiny (1951) |
|
FIC |
Wright, Richard |
Native Son (1940) |
|
FIC |
Wyss, Johann |
Swiss Family Robinson (1947) |
JK 10/06