Novel as a literary form was invented in Europe. The Norse Sagas led to the medieval chivalric
tales, then in the 17th century the modern novel was born. Europe is home to some of the biggest
literary giants, like William Shakespeare, Cervantes whose novel Don Quixote led to the
birth of the modern novel as a literary form, Dante, Charles Dickens, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky,
and so many more. So I will tell you about 50 novels from Europe, one from each country. Well,
almost one from each country. My selection is based on quality, psychological depth,
cultural or historical importance, written by someone native and available in English. So the
list includes mostly novels, some national epics and in rare cases non-fiction or short stories.
Okay, the list I have chosen is from Wikipedia, so not all these countries are in Europe in their
entirety. Some countries have a small portion in Europe but still part of the European
cultural and sporting activities. Continents are not exact but approximations. I will also
throw some facts about Europe regarding its people, languages, art, science and more.
Let’s begin.
Albania: Ismail Kadare is a towering figure in Albanian literature. He became famous after the
publication of his 1963 debut novel The General of the Dead Army. It is about an Italian general
who returns to Albania 20 years after the end of World War Two to search for the remains of
his fellow Italians who were killed during the war. They have to dig places to find the
remains in order to return them to Italy for a proper burial. But in the process
they realise the absurdities of wars but most crucially the futility of their own mission.
While in Albania, they encounter another general who has come from Germany to do the
same with the dead German soldiers. Kadare’s other well-known novels are the 1981 novel,
The Palace of Dreams about the Ottoman Empire, and the 1980 novel,
Broken April about blood feuds that result in murders among the villagers in Northern Albania,
a tradition that has gone for centuries. When in Albania, Kadare is the name you need to search.
Andorra: Life expectancy in Andora is probably the highest in Europe. It’s peaceful,
people eat healthy food and fresh air, so people are happy. When you’re happy,
you don’t care about literature. Literature is about suffering and misery of human existence.
The only book I found in English is The Teacher of Cheops by Albert Salvadó set in
Ancient Egypt. Apart from its author, it has nothing to do with Andora. So when in Andora,
enjoy the wine and fresh air, instead of reading, go hiking.
Armenia: Jalaleddin by Raffi published in 1878 is a work of Armenian classic literature. Raffi,
whose real name was Hakob Melik Hakobian, born in 1835 in Iran and died in 1888 in Georgia,
is an important figure in the revival of Armenian language and literature. His masterpiece tells the
story Kurdish forces massacring Armenians in Eastern Anatolia during the Russo-Turkish War
of 1877-1878. The main character is a bandit from a village where the Kurds have taken over. He has
to return to rescue his lover from the Kurdish forces under the command of Jalaleddein. It’s
partly based on the actual events that took place, but Raffi also fictionalised it. His other works
also deal with the foreign occupation of Armenia but he is also known as a romanticist writer who
captured the difficult and tough plight of the Armenian people under the Ottoman rule.
Azerbaijan: Let’s go back in history, to the land of legends and myths. The Book of Dede Korkut is
a collection of 12 stories that were passed on from generation to generation among the Oghuz
Turkic people. The Oghuz Turks were the western tribes who make up the modern people of Turkey,
Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkmenistan. The Book of Dede Korkut is the epic of the Turkic people,
about their lives and conflicts with the Georgians and Christians.
Of course the stories have a pre-Islamic origin but when the Turkic people converted to Islam,
these tales took an Islamic flavour but kept most of its Turkic essence. It’s a really fun
book to read and the stories are short and full of little insights into the lives of the people
and the landscape of the region. The setting is mostly modern-day Azerbaijan, but originally
it was somewhere closer to Central Asia and the Ural Mountains. If you want to read a more modern
novel, Ali and Nino by Kurban Said, is one of the most beautiful novels set in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Vasya, a viewer from Azerbaijan also suggested Kurban Said’s Ali and Nino.
Austria: The Man Without Qualities by Robert Musil, published in the 1930s is one of the
greatest novels of the 20th century. Its main characters stand by with their arms folded,
and watch as the Austro-Hungarian Empire collapses right in front of their own eyes.
The protagonist is neither religious nor political so if you don’t have firm beliefs,
principles, convictions, or if you don’t defend your country, your faith, your ideas,
you become a characterless man. Or a man without qualities. It’s safe to say that today most of
us are people without strong conviction and people complain that men are no longer men,
so women have to step up. It’s not an easy novel to read, because it is very long,
and has no clear plot. But its philosophical and psychological depth make it a profound novel that
questions the meaning of life, the idea of guilt and whether one should try to change
the world or just stay passive and watch others do it. Another Austrian author I have recently
discovered is Thomas Bernhard whose novels are very short and pessimistic, which I love.
Belarus (9m): War’s Unworthy Face by Svetlana Alexievich was recommended to me by Laura here
on Youtube. It’s a collection of people’s diaries, memories of WW2, especially women who participated
in the war, yet received much less recognition. I should point out that it is not a work of fiction,
but it is highly praised and also the author, Alexievich won the Nobel Prize in Literature in
2015. Also important to note is that she was born in Ukraine and speaks Russian. Belarus being so
close to Russia whose literature is an enormous beast has not produced many novelists who could
compete with their Russian counterparts. That’s the problem when your neighbour’s house is so
tall that it casts a permanent shadow on your garden, where very little grows. Or maybe I am
wrong. Please let me know if you have read some great Belarusian novels. For those who don’t know,
Belarus means white Russia. In the past Ukraine was known as Malayaru or Little Russia.
So according to this logic, Russia is the Dark Large Russia whose shadow looms over others.
Belgium: Beer and chocolate. And waffles. The only book I have read by a Belgian
author is a collection of short stories by the French-born Belgian author Eric
Emmanuel-Schmitt. Does it count? I am not sure. I normally don’t read too many short stories,
but I really enjoyed a few of the short stories in the collection. The title short story,
The Most Beautiful Book in the World is a clever story set in the Soviet
Gulags dealing with female inmates. In fact all of these short stories are about women.
Sebastiaan, a viewer on YouTube suggested the 1983 novel, The Sorrow of Belgium by Hugo Claus,
considered the the most important 20th century novel in Dutch language.
It’s a coming-of-age story that tackles the events of the 20th century, the trauma of World War
2 and its influence on the Dutch-speaking region of Belgium through the eyes of a young boy.
Perhaps somewhat similar to the Dutch novel, The Discovery of Heaven by Harry Mulisch,
which also tackles post war generation of Dutch people. Katherine, another viewer on YouTube
suggested Pallieter by Felix Timmermans, another author from Flanders Dutch speaking region who
was nominated for a Nobel Prize three times. Émile, another viewer, suggested a 1992 novel,
Hygiene and the Assassin by Amélie Nothomb written in French, and entirely in dialogue.
It’s about an imposter who pretends to be a novelist and with a very unique illness,
so journalists hover around like bees. It sounds like a great trap to expose how the media works.
Bosnia & Herzegovina (4m): The Bridge on the Drina by Ivo Andric who won the Nobel Prize
for Literature in 1961, is so unique as it tells the 300 year history of the region through the
lens of a stone bridge, built by the Ottomans to connect a small river. But there is so much going
on around that bridge that makes you laugh, cry and wonder. I absolutely loved the novel,
the writing is so beautiful that every now and then I would stop and admire Andric’s genius
in animating a bridge to tell a story. It can be a bit difficult if you’re not familiar with the
history of the region and also because the novel doesn’t have a very clear plot. But despite those,
it is a fantastic novel, poetic, beautiful and heart-breaking at the same time.
To make it even more interesting, the novel’s setting is Bosnia, but it was written
in Serbo-Croatian language. Also the bridge in question was built 350 years ago and it’s still
standing to this day and has become a tourist attraction partly because of this novel.
Bulgaria (7m): Under the Yoke by Ivan Vazov published in 1889 is the most famous work
of Bulgarian literature. It tells the story of Bulgaria under Ottoman rule
and an uprising which is heavily crushed by the Turks. The events of this novel led to
the Russian-Turkish wars of the 1880s as part of a Slavic unity against the Turks,
which Dostoevsky wrote in his newspaper column A Writer’s Diary. This was also suggested by Нищо
on YouTube. Another book to consider is East of the West by Miroslav Penkov. It’s a collection
of short stories, some of the funniest you will ever read. For example a boy tries to buy the
remains of Lenin on e-Bay for his Marxist grandpa. As you know Lenin’s body was on permanent display
in Moscow’s Red Square, which I visited many years ago. There are stern Russian guards all around it,
so how you steal it and sell it on e-Bay is beyond me. But nothing can stop imaginative people.
Croatia (4m): The Return of Philip Latinowicz published in
1932 is considered the first modern Croatian novel. It’s about your typical run-away artist,
Philip, who finds it easier to express himself through his brush rather than language. There is
this stereotype that visual artists tend to lack in language therefore rely on their visual cues to
express themselves. He finds himself at odds with his mother who is a woman of high social circle.
Philip falls in love with a woman. She, however, has another partner who is more
linguistically sophisticated so he mocks the artist. Later the partner dies, so our
artist thinks he has a chance, but the woman decides to move to Germany for a better life.
He helps her with getting the required money for the journey but as it transpires, things go south,
really south for her and as a result for him too. It’s a romantic tragedy. Another famous
Croatian novel is Cyclops by Ranko Marinkovic published in 1965. A theatre critic wanders
through the busy streets of Zagreb while trying to starve himself so he avoids being drafted for
the Second World War. While he is struggling with hunger, the places he goes or the people he meets,
seem to be oblivious to the imminent threat of a big war and nobody really questions
the future. His hunger-induced hallucination is similar to Norway’s Knut Hamsun’s novel Hunger.