In modern literature, there are many shocking, frank, extravagant works. However, these books no longer shock the reader, do not cause a wave of criticism, do not become the subject of general discussion. With rare exceptions.
At the same time, over the last hundred years, the literary world has been shocked more than once. It is precisely such works, which became revolutionary for their time, that are included in today's selection. We bring to your attention the most scandalous books of the last century.
7.1984, D. Orwell
The dystopian novel has been criticized for being inappropriate sexuality, immorality, and blasphemy. In the USSR, the book was banned until 1988. It is believed that a realistic description of the totalitarian regime was borrowed by the author from the real life of the socialist countries.
6. Tropic of Cancer, G. Miller
The sexual adventures of the protagonist shocked readers back in 1934. At one time, the novel was banned from import into the United States, and later the book was called the main work of the 1930s.
5. Satanic Verses, S. Rushdie
For S. Rushdie's head, Islamic fundamentalists have announced an award of $ 3.3 million. The reason was the scandalous novel, published in 1988, in which the image of the Prophet Muhammad was freely interpreted. The book was banned in all countries of the Islamic world except Turkey. In 2008, the author was awarded the famous Booker Prize.
4. The Catcher in the Rye, J. Salinger
This novel became the most banned book in American schools between 1961 and 1983. Critics saw in the novel propaganda of drunkenness, debauchery, calls for anarchy and rebellion.
3. Doctor Zhivago, B. Pasternak
The "Anti-Soviet" novel was first published in full in Milan in 1957. Domestic literary publications flatly refused to publish a novel about Stalin's repressions, the suicide of a revolutionary, the bleak fate of the politically unreliable protagonist.
2. Lord of the Flies, W. Golding
The book of the Nobel laureate is unlikely to appeal to those who believe in the inherent good beginning. The work is full of violent scenes, and the thought of the primitive, bestial nature of people runs through Golding's story.
1. Lolita, V. Nabokov
This novel was published in 1955 in several European countries in English. By that time, Nabokov had already taken place as a talented writer, but the new work caused a flurry of criticism. After the book was released on the American market, the one hundred thousandth circulation was swept off the shelves in three weeks.