Books like The Gladiators
12 books with a reading profile close to The Gladiators by Arthur Koestler. Deep, open-ended and thought-provoking; a moderate read.
-
1
Antigone
by Jean Anouilh
Also deep and thought-provoking · philosophy, literary
Jean Anouilh's play, first staged in occupied Paris in 1944, retells Sophocles.
-
2
Il visconte dimezzato
Also deep and open-ended · philosophy, literary
During a war against the Turks in Bohemia, a young nobleman, Viscount Medardo of Terralba, is split down the middle by a cannonball.
-
3
The Wall
Also deep and open-ended · philosophy, literary
Sartre's collection takes its name from the title story, set during the Spanish Civil War.
-
4
Island
Also deep and thought-provoking · philosophy, literary
The story follows Will Farnaby, a cynical journalist who shipwrecks on the forbidden Pacific island of Pala.
-
5
No Exit
Also deep and open-ended · philosophy, literary
Set in a single room furnished with Second Empire sofas, the play follows three deceased individuals—Garcin, Inès, and Estelle—as they realize they are their own torturers.
-
6
Measure for Measure
Also deep and open-ended · philosophy, literary
Duke Vincentio departs Vienna under a pretext of travel, leaving the puritanical Angelo to enforce long-ignored moral laws.
-
7
In the Penal Colony
by Franz Kafka
Also deep and open-ended · philosophy, literary
In Franz Kafka's "In the Penal Colony," an explorer witnesses a brutal execution machine in a remote penal colony.
-
8
Fathers and Sons
Also deep and thought-provoking · philosophy, literary
Arkady Kirsanov returns from university to his father's estate in 1859, bringing his friend Yevgeny Bazarov, a medical student and self-declared nihilist who rejects authority, art, and tradition.
-
9
Eugene Onegin
Also deep and thought-provoking · philosophy, literary
Alexander Pushkin’s novel in verse follows Eugene Onegin, a cynical aristocrat weary of Saint Petersburg’s high society.
-
10
-
11
Waiting for the Barbarians
by J.M. Coetzee
Also deep and open-ended · philosophy, literary
A magistrate runs a small frontier town in an unnamed empire.
-
12
Die Physiker
Also deep and open-ended · philosophy, literary
The play takes place within the Les Cerisiers sanatorium, where three physicists reside as patients under the care of Dr.
Get picks matched to your own reading on papr.
Get papr
