Recommended leftist books list

[Angry Young Man]

Following on from the sister 'films' thread. To start, I'll recommend For Whom the Bell Tolls, The Autumn of the Patriarch, Sula and any poetry by Shelley.

Actually, does poetry need a separate thread? But Shelley, anyway. Also Neruda. The Adoption Papers by Jackie Kay is worth a look.

[Random Precision]

I assume you're talking about leftist fiction? In that case:

Germinal by Émile Zola
Journey to the End of the Night by Louis-Ferdinand Céline
Burmese Days, Down and Out in Paris and London, Keep the Aspidistra Flying and The Road to Wigan Pier by George Orwell
The Case of Comrade Tulayev and Midnight in the Century by Victor Serge
Distant Star, By Night in Chile and Amulet by Roberto Bolaño

As for poetry:

Human Poems and Spain, Take this Cup from Me by César Vallejo
Clandestine Poems by Roque Dalton

[x359594]

Leftist fiction: the complete works of B. Traven, especially the "Jungle Novels." I'm sure many familiar titles will turn up on this thread from other similar threads, so perhaps it's more useful to add poetry to the mix.

I second all the poetry mentioned so far, and I'll add Allen Ginsberg's The Fall of America, several poems by Louis Macniece, Wanda Coleman's work, Amiri Baraka's work (including plays, stories and novels,) Earth Household by Gary Snyder, The Morning of a Machinegun by Franklin Rosemount, Teducation by Ted Joans, Gregory Corso's poems "Bomb" and "Power." For starters.

[which doctor]

Germinal by Émile Zola
Down and Out in Paris and London, by George Orwell


I second those two recommendations. Those who liked Germinal may also be interested in Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence as it deals with a coal mining family in turn of the century England, though the content is decidedly less radical, but it still deals heavily with class issues. Mumbo Jumbo by Ishmael Reed also offers an interesting look at race and cultural issues in America.

[Red Saxon]

The Common Sense of Socialism by John Spargo is quite a good read. ( even though the author later turned away from the Left, what he said still makes sense )

[Djehuti]

Väinö Linna - Under the North Star I-III (http://www.amazon.com/Under-North-Star-V%C3%A4in%C3%B6-Linna/dp/0968588166)

Pramoedya Ananta Toer - the Buru Quartet (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&search-type=ss&index=books&field-author=Pramoedya%20Ananta%20Toer)

Maxim Gorky - Mother (http://www.amazon.com/Mother-Great-Revolutionary-Maxim-Gorky/dp/0806508906/ref=sr_1_17?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243634045&sr=1-17)

Victor Hugo - Les Misèrables (http://www.amazon.com/Mis%C3%A9rables-Signet-Classics-Victor-Hugo/dp/0451525264/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243634170&sr=1-1)

Honoré de Balzac - Le Comédie Humaine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Com%C3%A9die_humaine)