What are some short novels written by high brow authors?
I want to get into reading, but long texts are too intimidating and I don't want to read mundane YA shit.
>>8123455
http://4chanlit.wikia.com/wiki/Recommended_Reading/Literature_by_type
Look in the novellas section.
>>8123455
Dubliners
Ficciones
Billy Bud
Notes from the Underground
Mrs. Dalloway
The Death if Ivan Ilyich
Siddhartha
>>8123455
Tolstoy wrote a bunch of very straightforward short stories. Quite a few are allegorical and heavily christian.
Sevastopol Sketches is a fine starting point, and not as hamfistedly christian as much of his other short work. The Death of Ivan Ilyich is heavier, but still short and accessible.
>>8123455
The Petersburg Tales by Gogol. It's a short story collection. The Overcoat, The Portrait and The Nose are some of the better stories. You should be able to readily find them online.
Well OP first, its worth mentioning that not all great works of literature are so long. Some of the books that /lit/ almost always praises are only 100 or so pages.
Some good novellas I'd recommend
>Of Mice and Men - Steinbeck, an American novella discussing friendship and isolation and a shitty reality. Read Grapes of Wrath or East of Eden if you enjoy it
>Heart of Darkness - Conrad, about a man traveling through the Congo in search of an infamous Mr. Kurtz, discusses fate, fear, savagery of blacks and whites
>Notes from Underground - Dostoevsky, narrative of man who more or less discusses his own patheticness. One of my favorites, if you like it Dostoevsky has a lot of other short stories
>The Stranger - Camus. More or less the best starting point for Camus and arguably French existentialism. About absurdity of life. If you like it read Camus' The Plague.
>Siddartha - Hesse. A book about a indian man delving into various mystic traditions. Wonderfully written and says a lot in few pages.
>Animal Farm - Orwell. About the USSR and critical of Stalin told through a bunch of farm animals.
>>8123455
Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
>>8123671
he asked for highbrow stuff
not some new age pseudo-philosophical fiction
>>8123689
You can't deny that those are good starting points, I'm assuming that OP hasn't read much
