Classic Philosophical Novels You Should Read

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Typically, a video about philosophical novels would discuss Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, or maybe Rand. But I wanted to look at some other novels - still deep, interesting, and philosophical, but not the books you find on every list like this.
00:00 - Start
00:15 - The Unbearable Lightness of Being
02:20 - Day One
03:39 - Catch-22
07:06 - The Name of the Rose
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The Name of the Rose amzn.to/3SFiszJ
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[@_jared]

There are so many authors we could talk about, like Dostoevsky, Borges, Calvino, Hesse, and so on. Who are your favorites?

[@isabella_fratiman22]

I'd say all of them, but if I have to choose.. I'm very curious to hear what you have to say about Hesse 😄

[@yannstorytelling7114]

Hesse by far ! :)

[@caivail4614]

Just read Demian by Hesse…small book with a huge impact. Would love to hear others’ thoughts on it.

[@sp4rk1]

@@caivail4614 my mother (she is a booklover herself) gifted me that book in the summer of 98. After that i read everything Hesse has ever written. My favourite author! The first book she ever bought me was seagull jonathan livingston. I must have read that book over 40 times by now.

[@francescomarrone8466]

Borges for me...

[@angel4everable]

"In war, the enemy is anyone who tries to get you killed, no matter which side he's on". Joseph Heller, Catch-22.

[@sophiech641]

I loved Catch-22; it's my favorite book. For me, it captures the idea of Camus's Absurd perfectly-both in more general terms, such as the discrepancy between what we need/want and what we know to be true, as well as in its more specific and usual meaning: the struggle between needing meaning and knowing there is none. The war and being a bomber were meaningless. It is mentioned many times in the novel that Yossarian doesn't hate the Germans; he doesn't even care about them. He knew his actions had no meaning, and he was trying to escape the Absurd. Some others just ignored it. Then there was McWatt, who tried to embrace it but failed, Milo, who I think managed to find some sort of meaning and the doctor who I think was the only one who accepted and embraced the Absurd. Actually, I think all of the characters tried to deal with it in different ways.

[@free_fred]

The Unbearable Lightness of Being is actually the book that made me start reading during the pandemic, and made me interested in exploring deeper philosophical topics. I think it's the perfect mixture of novel and philosophy, couldn't recommend it enough as a transition for people who want to get into reading deeper stuff but don't feel ready yet to dive into full on philosophical texts, another one that falls into a similar category for me would be The Death of Ivan Illich, really accessible from a reading standpoint but with lots of depth. Glad you recommended it, I was planning to revisit it soon and you might have just given me the push that I needed!

[@billruttenberg]

Hey Jared! I am reading Catch 22 right now and I am really enjoying it. You are correct, it has a lot going on within the pages. Thanks for sharing your video.

[@NoorAli-qc8ik]

Genuinely appreciate your videos; your gentle approach towards any topic makes the act of reading feel important, soothing, and something that will improve you, all achieved through your videos alone. I was a reader, but not a philosophy reader, and because of you, I got into it, as you made it feel simple. Hope you are doing well in life, and keep the videos coming; always appreciate them!

[@pseudo4166]

Love your videos Dr. Jared! Keep it up!

[@nerd26373]

We appreciate how well you articulate your insights. Keep working hard.

[@alexphelps5147]

I would be interested in hearing your take on crime and punishment and Dostoyevsky in general. I am a business grad student and work full time so I like to listen to videos such as yours while at work. Reading crime and punishment left me wanting to dive deeper into philosophy.

[@treyhenry9782]

Fahrenheit 451 is a thoroughly philosophical novel which I would recommend. There are prominent Platonic themes woven through the book, and an analysis of a lack of desire (or ability) for individuals to grasp at knowledge; the main character is unable to articulate his newfound knowledge, and considered mad, which is a direct reflection of Plato’s allegory of the cave.

[@kaiisth]

I freaking hate it, the dystopian logic just doesn't hit for me and the entire book is just an exercise in the obvious

[@WaterEnjoyer777]

Thank you Sir. Jared i hope we can have this kind of content again

[@peternighswander9629]

This is fast becoming my favourite channel

[@la8076]

Now that Michael Sugrue isn’t around anymore, this has become my favourite channel surrounding philosophy

[@user-lh6ig5gj4e]

I love listening to you talk. I just started watching your videos, and your interesting thoughts and your soothing voice are perfect for this format.

[@LiterateTexan]

I loved The Unbearable Lightness of Being, and I was lucky enough to read it after taking three or four philosophy classes as an undergraduate. What a great book to start this list with.

[@_jared]

It really is great. Hope you’re holding up, Randy.

[@LiterateTexan]

@@_jaredThanks, I'm having a good week so far. I'm going for a good month in February.

[@nicholasv7560]

loved this video. Would love the video about delilio and simulacra as well.

[@craiggersify]

Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon gets my vote for most underrated philosophical novel - a work of SF on such a grand scale that it becomes a work of Spinozist/Hegelian theology that has a lot in common with say the Russian Cosmists. Stapledon was a philosophy professor who’d been a pacifist Ambulence driver in WWI, but by this point was a Briton watching Hitler take over Europe in the 30s. The book is a meditation in historical hope and melancholy and takes place over billions of years, in a way that feels like the Divine Comedy meeting HG Wells, or Gulliver’s Travels meeting Flatland. What is the role of love and human communion in a vast universe? The book was an influence on both Virginia Woolf and Jorge Luis Borges; it was Arthur C Clarke’s main influence, and Stapledon is who CS Lewis mentioned cribbing from wholesale; it’s even where the idea of the Dyson sphere came from! I proselytize this book every chance I get. Don’t make the mistake of starting with the less mature, less lyrical and less ambitious “Last and First men.”

[@spikedaniels1528]

Hello Jared, Very much like this video and your new idea about philosophical book discussions - I’ll turn on my Notifications. I remember discussing Catch-22 in high school lit class in the mid-to-late 60’s (during the Vietnam era, and we, us boys especially, needed some prompting to think ahead). Most of your suggestions for upcoming discussions sound great (except for Ayn Rand 🧐). Also Jared, it would be helpful if you could give me a sign (👆🏻) when you finish your embedded advertisement so I know when to turn the volume back up - don’t want to miss any of your informative and entertaining presentation!

[@lizziebkennedy7505]

My literature and philosophy professors could learn SO much from you. This approach would keep undergraduates enthralled and extend and strengthen their general knowledge which is of cours one of the great benefits of fiction, TYSM!!!

[@srisley13]

My dad gave me Catch-22 to read when I was a teenager, because it was one of his favorite books at that age. I did not read it until my mid 20's, and I'm glad of that. It's one of the most cynical novels I have ever read, and in my opinion is not good for teenagers who are likely already at their most cynical and angsty. As an adult I was able to sort it out more, separate the wheat from the chaff. It's certainly a genius work of art, and it's very funny, but I think we need to be careful about who we give it to.

[@Apeksim]

I actually read it when I was 14. It didn't make me rebellious, but it did left a deep mark within me by instilling a fear of bureaucratic screw-ups, some of which I experienced myself.

[@NimmiCat]

Read it in junior high and laughed out loud during reading hour (the entire school was silently reading for an hour). I don't recall any negative feelings or thoughts raised by the material.

[@IateYOURpotatoe]

I really enjoy your videos! Would love to see some more Wheel of Time content

[@LiterateTexan]

I haven't read any of David Foster Wallace's novels yet, but I finished his essay collection, Consider the Lobster, yesterday. That guy can WRITE.

[@8GamingMonsters]

Ditto. Except I have also read the Broom System. His first bestseller. I chose it because it was not as monolithic as Infinite Jest. I wanted to test the waters of his fiction. It's surreal and audacious. Often amusing, and only occasionally complex. Without much reference, probably his easiest novel.

[@LiterateTexan]

@@8GamingMonsters I have a copy of Broom of the System but haven't read it yet. I talked with a friend of mine yesterday who swears by it, though.

[@JLchevz]

Excellent recommendations! thanks

[@bacarandii]

I was 15 or 16 when I read "Catch-22," too, and it was like seeing the world clearly for the first time. Finally, somebody else saw the world as I did (this, of course, led me to Kafka, Faulkner, Albee, Bunuel, Monty Python and the Coen Brothers). I didn't know much about bureaucracy at the time, but I had a deep appreciation of paradoxical absurdity and Heller spoke to that. Call it "The Absurdity of Evil," if you will. (When I was in college, I got to interview Heller after a local school board banned "Catch-22" for high schoolers because, they said, girls couldn't relate to a story about the military and, besides, World War II was "ancient history." Really. They said that.) That book, more than any other, served as my prep manual for survival in the modern world. It was also the first time that I can recall ever encountering something that made me laugh out loud and cry at the same time -- an incident involving Hungry Joe and Huple's cat.

[@ornleifs]

I agree with all of those and would add another Kundera book "Immortality" and also a book by another Czech author Bohumil Hrabal and his book "Too loud a solitude" I found both very interesting and thought provoking. And then I would recommend Julian Barnes "Flaubert's Parrot" which is such a brilliant look at vagueness and subjectivity and also simply not knowing.

[@nerdestoico93]

Fantastic video! I would like a part 2, 3, 11! 😅 My favorite is Dostoyevsky, but I really need to go deeper on him. My goal is to create a Stoic book club here in Brazil, but on Novels. Any suggestions? The goal is for people to reflect and aim to a better life.

[@DarthCookieKS]

The first philosophical book I ever read was Fast Food Maniac by Jon Hein. Now I’m going to check out these books from the library to deepen my understanding of the subject. Thanks Jared

[@TomCarberry413]

Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut. It has a little Calypso ditty about the problem of knowledge: "Tiger got to hunt, bird got to fly, Man got wonder, Why, Why, Why. Tiger got to sleep, bird got to land, man got to tell himself he understand." It presents us with the religion of Bokonon. The Book of Bokonon's title page warns the reader: "Don't be a fool! Close this book at once! It is nothing but foma!" (foma means shameless lies). Verse 1 says: "All of the true things that I am about to tell you are shameless lies." It gives us the ideas of the karass (a true team, often of two people) and granfalloons, or false teams, such as countries, religions, etc. I think of Vonnegut as one of the great philosophers of the last 100 years, but with humor and not so much intellectual dross.

[@lizziebkennedy7505]

I’d say everything by KV. I grew enormously by reading him.

[@TomCarberry413]

And he writes well, something I can say about only a tiny handful of philosophers. “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.” Mother Night.@@lizziebkennedy7505

[@alfredpiro8918]

I would recommend The Altar of the Dead by Henry James. it is about bereavement, death, betrayal, and forgiveness. It is a beautifully written short story that covers a lot of ground. I have read most of James' 110 or so short stories, and this is my favorite.

[@scottylew802]

I love that I own all three of these novels. Have yet to read 22 Or Rose but they definitely just got pushed up the list, and I'm due for a re-read of Lightness.

[@tariqabdullah7044]

No Country for Old men is also a great philosophical novel. I just finished it and I did not expect it to be that deep and profound.

[@ElJefe437]

I appreciate you taking about Name of the Rose. Eco is a massively underrated writer in the English speaking world. Check out Calvino too if you want another great modern-ish Italian writer.

[@neilmacdonald6637]

His essays on semiotics and hermeneutics are also fantastic!

[@willieluncheonette5843]

Castaneda's Don Juan books are wonderfully written philosophical novels, even though many still believe they are non fiction. I think he is one of the greatest writers of the 20th century.

[@sm13_]

Please make a video on what you find valuable in Ayn Rand's novels

[@alohm]

When asked I like to surprise people, being a Nietzsche fan, by recommending the little prince, in English and French. The example I use is the Fox scene. In french you see the missing philosophy easy to miss in English(not unlike Nietzsche). That we make things familiar, we tame them, and then they are special to us. With the right relationship, they value us as we do them.

[@alohm]

Catch-22 is awesome and I recommned the movie - this is one that is great addition tot he book, like True grit or Alls Quiet on the Front....

[@user-hy6cp6xp9f]

The Snow Leopard is a great philosophical novel. And although a bit on the “philosophical novel” nose Zen and the Art is one of my favorites.

[@thirduncle5366]

Could you expand just a little on the philosophical themes encountered in Snow Leopard?

[@user-hy6cp6xp9f]

@@thirduncle5366 In broad strokes it's a westerners take on Zen buddhism, meditation, death, suffering, and our place in nature. It's great nature writing and non-fiction, but also an accessible and non "woo woo" take on the philosophy of secular Zen buddhism.

[@thirduncle5366]

@@user-hy6cp6xp9f Thank you very much ^^

[@davidatkinson-lifematters4826]

I find Heller's 'Something Happened' to be even more thought provoking (and moving) than his 'Catch 22', great though that is.

[@azazeln]

I really like the philosophical works that we do not consider philosophical. I've read your recommendations and liked them a lot. Especially the Name of the Rose, because Eco is a magician with the words. May I add: Foucault's Pendulum, The last temptation of Christ, Lord of Dark Places

[@VeraGolosovaArt]

I see your new video, I click immediately

[@tonybennett4159]

Some great suggestions. I would concur with those who recommend Heller's Something Happened where he tackles corporate America the same way he tackles the military in Catch 22. Both intriguing existential takes. Other books I could think of are Carlo Gadda's That Awful Mess on the Via Merulana, which, like The Name of the Rose, appears to be a work of detection, but is anything but, or anything by Laszlo Krasnahorkai.

[@LiterateTexan]

Catch-22 is one that, for whatever reason, I haven't gotten to. I started The Name of the Rose last year but didn't get far.

[@moralcode46]

I loved The Name of The Rose, it became my favorite book. I would like to read something like that, the authors similar to Eco's style (mixture of philosophical, detective, medieval vibes)

[@timbushell8640]

A bomber pilot... has concern over the crew and those under the bombs, not just 'fighter v fighter plane' fights is a big part of the Yossarian's issues too... IRCC from my reading about the last year of my senior school (high/college)... so +40 years of other reading might have 'fogged' the memory. And Italian is the current other project, for just the reason you state. Thanks for the nice vid and thoughtful collection.

[@nualafaolin7129]

The first one reminds me of a Dutch novel & movie “Het leven uit een dag” (life in one day) in which a world exists where people only live for one day, then die. Everything only gets experienced once, but a couple fall in love and don’t want it to end, so they commit a heinous crime and go to “hell”, which is our world… fascinating!

[@thirduncle5366]

I don't know this, and I'm Dutch! I will take a looksie, thanks for the tip.

[@nualafaolin7129]

The book is by A. F. Th. van der Heijden, en ik heb het niet gelezen…😉 but the movie is brilliant!

[@alexmills630]

I was pretty ecstatic when you added "The Name of the Rose" on this list! I haven't finished it, but I've been really enjoying it thus far. I was wondering if you heard or read any other of Eco's fiction works (ex. Foucalt’s Pendulum, The Island of the Day Before, Baudolino, etc.)? Any thoughts if you have read them?

[@bookdmb]

I like Narcissus and Goldmund

[@sidcollinsiv]

I would love to hear your philosophical takes on Lord of the Rings! In my current reread, I've seen a great deal of underlying divine providence in the form of coincidences and chances as the story progresses.

[@berniekatzroy]

I'm a fan of Any Rand, Dostoyevsky, Eco, etc I'd say that rereading the grapes of wrath by John Steinbeck the past year made a huge impact on me. The most impactful book I read last year though I'd have to say is Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro.

[@JakeSmith-jy1kx]

To Rise Again at a Decent Hour by Joshua Ferris. The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishuguro. The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon.

[@grahamhardie6853]

I recently read Kafka’s novel The Trial and found its themes thought provoking and philosophical would be interested to hear your thoughts on his work. Thanks 😊

[@ciroguerra-lara6747]

foucault's pendulum, The Island of the Day Before, both Eco´s books that I love

[@deirdre108]

Aldous Huxley's "Point Counterpoint" is one of the best philosophical novels ever. What can you say about a novel in which one character, a theist is trying to prove the existence of god to an atheist through the medium of them both listening to Beethoven's A minor String Quartet. Such fun!

[@megabyte01]

I'm morbidly curious about Atlas Shrugged. At first, I was endeared by the hyper competent heroes and the mysterious disappearances. Later, after "The great destroyer" shares his motivation for is actions, I am torn between respect for his positive ideals and the destructive impact they have in the world, even indirectly

[@1iguerra]

I'd be intersted in hearing your thoughts on Moby Dick, as I always found it deeply philosophical, but also beautifully descriptive.

[@_jared]

I will talk about it at some point. But it is probably the greatest American novel.

[@agnosticTroubadour]

I really love Heller's second novel Something Happened. I can't recommend it as it is often times frustrating to read and deeply unsettling. It's great.

[@GregsAquatics]

can we have a video on history books!

[@genghisgalahad8465]

I don't think of Rand actually when it comes to philosophical books I needd to read...

[@blackmetalgran7279]

The Magic Mountain. Mann.

[@neilmacdonald6637]

Just discovered your lovely channel! Eco and Kundera are both superb, no doubt, but I could never really champion Catch-22. It does have a tragic charm to it. I especially appreciate your emphasis on theodicy and trauma. However, Heller wallows in the ironic contradictions behind modern life in such a formulaic way that I feel his critique expressed better by other American post-modernist fiction writers.

[@foodchewer]

Which ones? Would you include Pynchon in there?

[@mitch8948]

“There, there”

[@biffybeans]

I am really enjoying this video- but am having a bit of a hard time concentrating on what you are saying over the music starting around the 5:30 mark.

[@ondrejchaloupka5208]

Czech literature student here. Yes, The Unbearable Lightness of Being is certainly the most renowned philosophical novel in the Czech republic, almost every intelectual likes it or at least knows it. It is important to mention - he himself says that his books shouldn't be read as political novels, but as philosophical novels. Nice video ofc.

[@mithilbhoras5951]

I just finished The Brothers Karamazov and was moved by the novel's exploration of childlike innocence in the face a harsh, unfair world. As an atheist, Ivan's struggle and downfall really resonated to me.

[@thewayofthegunn]

Auster, Paul The Music of Chance (1990)

[@kevinogracia1615]

Umberto Eco's books are great reads. BTW... he's primarily a semiotician. Peace on earth.

[@clairjunior5291]

Jared, I would like very much to read Dostoevsky’s books, but I’ve found with Russian translations specifically, there aren’t good ones out there. Will you please say which translation you read?

[@_jared]

I like Katz’s translation of both Crime & Punishment and Brothers Karamazov. These translations are also highly commended by reviewers.

[@noidea3326]

Umberto Eco is by far the best between these 3 authors

[@Belemrys]

Eco is the GOAT!

[@JakeSmith-jy1kx]

Just throwing this out there: I love Catch-22, but Something Happened is Heller's best novel (and maybe just the best novel period).

[@user-mj8is3xy7t]

I think The Problem of Evil is a as very interesting topic and idea, but I often see philosophers view it somewhat backwards. God being good gave man something that every other living creature does not have, and that is free will. Looking at it from that point of view, it is not God who has allowed evil or caused pain upon man, but man who has willing partook in evil. Deep down all mens hearts are evil.

[@antontaun]

I know the video game Pentiment was deeply influenced by The Name of the Rose

[@gwarlow]

4:41 Isn’t he a bomber pilot? Maybe that was just the movie adaptation?

[@jtcornpone]

Bombardier, not pilot

[@jcfgykjtdk]

Catch-22 was pretty funny

[@timbushell8640]

Major, major, major, major... even.

[@Aj-fd4ne]

Full video link 🔗..??

[@LittleMew133]

I don't think I have enough patience and courage in me to go through Russian classics. Not quite there yet.

[@nl3064]

It's hard to parcel out deep and thought-provoking from purely "philosophical". At any rate, about the only one I've read extensively was Nietzsche, and Rand - though I would hardly count Rand - she's more pop-philosophy, and some of her notions are very surface-level. That said, I was just re-reading Atlas Shrugged - of which I have too many things to say (both pros and cons) to bother with here.

[@deirdre108]

Iris Murdoch is sadly neglected in this sausage fest. She not only wrote "philosophical novels you should read" but was also a professor of philosophy and wrote several philosophical texts in her field of "moral philosophy". She was awarded the Booker Prize for her novel "The Sea, The Sea".

[@fj103]

I always thought stanislaw lem s novels are deeply philosophical

[@skeller61]

4:30 Actually, Yossarian is a bomber pilot, not a fighter pilot, in WWII. I also don’t consider theologians squabbling over the existence of evil or pain to be ‘philosophy’, as the postulate of their god is already wrong. It would be like arguing over any made up deity throughout history. These questions, to me, spend too much time worrying about why a fictitious deity acts in a certain way. The logical response is, “throw out your postulate and you’ll ask more worthwhile questions”. That’s my view, fwiw.

[@jtcornpone]

Bombardier, not pilot

[@mac2phin]

Jacques the Fatalist. Tristram Shandy. finnegans wake. Nausea 😵.

[@nickdual]

I'm a philosopher. I defined new Dualism. I don't read any book about philosophy because I think they're useless.

[@AnthroHistorian]

Catch-22 is an overrated fluke. No amount of justification and over-analysis can change the fact that it's absolute tripe.

[@Laocoon283]

Merely gesturing at philosophical topics doesn't make it philosophy. If that were the case then everyone who ever asked what's the meaning of life would be a philosopher lol. I mean Harry Potter is a series about the problem of evil does that make it philosophy? Making a definition this broad completely defeats the point of even having the definition.