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1913 Books

From bestselling novels to critically acclaimed works, 1913 was filled with captivating stories that have stood the test of time. In this list, we highlight the most popular books of 1913, celebrating the titles that topped the charts and won the hearts of book lovers everywhere.

Pygmalion
Written by: George Bernard Shaw
Outline: George Bernard Shaw's renowned play Pygmalion, which inspired the popular musical My Fair Lady, satirizes the British class system by following a linguistic expert's transformation of a working-class flower seller into a refined lady, a process in which the professor …
Sons and Lovers
Written by: D.H. Lawrence
Outline: The marriage between Gertrude and Walter Morel is a constant struggle, with Gertrude focusing her attention on her children, particularly her sons, to prevent them from following their father's footsteps into the coal mines. However, this leads to a clash …
O Pioneers!
Written by: Willa Cather
Outline: Willa Cather's 1913 novel, O Pioneers!, is a masterpiece that vividly depicts the transformation of the American frontier and the people who settled it. The story follows Alexandra Bergson, who transforms a wind-blasted prairie in Nebraska into a prosperous farm, …
The Custom of the Country
Written by: Edith Wharton
Outline: Edith Wharton's acclaimed novel, "The Custom of the Country," offers a scathing yet personal exploration of the exploits and follies of the modern upper class, providing a detailed glimpse into the lives of the nouveau riche through the captivating yet …
The Complete Poetry and Prose
Written by: William Blake
Outline: This revised edition of Blake's poetry and prose, first published in 1965, is widely regarded as the best available text, featuring updated work on variants, chronology of the poems, and critical commentary by Harold Bloom, and is an "Approved Edition" …
Totem and Taboo
Written by: Sigmund Freud
Outline: Freud's seminal work, published in 1913, sparked controversy but remains a comprehensive exploration of his renowned theories, which have profoundly influenced various aspects of modern culture, from the arts to medicine. Whether one agrees with psychoanalysis or not, this book …
Le Grand Meaulnes
Written by: Alain-Fournier
Outline: Fifteen-year-old François Seurel recounts his relationship with the impulsive, reckless, and heroic seventeen-year-old Augustin Meaulnes, who embodies the romantic ideal, the search for the unobtainable, and the mysterious world between childhood and adulthood, in a small village in the Sologne.
Petersburg
Written by: Andrei Bely
Outline: 'Petersburg' is a vibrant and multifaceted portrayal of Russia's capital, blending history, culture, and politics in a kaleidoscopic exploration of the Russian character and the identity of the city itself. The novel presents a dynamic and immersive snapshot of life …
Remembrance of Things Past: Volume I - Swann's Way & Within a Budding Grove
Written by: Marcel Proust
Outline: The text describes the emotional and psychological elements that are the subject matter of Proust's renowned work, which has been expertly translated by Terence Kilmartin, improving upon an earlier French edition translated by C.K. Scott Moncrieff.
The Book of Lies
Written by: Aleister Crowley
Outline: The book, written by English occultist Aleister Crowley under the pen name Frater Perdurabo, consists of 93 chapters with diverse content, including questions, poems, rituals, instructions, and cryptic references. Crowley later provided a commentary to aid readers in the qabalistic …
Alcools
Written by: Guillaume Apollinaire
Outline: Alcools, a seminal work of 20th-century poetry, offers a window into the century's history and consciousness, with Apollinaire's verse embodying the sonic equivalent of cubism's simultaneity. Apollinaire's profound influence is evident in the emergence of the New York School of …
The Return of Tarzan (Tarzan, #2)
Written by: Edgar Rice Burroughs
Outline: Tarzan conceals his inheritance as an English lord, believing his cousin William Cecil Clayton would be a more suitable lord and Jane's husband. Distracted by a married Russian countess, Tarzan faces a criminal plot by her brother Nicholas Rokoff, leading …
My Childhood
Written by: Maxim Gorky
Outline: Gorky's impoverished and brutally abusive childhood gave him a unique understanding of the lives of ordinary Russians, which his grandmother, a kind and gifted storyteller, greatly influenced. Penguin Classics has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking …