Hello and welcome to the very first edition of The E-Literature Catalog, an article that aims to showcase three exemplary works of literature of a certain theme that are available online from renowned authors, publishers and other trusted sources. Published writing can find its way to being legally hosted online through either becoming a part of the public domain or by being offered for free from the source. I will not be sharing links to illegally hosted literature (and do not condone it). I will be linking to verifiable and trusted sources.

Our theme this article is:


World literature is a term that refers to the overall circulation of a work of literature— especially work that influences beyond the borders of the country it originated in. Notable examples of influential world literature are Homer's The Odyssey (Greek), Sun Tzu's The Art of War (Chinese), and Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales (British). Below are three pieces of literature from across the globe that have had varying effects of influence in different cultures and are freely available to read online.







Voltaire, a French poet and author, wrote Candide in a period of three days in the year 1759 to ridicule the spread of the idea of Optimism, which is the doctrine that the existing world is the best of all possible worlds and the belief that good ultimately predominates over evil in the world. Written in a comically epic narrative, Voltaire's satire has not aged a bit generations later. At the center of the story is Candide and every event that befalls him and his illusory sense of happiness.







Leo Tolstoy's The Kingdom of God is Within You is a special work of Tolstoy's in that it is not written like his fiction or novels. As the translator says, he is purposely slipshod and sloppy when writing this piece (as well as other non-fiction). This profound work of his was banned in his home country of Russia but was subsequently translated into many languages and became immensely influential in circles of people who believed in nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience.

Gandhi listed Tolstoy's book, as well as John Ruskin's Unto This Last and the poet Shrimad Rajchandra's (Raychandbhai) work as the three most important modern influences in his life. In 1908 Tolstoy wrote, and Gandhi read, A Letter to a Hindu, which outlines the notion that only by using love as a weapon through passive resistance could the native Indian people overthrow the colonial British Empire. The two of them continued to correspond with each other until Tolstoy's death in 1910.







Nostromo is an Italian sailor whose personal charm and organizational powers make him the cherished pet of the aristocracy of a fictional Central American country called Costaguana. After risking his life repeatedly, Nostromo comes to realize that he is just a pawn in the political and personal struggles of this fictional land. His plans for revenge parallel the so-called democratic movement of the richest province of Costaguana to become an independent nation ruled by the same aristocratic elite that has used Nostromo for their own gain.


Thanks for reading; let me know what you would like to see for next time!