Books like “Faust”

What to read after “Faust” by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: a list matched by tropes, mood and atmosphere. Under each book you will see what it has in common.

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1
Heart of Darkness
Joseph Conrad · 1899
Similar atmosphere: “Philosophical”
- Philosophical
- Forbidden Knowledge
A sailor tells of his journey up an African river to reach a mysterious ivory trader who has become a god to the locals. The deeper he goes, the more he sees of greed and cruelty, and of what people become when no one restrains them. A short, unsettling classic.
2
The Old Man and the Sea
Ernest Hemingway · 1952
Similar atmosphere: “Philosophical”
- Philosophical
An aging Cuban fisherman, Santiago, has gone eighty-four days without catching a fish. When a huge marlin finally takes his line far out to sea, he must hold on through a long, painful contest of endurance and will.
3
Steppenwolf
Hermann Hesse · 1927
Similar atmosphere: “Philosophical”
- Philosophical
A middle-aged loner who feels half man and half wolf drifts through a city he despises, until a chance encounter leads him to a strange magic theatre. There he confronts the many selves inside him. A novel about alienation, desire and finding one's way back to life.
4
The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner
James Hogg · 1824
Similar atmosphere: “Philosophical”
- Philosophical
- Faustian Bargain
A young man raised to believe he is one of the elect is drawn into a double life by a stranger who may be a demon, a double, or a delusion. His own account of his crimes is set against an editor's, and the two versions refuse to agree.
5
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Oscar Wilde · 1890
Similar atmosphere: “Philosophical”
- Philosophical
- Faustian Bargain
A beautiful young man surrenders to his vanity when his portrait begins to age and wither in place of his body. Sheltered by a cynical friend, Dorian chases pleasure without consequence until the hidden painting becomes a record of his cruelty.
6
The End of Eternity
Isaac Asimov · 1955
Similar atmosphere: “Philosophical”
- Philosophical
- Star-Crossed Lovers
Andrew Harlan works for Eternity, an organization that lives outside time and edits human history for what it believes is the greater good. His work is upended when he falls in love with a woman from his own past.
7
The Daughter of Time
Josephine Tey · 1951
Similar atmosphere: “Philosophical”
- Philosophical
Laid up in hospital with a broken leg, Inspector Alan Grant is bored until he is given a portrait of Richard III. Wondering whether the king really murdered the princes in the Tower, he reopens a five-hundred-year-old case from his bed, working only from books.
8
Anthem
Ayn Rand · 1938
Similar atmosphere: “Philosophical”
- Philosophical
- Forbidden Knowledge
In a future run by the collective, the word I has no meaning and all work is done for the good of all. Equality 7-2521 breaks the rules by doing forbidden research and falling in love, then flees a society that cannot allow an individual to exist.
9
War and Peace
Leo Tolstoy · 1869
Similar atmosphere: “Philosophical”
- Philosophical
- Star-Crossed Lovers
Across the years of Napoleon's campaigns, the lives of several Russian families intertwine. Pierre searches for a purpose, Prince Andrei for glory and love, and Natasha grows up amid courtship and loss, while the war moves steadily toward the burning of Moscow.
10
The Trial
Franz Kafka · 1925
Similar atmosphere: “Philosophical”
- Philosophical
A clerk is arrested one morning and told he is on trial, though no one will say for what. As he tries to navigate a faceless legal system, his ordinary life unravels. A bleak, darkly funny novel about bureaucracy, guilt and power.
11
The Sea-Wolf
Jack London · 1904
Similar atmosphere: “Philosophical”
- Philosophical
A literary critic survives a ferry collision in San Francisco Bay and is picked up by a sealing schooner commanded by Wolf Larsen, a brutal and brilliant captain. Thrown into the crew's rough life, the soft scholar must find his footing under a man who answers to no law but his own.
12
Lord of the Flies
William Golding · 1954
Similar atmosphere: “Philosophical”
- Philosophical
A group of schoolboys survives a plane crash on a deserted island and tries to govern themselves. Order slips first into fear and then into savagery as the boys turn on one another. An allegory about civilisation, violence and what people become without rules.