Authored by M Aamir Hashim Khakwani.Translated into English by Ahmad Sohail Nasrullah
A few days ago, a friend sent me a list published by The Guardian — a selection of the world’s hundred greatest novels. At that time, I was lying down comfortably, casually scrolling through my mobile phone. The moment I saw the list of novels in the message, I immediately sat upright. At first glance, I realized that this was no ordinary piece of work. It was clear from the very first glance that this was not some routine compilation, but the result of something far more serious and thoughtful.
The Guardian is a distinguished British newspaper, known for its serious journalism, high editorial standards, and credible reporting, which gives it a unique stature in the literary world. The paper carried out this project with remarkable care, inviting 172 renowned writers, critics, and professors from around the globe to submit lists of their ten favorite novels.
The only condition was that the novels must either have been originally published in English or, at the very least, translated into English. The responses sent by these writers and critics were then compiled and carefully analyzed, ultimately leading to the creation of this list of the hundred greatest novels. I started scrolling through the list, pausing at each name and reading it carefully one by one. At times it made me smile, at times it stirred old memories, and sometimes I felt a slight regret that I still hadn’t read certain titles. When I finally reached the end of the list, I began mentally calculating how many of those novels had been translated into Urdu.
I discovered that around 35 of them already had Urdu translations, and some of them even exist in more than one version. I was pleasantly surprised to realize that with only a few remaining, those I had never come across in Lahore’s book fairs or bookstores, simply because they were never published or available there.
What are the origins of these hundred novels?
British novels make up the largest share, numbering over thirty. American novels account for about fifteen or sixteen. In total, almost half of the list consists of works written in English by British, American, and Irish authors. Although Russian novels are fewer in number, the reality is that those few works dominate a large portion of the list in terms of both quality and depth. In fact, if these Russian novels were removed, the remaining list of a hundred would feel almost meaningless—something people would simply throw away. Who could possibly ignore Tolstoy’s War and Peace and Anna Karenina, or Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov and Crime and Punishment?
There are barely five novels by Asian or Asian-origin writers. These include V. S. Naipaul’s A House for Mr Biswas, Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things, Rohinton Mistry’s A Fine Balance, and from Korea, Han Kang’s The Vegetarian.Other than that, there are three French novels included. The renowned Gustave Flaubert is represented with two of his works, Madame Bovary and Sentimental Education, while Marcel Proust appears with his monumental, multi-volume masterpiece In Search of Lost Time, widely regarded as an extraordinary achievement in literature. From Spanish literature, there is only one novel, Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote. Written in the seventeenth century, it is a remarkable work often regarded by critics as the first modern novel in literary history.In Latin American literature, Gabriel García Márquez is prominently featured with his world-famous novel One Hundred Years of Solitude. The Mexican writer Juan Rulfo’s Pedro Páramo, appears at number 96. This novel is only about 120 pages long, yet it is widely regarded as a foundational work of the entire Latin American literary tradition.
There are four African novels included. Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (Nigeria) is ranked 22nd and is considered the most famous novel of African literature. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun (Nigeria) appears at number 62. Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions (Zimbabwe) is placed at 74. J. M. Coetzee’s Disgrace (South Africa), a Nobel Prize–winning author, is ranked 58th.
Taken together, the overall picture looks like this: around forty-five British and Irish novels, fifteen to sixteen American novels, six Russian novels, four to five African novels, three French novels, about five Asian novels, two Latin American novels, one Spanish novel, one German novel, and a few Italian or other works.
How women novelists are represented
Virginia Woolf leads the list with five novels, including To the Lighthouse, Mrs Dalloway, Orlando, The Waves, and Jacob’s Room. Virginia Woolf’s personality is also unique in itself, but she deserves a separate, detailed discussion of her own.Jane Austen is represented by four novels: Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Persuasion, and Mansfield Park. Toni Morrison has three novels included. Both Charlotte Brontë and Emily Brontë are represented with one novel each. Arundhati Roy also has one novel included. Writers such as Doris Lessing, Mary Shelley, Margaret Atwood, and Han Kang are likewise represented with a single novel each.
Virginia Woolf has the highest number of novels in this list, meaning a single woman writer has surpassed all others in representation. However, her works are not only notable for their number but also for their groundbreaking narrative techniques and their pioneering use of stream-of-consciousness.
In total, women novelists account for roughly one-third of the selection. Some critics argue that this proportion is still too low and that the representation of female writers should have been more substantial.
The novel at the very top of the list is Middlemarch by George Eliot. An interesting fact is that George Eliot was actually a woman whose real name was Mary Ann Evans. In the Victorian era of the nineteenth century, women’s writing was not taken seriously and was often dismissed as mere romantic fiction. Because of this, Mary Ann Evans adopted the male pen name “George Eliot,” and her strategy worked exactly as intended. When her novel was published, it was received and read as a serious literary masterpiece.
In the same period, the Brontë sisters also followed a similar path. Charlotte Brontë wrote under the pseudonym “Currer Bell,” Emily Brontë as “Ellis Bell,” and Anne Brontë as “Acton Bell.” The three sisters published their novels around the same time, all under male pen names, and each of their works later became a classic of English literature.
Charlotte’s Jane Eyre is ranked 8th, while Emily’s Wuthering Heights stands at 20th. It was an era when women often had to hide their identities in order to be taken seriously as writers. Today, however, those very names are firmly inscribed in the golden pages of literary history..
Ranked second is Toni Morrison’s Beloved, a Nobel Prize–winning author, portrays one of the darkest chapters of American history—slavery. It is a powerful and deeply profound novel, and an Urdu translation of it has also been published.
A few notable novels
Tolstoy’s War and Peace is ranked seventh. In my view, if this list were based purely on depth and magnitude, this novel would have stood at the very top. Spanning nearly fifteen hundred pages, it is set against the backdrop of Napoleon’s invasion of Russia. It follows the lives of five families, yet in essence it serves as a complete chronicle of human nature.
Love, war, death, faith, power, and every layer of life unfold within this novel. Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina is placed sixth. It is a tragic story of a woman who defies the moral and social codes of her society and ultimately pays the price.
Both of these major works have been translated into Urdu by Shahid Hameed. He is a remarkable translator who accomplished what had not been achieved by any Urdu translator before him. Tolstoy’s fifteen-hundred-page War and Peace and Dostoevsky’s equally vast The Brothers Karamazov have both been rendered into complete and impressive Urdu translations. Shahid Hameed also translated Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice into Urdu. These three translations are a valuable asset to Urdu literature, and Shahid Hameed’s name will always be remembered alongside these magnificent novels.
Dostoevsky’s case is even more remarkable. Two of his novels appear in this list: Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov. In Crime and Punishment, a young man becomes a murderer and then ultimately surrenders before the court of his own conscience. The psychological depth found in this novel is something that is still rarely matched in literature today.
The Brothers Karamazov was completed by Dostoevsky just a few months before his death, as if he had poured the entire essence of his life’s thought into this novel. Questions of faith and doubt, the existence of God, and human evil remain just as fresh today as they were a hundred and fifty years ago.
Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude is ranked seventeenth. While reading this novel, one experiences a strange sensation, as if the story of the fictional town of Macondo is actually our own story, with only names and geography changed. Revolutions arrive, hopes are awakened, and then the same old helplessness returns, while generations continue to pass
Arundhati Roy is often known in our region as a political activist and a critic of the Indian military, but her novel The God of Small Things is a masterpiece in its own right. The novel won the Booker Prize in 1997. It tells the story of twin siblings in a village in Kerala, exploring the oppression of caste, the impossibility of love, and the small details that shape and break human lives. Reading this novel revives many of the deep wounds of our own subcontinent.
Another interesting novel is Shakahari, which is the Urdu translation of Han Kang’s The Vegetarian. Han Kang was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2024, and before that, this novel had already won the International Booker Prize in 2016.
The story revolves around a Korean woman who, one night, decides that she will no longer eat meat. It seems like such a small decision, yet it turns her entire world upside down. Her husband, her family, and society at large begin to label her as insane. In essence, the novel becomes a story of a woman’s silent rebellion against a society that has always sought to render her voiceless,
George Orwell’s 1984 is ranked sixteenth. Orwell wrote this novel in 1949, yet when read today, it feels as though it was written just yesterday. The image he created of Big Brother, official truth, and constant surveillance now appears to have become reality in many countries.
Franz Kafka’s The Trial is also part of the list. It follows a man who wakes up one morning only to be told that he is facing a trial, without ever being informed of the charge or the reason behind it. For many readers in our own society, this story may feel uncomfortably familiar, as if it mirrors their own experiences.
There is also a significant presence of postmodern fiction in the list. Vladimir Nabokov’s Pale Fire and Lolita, along with James Joyce’s Ulysses, which is often regarded as one of the greatest examples of modernist and postmodern experimentation, are all included.
Postmodern literature breaks away from traditional narrative structures. It disrupts linear time, casts doubt on the reliability of the narrator, and refuses to allow the reader to remain a passive observer, instead compelling them to actively engage and think.
James Joyce’s Ulysses is a strange and extraordinary novel, unfolding over the course of a single day. It is often described as a difficult work, but once understood, it leaves a powerful impact. Its translation is equally challenging. The renowned writer and translator Anwar Sen Roy is currently working on its Urdu translation, which is expected to be published by Book Corner, Jhelum, by mid-June.
Now coming to the main point: out of these hundred novels, Urdu translations of about thirty-five have already been published, and this is by no means a small achievement. Many of these have been published by Book Corner, Jhelum, while Readings Books, Lahore has brought out War and Peace, and a few other novels have been published by publishers in Karachi. All of them have done an invaluable service to Urdu readers.
Concerns raised about the list
A major flaw in The Guardian’s list is quite striking. All the selected novels come from English or broader European and American literary traditions. There is no representation of Arabic, Persian, Urdu, or Chinese literature. Even writers such as Naguib Mahfouz, Rabindranath Tagore, Haruki Murakami, Orhan Pamuk, and Ismail Kadare are absent. Surprisingly, Milan Kundera is also not included. It almost feels as if The Guardian’s perspective rarely extends beyond the Western world. In reality, this is presented as a “global” survey, but it is clearly dominated by British and Western literary circles.
That is why English literature, modernist works, and novels dealing with postcolonial, feminist, and racial themes are more prominently featured. Another criticism is that popular fiction is not included, which makes the list feel heavy and somewhat dry. However, since this is a survey based on data collected from respondents, the responsibility lies with the well-known writers and critics who selected serious novels of a particular literary taste and sensibility.
Now it is up to us to benefit from this. Let us pick up a pen and calculate how many of these hundred great novels we have actually read
