Title Creator Date Era City Country Emotional Sum (Sense of Life or emotional World View) Theme
Othello: the Moor of Venice Playwright: Shakespeare, William 1603 1600s Malevolence and horrible tragedy is unrelieved.  Evil is potent.

A great man can be gullible and controlled by an evil character.&nbsp; Or, an evil character can have potency in the world, because of the weakness of a good man.<br>
Trustee from the Toolroom Author: Shute, Nevil 1960 A feeling of gentleness, kindness and generosity towards good people in the world.

The importance of pursuing one's personal values.<br>
Psyche Author: Young, Phyllis Brett 1959 Optimistic, Hopeful, even under terrible circumstances.

We are beings of self-made soul<br>
Real Adventure, The Author: Webster, Henry Kitchell 1915 Life is wonderful as long as you realize that life has to be earned the hard way.

Creating your *self* is the only way to live.
Atlas Shrugged Author: Rand, Ayn 1957 1951 - 2000 Life can be good; Men are competent to live happily; The world can be a shining, happy place to exist, if one is free. But novel also presents a dark, dystopian world to help make real that positive view.

The crucial value of the human mind.
King in Khaki, A Author: Webster, Henry Kitchell 1909 1900 - 1950 Honesty is a noble and practical way of life.

Business acumen produces both material wealth and moral right.

The success of the entrepreneur in this story, along with his relation to all his staff and secondary and tertiary folks on the island who work for him -- makes him into a "king" based on important human relations and the rightness of his decisions that result in a successful business enterprise.

A subsidiary theme might be termed the power of morality over physical power or economic "power".
East of Eden Author: Steinbeck, John 1952 1951 - 2000 Life is filled with great and important choices.

The battle between good and evil, guilt and innocence. Takes the position that we are influenced by many things, but ultimately we have free will.
Design for Living Writer: Coward, Noel 1932 1900s Life can be giddy and bright. Facing up to one's anti-conventional values is important. Conventional morality must be questioned if it causes suffering and conflict.

You should follow your deepest values and accept them no matter how unconventional the outcome.

A rare combination of the wittiest, lightest of Noel Coward's style, along with deeper themes of romantic love, proper morality and how should one live.
Far Country, The Author: Shute, Nevil 1952 1951 - 2000 Life can be bright, happy and successful, but hard decisions must be faced and dealt with.

A good and happy life is made up of self-directed actions, self-chosen goals.

A less important theme is:
Freedom from government control.
Whether the government control results from devastating wars, or from socialist control of medical care, freedom is to be sought and prized.
Brass Bowl, The Vance, Louis Joseph 1907 1900 - 1950 The world is a delightful place. Good things happen to the deserving.

Life as a gay, lighthearted adventure.
The New Colossus Author: Lazarus, Emma 1883 1800s Benevolent celebration of liberty as a beacon to a troubled world.

A marvelous land of liberty offers welcome to the oppressed of the world.
Hyacinths to feed thy soul White, James Terry 1911c 1900s United States Hopeful. Even in poverty one can have beauty.

Beauty is a form of sustenance
Cyrano de Bergerac Playwright: Rostand, Edmond 1897 1900s United States Life can be exciting. Life can be grand, literally.
There is also some great sadness about consummated love, since it is portrayed as unreachable.

The importance of independence and independent thought. Compromise is deadly to one's soul.
Sub-themes: a) Doubt of one's goodness because of an incidental fact (physical feature) is terribly damaging and tragic. b) Helping someone by faking reality is damaging and can come to no good.
Landfall Shute, Nevil 1940 1900 - 1950 Heroes and Heroines are self-made, by anyone at any level of intelligence who seriously pursues what is important in their lives.

Truth will triumph -- with perseverance.
Anthem Rand, Ayn 1938, revised 1946 1900 - 1950 United States

The book starts out psychologically dark and disorienting because of the protagonist struggling with the radically collectivist world he was born into.  But what shows even in the early pages, and grows to the climax is the triumphant struggle of a rare few who break free of the yoke of total mind control and become free to live a life as a conceptual human and rediscover what it means to be an individual.  Thrilling and emotionally satisfying (unless the reader is a committed determinist.)

Ego and using one's individual mind is the core of being human.