Book Recommendations: Philosophical Undertones

On literature recommendations that feature philosophical ideas...

If you didn’t already know, I have a degree in English and Philosophy. While these subjects belonged to different departments and had distinct learning styles, I loved merging the two—being interdisciplinary, if you will. To me, literature and philosophy are inseparable. Literature is, in many ways, a form of philosophy: it builds imagined worlds to explore real ideas, existing in a space between reality and abstraction. It’s not quite a science, but neither is it pure belief—think of something like flat earth theory, which carries traces of truth but ultimately veers into pseudo-science. Literature, similarly, straddles fiction and reality, offering a way to interrogate ideas without being bound to empirical proof.

Philosophers, too, have long used literature to shape their arguments. Allegories, dialogues, and thought experiments serve as tools to make abstract concepts more tangible. At the same time, literature is infused with philosophical inquiry—most literary fiction, I’d argue, is built on a foundation of philosophical thought.

I plan to write an in-depth piece on the inextricable link between the two. But for now, I want to share some of my favourite novels that engage deeply with philosophical themes. These books are some of my favorites to read, and I often find that when a novel is philosophical in nature, it is also beautifully and meticulously written. More often than not, they end up being five-star reads for me. I hope you find some new recommendations in this newsletter!

Haruki Murakami

Murakami’s works often blend surrealism with existential themes. His protagonists grapple with loneliness, memory, and the nature of reality, often influenced by Western philosophy and Japanese mysticism. I have found that most of his novels are philosophical in nature, frequently explore the fluidity of identity, the subconscious, and the liminal space between the real and the fantastical, drawing heavily from existential and metaphysical thought. Never is there a time where I don't feel numb after finishing his novels. Two notable examples of this for me are The Wind Up Bird Chronicles and Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage. If you’re new to Murakami though, Norwegian Wood also provides the same existential feeling.

Philosophical undertones:

Existentialism (Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus)

Zen Buddhism

Jungian psychoanalysis

Schopenhauer (will and representation)

Proust (memory and time)

I Who Have Never Known Men, Jacqueline Harpman

This is a haunting dystopian novel (probably also my favourite dystopian) about a young girl imprisoned underground with 39 women, who one day find themselves inexplicably freed. The novel exists in a space of radical isolation, where history, personal identity, and social structures have been erased. The protagonist, lacking even a name, must construct a sense of self in a void. It explores isolation, existential despair, and the struggle for meaning in a world stripped of history and human connection.

Philosophical undertones:

Absurdism (Albert Camus)

Existentialism (Jean-Paul Sartre)

Feminist philosophy (Simone de Beauvoir)

Michel Foucault (discipline and surveillance)

Intermezzo, Sally Rooney

A novel where chess serves as a key metaphor, engaging with ideas of language, rules, and human relationships. Rooney’s exploration of communication and its limitations mirrors Wittgenstein’s concept of language games—how meaning is constructed through context and use rather than fixed definitions. The novel interrogates the structures that dictate personal and romantic relationships, revealing how our interactions are governed by implicit rules we may not fully understand. I’ve already unpacked the philosophy in this novel which can be read here.

Philosophical undertones:

Ludwig Wittgenstein (language games, meaning in use)

Ethics and moral reasoning (Iris Murdoch)

Semiotics (Roland Barthes)

Structuralism (Claude Lévi-Strauss)

A Tale for the Time Being, Ruth Ozeki

A metafictional novel intertwining the diaries of a bullied Japanese teenager and a Canadian writer who finds them years later. The book meditates on time, consciousness, and the nature of storytelling. It draws from Zen Buddhist philosophy to explore impermanence, the nature of existence, and the idea that all moments in time exist simultaneously. The novel also incorporates elements of quantum mechanics, linking it to ideas of nonlinear time and observer-dependent reality.

Philosophical undertones

Zen Buddhism

Dōgen (impermanence, interconnectedness)

Quantum theory and philosophical determinism

Postmodernism (Jean Baudrillard, hyperreality)

Human Acts, Han Kang

A brutal yet lyrical novel about the Gwangju Uprising in South Korea, exploring collective trauma, violence, and memory. The book examines the philosophical problem of human suffering—what it means to bear witness to atrocity and how violence lingers in the body and collective consciousness. Through its fragmented structure, the novel suggests that history is not just a record of events but something that physically inhabits people.

Philosophical undertones:

Hannah Arendt (banality of evil, political violence)

Emmanuel Levinas (ethics of the other)

Trauma theory (Cathy Caruth)

Phenomenology (Maurice Merleau-Ponty)

Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie

Rushdie’s magical realist epic tracing India’s post-colonial history through the life of Saleem Sinai, born at the exact moment of independence. The novel challenges the notion of objective history, blending the personal with the political, and suggests that history is not merely recorded but actively shaped by those who tell it. It critiques historical determinism, national identity, and the power of storytelling. The protagonist’s telepathic connection with others born at the stroke of independence serves as a metaphor for the fragmented and contested nature of national identity.

Philosophical undertones:

Postcolonial theory (Edward Said, Homi Bhabha)

Nietzsche (eternal recurrence, will to power)

Historiography and memory studies

Magical realism as a form of historical subversion

Klara and the Sun, Kazuo Ishiguro

Ishiguro focuses on AI and what an artificial friend can do, questioning human consciousness, love, and the nature of ethical decision-making. The book plays with the classic philosophical problem of whether AI can achieve consciousness, exploring the limits of human empathy and the ways in which personhood is socially constructed. It engages with Cartesian dualism by challenging whether consciousness is a uniquely human trait or if it can be replicated.

Philosophical undertones:

John Searle (Chinese Room argument on AI consciousness)

René Descartes (mind-body dualism)

Utilitarianism (Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill)

Moral philosophy (Immanuel Kant’s categorical imperative)

Constellations of Eve, Abbigail Nguyen Rosewood

A not very well known experimental novel exploring multiple timelines and parallel lives, questioning fate, agency, and the fluidity of identity. By depicting different versions of the same protagonist’s life, the novel examines the idea of personal identity as something mutable and contingent. It echoes both determinist and existentialist debates about free will, choice, and destiny.

Philosophical undertones:

Determinism vs. free will (Spinoza, Schopenhauer)

Multiverse theory

Existentialism (Simone de Beauvoir)

Time and identity (Henri Bergson)

There But For The, Ali Smith

Ali Smith being Ali Smith. This involves a dinner guest locks himself in a stranger’s spare room and refuses to leave, leading to a meditation on language, social connection, and the absurdity of modern life. The novel deconstructs the arbitrary nature of social etiquette and the language we use to define reality, invoking poststructuralist ideas about meaning and interpretation.

Philosophical undertones:

Absurdism (Albert Camus)

Jacques Derrida (language, deconstruction)

Moral philosophy (Immanuel Kant, duty and social obligation)

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