The Heart of the Matter, by Graham Greene, and several other books by him.
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov.
Middlemarch by George Eliot (it was a unique experience at the time, and I'd also include Portrait of a Lady in that regard - I'd never come across anything like it, or any characters like them.)
And...
Swann's Way by Marcel Proust
There are others, but these jump to the forefront of my mind as ones that completely tore open my brain and played the fiddle with my emotions. I like what you're getting at here, I'd happily read more about it.
no subject
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov.
Middlemarch by George Eliot (it was a unique experience at the time, and I'd also include Portrait of a Lady in that regard - I'd never come across anything like it, or any characters like them.)
And...
Swann's Way by Marcel Proust
There are others, but these jump to the forefront of my mind as ones that completely tore open my brain and played the fiddle with my emotions. I like what you're getting at here, I'd happily read more about it.
Have you read James Wood's "How Fiction Works?"