December 1991, XNUMX was the day Sofia's World was published in Norway. However, the success of the novel was such that it became a bestseller both in Europe and throughout the world.
Quite a few years have passed since that 1991 and not many remember this book. But if you were one of those who read it or now you have come across it and you do not know exactly what you will find in the story, then we will talk about it.
Who wrote Sofia's World?
Sofia's World is the book for which the Norwegian writer Jostein Gaarder became known. Libro was his second novel for him but it managed to catapult him to worldwide success due to the plot it offered as well as a way of introducing philosophy among adolescents mixing adventure with informative knowledge.
Prior to this book, the author published The Mystery of the Solitaire, for which he received the National Award for Literary Criticism in Norway and the Literary Award from the Ministry of Social and Scientific Affairs. A year later they gave him the European Youth Literature Prize.
Despite having been writing for many years, the truth is that he does not have so many works. The last of his books is titled We are the ones who are here now, published in 2022. And in total he has thirteen published books.
Sofia's World: Story Summary
Sofia's World is one of the books for teenagers that caused a sensation when it was published in the XNUMXs. There are still many teachers who send it as compulsory reading to students, but the truth is that it is one of the best readings to bring philosophy closer to the youngest and make it enjoyable.
In this case, The book tells us the story of Sofia, a 14-year-old girl who lives in Norway in 1990. One day, two messages and a card addressed to a certain Hilde are found in her mailbox. Thus begins his own adventure in which, through letters and documents, he takes a philosophy course and gets to know the different most representative philosophers. His mentor is Alberto Knox, who teaches him all about philosophy at the same time that they both receive postcards addressed to another girl from a man named Albert Knag.
Although it may seem like a normal story, the truth is that there is nothing typical about it. To begin with, the characters themselves, who are invented, rebel against that writer and try to take revenge and escape the imagination of who invented them. That is why at one point in the novel, the story becomes more tense and goes beyond philosophy to give life and soul to some characters while knowing the true nature of the person to whom the postcards are addressed and the man who sends them.
Actually, we don't want to give you the ending or approach it so that you have the surprise at the moment you read the book.
Main characters in Sofia's World
As we have told you before, many different characters appear in Sofia's world. But we can stay with the most important ones. These are:
- Sofia: is the protagonist of the book, a fourteen-year-old girl who begins to receive a philosophy course by correspondence.
- Albert Knox: He is a philosophy professor and the one who teaches Sofía the different authors and theories to find answers to those questions about the world.
- Hilde: he is a mysterious character. At first we only know about her about the postcards from her that Sofía receives where another man tells her some things.
- albert knag: He is considered the writer of the story and is one of the most important people you will meet in the novel. He has quite a strong weight since he is the one who directs the story towards the final outcome.
Which philosophers appear in the book Sofia's world
As we have told you before, Sofia's World is a book that talks about philosophy and introduces us to a series of famous authors, while others are not so famous.
The list of philosophers that you will find in this book includes authors such as: Thales of Miletus, Anaximander of Miletus, Anaximenes of Miletus, Parmenides of Elea, Anaxagoras, Democritus, Plato, Empedocles of Agrigento, Zeno of Elea, Antisthenes, Heraclitus, Plotinus, René Descartes, Baruch Spinoza, Socrates of Athens, Protagoras of Abdera, Epicurus, The Sophists, Aristotle, Immanuel Kant, Karl Marx...
Apart from all these philosophers, we have to say that you will also meet well-known characters worldwide and from whom you will learn together by sight and historical parts in a much easier way to retain in memory.
What does the book teach us?
Sofia's world is a book that teenagers as well as adults may or may not like. It carries a great informative load since it presents the philosophers and their theories in an entertaining and easy-to-understand way. However, it must be taken into account that the objective of the writer is a first approximation of the philosophy and the authors so that they themselves are able to understand what their thoughts and ways of thinking and acting were so that they can discern about the possible situations by which they will face throughout their lives.
In other words, it is about making the reader reflect on how people have reasoned about existence over time and how the different theories have been changing.
As you can see, Sofia's World is one of the books that every teenager should read to face those uncomfortable questions that we often don't know how to answer. But, in addition, it is also quite interesting reading for adults since it makes them think and reflect on life and how we have evolved. In fact, the author himself has said more than once that he has always ignored the question that everyone asks: what the future of human beings will be like.