In times of deep crisis, even the most fundamental values of society are put into question, as people search for answers that can serve as a guidance when everything seems to be falling apart. In times like these, the arts are much more than a mere pastime, but rather become like a mirror in which society can reflect itself looking for clues in the image which is returned by that mirror.Each of the books submitted for this project can be said to work well for this purpose, since, taken together, they compose a sort of homage to diversity and, more fundamentally, testify to the existence of society as a whole, and not merely as a sum of dispersed individuals selfishly achieving their goals. Thus, in Margaret Drabble’s «The Pure Gold Baby» we find a brave single mother struggling to raise a child that is not fit to be normal, enduring the rejection of a society which rewards only those that are fit to succeed in it. Also, the Slovenian writer Drago Jančar, winner in 2011 of the European Prize for Literature, explores the subjects of an adventurous life that ends up in imprisonment, while establishing a parallel with the historic Israeli resistance in the Massada against the Roman Empire. Paolo Volponi’s «Le mosche del capitale» deals with the overpowering effects that an industrial and technological society has on individuals, which become more and more like interchangeable parts in a machine. Anticipating in a way «The Lord of the Flies», Stig Dagerman’s «De dömdas ö» was a precursor in the genre, as the seven castaways facing death on a deserted island will represent humankind’s fears and anxieties in a most extreme manner. In «Les barbares», Jacques Abeille takes upon the reasons that lead to the ruin and the extinction of a flourishing society. And finally, Gregor von Rezzori’s «Der Tod meines Bruders Abel» serves as a reminder of what happened to a whole continent when extreme and fanatical ideas replace such social pillars like common welfare and solidarity.