The Atlantic has surveyed a bunch of people to get a list of the great American novels written from 1924 onward.
In setting out to identify that new American canon, we decided to define American as having first been published in the United States (or intended to be—read more in our entries on Lolita and The Bell Jar ). And we narrowed our aperture to the past 100 years—a period that began as literary modernism was cresting and contains all manner of literary pleasure and possibility, including the experimentations of postmodernism and the narrative satisfactions of genre fiction.
I have only read 24 of them, but it certainly gives me something to look at. And I’m glad to see a Stephen King novel was listed!
I am ashamed to say there are many on there I do not recognize. I enjoy reading and, while I not have read all the things I like to think I am aware of most of the notable novels in the American canon. Guess not.
I have a trip planned in a few months where I will be able to read a lot. This list will help. Thanks!
If there’s only gonna be one King book on the list, The Stand is a good pick, but The Talisman probably belongs on there too - I’d consider it as much of an essential American “road” novel as Travels with Charley (which didn’t make the list either).
I also would’ve liked to see A Separate Peace and Johnny Tremain on the list.
Peyton Place makes the list, but nothing from Sinclair Lewis.
“he had dreamed of America as a land of light. Always through disillusion and weariness he beheld America as the world’s nursery for justice, for broad, fair towns, and eager talk; and always he kept a young soul that dared to desire beauty.”
I’m surprised by how many of the books listed I’ve read, especially the number of recent ones. It’s good to see a list of great books that doesn’t end with something published in the 70’s!
I see your point but I’m surprised at the number of very recent books on this list: 17 were published in the past ten years, almost 20%. I wonder how many of these will still be considered “great” in 100 years.
Having said that, I admit that I’ve only read 8 books on this list, with most recent one dating back to 1974. But I’m going to add a few to my to-read heap.
The interesting thing to me about that list is how many of the books (6, I think) I started but never got all the way through, which is not something I do often. There were also a couple that I think I’ve read but don’t remember well enough to be sure.
Also at 23 - not counting probably 8 or so that I gave good efforts to and just didn’t care to finish. (Won’t list them as they are undoubtedly someone else’s faves.)
One that got my attention was Dog of the South. Boy, I was really looking forward to that, as I had LOVED True Grit as a kid. Man, what a bore.
Now I am worried. I mentioned up-thread that I am soon to take a vacation and this list helps with books I might want to take along.
But, now I am scared. Many on the list I am not familiar with and I fear wasting time with a boring one. I guess being on this list is not really a guarantee of an enjoyable read. Not surprising I guess…
Well, with any such lists, you have to account for your personal tastes. For example, I periodically wonder whether I ought to give Faulkner another try. At times I’ve churned through “great books” just because I’ve thought they were something someone ought to have read to consider themselves “well read.” But in some cases, I think it is enough to give enough of an effort to decide that a work/author simply isn’t for you. So, I might give Faulkne another try. But I’d be shocked if I try another Roth, or Wallace. Just my personal tastes.
On edit: FYI - I pulled up my 1-line review from when I read it in 2019: Crappy trip thru Mex to Belize, by writer of True Grit
Yeah - that seems a notable omission. I imagine we could come up with no shortage or others.
There are quite a few on the list that weren’t set in America. From what they say in the article, they considered some American based on what my kids would call vibes. They also very explicitly included a lot of books from writers who have historically been ignored. That will have undoubtedly led to the omission of some excellent works by white men.
Any list like this isn’t going to be comprehensive and, given the range, no one is likely to agree on all of them. It’s not possible to make a fair comparison between recent books and ones that have been around for fifty years or more. I agree that some of the novels from the past ten years or so won’t stand the test of time, just like some of the ones people were raving about in the 70’s didn’t. I also suspect some will. But this isn’t a list of the only great books from the past century, and that’s okay.
All in all, I’d say there are some delightful books from some great writers there. I only wish Lauren Groff in particular could write faster than I read.
I have read 17 of them. I will admit to having forgotten large chunks of some of them–I know I read A Summons to Memphis, for example, but could tell you practically nothing about it–but the ones I do recall tended to be quite good.
I was surprised to see There, There on the list–I made it through about 60 pages before giving up and boy was it a slog.
And while I like Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping, I think her novel Gilead is superior and was surprised to see the first but not the second on the list.
Quibbles, quibbles. Guess that’s what makes it fun.
Yeah, word for word that including the book - we did that one in book club maybe twenty years ago and I know that I liked it, but I don’t remember a thing.
I also saw four books that I’ve abandoned, and obviously didn’t count them.
