# greatest novel of the 20th century? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 24, 2015, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-novel-of-the-20th-century/710793 "2015-01-24T21:55:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-novel-of-the-20th-century/710793/21 "2015-01-25T00:42:14Z")
I can only go by books that I’ve read, and these are pretty much in order: The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck East of Eden, Steinbeck One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey The Milagro Beanfield War, John Nichols Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry I picked these based on the fact that it was almost impossible to put them down, once I started reading them. There are more, of course, but I’ve already overstepped the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-novel-of-the-20th-century/710793/22 "2015-01-25T00:43:26Z")
How can one choose? Impossible, really, especially if you really fairly consider literature from all over the world, and not just the USA and Great Britain. I’ll stick with English language novels, I guess (totally unfair, but that’s what I know best.) _Winesburg, Ohio_ by Sherwood Anderson. Or maybe that would be rejected as being a cycle of short stories, not truly a novel. A truly awesome cycle of short stories, but yeah, ok. Or, maybe Mark Twain’s _The Mysterious Stranger_. Joseph Heller’s _Catch 22_? _A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man_ by James Joyce should be up there. Also Salman Rushie’s _Satanic Verses_ or _Midnight’s Children_. [Here’s is a good place to go for ideas](http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/100-best-novels/), except for “The Reader’s List,” whose top 10 is choked with idiot rubbish by L. Ron Hubbard and Ayn Rand. ETA: I don’t agree with _Ulysses_ as top choice. Heck with it. I’ll just pick the novel I’ve read and enjoyed the most of all of them by far: J.R.R. Tolkien’s _The Lord of the Rings_. ---
**Author:** ![Purd\_Werfect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47c2d/32.png) [@Purd\_Werfect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Purd_Werfect)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-novel-of-the-20th-century/710793/23 "2015-01-25T00:49:09Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I can only go by books that I’ve read, and these are pretty much in order: > > The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck > > East of Eden, Steinbeck > > One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey > > The Milagro Beanfield War, John Nichols > > Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry > > I picked these based on the fact that it was almost impossible to put them down, once I started reading them. There are more, of course, but I’ve already overstepped the OP. All wonderful books. For my own contribution, I’ll throw in **Sometimes a Great Notion** by _Ken Kesey_. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-novel-of-the-20th-century/710793/24 "2015-01-25T00:52:36Z")
_East of Eden_, or _To Kill a Mockingbird_, or _All Quiet on the Western Front_, or _My Antonia_, or… ---
**Author:** ![Clark\_Cello](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@Clark\_Cello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clark_Cello)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-novel-of-the-20th-century/710793/25 "2015-01-25T00:52:59Z")
> [@Labdad](#): > > _The Sound and the Fury_ I don’t know if I have an opinion on this question, but I came into the thread to make sure this book was mentioned. I’ll also throw out “My Antonia” as a sentimental choice. ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-novel-of-the-20th-century/710793/26 "2015-01-25T00:55:22Z")
Some great books that I’ve read and and books that I really should get round to reading; I’ll bookmark this thread. I’ll chip in with Graham Greene’s _The End Of The Affair_ and Mervyn Peake’s _Gormenghast_ trilogy. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-novel-of-the-20th-century/710793/27 "2015-01-25T03:02:46Z")
Another vote for _To Kill a Mockingbird_. I had to read it in high school, and I knew that, like all the other stuff they forced on us, it was going to suck. But when, or if, I have to go to a nursing home and can have only a very small shelf of books, this will be one of them. I’ll get it in large print if I have to. I haven’t read Dickens since I had to choke down _Great Expectations_. And T_he Pearl_ soured me on Steinbeck. We had to read Shakespeare without ever seeing a play performed or on film. thank God I watched _Measure for Measure_ in a BBC production, or I’d still have passed the Bard by. But TKAM snuck up on me and I love it. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-novel-of-the-20th-century/710793/28 "2015-01-25T03:31:50Z")
> [@Clark\_Cello](#): > > I’ll also throw out “My Antonia” as a sentimental choice. Oh _come on_, **The Knack** was an OK band at best. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-novel-of-the-20th-century/710793/29 "2015-01-25T03:41:03Z")
**^ zoid** , don’t you make me come up there, young man! It’s way past your bed-time! You put out those lights and [Go The Fuck To Sleep](http://vimeo.com/27019462)! ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-novel-of-the-20th-century/710793/30 "2015-01-25T03:44:24Z")
> [@Knorf](#): > > [Here’s is a good place to go for ideas](http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/100-best-novels/), except for “The Reader’s List,” whose top 10 is choked with idiot rubbish by L. Ron Hubbard and Ayn Rand. ETA: I don’t agree with _Ulysses_ as top choice. Rand: _The Fountainhead._ One man’s greatest novel is another man’s idiot rubbish. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-novel-of-the-20th-century/710793/31 "2015-01-25T05:35:12Z")
Two way tie for me, my two favorite books- Catch-22 and One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest 2nd Place: Deliverance ---
**Author:** ![Shamozzle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-novel-of-the-20th-century/710793/32 "2015-01-25T06:18:06Z")
Blood Meridian It’s hard to imagine something so astonishing could spring from the human mind. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-novel-of-the-20th-century/710793/33 "2015-01-25T06:22:30Z")
My choices are candidates for Favorite Twenty, rather than Greatest One. I’ve read only about one-quarter of the “classics,” but found some of them, e.g. Dos Passos’ _U.S.A._, too tedious. _Call of the Wild_, _The Old Man and the Sea_, _Of Mice and Men_ – I like novellas. _Catch-22_. And let’s include something by Martin Amis, e.g. _Time’s Arrow_, _Money_ or _London Fields_. Is it silly to mention the influential _The Wonderful World of Oz_? > [@pulykamell](#): > > _The Master and Margarita_ I’m glad someone mentioned this lovely novel. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-novel-of-the-20th-century/710793/34 "2015-01-25T06:46:44Z")
I’ll third (or fourth) One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and also fourth To Kill a Mockingbird. ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-novel-of-the-20th-century/710793/35 "2015-01-25T09:47:38Z")
Can I pick two? One for the books I read in English and one for the ones I read in French. Read in English: **Woolf** : _Mrs Dalloway_ Runners-up (in alphabetical order) **Atwood** : _Surfacing_ **Dos Passos** : _Manhattan Transfer_ **Fowles** : _The French Lieutenant’s Woman_ **Golding** : _Pincher Martin_ **Golding** : \*Free Fall \* **Woolf** : \*To the Lighthouse \* **Woolf** : \*The Waves \* Read in French: **Perec** : _La vie mode d’emploi_ (_Life A User’s Manual_) Runners-up (in alphabetical order) [SPOILER] **Bulgakov** : _The Master and Margarita_ **Butor** : _La Modification_ (_Second Thoughts_) **Calvino** : _Invisible Cities_ **Céline** : _Voyage au bout de la nuit_ (_Journey to the End of the Night_) **Döblin** : _Berlin Alexanderplatz_ **Gracq** : _Le Rivage des Syrtes_ (_The Opposing Shore_) **Kafka** : _The Castle_ **Tournier** : _Vendredi ou les Limbes du Pacifique_ (_Friday, or, The Other Island_) **Yourcenar** : _L’OEuvre au noir_ (_The Abyss_, or _Zeno of Bruges_) Not a novel but I must mention **Borges** ’s _The Garden of Forking Paths_.[/SPOILER] ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-novel-of-the-20th-century/710793/36 "2015-01-25T10:52:30Z")
**Pimp** by Iceberg Slim. There’s a wonderful column by Josh Alan Friedman comparing and contrasting Iceberg Slim’s oeuvre to his former classmate Ralph ( **Invisible Man** ) Ellison’s. Ellison got all the awards, but Slim got the booty and the cash, baby! ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-novel-of-the-20th-century/710793/37 "2015-01-25T14:34:38Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > Two way tie for me, my two favorite books- > Catch-22 > and > One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest > 2nd Place: Deliverance [nitpick] If two books are ahead of it, _Deliverance_ is in third place, not second. [/nitpick] ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-novel-of-the-20th-century/710793/38 "2015-01-25T14:56:24Z")
IMHO of course: _The Lord of the Rings_ by J.R.R. Tolkien was the greatest novel of the 20th century. He also basically made the fantasy genre along with it. _To Kill a Mockingbird_ is a worthy runner up. ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-novel-of-the-20th-century/710793/39 "2015-01-25T15:12:30Z")
Another vote for _Lonesome Dove_, at least for American literature. ---
**Author:** ![SeldomSeen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@SeldomSeen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeldomSeen)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-novel-of-the-20th-century/710793/40 "2015-01-25T16:48:29Z")
My reading is weighted heavily on the non-fiction side, so I’ve probably missed some of the greatest novels, but of the ones I’ve read, I’d have to go with _The Grapes of Wrath._ It is a masterpiece. Runners-up would be _Sometimes a Great Notion_ (Kesey) and _Centennial_ (Michener). Honorable mention to Richard Bradford’s remarkable _Red Sky at Morning_, a fine little book that never seems to get the attention it deserves. It’s possible that regional snobbery plays a role in my critical judgement, as all my favorites seem to be set in the American West. SS [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-novel-of-the-20th-century/710793.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-novel-of-the-20th-century/710793.md?page=3)