All The Kings Men, an obvious choice given my user name.
A close second place for Blood Meridian, or The Evening Redness in the West.
The Good Soldier Švejk, by Jaroslav Hašek. Duh.
“Valley of the Dolls”.
j/k
A two-way tie for First Place means there’s also a two-way tie for Second Place? Is that how it works? (I wondered about this when I posted my entry.)
No, a two-way tie for first means that there is no second place.
It goes:
1 (tied)
1 (tied)
3
4
5
6
You can see it in the order. If two books are tied for first, it means that the book that comes after them has two books ahead of it, ergo that book is the third-placed book.
Very much ditto on that one, Jackie Bird.
And East of Eden.
If ‘of the 20th century’ is an active part of the question, then they should address some of the key themes of the century, like:
total war and its impact / folly
humans still capable of being horrific to each other by denying their humanity
transformative industrial change to peoples’ lives
etc
Lots on the first two - Catch 22, To kill a mockingbird, both worthy candidates.
I cant off the cuff think of a good candidate in the third category, say matching Metropolis or Modern Times in impact.
Asimov’s Foundation trilogy (which I read as a single novel) might be my favorite. My high-brow pick would be 1984. Wow did that novel disturb me when I read it.
Admittedly I’ve read a shamefully small selection of the 20th-century great novels, and have finished even fewer (I’m terrible with names, so something like 100 Years of Solitude is entirely beyond my reach). But of the ones I’ve read and enjoyed, Blood Meridian is the one that grabbed hold and wouldn’t let go.
No, but it IS the consensus that the phrase “general consensus” is redundant.
Which consensus are you talking about, specifically?
Is is consesuses or or concensusi?
before I venture a guess, let me first ask … will it make me fat?
Vassily Grossman’s Life and Fate would be an even better candidate if we’re judging by those criteria.
Vonnegut’s first novel, Player Piano, is an important book on the third theme, which is also the second theme in a non-warlike sense. It’s a good, not great, book, coming too early for him to be fully in control of his talent.
Atlas Shrugged
Another vote for To Kill A Mockingbird. It’s not too strong to say that reading that book at the right time (senior year of high school) changed my outlook and attitude on a lot of things. It was like raw wisdom being shoved into my head. It took a while to process it.
But really, to find the definitive novel of the 20th century is a fool’s game. What about novels for different cultures. TKAM might not speak as solidly to someone from Japan or Ethiopia. And we have to deal with language differences, too. Oy.
I agree with many that have been put forth above
Must add
Faulkner, The Sound And The Fury
Thomas Mann, The Magic Mountain
Herman Hesse, The Glass Bead Game
Jose Saramago, The Stone Raft
Also second
Portrait of the Artist, Joyce
and strangely enough
Peake’s, Gormenghast
Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart is the great Nigerian novel. And it was written in English, so you don’t have to worry about translation.
Makes sense to me now. 10-Q veddy much.