# The Five Essential American Literature Books **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 22, 2010, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-essential-american-literature-books/551028 "2010-08-22T02:57:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-essential-american-literature-books/551028/61 "2010-08-23T20:14:45Z")
> [@](#): > > Instead, it [Huckleberry Finn]'s a serious meditation on good, evil, right, wrong, and what it means to have to make decisions on one’s own, among many other reasons. Personally, I thought that the major theme in _Huck Finn_ was fatherhood: On the one hand, you’ve got Huck’s biological father, a loathsome monster of a man who never had anything to do with him but what he could get out of him, but on the other hand, you’ve got Jim, who (despite being as unlike Huck as it was possible to be, in that time and place) acts as a good father _should_ towards him. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-essential-american-literature-books/551028/62 "2010-08-23T20:28:41Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Personally, I thought that the major theme in _Huck Finn_ was fatherhood: On the one hand, you’ve got Huck’s biological father, a loathsome monster of a man who never had anything to do with him but what he could get out of him, but on the other hand, you’ve got Jim, who (despite being as unlike Huck as it was possible to be, in that time and place) acts as a good father _should_ towards him. I agree. I think Twain’s skill came from clubbing us on the head with the monstrous quality of Huck’s father, but Jim’s quality is released more subtly. Only at the end do we find that Jim had kept Huck out of the floating house because the dead man there was Huck’s father. Jim’s qualities have to be perceived through the sum of his actions, something that people’s prejudices would have prevented had they been explicit. ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-essential-american-literature-books/551028/63 "2010-08-23T20:29:18Z")
Finished _As I lay dying today_, coincidentally - it’s easily one of the most impressive pieces of American lit I’ve read, although I think I’d rate _the sound and the fury_ even higher, I’d need to let it settle a wee bit for a fair comparison. Whether Faulkner encapsulates something uniquely American in the way that other books mentioned do, I’m not sure. Maybe not IMO. An epic work square in the essential American lit tradition is _The adventures of Augie March_ by Saul Bellow. Beautiful account of the American dream in the 40s/50s, very accessible, straight-forward writing for a Nobel prize winner (in total contrast to Faulkner). Don’t see this book mentioned much in these sort of threads - I wonder if Bellow is read as much as his late-twentieth century contemporaries these days. ---
**Author:** ![alindallas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f17d59/32.png) [@alindallas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alindallas)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-essential-american-literature-books/551028/64 "2010-08-23T21:42:04Z")
I offer no excuses for my list. The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym - Poe Armor - Steakley Two Years Before the Mast - Dana Of Mice and Men - Steinbeck The Shadow Rising - Jordan ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-essential-american-literature-books/551028/65 "2010-08-23T22:30:52Z")
[_Illuminatus!_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illuminatus) by Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea [_The Historical Illuminatus Chronicles,_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Historical_Illuminatus_Chronicles) by Robert Anton Wilson [_Principia Discordia, or, How I Found Goddess and What I Did to Her When I Found Her,_](http://www.principiadiscordia.com/book/1.php) by Malaclypse the Younger [_The Book of the SubGenius: The Sacred Teachings of J.R. “Bob” Dobbs_](http://www.amazon.com/Book-SubGenius-Sacred-Teachings-Dobbs/dp/0671638106) [_Revalation X: The “Bob” Apocryphon_](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1560259558/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_2?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0671638106&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=08JFDTAM4FFG46X11FVB) By comparison with these compendia of pure awesome, nothing else mentioned in this thread deserves to called “American,” or “literature,” or “books.” So there. ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-essential-american-literature-books/551028/66 "2010-08-24T01:28:12Z")
All the other books suggested are great. It wouldn’t make it on most top 5 lists – I’m not sure it’s on mine – but The Red Badge of Courage is American, literature, a pretty damn good read, and you can polish it off in an evening. ---
**Author:** ![Enterprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/76d3ee/32.png) [@Enterprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enterprise)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-essential-american-literature-books/551028/67 "2010-08-24T09:05:57Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Personally, I thought that the major theme in _Huck Finn_ was fatherhood: On the one hand, you’ve got Huck’s biological father, a loathsome monster of a man who never had anything to do with him but what he could get out of him, but on the other hand, you’ve got Jim, who (despite being as unlike Huck as it was possible to be, in that time and place) acts as a good father _should_ towards him. _Huckleberry Finn_ leaves enough room for many interpretations, I suppose. I’m not sure about this, though. Certainly Jim is a good guy, and nice to Huck, but my personal feeling is that Jim’s not much more than good…lacking father-y qualities, if you will. I’m not disputing that you \*could \*read Jim as a father figure (a not particularly bright father figure, though), but then I’d say you’d have a problem with Huck setting off to free Jim from slavery. It’s a no-brainer if you accept Jim as a better father; it’s a reflection on the need to make difficult decisions for one self, and thus ties in with the journey metaphor of the river escape, if Jim’s a slave that Huck shouldn’t free, but does. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-essential-american-literature-books/551028/68 "2010-08-24T20:54:29Z")
Although not widely known, I think something by Jim Harison (_Dalva or The Road Home_ for example) should be on the list. Maybe I’m a rube, but I don’t see the appeal to _Moby Dick._ ---
**Author:** ![bramma23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@bramma23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bramma23)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-essential-american-literature-books/551028/69 "2010-08-25T02:02:25Z")
> [@ProudlyDefiant](#): > > High school American lit teacher, here. > > My honors students read more than five American Lit books a year, but if I were to pick five from my current reading list, I’d tell you to read: > > The Great Gatsby > Of Mice and Men > The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn > The Scarlet Letter > Catcher in the Rye This was 3 of the 5 on my last but I had The Invisible Man by Ellison and To Kill A Mockingbird instead of Catcher in the Rye and Of Mice and Men. I could be persuaded to include Absalom, Absalom and All the King’s Men. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-essential-american-literature-books/551028/70 "2010-08-25T02:44:52Z")
I’m no expert on literature, I prefer non-fiction (it’s an occupational hazard - _I’m an engineer_). But I opine that Thomas Harris’ novel The Silence of the Lambs may belong in that category, for its compelling dialogue on the nature of evil and my inability to put the damned thing down. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-essential-american-literature-books/551028/71 "2010-08-25T05:01:02Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > Wow, I’m shocked at a couple of trends: > > 1. The lack of Hemingway > 2. No sci-fi or horror, at all. > > This begs the question: is academia advanced enough to accept sci-fi/horror as “literature?” Well with Hemingway, great prose. IMHO less great novels. But that’s a matter of individual taste. I mentioned King for horror, Shawshank isn’t exactly the depths of horror, but King and others should be considered. What are your horror recommendations? ---
**Author:** ![llazzllo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a698b9/32.png) [@llazzllo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/llazzllo)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-essential-american-literature-books/551028/72 "2010-08-25T06:59:31Z")
If only just to put some things up here that nobody else has: Stephen King: Either The Stand, or IT. Both quintessential King, and looong, to boot. (Although my favorite of his is The Shining). Clive Barker: Weaveworld. I’m not a big Clive Barker fan. I’ve tried reading several of his books and couldn’t. But this one is special. It’s epic, it’s magical, and it ends right where it began, so it begs to be read over and over. Richard Bach: Illusions. One of my favorite books, simply wonderful. Very Zen. Chuck Palahniuk: Fight Club, or Invisible Monsters. (I enjoyed Fight Club as a movie, but I’m reccommending Palahniuk for his writing style, and Fight Club is an excellent example.) Jonathan Safran Foer: Everything is Illuminated. Funny, moving, touching. I laughed, I cried, I laughed again. ---
**Author:** ![llazzllo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a698b9/32.png) [@llazzllo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/llazzllo)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-essential-american-literature-books/551028/73 "2010-08-25T07:06:13Z")
Oops. Barker’s British. Scratch that. ---
**Author:** ![alindallas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f17d59/32.png) [@alindallas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alindallas)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-essential-american-literature-books/551028/74 "2010-08-25T10:28:50Z")
> [@llazzllo](#): > > Oops. Barker’s British. Scratch that. That’s OK. I kept wanting to list Orwell’s greats. We’re Americans. It’s our job to steal stuff. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-essential-american-literature-books/551028/75 "2010-08-25T12:06:29Z")
> [@Arrendajo](#): > > All the other books suggested are great. It wouldn’t make it on most top 5 lists – I’m not sure it’s on mine – but The Red Badge of Courage is American, literature, a pretty damn good read, and you can polish it off in an evening. I was going to mention that book, as well as _From Here To Eternity_. ---
**Author:** ![InfoBee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@InfoBee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InfoBee)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-essential-american-literature-books/551028/76 "2010-08-30T18:52:13Z")
In addition to Huckleberry Finn, I’d read these to get a feel for slavery and Civil War period: Margaret Mitchell - Gone with the Wind Toni Morrison - Beloved Michael Shaara - The Killer Angels Harriet Beecher Stowe - Uncle Tom’s Cabin ---
**Author:** ![InfoBee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@InfoBee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InfoBee)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-essential-american-literature-books/551028/77 "2010-08-30T19:09:06Z")
William Faulkner - _As I Lay Dying_ Henry James (American who lived in England)- _Daisy Miller_/_The Portrait of a Lady_/_Washington Square_ John Steinbeck - _East of Eden_/_The Grapes of Wrath_ Edith Wharton - _The Age of Innocence_/_Ethan Frome_/_The House of Mirth_ Nathanael West - _Miss Lonelyhearts_/_Day of the Locust_ Short stories – John Cheever, Flannery O’Connor. We read _To Kill a Mockingbird_ in tenth grade. Seeing so many people recommending it, I’m going to read it again now and I’m sure will appreciate it more. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-essential-american-literature-books/551028/78 "2010-08-30T19:10:23Z")
My entirely subjective list: _The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin_- As good a work as any for the beginnings of America (which yes, I know, had been inhabited by Euros for a century when Franklin was born, BUT it was in his life that a national identity emerged and a nation formed [in highly debatable order]) _The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn_ (OR one of about five other Twain books I’d accept as a substitute) as Twain, in addition to being still readable and enjoyable (unlike Harriet Beecher Stowe or some of Hawthorne or other entury florid melodramatic authors of the 19th century) _In Cold Blood_ OR _To Kill a Mockingbird_ (either way you get Capote & Lee in some order or form) _A Confederacy of Dunces_- set in New Orleans ca. 1962 but also great for its takes on religion, race relations, the beatnik:hippie movement, and “the lack of a proper geometry” in late 20th century America _Bonfire of the Vanities_ or _A Man in Full_ ---
**Author:** ![InfoBee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@InfoBee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InfoBee)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-essential-american-literature-books/551028/79 "2010-08-30T19:18:24Z")
[ul] [li]Michael Chabon -\* The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay\*[/li][li]Jonathan Franzen - _The Corrections_[/li][li]John Irving - _A Prayer for Owen Meany_[/li][li]Marilynne Robinson - Gilead[/li][li]Wallace Stegner - _Angle of Repose_[/li][li]John Updike - Rabbit books[/li][li]Tom Wolfe - _Bonfire of the Vanities_[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/96bed5/32.png) [@Cat\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Jones)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-essential-american-literature-books/551028/80 "2010-08-30T20:59:23Z")
I’m a Brit and when I was in Uni I discovered American Literature as someone, much like the OP, wanting to read books I thought I should know (I was studying French btw !). Salinger - my preference is for “For Esmé with Love and Squalor”, and that actual short story above other in the collection Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby Steinbeck - I feel “Of mice and men” is a finely tuned work of genius but perhaps “The Grapes of Wrath” gives more of a feeling of place and time. More contemporary - the sheer craft of the writing in Cormac Mccarthy’s “All the Pretty Horses”. I’d like to include a female writer and am tempted by The Color Purple but, having read it recently, would go with “[THeir eyes were watching God](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Their_Eyes_Were_Watching_God)” by Zora Neale Hurston. As someone else said “The Devil’s Dictionary” is a great dipping into book and very definitley of its time. Whispering … I didn’t really enjoy “The Scarlet Letter” & Huckleberry Finn or Tom Sawyer. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-essential-american-literature-books/551028.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-essential-american-literature-books/551028.md?page=5)