Ah, but that’s part of the problem. If only 15 novels come out in a year, then there’s a good chance that one will be widely read, but if 379 novels come out, then the market is much more widely spread out, and so each novel will be read by a smaller percentage of people.
Valete,
Vox Imperatoris
ETA: This also applies to music, which is why I think from now on, there will no longer be “definitive” songs of a year or decade.
That’s another good point. I don’t have any statistics on reading habits, but I’ve read a lot of novels set in the late 1800’s/early 1900’s. When a reader is a character, they’re usually described as having a few favorite novels (or books of poetry) that they read over and over.
I’d like to think that the reason we’re having trouble coming up with future classics is that there’s so much good stuff to choose from. 
You may well be right. Personally, I’ve started that book three times, but have yet to manage to make it past the midpoint. (Which reminds me, I’m about due to take another crack at it sometime soon.)
If there is any justice in the world:
Gregory David Roberts - ‘Shantaram’ a semi-autobiographical novel about an escaped convict living as an expat in Bombay.
I think there have been a lot of good novels since 2000, but no classics. Most were dependent upon contemporary issues or interests.
I thought “The Road” was just another end-of-the world book.
The two that I am certain will be regarded as classics are “Johnathan Strange and Mr. Norrell” by Susannah Clarke and “The Yiddish Policemen’s Union” by Chabon. Of those I much preferred Johnathan Strange. Like Dio I think it is the best fantasy novel of at least the last fifty years.
I heard a story about this book on NPR right around the time it was published and thought it sounded really good. Then 2 days ago I bought a hardback copy in my local public library for a dollar. I haven’t read it yet but I thought that couldn’t be a good sign. I’m still going to give it a chance, of course.
Good point. If we broaden our horizons a bit, I’d say Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal, by Christopher Moore, is worthy of consideration.
There’s a lot of Mark Twain in Christopher Moore, it seems to me.
I don’t know if it will be an enduring classic, but I agree that WWZ is a very interesting, entertaining and creative take on a well-worn genre.
Something I didn’t know until long after I read the book is that the author, Max Brooks, is the son of Mel Brooks.
You Philistines who haven’t read this book will all run out to buy it when the main character is played by Johnny Depp and the film is directed by Mira Nair. 
I thought it was great. It’s really surprising how well the cadence of Philip Marlowe-style speech fit into the rhythms of Yiddish-accented English. Kavalier & Klay is a better novel, though, and more likely to be the one remembered a hundred years from now. But I suspect that Michael Chabon’s best work has yet to be written.
I was ready to agree, but then I thought about books from the nineteenth century with comparable sales. Ben-Hur and Last of the Mohicans may not be classics and any honest critic would call them literary bubblegum, but the titles still have a hell of a lot of name recognition.
Nothing against Eggers, but no way will A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius or You Shall Know Our Velocity be considered classic novels.
Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon, Falling Man by Don DeLillo, and (maybe) The Road. Those would be my picks.
I would add asterisks to The Four Feathers, A Little Princess, and A Girl of the Limberlost. All are still in print and I would consider them classics.
I won’t argue with that.
Maybe we can agree on some authors writing in the 21st century whose work will be considered classic? Toni Morrison, Philip Roth, John Updike, Cormac McCarthy, Stephen King (even Harold Bloom admits he can’t be ignored) for sure.
Maybe Michael Chabon, Stewart O’Nan, Neal Stephenson, Neil Gaiman, Wally Lamb, Larry McMurtry?
John Irving, definitely. The bulk of his important work was published in the 20th century, but he’s still going strong in the 21st, with three novels published and one more coming soon (Last Night In Twisted River, 2009). Being a bestseller multiple times definitely helps him, as well as his unique ability to weave absurd tragicomic tapestries with strange characters and bizarre sexual situations. I imagine that those sexual kinks percolating in his mind and spewing onto the page will give him a distinct historical identity. Throw in the sheer entertainment value of some of his efforts (particularly The Hotel New Hampshire) and he’s a pretty guaranteed classic author.
I haven’t read it, but it seems to be a book that will go the distance:
Seconded. Blood Meridian will be remembered as his finest work, and an American classic. The Road will be remembered as the book that got people reading him.
PS Dio: They recently started reprinting Notes on Blood Meridian, a retracing of McCarthys research. A wonderful companion piece to Blood Meridian. Give it a look see.
Thanks, I’ll check it out. It doesn’t give any insights into the Judge or into the ending, does it? McCarthy is notoriously reticent about ever explaining hs work.
Neil Gaiman is a hack with terrible prose but interesting ideas. I seriously doubt he’ll be remembered for novels, though certainly for comic books where his tortured descriptions aren’t present.
This thread is sort of confusing. When we say turn of the century do we mean the 20th or 21st?