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This list of the "100 greatest novels in English published in the 20th century" was drawn up by the editorial board of Modern Library. 1. "Ulysses," James Joyce 2. "The Great Gatsby," F. Scott Fitzgerald 3. "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man," James Joyce 4. "Lolita," Vladimir Nabokov 5. "Brave New World," Aldous Huxley 6. "The Sound and the Fury," William Faulkner 7. "Catch-22," Joseph Heller 8. "Darkness at Noon," Arthur Koestler 9. "Sons and Lovers," D. H. Lawrence 10. "The Grapes of Wrath," John Steinbeck 11. "Under the Volcano," Malcolm Lowry 12. "The Way of All Flesh," Samuel Butler 13. "1984," George Orwell 14. "I, Claudius," Robert Graves 15. "To the Lighthouse," Virginia Woolf 16. "An American Tragedy," Theodore Dreiser 17. "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter," Carson McCullers 18. "Slaughterhouse Five," Kurt Vonnegut 19. "Invisible Man," Ralph Ellison 20. "Native Son," Richard Wright 21. "Henderson the Rain King," Saul Bellow 22. "Appointment in Samarra," John O' Hara 23. "U.S.A." (trilogy), John Dos Passos 24. "Winesburg, Ohio," Sherwood Anderson 25. "A Passage to India," E. M. Forster 26. "The Wings of the Dove," Henry James 27. "The Ambassadors," Henry James 28. "Tender Is the Night," F. Scott Fitzgerald 29. "The Studs Lonigan Trilogy," James T. Farrell 30. "The Good Soldier," Ford Madox Ford 31. "Animal Farm," George Orwell 32. "The Golden Bowl," Henry James 33. "Sister Carrie," Theodore Dreiser 34. "A Handful of Dust," Evelyn Waugh 35. "As I Lay Dying," William Faulkner 36. "All the King's Men," Robert Penn Warren 37. "The Bridge of San Luis Rey," Thornton Wilder 38. "Howards End," E. M. Forster 39. "Go Tell It on the Mountain," James Baldwin 40. "The Heart of the Matter," Graham Greene 41. "Lord of the Flies," William Golding 42. "Deliverance," James Dickey 43. "A Dance to the Music of Time" (series), Anthony Powell 44. "Point Counter Point," Aldous Huxley 45. "The Sun Also Rises," Ernest Hemingway 46. "The Secret Agent," Joseph Conrad 47. "Nostromo," Joseph Conrad 48. "The Rainbow," D. H. Lawrence 49. "Women in Love," D. H. Lawrence 50. "Tropic of Cancer," Henry Miller 51. "The Naked and the Dead," Norman Mailer 52. "Portnoy's Complaint," Philip Roth 53. "Pale Fire," Vladimir Nabokov 54. "Light in August," William Faulkner 55. "On the Road," Jack Kerouac 56. "The Maltese Falcon," Dashiell Hammett 57. "Parade's End," Ford Madox Ford 58. "The Age of Innocence," Edith Wharton 59. "Zuleika Dobson," Max Beerbohm 60. "The Moviegoer," Walker Percy 61. "Death Comes to the Archbishop," Willa Cather 62. "From Here to Eternity," James Jones 63. "The Wapshot Chronicles," John Cheever 64. "The Catcher in the Rye," J. D. Salinger 65. "A Clockwork Orange," Anthony Burgess 66. "Of Human Bondage," W. Somerset Maugham 67. "Heart of Darkness," Joseph Conrad 68. "Main Street," Sinclair Lewis 69. "The House of Mirth," Edith Wharton 70. "The Alexandria Quartet," Lawrence Durrell 71. "A High Wind in Jamaica," Richard Hughes 72. "A House for Ms. Biswas," V. S. Naipaul 73. "The Day of the Locust," Nathaniel West 74. "A Farewell to Arms," Ernest Hemingway 75. "Scoop," Evelyn Waugh 76. "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie," Muriel Spark 77. "Finnegans Wake," James Joyce 78. "Kim," Rudyard Kipling 79. "A Room With a View," E. M. Forster 80. "Brideshead Revisited," Evelyn Waugh 81. "The Adventures of Augie March," Saul Bellow 82. "Angle of Repose," Wallace Stegner 83. "A Bend in the River," V. S. Naipaul 84. "The Death of the Heart," Elizabeth Bowen 85. "Lord Jim," Joseph Conrad 86. "Ragtime," E. L. Doctorow 87. "The Old Wives' Tale," Arnold Bennett 88. "The Call of the Wild," Jack London 89. "Loving," Henry Green 90. "Midnight's Children," Salman Rushdie 91. "Tobacco Road," Erskine Caldwell 92. "Ironweed," William Kennedy 93. "The Magus," John Fowles 94. "Wide Sargasso Sea," Jean Rhys 95. "Under the Net," Iris Murdoch 96. "Sophie's Choice," William Styron 97. "The Sheltering Sky," Paul Bowles 98. "The Postman Always Rings Twice," James M. Cain 99. "The Ginger Man," J. P. Donleavy 100. "The Magnificent Ambersons," Booth Tarkington
23 responses total.
Looks as if all the authors who can't yet be published by Modern Library got left out. No John Updike, no Joyce Carol Oates, no Umberto Eco or John Irving or Anne Beatty or Mary McCarthy. Some of them are a stretch, I think. The Ginger Man?
I certainly would've included Pat Conroy, Henry Fielding, Stephen King among some others. 100 books from millions is just not enough. I would say there are 1000 classic books that everyone should read, including the afore mentioned 100 listed here.
Having only read 4 of the titles above, I guess I can look forward to at least 96 more good reads..
Re #2: Since this was a list of 20th century books, nothing by Henry Fielding would have been eligible, since he was an 18th century dude. Read a newspaper column commenting on the Modern Library's list. The author noted the bias towards authors published by the Modern Library, and also used the list as a basis for comparing the 19th and 20th centuries, concluding that the 19th century produced a far richer collection of fiction. I seem to have read 14 of the novels on the list. Not outstanding, but probably better than average.
"To Kill a Mockingbird", Harper Lee, isn't listed. The list is worthless.
I noted the absence of _The_Lord_of_the_Rings_, myself. But it's not worthless, Mary. It's a very nice demonstration of what the editors of the Modern Library think literature should be about. It omits large areas. (But _To_Kill_a_Mockingbird_ is indeed the *kind* of thing the Modern Library people are generally looking for, in a way that TLOTR is not. And I'm with you in thinking it much more deserving than a whole bunch of what did make the list.)
Heh. 1984 is up at #13. Coming out in the beginning of the Great Red Scare Paranoia, it was a match made in marketing heaven. But as a novel to judge by literary standards, it should be somewhere down below #13,000. Letterman's writers put together better lists than this.
Re: #6 Oh, Lordy. I intended to put a ;-) after the worthless response.
I think I read about 3 of those books, and none were half as good as To Kill a Mockingbird. No ;-) needed there.
These are the only ones I've read:
1. "Ulysses," James Joyce
2. "The Great Gatsby," F. Scott Fitzgerald
3. "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man," James Joyce
4. "Lolita," Vladimir Nabokov
5. "Brave New World," Aldous Huxley
8. "Darkness at Noon," Arthur Koestler
13. "1984," George Orwell
21. "Henderson the Rain King," Saul Bellow
23. "U.S.A." (trilogy), John Dos Passos
25. "A Passage to India," E. M. Forster
(the first 1/3 of) 29. "The Studs Lonigan Trilogy," James T. Farrell
30. "The Good Soldier," Ford Madox Ford
31. "Animal Farm," George Orwell
34. "A Handful of Dust," Evelyn Waugh
35. "As I Lay Dying," William Faulkner
41. "Lord of the Flies," William Golding
43. "A Dance to the Music of Time" (series), Anthony Powell (counts
as 12 novels!)
44. "Point Counter Point," Aldous Huxley
47. "Nostromo," Joseph Conrad
52. "Portnoy's Complaint," Philip Roth
53. "Pale Fire," Vladimir Nabokov
54. "Light in August," William Faulkner
58. "The Age of Innocence," Edith Wharton
59. "Zuleika Dobson," Max Beerbohm
64. "The Catcher in the Rye," J. D. Salinger
65. "A Clockwork Orange," Anthony Burgess
73. "The Day of the Locust," Nathaniel West
(probably more than you've read of) 77. "Finnegans Wake," James Joyce
88. "The Call of the Wild," Jack London
99. "The Ginger Man," J. P. Donleavy
Okay, Delizia is about twice as well read as I am. Here's the ones I've read: 3. "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man," James Joyce 4. "Lolita," Vladimir Nabokov 5. "Brave New World," Aldous Huxley 12. "The Way of All Flesh," Samuel Butler 13. "1984," George Orwell 17. "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter," Carson McCullers 18. "Slaughterhouse Five," Kurt Vonnegut 22. "Appointment in Samarra," John O' Hara 24. "Winesburg, Ohio," Sherwood Anderson 28. "Tender Is the Night," F. Scott Fitzgerald 30. "The Good Soldier," Ford Madox Ford 41. "Lord of the Flies," William Golding 45. "The Sun Also Rises," Ernest Hemingway 64. "The Catcher in the Rye," J. D. Salinger 68. "Main Street," Sinclair Lewis 88. "The Call of the Wild," Jack London (Brought to you by the miracle of cut & paste.)
41. "Lord of the Flies," William Golding 56. "The Maltese Falcon," Dashiell Hammett 64. "The Catcher in the Rye," J. D. Salinger 98. "The Postman Always Rings Twice," James M. Cain (Of the hard-boiled crime fiction school, Hammett and Cain are represented in the list; Raymond Chandler, who wrote better novels, is not.)
(I noticed the absence of Chandler also, and agree that he should have been represented. I'd have put "Farewell, My Lovely" on the list, or "The Long Goodbye".)
1. _Ulysses_, James Joyce
(or a good stab at it, anyway - gave up maybe 1/3 through?)
2. _The_Great_Gatsby_, F. Scott Fitzgerald
3. _A_Portrait_of_the_Artist_as_a_Young_Man_, James Joyce
5. _Brave_New_World_, Aldous Huxley
6. _The_Sound_and_the_Fury_, William Faulkner
(or at least much of it, and a lot of other Faulkner that didn't
make this list - not sure whether I finished this one)
7. _Catch-22_, Joseph Heller
10. _The_Grapes_of_Wrath_, John Steinbeck
13. _1984_, George Orwell
19. _Invisible_Man_, Ralph Ellison
23. _U.S.A._ (trilogy), John Dos Passos
26. _The_Wings_of_the_Dove_, Henry James
27. _The_Ambassadors_, Henry James
28. _Tender_Is_the_Night_, F. Scott Fitzgerald
29. _The_Studs_Lonigan_Trilogy_, James T. Farrell
31. _Animal_Farm_, George Orwell
33. _Sister_Carrie_, Theodore Dreiser
36. _All_the_King's_Men_, Robert Penn Warren
37. _The_Bridge_of_San_Luis_Rey_, Thornton Wilder
41. _Lord_of_the_Flies_, William Golding
45. _The_Sun_Also_Rises_, Ernest Hemingway
52. _Portnoy's_Complaint_, Philip Roth
64. _The_Catcher_in_the_Rye_, J. D. Salinger
78. _Kim_, Rudyard Kipling
I think I've read nine of these, some of them so long ago that I should probably re-read them. I remember hearing somewhere recently (I don't remember where, though) that this list was put together in a pretty sloppy way. Apparently, the people who were surveyed were not told that they were helping make a "100 best novels" list; they weren't told how many books to vote for, or to put them in order, just to write down a list of books they'd liked. The person I heard this from thought that this made the list less valid - I don't know if I agree, just throwing this into the conversation.
I've read about 15 of the books on the list, and have another 35 or so that are on the list and hopefully I'll read them all before I die. But first, I want to read some more of Conroy and Clancy.
Can someone tell me whether any of these books are available in electronic form? I have already found Kim, Sons and lovers.
Most of them are not yet old enough for the copyrights to have expired (if, in fact, they ever will.. Seems like every few years they keep extending the maximum life of copyrights. I guess that intellectual property owners have a more powerful lobby on their side than the public domain does..)
Indeed. Public interest be damned. Very sucky situation.
Man, I've only read 5 of the books on this list. I should try some more of these.
I'm with you: five. And that counts ones I can't quite remember, but don't remember quitting early on. :-) I've started, but not finished, 2 or 3 more of them. davel and md have read more than I'd *heard of* before. *sigh* And I used to consider myself somewhat well-read! I'm goint to have to start working on this list.
Personally, I don't think this list is all that good of a target. There's lots of stuff I'd put on that they've ignored, and quite a bunch on this list I'd say aren't worth much of anything. Just my $.02, since my name was mentioned ...
It's a decent place to start, tho', isn't it? I'm sure they'd all go in the top 200 or 500, if they got on ML's top 100.
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