20 Alternatives to Atlantic's Great American Novels: A Response

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The GREAT American NOVELS: 136 Great American Novels from the last 100 Years
www.theatlantic.com/books/arc...
I'm responding to:
Greg at ‪@SupposedlyFun‬
Fun Reacting to The Atlantic’s Great American Novels List
• Reacting to The Atlant...
Brian ‪@BookishTexan‬
25 Books That Could Be The Great American Novel
• 25 Books That Could Be...
Grix ‪@materiagrix‬
The Great American Novel Does Not Exist
• The Great American Nov...
My criteria is a novel published in the 20th century or at least 20 years ago. No author on the Atlantic’s list can be on my list.
The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett (1930)
The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain (1934)
Call It Sleep by Henry Roth (1934)
Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo (1938)
Earth Abides by George R. Stewart (1949)
The Man with the Golden Arm by Nelson Algren (1949)
Butcher's Crossing by John Williams (1960)
Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey (1964)
In Cold Blood by Trueman Capote (1966)
Deliverance by James Dickey (1970)
Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner (1971)
Fear and Loathing in Las Vagas by Hunter S. Thompson (1971)
52 Pick Up by Elmore Leonard (1972)
Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany (1975)
JR by William Gaddis (1976)
Sophie's Choice by William Stryon (1979)
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole (1981)
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving (1989)
Maus I & II by Art Spiegelman (1991)
Fathers and Crows by William T. Vollmann (1992)
#greatamericannovel
#books
#booktube

Пікірлер: 31

@NicolesBookishNook 3 ай бұрын

Great books! You do so well; I’d have to go through my bookcases and goodreads to figure out what is an American book or not because I forget nationalities.

@anotherbibliophilereads 3 ай бұрын

The whole idea of the Great American novel does irk some people. I lot of people don’t pay attention to nationalities.

@ReadingIDEAS.-uz9xk 3 ай бұрын

Some great American novels there. Maltese Falcon is beautifully written. Dashiell Hammett has written other great American novels too. Best wishes with reading choices.

@anotherbibliophilereads 3 ай бұрын

I do like Hammett’s Continental Op stories. Red Harvest and the Dain Curse.

@BookishTexan 3 ай бұрын

Maus and the Man With the Golden Arm are inspired choices!

@anotherbibliophilereads 3 ай бұрын

I struggled putting on the nonfiction novels but I think they deserve a place in the discussion.

@BooklessPete 3 ай бұрын

Great list. I'm not familiar with the Atlantic list, but it sounds like it's got some serious omissions. With books like Butcher's Crossing, Maltese Falcon, Confederacy of Dunces, Owen Meany, and Dhalgren, I'm confident I like yours better anyway!

@anotherbibliophilereads 3 ай бұрын

Thanks. There is a link to the Atlantic’s list in the description.

@RaynorReadsStuff 3 ай бұрын

Fantastic selections. Some I have read and others I must get to. I completely agree that books need to have been published for a while before they can be called great 😊

@unstopitable 3 ай бұрын

Totally agree: perspective (time) is crucial when making such judgments. The problem: the past is either being erased or altered by people who hate reality itself. I really dig your list. I think, up until in the 80s, maybe mid 80s, it was still possible to get a degree in literature by reading mostly the primary texts. However, once you hit the mid to late 90s, if you were getting your Ph.D. in literature, it seemed like you were forced to read everything *but* the primary texts. In fact, reading the primary texts seemed, at best, a mere formality for supporting whatever -ism you were either going into (or being pushed into). I know; I speak from experience. And now we have live in this wasteland. Glad to see A Confederacy of Dunces on your list. Just seeing it on their makes me want to go eat a hotdog and read some Aquinas. Cheers.

@anotherbibliophilereads 3 ай бұрын

12” of paradise does sound good. Maybe I’ll drop by Costco tomorrow for a dog. I do have a preference for novels written before 2000 or earlier.

@BookChatWithPat8668 3 ай бұрын

Hi Greg. This was an interesting exercise. I agree with you that perspective of time is important on these greatest novel lists. I like your idea of waiting 20 years to see if a book lasts the test of time. I was really glad to see John Irving on your list. I really love A Prayer for Owen Meany. It's a book that I used to teach some years ago. In more recent years, sadly, it was harder to get kids to read it. I know you said you weren't going for diversity on your list, but I was a little surprised that there wasn't even one woman on your list, but I'm thinking that that might be because you were not including any writers who were already on The Atlantic's list.

@anotherbibliophilereads 3 ай бұрын

I’m not deeply read on women writers and the ones I would have chosen were listed by the Atlantic, so I was constrained. However, it has been pointed out that I included Ken Kesey was represented so, at least in my mind,I need a substitute. Maybe Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor. But she is up against a few other authors like James Jones, Herman Woulk, Thomas Berger, and Donald Harington.

@BookChatWithPat8668 3 ай бұрын

I saw Greg’s video on The Atlantic’s list, but I need to spend more time with the list to see what I really think about it. I figured you didn’t have any women because you were excluding anyone already on Atlantic’s list. I really like that you included some of these classic mystery writers. Styron too! Sophie’s Choice is a brilliant and devastating novel.@@anotherbibliophilereads

@anautisticreader2963 3 ай бұрын

Love the 20 year rule. Great guide to see if something has lasting potential.

@bigaldoesbooktube1097 3 ай бұрын

Nice list Greg, they should have you compose the list.

@anotherbibliophilereads 3 ай бұрын

Thanks Al.

@severianthefool7233 3 ай бұрын

Is that the NYRB edition of Anatomy of Melancholy I see peeking out on the shelf there?

@anotherbibliophilereads 3 ай бұрын

Yes it is! I have had two or three other viewers ask about that book.

@severianthefool7233 2 ай бұрын

@@anotherbibliophilereads Nice! A couple other great NYRB books- “A Month in the Country” by J.L. Carr, and “The Vet’s Daughter” by Barbara Comyns

@ttowntrekker5174 3 ай бұрын

I shook my head and thought the Atlantic List was itself Fiction.

@anotherbibliophilereads 3 ай бұрын

That’s a whole different subject.😁

@ianp9086 3 ай бұрын

Some great books there! I think one of the issues in this discussion around the Atlantic list is the use of the definite or indefinite article though. Are we talking about a list of great American novels or are we talking about contenders for The great American novel?

@anotherbibliophilereads 3 ай бұрын

I agree that there will never be consensus on just one great American novel.

@robertriley-mercado4611 3 ай бұрын

Weird seeing a lot of Latin American picks in The Atlantic article, but not Bless Me, Ultima. I would say my favorite American novels not included would include Naked Lunch, Starship Troopers, and Three Hearts and Three Lions.

@anotherbibliophilereads 2 ай бұрын

I excluded a lot of science fiction from my list as it usually isn’t about America though that wasn’t a hard requirement for me.

@StephaniePatterson-jb5it 3 ай бұрын

I prefer a list compiled by one person rather than by one committee. I like to sense the human being behind the list. This is a much more interesting list. I see many best of lists that are drawn up by people who don’t seem to realize to that there were some books written before the year 2000.

@anotherbibliophilereads 3 ай бұрын

Thanks Stephanie. I always thought it would be interesting to gather books lists from different BookTubers, then read the list and see if anyone can guess who created the list. In many cases, I bet it would be easy to tell because each person is idiosyncratic with choices.