I have a degree in English/American literature, so watching this made me nostalgic for my college days. I would have added Washington Irving to the list because he is credited as being the Father of American literary tradition. Thank you!

The Catcher in The Rye is referring to a poem called Comi’ Thro’ the Rye by Robert Burns

Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, Pearl S. Buck's The Good Earth, Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence, Sinclair Lewis' The Jungle, Arthur C. Clarke's 2001, Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land, Ursula K. Le Guin's Left Hand of Darkness, any Flannery O'Connor or Zora Neale Hurston. Also, Edgar Allan Poe wrote the first detective novel I believe, The Letters in the Rue Morgue.

Thank you for being so kind about American authors. Sadly, I get scared anytime a European is going to review anything about my country because they are usually quite critical. I, on the other hand, love all things European. It often feels like an unrequited love. Your video is the nicest thing I've watched in a long time; not because I thought you were "trying" to be nice - I know that's not your style - but because someone as intelligent and well-read as yourself was genuinely appreciating something from my culture. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

A personal favorite of mine is The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, perhaps the best novel of my lifetime so far. I'm rather surprised that Uncle Tom's Cabin didn't make the cut; it spawned the idea of the Great American Novel and is perhaps the most successful attempt at it. A third is The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man by James Weldon Johnson, a panoramic and eye-opening look at race, class and regional culture in America.

“A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” by Betty Smith is one of the best books I’ve ever read and should get a mention.

Twain, Melville, Poe, Hemingway, Hawthorne, Steinbeck, F. Scott Fitzgerald, James Jones, Robert Penn Warren, Booth Tarkington, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Margaret Mitchell, Faulkner, John Bunyan, Washington Irving, Zane Grey, James Fenimore Cooper, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Henry David Thoreau, John Grisham.

This is a huge effort that you have undertaken. Thank you. I will use it as a reference guide.

That was amazing. Liked and sub’d. Thanks for sharing!

Great list and great argument!❤

Such a great video. I was wondering about Tropic of Caner.

I am surprised that James Baldwin did not make the cut. What a mind!

Great video! If I would make list like that, I would definitely put to the list Ken Kesey “sometimes a great notion” and James Jones “From here to eternity”. I also would put “blood meridian” instead of “the road”. Thanks for Vonnegut, it’s my favorite author.

Great video! Keeping with the same authors you chose, I’d substitute “The Road” for “Blood Meridian” and “The Recognitions” for “JR”, but that’s why these lists and videos are great - Different opinions and (hopefully) great discussions.

Good stuff. Please keep on posting more great reads.

I think you missed a very important novel. The heart is a lonely hunter. This novel is a giant. She was a giant. PS love your content

Fantastic video, before it began, I scribbled down what I thought would be on the list, and then watched your video... So if it was fun and educational 😊

Glad you mentioned Philip Roth at the end. I’d definitely put American Pastoral on the list. Maybe some Hawthorne as well. All in all though, great job trying to narrow this down to just 20.

Love your descriptive accounts and language

Thanks, Matt. I love your channel and always appreciate your videos. I'm reading Steinbeck's "To a God Unknown" right now which brought me to this video. Nice connection between "As I Lay Dying" and "Pedro Páramo." I'm on my second go through "Pedro Páramo" but in Spanish so it is slow going. I love your thoughts that perhaps half the novel was stripped away to leave just the bare bones, as death does also. Perhaps with Juan Rulfo and the first narrator, Juan Preciado, death is an unburdening, too.

Thank for this interessant list, I was surprised not to find "In Cold Blood" and "The sound and the fury" in the list.

Faulkner and Morrison should absolutely be on this list. Hemingway's short stories are also world class. And McCarthy's Blood Meridian is one of the greatest works of literature of the last 50 years, way better than The Road IMO.

JD Salinger wrote many books. I prefer Franny and Zooey much more than The Catcher in the Rye. If I have any critique of this list, it seems like most books are 250 pages or less... which misses MANY great books... and so most are Short Stories or novelettes, not truly novels.

Great video!

Hello! Loved the video. Have you announced the winner of that book give-away you did in the Russian literature video?

How you relate one novel to another is mind-blowing, man❤

Good work.

A notable omission is Thomas Pynchon, arguably the greatest living American novelist.

I know you couldn't include them all, but some extra novels would be worth mentioning in regards to American Literature: 1. The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper 2.The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane 3. Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs 4. Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein 5.Patriot Games by Tom Clancy, I will admit these were more novels that I personally enjoyed but still thought it might be worth noting.

Martin Eden by Jack London is also a great novel. I've also read The call of the wild which is also amazing one. Thanks a lot for this video. I added some of them to my list to read.

Steinbeck's East of Eden. I keep reading it again and again. Character development - characters who learn and grow - pathos and beauty - it has it all... such a wonderful novel. Grapes of Wrath, in my mind, has less depth and warmth than either Of Mice and Men or East of Eden. I've often been confused why GOW has always been considered the greater of Steibeck's novels.

No Hemingway? And I think Raymond Chandler is a good shout

You did a really fine job here. You left out my favorite writer who is perhaps the most ground breaking and seminal mind of this century--Thomas Wolfe--whose primary work Of Time And trhe River had to be wheeled into Max Perkins office. At hat point of submission it was 5,000 pages in length.

Great list, but I feel you left off Pynchon, DeLillo and Nicholson Baker. Not to mention Barth, Burroughs and Fante. I know they are more postmodern (not Fante), but it feels like we live in a postmodern time here in the States. Very cool list, some amazing heavy hitters on here. Great Video!

Man, I could feel the tinge of subtle fun poking at the "in the last 150 years," part of the intro. Like wow we really haven't been around for shit, the United States is just a little kid compared to the world xD

Dean Moriarty (on the road)... a real person, turns up again in one of my favorite novels. Electric Coolaid Acid Test...really a total nutcase who is immortalized in two great novels.. Just a little trivia! Great video!

I don't think that any country's literature can be defined in one sentence. Too much variety exists, even when things seem to be the same. And I like your list a great deal. The one book I might have included would be 'Cat's Cradle' by Kurt Vonnegut (I first read it when I was in school and it floored me that any important novel could be structured in such a way). I know 'Slaughterhouse-Five' is on your list, but I just wanted to shine a light on that one. Oh, and let me add a few others: 'Seize the Day' - Saul Bellow (a novella; his short stories I always found much stronger) 'If Beale Street Could Talk' - James Baldwin (I prefer his essays) 'The Day of the Locust' - Nathanial West 'The Sellout' - Paul Beatty 'A Confederacy of Dunces' - John Kennedy Toole (read about the history of the book and how his mother got it published) 'A Death in the Family' - James Agee (great film critic, too) 'Jazz' - Toni Morrison 'Open City' - Teju Cole 'The Assistant' - Bernard Malamud (his short stories are excellent, too) 'Tortilla Flat' - John Steinbeck (his first 'hit' and a very funny and honest book about down and out people). Not in chronological order, but this should help (ten for your twenty).

I get what you're saying about The Road, and I agree with you; however, I think that's part of what made the ending so impactful. The ending showed that despite society falling apart, we can slowly build our way back to civilization.

I'm gonna have to agree with Gatsby, i had the same take on the novel when i read it. Story wise and sometimes even writing wise, it was underwhelming for me. But i respect people's sentiment towards it.

I've been watching your videos. I love them. By the way, 1:10 seems to be Mexico though.

Thank you!

If you are interested in Indian culture ...then pls do read R k NARYAN ' s " Guide" ..Anurandhati Roy 's " God of small things .., v.s naipaul 's " A house for Mr. Bishwas"

I love your humorous comments. Thank you for fantastic work you are doing. All the best!

Legendary video

The thing is, my favorite American authors and my favorite American novels would be two different lists. My favorite American writers, H.P. Lovecraft Cormac McCarthy Hunter S. Thompson Thomas Pynchon Richard Brautigan Edgar Alan Poe Bret Easton Ellis Philip Roth Donna Tartt Chuck Palahniuk Truman Capote J.D. Salinger Elmore Leonard James Baldwin Flannery O'Connor Whereas my favorite American novels are, *House of Leaves (M.Z. Danielewski) *Pale Fire (though of course Nabokov himself was not orginally American, hence I didn't include him on the above list, though he's easily one of my favorite writers) *Blood Meridian (McCarthy) *In Watermelon Sugar (R. Brautigan) *At The Mountains of Madness (Lovecraft) *The Virgin Suicides (J. Eugenides) *The Bell Jar (S. Plath) *Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas (H.S. Thompson) *American Psycho (Bret Ellis) *Glamorama (Bret Ellis) *Catcher in the Rye (Salinger) *The Plot Against America (Roth) *In Cold Blood (Capote) *The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald) *Red Harvest (D. Hammett) *Wise Blood (O'Connor) *A Confederacy of Dunces (J.K. Toole) Also...really, Bukowski? He's the only mediocrity on an otherwise solid list.

The Turn of the Screw is the father of hundreds of modern horror movies.

Totally agree with you about the censorship of these great works. Censorship is evil and currently only one political party wholeheartedly embraces it. People must educate themselves and vote according or else lose access to everything.

How about The Sound And The Fury by William Faulkner?

“It was miraculous. It was almost no trick at all, he saw, to turn vice into virtue and slander into truth, impotence into abstinence, arrogance into humility, plunder into philanthropy, thievery into honor, blasphemy into wisdom, brutality into patriotism, and sadism into justice. Anybody could do it; it required no brains at all. It merely required no character.” ---Joseph Heller, "Catch-22"

I think the Coming of Age story is the quintessential American genre. Your Finding Independence summary probably includes that

FAVORITE AUTHORS 1) Ivan Turgenev (Fathers and Sons) 2) Leo Tolstoy (Resurrection) 3) Fyodor Dostoevsky (The Idiot) 4) Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich) 5) C. S. Lewis (The Magician's Nephew) 6) J. R. R. Tolkien (The Hobbit) 7) Isaac Asimov (Foundation and Empire) 8) Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice) 9) Mark Twain (The Adventures of Tom Sawyer) 10) George Eliot (Silas Marner) Where some of their books fall on the list: 12) Foundation Series - Isaac Asimov 18) The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn - by Mark Twain 44) "Life on the Mississippi" by Mark Twain 52) “The Complete Tales of Uncle Remus” by Joel Chandler Harris 76) "White Fang" by Jack London 84) "Pudd'n Head Wilson" by Mark Twain 85) "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote 107) "The Call of the Wild" by Jack London I do need to read "The Old Man and the Sea," as I haven't yet. I like "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" better than "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." I think we differ on that. If you want to read Ray Bradbury, I'd suggest "The Martian Chronicles" and "Something Wicked This Way Comes" before the one you mentioned. I'd say you missed Joel Chandler Harris, whose characters are world famous, though it is a very grown up children stories as the animals have wives and mistresses for when their wives aren't looking. Even more so, you missed my favorite American author: Isaac Asimov. But, more than anything this video makes me want to read "Breakfast at Tiffany's" by Truman Capote.

Flannery O'Connor... Walker Percy... John Kennedy Toole...

Happy to see The Recognitions by Gaddis on your list. It's tremendous. Difficult, but worth the effort. We all have our lists. Of authors not on your list, mine (exceeding 20) would include: The Collected Stories of Flannery O'Connor Rabbit Run / Redux / is Rich / at Rest by John Updike Zuckerman Bound (plus all novels that Zuckerman is in) by Philip Roth Seize the Day by Saul Bellow A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole Native Son by Richard Wright The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles Nathaniel Hawthorne's short stories White Noise by Don Delillo Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

Since we're including foreign-born, I must add IB Singer, who exudes humility, and understands women. My bae Philip Roth grabs my heart on Newark, his loving family, mortality ("Wellness" is just a marketing gimmick, folks. Nothing will save us!). I don't like his writing on his two bad marriages, nor 70s dating mores, but still. For me, "The" Great American Novel is Thomas Wolfe's LOOK HOMEWARD, ANGEL.

I felt in love with some american values and ways of being, specialy in California, amazing best country ever

Mine is To kill a Mockingbird

18:41 just fyi a Zebra is black with white stripes. Your analogy still stands, just a tidbit for those who care.

Catcher in The Rye wasn't Salinger's only book.He also wrote Franny and Zooey.

It's hopeless to satisfy everybody's tastes in such a list, but I'd include Jean Toomer's Cane and Flannery O'Connor's Wise Blood.

I think American authors strove to have a unique voice. . I'm searching for the availability of Raymond Carver's short story collection in my online app . . I'm planning to order soon. . .

Another correction, Catcher in the Rye itself was published in 1951. Earlier versions/drafts of two of the chapters first appeared as short stories, the first one in 1945, hence the mistake in the video.

Just my personal opinion but American literature didn’t really find its own identity and voice until Poe and Twain. While everyone loves Finn, Twain greatest influence in American literature was the mastery of creative nonfiction. So I think out of all the threads of literature, short stories and creative nonfiction seem to be predominantly American creations.

Walden Pond? Leaves of Grass? Poetry of Emily Dickinson?

Id add In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, his pose is so elogant. And I rather enjoy T. E. D. Klein novel The Events at Poroth Farm and his longer novel The Ceremonies, an extention on Events at Poroth Farm.

My list would be : A Turn of the Screw (Henry James) Washington Square (Henry James) Complete Short Stories (Edgar Allan Poe) Complete Short Stories (John Cheever) Complete Short Stories (Roald Dahl) Complete Short Stories (Flannery O'Connor) Wise Blood (Flannery O'Connor) A Tree of Night (Truman Capote) Complete Short Stories (Paul Bowles) The Sheltered Sky (Paul Bowles) Knockemstiff (Donald Ray Pollock) The Devil All the Time (Donald Ray Pollock) The Pugilist at Rest (Thom Jones) Cold Snap (Thom Jones) Sony Liston Was a Friend of Mine (Thom Jones) The Good Soldier (Ford Madox Ford) The Demon (Hubert Selby Jr.) The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald) A Moveable Feast (Hemingway) Laughter in the Dark (Nabokov) The Old Man and the Sea (Hemingway) Giovanni's Room (James Baldwin) The Moth (James Cain) A Singular Man (J. P. Donleavy) A Fairy Tale in New York (Donleavy) The Things They Carried (Tim O'Brian) East of Eden (John Steinbeck) Of Mice and Men (John Steinbeck) The Age of Innocence (Edith Wharton) We Have Always Lived at the Castle (Shirley Jackson) The Lottery (Shirley Jackson) The Sound and the Fury (William Faulkner) Wild Palms (Faulkner) Diary (Chuck Pahlaniuk) V (Thomas Pynchon) The Magician of Lublin (Isaac Bashevis Singer) A Crown of Feathers (Bashevis Singer) Hard Rain Falling (Don Carpenter) Wonder Boys (Michael Chabon) The Road (Jack Kerouac) Not a Good Country for Old Men (McKormack) ... And then maybe I should also add... ..Short Stories (Lucía Berlín) Fancies and Goodnights (John Collier) Short Stories (Tobias Wolff), The Sports Writer (Richard Ford), and will stop here. Because did not like so much Buckovsky or Henry Miller. Though I was told to read The Maroussi Colossus of H. Miller. Perhaps I will. They said it was his best. Keep on reading, feed your brain, as the Wise Man said...💎👍❤️

What about The Sound and the Fury or Absalom Absalom, by William Faulkner?

Some of these comments are harsh. I'm sorry people are being so rude about you sharing your opinions on American literature that you like and that you feel define the voice of American literature. This goes against your description/definition of the voice of American literature, BUT I'd still like to suggest reading indigenous American authors. Some well known ones include: Louis Erdritch, Tommy Orange, Scott Momaday, and Joy Harjo just to name a few.

I would certainly put LOLITA on my list.

It's refreshing to hear someone who isn't American compliment American literature

I think you missed more than a few writers-but American Literature is a difficult choice. Besides the authors you listed as missing, what about Thomas Pynchon? And what about important early writers like Charles Brokden Brown, James Fenimore Cooper, or Nathaniel Hawthorne? All in all I very much liked this list of authors, but don't always agree with the titles you chose. Difficult choices, but valiant effort. Thank you for this survey.

Wonderful list, however ponder these. An American Tragedy by Dreiser is the last word on American greed. Day of the Locust by Nathanael West satire of Hollywood. The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler, also The Big Sleep, it’s “Pulp Fiction,” but Anthony Burgess thinks it’s a great novel.

when I read Catch 22 the first time i laughed my butt off. I tried to read it again and all i wanted to do was cry.

You should added Lovecraft because of him he create a new horror sub-genre; cosmic horror

Lovely video - but you missed David Foster Wallace

Add Thomas Wolfe and this is a good list 😎

Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin and Beloved by Toni Morrison

My feelings toward The Great Gatsby are similar to yours, so-so story, great writing. But I don't know why you included Fahrenheit 451, which really isn't that great a book and you don't seem to think much of it either. I think For Whom the Bells Toll is Hemingway's masterpiece among his novels, though The Sun Also Rises is my favorite of his. A Farewell to Arms is meh. Great descriptive writing, cringy dialogue, so-so story.

“I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou seems like a very glaring omission. Angelou is read in almost every English class. “Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne should probably also be there too. It is probably the best example of early Puritan life.

Where was Philip Roth? The greatest novelist of his generation. Winner of Pulitzer Prize, Kafka prize, National book award (twice), PEN award (three times) etc etc

THEEE SOUND AND THE FURY??!

greeting from algeria

Where is Stephen crane, Thanks for including Jack london,

john stienbeck of mice and men... grapes of wrath

No Pynchon or Nabokov? Melville is probably my favorite on your list. He was very passionate about writing and took risks writing Moby Dick, even receiving accusations of blasphemy. It ended up being highly controversial for Melville, who was raised in a Puritan household. Might of been that chapter where the whaler slips the foreskin of a sperm whale over himself for protection while the other sailors chant bible leaves! bible leaves! For all the arduous effort it requires, there's a one of a kind experience to be had.

raymond carver... what we talk aboiut whenwe talk about love

You Yanks have made some damn good literature just like ur cousins the English lads, Poe and Ellis are my fav.

admittedly somewhat surprised that you didn't choose Blood Meridian for McCarthy but The Road is a great choice nonetheless

"This list is an abortion!" is how Iggy would put it. If you know to whom I'm referring, you know it's a crime to omit his magnum opus from any Best American Novels list longer than five. Also, you've included F. Scott Fitzgerald but no Faulkner??

alice walker the color purpole

I'd consider Dreiser for the list.....although he has seemingly fallen out of fashion

+1 Thomas Pynchon

Pynchon is my favorite

Does anyone knows John Fante?

I'm sorry, but an American list without Faulkner can't be considered legitimate, especially with inclusions of the likes of bukowski and Vonnegut. I would have also have liked to have seen some hidden American geniuses like Gene Wolfe, R.A. Lafferty, and one who's pretty obvious, Flannery O'Connor. Having McCarthy on this list without his most prominent influences (Faulkner and O'Connor) is baffling.

14:37 Exactly, a person is a character. They are NOT their race. You can't tell if a person is a physicist or a black belt (in Kempo) by looking at them and seeing the color of their skin. Also, skin-tone does not indicate race (in the modern era).

I don't see Faulkner.????

Some of these books I like, others were more of a disappointment. America has some other great writers that are rarely mentioned among the best but their books are more enjoyable or just better written

Where's Thomas Pynchon, the master of postmodernism or David Foster Wallace?

Lonesome Dove

Cormac?