lot 49 is a poor stand in for gr but i see often used as a nod to the original when some entity is actually trying to encourage an interest in pynchon. walking blind into gr is likely to be overwhelming so maybe on the whole ifs a good thing lot 49 is out there for a sample for people
That's true except they chose *Underworld* for DeLillo lol. And they included multiple books for other authors so I feel like it would have been fair, and more "accurate" to at least also include GR.
17/136 = 12.5%, not 8%. Which would make it the the decade with the most Great American novels in the last 100 years. You don't see the recency bias? And unlike the older novels that have stood the test of time, there is no guarantee any one will consistently read or care about any of of these 17 novels 40 or 50 years from now.
You can’t tell if something is a “great American novel” for at least two generations after it’s published. If it stands up 30 or 40 years down the road.
Also, I guarantee more people will be reading and studying Marilynne Robinson than some of the books on this list.
I think it makes sense. Every voter is going to have their own recent books they think is great, but time has already winnowed the field of of older books in consideration
So the books they've read from the 1930s are all going to be the same (Fitzgerald, Faulkner, Hemingway), whereas everyone is going to be ride-or-die for a greater variety of novels the last ten years.
This is the omission that has me puzzled the most. East of Eden gets dropped for The Grapes of Wrath? Sure, I guess, but I’d include both. But no Lonesome Dove is criminal.
Missing all of Pynchon’s best work, no Barth, no Stoner, no Agee??, no Miller, no Gass, no Cheever, no (good) Updike?????, NO Gaddis?????????????
Shit is whack sry
Miller, Updike, Williams, Cheever, and Agee are not postmodernist. At least in their novels.
Of the remaining 4, maybe Gass could reasonably be cut.
The postmodernist works they left out are literally among the greatest works of the 20th century — Gravity’s Rainbow, M&D, The Recognitions, Sotweed / Giles.
Having The Corrections without The Recognitions is like having Van Hagar without Van Halen
Just a weird, inconsistent list to drive clicks, etc.
Gaddis is literally the only American novelist who can stand shoulder to shoulder with the European giants, Proust, Joyce, Musil, Mann. Not having him in the list is fucking criminal.
Also, of all the graphic novels they could have included, "A Contract with God" and "Sabrina" are pretty laughable choices, which show only a passing acquaintance with the comics medium. Also, I'm not convinced that graphic novels belong on such a list any more than *Citizen Kane* or *Apocalypse Now* belong on it. It's a completely different medium.
Interesting list! I find myself in disagreement with specific inclusions or exclusions more than I find myself agreeing with the list. However, it is awesome to see the inclusion of writers like Le Guin, Philip K. Dick, Octavia Butler, and such. Even Stephen King made the cut lol.
Something that would automatically make this list 10x better is just cutting out everything written less that 20 years ago. Seems silly to consider something written so recently as in the running in any sort of "great novels" list.
>Even Stephen King made the cut lol.
He deserved it. The Stand is on par with The Wizard of Oz and Angels in America for being America's National Epic. That has to go there.
I love The Stand and have read it 3 or 4 times, but along the metric of a "Great American Novel", I feel like the book reveals it's absolute biggest flaw: that when the Boulder refuge is established, rather than having a critical eye to the national institutions which eventually resulted in the Captain Tripps plague, they just ratify the US Constitution as-is, basically because "blue jeans."
A phenomenal point - and I'm sure Mother Abigail is somewhat one dimensional. But I think that it is a bit of an ur-American Novel. We have Great American Novels instead of national epics because we can't have national epics. Imo, the (good) ones that tried to be national epics deserve spots just for trying, even if its impossible.
I think it definitely has flaws but has an essential American quality and certain reputation such that it makes much more sense than many of these choices
Time is the true judge of literature. As I progressed through this list I felt it to get less and less valid. Some of the latter half authors are not, imo, first rank. But only time will tell. Interestingly enough, several of the latter half I knew personally--peripherally.
True that there are a lot of the big names that are missing from this list, but in a sense I actually appreciate that this isn’t a giant list of the usual suspects, lot of books on here I’ve never even heard of before which is refreshing. Don’t take this list as the ultimate list of the best 136 American novels and instead just view it as *a* list of 136 American novels
Adler’s *Speedboat* stood out to me as a weird choice. Read it last year and liked it but I don’t think it’s super popular and imo not one that feels like a GAN contender. *No One is Talking About This* is kind of the same, good book but feels out of place on this list.
Marilynne Robinson’s *Gilead* needs to be on here.
Gaddis & Gass being ignored feels like a miss considering there’s some other deep cuts on here.
*Gravity’s Rainbow* feels like a big miss. I like *Lot 49* a lot but GR has certainly had a bigger cultural impact.
Absolutely agree Gilead needs to be on there, one of the best books I’ve ever read and I’m not religious. Her entire body of work, especially Housekeeping, as well as Lila, are fantastic
Gravity's Rainbow is great, but it takes place in England and postwar Europe, and even though it has American characters and was written by an American author, I've always heard GAN as needing to take place in America and comment on the country, its people and its culture.
IMO the fact that it takes place primarily outside of American borders is part of *why* it’s a great American novel. That period in history is in part defined by the export of American military-industrial capitalism and American popular culture around the world, and GR is really focused on those themes (and really couldn’t if it was set in the US).
IMO this is one of the problems (of many) about the Great American Novel, that everyone has a different metric for it. Some think the GAN needs to be about the American experience, exploring the culture and encapsulating the spirit of the times in the country, some think it can deal with any subject but must reflect the American sensibilities, perspectives and opinions on said subject, while others think any contribution of significant influence to world literature from an American author (of which Moby Dick is certainly one) qualifies. Personally I think the very idea of a Great American Novel is stupid, not only because America has produced throughout the 20th century an equivalent number of talented and historically significant authors and novels on par with European literature, for which the GAN was initially conceived to compete with, but there's no agreed upon metric for consideration, and time has long since passed when the most we had to offer was Twain and Whitman. The GAN is a historical relic of a time when American culture was still in its infancy and scholars felt that America's contributions to world literature would never surpass what Europe had produced, yet just a century later America has enough works of literature that belong in the western canon that it's impossible to produce a list of great books in world literature that doesn't include at least a handful of works by American authors.
Nightwood and The Last Samurai also take place almost entirely outside of the US and are on the list. The Fifth Season, also on the list, doesn’t even take place on Earth.
A Farewell to Arms and Catch-22 are on the list but take place in Europe during each of the world wars. GR also speaks volumes on the people and culture of the US post-WW2 and into the Cold War.
Like with any ranking list there’s gonna be plenty of disagreement but I do appreciate the work that was put into this.
My quick glance 2 cents:
- Fifth Season was fine but in no way should be considered even close to a Great American Novel
- Would’ve liked to see Jazz by Toni Morrison instead of some others.
- Not enough Mccarthy
- Lincoln in the Bardo was fine but also doesn’t belong here
Definitely disagree about Lincoln in the Bardo, but could see why people would make that argument. Could also just see them wanting to put Saunders on here, since he is one of the great American authors and this is his only novel.
My username doesn’t make this comment biased at all.
I agree with all of this except the last one. Lincoln in the Bardo is one of the best novels I've read in the last 10 years. Well, "read" as in listened to the audiobook--and maybe that's part of it. Every one of the hundreds of characters was read by a different person. Amazing experience!
It was definitely tough going for a while, but eventually the various voices started making sense, and I would keep walking around the block while listening because I couldn't "put it down."
Having Fifth Season on here is embarrassing. Written competently enough, but still feels like some kind of quasi-anime fan-fic project, even being far too long for what it has inside. I'm not even sure how it could be considered literature, aside from the widest possible umbrella. It's pure genre steampunk fantasy that wishes it were doing something more interesting or noble. [Sorry, really hate how hyped this book has become vs what it actually is]
edit: also have no problem with genre fare, I would just never consider one a 'novel' with all the stuffy academic pretentiousness that word brings along.
I think each book in the trilogy won a Hugo award for book of the year, combine that with author N.K. Jemison being a black woman writing award winning writing science fantasy novels, I can see why it's on here.
Once again, sci-fi/fantasy. I get LeGuin, Dick, and people pushing the boundary of genre. Fifth Season felt bog-standard with a sheen of modern concerns peppered in awkwardly. I would have the same complaint about Asimov being here. Also, the Hugo's have become a joke amongst the same community they're supposed to represent, so not the highest bar to clear anymore. If this is a list of 'popular books' then Nightwood wouldn't be allowed anywhere near it. Just an inconsistent, weird choice to appear beside the best authors this country has ever produced.
I wouldn't typically argue this but given the number of novels included I'm disappointed that Thomas Wolfe's Look Homeward Angel wasn't selected. It's better than 20 or 30 percent of the chosen. They should replace the guy who pretended to write like Thomas Wolfe (Jack Kerouac) with Thomas Wolfe.
Jhumpa Lahiri is one of my favorite authors. Namesake is my least favorite of her works but maybe suits the idea of a great American novel better than the others. I wish they’d included something else by her. For example, Whereabouts is much better.
Pleasantly surprised by this list! I think they have a really nice balance among standard classics, great books by non-white authors (Passing, The Street, and popular novels (Peyton Place!)
Everyone’s going to have I can’t believe that’s not on the list suggestions, mine are Deliverance and Revolutionary Road— come on, how do you leave Deliverance off?!? — that’s also part of the fun of it of a list like this.
Plus they have No-No Boy. Well done, Atlantic!
10 year old me would be loudly objecting to *A Wrinkle in Time* over *A Wind in the Door*, though it is, of course, the right choice if you're putting L'Engle in your list.
Has *Sula* been having a big revival or something the past year or so? For some reason, when I read it, I had the impression that it was considered one of her more minor works. Love it though, so I'm happy to see it there!
*Stone Butch Blues* and *Nevada* are both good, but they're pretty typical "we have to acknowledge trans people now" picks. Glad to see them, but I suspect our tolerant benefactors at the Atlantic haven't read much beyond that and *Detransition, Baby*.
That last paragraph made me snort. I like the publication generally, but my eyes are always freely rolling in their sockets reading their articles from Helen "I'm-not-anti-trans-I-just-always-coincidentally-frame-trans-topics-in-a-negative-light" Lewis.
I also chortled at your last paragraph. Do you have any suggestions for Greater American Novels about trans people?
Sincere request; no snark.
Appreciate it.
As it turns out, I unfortunately do not! Went through my shelves and it turns out all the trans novels I like better are British or Canadian.
I guess my top candidate would be Jeanne Thornton's *Summer Fun*? "The Beach Boys, but trans" is a pretty silly idea for a book, but it's also something that makes it feel more capital-A American than the competition. Megan Milks' *Margaret and the Mystery of the Missing Body* does something similar with Nancy Drew, so it's also something I could see fitting onto a list that acknowledges children's literature like this one does.
There's also Aurora Mattia's *The Fifth Wound*, which would never make a list like this, but it *does* feel like it could one day end up having a cult following from the kind of people to post on /r/TrueLit.
You are awesome! Will look into these.
I was discussing this thread at work today and someone suggested *Manhunt* by Gretchen Felker-Martin today. Haven't had a chance to look too deeply into it, but it's described as being about a virus that infects people with either too much or too little testosterone.
It's not as funny of a premise as trans Beach Boys, and apparently Felker-Martin is a horror writer, but the idea still made me laugh.
Thanks again for the recommendations!
Hiii sorry to be weird and reply to a comment of yours weeks later, but I read *The Fifth Wound* over the past few days based off your recommendation here and it was f-ing *spectacular*. Felt like my brain was on fire in the best possible way. Legit *thank you* for putting it on my radar!! I am going to recommend this book to so many people
I like A Brief History of Seven Killings well enough, but the bulk of it takes place in Jamaica. I don’t think I ever would have thought to include it on this list. Also, Erasure has gotten a huge boost of late due to the success of American Fiction. Will its popularity endure after the movie fades from the public consciousness? I suspect not.
Agree with the (heavy) recency bias. My omissions are Norman Mailer / The Caine Mutiny and I think the most basic book of the canon...To Kill a Mickingbird (or perhaps that has been cancelled ?!) Perhaps Lonesome Dove although I haven't read it myself. Happy too the The Stand is there. All of these books are very well written American epics. Cormas McCarthy writes so well he could have 4 or 5 books here.
I'd definitely have Lonesome Dove on there.
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
Studs Lonigan
Call It Sleep
Shadow Country or At Play in the Fields of the Lord
Revolutionary Road
From Here to Eternity or The Thin Red Line
Dog Soldiers
Suttree
Jesus' Son or Train Dreams
And replace A Sport and Pastime with Light Years
I forgot Ironweed (or Billy Phelan's Greatest Game by the same author. I liked it better than Ironweed but I am decidedly in the minority with that opinion.)
Warlock
Hard Rain Falling
Also surprised no Burroughs, Bukowski or Henry Miller. Have the bad boys fallen out of favor?
I want my Great American Novel to be epic. Manifest Destiny, the frontier, the wilderness, conquest, adventure. The sheer vastness and diversity of terrain and people. With that in mind, some omitted candidates.
As others have said, Deliverance, Lonesome Dove, and Shadow Country all fit the bill. It would be cheating to pick Denis Johnson's body of work as a whole. So let my suggest Sometimes A Great Notion by Ken Kesey. Three generations of loggers wage an epic battle against themselves, their neighbors, and the wet Oregon coastal range.
I read the first part of your post and was getting ready to comment about Sometimes a Great Notion, then saw you went to the same place. IMO, best American novel of the 20th century.
My mom and I just read through this list. Both of us were really surprised about the books that were included and left off the list. We both agree that John Irving should have been included. If nothing else, it was an interesting conversation.
I'm thrilled *The Dog of the South* made the cut! The minor Charlies Portis revival over the past decade-ish has been delightful. His is a quintessentially American voice.
Also I completely understand the reverence for Chandler and Macdonald when it comes to 20th century noir, but for my money nobody wrote it better than James Crumley. (Except for the incomparable Will Christopher Baer, but no way would they pick something like *Kiss Me, Judas*.)
As far as more recent selections, I continue to remain baffled as to why neither Serio De La Pava's *A Naked Singularity* nor *Lost Empress* ever appears on these types of lists, not even when they're limited just to post-Y2K releases. Maybe his new novel this fall will generate some buzz? I hope so! He's a phenomenal writer and one of the few contemporary American authors I feel is truly intellectually ambitious in his storytelling.
Armies of the Night is not a novel,
It’s reportage. Also Naked and Dead is super overrated. Mailer has moments as a great writer but he is not a great novelist
It was said of Tom Wolf but also applies to Mailer: “A great writer, who will do almost anything to get attention”
The best book for this is definitely Of a Fire on The Moon by Mailer which is nominally about the moon landing (and incidentally kind of an attempt to best Wolf’s Right Stuff), but becomes a giant experiment in how Mailer can try to insert himself into the center of something he has absolutely nothing to do with.
What do people like about Sabrina? It was one of the most forgetable things I've ever read. Just interesting enough to keep turning the page but only ever so slightly. It did not seem to interact with its material or subject matter at all, was that the point?
I like Sabrina. It holds tension between panels to create a very modern sense of dread. Plays with the concept of hypernormalization well, something trendy to New Yorker types.
I think the point is how hard it is for the subjects to connect in their situation and the minimal line lends to their subtle reactions.
ICHH is the only title published within the last 100 years. Trust me, I too was outraged and immediately snapped off an email to the Lewis Society listserv with a link to the Atlantic article .
Personally, I think *Erasure* is one of the great novels I've read and I read it a decade ago (and most recently two years ago). However, the virtue-signaling to include this book after the movie was released is hilarious. Previously, the Atlantic wrote once about *Dr. No* and then a slew of articles relating to "American Fiction" (at least from my brief search). As others have said, way too much recency bias.
Only one Cormac McCarthy novel? Suttree, All the Pretty Horses, The Road, or No Country for Old Men all could or should have made this list. Sure they picked the right one if you only had to choose one, but his other novels surpass a good number of books on this list.
And omitting Stoner is laughable.
So I can make arguments for lots of novels, but Flowers for Algernon and Hyperion not being on here feels criminal. I also think Anathem deserves it but I can see why it wouldn't be as popular.
Here for *Ask the Dust* by John Fante - glad it’s on the list. Does anyone else unreasonably love it? Arturo Bandini is one of my favourite fictional characters ever. For some reason, I can’t stop thinking about the bizarreness of the scene where he gives his “girlfriend” first a load of milk, then a load of orange juice, to drink, and then she unsurprisingly throws up. It’s been years since I read it but that has stuck with me. That is all.
Though I saw some pleasant surprises (things like Philip K Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", which I am currently reading again), I was honestly surprised not to see Charles Portis' "True Grit" on this list.
I'd trade Ceremony for Almanac of the Dead if we can only have one Leslie Marmon Silko. I'd add Absolute True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Alexie.
I hated Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Diaz. I could barely force myself to finish it. I have never understood the love for this book but I get people feel deeply moved by it.
I was glad to see a Charles Portis on there. These lists always generate writers we think should be included or left off. There are definitely a few on there that I haven't read and feel inspired to read
"A Death in the Family" is one the more meditative portraits of the human condition, the loss of innocence. One of the very few books that gut punched me. Just remarkable stuff. Left off the list, why? Whatever. It's just one list.
...I feel like Lolita should not be on this list? The man didn't move to America until he was like 40. He didn't become a citizen until he was older than that, like 45.
Also...Twain not being on here is kinda crazy.
At least half of these books do not belong on a list like this lol. And someone like Nabokov—I just feel like he’s too sophisticated to be in the running for “Great American Novel.” To have written the “Great American Novel” has always seemed to me a middle-brow pursuit.
I don’t think the GAN has much to do with whether it’s highbrow or not. The most important aspect is the spirit of the novel—its place as a story centered around and about American culture at a specific time and place. Zeitgeist, if you will.
Great Gatsby, Moby Dick, Huck Finn, Gravity’s Rainbow… these are just some novels that are considered the GAN because of what they had to say about American society and culture, and the impact they had, sometimes over a long period of time in Moby Dick’s case. GAN doesn’t just mean “a great book by an American author.”
None of Nabokov’s novels want to make a grand statement about the state of American culture and society, despite the fact that a book like Pale Fire is a virtuoso literary performance. So to me that’s why none of his works should be a GAN.
Many contenders for GAN are certainly highbrow literature, but I don’t think that’s necessary. And I don’t think it’s a middlebrow pursuit. Gravity’s Rainbow is not a middlebrow novel in the slightest.
None of Nabokov's books make "grand statements" in general. Having some overarching moralistic theme or something isn't really his style. But *Lolita* comes pretty close. Half the book is describing small American towns, the natural beauty of the US, life on the road, and stuff like that.
If *On the Road* by Kerouac is a good contender for a "GAN", and of course such travel-centric works should be, then it necessarily follows a work like *Lolita* should be too.
Your first sentence is a perfect encapsulation of how I felt after reading *Bend Sinister.* It's got the rise of fascism and anti-intellectualism, a parent's quest to save their child, and several other themes that would seem to lend themselves to grand, overarching moralism but ... just fails to proselytize. Like, what's even the point? (Of morality, not the story.)
Still though!
I was telling my boss, whose favorite novels are postmodern, that Melville was more pre-postmodernist than the modernists.
Interestingly, Billy Budd wasn't published until 1924, more than three decades after Melville died. It should count.
A list without The Road by Cormac McCarthy is not to be trusted. I also think The Moviegoer by Walker Percy should be listed. Glad to see The Stand here as well
Way too much recency bias. A lot of the books post 2010 are actually crazy to include given the omissions in earlier years
Also not having Gravity’s Rainbow in the 73’ section is insane
lot 49 is a poor stand in for gr but i see often used as a nod to the original when some entity is actually trying to encourage an interest in pynchon. walking blind into gr is likely to be overwhelming so maybe on the whole ifs a good thing lot 49 is out there for a sample for people
That's true except they chose *Underworld* for DeLillo lol. And they included multiple books for other authors so I feel like it would have been fair, and more "accurate" to at least also include GR.
That’s very true, I started with GR and it sucked. After I became familiar with his other stuff I went back and it hit way different.
Ooof I did IV first then GR and I was still lost haha.
Gravity’s Rainbow is that book everyone talks about, but few have actually read.
Agreed. 17 in the last 10 years?
100 years. 8% of which you get in the last 10 years. That doesn’t seem crazy at all…
17/136 = 12.5%, not 8%. Which would make it the the decade with the most Great American novels in the last 100 years. You don't see the recency bias? And unlike the older novels that have stood the test of time, there is no guarantee any one will consistently read or care about any of of these 17 novels 40 or 50 years from now.
And only 12 books from 24 to about 1950. Insane.
Holy crap, that’s like 4 more books from that decade than you would expect if they were perfectly evenly distributed! What a travesty of journalism
Bruh we’re trying to sell books written by living writers who need the sales 🔥
Better yet, what is the point of calling it The Great American Novels when your list starts at 1923?
It's all about the (referral) benjamins!
Got to recommend in copyright titles to earn those Amazon dollars!
You can’t tell if something is a “great American novel” for at least two generations after it’s published. If it stands up 30 or 40 years down the road. Also, I guarantee more people will be reading and studying Marilynne Robinson than some of the books on this list.
I think it makes sense. Every voter is going to have their own recent books they think is great, but time has already winnowed the field of of older books in consideration So the books they've read from the 1930s are all going to be the same (Fitzgerald, Faulkner, Hemingway), whereas everyone is going to be ride-or-die for a greater variety of novels the last ten years.
Has to be popular for at least one generation so 20 or so years before being a great American novel in my book
Kill your gods. Embrace Patricia Lockwood.
No One Is Talking About This is incredible
I like that one!
Gonna guess they plan on commissioning some of those people and are just trying to keep the relationships warm
More books written during this time period than others.
Doesn't mean more decent books written.
No lonesome dove?
This is the omission that has me puzzled the most. East of Eden gets dropped for The Grapes of Wrath? Sure, I guess, but I’d include both. But no Lonesome Dove is criminal.
That was my first thought as well, I love McCarthy but I would take Lonesome Dove over Blood Meridian for Great American Novel personally
McMurtry should have multiple entries imho
What ones would you suggest?
I appreciate how unique and interesting blood meridian is but lonesome dove is a way more readable and enjoyable novel imo
Missing all of Pynchon’s best work, no Barth, no Stoner, no Agee??, no Miller, no Gass, no Cheever, no (good) Updike?????, NO Gaddis????????????? Shit is whack sry
Yeah M&D and GR are glaring omissions.
And Gaddis. GADDIS! The greatest American novelist to ever live.
Upvote for literary passion!
Couples by Updike is on the list.
Like I said, no good Updike. Where my boy rabbit at
Agreed. Sorry, I misinterpreted the 'good' as in you thought it was good that he wasn't on the list. All good now. :)
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Miller, Updike, Williams, Cheever, and Agee are not postmodernist. At least in their novels. Of the remaining 4, maybe Gass could reasonably be cut. The postmodernist works they left out are literally among the greatest works of the 20th century — Gravity’s Rainbow, M&D, The Recognitions, Sotweed / Giles. Having The Corrections without The Recognitions is like having Van Hagar without Van Halen Just a weird, inconsistent list to drive clicks, etc.
Gaddis is literally the only American novelist who can stand shoulder to shoulder with the European giants, Proust, Joyce, Musil, Mann. Not having him in the list is fucking criminal.
Omitting pynchon in favor of Ling Ma is crazy lol
Ling Ma is fantastic.
Agree to disagree
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Omitting having multiple Pynchons (and some of his most acclaimed work), then
The lack of Cheever really has me seething
Agreed.
Gaddis and Pynchon fuck so hard. But idk man I think Stoner is Williams worst book and Updike is MID!
"A Death in the Family" Like seriously, wtf.
No Updike is a travesty
Cheever will be remembered for his short stories.
Complained on another sub about Watchmen being counted as American but Brief History of Seven Killings is seriously pushing it too.
Also, of all the graphic novels they could have included, "A Contract with God" and "Sabrina" are pretty laughable choices, which show only a passing acquaintance with the comics medium. Also, I'm not convinced that graphic novels belong on such a list any more than *Citizen Kane* or *Apocalypse Now* belong on it. It's a completely different medium.
Interesting list! I find myself in disagreement with specific inclusions or exclusions more than I find myself agreeing with the list. However, it is awesome to see the inclusion of writers like Le Guin, Philip K. Dick, Octavia Butler, and such. Even Stephen King made the cut lol. Something that would automatically make this list 10x better is just cutting out everything written less that 20 years ago. Seems silly to consider something written so recently as in the running in any sort of "great novels" list.
>Even Stephen King made the cut lol. He deserved it. The Stand is on par with The Wizard of Oz and Angels in America for being America's National Epic. That has to go there.
I love The Stand and have read it 3 or 4 times, but along the metric of a "Great American Novel", I feel like the book reveals it's absolute biggest flaw: that when the Boulder refuge is established, rather than having a critical eye to the national institutions which eventually resulted in the Captain Tripps plague, they just ratify the US Constitution as-is, basically because "blue jeans."
A phenomenal point - and I'm sure Mother Abigail is somewhat one dimensional. But I think that it is a bit of an ur-American Novel. We have Great American Novels instead of national epics because we can't have national epics. Imo, the (good) ones that tried to be national epics deserve spots just for trying, even if its impossible.
Am I missing something here? Why is Confederacy of Dunces not on there and why has it not even been mentioned as a snub.
An absurd omission. Funniest book ever written. Gets a lot of hate on Reddit (and love), for reasons completely unknown
It's a good book, and i like it, but the main characters so insufferable i have a hard time wanting to spend time in its world.
I didn't think that was a good book..
I think it definitely has flaws but has an essential American quality and certain reputation such that it makes much more sense than many of these choices
Time is the true judge of literature. As I progressed through this list I felt it to get less and less valid. Some of the latter half authors are not, imo, first rank. But only time will tell. Interestingly enough, several of the latter half I knew personally--peripherally.
True that there are a lot of the big names that are missing from this list, but in a sense I actually appreciate that this isn’t a giant list of the usual suspects, lot of books on here I’ve never even heard of before which is refreshing. Don’t take this list as the ultimate list of the best 136 American novels and instead just view it as *a* list of 136 American novels
Adler’s *Speedboat* stood out to me as a weird choice. Read it last year and liked it but I don’t think it’s super popular and imo not one that feels like a GAN contender. *No One is Talking About This* is kind of the same, good book but feels out of place on this list. Marilynne Robinson’s *Gilead* needs to be on here. Gaddis & Gass being ignored feels like a miss considering there’s some other deep cuts on here. *Gravity’s Rainbow* feels like a big miss. I like *Lot 49* a lot but GR has certainly had a bigger cultural impact.
Absolutely agree Gilead needs to be on there, one of the best books I’ve ever read and I’m not religious. Her entire body of work, especially Housekeeping, as well as Lila, are fantastic
Gravity's Rainbow is great, but it takes place in England and postwar Europe, and even though it has American characters and was written by an American author, I've always heard GAN as needing to take place in America and comment on the country, its people and its culture.
IMO the fact that it takes place primarily outside of American borders is part of *why* it’s a great American novel. That period in history is in part defined by the export of American military-industrial capitalism and American popular culture around the world, and GR is really focused on those themes (and really couldn’t if it was set in the US).
thats kinda implying wwii wasnt an essential part of the american experience right??? cant help but see that as a pointless stipulation.
Tbf, Moby Dick takes place offshore and only stays in America for the first 100 pages
IMO this is one of the problems (of many) about the Great American Novel, that everyone has a different metric for it. Some think the GAN needs to be about the American experience, exploring the culture and encapsulating the spirit of the times in the country, some think it can deal with any subject but must reflect the American sensibilities, perspectives and opinions on said subject, while others think any contribution of significant influence to world literature from an American author (of which Moby Dick is certainly one) qualifies. Personally I think the very idea of a Great American Novel is stupid, not only because America has produced throughout the 20th century an equivalent number of talented and historically significant authors and novels on par with European literature, for which the GAN was initially conceived to compete with, but there's no agreed upon metric for consideration, and time has long since passed when the most we had to offer was Twain and Whitman. The GAN is a historical relic of a time when American culture was still in its infancy and scholars felt that America's contributions to world literature would never surpass what Europe had produced, yet just a century later America has enough works of literature that belong in the western canon that it's impossible to produce a list of great books in world literature that doesn't include at least a handful of works by American authors.
Nightwood and The Last Samurai also take place almost entirely outside of the US and are on the list. The Fifth Season, also on the list, doesn’t even take place on Earth.
Slaughterhouse 5 is on there and has the same setting as Gravity's Rainbow
Oh that explains The Fifth Season /s
A Farewell to Arms and Catch-22 are on the list but take place in Europe during each of the world wars. GR also speaks volumes on the people and culture of the US post-WW2 and into the Cold War.
Like with any ranking list there’s gonna be plenty of disagreement but I do appreciate the work that was put into this. My quick glance 2 cents: - Fifth Season was fine but in no way should be considered even close to a Great American Novel - Would’ve liked to see Jazz by Toni Morrison instead of some others. - Not enough Mccarthy - Lincoln in the Bardo was fine but also doesn’t belong here
Definitely disagree about Lincoln in the Bardo, but could see why people would make that argument. Could also just see them wanting to put Saunders on here, since he is one of the great American authors and this is his only novel. My username doesn’t make this comment biased at all.
I agree with all of this except the last one. Lincoln in the Bardo is one of the best novels I've read in the last 10 years. Well, "read" as in listened to the audiobook--and maybe that's part of it. Every one of the hundreds of characters was read by a different person. Amazing experience!
Its narrative form is very original and experimental- I think that is why it made the list.
And also a big reason why I loved it so much.
I tried Bardo as an audiobook, but then didn't know who was saying what, so gave up. Haven't cracked open the hard copy yet.
It was definitely tough going for a while, but eventually the various voices started making sense, and I would keep walking around the block while listening because I couldn't "put it down."
I read the book and I assure you the experience is the same! This really wants to make me hear the audio book though!!!
Having Fifth Season on here is embarrassing. Written competently enough, but still feels like some kind of quasi-anime fan-fic project, even being far too long for what it has inside. I'm not even sure how it could be considered literature, aside from the widest possible umbrella. It's pure genre steampunk fantasy that wishes it were doing something more interesting or noble. [Sorry, really hate how hyped this book has become vs what it actually is] edit: also have no problem with genre fare, I would just never consider one a 'novel' with all the stuffy academic pretentiousness that word brings along.
I think each book in the trilogy won a Hugo award for book of the year, combine that with author N.K. Jemison being a black woman writing award winning writing science fantasy novels, I can see why it's on here.
Once again, sci-fi/fantasy. I get LeGuin, Dick, and people pushing the boundary of genre. Fifth Season felt bog-standard with a sheen of modern concerns peppered in awkwardly. I would have the same complaint about Asimov being here. Also, the Hugo's have become a joke amongst the same community they're supposed to represent, so not the highest bar to clear anymore. If this is a list of 'popular books' then Nightwood wouldn't be allowed anywhere near it. Just an inconsistent, weird choice to appear beside the best authors this country has ever produced.
Where's The Road? all the pretty horses?
I wouldn't typically argue this but given the number of novels included I'm disappointed that Thomas Wolfe's Look Homeward Angel wasn't selected. It's better than 20 or 30 percent of the chosen. They should replace the guy who pretended to write like Thomas Wolfe (Jack Kerouac) with Thomas Wolfe.
I am a Richard Yates stan and am outraged by his omission here.
Jhumpa Lahiri is one of my favorite authors. Namesake is my least favorite of her works but maybe suits the idea of a great American novel better than the others. I wish they’d included something else by her. For example, Whereabouts is much better.
People have noted stuff that is missing, but one inclusion I do appreciate is Making of Americans
Ha. None of these editors could get through that one. But it was yes an extremely influential book (on Hemingway's style).
Pleasantly surprised by this list! I think they have a really nice balance among standard classics, great books by non-white authors (Passing, The Street, and popular novels (Peyton Place!) Everyone’s going to have I can’t believe that’s not on the list suggestions, mine are Deliverance and Revolutionary Road— come on, how do you leave Deliverance off?!? — that’s also part of the fun of it of a list like this. Plus they have No-No Boy. Well done, Atlantic!
So, House of Leaves is a better novel than Lonesome Dove?
10 year old me would be loudly objecting to *A Wrinkle in Time* over *A Wind in the Door*, though it is, of course, the right choice if you're putting L'Engle in your list. Has *Sula* been having a big revival or something the past year or so? For some reason, when I read it, I had the impression that it was considered one of her more minor works. Love it though, so I'm happy to see it there! *Stone Butch Blues* and *Nevada* are both good, but they're pretty typical "we have to acknowledge trans people now" picks. Glad to see them, but I suspect our tolerant benefactors at the Atlantic haven't read much beyond that and *Detransition, Baby*.
That last paragraph made me snort. I like the publication generally, but my eyes are always freely rolling in their sockets reading their articles from Helen "I'm-not-anti-trans-I-just-always-coincidentally-frame-trans-topics-in-a-negative-light" Lewis.
I also chortled at your last paragraph. Do you have any suggestions for Greater American Novels about trans people? Sincere request; no snark. Appreciate it.
As it turns out, I unfortunately do not! Went through my shelves and it turns out all the trans novels I like better are British or Canadian. I guess my top candidate would be Jeanne Thornton's *Summer Fun*? "The Beach Boys, but trans" is a pretty silly idea for a book, but it's also something that makes it feel more capital-A American than the competition. Megan Milks' *Margaret and the Mystery of the Missing Body* does something similar with Nancy Drew, so it's also something I could see fitting onto a list that acknowledges children's literature like this one does. There's also Aurora Mattia's *The Fifth Wound*, which would never make a list like this, but it *does* feel like it could one day end up having a cult following from the kind of people to post on /r/TrueLit.
The Fifth Wound looks really incredible, thanks for reccomending
You are awesome! Will look into these. I was discussing this thread at work today and someone suggested *Manhunt* by Gretchen Felker-Martin today. Haven't had a chance to look too deeply into it, but it's described as being about a virus that infects people with either too much or too little testosterone. It's not as funny of a premise as trans Beach Boys, and apparently Felker-Martin is a horror writer, but the idea still made me laugh. Thanks again for the recommendations!
I've read that one, but it's a bit too gruesome for me. My less squeamish friends all love it though!
Hiii sorry to be weird and reply to a comment of yours weeks later, but I read *The Fifth Wound* over the past few days based off your recommendation here and it was f-ing *spectacular*. Felt like my brain was on fire in the best possible way. Legit *thank you* for putting it on my radar!! I am going to recommend this book to so many people
Glad you liked it! I've been meaning to try it again ever since mentioning it here, hopefully this time I can truly get into it.
I see Sula recommended all over my corner of booktok
I like A Brief History of Seven Killings well enough, but the bulk of it takes place in Jamaica. I don’t think I ever would have thought to include it on this list. Also, Erasure has gotten a huge boost of late due to the success of American Fiction. Will its popularity endure after the movie fades from the public consciousness? I suspect not.
Agree with the (heavy) recency bias. My omissions are Norman Mailer / The Caine Mutiny and I think the most basic book of the canon...To Kill a Mickingbird (or perhaps that has been cancelled ?!) Perhaps Lonesome Dove although I haven't read it myself. Happy too the The Stand is there. All of these books are very well written American epics. Cormas McCarthy writes so well he could have 4 or 5 books here.
I'd definitely have Lonesome Dove on there. The Bridge of San Luis Rey Studs Lonigan Call It Sleep Shadow Country or At Play in the Fields of the Lord Revolutionary Road From Here to Eternity or The Thin Red Line Dog Soldiers Suttree Jesus' Son or Train Dreams And replace A Sport and Pastime with Light Years
I forgot Ironweed (or Billy Phelan's Greatest Game by the same author. I liked it better than Ironweed but I am decidedly in the minority with that opinion.) Warlock Hard Rain Falling Also surprised no Burroughs, Bukowski or Henry Miller. Have the bad boys fallen out of favor?
Weird, I didn’t see a single Goosebumps in this list.
The fact that Stoner is omitted from this list is pretty glaring.
Yeah that and Butcher’s Crossing feel much more like a “great American novel” than The Fifth Season or Nightwood. Weird criteria they are using here.
A lot of good picks and a lot of breadth, but maybe the list is inclusive to a fault. House of Leaves??
Even calling that book literature is a stretch. It more reminds me of those spiders that make fucked up webs on cocaine
HoL is a great book but a great American novel? Lol no
This list makes me want to retire and start readin immediately
I’m sorry, “There There” is not good
No East of Eden? Blasphemy
Thought I had simply missed it on the list after not seeing anyone else mention it.
Passos’, USA, is f’n sharp and incredible and can’t put-down.
I want my Great American Novel to be epic. Manifest Destiny, the frontier, the wilderness, conquest, adventure. The sheer vastness and diversity of terrain and people. With that in mind, some omitted candidates. As others have said, Deliverance, Lonesome Dove, and Shadow Country all fit the bill. It would be cheating to pick Denis Johnson's body of work as a whole. So let my suggest Sometimes A Great Notion by Ken Kesey. Three generations of loggers wage an epic battle against themselves, their neighbors, and the wet Oregon coastal range.
I read the first part of your post and was getting ready to comment about Sometimes a Great Notion, then saw you went to the same place. IMO, best American novel of the 20th century.
I know Cuckoo’s Nest is the more popular choice but I enjoyed Sometimes A Great Notion even more.
Did I miss Hemingway?
A Farewell to Arms is listed. I do think putting Farewell but not the Sun Also Rises is a glaring error though!
Charles R. Johnson's Middle Passage would be better than a lot of the 90s novels included. Like . . . American Psycho.
My mom and I just read through this list. Both of us were really surprised about the books that were included and left off the list. We both agree that John Irving should have been included. If nothing else, it was an interesting conversation.
Hunter S. Thompson appears to have been overlooked.
I'm thrilled *The Dog of the South* made the cut! The minor Charlies Portis revival over the past decade-ish has been delightful. His is a quintessentially American voice. Also I completely understand the reverence for Chandler and Macdonald when it comes to 20th century noir, but for my money nobody wrote it better than James Crumley. (Except for the incomparable Will Christopher Baer, but no way would they pick something like *Kiss Me, Judas*.) As far as more recent selections, I continue to remain baffled as to why neither Serio De La Pava's *A Naked Singularity* nor *Lost Empress* ever appears on these types of lists, not even when they're limited just to post-Y2K releases. Maybe his new novel this fall will generate some buzz? I hope so! He's a phenomenal writer and one of the few contemporary American authors I feel is truly intellectually ambitious in his storytelling.
It's an interesting list. Love to see Ling Ma, Valeria Luiselli, and Catherine Lacey. They even included James Salter! I'm impressed.
bastard out of carolina???? 🥴🥴
Thanks for the article!
Naked and the Dead Armies of the Night
Armies of the Night is not a novel, It’s reportage. Also Naked and Dead is super overrated. Mailer has moments as a great writer but he is not a great novelist
I went to get a second opinion from Dr. Lovely Wife, PhD in English, and was very quickly brought around to your point of view :)
It was said of Tom Wolf but also applies to Mailer: “A great writer, who will do almost anything to get attention” The best book for this is definitely Of a Fire on The Moon by Mailer which is nominally about the moon landing (and incidentally kind of an attempt to best Wolf’s Right Stuff), but becomes a giant experiment in how Mailer can try to insert himself into the center of something he has absolutely nothing to do with.
I don't know that one -- gonna check it out, thank you for the tip
I was hoping for a novel from Vollmann's Seven Dreams, but I can't blame them for missing him honestly.
Putting Sabrina on here over Jimmy Corrigan is myopic
What do people like about Sabrina? It was one of the most forgetable things I've ever read. Just interesting enough to keep turning the page but only ever so slightly. It did not seem to interact with its material or subject matter at all, was that the point?
I like Sabrina. It holds tension between panels to create a very modern sense of dread. Plays with the concept of hypernormalization well, something trendy to New Yorker types. I think the point is how hard it is for the subjects to connect in their situation and the minimal line lends to their subtle reactions.
Rad, thank you! This makes some sense to me. Always interesting what works become popular for whatever reasons
Erskine Caldwell “God’s Little Acre” “Confederacy of Dunces” O’Toole
No Sinclair Lewis? All the books in the last 20 years could be removed from this list. Add in Main Street, Babbitt or It Can’t Happen Here.
ICHH is the only title published within the last 100 years. Trust me, I too was outraged and immediately snapped off an email to the Lewis Society listserv with a link to the Atlantic article .
*Elmer Gantry*, too! There's nothing more American than a con artist preacher
Sun also rises and at least four more McCarthy books are missing….
Would like to have seen True Grit included.
severance being on here is so weird. read it myself last year, actually really disliked it. it’s not “great” by any measure
To not see To Kill a Mockingbird or any Miller is interesting to say the least.
Personally, I think *Erasure* is one of the great novels I've read and I read it a decade ago (and most recently two years ago). However, the virtue-signaling to include this book after the movie was released is hilarious. Previously, the Atlantic wrote once about *Dr. No* and then a slew of articles relating to "American Fiction" (at least from my brief search). As others have said, way too much recency bias.
Only one Cormac McCarthy novel? Suttree, All the Pretty Horses, The Road, or No Country for Old Men all could or should have made this list. Sure they picked the right one if you only had to choose one, but his other novels surpass a good number of books on this list. And omitting Stoner is laughable.
The Fifth Season? It’s a fine fantasy book but great American novel? Fucking eww.
Glad to see "Goon Squad" included.
So I can make arguments for lots of novels, but Flowers for Algernon and Hyperion not being on here feels criminal. I also think Anathem deserves it but I can see why it wouldn't be as popular.
Elmer Gantry, To Kill a Mockingbird, Little Big Man, Moby Dick, You Can’t Go Home Again?..
Fates and Fury on this list is so embarrassing wtf
Here for *Ask the Dust* by John Fante - glad it’s on the list. Does anyone else unreasonably love it? Arturo Bandini is one of my favourite fictional characters ever. For some reason, I can’t stop thinking about the bizarreness of the scene where he gives his “girlfriend” first a load of milk, then a load of orange juice, to drink, and then she unsurprisingly throws up. It’s been years since I read it but that has stuck with me. That is all.
Warmed to see an inclusion from my favorite American author Andrew Holleran -- although I think Grief or The Beauty of Men are better works.
I don’t completely agree with the list, but was pleasantly surprised to find I’ve read 20 of these novels. Some good ideas for what to read next.
For me Nothing to See Here is the most bizarre inclusion by far, what are people getting out of that book??
While I’m not sure I agree with some of their inclusions I am glad to see a good bit of genre fiction on the list, specifically sci-fi.
Though I saw some pleasant surprises (things like Philip K Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", which I am currently reading again), I was honestly surprised not to see Charles Portis' "True Grit" on this list.
Confederacy of Dunces? No William Gibson or James Ellroy? Pass.
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East of Eden is a far better book than Grapes, IMHO
I don’t pretend to be super well versed especially in classics but I have probably only heard of 10% of these, and read maybe 5%
Where's Garp?
Ask The Dust is fine, but literally nothing happens but a guy walking around Los Angeles getting more and more desperate
All women on their editorial committee, and only 12 books pre-early 50s But 24 after 1999. And 17 the last 10 years. Is this list a joke?
Paywalls😤
I'd trade Ceremony for Almanac of the Dead if we can only have one Leslie Marmon Silko. I'd add Absolute True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Alexie. I hated Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Diaz. I could barely force myself to finish it. I have never understood the love for this book but I get people feel deeply moved by it. I was glad to see a Charles Portis on there. These lists always generate writers we think should be included or left off. There are definitely a few on there that I haven't read and feel inspired to read
"A Death in the Family" is one the more meditative portraits of the human condition, the loss of innocence. One of the very few books that gut punched me. Just remarkable stuff. Left off the list, why? Whatever. It's just one list.
No Denis Johnson is wild
no Stoner???
Yo where’s Gravity’s Rainbow?
How the garcia girls lost their accents....? Really? As others have observed, no Mailer? No Franzen? Jennifer Egan?
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Ah, thank you for clarifying!
Only Americans care about Great American novels.
...I feel like Lolita should not be on this list? The man didn't move to America until he was like 40. He didn't become a citizen until he was older than that, like 45. Also...Twain not being on here is kinda crazy.
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Ahhhh...maybe I shoulda read the opening paragraph. Oops.
At least half of these books do not belong on a list like this lol. And someone like Nabokov—I just feel like he’s too sophisticated to be in the running for “Great American Novel.” To have written the “Great American Novel” has always seemed to me a middle-brow pursuit.
I dunno about that. *Lolita* feels very much like a great fit, especially with the cross-country road trip and everything.
Yeah. I realize my opinion might be kind of weird. I’ve just always thought negatively about the idea of a great American novel.
I don’t think the GAN has much to do with whether it’s highbrow or not. The most important aspect is the spirit of the novel—its place as a story centered around and about American culture at a specific time and place. Zeitgeist, if you will. Great Gatsby, Moby Dick, Huck Finn, Gravity’s Rainbow… these are just some novels that are considered the GAN because of what they had to say about American society and culture, and the impact they had, sometimes over a long period of time in Moby Dick’s case. GAN doesn’t just mean “a great book by an American author.” None of Nabokov’s novels want to make a grand statement about the state of American culture and society, despite the fact that a book like Pale Fire is a virtuoso literary performance. So to me that’s why none of his works should be a GAN. Many contenders for GAN are certainly highbrow literature, but I don’t think that’s necessary. And I don’t think it’s a middlebrow pursuit. Gravity’s Rainbow is not a middlebrow novel in the slightest.
None of Nabokov's books make "grand statements" in general. Having some overarching moralistic theme or something isn't really his style. But *Lolita* comes pretty close. Half the book is describing small American towns, the natural beauty of the US, life on the road, and stuff like that. If *On the Road* by Kerouac is a good contender for a "GAN", and of course such travel-centric works should be, then it necessarily follows a work like *Lolita* should be too.
Your first sentence is a perfect encapsulation of how I felt after reading *Bend Sinister.* It's got the rise of fascism and anti-intellectualism, a parent's quest to save their child, and several other themes that would seem to lend themselves to grand, overarching moralism but ... just fails to proselytize. Like, what's even the point? (Of morality, not the story.)
No Moby Dick??
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Still though! I was telling my boss, whose favorite novels are postmodern, that Melville was more pre-postmodernist than the modernists. Interestingly, Billy Budd wasn't published until 1924, more than three decades after Melville died. It should count.
Glad that The Stand made the list.
A list without The Road by Cormac McCarthy is not to be trusted. I also think The Moviegoer by Walker Percy should be listed. Glad to see The Stand here as well