20th Century American Literature

[Desolation]

At the moment, I am unable to attend university due to finances and a recent relocation (I have to wait a few more months to obtain residency in my new state). Feeling mentally stifled, I've decided to take a very small bit of initiative and self fashion a course in 20th Century American Lit. I've compiled (what I think is) a pretty good list of essentials on my own, but some recommendations couldn't hurt.

So far, I've read at an average of a book per week:
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

And still to read, I have:
This Side of Paradise by Fitzgerald
The Beautiful and the Damned by Fitzgerald
Absalom, Absalom! by Faulkner
The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway
The Old Man and the Sea by Hemingway
The 42nd Parallel by John Dos Passos
The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein
Black Spring by Henry Miller
The Catcher in the Rye by Salinger
Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck
Invisible Man by Ellison
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
On the Road: The Original Scroll by Kerouac
Slaughterhouse Five by Vonnegut
V. by Thomas Pynchon
White Noise by Don DeLillo
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

Is there anything major that I'm missing? I've tried to pick from a decent range of movements and styles, but I'm eager for any major writers that I may have left out, or even suggestions of books listed above that may not be entirely necessary right now...It is a bit of a long list for me, not a speed reader by any means, to undertake by the year's end.

[Scheherazade]

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R e m i n d e r

Please discuss the topic at hand but not each other.

Off-topic posts will be removed without further warning.

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[OrphanPip]

There's no poetry or drama.

A simple poetry list would involve readings from:
T.S. Eliot
Ezra Pound
Wallace Stevens
Robert Frost
Elizabeth Bishop
Robert Lowell
Marianne Moore
George Oppen
John Ashbery

Drama:
O'Neil
Miller
Williams

Edit: In prose you might want to include something from the turn of the century, like Cather's My Antonia. And maybe some Toni Morrison and Saul Bellow so that your list represents some writers from broader cultural backgrounds (Ellison is good though).

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

Awww. I must've missed a flame war. :(

I don't see any genre fiction. I know it isn't as "important" as those super-serious works you listed, but they're still important works, especially in terms of pop culture. Maybe throw in (I'm only somewhat familiar with sci-fi and fantasy) some H. P. Lovecraft, Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Bradbury, Philip K. Dick, Le Guin, Pullman, C.S. Lewis, and of course Tolkien. I'm not suggesting reading all these authors, just a couple, maybe one fantasy and one sci-fi.

[OrphanPip]

Clarke, Lewis and Tolkien are English though :p

[Vavasor]

Southern Gothic was kind of a big thing at mid-century. Carson McCullers doesn't seem to be studied much these days, but Eudora Welty and Flannery O'Connor could be good to work into the mix.

Saul Bellow's SEIZE THE DAY would be a good one to add as well.

[PeterL]

The best novels of the 20th century were The Ship that Sailed the Time Stream, , and, for humor, [i]The Aluminum Man all by G. C. Edmondson; but Edmondson was not the best American novelist of the 20th century. I'd have to give that to Poul Anderson especially for Tau Zero and The Boat of a Million Years.

Hemingway was O.K., but there are better ways to waste time than readin Fitzgerald and Faulkner

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

Clarke, Lewis and Tolkien are English though :p
You say tomato . . . :lol: They all blend together in my mind, unfortunately.

The best novels of the 20th century were The Ship that Sailed the Time Stream, , and, for humor, [i]The Aluminum Man all by G. C. Edmondson; but Edmondson was not the best American novelist of the 20th century. I'd have to give that to Poul Anderson especially for Tau Zero and The Boat of a Million Years.

Hemingway was O.K., but there are better ways to waste time than readin Fitzgerald and Faulkner
Well, end of discussion then! The three best novels of all the 20th century were written by some guy you've probably never heard, and Fitzgerald and Faulkner are a waste of time. Thank God we have the sage PeterL to set all us Philistines straight.

[Austin Butler]

Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Faulkner are essential to 20th c. American lit. I'd be interested in reading the argument against them. . . . I'm in a similar situation as you; not currently enrolled in college due to circumstances (I actually was going to college in Portland!) and trying to keep my mind healthy. OrphanPip makes a good point about including poetry and drama into your list as well as providing excellent recommendations. For poetry I'd recommend picking up a Norton anthology or something like that. It should have the most loved poems in there.

Beloved by Toni Morrison is essential. Size the Day by Saul Bellow is another good addition. Willa Cather as well. I haven't read My Antonia, only The Professor's House, but I hear Antonia is better.

I'd second Eudora Welty and Flannery O'Connor. I think Welty's stories are her strongpoint so you should pick up The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty. As for O'Connor read everything by her. She only put out two novels, Wise Blood and The Violent Bear it Away, in her life as long as some great stories e.g. "A Good Man is Hard to Find"

Don't forget the short story either! I'd recommend Raymond Carver's Cathedral, my favorite, or Where I'm Calling From. John Cheever is another wonderful short story author. The Stories of John Cheever[I] contain some of the best stories I've read. Salinger's [I]Nine Stories are wonderful as well.

I know I'm forgetting some others. . . .

For the most part these suggestions contain what would be found in most 20th Century American Lit. courses. You've got a lot of (great) reading ahead of you! Let us know how it goes.

[ChicagoReader]

I would think Thomas Pynchon and Phillip Roth also deserve some reading. And though you have Blood Meridian listed one can never read enough McCarthy, perhaps Suttree or The Road should be included as well.

[Rores28]

David Foster Wallace should be in there, specifically Infinite Jest (I haven't read but have heard amazing things)

Gaddis - The Recognitions, again I haven't read but I was under the impression this was major 20th century American Literature

John Barth - Lost in the Funhouse

[dfloyd]

actually two holes: You have skipped the two other American Nobel prize winners: Sinclair Lewis and John Steinbeck. For Lewis choose Main Street, Babbitt, and Elmer Gantry. For Steinbeck select Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, and East of Eden. I see you have Grapes of Wrath, but you can still add the other two Steinbeck novels. Roth and De Lilo are not appealing to me or to many others. Neither have the stylistic craftsmanship of the four American Nobel Prize winners: Sinclair Lewis, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, and John Steinbeck. Roth and De Lilo will never join this Pantheon of American writers. I think Fitzgerald would have been a Nobel Prize winner if he had kept on writing and not suffered an early death (age 42 I believe).

[JuniperWoolf]

You've really got to get some Tennessee Williams in there.

[Desolation]

Thank you all, so much! I'm definitely going to add a few of those recommendations into the list. I don't have the time (this list is only meant to cover now to the end of the year) or money for everything, but some glaring omissions have certainly been pointed out.

I'll be the first to admit that I have a very strong bias towards novels, and against poetry, short stories, and drama. I suppose that that is something I'll have to change. Maybe.

[lowradiation]

I'd throw another Pynchon in there (Gravity's Rainbow).

Also Roth covers such a period he deserves a fair bit reading, (Portnoy's Complaint, Zuckerman series).

Also I'd suggest a couple of even more contemporary authors, I think Foster-Wallace is important. Give Dave Eggers or Jonathan Safran Foer a try, and Jonathan Franzen.

[kelby_lake]

I'd include Of Mice and Men. And I agree with the person who mentioned Southern Gothic. The Ballad of The Sad Cafe by Carson McCullers is a good example, and then you've got all your women in there.

Some of Henry James' novels were 20th century, weren't they?

If you're studying American Lit, you really can't ignore American Drama. It's got some of the best playwrights of the 20th century, if not in the history of drama. And you can't really ignore short stories either- Fitzgerald and Hemingway are famous for their short stories as well as their novels.

Of course, we all have biases and preferences but you can't section off one form of literature and neglect the rest.

[Darcy88]

I'd be inclined to put Tropic of Cancer in there instead of Black Spring.

[Desolation]

I've read Tropic of Cancer about half a dozen times...:cornut:

[kinesj]

There are numerous possibilities to add, but off the top of my head Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe, All the Kings Men by Robert Penn Warren, and Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor are all worthy additions.


And you can't really ignore short stories either- Fitzgerald and Hemingway are famous for their short stories as well as their novels.


As is Faulkner for that matter.

[Darcy88]

I've read Tropic of Cancer about half a dozen times...:cornut:

I guess your avatar and signature should've given me a hint!

Great book, great, great book.

Reaching for an omission..... I suppose you could toss in Sinclair's The Jungle.