Using the concept of The American Novel- a book that is inextricably American- what about British equivalents?
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Using the concept of The American Novel- a book that is inextricably American- what about British equivalents?
I am all for Middlemarch :)
Popular consensus will probably go for Dickens or the Brontes, but I will like to suggest Austen or Hardy, and of those I prefer Hardy.
Ignore me, missed the point entirely. Dur.
Crikey, I can see this thread going on for awhile!
Even just working within the bounds of the novel form, there's so many to choose from!
Suffice it to say that I think a hypothetical shortlist should include Defoe's Moll Flanders, Godwin's Caleb Williams, Austen's Persuasion, Bronte's Wuthering Heights, Dickens' Great Expectations, Waugh's Brideshead Revisited and Tolkein's The Lord of the Rings (but only if it can be taken as a whole).
And those are only the ones that leap immediately to mind...
Oh, most certainly Ivanhoe...
Seriously, what's next? The Great Turks and Caicos Novel?
This isn't the way to judge literature - it reminds me almost of the mediocre film critics who give things a rating out of 5 - quite frankly, that isn't criticism, it is a waste of time.
Oh, it just occurred to me:
Lord of the Rings
It's literature as being a side or the identity of a country. Which best sums up a place?Quote:
Originally Posted by JBI
Y'know JBI if you dont like the thread you are free to ignore it. People will discuss what they want to discuss, and if th someone wants to discuss what the definitive Turks & Caicos novel is they will (and should) start a thread about it. Your opinion on the worthiness of a particular thread is really pretty unimportant.
Now, on to the important part of the post
The problem I see with our discussion here is probably going to be first deciding what qualities make something particularly british ( a thorny discussion because despite being a very small island there are more regional differences than in countries many times its size.
Just because I think it deserves a mention I think Rob Roy may be the definitive Scottish Novel, however, I dont see it as particularly british
The best British novel? How long is a piece of string? Three Brontes, one Dickens, an Orwell or so, Dickens, the list goes on and on.
+1 :thumbs_upQuote:
Originally Posted by kilted exile
as for the great British novel.. much has already been mentioned.. Austen, Dickens, Hardy, Eliot, the Brontes, etc
if i was going to pick one then it is probably a toss up between Great Expectations and Jane Eyre - not necessarily the greatest, but two books that immediately come to mind when thinking about books that best represent Britishness.. add Robinson Crusoe to that as well...
I like D. H. Lawrence and his portrayal of a changing England; one stuck between the old class system and modern industrialisation. So perhaps 'Women in Love'.
Or perhaps 'Wuthering Heights' which paints a beautiful story within a such lovely landscape. Not a big fan of Austen, nothing but unrealistic self-fantasy hidden behind fanciful language.
Though a joyful act of reflection, I could never limit my choice to even five, let alone one. It is simply amazing how much great literature has come out of that little island.
Haha, I think I suggested this in the other thread. :DQuote:
Originally Posted by kelby_lake
So I think the "Great British novel" would have to be not just by a British author but something that strikes someone as inherently British, sort of like a national epic like The Illiad or The Aenieid or Beowulf.
As which novels fit, here are a few off the top of my head:
Tom Jones, Great Expectations, Middlemarch, Tess of the D'Ubervilles, Sons and Lovers, The Rainbow, Brideshead Revisted, and Vanity Fair.
Although it is not the book that I would take with me to the proverbial Desert Island, I think that Wuthering Heights must be a serious consideration for THE great British novel. In my view, nowhere in English literature has the pain of unrequited love been more graphicaly expressed than in the doomed relationship between Cathy and Heathcliffe.