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---
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Alias: [""]
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Tag: ["🎭", "🇺🇸", "📖"]
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Date: 2024-03-17
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DocType: "WebClipping"
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Hierarchy:
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TimeStamp: 2024-03-17
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Link: https://www.theatlantic.com/books/archive/2024/03/best-books-american-fiction/677479/
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location:
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CollapseMetaTable: true
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---
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Parent:: [[@News|News]], [[@Reading master|Reading list]]
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Read:: 🟥
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---
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```button
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name Save
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type command
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action Save current file
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id Save
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```
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^button-TheGreatAmericanNovelsNSave
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# The Great American Novels
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In 1868, a little-known writer by the name of John William DeForest proposed a new type of literature, a collective artistic project for a nation just emerging from an existential conflict: a work of fiction that accomplished “the task of painting the American soul.” It would be called the Great American Novel, and no one had written it yet, DeForest admitted. Maybe soon.
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A century and a half later, the idea has endured, even as it has become more complicated. In 2024, our definition of literary greatness is wider, deeper, and weirder than DeForest likely could have imagined. At the same time, the novel is also under threat, as the forces of anti-intellectualism and authoritarianism seek to ban books and curtail freedom of expression. The American canon is more capacious, more fluid, and more fragile than perhaps ever before. But what, exactly, is in it? What follows is our attempt to discover just that.
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In setting out to identify that new American canon, we decided to define *American* as having first been published in the United States (or intended to be—read more in our entries on *Lolita* and *The Bell Jar*). And we narrowed our aperture to the past 100 years—a period that began as literary modernism was cresting and contains all manner of literary pleasure and possibility, including the experimentations of postmodernism and the narrative satisfactions of genre fiction.
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This still left millions of potential titles. So we approached experts—scholars, critics, and novelists, both at *The Atlantic* and outside it—and asked for their suggestions. From there, we added and subtracted and debated and negotiated and considered and reconsidered until we landed on the list you’re about to read. We didn’t limit ourselves to a round, arbitrary number; we wanted to recognize the very best—novels that say something intriguing about the world and do it distinctively, in intentional, artful prose—no matter how many or few that ended up being (136, as it turns out). Our goal was to single out those classics that stand the test of time, but also to make the case for the unexpected, the unfairly forgotten, and the recently published works that already feel indelible. We aimed for comprehensiveness, rigor, and open-mindedness. Serendipity, too: We hoped to replicate that particular joy of a friend pressing a book into your hand and saying, “You have to read this; you’ll love it.”
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This list includes 45 debut novels, nine winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and three children’s books. Twelve were published before the introduction of the mass-market paperback to America, and 24 after the release of the Kindle. At least 60 have been banned by schools or libraries. Together, they represent the best of what novels can do: challenge us, delight us, pull us in and then release us, a little smarter and a little more alive than we were before. You have to read them.
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Read More
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### The Great American Novels
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- ### The Great Gatsby
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F. Scott Fitzgerald
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1925
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- ### An American Tragedy
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Theodore Dreiser
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1925
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- ### The Making of Americans
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Gertrude Stein
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1925
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- ### Death Comes for the Archbishop
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Willa Cather
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1927
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- ### A Farewell to Arms
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Ernest Hemingway
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1929
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- ### The Sound and the Fury
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William Faulkner
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1929
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- ### Absalom, Absalom!
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William Faulkner
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1936
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- ### Nightwood
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Djuna Barnes
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1936
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- ### East Goes West
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Younghill Kang
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1937
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- ### Their Eyes Were Watching God
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Zora Neale Hurston
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1937
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- ### U.S.A.
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John Dos Passos
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1937
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- ### Ask the Dust
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John Fante
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1939
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- ### The Big Sleep
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Raymond Chandler
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1939
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- ### The Day of the Locust
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Nathanael West
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1939
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- ### The Grapes of Wrath
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John Steinbeck
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1939
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- ### Native Son
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Richard Wright
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1940
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- ### The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
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Carson McCullers
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1940
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- ### A Time to Be Born
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Dawn Powell
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1942
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- ### All the King’s Men
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Robert Penn Warren
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1946
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- ### In a Lonely Place
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Dorothy B. Hughes
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1947
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- ### The Mountain Lion
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Jean Stafford
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1947
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- ### The Catcher in the Rye
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J. D. Salinger
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1951
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- ### Charlotte’s Web
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E. B. White
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1952
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- ### Invisible Man
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Ralph Ellison
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1952
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- ### Fahrenheit 451
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Ray Bradbury
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1953
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- ### Maud Martha
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Gwendolyn Brooks
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1953
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- ### The Adventures of Augie March
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Saul Bellow
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1953
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- ### Lolita
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Vladimir Nabokov
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1955
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- ### Giovanni’s Room
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James Baldwin
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1956
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- ### Peyton Place
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Grace Metalious
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1956
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- ### Deep Water
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Patricia Highsmith
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1957
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- ### On the Road
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Jack Kerouac
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1957
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- ### The Haunting of Hill House
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Shirley Jackson
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1959
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- ### Catch-22
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Joseph Heller
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1961
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- ### A Wrinkle in Time
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Madeleine L'Engle
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1962
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- ### Another Country
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James Baldwin
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1962
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- ### One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
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Ken Kesey
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1962
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- ### Pale Fire
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Vladimir Nabokov
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1962
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- ### The Zebra-Striped Hearse
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Ross Macdonald
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1962
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- ### The Bell Jar
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Sylvia Plath
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1963
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- ### The Group
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Mary McCarthy
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1963
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- ### The Crying of Lot 49
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Thomas Pynchon
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1966
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- ### A Sport and a Pastime
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James Salter
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1967
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- 
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- ### Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
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Philip K. Dick
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1968
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- ### Divorcing
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|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Susan Taubes
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1969
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### Portnoy’s Complaint
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Philip Roth
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1969
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### Slaughterhouse-Five
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Kurt Vonnegut
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1969
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Judy Blume
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1970
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### Desperate Characters
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Paula Fox
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1970
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### Play It as It Lays
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Joan Didion
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1970
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### Log of the S.S. The Mrs Unguentine
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Stanley Crawford
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1972
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### Mumbo Jumbo
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ishmael Reed
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1972
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- 
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### The Revolt of the Cockroach People
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Oscar Zeta Acosta
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1973
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- 
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### The Dispossessed
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ursula K. Le Guin
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1974
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### Winter in the Blood
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
James Welch
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1974
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### Corregidora
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Gayl Jones
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1975
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### Speedboat
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Renata Adler
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1976
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### Ceremony
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Leslie Marmon Silko
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1977
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### Song of Solomon
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Toni Morrison
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1977
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### A Contract With God
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Will Eisner
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1978
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### Dancer From the Dance
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Andrew Holleran
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1978
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### The Stand
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Stephen King
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1978
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### Kindred
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Octavia E. Butler
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1979
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### The Dog of the South
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Charles Portis
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1979
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### Housekeeping
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Marilynne Robinson
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1980
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### The Salt Eaters
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Toni Cade Bambara
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1980
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### Little, Big: Or, the Fairies’ Parliament
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
John Crowley
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1981
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### Oxherding Tale
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Charles Johnson
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1982
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### Machine Dreams
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jayne Anne Phillips
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1984
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### Blood Meridian
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cormac McCarthy
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1985
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### A Summons to Memphis
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Peter Taylor
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1986
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### Watchmen
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1986
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- 
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### Dawn
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Octavia E. Butler
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1987
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### Geek Love
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Katherine Dunn
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1989
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### Tripmaster Monkey
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Maxine Hong Kingston
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1989
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### Dogeaters
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jessica Hagedorn
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1990
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### American Psycho
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bret Easton Ellis
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1991
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### How the García Girls Lost Their Accents
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Julia Alvarez
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1991
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- 
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### Bastard Out of Carolina
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dorothy Allison
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1992
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### The Secret History
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Donna Tartt
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1992
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### So Far From God
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ana Castillo
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1993
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### Stone Butch Blues
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Leslie Feinberg
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1993
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### The Shipping News
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Annie Proulx
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1993
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### Native Speaker
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Chang-rae Lee
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1995
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### Sabbath’s Theater
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Philip Roth
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1995
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### Under the Feet of Jesus
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Helena María Viramontes
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1995
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### Infinite Jest
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
David Foster Wallace
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1996
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### I Love Dick
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Chris Kraus
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1997
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### Underworld
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Don DeLillo
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1997
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### The Intuitionist
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Colson Whitehead
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1999
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### Blonde
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Joyce Carol Oates
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2000
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### House of Leaves
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mark Z. Danielewski
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2000
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Michael Chabon
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2000
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### The Last Samurai
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Helen DeWitt
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2000
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### The Quick and the Dead
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Joy Williams
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2000
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### Erasure
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Percival Everett
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2001
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### I, the Divine
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rabih Alameddine
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2001
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### The Corrections
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jonathan Franzen
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2001
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### Caramelo
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sandra Cisneros
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2002
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### Perma Red
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Debra Magpie Earling
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2002
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### The Russian Debutante’s Handbook
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Gary Shteyngart
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2002
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- ### The Namesake
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Jhumpa Lahiri
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2003
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- ### Veronica
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Mary Gaitskill
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2005
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- ### The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
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Junot Díaz
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2007
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- ### A Visit From the Goon Squad
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Jennifer Egan
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2010
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- ### I Hotel
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Karen Tei Yamashita
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2010
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- 
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- ### Salvage the Bones
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Jesmyn Ward
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2011
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- ### The Round House
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Louise Erdrich
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2012
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|
- ### Americanah
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Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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2013
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- 
|
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|
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|
|
- ### A Brief History of Seven Killings
|
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|
Marlon James
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2014
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|
- ### Family Life
|
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|
Akhil Sharma
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2014
|
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|
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|
|
- ### Fates and Furies
|
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|
Lauren Groff
|
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2015
|
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|
- ### The Fifth Season
|
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|
|
N. K. Jemisin
|
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2015
|
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|
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|
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|
|
- ### The Sellout
|
|
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|
|
Paul Beatty
|
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|
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|
|
2015
|
|
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|
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|
|
- ### The Sympathizer
|
|
|
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|
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|
|
|
|
|
Viet Thanh Nguyen
|
|
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|
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|
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|
|
2015
|
|
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|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### Amiable With Big Teeth
|
|
|
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|
|
|
|
|
Claude McKay
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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|
|
2017
|
|
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|
|
|
|
|
- ### Lincoln in the Bardo
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
George Saunders
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2017
|
|
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|
|
|
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|
|
|
- 
|
|
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|
|
- 
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### There There
|
|
|
|
|
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|
|
|
|
|
Tommy Orange
|
|
|
|
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|
|
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|
|
|
2018
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### Lost Children Archive
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Valeria Luiselli
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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|
|
|
2019
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### Nothing to See Here
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Kevin Wilson
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2019
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### The Old Drift
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Namwali Serpell
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2019
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### No One Is Talking About This
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Patricia Lockwood
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2021
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### The Love Songs of W. E. B. Du Bois
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2021
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- ### Biography of X
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Catherine Lacey
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2023
|
|
|
|
|
|
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|
When you buy a book using a link on this page, we receive a commission. Thank you for supporting The Atlantic.
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|
---
|
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|
|
`$= dv.el('center', 'Source: ' + dv.current().Link + ', ' + dv.current().Date.toLocaleString("fr-FR"))`
|
