LNC Posted July 15, 2012 Share Posted July 15, 2012 (edited) I would like to read the most well respected modern authors. I am completely unfamiliar with modern literary criticism - who is considered good and why. Does anyone have links? I read The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides. I was so intrigued by his good reviews... I flipped through his other two novels at a bookstore. I read an article that said he knew David Foster Wallace and Jonathan Franzen. They are very highly thought of in literary circles apparently, so I added them also. I would appreciate any recommendations of who to read. Marilynne Robinson (love her already though) Jonathan Franzen David Foster Wallace Jeffrey Eugenides Edited July 16, 2012 by LNC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LNC Posted July 17, 2012 Author Share Posted July 17, 2012 (edited) I thought I would share my answer from lots of google searching! I am going to read this list and listen to this open source course... http://oyc.yale.edu/english/engl-291 And one more course book list for 21c. http://english.fas.harvard.edu/sites/english.fas.harvard.edu/files/DONOFRIO%20century%2021.pdf Edited July 17, 2012 by LNC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candid Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 Can you be more definitive about the time period you wish to read. Technically, I think all US history would be considered "modern." But you might also mean 20th Century or the last X many years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LNC Posted July 17, 2012 Author Share Posted July 17, 2012 (edited) I mean last 20-25 years. I shortened my op to simplify - but I originally wrote past 25 yrs. since I graduated. :) The Yale course is post WW2. That is fine for my purposes as well bc I haven't read any of the authors in the syllabus besides O'Conner (took a southern gothic class in college and read tons). Edited July 17, 2012 by LNC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 FWIW, when I was getting my English degree, modern tended to mean WWI or WWII and newer while contemporary was used for the last 20-25 years. However, the very act of labeling a work tends to imply a sense of judgement and can be very different, depending on who is doing the labeling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TippyCanoe Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LNC Posted July 17, 2012 Author Share Posted July 17, 2012 How about taking a look at some of the authors in this list? http://www.pulitzer.org/bycat/Fiction Thanks, I have the Pulitzer and National Book Award lists. I started thinking about this bc no fiction book won a Pulitzer for 2012. My interest has been piqued further by reading some well regarded authors myself... I am interested in why books/novelists are considered "good" these days. I am hoping the open Yale course will give me a list w/ the answers to the "why?". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TippyCanoe Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LNC Posted July 17, 2012 Author Share Posted July 17, 2012 (edited) The Pulitzer site helps you along the way with quotes from the committee expounding briefly on what qualities they saw in the books. I've seen them mention stylistic skill (from that list, Jhumpa Lahiri's books are ones I've read that are stylistically gorgeous), generosity of spirit, taking on prominent social and cultural issues in a convincing story, the use of oddball characters to explore life outside the mainstream of society, etc. I have also googled around in the past and found online bits from the judges going into quite a bit of detail about disagreements among the committee members, which makes for some fascinating reading. Members of the Booker Prize committee in England also publish some of their thoughts and quarrels. I'm looking for the quotes on the Pulitzer site and don't see them. http://www.pulitzer.org/bycat/Fiction Should I google the names of the judges and the book winner? Edited July 17, 2012 by LNC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deniseibase Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 I started thinking about this bc no fiction book won a Pulitzer for 2012. My interest has been piqued further by reading some well regarded authors myself... I am interested in why books/novelists are considered "good" these days. I am hoping the open Yale course will give me a list w/ the answers to the "why?". LNC, did you read the New Yorker articles by Michael Cunningham? (first one here for anyone who hasn't - http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2012/07/letter-from-the-pulitzer-fiction-jury-what-really-happened-this-year.html ) I'm reading this thread with great interest, as I have a great love of reading, but hate reading anything written after about, oh, 1950 or so. And every time I tell myself, oh, there must be some good modern books, I'll go find some list of the 'best' and end up reading something that I think STINKS. Case in point - go to the New Yorker article and look about halfway down the page for the opening sentence of "The Pale King". I've been listening to SWB's audio lectures on teaching writing in preparation for the upcoming school year, and the first thing I thought after I read that was, if you can't figure out where it goes in a diagram, it doesn't belong in your sentence! :lol: Seriously - there MUST be some modern fiction that is considered 'good' that isn't insanely pretentious! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TippyCanoe Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shann Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 I have a list of about 70 modern classics that I plan to read on my blog. I spent quite a bit of time putting the list together based on other lists and recommendations. The list is not exclusively American but MANY of them are. There are some books on criticism on the list too. Hopefully the link works, I'm on my phone http://www.aesoptooz.com/the-modern-classics-list/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LNC Posted July 18, 2012 Author Share Posted July 18, 2012 I have a list of about 70 modern classics that I plan to read on my blog. I spent quite a bit of time putting the list together based on other lists and recommendations. The list is not exclusively American but MANY of them are. There are some books on criticism on the list too.Hopefully the link works, I'm on my phone http://www.aesoptooz.com/the-modern-classics-list/ Perfect! Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.