What are your must reads for American Literature....

[Michelle in GA]

We have already read:

 

To Kill A Mockingbird

Tom Sawyer/Huck Finn

The Old Man and the Sea

Of Mice and Men

Fahrenheit 451

 

 

What else do you suggest? What is NOT to be missed in your opinion? Short stories and plays can be included as well. This is for a 16y/o ds who is a somewhat reluctant reader.

 

Thanks!

[Faithr]

I'm doing American Lit with my 16 yo this year. Two books I think are very important are the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin and The Life and Narrative of Frederick Douglass. Both are fairly slim books and surprisely easy to read. Both men had amazing lives and their autobiographies really give one a sense of what their times were like. Other books we've read:

 

The Scarlet Letter

The Tale of Rip Van Winkle and The Headless Horseman by Washington Irving (both short and exciting tales)

Short stories and poems by Edgar Allan Poe

Call of the Wild (most boys love this one!) by Jack London

Short story by William Faulkner (A Rose for Emily)

My Antonia by Willa Cather (surprisingly my son adored this one!)

The Great Gatsby (excellent morality tale, gives one a real glimpse into post WWI 20's) by F. Scott Fitzgerald

A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry

The Crucible by Arthur Miller

Short stories by Flannery O'Connor

 

My son is also a reluctant reader (or rather he has LDs so he reads slowly and his comprehension can suffer) So I focused more on reading poetry and short stories by famous American authors. Plays also are easier to read than long thick novels. We also read excerpts from Emerson and Thoreau, poetry by Ann Bradstreet, Emily Dickinson, William Cullen Bryant, Longfellow and Robert Frost.

 

Hope this helps!

[Liza Q]

The Autobiography of Malcolm X was powerful - a must read in my opinion. First I would assign Frederick Douglass' Autobiography and Up From Slavery - the three autobiographies sort of build on each other. But of course he can read it on its own.

 

The Great Gatsby or This Side of Paradise - read the summaries if you haven't read them and choose the one that would go over the best with your son.

 

The Chosen is fabulous, not to be missed!

 

A Raisin in the Sun was my daughter's favorite 20th C. play, but I would recommend The Crucible as well.

 

Some Short Stories by Edgar Allen Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne would be good.

 

My daughter really liked Moby Dick and my next daughter is looking forward to reading it, but it might scare off your son if he is not a big reader! I felt that I should mention it, though.

 

If you do not assign F. Douglass and Up From Slavery, try Benjamin Franklin. Hysterical and it would fill a hole - I don't think you have anything from that period.

 

I would round it out with some of Emerson's Essays or excerpts from Walden and some Walt Whitman and Robert Frost.

 

HTH

[Lux Et Veritas Academy]

I am taking my list from the Teaching Company. They have several courses on American Literature and lists all of the books that they think fit this category. There are a couple of different lists and courses-

[asta]

Autobiography of Ben Franklin

The Scarlett Letter

Twain (pick one)

The Great Gatsby

To Kill a Mockingbird

1984

 

(another good autobiography choice: Frederick Douglass)

 

 

asta

[Lori D.]

American Lit. we've already done at some point:

 

- To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)

- Farenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury)

- Something Wicked This Way Comes (Ray Bradbury)

- A Canticle for Leibowitz (Walter Miller)

- The Giver (Lois Lowry)

- Earthsea trilogy (Ursula LeGuin)

- Story of My Life (Helen Keller)

- Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Mark Twain)

- "The Most Dangerous Game" (Richard Connell)

- "Gift of the Magi" (O. Henry)

- "The Lady or the Tiger" (Frank Stockton)

 

 

I first "narrowed" our selections down to the BIG list way below :tongue_smilie: Seriously, I'm shooting for a mix of novels, short stories, biographies, essays, plays, and poetry. FWIW, just below is what's on my not-to-be-missed list so far (I'll probably *still* have to whittle it down more!). BEST of luck in making your selections! Warmest regards, Lori D.

 

short stories:

- "Rip Van Winkle" (Washington Irving)

- a short story (Edgar Allen Poe)

- "Billy Budd" -- OR -- "Bartleby the Scrivner" (Herman Melville)

- "Luck of Roaring Camp" (Bret Harte)

- "Bride Comes to Yellow Sky" (Stephen Crane)

- "To Build a Fire" (Jack London)

- a short story (O. Henry)

- "The Lottery" (Shirley Jackson)

- "Revelation" (Flannery O'Conner)

 

novels:

- The Scarlet Letter (Nathaniel Hawthorne)

- Uncle Tom's Cabin (Harriet Beecher Stowe)

- The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald)

- The Chosen (Chaim Potok)

- I Heard The Owl Call My Name (Margaret Craven)

 

novella:

- The Old Man and the Sea (Ernest Hemingway)

- The Pearl (John Steinbeck)

 

biographies:

- A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (Frederick Douglass)

- Up From Slavery (Booker T. Washington)

- Penrod (Booth Tarkington)

- Black Like Me (John Griffin)

 

plays:

- Our Town (Thornton Wilder)

- The Crucible (Arthur Miller)

- A Raisin in the Sun (Lorraine Hansberry)

 

essays:

- excerpt from Walden Pond or Civil Disobedience (Henry David Thoreau)

- Self Reliance (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

 

poets:

- Emily Dickenson

- Walt Whitman

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

- Robert Frost

 

___________________

 

Here's the "mega list":

 

 

AMERICAN LIT (chronological list)

 

1810s

Washington Irving

- "Rip Van Winkle" (short story)

- "Legend of Sleepy Hollow" (short story)

 

1820s

James Fenimore Cooper

- The Deerslayer (novel) -- set in 1744

- Last of the Mohicans (novel) -- set in 1757

 

1830s

Nathaniel Hawthorne

- Twice-Told Tales (collection of short stories)

- "My Kinsman, Major Molineux" (short story)

- "Young Goodman Brown" (short story)

- "The Minister's Black Veil" (short story)

 

1840s

Nathaniel Hawthorne

- "Rappaccini's Daughter" (short story)

 

Edgar Allen Poe

- "Fall of the House of Usher" (short story)

- "The Black Cat" (short story)

- "The Cask of Amontillado" (short story)

- "The Gold-Bug" (short story)

- "The Masque of the Red Death" (short story)

- "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" (short story)

- "The Tell-Tale Heart" (short story)

- "The Raven" (poem)

 

1850s

Harriet Beecher Stowe

- Uncle Tom's Cabin (novel)

 

Henry David Thoreau

- Walden (essays/journal)

 

Herman Melville

- "Billy Budd" (short story)

- Moby Dick (novel)

- "Bartleby the Scrivner" (short story)

 

Nathaniel Hawthorne

- The Scarlett Letter (novel)

- The House of Seven Gables (novel)

- Tanglewood Tales (short story collection)

- "Feathertop" (short story)

 

1860s-70s

Bret Harte

- "Outcasts of Poker Flats" (short story)

- "Luck of Roaring Camp" (short story)

 

Ralph Waldo Emerson

- Self Reliance (essay)

 

Mark Twain

- "Celebrated Jumping Frog" (short story)

- Adventures of Tom Sawyer (novel) -- set in 1830s-50s

 

Louisa May Alcott

- Hospital Sketches (compilation of letters)

- Little Women (novel)

- Little Men (novel)

 

1880s

Mark Twain

- Prince and the Pauper (novel) -- set in 1547

- Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (novel) -- set in 1830s-50s

- A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (novel) -- set in 528

 

1890s

Stephen Crane

- "Bride Comes to Yellow Sky" (short story)

- "The Monster" (short story)

- "The Open Boat" (short story)

- The Red Badge of Courage -- set in Civil War (1860s)

 

Henry James

- Turn of the Screw (novella)

- a short story ???

 

Ambrose Bierce

- "Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" (short story) -- set in Civil War (1860s)

 

1900s

Booker T. Washington

- Up From Slavery (autobiography)

 

Jack London

- Call of the Wild (novel)

- White Fang (novel)

- The Sea Wolf (novel)

- "To Build a Fire" (short story)

 

O. Henry

- "Gift of the Magi" (short story)

- "Ransom of Red Chief" (short story)

 

Edith Wharton

- Ethan Fromme (novel)

- The House of Mirth (novel)

 

Upton Sinclair

- The Jungle (novel)

 

1910s

Willa Cather

- O Pioneers! (novel)

- My Antonia (novel)

 

Booth Tarkington

- Penrod (collection of comic sketches)

 

1920s

Edith Wharton

- Age of Innocence (novel)

 

Willa Cather

- Death Comes for the Archbishop (novel) -- set in the 1840s-1890s

 

F. Scott Fitzgerald

- The Great Gatsby (novel)

- "Bernice Bobs Her Hair" (short story)

- "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (short story)

- "Babylon Revisited" (short story)

 

1930s - 1940s

Ernest Hemingway

- Farwell to Arms (novel) -- set during WW1

- For Whom the Bell Tolls (novel)

- "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" (short story)

- The Old Man and the Sea (novella)

 

Zora Neale Hurston

- Their Eyes Were Watching God (novel) -- set pre-WW1 20th century

 

Thornton Wilder

- Our Town (play) -- set in 1901-1913

 

William Faulkner

- a short story???

 

John Steinbeck

- The Grapes of Wrath (novel)

- The Pearl (novella)

 

1950s - 1960s

Arthur Miller

- Death of a Salesman (play)

- The Crucible (play) -- set in 1690s Salem witch trials

 

Ralph Ellison

- The Invisible Man (novel)

 

John Howard Griffin

- Black Like Me (biography)

 

J.D. Salinger

- Catcher in the Rye (novel)

 

Lorraine Hansberry

- A Raisin in the Sun (play)

 

Flannery O'Connor

- "A Good Man is Hard to Find" (short story)

- "Revelation" (short story)

 

Shirley Jackson

- "The Lottery" (short story)

 

Harper Lee

- To Kill a Mockingbird (novel) -- set in the 1930s

 

Chaim Potok

- The Chosen (novel) -- set in the 1940s

 

Margaret Craven

- I Heard The Owl Call My Name (novel)

 

Ray Bradbury

- The Martian Chronicles (novel)

- Fahrenheit 451 (novel)

- Something Wicked This Way Comes (novel)

- R is For Rocket (collection of short stories)

- "There Will Come Soft Rains" (short story)

 

N. Scott Momaday

- House Made of Dawn (novel)

 

1970s

Ursula LeGuin

- Earthsea trilogy: Wizard of Earthsea; Tombs of Atuan; The Farthest Shore (novels)

- The Left Hand of Darkness (novel)

- Lathe of Heaven (novel)

- "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" (short story)

 

1980s

Amy Tan

- The Joy Luck Club (novel)

 

 

BIOGRAPHY/ESSAY/NON-FICTION

 

1600s

William Bradford

- Of Plymouth Plantation (journal)

 

1700s

Benjamin Franklin

- Poor Richard's Almanac

- autobiography

 

Jonathan Edwards

- Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God (sermon)

 

Thomas Paine

- Common Sense (essay)

 

1840s

Fredrick Douglass

- A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (autobiography)

 

1900s

Booker T. Washington

- Up From Slavery (autobiography)

 

 

POETS

 

1600s

Anne Bradstreet

 

1700s

Phyllis Wheatley

 

1800s

William Cullen Bryant

Emily Dickenson

Walt Whitman

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 

1900-1950

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Robert Frost

W.E.B. DuBois

Carl Sandburg

T. S. Eliot

Hart Crane

Ezra Pound

William Carlos William

Langston Hughes

Wallace Stevens

W.H. Auden

 

1950-present

Richard Wilbur

Sylvia Plath

Anne Sexton

Robert Lowell

Allen Ginsberg

E.E. Cummings

W.S. Merwin

Andrew Hudgins

Robert Lowell

Donald Justice

Jane Kenyon

Billy Collins

Maya Angelou

[Michelle in GA]

Wow!!! Thank you all so much for these great ideas!

 

Lori D--I am printing your list up right now. Thanks so much!

[SkateLeft]

I don't think either of these is the best choice for high school (though dd#1 did do Salesman).

 

Ugh... I hated "Death of a Salesman" in high school. I had to read it three out of my four years of high school. I also don't think The Scarlet Letter is the best Hawthorne novel for high schoolers, but I'm a huge Hawthorne fan, so I'm a bit picky there. :)

 

I think when we compile lists like this, we tend to choose the selections that had the most personal impact to us, so it's interesting to see what others suggest adding.

 

My personal must-read American literature list would probably be heavy on poetry and the American Romantics. I would include Hawthorne's "Ethan Brand," and "Young Goodman Brown," and I'd drop The Scarlet Letter. I'd be more inclined to use The House of Seven Gables.

 

I'd also include Henry James "Turn of the Screw," and T.S. Eliot's "The Wasteland." Hemingway, Faulkner and Steinbeck would be represented, either in novel or short story, as would Toni Morrison.

[Janice in NJ]

Just finished Travels with Charley per your recommendation. Loved it! Thanks! It's definitely on my kids' American Lit list for next year. I'm looking forward to re-reading it with my kids.

 

Thanks again, Eliana!

Janice

[Staci in MO]

Tell me more.... Why would you choose House of Seven Gables (a fine choice, I agree)?

I do think that some of the issues of Scarlet Letter didn't connect for dd now the way they might when she is older, but I didn't feel that other Hawthorne works would be more accessible... but then I don't *like* Hawthorne's short stories at all... [Though dd did choose to read some... Young Goodman Brown, The Minister's Black Veil, The Ambitious Guest... perhaps The Birthmark as well, I didn't keep careful track], and although I've read House of Seven Gables, Scarlet Letter made more of an impression on me.

 

DD chose Scarlet Letter (and got a lot out of reading it) - I'd have been happy with either one, but would probably have chosen SL for her, if she hadn't had a preference. ...but I have more kids approaching the high school years, and would love input from a Hawthorne fan!

 

I don't know if I would qualify as a Hawthorne fan, but I remember reading Rappaccini's Daughter in high school. I thought it was sooo romantic and tragic. I think if I had had any familiarity with the Divine Comedy it would have been any better. I don't *think* there's anything inappropriate in it, but definitely pre-read if you end up considering it.

 

I read The Scarlet Letter just a few years ago and loved it. I don't know if I would have been able to connect with the redemptive theme in it as a teenager, though.

[SkateLeft]

Yikes! That is really overkill! I like Salesman... more so now that I am older, and All My Sons reads very differently to me now than it did when I was 16...

 

That's a very good point! My dislike for Salesman is probably completely irrational, and arises out of my unhappiness with my high school education in general. I can't separate my feelings about Willy Loman from my feelings about my high school years. I agree that AMS is probably more relevant! I haven't read it in years, but now that you mention it, I'm going to pull it out and reread it.

 

I have to say that I love nearly everything on your list! It's actually very close to what I would choose myself. Some of them are not often included on the lists I've seen, but would definitely be on my list... like Bartleby. ("I would prefer not to." Ahhhh...That's classic!)

 

Tell me more.... Why would you choose House of Seven Gables (a fine choice, I agree)?

 

My daughter and I both have a personal fondness for gothic literature, so that admittedly plays a big part in my preferring Seven Gables over the Scarlet Letter. Seven Gables has atmosphere! Death and decay, a family curse, a seemingly haunted house, lots of liminal symbolism... All things that make it a really fascinating story (imho!). She's currently reading Frankenstein, and today we were comparing betrayal in Frankenstein to Walpole's Castle of Otranto. I was just thinking how interesting it would be to add Seven Gables to that discussion.

 

Seeing as Seven Gables was written on the heels of the Scarlet Letter, it's clear that they do have some relationship with each other, but of the two, I just think Seven Gables is more interesting, relevant and accessible, at least for my teen. The language is gorgeous! While a lot of the themes are the same as in the Scarlet Letter, it has a humor in it that isn't in the Scarlet Letter, and I think it's exploration of morality is broader. Plus... it has a happy ending!

 

As far as Hawthorne's short stories go, I love them all. :lol: "Ethan Brand" is probably my favorite, because I find the search for Unpardonable Sin fascinating and Brand's demise is particularly tragic. There is a tremendous amount of rich symbolism in the stories!

 

She read a number of things I personally detest... some because they interested her, others because they are significant works and fell within her range of coverage...

 

I completely agree! There are things I'll have to include that I really don't look forward to discussing. To be honest, I vastly prefer British literature (Romantics and Victorian Gothic) to American literature. This year, my daughter is using the Teaching Company's "Masterpieces of the Imaginative Mind" course, and although for the most part, I've assigned her reading that I've enjoyed, there have been a few things that I just have to drag myself through (like Robbe-Grillet's "The Erasers"...ugh.).

 

Heavy on the poetry - oh, yes! Though I suspect we might weight our poetry lists very differently - I'd love your thoughts on mine (linked in the post above)

 

I love your poetry list, and I'm saving it for future reference! I think you hit on all the must-haves, though if I had time, I'd probably add Alan Ginsburg, Robinson Jeffers, Lew Welch (I do live in northern California!:D), Thomas Merton too... ah well. Only so much time in the day!!

 

I love Henry James in general, but really hate Turn of the Screw - and I don't feel it best represents his work.

 

Again, I think this is my penchant for the literary Gothic coming out. :) I love Turn of the Screw! It's one of those stories I first read years ago, and it just stuck with me. The tremendous variety of interpretations for the events that take place make for great discussion material! (Plus, any story that alludes to the Mysteries of Udolpho, one of my favorite books of all time, is brilliant in my mind!)

 

While I agree that Washington Square is a good choice, and pretty representative of James, it's not my favorite work of his (and he personally despised it, I believe). I find that it lacks the subtle depth of Turn of the Screw.

 

For Hemingway, I think I'd probably include "The Old Man and the Sea" because it's part of American cultural literacy. Hmm... Faulkner is harder. I'd want to include his short stories... something like "A Rose for Emily" though it's a bit too gruesome for some.

 

You made another good point when you mentioned setting aside Portrait of a Lady as free reading. Not everything that I want my kids to read has to be read in the context of schoolwork. I think I forget that sometimes. I think it's especially hard when we've spent years looking forward to our kids being old enough to share some of this stuff with us! Maybe that's just me though! :lol:

 

Sorry this got so long! Now I'm off to print up your wonderful lists for my reference binder! :D

[Lori D.]

re: Arthur Miller plays

 

Thanks for the heads up on the sexuality in The Crucible; I will definitely pre-read first.

 

I had thought to do The Crucible instead, just because I didn't care too much for Death of a Salesman. It probably has to do with the fact that I am an impatient person (accentuated by some frustrating personal and extended family circumstances in the past few years), but I just don't want to live a wasted life -- and it's so irritating to read about others doing so! It was the same with Great Expectations -- I just got so *annoyed* with the characters and their apparent weakness / inability / unwillingness to pull themselves out of their lethergy and DO something positive, or make positive changes to their lives!!

 

 

re: Hawthorne

 

I loved Scarlet Letter, and really look forward to doing that one with the boys; it's got such great Christian themes in it! I wasn't as fond of Hawthorne's short stories; I did really like two, though: Rappachini's Daughter, and then The Minister's Black Veil, which was very similar in theme to Scarlet Letter.

 

 

re: Henry James

 

I've only read Turn of the Screw, and again, being an impatient person, I found myself really irritated with the governess-narrator-persona -- who [da da dum!] turns out to be an unreliable narrator by the end! Good grief, you mean I slog through this work only to discover either it *may* not have even happened, or at the least didn't happen the way the governess-narrator-persona related it??!!

 

I saw film versions of Portrait of a Lady and Washington Square -- the female characters irked me in somewhat in those, too. I'm beginning to see a trend, here. I think I'm just touchy about female protagonists who make what appear to be in the position to make decisions about their lives -- and inevitable make the choices that wreck or dramatically curtail the rest of their lives -- when, in reality it's probably a subtle literary comment on the society in which these females lived -- that they probably really had NO good options open to them; it just *looked* like they did... :confused:

 

I'd like to give James another chance with a short story -- any suggestions?

 

 

re. Hemingway

 

Oog. Depressing. Since we have to do something by him, I'm keeping it short, and we'll just do what most public high schools do -- Old Man and the Sea.

 

 

re: Steinbeck

 

Double oog. Grapes of Wrath even more depressing than Hemingway, since Steinbeck lays it out there, while Hemingway only hints at it. Grapes of Wrath was sort of like watching the Donner party in slow motion, not able to do anything about it. :eek: We'll go with something short (The Pearl) to minimize our pain. Maybe I'll preview Travels with Charlie and try it instead -- though if it's not his usual style/worldview, then that may not make it the best Steinbeck choice...???

 

 

I'm also going to pull up Janice in NJ's recent thread on lighter American works to include in our list. Cheers! Warmly, Lori D.

Edited May 5, 2009 by Lori D.
clarification

[Lori D.]

The Autobiography of Malcolm X was powerful - a must read in my opinion. First I would assign Frederick Douglass' Autobiography and Up From Slavery - the three autobiographies sort of build on each other.

 

 

Liza, thanks for this great suggestion! I'm adding Malcom X's autobiography to my list of works to consider, because I really think it's especially helpful when the literature builds/contrasts with one another! Great idea! Thanks! Warmest regards, Lori D.

[Charles Wallace]

We have already read:

 

To Kill A Mockingbird

Tom Sawyer/Huck Finn

The Old Man and the Sea

Of Mice and Men

Fahrenheit 451

 

 

What else do you suggest? What is NOT to be missed in your opinion? Short stories and plays can be included as well. This is for a 16y/o ds who is a somewhat reluctant reader.

 

Thanks!

The Scarlet Letter

The Great Gatsby

The Grapes of Wrath

Moby-Dick

[asta]

re: Hawthorne

 

I loved Scarlet Letter

 

You know, it's funny: I hated SL in high school, but reading an analysis of it NOW... wow, totally different perception. I wonder if many people simply aren't ready for it in HS.

 

I think I'm just touchy about female protagonists who make what appear to be in the position to make decisions about their lives -- and inevitable make the choices that wreck or dramatically curtail the rest of their lives -- when, in reality it's probably a subtle literary comment on the society in which these females lived -- that they probably really had NO good options open to them; it just *looked* like they did... :confused:

 

Oi. This is exactly what drives me batty about so many stories from this era.

 

re. Hemingway

 

Oog. Depressing.

 

I think we're just going to skip him. So many of the works in "classic" reading are just awfully depressing...

 

 

re: Steinbeck

 

Double oog. Grapes of Wrath even more depressing than Hemingway, since Steinbeck lays it out there, while Hemingway only hints at it. Grapes of Wrath was sort of like watching the Donner party in slow motion, not able to do anything about it. :eek: We'll go with something short (The Pearl) to minimize our pain.

 

This made me laugh out loud! And then I had to explain the Donner party to DS...

 

 

asta

[Liza Q]

Liza, thanks for this great suggestion! I'm adding Malcom X's autobiography to my list of works to consider, because I really think it's especially helpful when the literature builds/contrasts with one another! Great idea! Thanks! Warmest regards, Lori D.

 

Thanks. I think contrast is a better word - Douglass and Washington had different ideas about what would actually work and then Malcolm X showed that neither approach had worked! I used build because I meant that reading the first two enabled us to better understand where Malcolm X was coming from.

[Kathy in MD]

I LOVED Hemingway in hs! His stories might have a sad ending, but there was so much action and fighting and war :) I love war stories :001_smile:

 

But Steinbeck was horribly depressing.

 

ETA But to add to the non-fiction category, I'd suggest Encounters with the Archdruid by McPhee. This would be 1960's or 70's and would also fit into the nature category that another poster admired. This read more like a novel than like non-fiction. McPhee has other nature works, but this is my favorite.

Edited May 5, 2009 by Kathy in MD

[Jane in NC]

Entering this conversation is rather intimidating for me. While a passionate reader, I am less skilled as a commentator on literature. Nonetheless, I will offer the following:

 

Eliana, I have viewed my inability to "get into" Faulkner as a character flaw. Truly, I have wondered if I would feel differently had I grown up in the south. This midwestern girl could never penetrate those long winded paragraphs. (Feel the same way about Joyce for what it's worth.) Hence your earlier comment on loathing Faulkner brought a grin.

 

That said, I adore Hemingway, but found I was in a minority among my girlfriends. Is Hemingway a man's author? The Old Man and the Sea is one I can live without. For Whom the Bell Tolls is the masterpiece, as far as I am concerned. But this native Michigander who grew up playing in the woods and along the lakes of that state will always try to sell the Nick Adams stories.

 

I am currently reading The Scarlet Letter--won't even call it a reread since I am a different person than she who read the book in high school. How interesting it will be to listen eventually to the Weinstein lectures on Hawthorne and The Scarlet Letter in the Teaching Company's American Literature series which I borrowed just today from the library.

 

Thank you for such an interesting discussion!

Jane

Edited May 5, 2009 by Jane in NC

[Janice in NJ]

Oh - it is Travels with CharLEY. When I first tried, I was searching with the wrong spelling. Took me a couple of tries to find it. :001_smile:

 

Peace,

Janice

[Spy Car]

Well I loved Death of a Salesman, Moby Dick, Faulkner (Absolom, Absolom! is one of my favorite novels of all time) and Hemingway, so.....

 

There are so many great suggestions here, I'd just like to add a plug for My bondage, My Freedom by Frederick Douglass, and second (or third) the Autobiography of Malcolm X.

 

A few which I don't believe have been mentioned:

 

Sister Carrie or American Tragedy or Jenny Gerhardt Theodore Dreiser.

 

The Education of Henry Adams. Henry Adams

 

The Invisible Man Ralph Ellison.

 

Elmer Gantry Sinclair Lewis.

 

The House Behind the Cedars Charles Chesnutt

 

So many more...

 

Bill

[Spy Car]

Could you share more of your thoughts about these? Dreiser leaves me feeling so claustrophobic (and everything of his I have seen is out of bounds for my teens), but I've seen snippets of his non-fiction which intrigued me and made me *want* to get more out of his fiction.

 

I just found the aspiration to rise above place, and the fear of stumbling back into poverty (especially in Sister Carrie and Jenny Gerhardt) and the willingness to do almost anything to prevent such a "social fall", disturbingly American themes. I really find Dreiser haunting, and his writing beautiful and poignant.

 

I've never read (or was even aware of) his non-fiction writing. I'll look into it. Recommendation?

 

Sinclair Lewis, yes, of course... but why this one? (I haven't read it) ...I would have thought Main Street or Arrowsmith.

 

Oh, I liked Main Street too, but have never read Arrowsmith. I just loved the complexity of the Elmer Gantry character. What a cad, always on the brink of being unmasked, yet he manages to (while ruining lives around himself) "prosper" in some sense, while at the same time being aware of his moral bankruptcy. Certainly not a role model for anyone, but a fine addition to "trickster" literature.

 

Share, share.... and tell us why those works!

 

There were so many others on the list that I'd naturally concur with, but I didn't want to be repetitive and keep saying I agree, I agree.

 

Can I add All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren?

 

And I'm absolutely devoted to the long poetic epics of Robinson Jeffers, who I think was one of America's greatest writers. His works can hit on very uncomfortable themes, but his was a great (if "cranky") genius.

 

Bill

Edited May 6, 2009 by Spy Car

[Jane in NC]

Something else to consider...Land of the Free by Archibald MacLeish. Reading the poem alone will not do. It was intended as a sound track for pictures taken by WPA photographers like Dorothea Lange and Margaret Bourke-White. The end product offers an eye opening look at the Depression.

 

I keep rewinding my way through this thread to think about books I have read and books that I want to read and (sometimes) books I have avoided. Springing to mind, though, is a once favorite trilogy which I have not read in decades. Any comments on U.S.A. by Dos Passos? (I'm not suggesting this for high school reading lists. This thread seems to have evolved beyond that into a discussion for readers in general.)

[Spy Car]

His writing I've admired - perhaps it was where I was at in my life when I read him, that I related too much to some of the characters and I felt suffocated & trapped... [it took me so many years to learn to filter better when I read - Crime and Punishment was a harrowing experience for me as a teen... I couldn't separate myself from it.

 

Intersting that you mention Crime and Punishment, because, yes, the gripping, suffocating, and anguish one experience with Dreiser's works very much resembles (despite obvious differences in style and setting) the feverish grip of "Crime and Punishment" (my favorite novel of all-time?).

 

...but is fear of social fall an American phenomenon? I think there is a flavor of it that is very American - but you can see it in British writing (where class distinctions remain far more distinctly and overtly visible than they are here). I'm not sure what I think... but I have a jumbled mess of reactions...I'd like to hear more of your thinking...

 

Point conceded, one only has to think of Dickens, or Thackeray, or Jane Austin. Still there is something very American (and middle-class, rather than aristocratic) about Dreiser. I don't know. He just gets inside my head.

 

 

I've read only excerpts. America is Worth Saving is the title that comes to mind, and the second (?) part of his autobiography - the one about his newspaper reporter days (I had this out of the library, but didn't get to read much before it had to go back...) and there are a couple of snippets in Writing New York (a really neat anthology, btw) http://www.amazon.com/Writing-New-York-Literary-Anthology/dp/0671042351/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241574601&sr=1-12 from his sketches about New York City - collected in The Color of the Great City (double check the title, I sometimes mangle them when working from memory!).

 

It's my mother's favorite - and the one *she* thought I should do with the kids...

 

I'm going to check this out.

 

 

*adding Elmer Gantry to a teetering stack of to-be-read books* thank you!

 

 

Let me know what you think. He is quite a rogue.

 

Specific recommendations? ...poetry always seems to get to cut ahead of everything else on my reading lists, but I get caught up in reading (or rereading) a poet's entire oeuvre so I can fairly choose which selections to use - which can be a little overwhelming. So which did you think are the best or most important works to be included?

 

I would think of these as "epics" rather than "poems" (although they certainly are poetic). Picking one is like picking one Shakespeare play, how do I do this?

 

The Loving Shepherdess is lovely and approachable, but dark.

 

Thurso's Landing is strong and somewhat melodramatic.

 

The Women at Point Sur is dark, disturbing and somewhat repulsive. Not one for the kiddos.

 

Media Jeffers free adaptation of Euripides' play is a triumph.

 

I'm not making these sound that appealing, am I? :D

 

Bill

Edited May 6, 2009 by Spy Car

[Kathy in MD]

Do try Travels with Charley - non-fiction, but non-depressing! I enjoyed this so much! ... and My War with the Ospreys is hilarious... you will hardly believe it's Steinbeck!

 

More meaty than either of the above, but also not depressing (and still non fiction!) is his fascinating Log from the Sea of Cortez. ...I don't know how to concisely describe it, so I'll give you the blurb from the back:

 

"There is more of the whole man, John Steinbeck, in Sea of Cortez than in any of his novels... This is at once the record of a serious biological expedition and the impact of a biologist and a novelist upon each other's minds... The best of Steinbeck is in it." - Lewis Gannet, New York Herald Tribune

 

"In 1940, Steinbeck and the biologist Edward F Ricketts ventured aboard the Western Flyer, a sardine boat out of Monterey, CAlifornia, on a 4,000 mile voyage around the Baja penninsula into the Sea of Cortez. This exciting day-by-day account of their expedition wonderfully combines science, philosophy, and high-spirited adventure, and provides a much fuller picture about Steinbeck - and his beliefs about man and the world - than any of his fictional works."

 

Ooh, this looks wonderful - I've added it to my list! Thank you!

 

My dh, who spent his teen years in Monterey, has tried to convince me to read Travels with Charlie and The Sea of Cortez. He hasn't succeeded so far, but he also likes the depressing Steinbeck. :tongue_smilie: I may give in sometime and try him again.

 

I'm glad the McPhee book caught your attention. I always get the feeling he's underappreciated, except by the natural history readers.

[Mrs. Readsalot]

I didn't see this on anyones list. We are currently reading this, and I think it is a must for American Lit studies.

Karen

[Spy Car]

While this one is often shelved in the "Juvenile literature" section, or even the "Children's section", I'd want to include Karen Hesse's novella/free verse poem Out of the Dust.

 

We (my wife, my mother who was visiting, and I) did this as an adult "read aloud" and their wasn't a dry-eye amongst us. it's a very poignant story of a girl growing up in "the Dust Bowl" during the depression.

 

Bill

[Liza Q]

My first reaction is that reading Douglass and Washington without reading DuBois misses a lot - and, in some ways, makes Malcolm X's viewpoint seem more... oh, I can't find the words! More ex nihlo than they were, but that doesn't capture the thought...

 

I like to use selections from the Library of American DuBois volume. It has The Souls of Black folk and a number of fascinating essays (other things as well, but those are what I use most)

 

...and don't forget King's writings/speeches - he deserves to have more heard of him than "I have a Dream"...

 

Also of possible interest (I'm working through it myself to expand my knowledge/education) the Viking Portable Harlem Renaissance Reader seems to have a range of selections which could add a little more balance to reading plan.

 

Thank you, Eliana! It will be good to go deeper.