Wrod. I'd put Price's "Freedomland" or something by Lethem on that list, but the way McCarthy writes gives me a headache, so I'm not unbiased(and no, not "Pelecanos re karoti" enough to insist that "Hard Revolution" get a slot...I know genre as cat vomit. But I think history will be kind to that bit of cat vomit in the way Chandler is now art.) I've read about half the list and even as a Roth fangirl, I'd only include "Pastoral"...that was deep. But the NYT's crush is bigger than mine. I also prefer "The Bluest Eye" to "Beloved" but maybe that says more about me than about Morrison. I've read about half the list...not having a life will do that for you. Have not felt strong enough for Delillo yet...is that valid or my "Aw, shucks. Went to state college," inferiority thing? "Mystic River", "The Poisonwood Bible"

some who did reply refused to name a single book

Sure, because asking for a single work of fiction to represent two and a half decades without any distance is madness.

I don't agree with Sophia's argument about how the audience for literature has changed: novels have always been written for educated middle-classes.

Also, I want to point out that Housekeeping is a phenomenally good book, and Robinson is one of the best writers out there today. A Confederacy of Dunces is also a noble choice. I don't really like Roth, either, over my sample size of two books.

Finally, some of my favorite (and least favorite) American writers are on the list of surveyed authors.

Beloved is the only book I have read on that list either.

Will it mark me an irretrievable pervert if I say "Portnoy" changed my life? Because I think it did.

I am not sure I am right, Corwood. All I really know is that all the "modern literary" peeps do nothing for me, personally, at all, but people who wrote "literature" earlier in time do. I am just, I guess, trying to find the reason. Maybe it is because I am really a lower-class educated person, rather than a middle class educated person? (not being snarky at all)

Erika, I'm with you on The Bluest Eye.

Erika, I'm with you on The Bluest Eye.

My favorite has always been Song of Solomon.

Also, I want to point out that Housekeeping is a phenomenally good book, and Robinson is one of the best writers out there today. A Confederacy of Dunces is also a noble choice.

ITA

Also, I love DeLillo but I think I was exposed to him at exactly the right time and by the right person (senior year of college by a professor I liked who was super enthusiastic about him).

I honestly don't remember if I've read any Roth.

I think maybe because she was trying less hard to be a symbolic genius because she was much newer at it. Simpler stories work better on me, personally.(and you're thinking "please, Lord, don't let her bring up Tim picking up Mrs. Watson's cornflakes again!" so I'm not. Ish.) "Beloved" was great, but I did have to read it a few times to really get it

I am not sure I am right, Corwood. All I really know is that all the "modern literary" peeps do nothing for me, personally, at all, but people who wrote "literature" earlier in time do. I am just, I guess, trying to find the reason. Maybe it is because I am really a lower-class educated person, rather than a middle class educated person? (not being snarky at all)

Ha! I bet that it has a lot to do with time weeding out the wheat from the chaff in earlier literature. You're right that the early theater, too, was meant for the masses, so there has definitely been a migrating audience in the last 400 years. I'll go out on a limb and suggest that you might really enjoy Marilynne Robinson's books. She has a lovely way with language and a stateliness that indicates (to me, natch) that her books will last.

I also think that the emergance of "literary fiction" has caused the demise of many novels which are actually enjoyable. I mean, Shakespeare and Dickens and even Hemingway, I think, were writing for an audience who wanted to enjoy their works in some way. I feel like Roth, DeLillo, Updike et als are writing to "create literature".

Crazy talk! Roth is totally fun to read. For me anyway. For Sophia, NSM.

I don't think you can really make the case that Roth and Updike have inaccessible styles - not only are they writing for the educated middle-class, they're writing about them. They're certainly not writing experimental or "difficult" fiction like Bartheleme or Gass or Hawkes.

Delillo is more closely associated with the meta-ficiton writers of the early 70s like Pynchon and Barth and Gaddis, but his stuff is still very readable (though maybe less enjoyable in the juicy Dickens way).

I was stunned by how many of the top choices were by novelists in their 70s.

A.O. Scott's essay addresses that, noting that the top five authors were all born within two years of each other. I think a little of that is what Douglas Coupland called "clique maintenance" referring to generational biases. I think a British list might have a few votes for Zadie Smith. Kavalier and The Corrections each got one vote.